What They Don't Tell You About Elves - D&D 

“You’re not elves why do you travelers wish to visit the great island of Evermeet” “Our elf bard has depression, now they won’t flirt with anyone and their flute music is bumming us out”

So if there are limited number of elf souls, do half elves get elf souls or is it more so a human soul.

When your entire civilization universally has the sex appeal of super models, how do you judge your standards of beauty?

I was an elfic deity just like you. Then I took an Arau to the Shnee...

Elves, huh? Well, if this becomes a trend, we may finally obtain “What They Don’t Tell You About Humans.”

When you said that reaching adulthood for elves is traumatic, I felt that

This is why Elves are uncomfortable with Half-elves because their soul is an utter mystery, and a majority of the elves believe they have half souls which is pretty wtf.

Here's to hoping we'll get a video on the Half-Elves.

I really appreciate your deep insight into the lore here. You’ve made me a significantly better DM, and you seem like a great guy. Keep it up, my friend.

>Be me > Be 99 yrs old female elf in campaing. >Stare at a human bard without movement. >Bard blushes. >Keep staring. >Bard approach in front of me. >I keep the stare. >Bard gets filtry with me. > I just Stare >Bard gets nervous. Think I'am a witch or something for staring at him too much. >Keep staring. >Party member gets nervous too, tap my shoulder and move me. And shout at me. > "Sorry I was in the Reverie. What are your guys saying?" >Myfacewhen all party members now think Elves are fucking weird >Myfacewhen now I'am the weird chick in the group.

“What they don’t tell you about Dwarves” PLEASE!

0:53 Even in normal videos, he cannot stop talking about 10th level spells.

I have a character who's in a rather unique situation. He's 20 years old and was polymorphed into and raised as a human for that time. It's only in the last few months (campaign time) that he learned of his true nature when the BBEG dispelled the polymorph during a big confrontation, which has given him a rather severe identity crisis. He's always had what he thought were weird, fanciful dreams, but is only just starting to understand that this was the Reverie. He's still adventuring, and is literally a child in the minds of other elves. If you're wondering why (and are not other players in the campaign, you guys know who you are!)...continue. The idea I pitched to my DM was inspired by old school faerie tales. In those tales, he'd be called a changeling, though that term means something different in D&D thanks to Eberron's changelings. A fey creature who was shapeshifted into the form of a human baby and swapped with a real human baby shortly after birth. In those stories, the fey are pretty unintelligible and generally just cause chaos, but in this campaign setting, they're a lot more organized and have a very specific goal in mind. In addition to the (recently dispelled) True Polymorph, he's also under the effects of Modify Memory to wipe his memories of being anything other than a human child (which the DM ruled is obscuring enough of the Reverie's images that he's not been able to determine what's going on) and a geas spell to sew discord in the human lands. This has led him to some revolutionary ideas that I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into - ideas like the nobility taking responsibility for their serfs and trying to rule them in a responsible and compassionate manner...ideas that feudal lords IRL always claimed to espouse while doing the exact opposite. I'm looking forward to seeing how things go when a now very successful and rich adventurer starts a medieval variant of a Communist revolution in the Free Cities.

Finally, we've heard of the high elves

Elves: nearly destroys the material plane, causes permanent planetary desfiguration, rips the fabric of the universe, hurt the weave, almost all elves involved in breaking a cosmic rule and defying the gods all because they had a hard on for the heavens. And they wanted to do all this and more. (Gets their own private island) Humans: 1 wizardy boi trys to save his entire species from Extinction by the hands of toothy horrors that are a threat to the weave by themselves and unintentionally flicks magic off and on. (No one is allowed to play with big boy magic ever again, save elves. And all humans are left to their own devices some even ran into toothy horrors)

Dude why does no one talk about this. This video has single handedly made elves way more interesting to me.

Ohhh Elves only have a mere 100 years of perfect recollection, reliving all of the happiness enjoyed with their Gods... I'm shedding tears, I am... Saddest story ever told, no doubt!

Mordenkenian's Tome of Foes changed a good portion of elf and drow lore--the whole primal elf thing, and elves being denied permanent residence in Arvandor. They've always believed in reincarnation, but it wasn't something forced on them as punishment. Because the pull of Arvandor is strong, it was a reward, not a temporary wayststion. The implication of MToF is that elves who don't undergo Transcendence go to other gods (such as if an elf worshiped Silvanus), but Ed Greenwood has said the majority of elven souls/spirits *do* end up in Arvandor, as the tie to it is very strong. The aforementioned elf worshiping Silvanus would also probably worship the Seldarine, and thus go to Arvandor, anyway.

