Why elves or dwarves?

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This is a point that strongly bugs me. When I read fantasy novels or fan fiction, we have a bunch of human characters, often the "commoners" or the unimportant people. And of course, human heroes. But this is beside the point already.

Why is Wizard-hero's buddy a dwarf? Why is one of the Merry Companions of the Rainbow Dragon an elf? Why are the main characters not humans? Why must they be something else - elves, dwarves, orcs, some other sort of race?

I suppose the answer is obvious to me; but I just can't grasp it. Diversity. It's fun to have enigmatic elven sorcerers or heroic dwarven heroes. The contrast is exciting. The partnership from two distant races might be cool. But is that it? Diversity and points of interest? Isn't there as much diverstiy and contrast between a human noble and a human vagabond? Between the good-humored human jester and the stern human minister? Do races serve more than enhancing the image of a character?

But what irks me is that I sometimes find that there is a deep lack of understanding of what it is like to be an elf. To be whiny (for lack of a better word), an elf sometimes seems nothing more than a skinny, pointy-eared human. Or a dwarf is little more than a really tough and bearded short human. But what is it like to live for a thousand years, as an elf would? But what is it like to live underground, and be fighting scary monters and orcs and giants all the time? Can we have one fantasy story where every character is a human?

Sometimes I wish fantasy books gave more insight into human nature or the more "deeper" junk. Maybe other races serve a purpose to help with that, as a foil or the like. Or maybe the author might want to point out something significant about elven nature or the concept of a dwarf.

But I suppose that's enough rambling. The question is in the title. Why do I want to read about an elven hero, when a) elves don't exist, and b) I'm a human?

 

Oaz, you are BANG on the money -- it's tough for us to envision an alien society -- many writers anthropomorphize these races. The one who tried the hardest to make Elves different than humans was Tad Williams in Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn.

 

First of all change the title of the thread to something like: "Why another race and not humans?"

I think it's because our need to do/be something different from what we do/are.

a)Again the reason is the above plus, your character may be simiral to the stereotype of an Elf thus you may want to read about Elves.
b)Again the reson is the above: Our need to do something different plus, to see how it would be like to be an Elf.
So, diversity and curiocity are the main reasons.

A bit off topic:
I like the Dwarves. Dunno why, I just like them. If the Dwarves existed, I would like to be one.

That's all IMHO.

 

Elves symbolize the better part of us, of humanity -- distilled good, as it were. Dwarves symbolize the hardworking, close to the earth aspect of humanity -- still good, but very simple and coarse -- peasantry that finds nobility in physical labour. That's why people like them. At least, that's my opinion.

 

Don't forget money. There just *have* to be elves and dwarves (or even halfligs). Something similar to the commercialy succesful adventuring party (basher/hero , chick, wise-one/wizard, thief/clumsy one with bad luck, japan inspired one and so on)

 

Robin Hood

The Arthur Legend

Most Irish Folklore - (Which is a rich, untapped vein for Fantasy Computer Game plots -thinks- which won't be used as the companies can't claim copyright)

To answer the question 'Why elves or dwarves?' you have to go back to Tolkien's reason for using them, and I'm no going anywhere near that can of worms, there are far too many experts more knowledgeable than I on these boards.

I think what you are asking is why isn't the genre moving on and developing into something even more fantastic than Tolkien's decades-old stories? Maybe now that film studios can smell the money it will, but I doubt it.

 

Simple. Look around... do you see any Elves or Dwarves?

There are no Elves or Dwarves in our world... thus, people who explore fantasy world wish to use them as characters because they are outworldish.

Or something like that anyway.

 

not a book, but if you want a different perspective on elves, try majesty for pc. invite the elves into your kingdom....

and if you want a laugh at formulaic fantasy, try dianna wynne jones' toughpick guide to fantasyland. she writes essentially human-centred fantasy, as does freda warrington (both from the uk) and ian irving (australian). tad williams' otherland series is also good ..... particularly for those planning on setting up an online world.

 

As I see it, the issue isn't about elves and dwarves but the sterotypes of these races that seem to carry from one writer to the next. Very few writers bother to delve into the different psychie of these races because, IMO, very few fantasy writers of today are good enough to do so. And I think many are too lazy to be creative.

As Lord Kelden rightly points out, Tad Williams attempted to really make Elves different from humans and I think Williams pretty much succeeded. And, believe it or not, I believe Tolkien's elves are vastly different from humans. We are so familiar with Middle-earth that the nuance details get lost. Next time, however, check out how elves approach life in Middle-earth. Very different.

 

First off, there are a lot of "fantasy" books with all human characters -- like the Belgariad for example. But the elves and dwarves oh so often are what seperate the fantasy from the real world. I agree that authors should go into the deeper psychie of the different races, but at the same time I personally think that many authors do manage this pretty well, for instance if you read all of the R.A. Salvatore books you can get your hands on, you get to understand what it's like to be a dwarf very well, from the fact that they live a very long time, to the fact that they are underground digging and smithing whenever they aren't fighting off evil monsters.

And secondly, I think it is the monsters and non-humans which make fantasy so fun and interesting because it is completely up to the author's and readers imagination. No one really know what it would be like to live a very long time so they take educated guesses. And if you wanted to read about humans and not elves or dwarves or halflings or dragons, well then you take away a good part of the fantasy element -- only thing left is magic. And that's the thing, a great deal of people would rather read the generic "school stories" about real-ish characters doing real-ish things. Fantasy readers would rather read about things that can only come from imagination. Fantasy readers like the magic and monsters involved knowing that it is so very different from their own lives. --I've always been a fantasy reader myself.

 

I think people want to hear about things that arent real. I mean, people see humans all day long, they know what a human really looks like, if elves and dwarves were real everyone would wanna read about something else.
@Seawolf: what part of Mass are you from?