Who are elves. How elves are called in the myths of various peoples - the names of the elves

Daria Tatarkova

Premiered yesterday the last part of the epic adaptation of The Hobbit - The Battle of the Five Armies. Over the past fifteen years, Peter Jackson, along with excellent actors, has created a completely separate image of Middle-earth. No matter how Tolkien's fans imagine the imaginary world of his works and the characters inhabiting it, it cannot be denied that without the films of the New Zealand director, he would have been much poorer. The main characters of the new trilogy are dwarfs and a hobbit, but viewers continue to be lured by more elegant characters: for example, Jackson inserted Legolas into the arrangement of the book, where, in fact, there is no hero. We decided to recall all the elves from the films of Peter Jackson and find out who is the coolest and who is not.

Galadriel

elf, mistress of Lorien

Galadriel is one of the most important characters in the history of Middle-earth. The daughter of kings, she was one of those who led the rebellion of the elves and led them away from Valinor. Tolkien described her as "the greatest elf" and the most powerful and beautiful of those left in Middle-earth at the time of the events of The Lord of the Rings. With a gradual understanding of the true nature of her past, all her actions became a kind of atonement for sins. The help she rendered to the Brotherhood is an excellent illustration of this. Despite the fact that her pride would never allow the heroine to possess the ring of omnipotence, she shows real strength of character by acknowledging this and refusing it. Galadriel can read the minds of other beings and see into their souls. She lived an incredibly long life, becoming a witness and a feasible participant in Tolkien's imaginary world - at the time of her last mention, the elf was seven thousand years old.

Arwen

half-elf, daughter of Elrond, queen of Gondor

Evening star Arwen Undomiel was out of sight in the books. Tolkien dignified it with a passing description and vaguely identified it as Aragorn's motivation in his campaign to save Middle-earth. In the film - and I would like to believe that without screenwriters Francis Walsh and Philippa Boyens it could not have done here - Arwen becomes no less courageous than her husband - the future king. Replacing the elf Glorfindel, she herself saves Frodo from the Nazgul, delivering him to his father in Rivendell. Arwen is present in all films, but not as a motivating prize, but as a catalyst for the fate of Aragorn. Without her self-sacrifice and decision to stay, the processes that would then lead the forces of good and Aragorn to victory would not have started. The final decision of the elf to be with her husband is partly saturated with bitterness: she is forever forced to say goodbye to her family and her people, who completely left Middle-earth. In the book, after her husband died and the children grew up, she went to the forests of Lorien and decided not to live anymore, thereby falling into the halls of the dead in Valinor.

Legolas

Elf, son of Thranduil, Prince of Mirkwood

Legolas became something of a Middle-earth rock star thanks to the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Jackson, along with Bloom, came up with new levels of swagger for him, about which there could be no talk in the book. For example, on a shield, like on a surf, he slides down the stairs and at the same time fires a burst of arrows - there is no need to even explain anything. Despite the fact that the original spirit of the book character in the films was preserved in full, the impudence inherent in youth (by elven standards) and Jacksonian humor provided this incarnation of the Prince of Mirkwood with an army of devoted fans almost instantly. At the same time, Legolas inherited from his father a dislike for gnomes and a family temper.

His presence in the new part looks, of course, somehow quite awkward. Bloom looks more like the beefier uncle of the boy who was in the 2000s, and computer rejuvenation completely turns him into a wax figure. One gets the feeling that he is out of place there, like an escaped exhibit of Madame Tussauds, who unexpectedly got on the set. Nevertheless, we are proud of Legolas for the fact that he was able to outgrow his father's influence and, despite centuries of hostility, his best friend is a dwarf, whom, according to Tolkien, he even took with him to Valinor.

Elrond

half-elf, lord of Rivendell

Elrond was not exactly an elf, if you look strictly. Both his parents, Eärendil and Elwing, came from the unions of elves and men, so Elrond was given the choice between the fate of an elf and a man. Unlike his twin brother Elros, who settled on the second option and eventually founded the human kingdom of Numenor, Elrond decided to become an elf. In Jackson's films, the role of Elrond went to Hugo Weaving, and if at first the audience poked a finger at him and shouted - “this is Agent Smith”, by the end of the 2000s, any associations with The Matrix evaporated.

