Elves in medieval-fantasy literature have always been a staple in worldbuilding, and in The Witcher, they’re even pivotal to the overarching plot. They’re typically the same as any other elves in other intellectual properties. They live long lives, have sharp and long ears, and are beautiful people. However, their difference in The Witcher saga lies in their place in society.
Whereas other elves, such as those in Dungeons & Dragonsor even The Lord of the Rings, are all highly-perched in their shiny kingdoms, looking down on humans, the elves in The Witcherare all nearly squatters and beggars. This is part of the franchise’s subversive narratives and certainly a more distinguished take on elves. As such, they also need a more in-depth introduction regarding their nuances compared to other elves.
10 They’re Practically Aliens
In The Witcher franchise, elves are by definition an alien race that managed to find their way in the human world, specifically in the unnamed “Continent” where all the medieval-fantasy kingdoms exist. They did this through portals and their magical ships. Elves who eventually acclimatized and were born in the Continent were called Aen Siedhe.
Apparently, they didn’t exist in that world before, and apart from portals, they also managed to work their way into the Continent through the Conjunction of Spheres event. This is the phenomenon in The Witcher saga that merged some of the inhabitants of different worlds or dimensions. It’s also the same event that introduced monsters and other magical creatures, including nonhuman races, to the human world.
9 They Did Colonize The Continent Before Humans
Despite coming from another world though, the elves have as much claim to the Continent as humans do since they were actually the first to colonize that big chunk of land. They arrived in the place thousands of years before humans even existed in the Continent.
In fact, they even set up their own civilization and ruled the land mostly with peace. War was limited to some of the monster races but generally, the elven kingdoms of old in the Continent were a lot more peaceful compared to the human kingdoms. So in hindsight, they were the original supreme rulers of the Continent and not exactly poor helpless refugees who fled from their homeworld to squeeze into human kingdoms.
8 They Have A Homeworld
The Witcher 3 and even some of the books gave more insight and spotlight into the origins of the elves. They do have their original homeworld or planet where mightier and more superior elves exist. They call themselves the Aen Elle and unlike the Aen Siedhe, they didn’t leave or transfer to other worlds.
The Aen Elle, through their natural affinity for magic and their longevity, were masters of their own world. All of them are apparently ruled by a single king, making their empire more stable and powerful than the human kingdoms. It is only due to the apocalyptic White Frost that their civilization got destabilized and they sought to conquer other worlds or kidnap Ciri for her control of time and space.
7 Only The Younger Ones Are Fertile
The Witcher put another spin on the elven race to make them more unique. Another physical trait they have is that they can only reproduce if they’re “young.” It’s not clearly stated what’s considered young for them but elven youth in most fantasy literature is at around the first 100 years of their lives.
This slowed down their reproduction as most elves lived slowly since they’re functionally immortal. This is also one of the reasons why the elves were gradually defeated by the humans in the Continent. The humans, while mortal and exist more transiently, make up for it in sheer numbers. With this, they managed to overpower the elves and established their own civilization on the ashes and ruins of the Aen Siedhe kingdoms.
6 Elves Destroyed Their Own Kingdoms In The Continent
With that said, it’s not just the humans who destroyed the elven kingdoms in the Continent but also the elves themselves. Once it became clear to the Aen Siedhe that the humans have outgunned and outnumbered them and that there was no chance of winning, they feared for their heritage and technology.
Thus, the Aen Siedhe destroyed their once proud architecture and inventions so that the humans won’t steal their technology. That’s why plenty of cryptic elven ruins exist all over The Witcher 3’s map. Since then, the elves in the Continent were reduced to what they are now in the books’ and the games’ current timeline.
5 They’re Often Oppressed In The Continent
Speaking of elves becoming destitute and a shadow of their former selves in the Continent, it’s a lot worse for those that live in human cities. The Aen Siedhe who live in places like Novigrad or other big cities get treated like dogs or become victims of pogroms.
Much like dwarves, elves turned into outcasts. That is why some of them formed the Scoia’tel, which is an elven group of radical rebels who are either out for revenge or looking to liberate oppressed elves, depending on their leader. Regardless, elves remained victims of social injustice and racial prejudice all because of human cruelty or ignorance.
4 They Barely Have A Sovereign In The Continent
Meanwhile, there are also elves who managed to stay away from the cities. They fare a bit better but thanks to human greed, their future is rather bleak. Because the human kingdoms of the Continent did recognize elven sovereign and birthright, elves were granted two domains.
The first one is in Dol Blathanna but that elven state was granted by Emhyr var Emreis and relies on the mercy of the Nilfgaardian throne. The second one is in the Blue Mountains where elves isolate themselves from the rest of the Continent and are dying out as a result. Apart from those two, the elves have nowhere else to live where they are guaranteed safety from humans.
3 Elves Can Interbreed With Humans
Some of the Aen Siedhe did manage to prolong their bloodlines in the most unconventional or unexpected ways. Because it turns out, their genes are quite flexible and can be mixed with humans and even dryads. This introduced half-elves and quarter-elves.
This is also one of the reasons why a lot of half-elves exist in human establishments though they’re about as welcome to the humans as pure elves. They might even have it worse since they’re outcasts from both of their parent races. Thus, it’s not uncommon to see bandit or prostitute half-elves as the prejudice against them can be more extreme.
2 Some Of Them Think Lowly Of Humans
Some elves, especially the older ones, still cling to their old ways and status. These elves think lowly of human beings and at times, refer to them as apes partly due to their barbaric ways.
After all, the human kingdoms are still busy waging wars against one another, making as many enemies within themselves as with nonhuman races. Meanwhile, the Aen Elle elves are even blunter and don’t hide the fact that they think lowly of humans, as was demonstrated by Avallac’h in The Witcher 3.
1 They Invented Make-up
A lot of the human kingdoms borrowed plenty of technology from the Aen Siedhe, and while the latter destroyed their precious race’s secrets, some stuff still managed to trickle down. Make-up is one of those as in The Witcher universe, the elves invented it.
Elves did invent many things both magical and even scientific in nature, but one of the most prevalent things that humans adopted is the use of make-up. This is a common thing among the human royalties now in The Witcher universe and also to sorceresses to a certain extent. The same can be said of portals too.
