This was originally posted on Suzanne Johnson's blog as part of The Paper Magician blog tour.
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I love to read fantasy. It’s my favorite genre, which is why
I write in it. I eat up Sanderson and Marillier novels. At the library, I automatically peruse the books with the little white unicorn sticker on them.
I’m also a Trekkie.
Why do I bring this up? Because both fantasy novels and Star
Trek have a race of people who look a whole lot like one another: Elves and
Vulcans. However, as both a writer and a reader, I’m going to tell you why I
love Vulcans and why I throw most books containing Elves across the room, if I
pick them up at all.
Let’s start with Vulcans.
Leonard Nimoy as Spock, a Human/Vulcan hybrid, demonstrating the Vulcan salute | Wikipedia |
Vulcans appear, outwardly, just as humans do, save for their
pointed ears and standard bowl-with-straight-bangs haircut (and the occasional
blue eye shadow…). Vulcans thrive off logic: their desire to be logical at all
times pushes them to learn, making them a highly intelligent race. This encourages
them to deny all emotion, which is the bane of logic. They’re also about three
times stronger than your average human.
Now, Elves.
Elves also look like humans, save for the pointed ears.
Elves are graceful, beautiful, and immortal. In many novels or media outlets,
they even have supernatural abilities. They’re fair to look upon, often
war-free, and as Tolkien put it, have “great skill of body.” They’re tall,
graceful, and resistant to disease.
This makes me loathe them.
Orlando Bloom as Legolas in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | Wikipedia |
Now, if you’re an Elf fan, that’s fine and dandy—we don’t
all have to like the same things. But let me tell you why I root for Vulcans whilst
heckling Elves.
I call it Superman Syndrome. (Which apparently is already
a thing.)
Vulcans one-up us humans in that they tend to be way smarter
than us and could seriously mutilate us in a fist-fight. These are their
strengths. But they also have their weaknesses: they don’t fully understand
what it means to feel. You rarely see
a happy Vulcan because happiness is suppressed. So is sadness, anger, surprise,
love. Can you imagine a world without love, where you’re assigned a spouse and
only mate with them once every seven years when your body decides to release its
entire libido at once? For this reason, I pity Vulcans. Logic is a strength,
but any Trekkie knows the episodes where stuffing down feelings ends up hurting
Vulcans, not helping them.
When we look at Elves’ strengths . . . well, it’s the whole
list, isn’t it? AKA Superman Syndrome.
Superman is my least favorite superhero (I’m a Marvel girl
myself) because he’s too strong. The
guy is invincible, unless someone manages to get their hands on some psycho
rock from another planet, though even kryptonite won’t kill him. I feel it’s
the same with Elves. All Elves are gorgeous, all Elves are strong, all Elves
are immortal and powerful and smart and limber and nothing else. They’re too
perfect; even Tolkien is guilty of this. Where is their weakness? Yeah, you
could stab one (when Haldir fell in the “The Two Towers” movie, my first
reaction was, OMG THEY CAN DIE?), but you can stab a human, too. Mankind has no
upper hand with Elves. We’re just walking meat in comparison, and that, to me,
makes elves wildly unsympathetic.
Sorry, I'm still an elf fan though I like vulcans too.Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteHmmm...now I'd be interested in knowing who would win in a match up between Elves and Superman or Elves and Vulcans.
ReplyDeleteBut super-elves are just one end of the elf spectrum, at the other end ... you have a bunch of pointy-eared people with a mortal life-span (or slightly longer one) who've been oppressed and either crave the chance to get back at their oppressors (typically human) or have accepted their lot in life and are just trying to get by.
ReplyDeleteUgh, I think I just showed how much of a geek I am...
Huh, never ever thought of comparing the two. I'm with you about superman though. I'm not a fan.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year! Just popping around to say hello to all my blog friends. I get your point about Vulcans vs. elves :) Plus, new Spock is pretty damn hot!
ReplyDeleteThe Gorn are even cooler than elves or Vulcans :)
ReplyDeleteAs a huge fan of both fantasy and ST (TNG mostly), I see your point. I love the Elves like Sam loves them... they're beautiful and ethereal and enigmatic, and seemingly flawless. But I could never write them, or if I had elves, write them like *that*. That's been done. There are characters of various races in my current MS, and all have their share of flaws. To quote, well, a billion sources, flaws are the most attractive parts. :)
ReplyDeleteAs a huge fan of both fantasy and ST (TNG mostly), I see your point. I love the Elves like Sam loves them... they're beautiful and ethereal and enigmatic, and seemingly flawless. But I could never write them, or if I had elves, write them like *that*. That's been done. There are characters of various races in my current MS, and all have their share of flaws. To quote, well, a billion sources, flaws are the most attractive parts. :)
ReplyDelete