Elves, a word from Germanic mythology, are frequently featured in Fantasy fiction. In modern fiction, particularly because of the influence from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, elves are modeled mostly after his original description: tall, human-like creatures of otherworldly beauty, with Kings and Queens. Along with this development, Dark elves are often modeled as a more sinister counterpart to the High elves, like the Drow or the Trow, which are the fairy-like dark creatures of the Orkney and Shetland islands folklore. The dark elves or black elves are presented in Germanic mythology as dwarves.
Dark elves are known for their aggression, deceit, and stealth. They are very brutal and cruel by nature, having little mercy when it comes to cheating, battling, or anything dealing with the life of another being. They have little respect for even their own kind, at times waging war against each other. However, clans are known to band together, to combat invasions and attacks by other races. They do not mix blood with other races. They lurk in dark places and love the shadows. Rarely will they come into the light for needless purposes, but it is not usually believed light will harm or weaken them. Their weakness varies upon legend, and may include excessive heat, rain, nettles, or the blossoms of some plants and trees. Dark elves generally travel in pairs or groups, as their tendencies towards cheating and theft make them targets for retaliation and violence at the hands of other races.
The drow, as they appear in Dungeons & Dragons, were created by Gary Gygax, who stated that "Drow are mentioned in Keightley's The Fairy Mythology, as I recall (it might have been The Secret Commonwealth—neither book is before me, and it is not all that important anyway), and as Dark Elves of evil nature, they served as an ideal basis for the creation of a unique new mythos designed especially for the AD&D game." ("Books Are Books, Games Are Games" in Dragon Magazine, Nov. 1979, #31.) This establishes Gygax's source for the term as Thomas Keightley's The Fairy Mythology, Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries (1828; aka The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves and Other Little People). They were first mentioned in the Dungeons & Dragons game in the 1st Edition 1977 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual under "Elf", where it is stated that "The 'Black Elves,' or drow, are only legend."
The Baldur's Gate series of video games feature drow as enemies and NPCs, as well as part of the game being set in the drow city of Ust Nautha. The drow cleric of Shar, Viconia, features in Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn as a party member and, in the second game, a possible romantic interest. In the Throne of Bhaal expansion, her alignment can be changed from neutral evil to true neutral if she is in a romance with a PC. The Eilistraee-worshipping drow male Solaufein plays a minor role in the second game, but his role can be expanded into a romance with a mod. Drizzt Do'Urden has a cameo in both Baldur's Gate and Shadows of Amn, Jarlaxle Baenre has a cameo in Shadows of Amn, and they and the male dark elves Maznafein and Jalynfein also appear in the 1994 IBM-PC CD game Menzoberranzan.
In Icewind Dale, a drow named Nym steals dwarven weapons and artifacts and sells them to the goblin and orc armies attacking the elven fortress, the Shattered Hand. Since the armies are armed with dwarven weapons, the elf leader Larrel assumes the dwarves betrayed them, and ends the alliance between the two. Thus, Nym is single-handedly responsible for the fall of both the dwarves and the elves in the Dale. Nym can be found in the Svirfneblin village in the tunnels of Lower Dorn's Deep, where he will sell a number of magical artifacts and weapons to the player. Nym also appears in Icewind Dale II, where he appears to be in league with the Legion of the Chimera.
The original campaign and first expansion of Neverwinter Nights do not deal much with the drow but the second expansion, Hordes of the Underdark, does so extensively. Neverwinter Nights 2 continues to expand upon them in their story, as well as allowing drow and other Underdark races as playable characters.
The Dark Elves found in the Age of Wonders series are a species of Elf, but qualify as their own race because they are evil aligned. In the game it states that all Dark Elves were once regular elves, but since elves are immortal they suffer not death of life, but death of spirit. It is never stated why their spirit dies and the only Main Character who has that 'death' is Prince Meandor. The race description of Dark Elves is "Formed from the belly of irreconcilable grief, the Dark Elves are the embodiment of the living dead among the Elves. They know death of spirit, but their frames keep them immortal, nonetheless. They are angry and bitter creatures, apt to great fits of cruelty and torture. They joy in revenge only, and imagine up vain excuses so they might seek imagined retribution. They live in the darkness of the earth, and adorn themselves in inky black clothing. Their skin is a pale greenish-gray, but otherwise Dark Elves are as beautiful as the surface elves. Also like the elves they channel the powers of magic, but for the purpose of twisting life and its meaning. Dark Elves employ dark powers to twist their less obedient into mindless slaves. They merge their rebellious with spiders and direct then worship their abominable creations as demigods. Dark Elves desire nothing more than complete world domination, at which point they would turn upon themselves and destroy themselves." It is also mentioned that among the Dark Elves, females have a higher standing and males tend to be little more than servants.
