Pointed Ears?

Not that I don't fancy them, however.. I fail to recall any mention of this is "Historical" documents. Can anyone account for this, or is it just a literature-inspired thing? (Author's note: At this point I only consider the Germanic "Alfar" to be 'Elves").


-Varkadevi

As far as I know there are no mentions in the lore, no. As for why they so often pop up in people's self pictures, it's possible it comes from more modern literature, or that it's a feature quirk of how the perceptual capabilities of these bodies parse the "differentness" of elves to humans.

Varkadevi Wrote:(Author's note: At this point I only consider the Germanic "Alfar" to be 'Elves").

I'm curious why you say this.

Because the word "Elf" is Germanic in origin, and based on their experiences/perceptions of a race they call the Alfar. And since it's rather impossible to arrange a line-up and have everyone genetically tested, etc. There's way to prove if other "Elven" people are in any way related to the Alfar of German lore. Unless of course one is using "Elf" as more of an archetypal/conceptual term for races with similar traits.. however, in certain instances I tend to dislike that..for instance, my people seem to look very similar to the caucasian subspecies of humans.. and there are those who would think of us as fitting the human archetype/ideal based on appearances.. something I very much would despise.
On the other hand, say where Dragons are concerned(as they are typically large reptilians/amphibians with numerous origins, and a great diversity of features within each species), I would only call them Dragons until their personal identification(as a species) becomes known to me. The reason for this is because I would acknowledge and respect the aforementioned parameters and traits unique to each, instead of trying to group them into a universal archetype. It is my personal philosophy that differences(when not inherently harmful to themselves or others) should be celebrated and encouraged.. Varkadevi is all about individualism and pride.

Vark explains quite well one reason why I strongly dislike the term "elf".

As used by otherkin, it just means "any magical humanoid" - there is not necessarily any connection at all between any of the groups but the use of that one label to cover them all implies there is.

Rather, though, than using "elf" to mean only "alfar", I'd just cut down even more on confusion and not use "elf" at all.

I'm all for not using "massive umbrella term to include masses of races that have little or nothing in common".. but I still use "Elf" for my not-entirely-rakshasa part as I haven't gotten it narrowed down further.
If I ever figure out better what it is and what that race calls itself I'd MUCH rather use that term than "elf"

What exactly do you mean by 'historical documents' as opposed to literature? Do you mean myths instead of, say, Tolkien?

I have seen Elenari described as having pointed ears in various articles, so I suppose that some have memories of this. Personally, I have neither the strong sense that I had pointed ears (I don't miss a phantom point to my ears), nor any memory of having them. Having said that--I had long hair in that form so I may well have had 'em.

That then raises the question of "Does said person(s) believe they had pointed ears because the concept was ingrained in their mind as part of the archetype via literature. And as far as literature goes, anyone who believes they had something because Tolkien or McCaffrey wrote about it belong with those chaotes who seek truth from the necronomicon and worship cthulu and the ancient ones. <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: -->

Varkadevi Wrote:That then raises the question of "Does said person(s) believe they had pointed ears because the concept was ingrained in their mind as part of the archetype via literature.

I don't know whether or not their memories were influenced by the literary/popular conception of the pointy eared elf. They were just as likely to have been influenced by contact with a historical description of elves as pointy eared, as by literature. Anyway, there is a fine line between fiction and history, which is why I asked for clarification regarding what sort of sources you are seeking.

Varkadevi Wrote:And as far as literature goes, anyone who believes they had something because Tolkien or McCaffrey wrote about it belong with those chaotes who seek truth from the necronomicon and worship cthulu and the ancient ones. <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: -->

Hush, or the elder gods will eat you first! <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_e_wink.gif" alt=";)" title="Wink" /><!-- s -->

I thought being eaten first was the point of worshiping these elder gods - LoL

On the ears however, I always thought that my face looked odd, and that I ought to have pointy ears and slightly different features. This was long before I knew about Tolkien (by about two years), which was years before my awakening in general (which was four years after I had been introduced to Tolkien and his work). However, I don't know if all elves had the feature because I have no real memories of my past lives.