Whispers from the Otherworld: Who Were the Norse Elves?
In the long winters of ancient Scandinavia, stories were told of the álfar—known in English as elves. These were no harmless sprites from modern fantasy.
The elves in Norse mythology were deeply spiritual beings: radiant or shadowed, protective or perilous.
Some were called light elves, others dark elves, and all walked the liminal spaces between gods and humans, life and death, the known and the unseen.
Elves appear often in Old Norse texts, especially in mythological poems and sagas.
Their presence reflects a worldview where magical beings were not separated into strict categories, but flowed fluidly through the natural and spiritual world.
The elves—sometimes conflated with dwarves in Norse mythology—were powerful entities woven into the tapestry of Norse mythology.
At The Wicked Griffin, we examine and analyze a few academic sources on the Elves in this blog post —as a reminder of ancestral memory, land-based wisdom, and the unseen forces that still live in nature.
Table of Contents
The Elves and the Æsir: Kinship of Divine Beings
In early Old Norse poetry, elves are often named beside the Æsir, the principal gods of the Norse pantheon.
According to Professor John Lindow, in Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs (Oxford University Press, 2001), this phrase—“Æsir and elves”—is formulaic, appearing in poems like Völuspá and Hávamál (p. 110).
This formula signals their mythological importance.
The elves of Norse mythology were not merely supernatural—they were semi-divine.
Their kinship with the gods positioned them as beings of immense influence, perhaps akin to the Vanir gods, who governed fertility and the natural world.
These types of elves in Norse cosmology were not ornamental—they were sacred.
Light and Dark Elves: A Split in the Spiritual Order
In Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda, compiled in the 13th century, we encounter the distinction between ljósálfar (light elves) and dökkálfar (dark elves).
The light elves, said to live in Álfheimr, the realm of the light elves, are “fairer than the sun,” while the dark elves are described as subterranean beings, “blacker than pitch.”
Lindow notes that this dualism—dökkálfar and ljósálfar—may reflect Christian attempts to impose good-and-evil structures on older beliefs (Lindow, p. 110).
Dark elves in Norse mythology may not have been distinct from dwarves; some scholars suggest they were originally one and the same.
The lines between elves and dwarves are blurred in Old Norse texts, showing that such beings were conflated or even interchangeable in some mythic layers.
Elves and Dwarves: Shared Origins in Myth
The relationship between elves and dwarves is a point of intrigue. Both are mentioned in similar contexts and sometimes share traits.
While dwarves in Norse mythology are known as master craftsmen, scholars such as Lindow highlight that the word álfr (elf) occasionally appears on dwarf lists in the Edda.
In this light, the mythological categories of dwarf, dark elf, and even land-spirits reflect a worldview where supernatural beings did not fit neatly into modern fantasy tropes. Instead, they occupied overlapping spiritual roles, tied to land, magic, and ancestry.
Elves of the Mound: Ancestors of the Dead
In The Road to Hel by Professor Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson (Cambridge University Press, 1943), we find compelling evidence that elves were once viewed as spirits of the dead. She writes:
“The tempting assumption… is that the elves are the dwellers in the grave-mound” (Davidson, p. 112).
Autumn rituals in Viking Age Scandinavia, including the sacrifice to the elf (álfarblót), suggest their role as guardian spirits and ancestral protectors. These Nordic elves were not abstract—they were local, bound to the land, to families, and to Viking history.
In Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe (Syracuse University Press, 1988), Davidson deepens the connection, suggesting elves were perhaps the same as the Vanir, and that the light and dark elves were later Christian interpolations (p. 173).
Álfheim and Freyr: Fertility and Sacred Land
Álfheim—the realm of the light elves—is gifted to Freyr, the Vanir god of prosperity and peace, as noted in Gylfaginning.
Davidson observes that Freyr is closely tied to sunshine, land fertility, and the elves, with the sun itself being called álfröðull, meaning “glory of the elves” (Myths and Symbols, p. 115).
This reflects a mythological understanding where elves are associated with light, agriculture, and the sacred rhythms of nature.
Freyr’s connection shows that elves were not simply forest spirits—they were essential to norse cosmology and ritual cycles.
Elves in Popular Culture and Modern Fantasy
The influence of elves in Norse mythology echoes into popular culture today. J.R.R. Tolkien, deeply inspired by Old Norse texts, adopted the terms ljósálfar and dökkálfar into his own mythological system, reshaping them for modern audiences.
Yet in doing so, much of the nature of Norse belief was distilled into binaries—good vs. evil, beautiful vs. monstrous. The original Norse elves and dwarves were far more complex.
They were magical beings with magical powers, tied to both the sacred and the dangerous.
Why the Norse Elves Still Matter
The elves of Norse mythology are not relics of the past. They are symbols of our connection to the land, to our ancestral dead, and to the mysteries that still live in the natural world.
Whether seen as radiant gods, subterranean craftsmen, or spirits of the burial mound, they reflect a rich and layered norse myth that still speaks to us today.
In honoring them, we reclaim our place in the sacred order—not above nature, but within it.
References
- Lindow, John. Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford University Press, 2001.
- Davidson, Hilda Roderick Ellis. The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature. Cambridge University Press, 1943.
- Davidson, Hilda Roderick Ellis. Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions. Syracuse University Press, 1988.
