*Draws sword*Craorach said:
Back off, knave! She's mine!
OT: I don't mind elves. I just tune them out when they go on rants about how amazing they are. Oh, and I kill any Thalmor I see.
Why So: Anti-Elf?
- Thread starter Kimarous
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Back off, knave! She's mine!
OT: I don't mind elves. I just tune them out when they go on rants about how amazing they are. Oh, and I kill any Thalmor I see.
Really, I think the problem is that elves are usually portrayed as arrogant and "high and mighty". Remember oblivion? Dark elves were particularly bad. I never met a single one that I didn't feel like punching.
Of course, there are exceptions, skyrim handled them significantly better, witcher and dragon age completely turns the usual portrayal of elves on its head.
Of course, there are exceptions, skyrim handled them significantly better, witcher and dragon age completely turns the usual portrayal of elves on its head.
I don't mind elves (except when they are overblown, like in D&D where there is an elf subrace for every single environment. how did a 1000 year living rarely breeding race get so adapted for specific environments?)
Its Drow I hate. Not because of what they were originally written to be, but because of the chaotic good drow online fandom.
Its Drow I hate. Not because of what they were originally written to be, but because of the chaotic good drow online fandom.
Eleves tend to be basically mary-sued out humans who are completely aware of their status and dedicate their existence to being smug-as-shit about it.
"Oh, what's that humans? I couldn't hear you over the sound of our pristine utopia that the author was using to make a heavy-handed point about human society."
"Oh, what's that humans? I couldn't hear you over the sound of our pristine utopia that the author was using to make a heavy-handed point about human society."
Because elves are elitist assholes rubbing their superiority in our human faces. Talking with nature and communing with the trees, damn hippies. I rue the day we ever ally ourselves with such creatures!
~ Sincerely every human in a modern "dark" RPG, which is all of them
I actually think that has a lot to do with it. Elves in the games are usually looked down upon as either second class citizens or elitist assholes who try to control everything. Unless you happen to play as an elf, a lot of the game context will paint them as "bad" in some way. As for why the developers do that, I really couldn't say. It might just be the "in" thing right now.
~ Sincerely every human in a modern "dark" RPG, which is all of them
I actually think that has a lot to do with it. Elves in the games are usually looked down upon as either second class citizens or elitist assholes who try to control everything. Unless you happen to play as an elf, a lot of the game context will paint them as "bad" in some way. As for why the developers do that, I really couldn't say. It might just be the "in" thing right now.
because elves are spindly and weak!
also the "we're good at everything but our civilization was destroyed" thing is fucking old. if you're so wonderful elves, you wouldn't be camping out in a tent in the woods with your supposedly superior weapons and magic.
also the "we're good at everything but our civilization was destroyed" thing is fucking old. if you're so wonderful elves, you wouldn't be camping out in a tent in the woods with your supposedly superior weapons and magic.
I don't really "hate" elves per say, but I have two problems with them: 1) they've appeared in pretty much every "dungeons and dragons"-esque fantasy ever made for the past 50 fucking years, and 2) thanks to Tolkien, their portrayal is simply that they are less shitty versions of humans, giving them a dickish attitude and very little that it unique about them (seriously, they're just humans with better eyes and longer life-spans. boooooring...). Even in Dragon Age, they're portrayed as some kind of mythical super people who lost their powers and now suck as much as humans. It's basically the Atlantis myth with pointier ears. Give us something new fantasy genre!!
When I can I avoid playing humans, so elves are generally my go-to race (Since I don't play the other stock races, dwarves or orcs). In most games I've played Elves are ranged/magic based, which I suppose would irk a lot of players that play melee characters. Beyond on that I can't think of anything else, they're basically humans with better figures and pointier ears. :/
I LOVE elves. But only the correct elves. IE: Dark/blood or typical evil variations.
So naturally I WOULD hate high/wood/half/night/elvaan or any other typically "good" variation. They tend to embody hypocrisy more than anything else, and as such should be smeared into a pulpy paste on the nearest solid but jagged object.
So naturally I WOULD hate high/wood/half/night/elvaan or any other typically "good" variation. They tend to embody hypocrisy more than anything else, and as such should be smeared into a pulpy paste on the nearest solid but jagged object.
