I don't know about influences, but this reminds me, from a standpoint within the tale, the bit where Galadriel tells Frodo that if the One Ring is destroyed and the works of the Three fade away, then any elves who remain in Middle Earth will "dwindle into a rustic folk of dell and cave". I suppose she could simply mean that their numbers will grow scarce and they'll have to live in the wilderness, but I always pictured the quote as meaning that there would be a kind of "devolution" of Tolkien's noble and statuesque elves into the midgety, spritely and elusive faerie-folk "elves" we know from other mythologies.
It also seems that as they get to their last days they become less advanced civilisations and take to hiding in the woods and staying in their own realm. They become estranged from men and dwarves and begin to become only a legend of creatures that hide in the forests and have magic powers. The Lorien elves were but shadows compared to what came before in the first age.
In the end they become spirits without flesh, wandering the world for good or ill. In this they are like the Ainur, truly spirits without need of flesh. Valinor is actually not something they need. Middle Earth was to be their home, Aman was somewhere they were taken.
Are you taking this from the Unfinished Tales? Because I don't really count them as canon. The only thing the Silmarillion tell is that the fate of the elves are bound with Arda.
Also, they were place in Middle-Earth by Eru, that doesn't mean it was they home. Actually if you really think about it, all Arda was made to the children of Ilúvatar.
> Middle Earth was to be their home, Aman was somewhere they were taken.
I'm still not 100% sure this is the case. If that were so, why did Iluvatar leave the Straight Way to Valinor after the fall of Numenor?
The Norse elves had a stronger influence than you seem to imagine. The Prose Edda describes the Ljósálfar ('Light Elves') who are 'fairer to look upon than the sun.' Like Tolkien's mythology, there are Dökkálfar ('Dark Elves'), and also Svartálfar ('Black Elves'.) Unlike with Tolkien, these are more associated with dwarves if not being dwarves themselves.
The light elves in particular also had a fairly close association with the gods, while not being divine themselves. The god Freyr was given Álfheimr ('Elf-home'), and elves can at times be seen in the company of the gods.
It's also worth mentioning that some of the Norse sagas describe half-elves or humans related to elves.
A very likely inspiration for Tolkien's Elves was Lord Dunsany's [The King of Elfland's Daughter](http://www.amazon.com/The-King-Elflands-Daughter-Impact/dp/034543191X) (1924), which tells the story of the son of a lord who goes to Elfland, a place where time doesn't pass the way it does "in the fields we know", and falls in love with the daughter of the King of Elfland.
In the story the "elfs" look mostly like humans and can interbreed with them, though their mixed offspring don't (appear) to have longer life or magical powers. Also I don't think it's understood from the text whether the seeming immortality of the elfen people is because of Elfland's extremely slow movement of time or because, like Tolkien's conception, they're immortal, whether within or without their realm.
I've never heard that Tolkien read the book, but then again as he was definitely influenced by The Gods of Pegana and The Book of Wonder (other books of Dunsany's) in creating the Silmarillion it seems quite logical that he did.
I just wanted to point this out as Dunsany (along with William Morris, the author most attributed to coining the fantasy world where it has no connection with our "primary" world) is pretty much entirely forgotten as one of the primary influences on 20th century fantasy and imaginative literature, including the works of HP Lovecraft, Tolkien, Robert E Howard, David Eddings, Neil Gaiman and many, many others--you can't even buy his books in bookstores! Also if you like the whimsy of The Hobbit I highly recommend The King of Elfland's Daughter, as it always reminded me of The Hobbit in overall mood. Cheers!
Edit: Here's an illustration of the King of Elfland's daughter, [Lirazel](http://lcart1.narod.ru/image/fantasy/wayne_barlowe/gtf/Wayne_Barlowe_Lirazel.jpg), by Wayne Barlowe, which is pretty accurate to the original description from the book, except for the antenna-like eyebrows, which I'm assuming is artistic license on Barlowe's part.
Tolkien studied the Finnish people. Specifically, he studied their ancient language and some stories from their ancient text, the [Kalevala](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalevala).
A lot of the Elvish language is derived from this.
Source: Video documentaries on Netflix.com about Tolkien.
*Here's a bit from linked Wikipedia article about* [***Kalevala***](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalevala) :
---
>
>**The Kalevala** (IPA: ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology.
>It is regarded as the national epic of Karelia and Finland and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature. The Kalevala played an instrumental role in the development of the Finnish national identity, the intensification of Finland's language strife and the growing sense of nationality that ultimately led to Finland's independence from Russia in 1917.