As in the books, Elrond appears as one of the wisest elves in Middle-earth, who really cares about the fate of the rest of the inhabitants of his world. He lived for several thousand years, having managed to take part in the war against Sauron long before the events of The Lord of the Rings. In addition, Elrond had the gift of foresight and elven telepathy, which in the film, even the vast distances were not a hindrance. On top of all that has been said, Elrond was entrusted with the most powerful of the elven rings Vilya - so, frankly, there is practically no one to compete with him.

Tauriel

elf from Mirkwood

This elf was invented specifically for the films, and if you think that the story of the relationship between Arwen and Aragorn was complicated, then what can we say about Tauriel, who fell in love with a dwarf. Tolkien did not allow himself such liberties: for him, the union of elves and people was something incredibly tragic, and there were only three of them in the entire history of Middle-earth. In the on-screen "The Hobbit", the difference, even external, let's be frank, between elves and dwarves (at least this one) is not so cardinal, and Tauriel Kili's chosen one could well pass for an elf, provided there are ears and no bristles. To top it all, Tauriel rebelled against her king and, contrary to orders, went to help the dwarves fight off the orcs. As a captain of the guard, she knows how to fight no worse than any man, and besides, she guarded the lands of Mirkwood, feeling, unlike the rest, that the dark forces are thickening, no matter what Thranduil says.

Haldir

elf, captain of the guards of Lorien

One of the chiefs of the guards of Lorien, Haldir in the book was the guide of the Fellowship through Lorien when they reached the domain of Galadriel. Jackson decided to give the elf a much more significant role, thereby turning him from a casual acquaintance into a tragic figure of an important moment in the relationship between humans and elves. In The Two Towers, Haldir is shown as the captain of the squad that the elves sent to help in the defense of Helm's Deep. The unexpected decision not to leave people in trouble, even though, most likely, they are sent to their death, helped to strengthen the belief that the peoples will still be able to rally their forces in the fight against a common evil. The relationship between Haldir and Aragorn is shown as more of a friendship, with a hint that the two may have known each other before. Haldir is killed in battle by an orc sword.

Celeborn

elf, lord of Lorien

Celeborn is a uniquely positive character, and the most boring of all. Little is known about him, and he became famous for being the husband of Galadriel. Despite the status of one of the wisest elves in Middle-earth, Celeborn always remains somewhere on the sidelines and has no direct relation to what is happening - accordingly, he appears very little in films. In the books, unlike the last film in the first trilogy, he was the last elf to leave Middle-earth, and with him the last living memory of them.

Thranduil

elf king of Mirkwood

Thranduil, King of the Wood Elves, is an incredibly proud character whose arrogance has played tricks on him more than once. Unlike the rest, he appears in The Hobbit, which makes him one of the first elves of Tolkien who once saw the light, then, however, without a name. In the film version, quite a lot of attention is paid to the forest king, simply because it would be impossible to resist and not use such a character. For his grand entrance, Thranduil, played by Lee Pace, chose a huge deer with branching antlers - such an exit in a split second tells us quite a lot about a character who loves to show off.

Thranduil himself brought his relationship with the dwarves to an alarming strain because of his complexes about wealth and gems, which he was always short of. In the film, the aggressiveness and greed of the king put him on a par with villains rather than allies. With all the sins of Thranduil, nevertheless, he will side with the people and the dwarves in the Battle of the Five Armies against the orcs. In the future, his son Legolas, whom he will send to Rivendell during the events of The Lord of the Rings, drew attention to himself.

