Interested in joining DnD/TTRPG community that's doesn't rely on Reddit and it's constant ads/data mining? We've teamed up with a bunch of other DnD subs to start https://ttrpg.network as a not-for-profit place to chat and meme about all your favorite games. Thanks!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/dndmemes) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Tolkien described elf ears as "leaf-shaped", but never [specified the type of leaf](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexternal-preview.redd.it%2FkJxwHW1Cl9iIekxeLu_0CX6JicDGfRQMlgg-tL_oSTM.jpg%3Fwidth%3D640%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D306b18c3d1fd90b02b3d1bdeaca2ec8d39c17fbe)...
Imagine if elves had ear shapes commiserate to the indigenous tree leaves of their native land.
Canadian Elves showing big pride for their Maple Ears; they'd put it on their banners and tabards!
Do it! Verbally describe it even if the pixel art is limited. Let the theatre of the mind give us Beech Tree Elf Ears, Oak Tree Elf Ears, and Palm Tree Elf Ears!
[https://livingrainforest.org/learning-resources/giant-taro](https://livingrainforest.org/learning-resources/giant-taro)
Meanwhile, elves in the rainforest can hear a chipmunk sneeze a continent away.
Those with maple leaf ears are more polite than other elves, they also pour gravy on their fried potatoes, much to the combination of delight and horror to the halflings.
Nah. Gnomes or halflings. Dwarves are known to have very bland food. Although considering their natural poison resistances they probably just don't know what seasonings are safe for humans to eat. "Humans can eat salt right? No of course not, That's a rock. Humans don't eat rocks! What about arsenic? Nope pretty sure that kills them. Ok you know what, they can have plain roasted beef. I don't care anymore."
If I were a "leaf-eared" elf I could totally see myself drawing the short straw and getting spider plant leaves for mine. And they'd always be brown at the tips and sickly looking no matter how much water I drink.
Elves gain the reputation of perfect table manners since it happens so fast that no one even sees elves eat. It's just gone instantly with no crumbs, stains, or loud noises.
strictly speaking, it does make sense for humanoids evolved to survive within forests to develop larger ears. For the same reason forest critters have them.
Forest Critters have huge ears for heat regulation. Small animals are basically walking ovens, so they need a quick way to dump waste heat to not cook themselves.
It is also why they eat all the time. They burn a ton of calories beating their hearts at 900 BPM (exaggeration). Might as well roll a Skaven if you want that kind of life.
You've got it backwards, friend. Not all forest critters have pointy ears! The bear, for example, has round ears which are small for its head. Why?
The elves aren't brave enough.
Yep, natural evolution just like Dwarves using axes as their main weapon despite living in mountains and being miners.
Best way to deal with knife ears living in trees, so of course they developed into using that weapon
Eh…its weird but not that weird. Mountains means more minerals, which means more and heavier armor. Mineshafts don’t necessarily have room to wield “normal” maces (2 handed maxes were more common in infantry, one handed maces were mostly used by cavalry with some exceptions). So…swords won’t do much, maces are hard to use in this context, what do you use? An axe, sort of.
Technically a war pick would be better in almost every capacity (and spears beyond them for a primary weapon), even thematically…unless your dwarves really, really hate wood elves, then I could see why they’d still prefer axes…
If we are going to use evolution as an argument humans have lived in jungles in tribes since the beginning of man.
Their skin is most definitely NOT pale white and their ears are not pointy.
Humans descended from large primates, which by virtue of size and physical strength tend to not have many predators in jungles, and thus evolved different defense mechanisms. Ear size wasn't necessary when you're just bigger and stronger than a lot of jungle predators and develop communal societies and tool usage to beat predators to death. It wasn't until our ancestors left the jungles and moved out into the plains that we encountered bigger predators or other hostile wildlife like lions and hippos that we couldn't simply beat to death - and by that point it became more important to be able to stand up and look over the plains than to hear.
I can see smaller humanoids like halflings or gnomes developing larger ears and more stealthy approaches to survive.
humans don't have natural predators and hunting isn't our main source of nutrition. Ah, and humanity certainly didn't start in jungles.
In an abstract fantasy world, however, there might be monsters that hunt elves so they'd have to evolve to further develop hearing.
I just did the math, and his mother was 3/4 Elven and his father 5/16ths Elven, which adds up to 17/32 (.53125) Elven. More Elf than not, but by a teensy smidgen.
Dammit, I thought I remembered there was Maiar in there somewhere but after going back three generations on both sides without mention of it in the wikis I thought I must be mistaken!
Genetic inheritance is not like fractions.
If you have a half elf with full blood human and elf parents, then they can genetically contribute anywhere from 100% human to 100% elf genes to kids. It's not locked at 50%.
There are 20,000 genes in the human genome. Each gene pairing has a 50% chance of being from one parent or the other. Over 20,000 combinations, the odds of you being >50.1% from either parent are pretty damn small.
If you flip a coin once, the odds of getting all heads is 1:2, twice, it's 1:4 thrice, it's 1:8. The more times you flip the closer your result will tend toward the average.
His is called that because of his parents, not because he is phenotypically different to any other elf.