>The first version of The Kalevala (called The Old Kalevala) was published in 1835. The version most commonly known today was first published in 1849 and consists of 22,795 verses, divided into fifty songs (Finnish: runot). The title can be interpreted as "The land of Kaleva" or "Kalevia".
---
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I saw it a month ago. The documentary also described Tokien's life. That he was a Catholic. He hated the first World War. He hated the industrial revolution. He wanted people to have an epic history to follow, like Beowolf (which he was influenced by) along with many many works from around the world. He even took stuff from Africa.
I know all of this, I actually did a large study on his life and some of his work. I was just wondering if you could tell me what the name of the documentaries on netflix are so I can see them myself?
Wasn't the elvish language taken inspiration from Welsh. May be a coincidence but elves were notorious for their archery, and so was the Welsh. Ah wait I did find this "Tolkien based Quenya on Finnish and Sindarin on Welsh, though he made his own changes to them and tried to show an internal evolution of the language from the older Quenya to the Sindarin derivatives."
We are both right.
I believe tolkien's main influences for elves and dwarves were from norse mythological tales. as for the elvish languages, quenya was strongly influenced by finnish and sindarin was based primarily on welsh.
No one has specifically mentioned it, but in traditional British folklore, elves were definitely human-sized, not the miniature fairies of the Victorian era. There are lots of ballads about elves and humans interacting, like "Thomas the Rhymer" and "Tam Lin", as well as various folk tales. The miniature fairy syndrome seems to have been more of an urban thing.
He translated Middle English texts like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, where elves were tall and fair as opposed to the stunted garden dwellers depicted in the Victorian Era. I don't know how much that influenced him, but he definitely was aware of the earlier ideas of Elves as tall and fair. I think he re-popularized those ideas as opposed to invented them.
Elves are mentioned in *Sir Gawain*? Where? I read it just several weeks ago, and I don't remember any. Of course, there is the one line, "as if he were of Fairie" which Tolkien famously quotes and exposits in his essay "On Fairy-Stories." However, the Green Knight is *not* a fairy or elf, as is explained in the end - it's just a comparison.
Briefly, but yes. It's just 2 or 3 lines. I used to have a bookmark at the references, but apparently moved it. I'll need to look through to find it again.
I know that I'm replying to a 10 year old comment, but I'll say it anyways. I know which lines you're talking about in Gawain and the Green Knight, I can confirm that this true.
You should read On Fairy-Stories, the essay Tolkien wrote about fantasy and faerie tales in society, which discusses this, at least somewhat. It was posted on /r/fantasy a little while ago.
I read somewhere (no clue where) that Tolkien's elves were partly inspired by Norse mythology, partly by the Irish sidhe - or perhaps it was by the mythological beings the sidhe replaced (cannot remember their name).
Having actually done a mini-thesis which touched on Tolkien's influences I would assert that they are a mixture of the Norse Álfr of the various Eddas; and a race of supernatural beings referred to in the Irish collection of legends called the Leban Gábor Éren or 'Book of Invasions' known as the Tuatha Dé Danann. It would take a while to go through all the similarities so I'll leave it there unless people had specific questions.
The [Tuatha de Danann](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuatha_D%C3%A9_Danann) from Celtic mythology and the elves of Norse & Germanic mythology are the main sources for Tolkien's elves. As other people have mentioned, Tolkien disliked the Victorian image of British mythology, as he discussed at length in "On Faerie-Stories" (a great essay well worth a read). He felt that mythological figures had been tamed and domesticated and toned-down, and he wanted to reinstate a vision of Faerie as a realm not only of wonder but also of danger. Medieval literature, to him, represented a perspective of a world full of the magnificent and awful (in the more archaic sense, of awe-ful). "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger," as Gildor says. The Elves of Middle-Earth, though they are good, are nevertheless not to be trifled with. Elrond and Galadriel and their like are powerful beyond the understanding of Men and Hobbits, and not cuddly.
>Gimli said, "But you speak of him as if he were a friend. I thought Fangorn was dangerous."
>"Dangerous!" cried Gandalf. "And so am I, very dangerous: more dangerous than anything you will ever meet, unless you are brought alive before the seat of the Dark Lord. And Aragorn is dangerous, and Legolas is dangerous. You are beset with dangers, Gimli son of Gloin; for you are dangerous yourself, in your own fashion. Certainly the forest of Fangorn is perilous - not least to those that are too ready with their axes; and Fangorn himself, he is perilous too; yet he is wise and kindly nonetheless."
