Elves, based on Anglo-Saxon Perception

[MSadiq]

While they're called Elves, they're not elves, not in the Tolkien way. The word elf (ælf in Old English) denoted white, feminine creatures that are always male, at least until around the 11th century, but they're also of what they called the "hedge" or mark (mearc). The hedge is between the in-group and the out-group. The in-group is where safety is at. It's your village, town, or farmstead. While the out-group lives beyond the forest next to you, beyond the glade, and beyond the hills, and for off; it's where the giants, eoten (the ettins), live and where the "barbarians," like the viking invaders live. The out-group is always dangerous, always harmful to the whole in-group; they represent existential threats.

As for creatures of the hedge, where the gods—like Woden, Tue, Thunner—and the elves lived, they weren't exclusively harmful. They could be useful, too, and the harm they carried was only upon individuals, who committed taboos or did something really stupid. Think of the forest. A mushroom can be poisonous and it can be edible, and so it is of the hedge.

My idea is that Elves were, as the legends told about them state, mighty beasts that lived in the forests and hills that separated the different settlements of the Elfkin, who the Elves had begotten without copulating, through sacrificing parts of themselves, and so the Elfkins were born. Each Elfkin carries a characteristic of his progenitor. The Ravenkin have great black wings, the Lykin can unleash devastating roars, and the Spitherkin can weave threads, and so on.

The the many Elfkin, the Elves were deities, whom they worshiped and respected, but also feared because they're of the Hedge. They taught the Elfkin how to produce magnificent creations that little of which survived into the current day—stairs that pass through mountains, city walls, so tall a man is like an ant before them, how to craft jewelry, and so on, but they also taught them how to rule, but all of that was through Elfdreams.

Because they're of the Hedge, Elves weren't meant to communicate (for reasons I won't discuss here) directly with their Kin, and so they communicated through Elfdreams, which were induced through ingesting (still not sure on how) the leaves of Elfthane. Elves that broke this law were smote, and the Kin that entered the hedge were either made to come down with Elfshot or killed by their Elf.

Elves also protected the boundaries between each Kin, preventing them from marching into the territories of each other and forbidden from invasion.

A group of Elves that would be known as the Lordsic Elves broke these laws. They believed them as unjust. How come an Elf that can crush another with its paws have to eat at the same table as another Elf who should have been served to him on the table? So they rebelled.

Not only did they communicate with their Kin directly, they taught them how to create things that were too cruel to be called created; they made constructions, gruff and destructive. They used them to spill the first blood and destroy the first village, town, and city. But none of their constructions remain, for they weren’t just destructive to creations, but also to themselves.

Another set of Elves opposed them and wanted to preserve the order as it was. They're called the Right Elves and their Kin the Right Kin, and so a war unfurled between them. The Forewar.

It was a brutal war; most of Right Elves perished. Only seven remained, but even they perished later on. Many of the Lordsicks ceased to be. Some are Kin without their Elf, and others are Elf without Kin. But most are no more, neither Kin not Elf. Still, there are Lordsic Elves who still live, but they're akin to mere beasts (for long reasons).

This skips a lot lore and background information, but I hope it doesn't come out as too vague.
Important historic note (if you care): while the title says "based on Anglo-Saxon Perception," the historic corpus of elves (ælfe) that we have is probably only representative of the higher strata's beliefs of elves, not all Anglo-Saxons. If you're interested, and willing to go through a dense read, refer to Elves in Anglo-Saxon England by Alaric Hall.

 

[JBCrowson]

Interesting lore to backdrop a story. What's the story going to be about?

 

[MSadiq]

Interesting lore to backdrop a story. What's the story going to be about?

In short, there are many worlds that are connected through a place called Dragon Burrow because of its time and space distortion phenomena. The Burrow, a large cave system, mainly exist on the main world, Tilmun where most of the story happens. It's so large, it covers most of the area under Tilmun. On the other hand, it connects through series of tunnels to other worlds. 1000 years ago on Tilmun, a calamity, too long to explain, went down, which spread some of that effect to the surface, and people from our world began being transported into Tilmun, from time to time, but they have none of their memories except for the thing they're talented at, you can say.

