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In
Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...
, Dökkálfar ("Dark Elves") and Ljósálfar ("Light Elves") are two contrasting types of
elves An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda''. In medieval Germanic-speakin ...
; the dark elves dwell within the earth and have a dark complexion, while the light elves live in Álfheimr, and are "fairer than the
sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...
to look at". The Ljósálfar and the Dökkálfar are attested in the ''
Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...
'', written in the 13th century by
Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...
, and in the late Old Norse poem '' Hrafnagaldr Óðins''. Scholars have produced theories about the origin and implications of the dualistic concept.


Attestations


''Prose Edda''

In the ''Prose Edda'', the Dökkálfar and the Ljósálfar are described in chapter 17 of the book '' Gylfaginning''. In the chapter, Gangleri (the king Gylfi in disguise) asks the enthroned figure of High what other "chief centres" there are in the heavens outside of the spring Urðarbrunnr. Gangleri responds that there are many fine places in heaven, including a place called Álfheimr (Old Norse 'Elf Home' or 'Elf World'). High says that the Ljósálfar live in Álfheimr, while the Dökkálfar dwell underground and look—and particularly behave—quite unlike the Ljósálfar. High describes the Ljósálfar as "fairer than the sun to look at", while the Dökkálfar are "blacker than pitch". As chapter 17 continues, Gangleri asks what will protect the beautiful hall of Gimlé, previously described as "the southernmost end of heaven", when the fires of
Surtr In Norse mythology, Surtr (Old Norse "black"Orchard (1997:154). or more narrowly "swart",Simek (2007:303–304) Surtur in modern Icelandic language, Icelandic), also sometimes written Surt in English, is a jötunn; he is the greatest of the fire ...
"burn heaven and earth" (
Ragnarök In Norse mythology, (also Ragnarok; or ; ) is a foretold series of impending events, including a great battle in which numerous great Norse mythological figures will perish (including the Æsir, gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdall, a ...
). High responds that there are in fact other heavens. The first called Andlàngr, he says, is "south of and above this heaven of ours" and "we believe" Gimlé is located in the third heaven "still further above that one", Víðbláinn. High adds that "we believe it is only light-elves who inhabit these places for the time being".


''Hrafnagaldr Óðins''

There occurs an additional mention of the ''dökkálfar'' in the late Old Norse poem '' Hrafnagaldr Óðins'' ("Odin's Raven- galdr"), stanza 25.


Theories and interpretations

As the concept is only recorded in ''Gylfaginning'' and the late poem ''Hrafnagaldr Óðins'', it is unclear whether the distinction between the two types of elves originated with Snorri, or if he was merely recounting a concept already developed.


Question of Christian influence

The sub-classification perhaps resulted from
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
influence, by way of importation of the concept of
good and evil In philosophy, religion, and psychology, "good and evil" is a common dichotomy. In religions with Manichaeism, Manichaean and Abrahamic influence, evil is perceived as the dualistic cosmology, dualistic antagonistic opposite of good, in which ...
and angels of light and darkness. Anne Holtsmark aired this view, though with some reservation, since "good vs. evil" dualism is not confined to Christian thinking. Aside from some additional observations to encourage the hypothesis, Holtsmark has been credited with demonstrating that Snorri borrowed from Christian writings, specifically that "Snorri’s description of Víðbláinn he third heaven populated by light-elveswas almost certainly influenced by (and possibly based on) the account of the angels in the '' Elucidarius''." Dissenters of the view that the dark and light elves were a later invention, such as
Rudolf Simek Rudolf Simek (born 21 February 1954) is an Austrian philologist and religious studies scholar who is Professor and Chair of Ancient German and Nordic Studies at the University of Bonn. Simek specializes in Germanic studies, and is the author ...
and
Gabriel Turville-Petre Edward Oswald Gabriel Turville-Petre (25 March 1908 – 17 February 1978) was an English philology, philologist who specialized in Old Norse studies. Born at Bosworth Hall (Husbands Bosworth), Bosworth Hall, Leicestershire to a prominent ...
, feel rather that "dark" and "light" aspects of the same beings not inherently unlikely, death and fertility cults often being closely related.


Dwarfs

Since the ''Prose Edda'' describes the ''dökkálfar'' as being dwellers, they may be dwarfs under another name, in the opinion of a number of scholars such as
John Lindow John Frederick Lindow (born July 23, 1946) is an American philologist who is Professor Emeritus of Old Norse and Folklore at University of California, Berkeley. He is a well known authority on Old Norse religion and literature. Biography John Lin ...
. The ''Prose Edda'' also uniquely mentions the '' svartálfar'' ('black elves'), but there are reasons to believe these also refer to merely dwarfs. Consequently, Lindow and other commentators have remarked that there may not have been any distinction intended between dark-elves and black-elves by those who coined and used those terms.
Lotte Motz Lotte Motz, born Lotte Edlis (August 16, 1922 – December 24, 1997), was an Austrian-American scholar, obtaining a Ph.D. in German and philology, who published four books and many scholarly papers, primarily in the fields of Germanic mythology ...
's paper on elves commingles, and hence equates "dark-elves" and "black-elves" from the outset.


Grimm's trinity

Jacob Grimm Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He formulated Grimm's law of linguistics, and was the co-author of the ''Deutsch ...
presents an extract of Grimm's view on the classes of elves, with German text and Stallybrass's translation in parallel surmised that the proto-elf (') was probably a "light-colored, white, good spirit" while the dwarfs may have been conceived as "black spirits" by relative comparison. But the "two classes of creatures were getting confounded", and there arose a need to coin the term "light-elf" (''ljósálfar'', or ''hvítálfar''—"white elves") to refer to the "elves proper". This was counterpart to the "dark-elf" (''dökkálfar'', or ''svartálfar''—"black elves").(Stallybrass tr.) Stallybrass's actual phrasing in his translation was "recourse was had to composition, and the elves proper were named ''liosâlfar''" (2: 444) for Grimm's "half man durch zusammen-setzung und nannte die eigentlichen âlfar ''liosâlfar''."
1: 413
/ref> Preferring it over duality, Grimm postulated three kinds of elves (''ljósálfar'', ''dökkálfar'', ''svartálfar'') present in Norse mythology. But Grimm's "tripartite division" (as Shippey calls it) faced "trouble" in Snorri's statement that dark-elves were pitch-black, as this would lead to the "first reduction" that "dark-elves = black-elves". As a solution, Grimm "pronounce sSnorri's statement fallacious", and hypothesizes that "dark elves" were not really 'dark' but rather 'dingy' or 'pale'.(Stallybrass tr.) And while conceding that "such a Trilogy still acksdecisive proof,"(Stallybrass tr.) draws parallels from the white, brown and black subterranean in
Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...
n legend, and the white, pale, and black troops of spirits come to claim souls in the tale of '' Solomon and Marcolf''.


See also

* Classifications of fairies * Sundering of the Elves in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium * Svartálfar * Duende


Notes


Explanatory notes


Citations


References

* * * * (Ph.D. thesis, University of Glasgow) * * * * * (edition cited for chapter numbering by Faulkes) * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dokkalfar And Ljosalfar Elves