Goodrich, Jean N. "Fairy, Elves and the Enchanted Otherworld". In: Handbook of Medieval Culture Volume 1. Edited by Albrecht Classen. Berlin, München, Boston: De Gruyter, 2015. pp. 431-464. https://doi-org.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/10.1515/9783110267303-022 Grimm, Jacob (1883c). Teutonic mythology. Vol.3. Translated by James Steven Stallybrass. pp.1246ff. Flieger, Verlyn (2002). Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World (reviseded.). Kent State University Press. p.71. ISBN 978-0873387446. Likewise, in Middle English and early modern Scottish evidence, while still appearing as causes of harm and danger, elves appear clearly as humanlike beings. [73] They became associated with medieval chivalric romance traditions of fairies and particularly with the idea of a Fairy Queen. A propensity to seduce or rape people becomes increasingly prominent in the source material. [74] Around the fifteenth century, evidence starts to appear for the belief that elves might steal human babies and replace them with changelings. [75] Decline in the use of the word elf Ann Cole, 'Two Chiltern Place-names Reconsidered: Elvendon and Misbourne', Journal of the English Place-name Society, 50 (2018), 65-74 (p. 67).

Alongside the idea of the greater Elves, Tolkien toyed with the idea of children visiting Valinor, the island-homeland of the Elves in their sleep. Elves would also visit children at night and comfort them if they had been chided or were upset. This was abandoned in Tolkien's later writing. [T 6] The Hobbit (c. 1930–1937) [ edit ] Tolkien, J. R. R. (1954a). The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. OCLC 9552942. Taylor, Lynda (2014). The Cultural Significance of Elves in Northern European Balladry (PhD). University of Leeds.If a human watched the dance of the elves, he would discover that even though only a few hours seemed to have passed, many years had passed in the real world. Humans being invited or lured to the elf dance is a common motif transferred from older Scandinavian ballads. [127] The appearance of elves in sagas is closely defined by genre. The Sagas of Icelanders, Bishops' sagas, and contemporary sagas, whose portrayal of the supernatural is generally restrained, rarely mention álfar, and then only in passing. [95] But although limited, these texts provide some of the best evidence for the presence of elves in everyday beliefs in medieval Scandinavia. They include a fleeting mention of elves seen out riding in 1168 (in Sturlunga saga); mention of an álfablót ("elves' sacrifice") in Kormáks saga; and the existence of the euphemism ganga álfrek ('go to drive away the elves') for "going to the toilet" in Eyrbyggja saga. [95] [96] a b Gilkeson, Austin (21 December 2018). "Rankin/Bass's The Hobbit Showed Us the Future of Pop Culture". Tor.com . Retrieved 26 October 2023. Green, Richard Firth (2016). Elf Queens and Holy Friars: Fairy Beliefs and the Medieval Church. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Schulz, Monika (2000). Magie oder: Die Wiederherstellung der Ordnung. Beiträge zur Europäischen Ethnologie und Folklore, Reihe A: Texte und Untersuchungen. Vol.5. Frankfurt am Main: Lang.

Main article: Christmas elf A person dressed as a Christmas Elf, Virginia, 2016 Illustration of an elf teasing a bird by Richard Doyle Jakobsson, Ármann [in Icelandic] (2006). "The Extreme Emotional Life of Völundr the Elf". Scandinavian Studies. 78 (3): 227–254. JSTOR 40920693. Sometimes elves are, like dwarfs, associated with craftmanship. Wayland the Smith embodies this feature. He is known under many names, depending on the language in which the stories were distributed. The names include Völund in Old Norse, Wēland in Anglo-Saxon and Wieland in German. The story of Wayland is also to be found in the Prose Edda. [2] Main article: The Silmarillion Awakening [ edit ] Arda in the First Age, with the sundering of the Elves. The Elves awoke at Cuiviénen, on the Sea of Helcar (right) in Middle-earth, and many of them migrated westwards to Valinor in Aman, though some stopped in Beleriand (top), and others returned to Beleriand later. Tolkien, J. R. R. (1937). Douglas A. Anderson (ed.). The Annotated Hobbit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin (published 2002). ISBN 978-0-618-13470-0.The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey notes that one Middle English source which he presumes Tolkien must have read, the South English Legendary from c. 1250, describes elves much as Tolkien does: [5] South English Legendary