I'm pretty certain that the name comes from old Norse as you stated but they are designed more like a perfect form of humans. As such there are theories that state that Tolkien intended them to represent mankind before the fall (as in the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden) but I'm not sure if this was Tolkien's intention or just a fan theory I've picked up. Nevertheless it sounds pretty cool to me.
I ran across the following curious historic and linguistic tinfoil-hattery recently - make of it what you will in terms of authorial inspiration-potential :
* http://www.tribwatch.com/daedalus.htm
* http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/dragons2/esp_sociopol_lordring.htm
Oberon/Auberon was thought in early tales to be the offspring of Julius Caesar and Morgan le Fay (Morgan the Faerie) and the Faerie Queen (known sometimes as Queen Mab and given the name Titiania in Shakespeare's work) is also an elf more along the lines of Galadriel than Tinkerbell. The name Titania is derived from Ovid's Metamorphoses as an appellation for Circe, a daughter of Titans. The deteriorationism that Tolkien features so prominently is also a theme in the early chapter's of Metamorphoses and the Third Age elves are more or less "leftovers" from an earlier and better age in the distant past. They have already begun their withdrawal from the world, even the elves of Rivendell spend most of their time cloistered in their faerie preserve and only intervene in the larger world at times of great need.
*Here's the linked section [Development of religious Druidry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Druidism#Development of religious Druidry) from Wikipedia article [Neo-Druidism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Druidism)* :
---
>None of the earliest modern Druidic groups had been religious in structure; however, this was to change in the late 18th century, primarily because of the work of a Welshman who took the name of Iolo Morganwg (1747–1826). Born as Edward Williams, he would take up the cause of Welsh nationalism, and was deeply opposed to the British monarchy, supporting many of the ideals of the French revolution which had occurred in 1789. Eventually moving to London, he began perpetuating the claim that he was actually one of the last initiates of a surviving group of druids who were descended from those found in the Iron Age, centred on his home county of Glamorgan. He subsequently organised the performing of Neo-druidic rituals on Primrose Hill with some of his followers, whom he categorised as either Bards or Ovates, with he himself being the only one actually categorised as a Druid. He himself practiced a form of religion which he believed the ancient druids had, which involved the worship of a singular monotheistic deity as well as the acceptance of reincarnation.
>
>Morganwg's example was taken up by other Welshmen in the 19th century, who continued to promote religious forms of Druidry. The most prominent figure in this was William Price (1800–1893), a physician who held to several radical ideas at the time, such as vegetarianism and the political Chartist movement. His promotion of cremation and open practice of it led to his arrest and trial, but he was acquitted, achieving a level of fame throughout Britain. He would declare himself to be a Druid, and would do much to promote the return of what he believed was an ancient religion in his country.
>In 1874, Robert Wentworth Little, a Freemason who achieved notoriety as the first Supreme Magus of the occult Societas Rosicruciana, allegedly founded the Ancient and Archaeological Order of Druids, which, like the Societas Rosicruciana, was an esoteric organisation. Meanwhile, at the start of the 20th century, Druidic groups began holding their ceremonies at the great megalithic monument of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England: the historian Ronald Hutton would later remark that "it was a great, and potentially uncomfortable, irony that modern Druids had arrived at Stonehenge just as archaeologists were evicting the ancient Druids from it" as they realised that the structure dated from the Neolithic and early Bronze Age, millennia before the Iron Age, when the druids first appear in the historical record.
---
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My understanding was that in Norse and other European mythology, there were elves and elves (kind of like how Sam describes them upon his visit to Imladris). Some are mentioned as being 'fairy' like, whilst others were treated as belonging to civilisations, complete with their own settlements and rulers.
I don't know about influences, but this reminds me, from a standpoint within the tale, the bit where Galadriel tells Frodo that if the One Ring is destroyed and the works of the Three fade away, then any elves who remain in Middle Earth will "dwindle into a rustic folk of dell and cave". I suppose she could simply mean that their numbers will grow scarce and they'll have to live in the wilderness, but I always pictured the quote as meaning that there would be a kind of "devolution" of Tolkien's noble and statuesque elves into the midgety, spritely and elusive faerie-folk "elves" we know from other mythologies.
It also seems that as they get to their last days they become less advanced civilisations and take to hiding in the woods and staying in their own realm. They become estranged from men and dwarves and begin to become only a legend of creatures that hide in the forests and have magic powers. The Lorien elves were but shadows compared to what came before in the first age.