Figwit/Lindir

Elf of Rivendell

Figwit is the most stupid, but perhaps the funniest character in the entire list of screen adaptations of elves. Judge for yourself: his name is actually an abbreviation of the phrase "Frodo is grea... who is THAT?!?" So the hero of the third plan of the Jackson ring trilogy was called, of course, not by the director himself, but by a trio of Wellington documentary filmmakers who later shot the film of the same name about the Figwit phenomenon. A stupid name is better than none - so you can at least somehow identify it, after all, “elf from the retinue” does not mean anything at all. One could forget about him, like about any other nameless elf, if not for the actor who played him. Bret McKenzie is one half of Flight of the Conchords, the comedy duo Brett and Jamaine, who made their HBO series about them conquering New York. Despite the fact that Mackenzie is not recognizable at first glance, vigilant fans still managed to make out him.

In the first film, Figwit sat on the board, but after the hilarious buzz surrounding the character, Jackson decided to give him a whole line in the third film. He says only one phrase: “Lady Arwen, we cannot delay! My lady!" (seriously, just that), which did not stop him from earning his fan base and becoming a regular fanfiction hero of all sorts. In The Hobbit, Mackenzie played another elf from Rivendell - Lindir, the right hand of Elrond himself.

Elves have been popular literary characters for centuries, from William Shakespeare's plays like A Midsummer Night's Dream to JRR Tolkien's classic fantasy novels three centuries later. Probably the most famous of these magical creatures are the elves who work in Santa's workshop at the North Pole.

Fairies and elves

Like the fairies, the elves of folklore stories were tiny magical creatures. For example, Shakespeare's elves were tiny, winged creatures that lived and circled around beautiful flowers. The elves in the fairy tale "Thumbelina" were the same.

In English folklore, elf men were described as looking like little old men, although elf maidens remained unfailingly young and beautiful. Like the people of that time, the elves lived in kingdoms located in forests and fields. In the fields they lived around flowers, and in the forests they settled in hollow tree trunks.

Elves, fairies, and dwarves are closely related, although elves most likely originated in early Norse mythology. By the middle of the second millennium AD, people began to include elves in fairy stories and legends, and by the 19th century, fairies and elves were considered simply different names for the same magical creatures.

Reputation

Like the fairies, elves have gained a reputation in folklore as little pranksters and pests, so strange everyday occurrences are often attributed to their machinations. For example, when the hair on a person's head or in a horse's mane became tangled, it was called an "elven tuft", and if a child was born with a noticeable mole or birthmark, it was called elf-marked.

Judging by the folklore stories, joking with the elves was at your own peril and risk. According to folklorist Carol Rose, who published the Encyclopedia "Spirits, Fairies, Dwarves and Goblins" (Norton Publishers, 1998), although elves were sometimes friendly to people, if people showed respect, they were ready to take terrible revenge on anyone, who offended or disturbed them. Not to mention trying to steal something from the little forest dwellers.

In response to an insult, they could steal babies or cows, steal milk and bread from the house, or charm and keep young people captive for many years, returning them to real life as already aged people.

Santa's little helpers

According to a modern Christmas tradition, a whole army of little elves work at the North Pole, helping Santa Claus prepare presents for Christmas. This description, however, is relatively recent.

Santa Claus himself, in the classic poem "The Night Before Christmas", written by Clement Clarke Moore in 1822, is described as "a very old elf".

The image of elves working in Santa's workshop has been popularized in magazines since the mid-19th century.

A popular magazine published an illustration in its 1873 Christmas issue called "Santa's Workshop" that depicted Santa surrounded by toys and elves. The headline said, "Here's our idea for preparing for Christmas at the North Pole."

Allegory

Meanwhile, the same article revealed the actual production of toys, which were made not by little cheerful elves, but by poor, destitute foreigners who were forced to work six days a week from dawn to dusk in order to provide themselves with a minimum living.

The idea of ​​Santa watching the toy-making elves work was created to support the romanticized idea of ​​American capitalism, where Santa rules his vast empire without opposition, leading nameless, anonymous workers who are almost indistinguishable from each other.

Elves of Iceland

Elves began to appear on TV and monitor screens, pages of books and theatrical scenes relatively recently. In past centuries, the belief in the existence of fairies and elves was widespread not only among children and fantasy lovers, but also among adults.

Belief in these magical creatures is still strong in some places. In Iceland, for example, about half of the inhabitants believe in elf-like creatures known as huldufolk (hidden inhabitants), or at least do not rule out their existence.