Drow also appear in Atari's Demon Stone in the form of Zhai, the half drow player-character, and another appearance of Drizzt Do'Urden.
In the Hungarian role-playing game M.A.G.U.S., "obsidian-elves" appear as a deadly and evil race, which are similar to the drow. These lonely predators live in deep caves and hunt passionately almost everything, searching for challenge and danger. They are vile and ruthless to the core, but usually leave humans alone, letting them pass unharmed in their caves, as these dark elves don't accept mortal beings as worthy prey.
Assorted authors
In Elizabeth Moon's trilogy The Deed of Paksenarrion, the dark elves are a sect of elves that have wandered from the path and now follow the gods of evil, rather than the "High Lord".
In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings, the Moriquendi or "Elves of Darkness" were a group of the Elves that did not join the Great Journey across the continent of Middle-earth and the Sundering Seas, and thus did not behold the light of the Two Trees in Valinor. The Dark Elves were in no way more "evil" than the Light Elves; the latter just had a surpassing knowledge and skill, and were more "noble" and potent.
In Everquest(EQ) the dark elves were a very key role in the game. Players played as these elves in RP Online format. Each player could customize their way of playing through the world.
In the sequel, EverQuest II, dark elves (properly known as the Tier'Dal) once again play a prominent role. They are governed by Queen Cristanos from her throne in the ancient subterranean city of Neriak. The city is located at the east end of the Darklight Wood northwest of Freeport on the continent of D'Lere. A number of factions vie for favor and control within Neriak. While many Tier'Dal are native to Neriak, they can be found in most corners of the world of EverQuest II, a planet called Norrath.
The Dark Elf is a key character to the plot of Mega Man Zero 2 and Mega Man Zero 3. She was initially created as the Mother Elf, the good being which had the power to exterminate the Mavericks. However, Dr. Weil cursed the Mother Elf, and it transformed into the ominous Dark Elf, creating two evil "children" dark elves: Créer and Prier. The Dark Elf was so destructive that X sacrificed himself to seal her inside his body. However, years later, in Mega Man Zero 2 she was eventually released by Elpizo, who used her power to fight Zero. With Elpizo's defeat, the Dark Elf flew away. In the third installment, the Resistance and Neo Arcadia started to look for the Dark Elf, causing a clash between Zero and Weil. The Elf and her "children", however, were caught by Weil and merged to Omega (or the "Original Zero"). After Créer, Prier and Omega's demise, Weil's curse was finally broken and the Dark Elf became the Mother Elf once again.
The Dark Elf king Astos puts the prince of the Elven Castle to sleep for 5 years. In the game the player must find Matoya and have her make a cure to wake him.
A boss called the Dark Elf resides in the Lodestone Cavern. Being weak against metallic weapons, he created a strong, magnetic field within his lair. The bard, Edward, could play music which disrupted his concentration and with it the field. As a last resort he transforms into the Dark Dragon. His sentences contained odd capitalization.
In Dark Age of Camelot, there is a race of dark-skinned elf like creatures named Svartalf's and are seen many times in the Midgard lands.
In the Dungeons & Dragons multiverse, especially in the worlds of Greyhawk, the Forgotten Realms and Eberron, dark elves are commonly called drow. They are dark-skinned and white-haired and are generally, but not exclusively, evil. Many other games and works of mainstream fantasy fiction derive their "dark elves" or "night elves" from the drow of Dungeons & Dragons. The drow in most Dungeons & Dragons settings are depicted as worshipers of the spider goddess Lolth and live in matriarchal societies.
In the Mystara/"Known World" setting, shadow elves are a race of subterranean elves who have been mutated via magic (possibly as a nod to the origin of orcs in Middle-earth).
In the Dragonlance setting, dark elves are not a separate subrace of elves (in fact, the drow of other worlds do not exist on this one). In this setting, "dark elf" is a label given to any elf that is outcast from elven society, typically (although not always) for evil practices.
