Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Elves- HistoriFigs, F-5, 28mm Elf- Firing Longbow

Now that I have an elf in my collection (HistoriFigs, F-5, 28mm Elf- Firing longbow) I have done some research into these mystical creatures. According to Microsoft’s Word Thesaurus the following are synonyms of the word Elf (Pixie, Imp, Sprite, Fairy, Gnome, Goblin, and Brownie), however upon closer inspection each of these characters are quite different.

Elves or the singular Elf are supernatural beings are found in German mythology. Earlier traditions thought of Elves as having certain magical abilities capable of helping or hindering humans. Later traditions have Elves using these abilities to harm instead of doing well to humans.

In the fantasy genre, J. R. R. Tolkien’s makes use of Elf characters in the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Elves in these two novels live in middle earth and have come together with the forces of good to overcome evil. Although Elves are mentioned in these novels much more is mentioned about these supernatural beings in Tolkien’s, “The Silmarillion”.

In some traditions the elf is very similar in appearance to humans, but having a much fairer complexion. Some images of elves depict them as having pointy ears, while other depictions I have seen do not make this distinction. There are some Old Norse traditions that mention some cross-breeding between humans and elves. The offspring were the heroes of old.

I have found two sites that carry a line of Elves, one I assume is now out of production, Citadel miniatures, being created in the 80’s, and the other Reaper Miniatures, still carries a line of Elf miniatures.

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