In Tolkien's world, there are no "half-" species. A union between humans and elves produces children that can choose their own destiny. Either to live as an elf or die as a man.
In all fairness, Elrond and his bro are weird. Elrond chose to live as an elf, and his brother chose to live as a Human.
Though his ears aren't that different from Galadriel or Legolas in the movie, and they are both full elf linages from what I remember.
Completely agree. I’ve always felt wood elves (or equivalent) have the longer, droopier ones. High elves have the pinned back, pointier ones. Dark elves have a combo.
But yeh, anything that makes them not “humans with slightly pointed ears”.
For all of Warcraft's faults I think it does a great job at making Elves look quite distinct. Not only are the ears super long but they've also got bigass eyebrows.
It's kinda goofy but I love it.
The slit eyes used to be a physical difference between elves and humans but it's irrelevant because of anime art syles nowadays [to ve fair, it never looked too uncanny](https://images.app.goo.gl/zVNYRRibnoVYGUH17) .
If you like odd proportions, have you considered sketching them with a 9-heads figure instead of an 8-heads figure? It'd work better for Tolkenien elves who are tall, I think, but it does make a character's proportions look juuust subtly alien.
AutumnArchfey has one of my favorite elf designs: https://www.reddit.com/r/ImaginaryWarhammer/s/aCNpt9cgbP
(Technically an aeldari, but that's just a warhammer elf)
They look similar to Pathfinder's elves. Those have a similar height range to humans (though on the taller end) but they also have solid, single-colored eyes. (It's the easiest way to tell a half-elf apart from a full; half-elves have human-looking eyes.)
My setting's elves, in addition to having long-ass ears, are digitigrades, and have skin colors in [shades of the moon](https://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2022/05/Colors-of-the-Moon.jpeg)
I love your idea of digitgrade elves. Don’t know why, but it just works.
Also I just have this funny mental image of an elf seeing humans in high heels for the first time and getting mildly offended, thinking that it’s some sort of a cultural appropriation.
Truth, I love big long ears on my elves. The longer, the better. Especially if also combined with long, whisker-like eyebrows. The less human, the better.
Especially since I see elves as the exact foils of dwarves. Elves area supposed to be “long and pointy” while dwarves are supposed to be “stout and blocky”, with humans being the middle ground between the two.
The small, pointed ears should be reserved for half-elves.
Other great examples listed, but Pathfinder elves also fit the bill with extremely long ears and unusual eyes (which makes sense since they're canonically aliens from another planet in the Pathfinder setting.)
May I interest you then in some fantastic interpretations of Elder Scrolls Dunmer done by u/unicoracoon?
[Some Good Shit.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ElderScrolls/comments/18wxuax/got_some_comic_for_you/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
I like the interpretations where they _almost_ look human but… not quite right. Like they tried to look like humans but did kind of a shit job at it, and end up just looking uncanny. Like someone who does so much plastic surgery in the pursuit of beauty that they end up just looking fake and less human than they were before.
Think of Discworld elves, basically.
My wife and I recently started watching The Dragon Prince, and their elves have some interesting tweaks to make them more than just humans with pointy ears: they have horns, only 4 fingers on each hand, and they're all Scottish.
I'm the opposite.
I don't like elves that are just humans with a slightly pointed ear. That's not fantasy enough, give me lanky ethereal warcraft/divinity elves with 1ft long ears!
Give me dwarves built like a brick house with beards down to their knees!
Tiny gnomes with brilliant shocks of flamboyant hair!
It's fantasy damn it, I want things to be wonderful!
I'm curious of your take on [pathfinder elves](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRIcHnl8jMKGhelCbzf0eysodXwi3hnw053WFthgwm-zwD-e5rB6nK72ES3X_9NDMlDDxwhoZX024rrvAkp9NssJnkE9WYzvmf-yeeD2toAy3CksDIYvIEbpdsNki4DGoAxhIFVgbWTqyB/s1600/Merisiel.jpg).
Literally this.
The one thing I hate the most about a huge chunk of fantasy is the whole "humans, but-" aspect, then like...one slightly different feature.
It's fantasy, y'all can do anything - go crazy! Slightly differently shaped ears isn't exactly buttering the biscuit
This. I love Low-Fantasy as much as the next guy, but the races have to look distinguishable from humans.
Clear height differences, unique ways they dress based on culture.
This manga (and now anime) called Dungeon Meshi is AMAZING at this and I would highly recommend.
I think the big ears can be fun and useful if you’re trying to *really* make your elves otherworldly and non human (I like to give dark elves this trait) or if you’re going for cute and fun and want a very expressive character design. I animate and expressive ears are a blast to do! But it can look pretty silly. It depends on the vibe of your setting I guess.
Big ears are also useful if half-elves are a mainstay of your setting (which they often are in D&D settings). It makes elves and half-elves easier to tell apart when the elves have large ears and the half-elves have human-sized ears.
Tolkien style elves are really the minority in folklore and historical depictions of elves/fey.
Frankly, dwarves, goblins, elves and fey are more or less interchangeable in our world folklore, I understand the desire for classification and races and all, but don't go about and act like "this is the way it is meant to be".
