the.com/elves
the species that ruined halloween cookies and won middle earth's real estate war.
means a mythic humanoid race, originally eerie and dangerous, later gentrified into beautiful immortals or santa's unpaid labor.
from from old norse alfr, spirits who could bless your crops or curse your sleep; norse and germanic folklore split them into light elves (radiant, aloof) and dark elves (subterranean, sinister) long before tolkien picked a side.
norse originalfheim was literally an entire realm for them
victorian shrinkingelves got tiny and cute in 1800s illustrations
tolkien rebrandhe made them tall, sad, and immortal again
santa connection1823 poem gave st nick elvish helpers first
for instance
legolas — woodland elf prince, lord of the rings, 1954
dobby — house-elf, harry potter, freed by a sock in 1998
keebler elves — cookie-baking tree dwellers since 1968 tv ads
zelda's hylians — pointy-eared not-quite-elves since 1986 nintendo game