In the Fighting Fantasy gamebook role-playing series, dark elves are much like their Dungeons & Dragons counterparts. However, some details of their culture have been adapted to fit the Fighting Fantasy background.
Some dark elves from the fictional world of Record of Lodoss War are brown-skinned and not necessarily evil, but primarily aligned with the forces of Marmo, the enemies of the story's heroes. These dark elves are capable of deep loyalty and love, as personified by the only dark elf main character, Pirotess.
As with most metahuman races in the Shadowrun world, many elves are born from the same ethnic groups that normal humans come from, meaning that there are African elves, Indian elves, and Arabic elves, for example. However, the closest thing to the "dark elf" in Shadowrun is the elf metahuman variant subgroup called the Night Ones, most of which come from Europe. The Night Ones have an aversion to sunlight and are different from other elves by possessing a fine fur coat that covers their bodies, indistinguishable from their skin at a distance and usually colored from black, violet, or dark blue. Popular media has dubbed them dark elves, and the group is sometimes stereotyped against as being members of a cult or an "evil" metahuman race. In the in-character comments of a sourcebook, a character derisively calls a group of Night One pirates, "the Muppets", because of their purple fur resembling the Muppet Grover.
In the fictional universes of Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000, the generally evil Dark Elves (running parallel to the Dark Eldar in the Warhammer 40,000 universe) do not dwell underground, nor are they dark-skinned. Though Warhammer Dark Elves live in the frozen lands of the north in the continent called 'new world', in cities similar to those of High Elves. Dark Elves are masters of torture and they worship the god Khaine, Lord of Murder. In the Warhammer universe, they call themselves the Druchii and are ruled with an iron fist by the Witch-King Malekith and his sorcerous mother Morathi. The Druchii live in the land of Naggaroth and are cruel raiders with much disdain for all other races; especially their lighter kindred, the High Elves. The Dark Elves were actually the ones responsible for sparking "The War of the Beard", the great war that caused the rift in Dwarf and High Elf relations, though only the High Elves know this and the Dwarfs would disbelieve it if they found out.
In the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Dark Eldar live in the extra-dimensional city of Commorragh from which they launch raids upon the rest of the galaxy to capture slaves to be brought back to Commorragh as playthings or torture victims. They are afflicted with a condition known among themselves as the Thirst, which forces them to consume the souls of other sentient creatures lest the Chaos God Slaanesh consume theirs.
In The Elder Scrolls series of role-playing video games, Dark Elves (often referred to as Dunmer) lived generally peacefully with other races. They were the predominant race in Morrowind, their native province, and held many of the highest positions of authority. In addition, much of the mythology surrounding Morrowind revolved around them. They are generally conservative by nature, being very devoted to their pantheon of gods, and are distrustful of "outlanders". Dunmer culture is split between the settled people of the cities and the nomadic Ashlander tribes. Dark can easily be applied to them as "gloomy" or "morbid", for such is their temperament. Dunmer are said to have been punished with their red eyes and dark-bluish skin colour by Azura, one of the most prominent Daedra, either for disobeying her in one of the most crucial moments of their history or for turning to worship the Tribunal, along with the Tribunal killing Nerevar, the savior of the Dunmer. Many Imperial scholars prefer the theory that the bluish-grey skin is an adaptive response to the frequent volcanic eruptions on Vvardenfell.
In truth, the term Dunmer more properly means Cursed Elves than Dark Elves. However, the term Dark Elves is far more complimentary. Although generally civilized, the Dunmer possess many savage and barbaric traits. While the Tribunal maintains a general peace amongst the people, the House Wars amongst the ruling class remain strong in memory. In addition, thanks to the Armistice allowing Morrowind to maintain many of its own laws, it is the only province which practices chattel slavery of the "lesser" races, which the Dunmer consider to be most other races and even some of their own species including High Elves and Wood Elves; however, by the time of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion they are said to be abandoning this practice. A long lifespan is common among members of the race. Some Dark Elves are said to have lived for 1000 years.
Among those who played the older Elder Scrolls games, the Dunmer had something of a reputation for being promiscuous due to several in-game jokes to that extent.
