I have played many Role Play games over two decades and I have to say of all the races I have played, the Dark Elf is a real favorite. I started playing the old and mysterious PnP rule set ‘Chivalry and Sorcery‘ a game which still holds a magical power over me. There were not even Dark Elves as an option but the Dungeon Master let me make one up anyhow, a character whose elvish name I forget but who went by the common tongue translation ‘Windfallen‘.
Nowadays the Dark Elf has become synonymous with evil and the Underdark. In Neverwinter Nights, where these Elves are known as Drow, and in many other role playing games the Dark Elf lives underground and has penalties applied in game when in daylight. While this makes them formidable foes who have a revulsion for weaker races like the humans I still miss the Tolkien type of ‘dark’ Elf upon which my early character was based upon. In Middle Earth lore, the dark Elf describes those lesser Elves who never traveled to the lands of the Gods, the races of Elves who preferred the light of the stars to that of the moon or sun. They hid away from men remaining in the woods and vales, were secretive and of the ‘dark’ unlike their brethren, but were not evil. They contrasted rather with the ‘high’ Elves whom followed the ways of light, learning, trade, civilization and empire building.
In this vein Windfallen who formed my first experiences of role playing was a grey-green clad master-ranger of the deep forests, expert with his yew longbow, a worshiper in an almost pagan or native American Indian way of Stag’s and Eagles, and had a reputation for stalking and murdering those who preyed on the forest creatures. Defender of the forest creatures to other ‘dark’ Elves, murderous waif to the humans who lived at the forests edges. I totally recommend playing a good/neutral alignment Dark Elf in any role playing PC game, focusing on detesting ‘weaker’ Elves for their soft habits and human-like behaviors, playing a superior aloof Elf of ascetic habits who looks down upon the Light or High Elves. this makes a fun variance to the definition of Dark Elf.
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