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 Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 12:33 pm
I saw a thread in the general writer's forum and it inspired me to copy and paste what I said over here to start off a new topic. This could also be put in the writer's circle, but it's about elves as a whole but those of us who write about elves can also discuss them here.
Elvish names tend to be soft sounding and somewhat ethereal. If you listen to the elvish language in Tolkien's world it's very smooth and gentle. It doesn't have to be that way though. You can make whatever alterations you like. If you want it to sound magical, than look at some of the names that already exist and try to create names that have similar gentle and mythical sounds to them.
In my world, elves aren't as much like Tolkien's. They have some of the same tendencies, but most of them are more open and live near to or amongst humans. I have native-type tribes of them in my world too. You could say my elves work along similar lines to humans. There are those of us who are advanced and live in towns and cities, and then there are tribal peoples like the Native Americans.
There are also dark elves to consider. In Forgotten Realms they're called the Drow, and they have black skin and white hair. Their language has a lot of harsh sounds in it. I have a type of dark elf in my world, and several other authors have similar concepts as well. Raymond E Feist has dark elves who are known as the Moredhel.
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Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 4:02 pm
I am a fan of Elves. Surprisingly, less of the Elves in Tolkien (more of a Gondorian sort, myself), but definitely Forgotten Realms Elves. My longest-running character is a wood-elf, but I've also played a couple moon-elves. I love the history for the Forgotten Realms Elves (possibly because I'm a pretty rabid Elaine Cunningham fan) and all the implications there are for it. Here's a great name-generator for Forgotten Realms. I use it quite a lot when making up FR elf names. ^_^ Berz.
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 4:31 pm
I'm an Elf fan but not as much as you may think. I even made my own races of elves in one of my stories. Other than that, I'm not sure what else to say for the moment. mrgreen
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 1:00 pm
If you've ever seen the movie Legend ~ the elves in that movie, is more how I see elves.
- I have yet to read a lot of the things you guys are always talking about. Maybe once I get into that I'll change my mind - but - I like the idea of Tolkien's elves... but it's so 'frilly'... to me - *shrug* -
more later...
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Posted: Tue Apr 08, 2008 1:10 pm
I sure haven't seen that one Faux. rolleyes
Say, I just thought of a funny: Do you think elves would dress up as Mr Presley? Ha-ha! rofl You know what I meant, right? As in "Elves Presley"?
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Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 5:43 am
Hypno, you are a wonderfully wacky person... *grins*
I'm a huge Elf fan, mostly of Tolkien, but I have my own Elves in my own fantasy universes. I just wish I had more time to wrote, and then I'd have more material about them. smile
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Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 3:29 pm
Ha-ha! Thanks Jasta, I enjoy being this silly. mrgreen
I get what you say, I also made up my own elves but, I don't know much about Tolkien's creatures so I've made them as I think they should be. 3nodding
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 11:27 am
I've never really liked Tolkien's elves generally. Those like Legolas are alright, but most of them think of themselves as above every other race.
From what I've read of the book (up to the Council of Elrond because quite honestly I got so sick and tired of the extreme length of explanations that I gave up) and having watched the films, they're quite haughty and snobby and actually quite arrogant.
Elrond's line "men? Men are weak" is one such example of arrogance. Yes, perhaps Tolkien's elves are more resistant to powerful magic (etc), but that's no reason to look down on those whose wills aren't quite as strong. Hugo Weaving portrays Elrond well I think, but he's still arrogant. It's the fact that they "know" they've got higher abilities than humans and other races. It'd only take one of Tolkien's elves to have a mind like Hitler to create a force like the Nazis (only without the extremes in violence).
I've made my elves more like humans, but still somewhat reserved and with a natural aptitude for magic.
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Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 4:11 pm
That's good Mel. I like that attitude you got! I made mine a bit different though. In one of my worlds, there are two kinds of elves, one kind is somewhat elusive and tries to stay away from humans. They're also kind and gentle with animals and other beings. Most of them don't really trust humans cuz they've seen how cruel some can be with the animals. The other kind however, are more enlightened as they are always seeking to extend their knowledge. They completely shun humans because the human race has always used trees to build their homes. They've seen how trees are treated by mankind and they don't appreciate it. They may not be arrogant but some of them can be just because they are more agile than their human counterparts. There's still something to be said about my elves but I don't want to spill the beans completely (sort of speak) just yet. sweatdrop Let me know what you think about this if you like...