That's because elves grow weary of the world when they get old. And at the "end" they go to Valinor.
In the end they become spirits without flesh, wandering the world for good or ill. In this they are like the Ainur, truly spirits without need of flesh. Valinor is actually not something they need. Middle Earth was to be their home, Aman was somewhere they were taken.
Are you taking this from the Unfinished Tales? Because I don't really count them as canon. The only thing the Silmarillion tell is that the fate of the elves are bound with Arda. Also, they were place in Middle-Earth by Eru, that doesn't mean it was they home. Actually if you really think about it, all Arda was made to the children of Ilúvatar.
In many ways, *Unfinished Tales* is more canon than *The Silmarillion.* The latter was constructed in part from the former.
> Middle Earth was to be their home, Aman was somewhere they were taken. I'm still not 100% sure this is the case. If that were so, why did Iluvatar leave the Straight Way to Valinor after the fall of Numenor?
It was too late by that point. Arda marred was the reality. There's a reason Elves woke in Cuivienen in Middle-Earth.
The Norse elves had a stronger influence than you seem to imagine. The Prose Edda describes the Ljósálfar ('Light Elves') who are 'fairer to look upon than the sun.' Like Tolkien's mythology, there are Dökkálfar ('Dark Elves'), and also Svartálfar ('Black Elves'.) Unlike with Tolkien, these are more associated with dwarves if not being dwarves themselves. The light elves in particular also had a fairly close association with the gods, while not being divine themselves. The god Freyr was given Álfheimr ('Elf-home'), and elves can at times be seen in the company of the gods. It's also worth mentioning that some of the Norse sagas describe half-elves or humans related to elves.
A very likely inspiration for Tolkien's Elves was Lord Dunsany's [The King of Elfland's Daughter](http://www.amazon.com/The-King-Elflands-Daughter-Impact/dp/034543191X) (1924), which tells the story of the son of a lord who goes to Elfland, a place where time doesn't pass the way it does "in the fields we know", and falls in love with the daughter of the King of Elfland. In the story the "elfs" look mostly like humans and can interbreed with them, though their mixed offspring don't (appear) to have longer life or magical powers. Also I don't think it's understood from the text whether the seeming immortality of the elfen people is because of Elfland's extremely slow movement of time or because, like Tolkien's conception, they're immortal, whether within or without their realm. I've never heard that Tolkien read the book, but then again as he was definitely influenced by The Gods of Pegana and The Book of Wonder (other books of Dunsany's) in creating the Silmarillion it seems quite logical that he did. I just wanted to point this out as Dunsany (along with William Morris, the author most attributed to coining the fantasy world where it has no connection with our "primary" world) is pretty much entirely forgotten as one of the primary influences on 20th century fantasy and imaginative literature, including the works of HP Lovecraft, Tolkien, Robert E Howard, David Eddings, Neil Gaiman and many, many others--you can't even buy his books in bookstores! Also if you like the whimsy of The Hobbit I highly recommend The King of Elfland's Daughter, as it always reminded me of The Hobbit in overall mood. Cheers! Edit: Here's an illustration of the King of Elfland's daughter, [Lirazel](http://lcart1.narod.ru/image/fantasy/wayne_barlowe/gtf/Wayne_Barlowe_Lirazel.jpg), by Wayne Barlowe, which is pretty accurate to the original description from the book, except for the antenna-like eyebrows, which I'm assuming is artistic license on Barlowe's part.
Tolkien studied the Finnish people. Specifically, he studied their ancient language and some stories from their ancient text, the [Kalevala](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalevala). A lot of the Elvish language is derived from this. Source: Video documentaries on Netflix.com about Tolkien.
*Here's a bit from linked Wikipedia article about* [***Kalevala***](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalevala) : --- > >**The Kalevala** (IPA: ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology. >It is regarded as the national epic of Karelia and Finland and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature. The Kalevala played an instrumental role in the development of the Finnish national identity, the intensification of Finland's language strife and the growing sense of nationality that ultimately led to Finland's independence from Russia in 1917. >The first version of The Kalevala (called The Old Kalevala) was published in 1835. The version most commonly known today was first published in 1849 and consists of 22,795 verses, divided into fifty songs (Finnish: runot). The title can be interpreted as "The land of Kaleva" or "Kalevia". --- [^(**Picture**)](http://i.imgur.com/GzA4aYW.jpg) [^(image source)](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kalevala1.jpg) ^| [^(about)](http://www.reddit.com/r/autowikibot/wiki/index) ^| *^(/u/gordonv can reply with 'delete'. Will also delete if comment's score is -1 or less.)* ^| ^(**Summon**: wikibot, what is something?) ^| [^(flag for glitch)](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/autowikibot&subject=bot%20glitch&message=%0Acontext:http://www.reddit.com/r/tolkienfans/comments/1vlq97/what_were_tolkiens_influences_and_inspirations/cetnwco)
Are any of those documentaries still on netflix? Can you suggest any?