According to Icelandic folklore, the hidden inhabitants appeared when Eve, ashamed that her children were too dirty, hid them from the eyes of God and said that they were not there at all. God, knowing about Eve's deceit, decided to punish her by saying: "Whatever you hide from me will remain hidden from you." These same children became the "hidden inhabitants" of Iceland, living in the rocks.

Believe or truth?

Belief in the supernatural is so strong in Iceland that several road construction projects have been delayed or altered so as not to destroy or disturb the elves' homes. If the local population does not intervene in the initial plans, seeking to protect the residence of their magical neighbors, then the elves themselves prevent the project from being completed.

For example, in the late 1930s, near Elf Hill (Álfhóll), construction began on the Álfhóll road, which was supposed to pass right through the most famous elf habitat, destroying it.

At first, construction was put on hold due to financial problems, but when construction began, workers faced a host of seemingly random problems, from broken equipment to lost tools. Subsequently, the road was decided to lay around the hill.

Second try

Later, in the 1980s, it was decided to build a road right on the site of Elven Hill. When the workers reached the site and tried to break the stone block, the perforator shattered into pieces. The replacement broke in the same way. After that, the workers were so frightened that they refused to approach the site, and the hill was listed as an Icelandic cultural heritage site.

According to a law adopted in Iceland in 2012, all places that are associated with folk tales and beliefs must be protected as the country's cultural heritage.

later elves

Over time, a new type of elf emerged, with a slightly different nature, form and history, nothing like the mischievous, tiny elves of the folk tales of the past.

For example, the elves depicted in the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien are slender, wise, almost immortal and incredibly beautiful. Tolkien's elves were inspired by Scandinavian folklore, so it's not surprising that they were predominantly tall and blond. It was these characters - magnificent, immortal and a little inaccessible - that became the prototype of almost all modern elves from various genres of literature, cinema and video games.

Gary Gygax, one of the creators of the original Dungeons & Dragons RPG, created his elves under the influence of Tolkien. In addition, his extraordinarily popular game helped to popularize elves in much the same way that the author of The Lord of the Rings envisioned them.

The ongoing evolution of the elves

Regardless of whether they appear as positive or negative characters in a certain work, in any form and in any genre, elves are strongly associated with magic and nature. These are perhaps the only characteristics that have remained with them throughout their history.

Today it seems that each generation has its own vision of elves and their role in stories. Folklore, as well as language and culture, is constantly evolving, and elves are likely to stay with us forever in one form or another.

Numerous fairy tales speak of amazing elves, who are distinguished by their fragile physique, short stature, and long, pointed ears. The main difference between the elves are magical abilities. Did elves really exist? Who are they?

The annals of an ancient monastery tell that in the 15th century, in the highlands of Scotland, people found a man who was dying of wounds. The man spoke in an unknown language. He was weak and thin. After the doctors were able to cure him, the man surprised him with his dexterity in archery, as well as swordsmanship. The stranger made no mistakes! Soon he was able to learn the language. It was then that he said that he belonged to the people of the Elves, who lived very far away. It is important to note that the guy had pointed ears, like real Elves. However, people who lived in the Middle Ages were sure that this was a sign of belonging to those who serve the devil.

You can also study the family chronicle of Norway, which tells the story of how, in the 16th century, a young girl became the wife of a tall and handsome guy who was a representative of the elves. The young man showed amazing abilities in archery. The guy was persecuted out of envy. The man was able to become the father of two beautiful daughters, who also had pointed ears.

It is important to note that representatives of various peoples over the centuries have described elves in almost the same way. If all the records were compiled correctly, then thanks to them you can find out what the elves really were.

Most often, people met with elves from the twelfth to the sixteenth century. Based on the information studied, two versions were put forward. According to the first hypothesis, elves are human beings with additional genes. Thanks to special genes, they are able to develop paranormal abilities. According to the second hypothesis, elves are creatures that can come from a parallel world to ours.

Approximately from the 7th-6th millennium BC. human memory preserved, along with the giants, elves - white and black.