Midkemian dark elves - called moredhel (incidentally, a 'literal' word from Dark and Elf from Tolkien Elvish) - resemble the elves (eledhel) and the glamredhel, the "mad ones", but have dark hair. They're quite warlike because of the 'path' they follow is towards power, 'might makes right', and 'the end justifies the means'. They mostly inhabit the Northlands, and also the continent of Triagia, and are usually only seen in the more populated parts of the world robbing and raiding. Some of the moredhel return to reside with the eledhel in a process of change inwardly and outwardly, called the Returning, but they are often killed by their kin before they reach the home of the elves, Elvandar. The truth, known only to the elves themselves and few elf-friends, is that the moredhel and eledhel are the one race both of whom were slaves under the Valheru. When the latter disappeared the field slaves turned their back on their former masters' ways and became the eledhel, while the house slaves who had been in closer proximity to their masters sought their power and methods and became the moredhel. The eldar, keepers of lore and of the Valheru's sacred objects, left Midkemia and made their home on the world of Kelewan unbeknownst to anyone, as they kill anyone who tries to enter their forest.
They play a significant role in the novel A Darkness at Sethanon (Riftwar series) and the video game Betrayal at Krondor. The Novel 'Krondor the Betrayal' goes quite in depth to show the 'moredhel' are not evil per se, but have a very xenophobic, stubborn, and harsh culture.
On the world of Yrth, the dark elves are not a separate race, but are a xenophobic offshoot of the main elven culture. They think all non-elves in general, and orcs in particular, are an aberration against nature and a threat to the future of the world and the elven race, and thus conspire to either enslave or destroy those other races. They began as nothing more than a group of elves united against orcs, but over the centuries their beliefs diverged from the elven mainstream. They believe in using magic to improve on nature, guiding it actively toward union with the Eternal, the elven (and dwarven) conception of the divine. Most elves consider their belief perverted and dangerous. The dark elves are responsible for the Banestorm effect that brought humans, goblins, lizardfolk and other non-Yrth native races to Yrth.
Dark elves were part of Might and Magic VIII as one of the dominant species on the continent Jadame of the planet Enroth, available as playable characters. Portrayed as red and brown-skinned counterparts to the wood and snow elves, these dark elves are peaceful and inhabit the country of Alvar, which includes Jadame's major port city Ravenshore in the south. The lands of Alvar north of Ravenshore are troubled by aggressive ogres. There is a dark elven prophecy concerning the end of the world.
In Ashan, the world of Heroes of Might and Magic V, Dark Elves are a faction that lives in tunnels under the surface. They are descendants of the followers of Tuidhanna, originally a Wood Elf Queen, whose people were blamed for burning down the Giant Tree, Brythigga, sacred to the Wood Elves.
In the setting of the Fading Suns science fiction role-playing game, the fictional extraterrestrial races of the Ur-Obun and the Ur-Ukar are essentially science fiction renditions of high elves and dark elves respectively, somewhat akin to the Eldar and the Dark Eldar in the Warhammer 40000 board game. However, in contrast to the usual portrayal of dark elves, the Ur-Ukar are not inherently evil, but simply possess a predisposition for direct, sometimes violent behaviour and display a certain moral ambiguity.
Shadowblade is the most elite assassin in the world of Warhammer Fantasy world. He is an assassin in the society of the Dark Elves, considered the most brilliant assassin ever to have lived. Even though he's still young by Dark Elf standards (a mere 150 years old) he is a legend amongst the Druchii, his exploits told as fireside tales to eager Dark Elf children. Most celebrated of all is his single-handed massacre of the entire crew of a High Elf Hawkship, whom he murdered one by one over several days, each killed in a different fashion. The mere thought of Shadowblade's murderous attempts is enough to keep all but the stupidest or brave Dark Elf from plotting against the Witch King for he is loyal only to the Hag Queen and the Witch King,although it is the Hag Queen alone that knows the true identity of Shadowblade.
Malus Darkblade is a Dark Elf Noble of evil renown in the Warhammer Fantasy world - he is possessed by a Daemon called Tz’arkan. His quest to rid himself of this Daemon is legendary. At one point he succeeded although it cost him his own soul. It took many years after that to track down the Daemon again and win his soul back, only to have Tz’arkan imprisoned inside him again.