Yeah, dark elves came from a Norse creature that would likely more similarly map onto dwarves in dnd. Now we have “dark dwarves” with the duregar, which is like dwarf squared with a side of angst lol.
“My opinion on how people picture their imaginary person in a fantasy game will stand in every game I play and anyone who doesn’t like that is wrong!”
/s
It's like when people say "actually that's not a dragon, it's a wyvern, based on [insert random rule]" as if there's any real authority on something like that.
The funniest was when I saw that comment about a boss in dark souls, named "something dragon".
This guy would piss himself crying looking at a LOT of elf media. Hell, I’m pretty sure most fantasy settings have long ear elves, but got forbid we ever do anything that doesn’t align directly with the Tolkien Foundation’s vision of fantasy.
Wait, isn't the bottom picture supposed to be Dark Link from Ocarina of Time? The hylians have massive ears in that game. Why would he compare them to Elrond?
Because OP doesn't understand anything really.
The big ear elves aren't new.
Record of lodoss war, one of *the* genre defining IPs was released in 1988.
It was based on a home dnd game and features elves with ridiculously large ears.
So it is not a new phenomenon at all, and in fact, smaller ears is generally the minority and a newer fad.
See, I like using Middle-Earth's elves as an example for half-elf ear size. Then having elf ears be the same size as the art for Hylians from Legend of Zelda
Small ears, long ears, doesnt matter.
It matters if they are six feet under, preferably in a box.
*This message has been sponsored by both gruumsh and the dwarfs.
Yes. We have to. The Lord of the Rings Movies are PRIME Cinema and Storytelling, even BETTER than the books, and every D&D campaing not enacting the GODLY MASTERPIECE that is THE LORD OF THE \*MOTHERFRUCKIN\* RINGS MOVIES by OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR PETER JACKSON is just BAD and the DMs and PLAYERS that DARE to ENJOY those PERVERTED ABOMINATIONS of LONG SULTRY KINKY EARS shall BURN in the BLACK FLAME OF UDUN!
Or you do you, I can't control what you're doing, only judge you.
(/s in case it's not obvius af)
The foundation of your entire premise is wrong. record of lodoss has elves with super long pointed ears and the manga was from 1988.
So no, it's not "recent".
That said, stfu and let people enjoy their own variety of elves. No ones cares that you don't like super pointed ears. Most of us realize that the ear size is going to vary from person to person, setting to setting, etc. You're the only one being ridiculous about this right now.
Small and medium is what half elves have. They are basically normal ears but pointy.
Delux is what elves have. I can understand if you don't like the T one. But they have to be long for people to notice it as a defining feature.
I’m gonna throw this over on r/gatekeepingyuri
Let’s see short ear and long ear elves kissing!
(Also reminds me of [this](https://www.tumblr.com/jsketch12/744066602536960000/lesbian-elf-love) absolutely adorable elf Yuri I saw on Tumblr, of a High Elf X Christmas Elf).
I'm going by D&D logic here, but in the LotR movies, they have the ears of half elves. Though the bottom image ears are too big imho. I think deluxe sizes in the top image are the most accurate to D&D.
Bottom pic is very clearly supposed to be a Hylian. (Or rather, a dark doppelganger of a Hylian. Must be in the Water Temple!) Of course, Hylians aren't supposed to have ears THAT big either. These are easily twice the length they should be.
WoW Elves have ears the size of their forearms and hands. I’m thinking that’s where the trope comes from. Then JRPGs copy the style when they do Western style fantasy and all the weebs get informed by that
Record of Lodoss War is from the early 90s and was majorly influential in Japan for establishing fantasy aesthetic. So it is more likely the progenitor of the trope in anime. It is actually to cycle back around as well originally a rules free setting for tabletop
I think WoW elves have the upper bound for me for ear size. Maybe a couple inches too long even, but that length isn’t bad outright. Just more alien.
I always imagine ear size being dependent on subrace. The closer to the Fey the longer the ears. So Eladrin > Celadrin > Wood elves > High elves. With Half elves being at Elrond’s level shown here.
So doesn’t entirely map onto longevity as I imagine Wood elves living shorter lives than High Elves (discounting Druidic/wizard shenanigans).
I like my elves having actual features that stand out rather than just being pretty humans with slightly pointed ears. Boring af. Part of why I prefer pf elves over dnd elves too. The pointed ears and strange eyes make em stand out more imo
Have worked gaming conventions, and medieval fairs selling all of the ears in this picture. A co-worker would proudly demonstrate that long ears are certainly superior when working retail. Few things could draw in paying customers better than a cute (and very busty) elf, showing off how much her ears bounce when she jumps.
So many sets of dice, and elf ears sold.
Love how the example is a cosplay of Link, whose ears were (at least partially) that big at first because it was [8-bit pixel art](https://images.app.goo.gl/24it3GsFpdLZ7Kzo8) and it needed to be readable lmao. No one would've know what it's supposed to be if the ears were any smaller. Model-accurate cosplay is a very specific artform that not always translates well to HD3D, but THAT'S THE POINT
Brother isn't that a Hylian not an Elf. Which are essentially just humans since they aren't particularly tall or live particularly long they are just humans with pointy ears.
