q. WHO INVENTED ELVES.
- Thread starter luka
- Start date
luka
Well-known member
THE ELF SALVE
Make a salve against the race of elves and against spirits walking about at night and against women with whom the devil has sexual intercourse.
Take the female hop plant, wormwood, bishop's wort, lupine, vervain, henbane, harewort, viper's bugloss, sprouts of heathberry, leek, garlic, seeds of cleavers, cockle and fennel. Put the herbs in a vessel, set them under the alter, sing masses over them, boil them in butter, and in sheep's fat, add a good quantity of holy salt, strain them through a cloth, throw the herbs into running water. If a man has any evil temptations, or is troubled by elves or nocturnal spirits, smear his face with this salve, and put something on his eyes and where his body may be painful. And smoke him with incense and frequently make the sign of the cross on him. His condition will soon be better.
from 'The Leechbook'
Make a salve against the race of elves and against spirits walking about at night and against women with whom the devil has sexual intercourse.
Take the female hop plant, wormwood, bishop's wort, lupine, vervain, henbane, harewort, viper's bugloss, sprouts of heathberry, leek, garlic, seeds of cleavers, cockle and fennel. Put the herbs in a vessel, set them under the alter, sing masses over them, boil them in butter, and in sheep's fat, add a good quantity of holy salt, strain them through a cloth, throw the herbs into running water. If a man has any evil temptations, or is troubled by elves or nocturnal spirits, smear his face with this salve, and put something on his eyes and where his body may be painful. And smoke him with incense and frequently make the sign of the cross on him. His condition will soon be better.
from 'The Leechbook'
viktorvaughn
Well-known member
In films/computer games they are always tall, slim and wicked with a bow and arrow but less good with massive hammers and suits of armour (dwarf territory).
D
droid
Guest
Elves were small little wood people in ancient nordic and germanic mythology afaik. I think they got mixed up with faeries sometime in the 1800's... Tolkien wasn't far off I reckon.
They've been around for millennia. Wights too.
They've been around for millennia. Wights too.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Terry Pratchett's Lords and Ladies ties together pretty well the proto-elves in Irish myth (Sidh, Tuatha de Danann), mediaeval/Renaissance fairies or 'faeries' a la Shakespeare and elves in the modern (post-)Tolkienian sense. They're very powerful and kinda nasty, or at least amoral.
yyaldrin
in je ogen waait de wind
it's a good question. i have often wondered why fantasy is so boring, in fact it's one of the most predictable genre's there is. elves, orcs and dwarfs, that's about it.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
I should think it's uncontroversial to say he had more influence on it than any other author, yes. If it hadn't been for him the genre would probably not exist as we know it.