In the Scandinavian "Elder Edda" it is noted that the gods first created the tsvergs - the gnomes, and then the elves: They agreed on a fate, sat down on the benches, all the higher gods held the council: someone should make dwarfs from the blood of Brimir from the bone of Blain; Motsognir was made and named the first among the Zwerg people.

But the genealogy of Lovar's ancestors - the descendants of Dvalin, whose family came from the earth's stone, came from the bog to the sandy land ...

Later, the "Younger Edda" added details about the country of the elves - Alfheim: "There live creatures called bright elves. And the dark ones live in the earth, they have a different appearance and a completely different nature. Light elves are more beautiful than the sun in their appearance, and dark ones are blacker than resin. “The first belong to the day, the second to the night; the first - by air, the second - to the underworld.

Unlike black elves, white elves could change their height and appearance at will, become visible or invisible - all they had to do was take off or put on a cap with a silver bell.

In fairy tales, elves are most often depicted as frivolous creatures who love music, singing, dancing, noisy feasts and festivities, willingly joining any procession or round dance. It is as if they never harm people, and respond to insults only with good-natured tricks. They do not like only loud noise: bell ringing, thunder, piercing whistle.

Against such a simplified interpretation of the Elven people, Professor of Oxford University John Tolkien, the author of the famous trilogy "The Lord of the Rings", strongly objected. In his work “On Fairy Stories”, the scientist wrote: “... Babies fluttering through flowers are a consequence of our “rationalization”: we explained the enchantment of the Elven Land with simple tricks, and invisibility with the tiny size of fragile creatures that can be hidden in a primrose flower or behind a stalk of grass . …Elves, faeris is a relatively new word. It first appeared in 1450 in a poem by the poet Gower:

His curls were combed. On them lay a Jeweled Hoop Or a green leaf,

Which just fell off the branch:

And everything about him seemed fresh.

And he was looking for flesh.

Like a hawk looking at a bird. Which I would like to grab.

He kept himself so

Like he was from Faery.

…The description of the beautiful youth gives the best idea of ​​the inhabitants of the Elven Land, … and for the people of Faerie do not always assume (to our annoyance) their true form; they appear to us as proud and beautiful as we ourselves would very much like to be ... The elves are no less real than we are, and we, in turn, are no more real than the elves. But our paths rarely cross, our destinies have long been divided.

In accordance with his own understanding of the nature of the elves, Tolkien described their birth in the epic The Silmarillion:

“... At that very hour, the Children of the Earth, the Firstborn, woke up, ... they woke up from a dream: and while they - still in silence - lived at Kuivienen, their eyes saw the stars, and the starlight became dearer to them than anything ... They lived for a long time in their first house they roamed the earth under the stars and wondered: and they began to speak and give names to all that they saw. They called themselves Quendi - “those that speak”, because they had not yet met other creatures with the gift of speech or singing. And it happened that Orome, hunting, drove to the east and, looking at the elves, was filled with amazement, as if they were strange, marvelous and unforeseen creatures ... Initially, the Elder Children were stronger and taller than they have become now: but no more beautiful ... "

Elves are not only known from the Scandinavian epics and the works of Tolkien. The Celts called them Sids, the Poles and Wends called them Luds and Ludshes (little people). The Russians distinguished between the "white-eyed miracle" - skillful underground farriers and voluntary assistants: a boy-with-a-finger, a peasant-with-a-nail. The Romans in the time of Nero believed that the elves (they were called incubos), in exchange for their lost cap, readily reveal the location of the treasures. The Scots and Irish guessed the presence of these creatures from the column of dust on the road and bowed respectfully to him, greeting the invisible crowd of elves marching to their new home. In more recent times, the Bavarian spirit of Ekerken galloped along country roads in the form of an oak root, overturned carts and stopped carriages at a gallop. In the tricks of this spirit, it is easy to recognize the pranks of the elves.

So, elves are just a figment of popular imagination?