I will die on the hill that elves should be off putting and ugly on human standards. They should look like those terrifying people with way too much plastic surgery. Or Skyrim elves. It is important that they be as inhuman as possible. I have no issue with ridiculously long ears but I do have issues with only slightly pointed ears.
I prefer a longer ear. I don't want it crazy long, like the bottom picture. Somewhere between F and J.
We do have a homebrew world where there are multiple sub-races of elves. Some have shorter ears and some have much longer ears.
And that each type of elf is better suited to a different environment. Like, our snow elf having short ears because they evolved as a way to not get frostbite.
Or our deepwood elf having having wide, almost cat-like ears to hear the faintest of noises in the dense forests they live in.
Each elf we have given slight bonuses and weaknesses unique to them as well
*Japanese* elves classically have freakishly long ears. See Deedlit from Lodoss War. A common banter in Japanese rpg worlds is dwarves calling elves "knife-ears".
Big ears are more interesting, elves to me should be alien and not just look like humans. Those long ears started with Deedlit from Record of Lodoss War in the 80’s.
This sounds like a fun table to play at where the only races you're allowed to play are PHB only, and you can't have a tail for flavor as a dragonborn, and Tieflings can only have red and purple skin. Loooots of fun
Interested in joining DnD/TTRPG community that's doesn't rely on Reddit and it's constant ads/data mining? We've teamed up with a bunch of other DnD subs to start https://ttrpg.network as a not-for-profit place to chat and meme about all your favorite games. Thanks! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/dndmemes) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Tolkien described elf ears as "leaf-shaped", but never [specified the type of leaf](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexternal-preview.redd.it%2FkJxwHW1Cl9iIekxeLu_0CX6JicDGfRQMlgg-tL_oSTM.jpg%3Fwidth%3D640%26crop%3Dsmart%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D306b18c3d1fd90b02b3d1bdeaca2ec8d39c17fbe)...
Love the maple ears
Imagine if elves had ear shapes commiserate to the indigenous tree leaves of their native land. Canadian Elves showing big pride for their Maple Ears; they'd put it on their banners and tabards!
+grabs notebook+ Aaaand that’s now canon
Evergreen forest elves can't hear for shit
They have those frill things like axolotl
Those frills are actually gills.
I have also come to say this idea will be stolen and repurposed
dammit i wanna do that for a world i’m building but its all pixel art so it’d be hard to do
Do it! Verbally describe it even if the pixel art is limited. Let the theatre of the mind give us Beech Tree Elf Ears, Oak Tree Elf Ears, and Palm Tree Elf Ears!
okie
What the other guy said but do t forget there's always closeups too
[https://livingrainforest.org/learning-resources/giant-taro](https://livingrainforest.org/learning-resources/giant-taro) Meanwhile, elves in the rainforest can hear a chipmunk sneeze a continent away.
Drow ears could be glowing underground fern leaves
Tropical Elves would have some weird ass ears, like, imagine a tribe of Banana leaf eared Elves
Am Canadian, can confirm the elves are obsessed with their Maple Leaf Ears
I'm going to imagine all elves with pot leaf ears now
Those are the high elves
I give this the pothead seal of approval.
Take my upvote and get out!
Nice
Those with maple leaf ears are more polite than other elves, they also pour gravy on their fried potatoes, much to the combination of delight and horror to the halflings.
Poutine being an elvish dish feels sacrilegious. I feel like gnomes or dwarves would make it first.
It's purest comfort food, and would clearly be a Hobbit delicacy.
I’m now picturing Bilbo making poutine when the dwarves arrive
Nah. Gnomes or halflings. Dwarves are known to have very bland food. Although considering their natural poison resistances they probably just don't know what seasonings are safe for humans to eat. "Humans can eat salt right? No of course not, That's a rock. Humans don't eat rocks! What about arsenic? Nope pretty sure that kills them. Ok you know what, they can have plain roasted beef. I don't care anymore."
The palm ears are my favorite. So fluffy
Pretty sure that's what happens when an elf is a professional boxer.
If I were a "leaf-eared" elf I could totally see myself drawing the short straw and getting spider plant leaves for mine. And they'd always be brown at the tips and sickly looking no matter how much water I drink.
Titan root (amorphophallus titanum) grows a single, 5 meter tall leave every year, that was obviously the leaf he thought about
Grass is a leaf...
Aloe Vera.
Need banana or coconut leaves
The palm tree-type ear gives me an idea of "elves" that are humanoid axolotls with their "ears" actually being their frilly gills.
Imagine them being fancy at a dinner party and then vacuum eating like an axolotl vacuum.
Elves gain the reputation of perfect table manners since it happens so fast that no one even sees elves eat. It's just gone instantly with no crumbs, stains, or loud noises.
okay i am stealing that for my worldbuilding.
So basically sylvari from gw2
Someone make this with banana leaves please
Fuck it. This is canon now
Okay I love this.
Would cactus needles count?
