On The "Elven Meme."
What does it mean to be "Elven?"
NOTE: This article is currently a work in progress, hence its unfinished state.
Mention Elves, and most people will envision one of two things; either pudgy, jolly, cute little sprites who manufacture cookies, shoes, and/or toys; or a race of tall, serenely graceful, magical, near-immortal-forest-dwelling "pseudo-celtic" entities that seem to exist at one with nature. Thanks mostly to the popularity of the written works of J.R.R. Tolkien (and their recent success at the cinema in film form) and all of the similar works of fantasy fiction that have been spawned since then, the latter conception of Elves seems to be winning out. But where did these differing visions of Elfdom come from, and which (if either) is an "accurate" description?
The "Elves" that Tolkien described in his books have their basis in ancient Norse and Gaelic lore, with the tales of the Alfar, the Tuatha De Dannan, and (later) the Sidhe. Certain writers (such as Laurence Gardner and Nicholas de Vere) and those who ascribe to their version of events believe that these legends were based in fact, that these Elves truly existed. As such, it is this latter version of the Elven Meme that I will be focusing upon at the moment.
In most works of fantasy that contain Elves, the humans are often portrayed as being ignorant, warlike, impulsive, wasteful, quarrelsome, and needlessly prideful short-sighted brutes by comparison - bickering, grasping, greedy, and spitefully childish creatures who consume all natural resources in their path like a swarm of locusts. Now, let's take a look at the Elves in these same stories, shall we? Frankly, they're superhuman. They are wiser than we are, better, and more good-looking than we could ever hope to be. They are frequently credited with the use of magical, mystical powers - and they're better stewards of the Earth, to boot. In short, they are a highly idealized version of ourselves; they are everything we wish we could be.
Immortality, glittery magical powers, and nigh-impossible standards of beauty aside, though; why couldn't we be more like the Elves in these stories? Why couldn't we be more level-headed? Who says we couldn't be better conservationists, if we'd just put a little bit more effort into it? Why must we slaughter each other needlessly over paltry differences in race, creed, or religion? Why couldn't we be more responsible, more respectful of each other, and more mindful of the consequences of our own actions? It doesn't seem to be so difficult, once one takes a moment to think about it.
I. The Elves in ancient myth and legend.
Elves were not always seen as paragons of everything that is Right and True. Ancient legends actually contain many examples of Elves who were warlike and brutal, Elves who made foolish, tragic mistakes like ordinary mortals, and even Elves who haunted lonely, wild places at night, who stole babies and killed livestock and drank blood.
If the more horrific tales were to be believed, the Elves were entirely alien beings - malicious at worst, and indifferent to humanity at best. The Humans in these stories often fell victim to forces of magic beyond their comprehension or control, to become either the prey of the Elves, or their playthings.
Nicholas de Vere credits the Medieval Church for spreading much of the negative propaganda, while admitting that the Elven peoples as he is trying to describe them - as the direct ancestors of the Royal Scythian tribe - could indeed be brutal and warlike if they chose. After all, the Scythian peoples were well-known to be ferocious warriors, even far back into Biblical times. They were were superb marksmen and horsemen who utterly embarrassed the Persian army on one occasion. And yes, they were also known to drink blood.
By the Middle Ages, all sorts of charms existed to ward off the supposedly malicious Elves, who by this time had been demonized by the Catholic Church (this part of de Vere's ranting is true.) During this time, the Church considered Elves to be very real entities in league with Satan, though there was a great deal of speculation as to whether they were fallen angels, the lost souls of the unsanctified or unburied dead, or merely the remnants of "false" gods and goddesses from pre-Christian times.
However, superstitions regarding the "Unseelie Folk" (i.e. Bad Elves) existed much earlier than that. People were referring to them as the "Good Folk" even as far back as the Bronze Age - not because they were actually "good," but because they didn't want to piss them off, and even mentioning the Elves by name was thought to bring about both their notice - and their displeasure. Iron, especially "cold" (unforged) iron was supposed to drive them off. People were told to beware of "Elf Shot," psychic arrows that were said to cause paralysis or disease. Stories were told of "Trooping Faeries" ranging through the land, to the fearsome Wild Hunt and the dreaded Huntsman who led it.
Then, something changed about the way that Elves were perceived.