I have grown to love these videos. D&D was never my thing, until I started to watch your "What They Don't Tell You About" series. Keep up the great work!

*Elf bard sadly playing the lute* : 🎶And you make me feel like I’VE BEEN LOCKED OUT HEAVEN 🎶

The elves know a spell to turn powerful undead into mortal men, and they keep it secret from other races? That is not very nice.

wait.... what happens if you cast "Gift of life" on a Lich? what happens to his filactery ?now i got more doubts out of just 1 spell

these videos really have me appreciating Forgotten Realms a lot more as a setting. It's convoluted but once you know what's going on it all sounds interesting

This is one of my favorite videos you've done to date. Please do more of the primary races in this style. I almost think this series going forward when combined with the other playable races could be almost mandatory viewing for a PC before playing a campaign.

"The elves are shrouded in mystery..." are you familiar with gnomes? There is almost no lore concerning them. There's a little about Garl Glittergold, and Gond, and Drizz't was sheltered by them for a while but that's about it. They have never been the focus of any lore or had any deep impacts on Fearun or many other D&D worlds. (Unless you're a kobold)

it's basically parallel to their concept origin, the elves of middle earth in that certain deeds they do while on middle earth determine whether or not they can go to the undying lands.

I absolutely love your videos and was really excited to see you did one on the elves! I was even more excited to see my artwork of Eilistraee popped up on the screen! I have NO problem with you using my artwork (in fact, thank you for choosing it), but I was hoping that you could perhaps credit me in either the video or the description?

Oh boy I can't wait for "What they don't tell you about Goliath's",no, I can't wait for another video of this quality. :*

I continue to absolutely love this series having read Elves of Evermeet decades ago when it was first published. I know you touched on the Gods, but will you ever do an episode on the Gods themselves? The story of Sehanine for instance is one of my favourites in terms of Godly histories

As much as I want to hear about the elves, I personally want to hear more about the half elves of each sect of elves. Currently playing a half elf sorcerer and this lore would be super interesting

First character I ever played in D&D was an elf druid. I've been in love with the Elven lore ever since. Soon as I saw this video I knew it was a must-watch personally. Question though, are there really only a set number of Elven souls? I thought that Primal Elves were the only elves who existed when the race adopted permanent shapes, but their descendants afterward would not be considered Primal.

You made the wrong choice during character creation, you're the 5E version of yourself and Daddy Corellon tells you this erry day for 30 years. Then there's the dryad thing. Corellon senpai's not gonna be impressed that you became a tree and put down roots, a fixed position is what got you stuck reincarnating in the first place.

Western Elves: Mysterious, magical beings that are graceful, wise and skilled. Eastern/Japanese Elves: Total thots

"and 25 years old sounds way too old" Me, a 34 year old: "25? Too old... These youngin's...."

I love this channel so much! I really appreciate the amount of lore and detail that you uncover. Thank you very much!

Your videos take me on a journey with each beat and frame. It's evident how much effort and talent you put into them.

I bet a lot of elves use reverie to relive the highlights of their sex life.

so imagine an elf, captured by evil forces at birth and tortured constantly. no good memories whatsoever. what about their dreams after the age of 100? seems like a good villain origin.

There's a lot of people who do d and d videos out there but none of them pit the passion and work into like u do, thanks so much for another great video

The only thing you need to know is: "Around elves, watch yourselves!"

I wonder if an Elf can voluntarily just go: ''Screw Corellon, screw the past lives, I like having a shape, I like my life, I'm just gonna sleep.''?

Umh, how do we explain half elves with this lore and the limited number of Elven souls? Do they have human souls or is the soul fused? And what about Elven liches?

I made an elf with an midlife crisis once, never got to play my first ever character tho

Super awesome video man - I've been loving these magic-related episodes. I've gone through and watched the whole playlist at this point and eagerly await more :-) keep up the great work and cheers.

Obvious ALOT of work and research went into this, great work and very entertaining

What happens when a soulless elf trances? Asking for a friend.

Great video! I’m new to D&D lore, and your videos are super insightful!

This is one of those videos that I'm going to end up rewatching a whole lot.

11/10 can’t wait for the next one. I’ll join your patreon as soon as I find a new job.

This leaves me with so many questions about half-elves...

Thank you for that summary! I greatly appreciate your run through! Looking forward to high magic!

Loving your videos! Thank you for crediting the art you use!

Anyone have any fun stories about casting “Gift of Life”? This spell is utterly captivating to me...not the simple “one hit the final boss” but a million others. The spell cost doesn’t even seem that high all things considered.