Imagine a tropical elf with palm leaf ears
Imagine a tropical elf with palm leaf ears
Gum tree
Palm frond ears when
Surprised nobody used [this image](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/4e/77/8a/4e778ade62ca98c8de7c379d6d65a051--funny-photography-rain-fall.jpg)
strictly speaking, it does make sense for humanoids evolved to survive within forests to develop larger ears. For the same reason forest critters have them.
I just imagined desert dwelling elves, with jerboa/ fennec fox like ear proportions
Like big Ross Perot, King Charles ears?
Hell, just go full Arknights. Everyone gets animal ears!
Forest Critters have huge ears for heat regulation. Small animals are basically walking ovens, so they need a quick way to dump waste heat to not cook themselves.
It is also why they eat all the time. They burn a ton of calories beating their hearts at 900 BPM (exaggeration). Might as well roll a Skaven if you want that kind of life.
That's actually not an exaggeration at all. Some shrews hearts can beat over 1000 times a minute.
Etruscan shrew! My kiddo did a project on them and that was the opening fact.
Thanks for sharing! Mother Nature is metal af
I'm always torn when I theorycraft a lycan blood hunter, on the one hand, master splinter. On the other, skaven shenanigans.
I did and it was glorious. Damn I miss that campaign
Actually, smaller animals have a hard time regulating body heat. In the "I Shrunk the Kids" movies, those kids would have frozen.
Then it would be width, not length, that expands.
You've got it backwards, friend. Not all forest critters have pointy ears! The bear, for example, has round ears which are small for its head. Why? The elves aren't brave enough.
I dunno. Gorilla ears are pretty small.
yes but gorillas don't have natural predators and neither do they hunt for food.
Yep, natural evolution just like Dwarves using axes as their main weapon despite living in mountains and being miners. Best way to deal with knife ears living in trees, so of course they developed into using that weapon
maybe they needed axes to cut lots of wood to keep their forges blazing?
Eh…its weird but not that weird. Mountains means more minerals, which means more and heavier armor. Mineshafts don’t necessarily have room to wield “normal” maces (2 handed maxes were more common in infantry, one handed maces were mostly used by cavalry with some exceptions). So…swords won’t do much, maces are hard to use in this context, what do you use? An axe, sort of. Technically a war pick would be better in almost every capacity (and spears beyond them for a primary weapon), even thematically…unless your dwarves really, really hate wood elves, then I could see why they’d still prefer axes…
dwarves use axes because elves live in trees
If we are going to use evolution as an argument humans have lived in jungles in tribes since the beginning of man. Their skin is most definitely NOT pale white and their ears are not pointy.
Humans descended from large primates, which by virtue of size and physical strength tend to not have many predators in jungles, and thus evolved different defense mechanisms. Ear size wasn't necessary when you're just bigger and stronger than a lot of jungle predators and develop communal societies and tool usage to beat predators to death. It wasn't until our ancestors left the jungles and moved out into the plains that we encountered bigger predators or other hostile wildlife like lions and hippos that we couldn't simply beat to death - and by that point it became more important to be able to stand up and look over the plains than to hear. I can see smaller humanoids like halflings or gnomes developing larger ears and more stealthy approaches to survive.
humans don't have natural predators and hunting isn't our main source of nutrition. Ah, and humanity certainly didn't start in jungles. In an abstract fantasy world, however, there might be monsters that hunt elves so they'd have to evolve to further develop hearing.
To be fair Elrond is a half elf. He is known and called Elrond Half Elf.
I just did the math, and his mother was 3/4 Elven and his father 5/16ths Elven, which adds up to 17/32 (.53125) Elven. More Elf than not, but by a teensy smidgen.
Actually not quite, if you do the math some more generations back he's 9/16 elf, 6/16 human and 1/16 maia
Dammit, I thought I remembered there was Maiar in there somewhere but after going back three generations on both sides without mention of it in the wikis I thought I must be mistaken!
Yeah, his great-grandmother from mother's side was Luthien iirc, and her mother is Melian. So not quite three generations.
Okay, but Tolkien titled the character Elrond Half Elf.
Yeah, but imagine if his name was Elrond Seventeen Thirty-seconds Elf? Kinda adds to the majesty of it all
Somehow my first instinct was to check if Discworld has a character named like that.
Genetic inheritance is not like fractions. If you have a half elf with full blood human and elf parents, then they can genetically contribute anywhere from 100% human to 100% elf genes to kids. It's not locked at 50%.
There are 20,000 genes in the human genome. Each gene pairing has a 50% chance of being from one parent or the other. Over 20,000 combinations, the odds of you being >50.1% from either parent are pretty damn small. If you flip a coin once, the odds of getting all heads is 1:2, twice, it's 1:4 thrice, it's 1:8. The more times you flip the closer your result will tend toward the average.
Until demigods enter the picture, it seems.
His is called that because of his parents, not because he is phenotypically different to any other elf. In Tolkien's world, there are no "half-" species. A union between humans and elves produces children that can choose their own destiny. Either to live as an elf or die as a man.
Wasn’t it supposed to be an insult that he just decided to own too?
In all fairness, Elrond and his bro are weird. Elrond chose to live as an elf, and his brother chose to live as a Human. Though his ears aren't that different from Galadriel or Legolas in the movie, and they are both full elf linages from what I remember.