II. Elves in modern Literature: The "Victorian Ideal."
As the Renaissance dawned, the concept of Elves as tiny fairies or dwarfish pranksters (as best expressed in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream) eventually came to supersede the role they'd played as ghouls, goblins, and boogeymen within the public consciousness. This in turn began to change around the latter part of the Victorian era, as the stories of the Sidhe, the Alfar, and the Tuatha De Dannan began to be told again - within the context of the Victorian Romance.
The phrase Victorian Era is commonly used to refer to the period of time between the mid 19th century to the turn of the 20th century. While the people of this time touted strict ideals of (sexual) morality, patriotism, industry, temperance, and piety, they were also (ironically) beginning to look back upon the earlier Middle and Dark Ages with a sort of sugar-glazed nostalgia, believing that things were less complicated and that people of those days were freer and more spiritually innocent. A more rural, pastoral existence was especially romanticized in the literature of this time, in sharp contrast to the increasing industrialization of the English countryside.
Author Michael Moorcock has written at great length (negatively so, in articles like Epic Pooh and Starship Stormtroopers) about how Tolkien's novels are a corrupted example of the "Victorian Romance," in keeping with Tolkien's seemingly idealized vision of the emerald-green hills and lush fields of the Shire. Perhaps a lot of this criticism is warranted (I'll never look at an Orc the same way again after reading Stormtroopers, for example) but one must also remember that the initial bones of Tolkien's story were formed while Tolkien was in the trenches during World War I. In a sense, he was the Hobbit, stuck in the depths of Mordor, and wanting nothing more than to return home to the Shire. Within this context, The Lord of the Rings suddenly becomes a thinly-veiled fantasy allegory about the events surrounding WWI, about the Hobbits (English farm boys sent off to war) versus the mechanizations of Sauron and Saruman (The WWI-era Central Powers) and their "Orcs" (working-class German soldiers.)III. Another example: The Elfquest Saga.
Since Tolkien, it seems that Elves within contemporary fantasy have in most cases either been written according to or counter to the Victorian ideal. Warranted or not, Moorcock's criticism of Tolkien especially drove home the fact that Tolkien's books are an example of a tale written in the style of Victorian Romance - and as such, they glorify a return to a more bucolic existence within a rural setting. And let's face it, no fantasy icon exemplifies being "at one with nature" more than an Elf.
Wendy and Richard Pini's Elfquest is another popular saga depicting Elves, and it is perhaps the best example of a work that runs sharply counter to the "Victorian" ideal. It started hitting the shelves during the mid-to-late seventies, after the social revolution and rebellion of a generation that sought to overthrow the Victorian standards of "sexual morality" and middle-class conformity that were now considered to be oppressive and repressive.
The central characters of the Elfquest series, the Wolfriders and the Sun Folk, seem to be the epitome of what the "Hippie" generation aspired to - free-spirited, sexually liberated folks who live in complete harmony with their environment (the deep forest in the case of the Wolfriders, while the agrarian Sun Folk peacefully tend their farms on an oasis in the middle of a desert.) The overriding theme throughout all of the graphic novels is one of respect and the value of personal connection versus alienation, fear, and dominion.
These latter qualities crop up frequently within the saga's antagonists, especially a clan of lofty Elves known as the Gliders. Under the tyrannical and darkly manipulative influence of a character named Winnowill, the Gliders maintain that they are the best examples of "True Elfdom" in the world in which this story takes place, and that all of the other Elven tribes are devolved degenerates and by-blows who either need to be expunged from the Elven gene pool, or to bow down and accept the Gliders as their rightful overlords.
Her principle foes are Cutter, chieftain of the Wolfriders, and his lifemate Leetah, of the Sun Folk. Leetah is a strong-willed woman and a powerful healer in her own right, and it is she who ends up putting Winnowill in her place more often than not. Humans are initially introduced in the story as brutal savages who persecute the Elves, though in many cases individual humans, or select tribes of humans, are eventually able to achieve a state of peaceful understanding and co-existence with the Elves. In the far-flung future of the storyline, the Elves are all but gone (having all left the planet except for a few adventurers, such as the character Jink) and only their legends remain on the World of Two Moons.In the end, the Elfquest story can be seen as an allegory about triumph of the themes of tolerance, community, and cooperation between different peoples over the propaganda of fear and hatred, and fascist forms of societal control. It can also be seen as an allegory about the different ways that Elves have been perceived within folklore - first, as boogeymen to be feared, then as ethereal godlings to be envied, and eventually as a legendary race that has seemingly vanished into the mists of time.