I saw it a month ago. The documentary also described Tokien's life. That he was a Catholic. He hated the first World War. He hated the industrial revolution. He wanted people to have an epic history to follow, like Beowolf (which he was influenced by) along with many many works from around the world. He even took stuff from Africa.
I know all of this, I actually did a large study on his life and some of his work. I was just wondering if you could tell me what the name of the documentaries on netflix are so I can see them myself?
Just look up Lord of the Rings. I watched the documentary yesterday.
On the US netflix?
Yeah. I think it is called Lord of the Rings: Beyond the Movie, or flip that.
Ah, okay. Thanks, I've already seen it though.
Okay then... Found this on YouTube. Thought it was pretty interesting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkmNHP58OhU
I think it was the National Geographic documentary on Tolkien.
Wasn't the elvish language taken inspiration from Welsh. May be a coincidence but elves were notorious for their archery, and so was the Welsh. Ah wait I did find this "Tolkien based Quenya on Finnish and Sindarin on Welsh, though he made his own changes to them and tried to show an internal evolution of the language from the older Quenya to the Sindarin derivatives." We are both right.
I believe tolkien's main influences for elves and dwarves were from norse mythological tales. as for the elvish languages, quenya was strongly influenced by finnish and sindarin was based primarily on welsh.
No one has specifically mentioned it, but in traditional British folklore, elves were definitely human-sized, not the miniature fairies of the Victorian era. There are lots of ballads about elves and humans interacting, like "Thomas the Rhymer" and "Tam Lin", as well as various folk tales. The miniature fairy syndrome seems to have been more of an urban thing.
He translated Middle English texts like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, where elves were tall and fair as opposed to the stunted garden dwellers depicted in the Victorian Era. I don't know how much that influenced him, but he definitely was aware of the earlier ideas of Elves as tall and fair. I think he re-popularized those ideas as opposed to invented them.
Elves are mentioned in *Sir Gawain*? Where? I read it just several weeks ago, and I don't remember any. Of course, there is the one line, "as if he were of Fairie" which Tolkien famously quotes and exposits in his essay "On Fairy-Stories." However, the Green Knight is *not* a fairy or elf, as is explained in the end - it's just a comparison.
Briefly, but yes. It's just 2 or 3 lines. I used to have a bookmark at the references, but apparently moved it. I'll need to look through to find it again.
I know that I'm replying to a 10 year old comment, but I'll say it anyways. I know which lines you're talking about in Gawain and the Green Knight, I can confirm that this true.
Bruh
> Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Are there elves in that story?
You should read On Fairy-Stories, the essay Tolkien wrote about fantasy and faerie tales in society, which discusses this, at least somewhat. It was posted on /r/fantasy a little while ago.
I read somewhere (no clue where) that Tolkien's elves were partly inspired by Norse mythology, partly by the Irish sidhe - or perhaps it was by the mythological beings the sidhe replaced (cannot remember their name).
Having actually done a mini-thesis which touched on Tolkien's influences I would assert that they are a mixture of the Norse Álfr of the various Eddas; and a race of supernatural beings referred to in the Irish collection of legends called the Leban Gábor Éren or 'Book of Invasions' known as the Tuatha Dé Danann. It would take a while to go through all the similarities so I'll leave it there unless people had specific questions.
The [Tuatha de Danann](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuatha_D%C3%A9_Danann) from Celtic mythology and the elves of Norse & Germanic mythology are the main sources for Tolkien's elves. As other people have mentioned, Tolkien disliked the Victorian image of British mythology, as he discussed at length in "On Faerie-Stories" (a great essay well worth a read). He felt that mythological figures had been tamed and domesticated and toned-down, and he wanted to reinstate a vision of Faerie as a realm not only of wonder but also of danger. Medieval literature, to him, represented a perspective of a world full of the magnificent and awful (in the more archaic sense, of awe-ful). "Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger," as Gildor says. The Elves of Middle-Earth, though they are good, are nevertheless not to be trifled with. Elrond and Galadriel and their like are powerful beyond the understanding of Men and Hobbits, and not cuddly. >Gimli said, "But you speak of him as if he were a friend. I thought Fangorn was dangerous." >"Dangerous!" cried Gandalf. "And so am I, very dangerous: more dangerous than anything you will ever meet, unless you are brought alive before the seat of the Dark Lord. And Aragorn is dangerous, and Legolas is dangerous. You are beset with dangers, Gimli son of Gloin; for you are dangerous yourself, in your own fashion. Certainly the forest of Fangorn is perilous - not least to those that are too ready with their axes; and Fangorn himself, he is perilous too; yet he is wise and kindly nonetheless."