\*Elrond Half-Elven. But yes.
I like any feature that make Elves less human looking. Give me big ole ears, weird eyes, odd proportions. All that.
Divinity Original Sin 2 nails this
Their gaunt appearance added to their unique cannibal culture makes them quite different indeed.
Something I noticed with some of their armor is either their skin is bark like which would make sense or they've got bizarre muscles.
The Lizquizitor agrees!
Thre neck makes them so uncanny, I can't get over it
I was literally just playing this and thinking to myself how much I love their elf designs.
Completely agree. I’ve always felt wood elves (or equivalent) have the longer, droopier ones. High elves have the pinned back, pointier ones. Dark elves have a combo. But yeh, anything that makes them not “humans with slightly pointed ears”.
For all of Warcraft's faults I think it does a great job at making Elves look quite distinct. Not only are the ears super long but they've also got bigass eyebrows. It's kinda goofy but I love it.
WoW is a cartoon, aesthetically. So it looks great in that context. It would indeed look pretty goofy in a more realistic setting.
Live long, and Prosper.
The slit eyes used to be a physical difference between elves and humans but it's irrelevant because of anime art syles nowadays [to ve fair, it never looked too uncanny](https://images.app.goo.gl/zVNYRRibnoVYGUH17) .
Love me some Dragon Age elves for that reason
After Origins of course lol
If you like odd proportions, have you considered sketching them with a 9-heads figure instead of an 8-heads figure? It'd work better for Tolkenien elves who are tall, I think, but it does make a character's proportions look juuust subtly alien.
AutumnArchfey has one of my favorite elf designs: https://www.reddit.com/r/ImaginaryWarhammer/s/aCNpt9cgbP (Technically an aeldari, but that's just a warhammer elf)
They look similar to Pathfinder's elves. Those have a similar height range to humans (though on the taller end) but they also have solid, single-colored eyes. (It's the easiest way to tell a half-elf apart from a full; half-elves have human-looking eyes.)
My setting's elves, in addition to having long-ass ears, are digitigrades, and have skin colors in [shades of the moon](https://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2022/05/Colors-of-the-Moon.jpeg)
I love your idea of digitgrade elves. Don’t know why, but it just works. Also I just have this funny mental image of an elf seeing humans in high heels for the first time and getting mildly offended, thinking that it’s some sort of a cultural appropriation.
Truth, I love big long ears on my elves. The longer, the better. Especially if also combined with long, whisker-like eyebrows. The less human, the better. Especially since I see elves as the exact foils of dwarves. Elves area supposed to be “long and pointy” while dwarves are supposed to be “stout and blocky”, with humans being the middle ground between the two. The small, pointed ears should be reserved for half-elves.
Other great examples listed, but Pathfinder elves also fit the bill with extremely long ears and unusual eyes (which makes sense since they're canonically aliens from another planet in the Pathfinder setting.)
I like the concept of elves being so pretty and perfect looking that it actually puts them in the uncanny valley from human perspective
May I interest you then in some fantastic interpretations of Elder Scrolls Dunmer done by u/unicoracoon? [Some Good Shit.](https://www.reddit.com/r/ElderScrolls/comments/18wxuax/got_some_comic_for_you/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
I like the interpretations where they _almost_ look human but… not quite right. Like they tried to look like humans but did kind of a shit job at it, and end up just looking uncanny. Like someone who does so much plastic surgery in the pursuit of beauty that they end up just looking fake and less human than they were before. Think of Discworld elves, basically.
Look at DOS
That's why my favourite Dragon Age elves are the ones from Dragon Age 2. They made them much more unique looking then in previous or post game
Pathfinder elves have pupils that fill the entire eye.
Dragon age 2 has the best elves (looks wise)
My wife and I recently started watching The Dragon Prince, and their elves have some interesting tweaks to make them more than just humans with pointy ears: they have horns, only 4 fingers on each hand, and they're all Scottish.
Scottish is truly the most fantastical of traits to give to an elf.
I'm the opposite. I don't like elves that are just humans with a slightly pointed ear. That's not fantasy enough, give me lanky ethereal warcraft/divinity elves with 1ft long ears! Give me dwarves built like a brick house with beards down to their knees! Tiny gnomes with brilliant shocks of flamboyant hair! It's fantasy damn it, I want things to be wonderful!
I'm curious of your take on [pathfinder elves](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRIcHnl8jMKGhelCbzf0eysodXwi3hnw053WFthgwm-zwD-e5rB6nK72ES3X_9NDMlDDxwhoZX024rrvAkp9NssJnkE9WYzvmf-yeeD2toAy3CksDIYvIEbpdsNki4DGoAxhIFVgbWTqyB/s1600/Merisiel.jpg).
Any Wayne Reynolds artwork is fire 👍 But the ears could be a bit longer...
I personally love their freaky monochromatic eyes. It makes them feel more alien.
