Mythical Creatures [EDITING]

Elf

Throughout the eras elves have been seen in different shapes and sizes. One of the most common sorts of elves that most in the 21st century have grown up with, are the elves that live with Santa Claus. When we grow a little older we meet the Elves of J.R.R. Tolkien wrote about; those with pretty faces.

An elf is a mythical creature of Germanic Mythology/Paganism which still survives in northern European folklore. In Norse mythology they were originally a race of minor gods of nature and fertility. Elves are often pictured as youthful-seeming men and women of great beauty living in forests and other natural places, underground, or in wells and springs. They have been portrayed to be long-lived or immortal and they have magical powers attributed to them. Following the success of J. R. R. Tolkien's epic work The Lord of the Rings—wherein a wise, angelic people called Elves play a significant role—they have become staple characters of modern fantasy.

Something associated with elves or the qualities of elves is described by the adjectives elven, elvish, elfin or elfish. A convention of modern fantasy usage is: the v in elven or elvish refers to human-sized elves (who correspond more closely to the mythology of the Viking Era), whereas the f in elfin or elfish refers to tiny-sized elves (who correspond more closely to the folklore of the Renaissance and Romantic Eras).

The English word elf is from the Old English ælf or elf; in compound as ælfadl "nightmare," ælfsogoða "hiccup," afflictions apparently thought to be caused by elves. The Modern German Elf (m), Elfe (f), Elfen is a loan from English.

In Germanic Mythology:

Jacob Grimm discusses "Wights and Elves" in the work Teutonic Mythology, grouping the elves as a divine or supernatural class of beings. He states that according to Old Norse mythology there are three kinds; the Æsir, the álfar and the vanir.

There is also a close kinship with the dwarves, not only because of similar appearance, but also because many dwarves have elven names. Derived from several Old Norse scripts, dwarves are elves too, but they are the "dark elves", while the "light elves" are what we think of as elves.

Snorri's Prose Edda states that light elves live in Álfheimr, while dark elves dwell underground, but adds a new term: black elves or dvergar - as identified by him - reside in Svartálfaheimr. This inspired Grimm to call the dwarves black elves, while the dark elves remain an intermediate class of such beings.

In Old Norse:

The earliest preserved descriptions of elves comes from Norse mythology. In Old Norse they are called álfar.

Men could be elevated to the rank of elves after death, such as King Olaf Geirstad-Alf. The smith hero Völundr is identified as 'Ruler of Elves' in the poem "Völundarkviða", who is the son of a king of the 'Finnar'. They are Arctic people respected for their shamanic magic (most likely the Sami).

Crossbreeding is possible according to Norse mythology, Högni and Skuld were such beings. They are also found in the Heimskringla and in The Saga of Thorstein, Viking's Son accounts of a line of local kings who ruled over Álfheimr, and since they had elven blood they were said to be more beautiful than most men.

In addition to these human aspects, they are commonly described as semi-divine beings associated with fertility and the cult of the ancestors. Just like ghosts, the elves were not bound by all physical laws and could pass through walls and doors. In addition to this, Kormáks saga accounts for how a sacrifice to elves was apparently believed to be able to heal a severe battle wound.

In Old English:

Words for the nymphs of the Greek and Roman mythology were translated by Anglo-Saxon scholars as ælf and variants on it, which may point out the origin of English elves.