So yes and no. I think their elongated lifespans give them a view point few of us could imagine. Where we count things in generations, every 20 years or so being a new one, th3 elves would literally count their history by millenia, and remember multiple. This kind of longevity brings a degree of
Reverence to preservation that isn't going to be seen in short lived species. Short lived species are going to be very present focused, since their present is so much shorter. Long lived species are more well adapted to foreseeing consequences, and ripples. I feel it can make some SEEM uppity or
Condescending, but I doubt they rarely ever mean it that way. And the ones that have been around shorter lived species long enough will learn to communicate effectively with their group, so they don't seem so offputting. They are still social creatures.
I enjoyed how the elves in Eragon were objectively better people wrt every social issue but couldn’t help acting like huge pricks about it.
Truly the “American undergrad on a Eurotrip” fantasy book, in retrospect
Frieren spends 6 months+ looking for a weed, just so she can use a spell to create them under a statue of a dead friend. Her student thinks it’s a bad use of time and not “important” given her power. To her though, that time is so short it’s like a day.
Given how often fans of media with elves always seem to assume that they're arrogant with a superiority complex, even when they upend their society to help others... There's definitely a bit of the latter
Wrote a scenario once where elves didn’t even register non-elves as a threat, and spent their immortality in a state of perpetual paranoia, scheming against the few elves to have survived and terrified they’d be the next to fall to a stab in the back from their own people. There were fifteen left.
Yeah, it’s like how you’re naturally more likely to be indoctrinated to being racist if you live in the south, like it’s not 100% but it’s a pretty high fucking chance
I always kind of read it as elves just having the time to dedicate to whatever it is that they do, so any elf one encounters is annoyingly good at things they enjoy, has spent years figuring out how to do only the things they enjoy, and now only wants to work with others at their same skill level.
Tbh if I lived as long as an elf I'd probably also be a prick. Imagine living long enough that you are a master in pretty much every field you attempt and have such a deep understanding of the way the world works and humans come along and fuck up the vibes. I'd be livid
By the time of The Lord of the Rings, the elves had died and the survivors were determined to learn from the mistakes of the dead. That's why Elrond and Galadriel both refused to be royalty.
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Truly the “American undergrad on a Eurotrip” fantasy book, in retrospect
A steampunk-style campaign had Elvish SWAT as one of the primary scary antagonists.
PC elves got preferential treatment by elvish law enforcement and hate from everyone else.
It fits SO well.
Frieren spends 6 months+ looking for a weed, just so she can use a spell to create them under a statue of a dead friend. Her student thinks it’s a bad use of time and not “important” given her power. To her though, that time is so short it’s like a day.