Wait a sec... These are NOT the elves I was looking for this Xmas!

Awesome video dude. Looking forward to the next part about the different types of Elves

Thanks a lot ! As of now, this is perhaps my favorite series of videos on YT.

that 100 years aniversary hits hard

wow that's where lolth / lloth comes from? never knew. great content mate, love your stuff! cheers!

Hey man, great video, i've ssen some of your other videos, specially the ones about creatures, they are all good, congratulations, and keep up with the good work. I would just like to say that this video in particular have made me realize why my elf character (as a player) feels so lame, and that's because I didn't quite understood their nature, culture, feelings, etc... This one really blew my mind, and a think it'll help me "be" a better elf from now on, improoving mine, and my companions experience as well. Ps: OMG I've got so many ideas right now, when I used to be completely lost, thank you, kindly

man every single of your videos are just soooo exciting!

9:40 "A-dol-a-scent" Haha I love you bro. You're videos always make me smile

This is perfect timing, I just started running an all elf game!

Thank you so much! I've very new to DND and you've made it infinitely easier to learn the sheer amount of lore that goes into this game in such an entertaining way! As someone with a writing background, it makes creating characters so much easier!

Love the fact I suggested this one months ago and there we go and have it, keep up the good videos.

I love videos like this that goes in depth! now i know what the trance thing actually means, and how to better apply it in games ^_^ i'd love it if you did a video about the different cultural standards and history of the different types of elves, like the avariel or aquatic elves !

If you're doing high magic, will you ever do a video on psionics?

My character just had some WILD stuff happen to her, and this video has helped me tremendously with understanding exactly what has happened to her and how to play her, THANK YOU

Thanks Mr Rexx, great lore video tvm for improving my dming i love your lore videos. Keep up the awesome work.

You made me realize I've been playing and depicting my elves incorrectly for years, primarily about and because of their 'trance'... Thanks! Keep up the amazing work!

Great review of the lore of elves. It's a great exercise to remind ourselves that the standard fantasy races don't have to boring if you're willing to do some work.

Your videos are so entertainment and informative. Thanks for the great video.

I look to all of your future videos, and I especially look forward to when you eventually tackle Tieflings.

Oooh, always wanted to see elves covered at some point

How about how the Elves defeated the dragons by casting/created a Mythal that makes all Dragons go insane (with no exception good or bad) every 10,000 years - destroying their own hordes, followers and holdings? Which is why the dragons hate the Avariel.

You make me realize that I’ve been scratching the surface of lore provided! So excited!

Really cool video, totally changed what I thought elves were all about. I really like the whole "they don't measure their lives by how many moons they've seen but what aspect of their life they are in" (paraphrase)

The Gift of Life spell is literally a campaign waiting to happen all by itself.

He finally did one of the common races omg let’s go my dream came true

Holy crap...that was Lolth's backstory...I am so subscribing that was AWESOME! I have only read the long series with Drizzt, Cattabrie, Wulfgar, Regis, and Bruenor so hearing this was fantastic! Can't wait to watch more.

Yessss more and more please! I can’t get enough of these vids (: Thank you 😊

I have been playing elves since AD&D. While I do enjoy the 5th ED changes, added by that "thing" that was 4th, I do not incorporate any of it in the new games I run. I definitely do not run the "alternate" origins story, nor the limited souls through reincarnation. I love the Dhaerow. As soon as I found out that I could play a Drow, I did and I never looked back.

Where were you when I regularly DM'd in the 80s and 90s? I would invite you to take my time machine back to those days but my time machine is broke and I am out of E-115 for its power core. I actually had to sit in these ancient buildings called "libraries" to look upon bunches of paper collections called "books" to get most of my information and ideas outside of AD&D sources when I didn't have AD&D sources. You know, the whole conjecture and inference thingies. I extrapolated my own mutations on Elves but that is another story. Those Elves are Forgotten Realms Elves. Mine is similar but warped. High Elves are akin to them. Urban Elves are warped High Elves, very much like Half-Elves. My Drow is a mutation of my original Dark Elves and is very much Drow. I was a 2nd Ed guy. I was many DM's that had to adapt to new lore and fill in the blanks. At the time, age was relative to culture and personality for elves in implied... well, everything implied. I wish I was born 20 years later for the AD&D stuff even though I hate just about everyone born 5-10 years after I was because they are more pansy and entitled than my most entitled and pansy of my time.

Love this topic. Looking forward to hearing about all the elves.

