Elf AU - Fanlore

Elf AU. Many fanfic writers write fantasy AUs in non-fantasy universes, often featuring canon characters as elves.

One trope is a story in which one of the characters reveals that they are, in fact, an elf who has concealed their true nature. Some of those have been written as serious fantasy; others have been written as parody. Still others are right on the line: they are written seriously, but also with the understanding that the elf AU is a fanfic genre with a long and varied history.

One of the most famous early elf AUs, from the mid-1980s, was in The Professionals fandom: The Hunting by Jane of Australia, a multi-volume zine epic that cast Doyle as a captured elf and Bodie as a human who frees him; they run away together and have five zines' worth of adventures.

Vid banner of the fic trailer for The Crown of the Summer Court. The vid uses clips from Lord of the Rings for the other elven characters in the story.

Epic elf AUs have a tradition in online fandoms as well. The Magnificent Quest^[1] is a Magnificent Seven AU that has Vin as a half-elf who discovers the true meaning of his heritage when he and his friends are on a quest to warn the king of an evil that threatens the kingdom. Popslash had Talliswood^[2] where both JC and Lance are elves and find their true love with Justin and Chris while saving the magic of the realm. The story was originally inspired by Helen's Guerillas series but ultimately went in a very different direction. In Stargate SG-1 fandom Serpent in the Shadows^[3] shows Sam Carter as an elf and in the Magnificent Seven Kings and Vagabonds ^[4] series it's Mary Travis who is an elf. The Crown of the Summer Court^[5] in Merlin fandom follows the tradition of high fantasy elves (in a fusion with the Merry Gentry series of books) and shows Merlin as a half-elven prince with Arthur as his champion and future king.

a Sentinel example for a non-fantasy elf, The Christmas Elf, published in My Mongoose

In Sentinel Natalie L combines elves with mpreg in her epic length Soul-Quest series, first published in the My Mongoose e-zine then later as print zine.^[6]

There are also Elf AUs that don't use high fantasy elves but other kinds, for example the SGA story A Wish For Wings^[7] by Caro has John Sheppard as one of Santa's elves who ran away to escape the exploitation of toy production.

References

1. ↑ Nettie Roe. The Magnificent Quest, Chris/Vin slash, 200?. (Accessed 20 October 2008)
2. ↑ Tarowen. Talliswood, 2002. From the author's notes: This series is set in a fantasy AU, in which only Joe is all human. Jayce and Lansten are elves, Justin (Joe's half-brother) is half sylph, and Chris has some wild blood running through his veins. They're on a quest through a dangerous wood full of restless magic. Read this if you like swords, sorcery, elves, quests, angst, and jeweled codpieces. (Accessed via wayback 20 October 2008)
3. ↑ Selenay. Serpent in the Shadows, Jack/Daniel slash, 2004. (Accessed 20 October 2008)
4. ↑ Jean Graham. Kings and Vagabonds, 2000, 2004. (Accessed 20 October 2008)
5. ↑ astolat. The Crown of the Summer Court, Merlin/Arthur slash, 16 February 2009, artwork by trolleys. (Accessed 24 February 2009)
6. ↑ Natalie's Writing Nook (accessed 30 August 2009)
7. ↑ Caro. A Wish For Wings, McKay/Sheppard slash, posted 9 December 2006. (Accessed 24 February 2009)