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Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 10:01 am
There are 3 types of elf in my world, you could consider a 4th, but they are basically the same race who have different lifestyles.
1.) The elf/wood elf.
* They're most like humans by means of the way they live and think. They have have cities, they live alongside and amongst humans, and they have jobs that humans do as well. The wood elves are the same, but they live in the wilds in much the same way as Native Americans do and tend to be more elusive and secluded.
2.) White elf.
* Very pale skin with white or silver hair. They prefer to live near rivers and waterfalls in forested areas. I'm not going to say to much or reveal their tribal name.
3.) Dark elf.
* Grey skin, black hair. They live primarily in a very dark canyon region of the world (not underground like the Drow). They will liaise with humans, and they will also speak with other elves (the whites are very wary and dislike them greatly as a rule, the elves tend to be neutral but aloof, and the wood elves are as wary as the whites). Again, not going to mention the tribal name.
I like your ideas Hypno (still don't know your real name by the way - if I did I've forgotten so I'm truly sorry if I have!). Your ideas don't seem to differ much from my own, so we're likeminded in that respect. smile
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Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 1:36 pm
DM_Melkhar Elrond's line "men? Men are weak" is one such example of arrogance. Yes, perhaps Tolkien's elves are more resistant to powerful magic (etc), but that's no reason to look down on those whose wills aren't quite as strong. Hugo Weaving portrays Elrond well I think, but he's still arrogant. It's the fact that they "know" they've got higher abilities than humans and other races. It'd only take one of Tolkien's elves to have a mind like Hitler to create a force like the Nazis (only without the extremes in violence). Actually, that's one of a great many ways in which the movies got the Elves wrong... Elves view Men as equals, but very very different creatures. And, for the most part, Men view Elves the same way. This is far more obvious in Silmarillion than it is in Lord of the Rings, though. In LotR, we're seeing the final diminishing of the Elves and the final rise of Men. In the Silmarillion, we see them working far more closely together with sort of the opposite situation (Elves are in their heyday while Men are just getting established... Elves awoke first and Men came along quite a bit later). At any rate, both races are known as the Children of Illuvatar (being the races that Illuvatar, the One, created without the Valar acting as middle-men) and recognize the places that the other has in the world. Essentially the only thing that really keeps them from intermingling too much (there are only four elf-man unions in the entire history of Middle-earth) is the fact that one is immortal while the other is not. That fact alone is what makes them so alien to each other. But neither really thinks they're better than the other, at all. Berz.
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Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 2:23 pm
I'm just not keen on that kind of portrayal I suppose. Even if Peter Jackson got it slightly wrong, there's still some truth in it. Elves have always had that somewhat aloof kind of attitude, and, like with humans there are some exceptions. Some are friendlier than others, some are cruel and others are simply aloof. I do think elves have more of a natural tendency towards being quite reserved though.
I won't knock Tolkien's work at all because I believe that in his day he defined the fantasy genre as being something truly inspirational. However, it may be a long time before I get around to taking his work a lot more seriously because I need to do that in order to have patience with his long-winded style.
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Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 4:49 pm
DM_Melkhar
I like your ideas Hypno (still don't know your real name by the way - if I did I've forgotten so I'm truly sorry if I have!). Your ideas don't seem to differ much from my own, so we're likeminded in that respect. smile Thanks Mel! Oh and, my real name is "Fernando". I'm not sure but I think I must have told you about it, I apologize if I didn't. sweatdrop I think it's really cool that we view elves in a similar way. I bet that if we lived close (in the same area) we would be such close buddies (maybe even more, but I doubt it since you don't like older guys). BTW, I had no idea about what Berz pointed out on her post above. Go figure... neutral
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Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 11:29 am
Yeah, I'd not come across it either. What I did read of Lord of the Rings though, I still found that Tolkien portrayed elves as somewhat arrogant and thinking themselves to be higher life forms than others. Perhaps it's just me, but though Berz says it's not meant to be that way, I still got that impression somehow.
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Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 3:54 pm
Well, it's a better impression than mine, that's fer sure! sweatdrop
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