Editing Dark Elves (section)

== Other ==

While D&D's drow have pretty set the dark elf mould as cruel, dark skinned and spidery, they were not the first nor is this obligatory for anything that might be called a dark elf in fantasy. True, most franchises which have dark elves are vidya and can be ignored, but there still are some worthy of mention:

* "Dark elves" (Moriquendi) were mentioned in Tolkien's works, but they weren't (necessarily) evil, simply elves who hadn't seen the light of the two trees in Valinor - which was actually most of them. In the Silmarillion, Eöl was known as "the dark elf", perhaps for his thing for living in dark forests and wearing jet black armour. Some elvish characters did certainly evil deeds, most famously Fëanor and his sons, three kinslayings and trying to abduct Lúthien. Fëanor's kin were of Calaquendi, so they don't even were Dark elves technically, only by their deeds.

* And from the Norse myths from which Tolkien [[Blood_Ravens|borrowed]] from heavily, the dökkálfar were dark elves who resided in the underground world of Svartálfheim. Norse myth often identified them as [[dwarves]], either accidentally or [[Heresy|intentionally]], and so you can take most of the dorfy attributes from them such as being good at forging and greedy little shits. (One might assume later fantasies wanted those attributes combined with more sexy.) You'd probably know all about this if you were [[/co/|into comics]], as Marvel's Thor universe mention them a lot. As for svartálfar, whose name is partially derived from the rootword for "swarthy" (meaning "dark-skinned")... well, let's just say Nordic mythology can be a real tangle of worms.

* In [[The_Elder_Scrolls|The Elder Scrolls]] vidya, dark elves (Dunmer) were originally just golden-skinned elves (Mer) but became ashen-skinned and red-eyed as a curse from Azura for rejecting the gods (Aedra/Daedra) and ascending some of themselves to godhood using a [[What|divine heart they found]] to worship instead. Yeah, TES is pretty off the wall like that. In a bit of a twist, while many (most) of the elves in TES are genocidal assholes, the Dunmer are not, but they still have that overwhelming self-superiority complex every other elf of any variety has. You filthy N'wah!

* While never called dark elves, the Seelie of the [[Plane_of_Faerie|Plane of Fairie]] a.k.a. the [[Feywild]] are D&D's version of pre-Tolkien not-nice elves of traditional myths: chaotic, unpredictable, (literally fay!) elf-like beings of great power that care little for mortals: not evil, but certainly not good. Unseelie are their genuinely evil counterparts. While the Seelie may leave you to starve/age to death because they imprison you as a short diversionary mortal sexual plaything then get bored and forget about you, the Unseelie will be happy to invite you for dinner... as the first course. The truly horrifying thing about the Unseelie however is that if you google that word for any decent pictures for the gallery, you'll find only [[Twilight]] or [[Drizzt]]-tier romantic fanfiction. Remember: dark elves like it when you scream.

* In [[Shadowrun]], dark elves are some weird subrace of metahuman elves that can't tolerate light and camouflage themselves with a [[Furry|very fine coating of fur]] on their skins. I wish I was kidding.

* In [[Fighting_Fantasy|Fighting Fantasy]], the forgotten grandpappy of [[Warhammer]], dark elf backstory and description closely follows what the dark elves in Warhammer were to become, just with a lot less writefaggotry to flesh it out over the decades. Yeah, Warhammer took a lot from that old fluff. The original concept was still [[Drow|nicked from D&D]] though.
* Warhammer's portayal of dark elves is in part inspired by the [[Elric]] of Melniboné universe by [[Michael Moorcock]], the evil, pallid elf concept and the eight winds of [[Chaos]] were adopted from there. Elric (or [[Malus Darkblade]] as we know him) is the last of the Melnibonéans ([[Druchii]]). Centuries before Elric's birth, Melniboné ruled its world through sorcerous might and sheer power. However, by the time of Elric's birth, it has slipped from its preeminent place, being one of many nations. Its people, the Melnibonéans, are not wholly human, resembling instead the elves of legend — skilled with magic and beautiful, though psychologically similar to cats, with a callous nature. They are bound by many ancient customs. Darkblade, or the Warpsword of Khaine, is basically GW's take on Stormbringer. The Daemon ('Tz'arkan') is actually in the sword in the original tale. Michael Moorcock's intention was the turn the idea of the traditional high fantasy elf on its head. GW ran with the idea.

[[Category:Races]][[Category:Scarred Lands Races]]