The main characters, wanting to go back to their old world, which is ours, they go through the different worlds. Worlds like Erd, where the Elfkins live. There are, so far, three worlds, and I plan on making them four at most, God willing, insha'Allah. But each world has its own history and cultures, which are unaware of each other's existence, but there are some clues that there are things in each world that's not from theirs. Too foreign to be from their world.

As to why there are this many worlds, it is mainly because religion plays a different degree of importance in each world, and the protagonist goes through a journey where he struggles with belief and life, and each worlds reflects his mind space.

 

[Finchbearer]

You can do essentially what you want with contemporary writing and the idea of Elves. But as to their origins, it’s a bit more ambiguous than, ‘The Anglo-Saxons’. They were more likely a bring-over from Scandinavia. Germanic in tradition, but a mixed / shared cultural phenomenon.

 

[MSadiq]

You can do essentially what you want with contemporary writing and the idea of Elves. But as to their origins, it’s a bit more ambiguous than, ‘The Anglo-Saxons’. They were more likely a bring-over from Scandinavia. Germanic in tradition, but a mixed / shared cultural phenomenon.

A bring-over isn't accurate, as the corpus is older than the arrival of Scandinavians on Anglo-Saxon England, evidenced by names such as Ælfred and Ælfgifu. But you're right to say they're Germanic.

Also, I didn't say they're exclusively Anglo-Saxon, but that I based them on the Anglo-Saxon perception of elves, specifically prior to the 11th century and from a corpus that likely only reflects how they're perceived by the higher strata.

 

[Finchbearer]

It’s interesting, because what evidence we have that actually exists doesn’t tell us how information actually spread and when and most of it got Christianised. But just like Beowulf is a Scandinavian frame, so then are elves. Perception as you put it is key. But just as Tolkien make elves human like and fully formed, so can any modern author and shape them how they see fit.

 

[MSadiq]

It’s interesting, because what evidence we have that actually exists doesn’t tell us how information actually spread and when and most of it got Christianised. But just like Beowulf is a Scandinavian frame, so then are elves. Perception as you put it is key. But just as Tolkien make elves human like and fully formed, so can any modern author and shape them how they see fit.

You can thank the Norman invasion for that haha.

As for Beowulf, we can actually frame its time. I don't remember the details, but Prof. Tom Shippey frames the events in the 6th century with concrete evidence.

For the characteristics of the elves, we don't have much information, as you said, but they're humanoid and pale. The pale part implies femininity. That's why prior to conversion, the pagan Scandinavians would call Jesus (peace be upon him) White Christ in mockery of "turning the other cheek."

Unfortunately for us, the Old English corpus is quite small. It's about 3 million words, but the corpus of Old Norse-Icelandic from the 11th to the 14th century is 10 million words, so it's likely much richer in elf material. Also, Prof. Shippey has mentioned that Tolkien based his elf on Icelandic elves from the 13th century.

For me, I decided to lean into them being part of the "hedge," not their humanoid and white characteristics, which, actually, got relegated to the Elfkin. The hedge, as a concept, exists in Scandinavian materials, too. I'm not too sure about stating things in concrete terms about dead people's beliefs who can't correct us, but that's why Asgard isn't a separate realm, but it's in Midgard, separate but not outside of it.

 

[Finchbearer]

There is the evidence of a Christianised written down version of it - but if it’s actual spoken origins - no one can know about that.

 

[MSadiq]

There is the evidence of a Christianised written down version of it - but if it’s actual spoken origins - no one can know about that.

While the written material is post-Christianization, the content isn't necessarily. A lot of it points to pagan beliefs, and I will even say that the core beliefs in the texts are representative of pagan ælf belief. For example, while in Beowulf, written down in the 11th century, the elves are grouped up with monsters, in prior texts, they're grouped with Woden, Thunner, and the gods, who live in the hedge.

Not only do their beliefs survive, the belief in the gods and pagan creatures survived well into the Norman invasion. They didn't worship them, but they believed they existed. They were demonized in some cases, like we find talismans that are meant to work against one of the three fates, for example. But you can also find belief that some people are actual descendants of Woden, the main god of the Anglo-Saxon pantheon.

So, we can put together a picture of the pagan beliefs in elves from the material we have, and not just Anglo-Saxon, but also wider Germanic and even Middle English texts.

