News:

Welcome to the Renaissancefestival.com Forums!  Please post an introduction after signing up!

For an updated map of Ren Fests check out The Ren List at http://www.therenlist.com!

The Chat server is now running again, just select chat on the menu!

Main Menu

Telling elves from faeries

Started by dfloyd888, July 25, 2010, 02:32:19 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

dfloyd888

Other than the obvious presence/absence of wings, what is a good way to tell the difference between an elf and a faerie?  This way, I have more advance warning so I can avoid the attack of glitter.

Queen Bonnie

 That is a good question!
I guess the wings make a fae- but a guide to magical creatures might be helpful. How does one tell an elf from a pixie? What about brownies and dryads and fauns and so many more. And there are so many kinds of elves!  How to tell them apart?
I had never herd of a Spriggen until Sherwood!
Wingardium Leviosa!
Tis not the length of the staff- but the magick there in!

saphire_glade

that is a very good questions... most faeries I know do have the wings... but that doesn't mean the will "attack" you with glitter... if you polietly ask not to get any, then most faeries I know will respect that. I know I do I might threaten and tease... but will actually try not get too much on you.....

that being said most faeries are covered in their own dust and it does transfer and we don't really realize it or mean it.

But otherwise I believe elves are going to be more simply dressed... probably long hair with no hair piece. slightly stuck up- if that is the right description. but we are all very hard to tell apart in the end.
Bubbles are pure magic... if you don't believe me watch any man, woman, or child chase a bubble down the road.

Elennare

Hmmm...Well...

There are many different kinds of elves, some of which are VERY similar to fairies, but I think some good, VERY general guidelines might be:

-pointy ears.  Not all fairies have them (though I think most do), but I have not yet seen an elf without them
-floaty-ness.  Fairies are generally very floaty-their wings, the fabric of their clothes, the sound their jinglies make, the way they move.  Elves, while still very graceful, tend to be more earthy and grounded.  We might jump up a tree suddenly, but we're not about to take flight.  We also don't tend to have bells and such, so we can move silently through the forest.  Most elves do not have wings.
-weapons.  Fairies are often armed with the aforementioned glitter ( ;) ), and magic wands.  Elves are more likely to have bows and swords/daggers.
-hair.  Going to be very similar to fairies, but elves will probably have more braids.  If wearing a crown or some such, a fairy's will tend to be made of things like flowers, twigs, and leaves and be rather wild looking.  An elvish one may incorporate the same elements, but will often be simplier, tidy, and/or sophisticated (no offence to the fairies, I'm just not sure of a better word).
-both like shinies, so no real help there.  Elves generally tend to wear silver, while depending on the type of fairy they may wear gold.  Small clue there.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.
:)
My (infrequently updated) costume blog: http://manufactorumbrandis.wordpress.com/

Selkie

Hm, I found this article and found it rather interesting.  http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-Do-Fairies-Have-Wings?&id=844764

Probably back a long time ago, before Victorian times, the line was even more blurred than it is now.
"I am a woman upon the land, I am a seal in the sea..."

Elennare

Cool article.  :)  About the line between different types of fae, though, from what I have been able to discover, there was actually much less confusion about all the different types of fae BEFORE the victorian times.  If you can find sources that haven't been filtered through victoriana there are very distinct types of fae.  Depending on where you are, your local fae might be similar to one from somewhere else, but they are different.  Or you might have similar fae who do the same sort of thing, but one type likes milk and the other will be horribly offended if you offer it some. 

In victorian times, when whoever it was that did this sort of thing was going through all the fairy tales and such and "sanitizing" them for the modern children (and, in fact, making the stories just for children instead of for adults as well, like they originally were), all the fae sort of got lumped together (though, Mr. Shakespear started it, the victorians just took it way to the extreme).  Elf, fairy, brownie, pixie, ect...now all different names for the same thing.  Sadly, it's now rather hard to find information/myths that haven't been run through this filter, and that's where much of the confusion comes from.

/scholar (sorry, I wrote a paper on elves in Icelandic mythology for a college class, somethimes I can't help myself from just spewing info :))
My (infrequently updated) costume blog: http://manufactorumbrandis.wordpress.com/

Selkie

#6
No, no, share away! It's always great to hear about the non-sanitized, old-style fairies, as I like their ambiguity, instead of the purely cotton candy fluff variant.

Wikipedia does have articles on various types of fae listed that hail back to their roots.
"I am a woman upon the land, I am a seal in the sea..."

Lairde Guardn

#7
In some parts of the world and in some myths and legends....elf and fairy are the same.    and not all fairies have wings......

the leprechaun is a fairy not an elf and does not have wings.....

And a Avariel Elf does have wings.....

And a pooka and banshee are both faires but I would not call them flighty ......

So now that everything is a clear as mud........someone needs to write a book or maybe just an encyclopedia of fae.....and elven....
Lairde Guard'n
Lairde Highe Chieftain Emeritus
Irish Penny Brigade
Rogue, Teer, Otter
Landshark, Bard, DG, RFC
15.8% FaireFolk pure, 84.2% FaireFolk corrupt

Widget

I get called an elf all the time... even tho my wings go out to Kalamazoo... Guess people cant grasp the idea that there are male winged fae...