For now it seems Malus has accepted his fate and has returned to his home of Hag Graef to lead its armies to war. None know what his true intentions are, but he has lost none of his thirst for power — he has been appointed Drachau of Hag Graef and placed in command of the armies of the Witch King.
In battle he rides upon his trusted Cold One steed; Spite and wields the fearsome Warpsword of Khaine. In times of need he can summon the Daemon and allow Tz’arkan to control his actions, by the mechanism that the daemon holds sway while Malus sleeps and he is in control while awake. To this end, he carries a variety of stimulants and soporifics, so he can fall asleep in combat or maintain wakefulness to keep control of his actions. This is great risk though, as while possessed by T'zarkan he can attack his own troops as well as enemies.He is also famous for stealing a enchanted shield from the court of the tomb kings and being the only individual to survive a fight with the Giantslayer Gotrek Gurnisson.
Drizzt Do'Urden is a Drow in the Forgotten Realms fantasy world. Drow are dark elves that live in subterranean caverns deep beneath the surface known as the "Underdark" of the Forgotten Realms. In R. A. Salvatore's novels Drizzt renounces the Drow's Spider-Queen Lolth, goddess of treachery and deception (instead embracing Mielikki, goddess of the forests and rangers). In doing so, Drizzt angers Lolth who, in turn, demands his family sacrifice him. Drizzt leaves behind the city of his birth, Menzoberranzan escaping the wrath of his family, and consequently his former house (the house of Do'Urden) is left to bear the wrath of the evil Spider-Queen. Finding himself a renegade, Drizzt seeks sanctuary from his past on the surface world. Where as most Drow are evil and power hungry, Drizzt is benevolent and humble. On the surface he is often wrongly persecuted for the reputation of his race, yet through the years he slowly gains a reputation for himself, allowing him acceptance without prejudice. His preferred weapons are twin scimitars, although he is perfectly capable of using a variety of other weapons should the need arise. His primary companion is Guenhwyvar, a magical panther who is summoned to Drizzt's plane of existence by means of a small onyx figurine. Along the way Drizzt has also made many important friends, such as the dwarf king Bruenor, the dwarf's adopted daughter Catti-brie and the human Barbarian Wulfgar, as well as Montolio "Mooshie" Debrouchee who revealed to the dark elf which deity his heart followed and the svirfneblin Belwar Dissengulp from Blingdenstone, the first member of a lawful race to accept Drizzt.
Gorath is a renegade Dark Elf (Moredhel) from Raymond E. Feist's fantasy world Midkemia. He betrayed his people to travel south across the Teeth of the World (a mountain range which separates the Moredhel from the rest of the world) in order to warn Prince Arutha ConDoin of the coming war in an effort to stop the Moredhel leader, Delekhan, and save his people from utter destruction. His story is portrayed in the video game Betrayal at Krondor and again in the novel based on the video game, Krondor: The Betrayal. This book is the first novel in The Riftwar Legacy, followed by Krondor: The Assassins, Krondor: The Tear of the Gods, Krondor: The Crawler (Not yet released), and Krondor: The Dark Mage (Not yet released).
Nerevar is the legendary Hortator and King of the Chimer from the fantasy world The Elder Scrolls. Technically, he is not necessarily a Dark Elf in the game, depending on the player's race, but he is the reincarnation of the Chimer Nerevar Indoril. With the aid of the Daedric Princess Azura, he rose to power over the Chimer by overthrowing the Nords. He continued as the king of Morrowind for many years, but when he fought a battle with the Dwemer at Red Mountain, he was victorious but mortally wounded. His three councillors (who later became the Tribunal) betrayed their oath to him and used a forbidden magical artifact. In punishment for this Azura changed his race with dark blue skin and red eyes, transforming them into the Dunmer, the Dark Elves. He was later reincarnated, as the player character of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.
Craig is a famous Dark Elven Dracon Warrior of the fictional race the "Norcaine" in the fantasy world of Spell Force. He is most notably mentioned due to several appearances and aids the main character on his or her quest. It is stated that he was exiled from his homeland of Shal due to showing sympathy for the so called "Light Worshipers". Later on he is mentioned to become the leader of his race by wearing the "Sigil of the Norcaine" & revealed to have a daughter named Nightsong. Finally he perishes while defending the border fortress "Draug' Lur" from a schism of Norcaines who has allied themselves with the "Shadows".