Tropes regarding elves.
A Sub-Trope of Fairy Tropes. Compare Angelic Tropes, Genie Tropes, and Mer Tropes.
- The Ageless: Elves who can't die from old age but can still be killed through other means.
- Alien Fair Folk: Elves turning out to be aliens, are confused for aliens, or pass themselves off as aliens.
- Can't Argue with Elves: Elves are always, always right.
- Changeling Tale: Elves kidnapping human children and replacing them with elven children.
- Christmas Elves: Elves who work up at the North Pole with Santa Claus.
- Cold Iron: Elves, especially dark elves, are sometimes weak to this.
- Cultural Posturing: Elves believing their culture is superior to others.
- Elfeminate: Male elves who look feminine.
- Elves Versus Dwarves: Elves fighting dwarves.
- Elvish Presley: A stock pun combining elves with Elvis Presley.
- Enchanted Forest: A deep, magic forest.
- Enslaved Elves: Elves forced into squalor and servitude.
- Expressive Ears: Ear motions as an emotional tell - often applied to elves in Japanese fantasy.
- The Fair Folk: Elves and fey as amoral tricksters, as depicted in classic fairy-tales.
- Fairy Ring: A circle/ring of mushrooms that may or may not be magical.
- Garden Garment: Elves wearing clothes fashioned from flowers and/or leaves.
- Hidden Elf Village: A secret location inhabited by isolationist elves.
- Immortality: Elves sometimes just straight up live forever.
- Inhumanly Beautiful Race: Elves often possess beauty far beyond that of humans.
- Long-Lived: Elves commonly have immense lifespans.
- Mage Species: Elves often have a natural knack for the use of magic.
- Nature Spirit: Elves are occasionally portrayed as this.
- Our Elves Are Different: The different depictions of elves in fiction.
- Our Dark Elves Are Different: The Evil Counterpart to light elves, or at least the Darker and Edgier variation.
- Pointy Ears: An almost universal trait among elves.
- Precursors: When elven culture comes before that of humans.
- Proud Scholar Race: Elves are commonly depicted as such.
- Really 700 Years Old: Extraordinarily ancient elves who look much younger. Elves tend to fall into this quite a bit in modern fantasy in part because their Beauty Is Never Tarnished.
- Screw You, Elves!: Telling elves off.
- Space Elves: Elves or elfin beings in outer space.
- Standard Fantasy Races: Elves are one of the primary recurring races.
- The Wild Hunt: Elves hunting humans.