Poll: Why I don't like Elves

[Oneirius]

Well, this isn't really meant to be a serious thing, because hey, it's fantasy. Don't look at it too hard, it's just meant to use the common stereotypes, not be an exact cultural match up.

all i have to say is: goblins, a la WoW and Harry Potter. they're cunning schemers, control commerce and the banks, and they have giant hook-noses.

So, basically, the goblins are jews?

 

[randommaster]

Well, this isn't really meant to be a serious thing, because hey, it's fantasy. Don't look at it too hard, it's just meant to use the common stereotypes, not be an exact cultural match up.

all i have to say is: goblins, a la WoW and Harry Potter. they're cunning schemers, control commerce and the banks, and they have giant hook-noses.

Didn't you know? Blizzard is actually run by Hitler's brain, which they keep in a jar in their secret vault.

As for J.K. Rowling, I have no clue.

 

[Oneirius]

This makes so much sense. I understand it all now.

 

[TiteAce]

Elfs are small and ugly and help Santa, since when are they tall and sexy? Its cool and all but what the hell...

 

[Skeleon]

Heh, a little while ago I reinstalled Dungeon Siege 2 and was now mildy surprised.
The Elves there, well...
They are the size of humans, pointy-eared, presumably long-lived.
Yet, somehow they don't bother me that much.
There's actual interaction between them and the main characters. This may sound stupid, but those Elves behave like human beings, what with their emotions (sadness, anger, thankfulness etc.) and some very minor character development.
This is a really weird sensation considering Dungeon Siege isn't really known for its extraordinary atmosphere or plot-depth.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Elfs are small and ugly and help Santa, since when are they tall and sexy? Its cool and all but what the hell...

Elves are small and play tricks and kidnap people to do unspeakable things to them, since when do they help Santa?

 

[quiet_samurai]

Am I the only one, who thinks Elfs are kinda like gays and Dwarfs are kinda like Jews?

That damn near made me launch juice through my nose, totally unexpected.


In most fantasy lore the elves usually need no delelopement because they are condsidered to be perfect, especially in Tolkiens world. And perfection no longer needs development. Also, in fantasy there is an across the board message which is usually iterrated by the older races like elves or dwarves, and that is that humans as a whole are the most terrifying and beutiful life forms around. The fact they are mortal and short lived is what inspires their drive to become great but is also responsible for their greed and ambition.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Am I the only one, who thinks Elfs are kinda like gays and Dwarfs are kinda like Jews?

That damn near made me launch juice through my nose, totally unexpected.


In most fantasy lore the elves usually need no development because they are considered to be perfect, especially in Tolkien's world. And perfection no longer needs development. Also, in fantasy there is an across the board message which is usually iterated by the older races like elves or dwarves, and that is that humans as a whole are the most terrifying and beautiful life forms around. The fact they are mortal and short lived is what inspires their drive to become great but is also responsible for their greed and ambition.

They're far from perfect in Tolkien's world. Maybe at first creation they were, but then little instances involving the Silmarils, Melkor/Morgoth, the Kinslayings, the initial contact with humans, and stuff happened. The elves have had a long, often screwed-up existence, and by the time Lord of the Rings rolls around, they've pretty much acknowledged that they're washed up and they're moving out.

Oddly, that message of "humans are interesting" is writ large in Middle Earth. They're the Second Children, after all, and the ones gifted with mortality.

 

[Skeleon]

Oddly, that message of "humans are interesting" is writ large in Middle Earth. They're the Second Children, after all, and the ones gifted with mortality.

On a related (but still off-topic) note: I really liked that scene where Samwise comments on that dead Haradrim. It showed the humanity of them very well, especially considering the "wicked men" weren't voluntarily fighting for Sauron. It was a much needed counterpoint to the (mostly) black-and-white picture LOTR draws.

 

[Ultrajoe]

Am I the only one, who thinks Elfs are kinda like gays and Dwarfs are kinda like Jews?
It would make sense because Tolkien admitted that Nazis were a big inspiration for orcs, who wanted to exterminate them.

Utter bollocks. I know I may be rehashing page 1 nonsense, but I didn't see this refuted.

Tolkien wrote his book to be 'neither topical nor allegorical', he took great care to never associate his stories with wars or his people with equivalent races or communities. He was quite staunch in his stance, and I'm going to need to call shenanigans on that there claim.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Global Agenda seems to agree with with the OP:
Damn I want that game to succeed, it has style.

 

[hypothetical fact]

Am I the only one, who thinks Elfs are kinda like gays and Dwarfs are kinda like Jews?
It would make sense because Tolkien admitted that Nazis were a big inspiration for orcs, who wanted to exterminate them.

Utter bollocks. I know I may be rehashing page 1 nonsense, but I didn't see this refuted.

Tolkien wrote his book to be 'neither topical nor allegorical', he took great care to never associate his stories with wars or his people with equivalent races or communities. He was quite staunch in his stance, and I'm going to need to call shenanigans on that there claim.

It was the europeans with their blonde hair and blue eyes fighting the evil indians with their collosal elephants and exotic fashion.

Also I hate elves to the point that I wrote a 1500 word paper on the bastards and how they are killing fantasy. Course like all academic papers it can be summed up in a couple of words: Elves are easy fantasy so devs use them and customers have been saturated with elves for so long that if they don't see elves they feel confused.

