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Älvalek (Elfplay or Dancing Fairies) (1866) by August Malmström. In Norse mythology, Dökkálfar ("Dark Elves") [a] and Ljósálfar ("Light Elves") [b] are two contrasting types of elves; the dark elves dwell within the earth and have a dark complexion, while the light elves live in Álfheimr, and are "fairer than the sun to look at".
The svartálfar are almost only attested in the Prose Edda (the word does appear in Ektors saga ok kappa hans, but is presumably borrowed from the Prose Edda). [4] The svartálfar mentioned in Skáldskaparmál 35 are the Sons of Ivaldi, whom Loki engages to craft replacement hair for Sif, wife of the god Thor, after Loki mischievously sheared off her golden tresses. [5]
Dökkálfar or dark elves, a type of elf in Norse mythology. Svartálfar or black elves, a type of elf in Norse mythology; Moriquendi, a fictional race of elves in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium; Drow, or dark elves, a fictional subrace of elves in Dungeons & Dragons. The Dark Elf Trilogy, a series of novels by R. A. Salvatore set in the ...
Many places are there, and glorious. That which is called Álfheimr is one, where dwell the peoples called Light-Elves; but the Dark-Elves dwell down in the earth, and they are unlike in appearance, but by far more unlike in nature. The Light-Elves are fairer to look upon than the sun, but the Dark-Elves are blacker than pitch.
The female form of Elves may have originated from the female deities called Dís (singular) and Díser (plural) found in pre-Christian Scandinavian religion. They were very powerful spirits closely linked to the seid magic. Even today the word "dis" is a synonym for mist or very light rain in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish.
Words of Old Norse origin have entered the English language, primarily from the contact between Old Norse and Old English during colonisation of eastern and northern England between the mid 9th to the 11th centuries (see also Danelaw). Many of these words are part of English core vocabulary, such as egg or knife. There are hundreds of such ...
Tolkien's elves were followed by Poul Anderson's grim Norse-style elves of human size, in his 1954 fantasy The Broken Sword. [7] Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry series, starting with his 1984 fantasy The Summer Tree, includes both lios alfar (light elves) and swart alfar (dark elves), using variations on the original Norse or Icelandic terms.
Elves were certainly often seen as a cause of illness, and indeed the English word oaf seems to have originated as a form of elf: the word elf came to mean 'changeling left by an elf' and then, because changelings were noted for their failure to thrive, to its modern sense 'a fool, a stupid person; a large, clumsy man or boy'. [167]