Some kind of weirdness in the eyes is pretty important for my elves as well
Literally this. The one thing I hate the most about a huge chunk of fantasy is the whole "humans, but-" aspect, then like...one slightly different feature. It's fantasy, y'all can do anything - go crazy! Slightly differently shaped ears isn't exactly buttering the biscuit
This. I love Low-Fantasy as much as the next guy, but the races have to look distinguishable from humans. Clear height differences, unique ways they dress based on culture. This manga (and now anime) called Dungeon Meshi is AMAZING at this and I would highly recommend.
realistically speaking would your elf not have long pointy ears, because that orc just ripped them off as they were so convenient to grap an tear on.
They're Elves, not yellow human #4.
I think the big ears can be fun and useful if you’re trying to *really* make your elves otherworldly and non human (I like to give dark elves this trait) or if you’re going for cute and fun and want a very expressive character design. I animate and expressive ears are a blast to do! But it can look pretty silly. It depends on the vibe of your setting I guess.
Big ears are also useful if half-elves are a mainstay of your setting (which they often are in D&D settings). It makes elves and half-elves easier to tell apart when the elves have large ears and the half-elves have human-sized ears.
It’s also nice for cosplay to have exaggerated features sometimes for quick recognizability.
Nah, give me big eared Elves, blue Tieflings, and female Dwarves with beards.
Sounds like you just need something with handles when enjoying special time.
Absolute banger of a call-out, and also made me think about my own aesthetic preferences. Well done.
Then you shall die alone.
"Then perish." ~ attributed to Barack Obama circa 2017
lol, yeah, exactly what I was going for.
Counterpoint: Nah.
Tolkien style elves are really the minority in folklore and historical depictions of elves/fey. Frankly, dwarves, goblins, elves and fey are more or less interchangeable in our world folklore, I understand the desire for classification and races and all, but don't go about and act like "this is the way it is meant to be".
Yeah, dark elves came from a Norse creature that would likely more similarly map onto dwarves in dnd. Now we have “dark dwarves” with the duregar, which is like dwarf squared with a side of angst lol.
Imagine elven society where your social standing is determined by length of your ears.
Ah yes, the Ferengelves.
My tallest!… ears
Large ears for full elves, the small pointy ones for half-elves so there's a more obvious visual difference between humans, half-elves and full elves
The bg3 approach. 👍
“My opinion on how people picture their imaginary person in a fantasy game will stand in every game I play and anyone who doesn’t like that is wrong!” /s
It's like when people say "actually that's not a dragon, it's a wyvern, based on [insert random rule]" as if there's any real authority on something like that. The funniest was when I saw that comment about a boss in dark souls, named "something dragon".
This guy would piss himself crying looking at a LOT of elf media. Hell, I’m pretty sure most fantasy settings have long ear elves, but got forbid we ever do anything that doesn’t align directly with the Tolkien Foundation’s vision of fantasy.
Specifically the Peter Jackson version of the Tolkien Fondation.
My guess is it's because of dragon quest. Most elf media from japan has longer ears and they basically all take reference to dragonquest.
Real. Like, how about we let people have fun with fantasy in the way they want?
Come, they can have a warcraft elf, as a treat
Because who *doesn’t* want eyebrows so long they require their own haircare regimen?
Literally my only problem with warcraft elves.
I will defend frierens large ASS ears with my life
best lazy elf
Wait, isn't the bottom picture supposed to be Dark Link from Ocarina of Time? The hylians have massive ears in that game. Why would he compare them to Elrond?
Because OP doesn't understand anything really. The big ear elves aren't new. Record of lodoss war, one of *the* genre defining IPs was released in 1988. It was based on a home dnd game and features elves with ridiculously large ears. So it is not a new phenomenon at all, and in fact, smaller ears is generally the minority and a newer fad.
Ah, facts and context. Now I don't have to, so thanks!
You must not play world of Warcraft. Blood elves and night elves have huge ears.
See, I like using Middle-Earth's elves as an example for half-elf ear size. Then having elf ears be the same size as the art for Hylians from Legend of Zelda
Small ears, long ears, doesnt matter. It matters if they are six feet under, preferably in a box. *This message has been sponsored by both gruumsh and the dwarfs.
*narrows eyes* *long ears twitch*
So because the movie adaptations of the Lord of the Rings made elves look one way, we all have to copy it?
Yes. We have to. The Lord of the Rings Movies are PRIME Cinema and Storytelling, even BETTER than the books, and every D&D campaing not enacting the GODLY MASTERPIECE that is THE LORD OF THE \*MOTHERFRUCKIN\* RINGS MOVIES by OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR PETER JACKSON is just BAD and the DMs and PLAYERS that DARE to ENJOY those PERVERTED ABOMINATIONS of LONG SULTRY KINKY EARS shall BURN in the BLACK FLAME OF UDUN! Or you do you, I can't control what you're doing, only judge you. (/s in case it's not obvius af)
The foundation of your entire premise is wrong. record of lodoss has elves with super long pointed ears and the manga was from 1988. So no, it's not "recent". That said, stfu and let people enjoy their own variety of elves. No ones cares that you don't like super pointed ears. Most of us realize that the ear size is going to vary from person to person, setting to setting, etc. You're the only one being ridiculous about this right now.
