Highlights
- The elves in The Witcher have a unique social status, unlike elves in other fantasy series, as they are portrayed as squatters and beggars rather than highly-perched in shiny kingdoms.
- Elves in The Witcher justify their superiority complex by believing they were created as a superior race, while humans are considered inferior hairless monkeys.
- The elves in The Witcher have a complex history, including colonization of the Continent before humans, worship of their own deities, and their own homeworld called Aen Elle.
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 & Dragons or even The Lord of the Rings, are all highly-perched in their shiny kingdoms, looking down on humans, the elves in The Witcher are 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.
Updated August 19, 2023 by Ritwik Mitra: The universe of The Witcher is a rich one that is brimming with detail, making the world feel more alive and engaging than it has any right to be. There are many classic and unique races present in this series that make it so tantalizing, showing just what dark fantasy can achieve when everything has been set in stone.
One of the races in this series that fans are quite familiar with is elves, with The Witcher adding some unique facets to their history that most fans aren't aware of.
13 They Believe They Were Created To Have This Form From The Get-Go
Most elves believe they're superior to humans no matter which series they're featured in. It's a common character trait associated with this race that has been used time and time again with varying degrees of success. However, The Witcher goes the extra mile and actually justifies this mentality in a rather unique and believable manner.
Unlike humans, who evolved from apes, Elves naturally remained in this state ever since their inception. They believe that they're the superior race while humans are nothing more than hairless monkeys who can breed quickly. As a result, they look down on humans... although the fact that they were driven out of their homes by this invasive species is also a huge reason why this hate has festered too.
12 They Used To Worship A Goddess Of Harvest And Fertility
Melitele is the god that is on the tips of everyone's tongues on the Continent, with humans worshipping this deity religiously. She is the goddess of fertility and birth, and it seems that the elves had their own spin on this deity that they used to worship thousands of years ago before humans became the dominant species.
These elves also used to worship a goddess of harvest and fertility, but the details surrounding the same have unfortunately been lost after their invasion by humans. It's a shame since fans of this series would love to know more about the lore surrounding the deities that elves believed in and worshipped in this series.
11 They Have Their Own Spin On Popular Stories
The animosity between humans and elves is steeped in their history, with members of both races being taught to hate each other in a vicious cycle that has led to so much mistrust in the world. This can be seen in the simple stories that are told to children and adults alike, with the legendary romance between the Lara Dorren and Cregan of Lod being a great example of the same.
In this story of a human and an elf falling in love, both races have their spin on the stories to make the other look worse. The human version states that Lara was a witch and that the elves killed the treacherous human who dared to get involved with a woman from their race. Meanwhile, elves say that it was the humans who killed Cregan and banished Lara, leading to both races adding fuel to the flames of hatred that have enveloped them both.
10 They're Practically Aliens
In The Witcher franchise, elves are by definition an alien race that managed to find their way into 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 on the Continent were called Aen Seidhe.
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 civilization and ruled the land mostly in 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 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 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 were functionally immortal. This is also one of the reasons why the elves were gradually defeated by the humans on 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 civilization in 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 on 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 on 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, some elves 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.