Since this is the "fantasy anime history buff" thread, do you know what's funny?

Brown-skinned elves (and totally-not-elves like Fa*m) did not really exist in Fantasy, regardless of Eastern or Western, in large numbers until Lodoss War. You might find extremely fringe, obscure examples of brown elves in some book nobody's read but the idea of brown-skinned elves was ludicrous and unheard of.
Lodoss War was based on Dungeons and Dragons, and Pirotess was supposed to be a Drow/Dark Elf. The illustrator for Lodoss War was unfamiliar with DnD, and mistook the description of black skin for being brown, since we call Africans black when they're really brown. Pirotess and Lodoss War was already popular so they couldn't really change it, and for a while brown elves was almost entirely a Japanese fantasy phenomenon until they started popping up in Western fantasy media in the last few decades.
Chocolate elves is anime's greatest mistake and I wouldn't have it any other way.