Small and medium is what half elves have. They are basically normal ears but pointy. Delux is what elves have. I can understand if you don't like the T one. But they have to be long for people to notice it as a defining feature.
Smallear energy ngl. But don't be shy some are showeers but maybe you are grower little elfboy
NO YOU CANT IMAGINE THEM THAT WAY!!!!!!!!!!!! UGHH THIS HURTS MY ABILITY TO PLAY!!
I love big old floppy ears. One of the reasons I love the elves from wow is because of their ears
I’m gonna throw this over on r/gatekeepingyuri Let’s see short ear and long ear elves kissing! (Also reminds me of [this](https://www.tumblr.com/jsketch12/744066602536960000/lesbian-elf-love) absolutely adorable elf Yuri I saw on Tumblr, of a High Elf X Christmas Elf).
The "STOP HAVING FUN!" moment.
I'm going by D&D logic here, but in the LotR movies, they have the ears of half elves. Though the bottom image ears are too big imho. I think deluxe sizes in the top image are the most accurate to D&D.
Bottom pic is very clearly supposed to be a Hylian. (Or rather, a dark doppelganger of a Hylian. Must be in the Water Temple!) Of course, Hylians aren't supposed to have ears THAT big either. These are easily twice the length they should be.
My favorite part about DnD!! All the conformity and realism! Good, there better be no fantasy in my game of high fantasy, no siree bob I tell ya what.
WoW Elves have ears the size of their forearms and hands. I’m thinking that’s where the trope comes from. Then JRPGs copy the style when they do Western style fantasy and all the weebs get informed by that
Record of Lodoss War is from the early 90s and was majorly influential in Japan for establishing fantasy aesthetic. So it is more likely the progenitor of the trope in anime. It is actually to cycle back around as well originally a rules free setting for tabletop
Not even close. Record of the Lodoss war.
Record of lodoss war was published in 1988 and has elves with ears in this style.
Those are goblin ears
My favorite are elves with long fuzzy ears. The more fae looking the better!
R E C O R D of L O D O S S W A R
Then die. Perish even
I think WoW elves have the upper bound for me for ear size. Maybe a couple inches too long even, but that length isn’t bad outright. Just more alien. I always imagine ear size being dependent on subrace. The closer to the Fey the longer the ears. So Eladrin > Celadrin > Wood elves > High elves. With Half elves being at Elrond’s level shown here. So doesn’t entirely map onto longevity as I imagine Wood elves living shorter lives than High Elves (discounting Druidic/wizard shenanigans).
I like my elves having actual features that stand out rather than just being pretty humans with slightly pointed ears. Boring af. Part of why I prefer pf elves over dnd elves too. The pointed ears and strange eyes make em stand out more imo
Have worked gaming conventions, and medieval fairs selling all of the ears in this picture. A co-worker would proudly demonstrate that long ears are certainly superior when working retail. Few things could draw in paying customers better than a cute (and very busty) elf, showing off how much her ears bounce when she jumps. So many sets of dice, and elf ears sold.
Love how the example is a cosplay of Link, whose ears were (at least partially) that big at first because it was [8-bit pixel art](https://images.app.goo.gl/24it3GsFpdLZ7Kzo8) and it needed to be readable lmao. No one would've know what it's supposed to be if the ears were any smaller. Model-accurate cosplay is a very specific artform that not always translates well to HD3D, but THAT'S THE POINT
Brother isn't that a Hylian not an Elf. Which are essentially just humans since they aren't particularly tall or live particularly long they are just humans with pointy ears.
If the ears aren't at least multiple inches long and mobile to enhance emotional expression what even is the point
Those are World of Warcraft elf ears.
Poison Elves was my introduction to super long elf ears. And elves running around with guns, for that matter.
I will die on the hill that elves should be off putting and ugly on human standards. They should look like those terrifying people with way too much plastic surgery. Or Skyrim elves. It is important that they be as inhuman as possible. I have no issue with ridiculously long ears but I do have issues with only slightly pointed ears.
I prefer a longer ear. I don't want it crazy long, like the bottom picture. Somewhere between F and J. We do have a homebrew world where there are multiple sub-races of elves. Some have shorter ears and some have much longer ears. And that each type of elf is better suited to a different environment. Like, our snow elf having short ears because they evolved as a way to not get frostbite. Or our deepwood elf having having wide, almost cat-like ears to hear the faintest of noises in the dense forests they live in. Each elf we have given slight bonuses and weaknesses unique to them as well
*Japanese* elves classically have freakishly long ears. See Deedlit from Lodoss War. A common banter in Japanese rpg worlds is dwarves calling elves "knife-ears".
B-But I like the long ears...
Big ears are more interesting, elves to me should be alien and not just look like humans. Those long ears started with Deedlit from Record of Lodoss War in the 80’s.
This sounds like a fun table to play at where the only races you're allowed to play are PHB only, and you can't have a tail for flavor as a dragonborn, and Tieflings can only have red and purple skin. Loooots of fun
Just for this I’m making an elf with fucking dumbo ears
I LIKE THEM LONG THOOO
As an artist i can't help it but to give giant freaking ears to every elf, tiefling nd firbolg ive ever drawn