Are modern Elves really that based on Tolkien's?

[MithrandirOlorin]

Well my views on Biblical Morality are not very Orthodox.

[Robovski]

Halflings were Hobbits in Dungeons and Dragons until the Tolkein estate said knock that off and so they became "Halflings". Tolkein's works were listed in the original suggested inspirational reading list made and printed by Gygax.

[TheLibrarian]

Preamble: A lot of the time, when we say "modern fantasy derived [X] from Tolkien", we can probably add "as filtered through Dungeons & Dragons". Most elves in fantasy fiction, especially anything written after the early 80s (when the chances of an author who's never played D&D or been inspired by something inspired by D&D becomes increasingly remote), tend to resemble D&D elves moreso than Tolkien's.

I bring this up, because I'm wondering if the elven archer trope is definitely from Tolkien, or owes more to D&D. I know Tolkien had a boyhood fascination with Native Americans and their archery that permeates his work, not to mention the English historical veneration of the longbow. And Legolas is both an amazing archer and the most prominent elven warrior in Tolkien's work. But is he a typical elf, or an exceptional one? Early on, D&D made it a game mechanic that elves have a natural inclination towards swords and bows, because those are the weapons Tolkien's elves use, and it's stuck around for almost every edition since. But weapons and armour in Middle-Earth are based almost entirely on Early Medieval Europe, where swords, spears, bows, and axes are by far the most common weapons. Almost every warrior in Middle-Earth uses one of those four weapons. So are Tolkien's elves as a whole renowned for their archery? Or is that something hardcoded by D&D that later fantasy writers take as a given?

(My biggest mystery of "Standard Medieval Fantasy" is where the dwarves with Scottish accents trope comes from. Because it sure isn't Tolkien. But that's probably its own thread.)

[Beastro]

Tolkien was a trend setter, but people tend to latch onto and exaggerate things about something that comes into pop culture, and with elves it seems people have blown their nature loving and melancholy attitude out of proportion, the former ignoring that they were lovers of industry as much as nature.

What I find interesting is the misanthropic side that wasn't there much, if at all, in Tolkien's elves and how much that as become ingrained into what they are presented as, right down to it being inserted into the Jackson movies, above all, all the snide remarks Elrond makes.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

I dunno man. Tolkien elves literally said that all you mortals look alike to us.

[AllanO]

(My biggest mystery of "Standard Medieval Fantasy" is where the dwarves with Scottish accents trope comes from. Because it sure isn't Tolkien. But that's probably its own thread.)

I always think of the Dwarves as having North country (Yorkshire) accents thanks to listening to the 1974 Nicol Williamson audio version the Hobbit. Presumably Williamson was going for the coal miner association for Thorin and company. ( https://www.discogs.com/JRR-Tolkien-Nic ... se/4205817 )

Googling informed me there is a quora question about this thing, but no solid answers: https://www.quora.com/Who-started-this- ... sy-fiction