 

[HiThere]

Tolkein's elves represented, in the LOTR, the passing of legend and magic into obscurity necessary to bring about a world where humans could exist and determine their own fate. On a fundamental level, they are in the backdrop, and the more you find out about them (The Silmarillon, etc.), the more obscure and less detailed the descriptions become. Think about it: If you were going to represent the fantastic, the unknown, the magical, etc. as being a fundamental part of the creation and history of your world, then you must remain at a certain distance, lest you make the magic mundane. Tolkein's elves are the perfect means to do this, allowing him to link to, or provide glimpses of, the fantastic. They provide sufficient lore for the fantastic backdrop, but do so in a way that distances the reader and obscures the mundane machinations that we humans are subject to. Similarly, in LOTR, the Numenorean race is all but died out, the balrogs, dragons, spawn of Ungoliant, etc. are all on the decline, and humanity is pitted in a last ditch effort against the forces of decay and evil...if the elves played a pivotal role in this particular conflict, then the reader loses identification with the heroes and doesn't get the sense that as much is at stake (as in, "yeah, there's all these happy elves everywhere, so none of this magical world is really in jeopardy).

So yeah, elves are ***holes, but necessarily so.

 

[mshcherbatskaya]

Am I the only one, who thinks Elfs are kinda like gays and Dwarfs are kinda like Jews?
It would make sense because Tolkien admitted that Nazis were a big inspiration for orcs, who wanted to exterminate them.

Like gays and jews or like the cultural stereotypes of gays and jews? It's an important distinction.

 

[Artemis923]

Never really liked elves much.

Then I discovered Drizzt.

That, and elf women are damn sexy. Makes me wish I could find one XD

 

[Bocaj2000]

Huh, from what I've read, an elf is only an agile fighter with a different culture. They can be just as savage as an orc, but chooses to try to be more civil. In other words I always saw them as Shaolin monks and the drow being the opposite of Shaolin monks.

Am I the only one, who thinks Elfs are kinda like gays and Dwarfs are kinda like Jews?
It would make sense because Tolkien admitted that Nazis were a big inspiration for orcs, who wanted to exterminate them.

Like gays and jews or like the cultural stereotypes of gays and jews? It's an important distinction.

gay people and jewish people.

 

[mshcherbatskaya]

Huh, from what I've read, an elf is only an agile fighter with a different culture. They can be just as savage as an orc, but chooses to try to be more civil. In other words I always saw them as Shaolin monks and the drow being the opposite of Shaolin monks.

Am I the only one, who thinks Elfs are kinda like gays and Dwarfs are kinda like Jews?
It would make sense because Tolkien admitted that Nazis were a big inspiration for orcs, who wanted to exterminate them.

Like gays and jews or like the cultural stereotypes of gays and jews? It's an important distinction.

gay people and jewish people.

As opposed to gay and Jewish what? Horses? Lawn ornaments? Of course people. But when he says "Dwarves are kinda like Jews", that begs the question, what are Jews like? Unless he's talking about the Diaspora and being the subjects of periodic genocidal campaigns, which, I dunno, I don't recall the Dwarves being like that. Unless it was in the Silmarillion. I never made it through that.

 

[Mozared]

I've always prefered Dwarves over Elves. I used to think this was a pet peeve of mine until I read the OP's post; now that you mention it, the reason for this is actually because Elves are always so 'slow and boring'. That and the fact that everybody and their sons seem to like Elves most in any given fantasy genre.

 

[Bocaj2000]

Huh, from what I've read, an elf is only an agile fighter with a different culture. They can be just as savage as an orc, but chooses to try to be more civil. In other words I always saw them as Shaolin monks and the drow being the opposite of Shaolin monks.

Am I the only one, who thinks Elfs are kinda like gays and Dwarfs are kinda like Jews?
It would make sense because Tolkien admitted that Nazis were a big inspiration for orcs, who wanted to exterminate them.

Like gays and jews or like the cultural stereotypes of gays and jews? It's an important distinction.

gay people and jewish people.

As opposed to gay and Jewish what? Horses? Lawn ornaments? Of course people. But when he says "Dwarves are kinda like Jews", that begs the question, what are Jews like? Unless he's talking about the Diaspora and being the subjects of periodic genocidal campaigns, which, I dunno, I don't recall the Dwarves being like that. Unless it was in the Silmarillion. I never made it through that.

as opposed to steriotypes like you said. do you read what you write?
But really, the point is that it doesn't matter who resembles who. If the orcs are supposed to resemble Nazis, then it would be because the subject of killing all people who aren't your race for no other purpose.

 

[mshcherbatskaya]

as opposed to steriotypes like you said. do you read what you write?
But really, the point is that it doesn't matter who resembles who. If the orcs are supposed to resemble Nazis, then it would be because the subject of killing all people who aren't your race for no other purpose.

Of course it do. I was asking Kukul (not you) to clarify what he (not you) meant by his (not your) statement that theelves are like gays and the Dwarves were like Jews, namely cultural stereotype on ethnic history, and quite frankly, whether he meant the stereotype as a stereotype or simply made generalizations about what Jews are like. Of course we all know what gays are like, and the elves were all a bunch of nancy boys, and the females were all butch as hell. Galadriel, what a bulldagger she was. Oh, wait...