Perhaps Tolkien answered this doubt best of all: “All that has been said is true even when we call faeris a product of our imagination; in this case, we have one more way for a person to comprehend the Truth of the World. Indeed, the Truth of the World, about which the English scientist, mythologist and creator of a new direction in the literature of "fabulous fantasy" writes, is in the variety of forms of mind on Earth. We must learn to understand those who think differently, who feel differently, and who look different in this life. This, perhaps, is the main lesson of our existence.

Despite the fact that many of Tolkien's works are perceived exclusively as fairy tales, it was he who, in his books of the Lord of the Rings cycle, was able to convey to our civilization the greatness of these creatures. Today, no one can say with certainty whether the elves lived among people or were guests from other worlds. However, it should be remembered that all the mythical creatures described in the legends of a particular nationality were often found in other countries, even if we are talking about the opposite part of the planet Earth.

Many complain that the film adaptation of books leaves much to be desired, since at this point the scriptwriters omit many details and facts presented by the author. However, the history of the elven people as brave, intelligent and sophisticated creatures is best demonstrated in the Lord of the Rings trilogy of films.

Legolas, who bravely fought for his people. The king of the elves, who at the right time decided not to stand aside and fight evil. A fragile dark-haired princess who was ready to sacrifice herself for the love of Aragorn. All these characters are imbued with valor, honor, loyalty, because this is exactly how Tolkien saw this amazing people.

Based on the information given in the Scandinavian legends, it is almost impossible for them. They are considered in them as spirits - elves, rather than real earthly inhabitants. The gods and goddesses of the Tribe of the goddess Danu turned into the same spirits - sids and elves after the defeat from the Goidels - the Sons of Mil. This happened between 1700-700. BC. Apsaras were sometimes considered to be the same spirits - elves, however, from Indian mythology it is difficult to establish when the transformation into apsaras and gandharvas - spirits (elves) of apsaras and gandharvas - real earthly inhabitants took place.
Based on the foregoing, we can talk about two possible periods of life in Scandinavia for Valkyries - elves (elves). 1) They lived there even before the Flood and the time of their life coincided with the later events described in the Indian epic, which found an echo in the Scandinavian legends about warrior maidens moving through the air on winged horses (more likely).
2) Valkyries - elves lived in Scandinavia at about the same time as the Tribe of the Goddess Danu - Tuatha de Danann - elves in Ireland, that is, from about IV to II or I millennium BC It is even possible that they settled twice in Scandinavia, like the Tribe of the goddess Danu in Ireland, and were forced to leave there for several millennia immediately after the flood.

***

Thus, the time of life on Earth elves, like other white gods, of which they were, was incredibly long and lasted from the end of the Mesozoic era or the beginning of the Paleogene (65.5 million years ago) until II or I millennium BC What happened to them later is said in my works "The Exodus of the White Gods. From Hyperborea to Easter Island" and "Emancipated Women's Societies: a look from the depths of centuries".

Now, after studying North American, Central American, South American, Egyptian, Sumerian-Babylonian, Indian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and other legends, it became clear to me where the elves went (they are the Tribe of the goddess Danu, Tuatha de Danann, Tuatha de Anu, Gandharvas , Apsaras, Valkyries). Part of the elves (apparently, mostly male gods), probably, together with other white gods adityas, sailed on ships to North America, marched in the form of "white gods", led by "Quetzalcoatl", "Kukulkan", "Bochika" , "Vira Kochey", through all of North, Central and South America, outlined the Nazca desert (apparently retaining one or more aircraft, the existence of which is noted in the legends of the Indians of North and South America), then sailed to Easter Island and other islands Polynesia and beyond were slaughtered there. Today, the power of the Tuatha de Danann is evidenced only by past legends, North American mound hills and drawings of the Nazca desert. About the same as the representatives of this divine people looked like, the intravital portraits of the Gandharvas-Tuatha-elves, left on Easter Island, speak.
Another part of the elves, mostly elf goddesses, created settlements and states of the Amazons in the Black Sea, Asia Minor, Africa and South America (probably having reached there with male elves) and died during numerous battles and skirmishes with local residents.

