#dnd elf lore

"Not wood elves like her tribe, or high elves she’d glimpsed on the Yuirwood’s borders, nor even half-elves. Strange, steely eyed elves on mailed steeds . . . Resplendent in mail so fair it could only be mithral . . ." (ch. 9)

"steely eyed elves more noble and terrible even than gray elves, mail-clad, and astride mailed steeds. Her description matches the likeness of the long-vanished Yuir elves who ranged these woods when the trees ruled all. Whatever nobility they once possessed, it is clear some surviving splinter of that race lives still, old, corrupt, and senile with age!" (ch. 11)

"The ancient elves of Yuireshanyaar were masters of powerful spells, and they left behind menhir circles, standing stone monuments carved in an ancient Elvish dialect." (ch. 11)

"Since the creation of Sildëyuir, the star elves had slowly slipped farther and farther from Faerûn, leaving the daylight world to its own devices. Some still traveled through the old elfgates and roamed Aglarond or the Inner Sea, but they passed themselves off as elves of other regions, and did not speak of their homeland to strangers." (ch 18)

I was for looking more elf funeral info for an Astarion think piece I was going to write and then dump in my drafts so that it may never see the light of day when I found this!

Imagine being told by your unborn child that the name you picked out sucks. Kid doesn’t know anything and still has opinions.

It should be noted that there are three sources that I could find that all gave different gestational times for elves that range from 9 month - 2 years. Personally I think 2 years is far too long. That’s longer than some species of elephants.

Side by side Elven and Drow perspective: Love and Marriage.

Despite the obvious bias against the drow perspective on love, I think their attitudes are more similar than they seem at first glance.

There’s obviously the more liberal views on sex, as well as both societies having no stigma against children born out of wedlock, but I think it goes a little deeper…

One could say that the Elven need for freedom and independence is just the Drow’s mistrust and fear of weakness painted in a more positive light. Both of these groups find the idea of love and commitment daunting. Elves because they fear that needing someone and being needed by them will chain them down and limit their individuality, Drow because to need someone else is to be weak and to open oneself up to betrayal.

Drow handle their fears by limiting the closeness with their romantic partners, keeping them at an arms length and never fully trusting their doubts and fears (weaknesses) to them, lest they be used against them. All trust is foolishness, after all, and physical intimacy seems the lesser of two evils. I think this is also why a drow will seek out a partner of lesser station, because then that drow will have the barrier of social standing between the two of them.

Elves however, handle their fears a little differently. I find it interesting that the snippet says elves are more likely to get into long term committed relationships with shorter lived races. It’s safer. An elf can be free to love and be loved without worrying about spending their whole life with this person. They get 50(ish) blissful years and maybe a half elf or two out of the experience. Even when they do end up in a long term relationship with another elf, marriage is still a little too daunting (which makes complete sense given what elven marriages entail).

(I hope this doesn’t sound like I’m being dismissive. This isn’t meant as criticism, it’s meant as commentary on the lore.)