According to Tolkein books, they lived in a different region to the South West of there Lord of the Rings took place. They were in the Great War against Sauron long ago. They were too far away to travel and help this time.
1
0 Reply
Anonymous
(18-24)
+1 y
Cause it's a European mythical creature. Made up in the north of Europe (just like Chinese or japanese or Indian mythical beings aren't turned African for diversity reasons)(just like African mythical beings are not white, native American or japanese)
I don't think many black people are into elves and it's mythology. So it's not a bug issue to us. Anyways we have our own mythological creatures in Africa. I'd like to see more films or shows about them
Because they aren't Dark Elves. You have multiple types of Elves in fiction. The darker skinned ones are Dark Elves. The ones depicted in many fiction are wood or high elves.
Why would fictional creatures need to have the same racial background as humans? Give them blue skin for all care, in fact they have. Does this count as a black Elf?
Because they come from European folk lore and culture, where the black folk ain't. That's like wondering why Wakanda don't have any white people. It's in freakin' Africa. This is not rocket science.
Well elves kinda stems from Tolkien and he described them as pale skinned I believe Tolkien drew upon nordic myths for them though and the dark elves are the dwarfs sort of...
The apparent origin is from the Norse, adopted by Germanic tribe, and brought to Great Britain. There were not a lot of African Norsemen in the Middle Ages.
Because it's partically based off of a real race of northern European people who tended to be very tall, having lighter hair and skin, and traditionally as their culture at the time was very centered around hunting.
1
0 Reply
Anonymous
(45 Plus)
+1 y
It has nothing to do with racism, Elves don's appear in any African mythology, why would they be portrayed as black? Elves were present mostly in European mythology - Celtic, Germanic, Slavic etc.
2
1 Reply
Opinion Owner
+1 y
As for the update, those East Asian, Persian, Arab etc elves are not from the original mythology, those ethnicities have no elves in their folk tails and legends... it's all a part of the author's imagination (artist who draw or painted them, or made a video game with such unoriginal elves).
Elves have always been portrayed as having light skin because they're a European mythological creature. Mostly in Celtic and Nordic traditions. So it's more accurate to portray them as such
Drizzt wasn't but yeah, he was kinda the exception there. Wood elves are typically darker skinned than high elves too. But I'm pretty sure the whole fair skin nature of elves goes back to wherever the mythology started. I would guess a hurt thing, where everyone was white.
Black and darkness are age old symbols of evil prob bc as animals were scared of the dark simple as that. Thus an evil version of elves are portrayed as black.
Again I think it's just an innate fear of darkness. Most people point out how unfair things are like in movies and such but won't come up with there own version bc popularizing something new is so hard so the same old white elves roam around most fantasy worlds until someone flips the book on how its normally dn.
I'm not a history buff here. But there was a lot more interactions between Europe and Asia and the middle East well before anything really happened in Africa. Also the D&D movie had a black elf... Don't watch it, it was a shitty movie, but still had a black elf as a main character.
As a fan of d&d themed fiction books. Read the storyline of Drizzt the drow. Maybe some of it comes from that. They are mostly evil in the forgotten realms.
What Girls & Guys Said
Opinion
55Opinion
According to Tolkein books, they lived in a different region to the South West of there Lord of the Rings took place. They were in the Great War against Sauron long ago. They were too far away to travel and help this time.
Cause it's a European mythical creature. Made up in the north of Europe (just like Chinese or japanese or Indian mythical beings aren't turned African for diversity reasons)(just like African mythical beings are not white, native American or japanese)
Elves come from pagan European mythology. Particularly Norse, Germanic and Celtic folklore. Therefore elves are mostly white.
Maybe because the origin of the elves are from Europe? I'm not entirely sure either
I don't think many black people are into elves and it's mythology. So it's not a bug issue to us. Anyways we have our own mythological creatures in Africa. I'd like to see more films or shows about them
Elves became really popular and Tolkien wrote it after go to war in Europe so there. Not everybody has to be included in everything.
Because they aren't Dark Elves. You have multiple types of Elves in fiction. The darker skinned ones are Dark Elves. The ones depicted in many fiction are wood or high elves.
Why would fictional creatures need to have the same racial background as humans? Give them blue skin for all care, in fact they have.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1vF3-BsoxEDoes this count as a black Elf?
Because they come from European folk lore and culture, where the black folk ain't. That's like wondering why Wakanda don't have any white people. It's in freakin' Africa. This is not rocket science.
Well elves kinda stems from Tolkien and he described them as pale skinned I believe
Tolkien drew upon nordic myths for them though and the dark elves are the dwarfs sort of...
Tolkien drew upon Catholic traditions, Celtic traditions, the Roman Empire, Venice, English history etc
@Historylover18
Well yes but the elves and dwarves specifically are highly influenced by nordic myths
Yea I'm just adding on
@Historylover18
Ah ok all good then I thought you meant it as a correction
The apparent origin is from the Norse, adopted by Germanic tribe, and brought to Great Britain. There were not a lot of African Norsemen in the Middle Ages.
Because it's partically based off of a real race of northern European people who tended to be very tall, having lighter hair and skin, and traditionally as their culture at the time was very centered around hunting.
It has nothing to do with racism, Elves don's appear in any African mythology, why would they be portrayed as black?
Elves were present mostly in European mythology - Celtic, Germanic, Slavic etc.
As for the update, those East Asian, Persian, Arab etc elves are not from the original mythology, those ethnicities have no elves in their folk tails and legends... it's all a part of the author's imagination (artist who draw or painted them, or made a video game with such unoriginal elves).
For the same reasons African and Asian mythological creatures look like the people of the cultures they belong to.
Elves have always been portrayed as having light skin because they're a European mythological creature. Mostly in Celtic and Nordic traditions. So it's more accurate to portray them as such
Drow are dark skinned if that makes you feel better.
Drows are usually portrayed as evil, but the other types aren't.
Drizzt wasn't but yeah, he was kinda the exception there. Wood elves are typically darker skinned than high elves too. But I'm pretty sure the whole fair skin nature of elves goes back to wherever the mythology started. I would guess a hurt thing, where everyone was white.
Black and darkness are age old symbols of evil prob bc as animals were scared of the dark simple as that. Thus an evil version of elves are portrayed as black.
@gmanhotman and not just elves. Dwarves get the same thing with the Duergar.
Again I think it's just an innate fear of darkness. Most people point out how unfair things are like in movies and such but won't come up with there own version bc popularizing something new is so hard so the same old white elves roam around most fantasy worlds until someone flips the book on how its normally dn.
I'm not a history buff here. But there was a lot more interactions between Europe and Asia and the middle East well before anything really happened in Africa. Also the D&D movie had a black elf... Don't watch it, it was a shitty movie, but still had a black elf as a main character.
Maybe it was the look they were going for. just like how goblins are green and trolls are dark brown or grey and wizards are old dudes in hats.
In the Netherlands Santa has a close black assistant called Black Peter. :)
That’s not an elf though
@janna_jcb Black Peter is a helper to Santa so who cares.
Because mythology comes from Ireland/Northern Ireland
As a fan of d&d themed fiction books. Read the storyline of Drizzt the drow. Maybe some of it comes from that. They are mostly evil in the forgotten realms.
It was created by a white guy, and no one has really challenged it.