On Elves I: Origin

Some time ago, a friend of mine wondered what the relationship was between Santa’s elves (short, hard-working craftsmen who make magical toys) and Tolkien’s elves (tall, mystical, wise, and eternal guardians of the forest). Why are both of these beings called “elves”?

There is a short answer to this question, which is that the word “elf” comes to English from its Germanic ancestry, and has referred to a variety of magical creatures down the centuries. Santa’s elves come from the late 19th century, when it was the fashion for many spirits to be diminutive, adorable, and confined to the nursery. Tolkien’s elves were drawn from the Old English tradition, influenced strongly by the Celts, who saw these beings as extremely powerful and dangerous land-spirits.

But that’s not really a satisfying answer. The heart of the question, really, is why are there elves? They’re not just found in Germanic folklore, as we’ll see. They’re worldwide. Why do we humans tell stories about them? What fascinates us about them? And how do they take so many strange and differing forms, while retaining some elusive core of “elfishness”?

Elves in Modern Culture

To begin answering these questions, let’s gather some data by casting a wide net over modern culture and see what elves (and elf-like) creatures we can nab. We draw our snare from the forests of libraries and movies and, alongside far-seeing Legolas of Mirkwood and the intelligence operative Elf on the Shelf, we find this motley crew:

• Dobby, one of the house-elves who slave away for the wizards in the Harry Potter wizarding world;
• Link, Zelda, and other elves of all stripes in role-playing games and video games (including varieties such as high elves and dark elves) — related to Tolkien’s Legolas, but differing in critical ways;
• The Na’vi from Avatar — tall, nature-loving, and excellent archers, like Legolas, these beings are essentially elves from another planet;
• Yoda from Star Wars — living on a forest world, bearing great wisdom and magical power, Yoda is another space-elf that’s like a cross between a Na’vi and Santa’s Elf;
• Spock from Star Trek — an edge case, I’ll grant you, but he is tall and strong and wise, has “magical” powers, and even has a connection to nature in his occasional lapse into pon farr, the Vulcan mating lust.

Oh, and pointed ears. Did I mention that? All these beings have pointed ears. What is that about?

Elves in Global Mythology

Elvish creatures are not confined to Western literature. Stories of elflike beings appear in cultures around the world, from Celtic sidhe to Chinese xian. Human cultures almost universally have stories of Little People, deeply connected to nature and forests, who get up to all kinds of mischief. The Yaksha of southeast Asia are nature spirits, sometimes tall and sometimes short, usually benevolent, but sometimes mischievous or capricious, connected with water, wilderness, fertility, and treasure. The Tata Duende of Latin America are powerful jungle spirits who are three feet tall, lack thumbs, and lure children into the forest.

Origins of the Elf

Modern depictions of elves often draw on ancient sources. For instance, James Cameron, who created the Na’vi, was inspired by indigenous peoples. Spock’s appearance (with his pointed ears and angled eyebrows) was designed to evoke a devilish contrast to his logical nature. Similarly, Dobby was apparently modeled after European folklore’s fairy cobblers and Santa’s elves, who share a common root. Tolkien’s elves, on the other hand, were directly inspired by medieval Celtic and Germanic literature. Terry Pratchett’s elves are designed to seem like Tolkien’s elves, but are really sociopathic scavengers.

Karl Jung, the founder of depth psychology, once had a dream in which minuscule creatures were continually laboring away in the spaces between atoms, destroying and regenerating reality down at the microscopic level. This led him to wonder about the mythological origin of elves and creatures like them. Why did they appear in our dreams? Were they real, in some sense? Why were we so fascinated by them? Why were we drawn to tell stories about them?

In the next post, we will look more closely at the worldwide myths of the Elf and see if we can apply Jung’s depth psychology to these questions.