© A.V. Koltypin, 2009(additions and corrections 2012)

Mythological and historical elves

According to "Education in the Houses of Two Cups", "The Taking of the Seeds" and other Irish sagas, the Seeds, and then the Elves, began to be called the gods and goddesses of the Tribe of the goddess Danu (Tuatha de Danann) who lived earlier in Ireland, Wales and northern France after their defeat from the Sons of Mil of Spain (approximately in 1700-700 BC). According to one version of the saga "Education in the Houses of Two Cups" (there are only five of them), the country was divided into two parts by Amorgen - the poet and sage of the Goidels (the people to whom the sons of Mil belonged), in such a way that the Tribe of the goddess Dan got the lower one, underworld. The mythological elves, whom I mentioned above, began to live in it. The Sides were not the only place where, according to legend, the Tribe of the goddess Danu (Tuatha de Danann) went after the defeat from the Sons of Mil. The Irish sagas also say that the people of the Tribe of the Goddess Danu sailed across the sea and settled on the mysterious islands - Brendan, the Blessed, the Apple Islands ... A fragment from the saga "The Adventures of Art, son of Conn" can serve as a landmark for the location of the new homeland of the Tuatha de Danann. The tribe of the goddess Danu, gathered for a council in the Promised Land because of Bekuma the White (daughter of Eoghan Inbir), who committed adultery, exiles her to Ireland: "So she was banished beyond the sea and the great deep; and she was sent precisely to Ireland, for the Tribe of the goddess Danu hated the Sons of Mil, after they had been expelled from Ireland by them ".
In the saga “The Disappearance of Kondla the Handsome, son of Kond of the Hundred Battles”, approximately the same location of the country where the elves settled is indicated. The elf who seduced Condla sang to him:
« For a long time, a sweet desire has attracted you,
You want to go with me over the wave.
If you enter my glass boat,
We will reach the realm of the Victorious.
There is another country far away
She is dear to those who find her.
Even though I see the sun is setting.
We will reach it, far away, until the night ».
This mythical land of the elves was located across the sea, probably where the sun sets (that is, in America).

Readmy work "The Exodus of the White Gods. From Hyperborea to Easter Island"

Thus, after the defeat from the Sons of Mil, the men and women of the Tribe of the goddess Danu (Tuatha de Danann) were pushed to the periphery of the developed space - beyond the sea, to the islands, into the bowels of the hills, which was called the "Magic Land". And they themselves began to be called elves.

Elves - gods and goddesses of the Tribe of the Goddess Danu Tuatha de Danann), who lived in Ireland

As follows from the above, those who lived from the VI millennium BC. before 1700-700 BC. in Ireland, the gods and goddesses of the Tribe of the goddess Danu (Tuatha de Danann), in fact, were historical elves (the prototype of the mythological elves from the Other World).
In the work "Elves in Ancient Ireland. The Secret of the Tribe of the Goddess Danu" I reconstructed in detail the appearance, clothing, abilities and lifestyle of this people. Therefore, I will note here only their main features.Elves were tall, perfectly built, eternally young and beautiful young men and women with very fair skin, delicate features, blue, gray and probably green (?) eyes and long golden hair, which, with their flawless beauty, could drive mere mortals crazy . The elves were forever young and did not die of old age, which indicates a very long life span - for example, the god Danda and the goddess Banba lived for more than 3,000 years, and according to some sources, even more than 10,000 years. They could only be killed. Unlike their predecessors (except for the Fomorians and Fir Bolg) and successors, the Sons of Mil, the elves had secret magical knowledge and secrets of witchcraft. They were the greatest sorcerers who taught the first druids. Elves could revive the dead. One of the most important features of this people was their wonderful magical ability to change shape, appearance and size. They could turn into animals, birds, fish (horses, wolves, cows, swans, crows, eels, etc.), ugly old women, and also into various elements of nature. The elves were not only the greatest sorcerers, but also learned people who taught the first druids, who perfectly comprehended the laws of nature and knew how to control it. They had a comprehensive knowledge of the healing and energetic properties of plants and used them to treat various diseases, mortal wounds and in spells.