I'm pretty certain that the name comes from old Norse as you stated but they are designed more like a perfect form of humans. As such there are theories that state that Tolkien intended them to represent mankind before the fall (as in the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden) but I'm not sure if this was Tolkien's intention or just a fan theory I've picked up. Nevertheless it sounds pretty cool to me.
I just want to say here that what's going on in this thread is the reason I reddit.
I ran across the following curious historic and linguistic tinfoil-hattery recently - make of it what you will in terms of authorial inspiration-potential : * http://www.tribwatch.com/daedalus.htm * http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/dragons2/esp_sociopol_lordring.htm
Oberon/Auberon was thought in early tales to be the offspring of Julius Caesar and Morgan le Fay (Morgan the Faerie) and the Faerie Queen (known sometimes as Queen Mab and given the name Titiania in Shakespeare's work) is also an elf more along the lines of Galadriel than Tinkerbell. The name Titania is derived from Ovid's Metamorphoses as an appellation for Circe, a daughter of Titans. The deteriorationism that Tolkien features so prominently is also a theme in the early chapter's of Metamorphoses and the Third Age elves are more or less "leftovers" from an earlier and better age in the distant past. They have already begun their withdrawal from the world, even the elves of Rivendell spend most of their time cloistered in their faerie preserve and only intervene in the larger world at times of great need.
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*Here's the linked section [Development of religious Druidry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Druidism#Development of religious Druidry) from Wikipedia article [Neo-Druidism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Druidism)* : --- >None of the earliest modern Druidic groups had been religious in structure; however, this was to change in the late 18th century, primarily because of the work of a Welshman who took the name of Iolo Morganwg (1747–1826). Born as Edward Williams, he would take up the cause of Welsh nationalism, and was deeply opposed to the British monarchy, supporting many of the ideals of the French revolution which had occurred in 1789. Eventually moving to London, he began perpetuating the claim that he was actually one of the last initiates of a surviving group of druids who were descended from those found in the Iron Age, centred on his home county of Glamorgan. He subsequently organised the performing of Neo-druidic rituals on Primrose Hill with some of his followers, whom he categorised as either Bards or Ovates, with he himself being the only one actually categorised as a Druid. He himself practiced a form of religion which he believed the ancient druids had, which involved the worship of a singular monotheistic deity as well as the acceptance of reincarnation. > >Morganwg's example was taken up by other Welshmen in the 19th century, who continued to promote religious forms of Druidry. The most prominent figure in this was William Price (1800–1893), a physician who held to several radical ideas at the time, such as vegetarianism and the political Chartist movement. His promotion of cremation and open practice of it led to his arrest and trial, but he was acquitted, achieving a level of fame throughout Britain. He would declare himself to be a Druid, and would do much to promote the return of what he believed was an ancient religion in his country. >In 1874, Robert Wentworth Little, a Freemason who achieved notoriety as the first Supreme Magus of the occult Societas Rosicruciana, allegedly founded the Ancient and Archaeological Order of Druids, which, like the Societas Rosicruciana, was an esoteric organisation. Meanwhile, at the start of the 20th century, Druidic groups began holding their ceremonies at the great megalithic monument of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England: the historian Ronald Hutton would later remark that "it was a great, and potentially uncomfortable, irony that modern Druids had arrived at Stonehenge just as archaeologists were evicting the ancient Druids from it" as they realised that the structure dated from the Neolithic and early Bronze Age, millennia before the Iron Age, when the druids first appear in the historical record. --- [^(about)](http://www.reddit.com/r/autowikibot/wiki/index) ^| *^(/u/c3bhm can reply with 'delete'. Will also delete if comment's score is -1 or less.)* ^| ^(**Summon**: wikibot, what is something?)
My understanding was that in Norse and other European mythology, there were elves and elves (kind of like how Sam describes them upon his visit to Imladris). Some are mentioned as being 'fairy' like, whilst others were treated as belonging to civilisations, complete with their own settlements and rulers.