This is the best video.. and i think its because its about a race you would play as player rather than a race you will use as a DM. Youve opened the door to far mlre people with this one

What happens when an Elvish sustains damage so great that they die? Are they reincarmated then? I've always played that an elf does not die, but fades from existence. Also, in Tolkien, don't elves sail away on the ocean, never to be seen again by the likes of mankind?

How much of this applies to half-elves?

This video helps to make more sense of the Legend of Drizzt and the War of the Spider Queen book series. Also, helps to confirm the pronouncing of certain names in those books too. Thanks.

This is amazing lore dive: subbed!!

COUGH "BIRTH OF SLANNESH" COUGH.

Do you have plans on covering any of the eberron races or any lore from eberron in general?

Extremely informative video! I don't know much about the "deep lore" of D&D, only what I read in the source material, and videos like this lend *tremendous* weight to character and world building. I feel now, that I can truly do this mystical and enigmatic race the justice they deserve in my own campaign

You have no idea how excited I am for this series!

I’m going to throw my homebrew setting’s lore down here just to check the opinions of people who are really into normal D&D lore. Elves, or rather, the Fay in general, are native to Materia in a way most living people are not. They are dependent on its local magics to survive, suffering a form of growing exhaustion often called ‘a starvation of the mind’ when far from their homelands, millions of years of adaptation enabling populations to tune themselves to different and distinct magical springs. The ‘elves’ themselves, (in the modern day divided between black, green, blue, gold and several other colored verities) were those that adapted to the old Faywyld, the greatest region of significant ambient magic on the planet, spanning continents like an ocean. Smaller wellsprings, such as the gith spiral and the dwarfspirits, are responsible for other populations of Fay. The Old Faywyld, however, is gone. Shattered to scraps barely the size of the kingdoms that claim them, the largest of these having claimed the name ‘Faywild’ for itself. A thousand elvish and a thousand human cultures tell different stories of what happened eight thousand years ago, but there are some broad points in common. Humans came from elsewhere. The Fen were colonists of some great people long lost in the darkness of Atheria. Their arrival marked the beginning of the greatest change in the history of the planet, as animals and plants from beyond the stars spread to the farthest regions of Materia, strange machines harnessing the Old Faywyld the same way the Fen farmed their wheat. Over millennia, the Fay retreated farther and farther within their individual magical pools even as Fen sorcerers and alchemists tapped them for energy from the outside. Then, for reasons historians have only began to care about recently, the Age of Wars and Darkness set in, and great Fen and Fay empires of the preceding era went out like so many candles in a great wind. Even the city of Kronimaar was abandoned, the Great Machine mothballed and slowly buried over centuries. The Fay became horrific forest spirits for semi-nomadic bands of increasingly tribal humans to warn their children about, and the Fading Ones protected their flickering life springs to the death as shadows devoured all. For a thousand years there is no history, only pain and death on a scale so great that in the most cold and untouched lands of the north, where generations of life could not dilute it away, the very ground and glaciers will scream and weep blood to passing travelers. Then came the day of Palot (Pah-low). When the god Uthan demanded the Men of the Golden Hills return to the city of Kronimaar and restore Ulthan’s great machine. In the instant it was finally activated, day one, of year 1 After Palot, began. For one single moment, across the entire world, it was day. Lines of pure magical light flowed from one end of the world to another across the sky. Lay lines. In one single instant, the horror was over, as Materia was sundered from Atheria as surely as the meat of a crab from its shell. The life springs expanded as magic flowed to and from them in a vast web, and Fay began to leave their homelands, finding the distance only caused head pains after decades rather than death in mere days. They found that in their generations-long fade, they’d changed. They no-longer resembled each other as the elves always had, a rainbow of colors and shapes and even unrecognizable magics. Fen had diversified as well, ranging from milk-white giants to waist-hight and rock-colored dwarves. Stranger things too, such as men with tails and the skins of lizards and beasts that hid in the flayed skins of others. Humans became a common point, a singularity, where any interbreeding of the races would generate one with only hints of their genetic heritage in their features. It was a new world, and as one, everything that walked or crawled or slithered set out to find a place in it. Thoughts?

What happens if we have more elves than souls? Will husks be born void of soul?

Great video as usual. I was surprised by how much sorrow is apart of eleven life.

Much better D&D Elf video than Pointy Hat

Obviously they spend those hundred years training how to use the longsword and the longbow

Very interesting! Question: Does any of this affect or can affect half elf? and i am not talking only about human/elf.

Fantastic video as always!

love your videos my man always appreciate the alternate look into staples of D&D! any possibility of tieflings in the near future?