The Witcher 10 Things You Didnt Know About Elves

The Witcher: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Elves

Elves only appear in the story a few times, but when they do, they keep viewers on the edge of their seats.

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Netflix’s hit show The Witcher is so popular that it’s already been renewed for a second season, barely two months after its initial release. This should come as no great surprise. After all, it’s based on a series of video games that are, if anything, even more popular than the TV show, and stars one of the biggest names in the movie business today: Superman himself, Henry Cavill.

Of all the races that appear in The Witcher Netflix series, elves may be the most mysterious. They only appear in the story a few times, but when they do, they keep viewers on the edge of their seats. So for those fans of the show still getting a handle on the lore, here are 10 things you don’t know about elves.

10 Their Society Was Destroyed By Humans.

Before humans arrived to dominate the Continent, elves had built advanced societies with impressive cities and lavish palaces. Unfortunately, this all changed when the two races came in contact. Humans destroyed elven society, even going so far as to build their own settlements, such as Oxenfurt, Novigrad, and the city of Cintra, on the ruins of elven metropolises.

Nowadays, elves have been reduced to hunt and forage for their food, living a life that’s pre-agricultural. Those elves lucky enough to have integrated into human society still face race-based discrimination on a daily basis. It really is hard out here for an elf.

9 They Arrived On The Continent 2,500 Years Before Humans.

Elves first came to the Continent approximately 2,500 years before the start of the series. They arrived on white ships, coming from places unknown across the sea, and though they were the last of the Elder Races to arrive, they quickly built a home for themselves in this strange new place.

The elves’ arrival on the Continent is known as the Great Migration. After landing at Pontar and Yaruga, they built several settlements in the Northern Realms. There, they lived in relative harmony with the other Elder Races for about 1,000 years, until the First Landing of the human race.

8 Their Religion Is Very Secretive.

Though their religion is suspected to be similar to the Northern Kingdoms’ worship of the mother goddess Melitele, actual facts about elven beliefs are hard to come by. Melitele is, among other things, the patron goddess of love, marriage, peace, and fertility. The elven religion is also said to deify a patron of harvest and fertility, but any more information about their goddess is closely guarded.

Elves are sometimes said to worship Dana Meadbh, a goddess also revered by dwarves, humans, and halflings under other names. She is alternately known as the Eternal One, Queen of the Fields, Lyfia, and Bloemenmagde.

7 They Can Only Bear Children When They’re Young.

Though elves live extraordinarily long lives, they can only reproduce when they’re young. Many believe that this is the reason elves are so easily dominated by the other races: they simply can’t produce a large enough population to compete. Humans have too many babies.

Elves can only conceive during their very early years. And on top of that problem, most couples will never be successful in bearing a child. Elven biology is just too fickle. Thus, humans will always be able to overpower this Elder Race by sheer force of numbers.

6 They’re Known As The Aen Seidhe.

During the Age of Migration, the elves set out for the Continent as a single people known as the Aen Undod. On the passage, due to some tragic disagreement of which the rest of the world will never know the specifics, the elves split into two groups. Only one continued to the Continent. Those elves are the ones that appear in The Witcher, and are known as the Aen Seidhe.

Aen Seidhe also means “People of the Hills” or “Hill Folk” in the elven language. They have a very distinctive physiognomy, with slender features and pointed ears; they are what comes to mind when a fan thinks of “elves.”

5 Another Elven Tribe, The Aen Elle, Inhabit A Different World.

When the Aen Undod split and the Aen Seidhe came to the Continent, the other half of the elves went to live in a different world entirely. These elves are known as the Aen Elle (“People of the Alders” or “Alder Folk”). In their world, the Aen Elle are constantly at war with unicorns, live up to 650 years, and are ruled by a king named Auberon Muircetach.

Though the Aen Elle don’t appear in The Witcher series yet, the second season may go looking for storylines in other worlds. Fans can only hope that the Aen Elle unicorn war appears as a plot point.

4 They Fought Wars With The Dwarves.

Dwarves are the polar opposites of elves in terms of appearance. They grow only as tall as a man’s chest, and instead of thin, willowy features, they are stocky and thick. Dwarves, along with gnomes and elves, are one of the three races to inhabit the Continent before the arrival of men.

When the elves were first carving out a place for themselves on the Continent, they are said to have fought wars with the dwarves. A clash of two Elder Races can only have meant epic bloodshed, but it seems that not even this conflict could prepare the elves for the arrival of mankind.

3 Dryads May Have Originated As Elven Soldiers.

Dryads, called Aen Woedbeanna by the elves, are a race of forest-dwelling women who are said to be created by crossbreeding between species. They appear in The Witcher TV series when Princess Cirilla flees into the forest to escape the attack of Nilfgaardian forces on her homeland.

Alternate theories about the origin of the dryads claim that they may have been created as soldiers by the elves, part of a plot to use enchanted women in battle against the invading humans. The dwarves, however, disagree and maintain that dryads existed on the Continent before the arrival of the Aen Seidhe.

2 They’re Based On The Light Elves Of Norse Mythology.

All die-hard Marvel fans remember the dark elves in Thor: The Dark World. Though it’s well known the Aen Elle in The Witcher are derived from the same Norse myths as Malekith and his ilk, many fans may not realize that the Aen Seidhe owe their existence to the same source.

However, they are based only in part on the light elves that appear in Norse legend. The name of their race, Aen Seidhe, is derived from “Aes Sídhe,” a hidden nation of elves and fairies in Irish myths. They also draw influence from the Seelie Court in Scottish folklore.

1 Their Language Is Called Hen Llinge.

The spoken tongue of the Aen Seidhe is known as Hen Llinge, or Elder Speech (in contrast to Common Speech, the language everyone else uses). Though it’s an elven language, it’s also employed by mages and scholars, much like Latin was used by learned men in the Middle Ages.

The Witcher’s creator based the language mostly on Celtic and Gaelic, though it borrows words from other languages as well. For the Netflix series, David J. Peterson was hired in order to create a fully-functioning Elder Speech lexicon. Fans may be familiar with his work creating the Dothraki and Valyrian languages for HBO’s Game of Thrones.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/witcher-things-didnt-know-about-elves/

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