 

[pmmg]

I hope you bring this to life. Shake things up a little in the Elf World. Reaching back to a more historical representation would be something new for me if I was to read it.

I am reminded a little of the Village, by M Knight Shyamalan. While I did not care for the move, it did capture a feel of everything beyond the village was not safe.

 

[JBCrowson]

As with all world building ideas, everything will depend on your execution of it. I look forward to hearing more of your progress / reading samples of your craft.

 

[MSadiq]

I hope you bring this to life. Shake things up a little in the Elf World. Reaching back to a more historical representation would be something new for me if I was to read it.

I am reminded a little of the Village, by M Knight Shyamalan. While I did not care for the move, it did capture a feel of everything beyond the village was not safe.

That's the goal. To bring this to life, but I have to say, I'm, if I'm allowed to be bold, planning a series, and the story is actually about people from our world who have no memories (for lore reasons), and their goal is to return to our world, and so they go through a series of, so far, three planned worlds. I might add a fourth.

The world if the Elfkin is the second world. Each world is very different from the other, but they're united thematically. It's a story about belief, religion, and struggling with the purpose of life and our actions, and each world reflects the protagonist's own struggles with them.

 

[MSadiq]

As with all world building ideas, everything will depend on your execution of it. I look forward to hearing more of your progress / reading samples of your craft.

Thank you! This gives me great encouragement to craft. I'm not trying to be unique, per say, but I tend to focus on historic things that are not represented in media, like hospitals in the Abbasid period, apothecaries, medical caravans, grammarians, diwans, local gangs of that period, and much more.

For the Anglo-Saxon and Viking aspects of my worldbuilding, I'm more interested in Christianity of that period and the lesser myths. There's a lot of fiction written about Christianity in the later Medieval periods, but not very much the Early Medieval Period, and that's my focus, with all its scribes, Christian beliefs about pagan beliefs, their views around the ruins of Rome, and so on.

 

[Finchbearer]

I’d recommend you read The Buried Giant by Ishiguro - it’s an allegorical work, or it’s meant to be, so it provides a critical viewpoint on the Christianisation / pre-Christian societal conflict. Also about how things that were written down were unreliable.

 

[MSadiq]

I’d recommend you read The Buried Giant by Ishiguro - it’s an allegorical work, or it’s meant to be, so it provides a critical viewpoint on the Christianisation / pre-Christian societal conflict. Also about how things that were written down were unreliable.

Thank you for the recommendation. I looked it up, and from what I can tell, the book is set in post-Arthurian times, which is indeed vague because there wasn't much written down in that period to begin with, not that the written sources are unreliable. Also, unreliable is a too vague to describe the whole Anglo-Saxon period.

For example, the ælf/elf corpus that exists is "unreliable" in as far as it likely only represents the views of the higher strata of society, not your average Anglo-Saxon, but in terms of its pagan character, they're preserved. It's not until after the Norman invasion do we get that demonization of elf as well as their shift to both male and female, instead of exclusively effeminate male.

Also, I hope this doesn't come across as rude or argumentative I think it'd be tactless towards you to not reply, and I'm just trying to be as sincere by having an actual discussion.

 

[Finchbearer]

No, I like having discussions. I’d say it’s worth a read of you want to explore a critical viewpoint (made into fiction). Arthurian England, and this is why the book is interesting, is largely reputed to be fictional in of itself. The History of the Kings of Britain provides the original Arthurian text, written by a secluded monk, Monmouth, who I like to imagine as a bit like us. Someone who wanted to write a fantasy novel that would inspire the minds and the hearts of the people reading it. Something that would comment on something intrinsic about what people wanted to aspire to. There are some actual historians on this site, as far as I know skip.knox and A. E. Lowan who have researched medieval time periods (as far as I know) and I’ve done some of my own reading into Anglo Saxon pre- history. As far as historical evidence goes, I believe it’s always unreliable, because it’s only as reliable as the wider circumstantial evidence provides. Like for example what you are citing is one version that someone has written down, probably, through a Christianised lens, because largely this new religious movement brought forth the written word, but it’s influence indelibly marred the sequence of actual events and reality of the times due to its political positioning.