1) The fact that they're better than everyone else
Elves are the most Mary Sue race - they're pretty, immortal humans with pointy ears and they're all unimaginably pure and wise and stuff, and agile, and superhuman with no interesting downsides. Oh and of course they're the best archers and when they fall in love with a human it's not creepy, it's tragic because the Elf lives so much longer and will be all sad because the human doesn't live very long.
2) The fact that they ACT like they're better than everyone else
If there's one thing I hate more than a Mary Sue race it's one that won't shut up about it. It's always "we're the wisest", "you short lived foolish humans couldn't possibly understand how much better we are at everything" and "your sinful nature is driving us out of middle Earth because I guess you ruin everything". might be more tolerable if writers ever allowed them to be wrong for once.
3) Their love of nature
This isn't such a big deal, it's more that they're always "in tune" with nature and have a "special connection" to it nobody else does. Other than that a bunch of tree people are kind of cool as a concept.
4) Their effeminacy
It's a stylistic thing, I don't begrudge it. The fact they look so human is worse. I mean, at the very least it's a slight, insignificant downside to being an elf, which is needed.
5) Their attractiveness (to girls, usually)
Yeah, the fact Elves always look like much prettier versions of humans bugs me, because it gets back to the "Mary Sue race" thing. You never see old or fat or bearded elves nor do they ever have scars - it's more than a little implausible.
6) The fact that they're little more than humans with pointy ears
So much. Of all the races you can have in fantasy, the standard is "normal human", "short human" and "pretty human". It's stupidly boring and as a concept makes no sense - why are their ears pointy? why are they so human? Why did they get all the good genetics if they're so obviously related to our species?
Which is why I picked 7) All of the above
Elves are the most Mary Sue race - they're pretty, immortal humans with pointy ears and they're all unimaginably pure and wise and stuff, and agile, and superhuman with no interesting downsides. Oh and of course they're the best archers and when they fall in love with a human it's not creepy, it's tragic because the Elf lives so much longer and will be all sad because the human doesn't live very long.
2) The fact that they ACT like they're better than everyone else
If there's one thing I hate more than a Mary Sue race it's one that won't shut up about it. It's always "we're the wisest", "you short lived foolish humans couldn't possibly understand how much better we are at everything" and "your sinful nature is driving us out of middle Earth because I guess you ruin everything". might be more tolerable if writers ever allowed them to be wrong for once.
3) Their love of nature
This isn't such a big deal, it's more that they're always "in tune" with nature and have a "special connection" to it nobody else does. Other than that a bunch of tree people are kind of cool as a concept.
4) Their effeminacy
It's a stylistic thing, I don't begrudge it. The fact they look so human is worse. I mean, at the very least it's a slight, insignificant downside to being an elf, which is needed.
5) Their attractiveness (to girls, usually)
Yeah, the fact Elves always look like much prettier versions of humans bugs me, because it gets back to the "Mary Sue race" thing. You never see old or fat or bearded elves nor do they ever have scars - it's more than a little implausible.
6) The fact that they're little more than humans with pointy ears
So much. Of all the races you can have in fantasy, the standard is "normal human", "short human" and "pretty human". It's stupidly boring and as a concept makes no sense - why are their ears pointy? why are they so human? Why did they get all the good genetics if they're so obviously related to our species?
Which is why I picked 7) All of the above
