Editing Elf (section)

==This bears repeating==
Tolkien invented the modern version of "elves". Tolkien was a devout Catholic, and his Elves were actually meant to represent what Humanity would've been like had we remained sinless and Unfallen™; deprived of these theological undertones, the modern image of Elves has since lost its original context. In Tolkien's works, Elves had a certain degree of [[Mary Sue]] perfectness about them, yes, but they also had certain weaknesses in exchange; most importantly, they would fade from the world, and they knew it. Many subsequent imitators forgot this nerf, and thus failed to include the accompanying flaws in their elves.

Also, Tolkien's elves were genuinely likeable people for the most part (which you'd expect, given their sinless nature). When they or some members had something unlikable about them, those characteristics were distinctly human and therefore relatable to the reader. We don't feel like we're reading about a perfect species, we feel like we're reading about normal people who have simply lived long enough to learn from their mistakes and are trying to help others avoid those mistakes - which is exactly what they are. Later elves after Tolkien had none of that; in fact, many of the post-Tolkien elves would probably be considered horrible people by Tolkien elves, especially with their anti-human or elven superiority traits, as his elves were close bros with humanity and fully believed elves were not some sort of super-people (while a few Tolkien elves did espouse an elf supremacist view, it's either done a manner similar to real-life racism to show it's a character flaw, the prejudice is based on historical grievances - the reason elves and dwarves don't like each other and this prejudices are criticized in the story).

This isn't to say Elves ''can't'' have boons like longevity, magical adeptness, and so on. It's just when they have so many advantages relative to other races, and the only flaw they're liable to have is being unbearably arrogant know-it-alls, it doesn't usually make a good combination. 

'''TL;DR: Nobody likes a [[Mary Sue]], much less a whole species of them.'''