We have stories, but the Mary Sue stories prevail. If the author(s) feel generous we might get dark elves who are the same as the other elves, just hate humans and other stuff. And even then: Drizzt and all of his clones.thaluikhain said:
Look up the True Fae from Changeling the Lost. You could say they are cruel. You can never say they are less alien.thaluikhain said:
Because they're boring.
EVERY damn fantasy game shoe-horns them in and they're just so damn plain. All they ever seem to have for them is "Oh their purty elfey mystic things" and that just gets boring. It's funny that the men and woman both look the same but they're pretty much the default "Must Have" race.
Give me a walking Slug who throws GooBalls at people or something.
That said, they make a wonderful fuel.
EVERY damn fantasy game shoe-horns them in and they're just so damn plain. All they ever seem to have for them is "Oh their purty elfey mystic things" and that just gets boring. It's funny that the men and woman both look the same but they're pretty much the default "Must Have" race.
Give me a walking Slug who throws GooBalls at people or something.
That said, they make a wonderful fuel.
My hate isn't so much in Elves themselves, but rather the people that played them in ALL the MMOs I played. They've always been fanboys of something I didn't like, mainly Final Fantasy. Aside from that, I don't mind elves. I have a Half-Elf bard on DDO. For Guild Wars 2, I plan to have a Sylvari Thief. The Sylvari aren't elves, but they represent them in a way. The beautiful, human like race that seems to have more mages than warriors. The main thing that separates them is that they're plant-people and are actually so young that none have died of natural causes and Elves are typically the oldest race.
EDIT:
I find this appropriate
EDIT:
I find this appropriate
Usually to poop with.manic_depressive13 said:
Yes! I thought I was the only one that thought that Liv Tyler was absolutely beautiful in her portrayal of Arwen.Craorach said:
OT: I don't hate elves, but I never play them in games. I always end up with a Half-Elf. They have the best aspects of two different races. Elves are just too...brittle.
I've always loved Elves mainly because they are arrogant better-than-thou super-perfect.
I got into fantasy - like, really into it - by reading Lord of the Rings after the first movie came out and introduced me to the genre proper (before that I only lightly touched on fantasy through games like WarCraft II, Diablo II and Heroes of Might and Magic III and was much more of a sci-fi kid) and I really always felt that the Elves in that setting were... Well, "right". Everything about them clicked and seemed to really make sense.
They are percieved as arrogant because they ARE better than humans, they are smarter, more beautiful, more magically powerful, live for thousands of years. With well-written characters you can have them come across as interesting despite the lack of obvious flaws and their exaggarated traits. The Silmarillion is just amazing in the first section when it deals with the dawn of Elves and the coming of war over the Silmarils.
It really needs to be handled carefully not to make the arrogant better-than-thou attitude be really grating and obnoxious, which is probably to blame for why people out-of-universe dislike Elves to begin with.
I'm a big fan of the Draenei in WarCraft and the Asari in Mass Effect who are both pretty much just space Elves (to an extent, the same applies to the Protoss of StarCraft and the Vulcans in Star Trek), because in the hands of good writers they provide such a stark contrast to the "down and gritty" setup that the more "Human-like" races tend to have.
I got into fantasy - like, really into it - by reading Lord of the Rings after the first movie came out and introduced me to the genre proper (before that I only lightly touched on fantasy through games like WarCraft II, Diablo II and Heroes of Might and Magic III and was much more of a sci-fi kid) and I really always felt that the Elves in that setting were... Well, "right". Everything about them clicked and seemed to really make sense.
They are percieved as arrogant because they ARE better than humans, they are smarter, more beautiful, more magically powerful, live for thousands of years. With well-written characters you can have them come across as interesting despite the lack of obvious flaws and their exaggarated traits. The Silmarillion is just amazing in the first section when it deals with the dawn of Elves and the coming of war over the Silmarils.
It really needs to be handled carefully not to make the arrogant better-than-thou attitude be really grating and obnoxious, which is probably to blame for why people out-of-universe dislike Elves to begin with.
I'm a big fan of the Draenei in WarCraft and the Asari in Mass Effect who are both pretty much just space Elves (to an extent, the same applies to the Protoss of StarCraft and the Vulcans in Star Trek), because in the hands of good writers they provide such a stark contrast to the "down and gritty" setup that the more "Human-like" races tend to have.