Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Elves are not Elven - Tel-quessir feed back ;)

I would not be surprised if that preference was cemented due to the pervasiveness/frequency of the "Tolkien elf" (aka the Humanelves) in fiction.

Well, what is called Tolkien elves these days sort of predate modern fiction though. Members of the elves in various cultures were largely just beautiful humans with mysterious ways. Some were not of course.

At any rate elven variance could be easily explained with their closeness to the weave and being more fluid in shape in form although that cribs a lot from Wendy pinis elfquest.

I just wish to say that i returned to Witcher 3 recently ...
And when i get to Novigrad, i remembered this threat almost imediately.

It really felt good to recognize Elf at first sight.

A (primarily) Chaotic Good race of wanderlust-stricken hedonists? Methinks more of their ancestors were knocking Boots of Elvenkind with "lowly humans" than they care to admit.

LOL. Why not? They know a good thing when they see it. =-)

Or any elder scrolls game. The elves there are also very distinctive.

As are the Warcraft elves. And the Elvaan/Elezen (basically elves) from Final Fantasy.

Every depiction I've seen of elves is that they're slimmer, more angular, with slightly larger eyes. I should be able to tell the difference by silhouette.

Elf heads in this game aren't even good. Look at male elf head 3. Dude looks high af.

Like so?



I was thinking "California surfer dude".

To be fair, I lived in California... Humboldt county specifically. All the guys there (cold water surfing is just nuts I'll tell ya) are high af.

Moonshade was always a beautiful elf.

But, even in elfquest there is a ton of variance in shape, depending on the origins. Then again, they tended to have a lot of mixing given that some were able to shapeshift and interbreed with other species. (Not humans though, the Pinis were particular there were no half-humans for 'reasons.')

I sort of think that wotc borrowed some from that concept with the sex-changing and malleable elves.

Not that I mind, I like the idea. But again, I'm not bothered by the classic Tolkien elf either.

Their "aesthetic"/form/physiognomy - nowadays inescapably influenced by Jackson's live-action trilogy, granted - when applied to virtually every fantasy IP outside of Tolkien's works (he gets a pass) used to be met by indifference when I took a moment to truly contemplate their appearance. Over time, that indifference has matured into a quiet antipathy; rare is the occasion when my thought process doesn't veer towards "lazy" or "uninspired". D&D could do with more distinction if it wants to stand solidly apart from one of its many inspirations and elves just so happen to be a great place to start. Tiny adjustments lead to large improvements.

In Tolkien elves and humans were biologically the same (no pointed ears on elves!). The difference was entirely spiritual.

What I remember is that they followed the logic of (and I am STRONGLY paraphrasing here) "If you make an exception to the rule (i.e., Human-Elf hybrids being possible), that exception invariably becomes ubiquitous." That said, there was a one-shot/"What if?" story that featured a Half-Elf.


A spirituality that enables Wuxia-flavored acrobatics, lightness of tread, eyes of the hawk, immortality, et cetera. Maybe I need to get religion!

It wasn’t spirituality. Their faces were filled with the “light of The Eldar”. It was a visible difference. One knew when they were talking an elf. They were also more slender than humans.

Now what the hell having the light of Earendil or whatever actually *looked* like is totally up to interpretation. Perhaps it was more cyberpunk than angelic! Lol

All right, so they have a wicked tanning routine. Now we know why they're so eager to sail westward.

Ha!

Lothlorian Tanning Salon Inc.

Don’t fall into Shadow! Come bask in the light of the Eldar!

Face =/= ears.

Ouch, right in my wish.

If only we could pick ears separately from heads.

"The ears...there's something about those ears."
"You're weird."
"Maybe, but at least I know what I like."

Awesome Argonaut .