Elves being sadistic, genocidal monsters towards any species that looks different or disagrees with them on a culturaI level is some forced, anti-Tolkien levels of subversion by Bethesda.

Genuinely how do you make elves interesting

That's only the Thalmor, and they're even genocidal against their own race if they don't align with Thalmor ideologies.

>>716180087 (OP)
They remind me of bolsheviks.

>>716180087 (OP)
Are you even familiar with Nordic/Germanic mythos surrounding elves?
They live undergroud and steal surface babies, eating them, and replace them with their own children.

>>716180170
>Genuinely how do you make elves interesting
Tolkien elves are fucking awesome.

>>716180414
they're gay mary sues, leaning into elf arrogance is what makes them interesting in fantasy settings

>>716180170
Make them nomadic remnants of the once dominant society that still understands the long weathered ruins of the past within the new world.

>>716180170
They already are you don't have to be subversive

>>716180414
Tolkein elves are fucking lame, literally the start of elves going from mysterious, mystical fey to just some dudes with pointy ears and a stick as big as their ivory towers up their asses. Virtually all "elves" since then are shitty knockoffs of them.

The elves in Tolkien were assholes. Ever heard of the Noldor? They warred with men and dwarves and each other all the time. Thats not subversion, elves have never been glistening beacons of aspiration and beauty. The origins of fae folk is mired in things like tricking people into becoming plants or stealing children or body horror.

>>716180170
Look at Morrowind. No, Dunmer don’t count towards what OP is saying. Dunmer is more akin to fantasy jeets

>>716180642
>leaning into elf arrogance is what makes them interesting in fantasy settings
Like Tolkien elves?

>>716183172
Dungmer would kill everyone if the had the power to, even themselved.

>>716181175
>>716184453

>>716180087 (OP)
As long as they're cute, what's the problem?

>>716180087 (OP)
Tolkien didn't invent elves.

>>716180170
Just make them hot and people will love them no matter the lore.

>>716180207
that's not true. Pagan mythological elves are humans who ascend to godhood
>b-but muh wikipedia told me...
show me the verse in Volundarkvitha where Weyland the Smith (a man from Finland who is described explicitly as an elf) lives underground and eats babies

>>716180170

>>716187785
Tolkien popularized and made relevant every race, trope, biome, trend and story convention you see in fantasy. If you dig deep and think its original, Tolkien did it and did it so good that its the reason people reference it.