One of the many (many)
tropes a reader can expect from any high/epic fantasy is the inclusion of a
variety of mystical and mythical races; dragons, elves, dwarves, just to name a
few. If the novel includes elves (I
suppose more a question of when), there is almost certainly an element of cultural
hauteur involved. Elves are portrayed to
have chip on their shoulder, a sense that even speaking with humans is beneath
them, somehow a chore. Like humanity was
a stray dog quietly pacing around a picnic table, accepted as being there but
not really accepted for being there.
When I was scratching notes during my world building phase,
one of the many things I needed to work was, of course, where and how the elves
would fit into the story. What relevant
parts of their history could I weave into the narrative without containing some
dreaded info-dump? Would they have this
seemingly ubiquitous stigma against the other races? If so, two questions that I assured myself I
would answer were: “How?” and “Why?”
World building can quickly become a rabbit hole that you can
find yourself too deeply dug into.
Thankfully, this wasn’t one of them, partly because of a previous effort
to determine the pantheon of gods and their conflict. This conflict occurred millennia ago, and a
single piece of scribble seemed to answer most of my questions:
“the elves were
created by and were the primary fighting force of the Second Pantheon.”
Someone or a group
from amongst the Second Pantheon of gods created the elves as part of the feye
races, imbuing them with abilities, intellect and characteristics that made
them particularly powerful as a race – not individually the most powerful, but
collectively they produced the greatest synergies amongst the feye. They were the most intelligent of generals,
the most powerful of the mages, etc.
They fought this war alongside the other feye (dragons, treants, nymphs,
etc) and their gods, against the First Pantheon who used and led their
creations, the less refined but more physically powerful races (leviathans,
orks, goblins, etc).
“All this occurred
before humans were even conceived as a race.”
This note, along with the previous one
provided the perspective I needed. The
cultural hauteur exists in context to their experiences in those god-wars and
watching the humans crawl into existence, collect into tribes and eventually
form the kingdoms/collectives in the current setting for my manuscript. For all intents and purposes, the elves in
Ihr’Vessen are the only super-power in existence, and they recently had to make
room for the humans. They still see the
humans as lesser beings that have yet to live up their potential and possibly
vie for overall stewardship of the realms.
Are the humans of the J’in Empire prepared for the task? Can the clans of the Plainsfolk assume the
mantle of responsibility? Would the
barons of the Free States
suffice?
For all interaction between elf and human, a certain
paradigm had to occur, one where humanity was at a distinctly perceived
disadvantage (from both perspectives); the same would need to occur with the
other races, in some cases much less so than others. Humans would be viewed as inferior, not yet
worthy of respect; humans conversely have a minority complex, always viewing
themselves as less capable and less powerful.
They may be approaching parity, but not as of yet. And so, I was left wondering how this arc
would or could play out into the narrative.
I had some fun at my characters’ expense when humans started interacting
with elves, but the progression of this worthiness was something I wanted to
explore. Humans start at about a mongrel
level of expectation and acceptance.
Slowly, I want to see how that could be altered or changed.
For now, the elves remain the haughty, cool and indifferent
bunch they always seem to be. They are
so much better at things and so much more powerful, long-lived and capable than
the flash-in the-pan accumulation of knowledge and power the humans are limited
to. Would many of the elves consider it
beneath them to interact with humans?
Likely. Would they see any
military intervention as simply “saving the humans from themselves, yet
again?” Very likely. Hopefully this is a two-dimensional trope
I’ll be able to somehow twist and bend a little, provide the reader with the
context they need to accept the elven perspective, as opposed to simply
slapping the reader with the ‘elves are l33t!’
