Elves: Light and Dark in Norse Mythology
Explore the elves in Norse mythology: the ljósálfar light elves of Alfheim, the dökkálfar dark elves, the huldufólk hidden people, and the role of elves in Norse cult.
The elves (Old Norse álfar, singular álfr) are a class of beings in the Norse cosmos whose nature is debated by scholars. The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson distinguishes between the light-elves (ljósálfar) of Alfheim and the dark-elves (dökkálfar) of Svartalfheim, and treats them as distinct from the dwarves. The Hávamál warns of gifts given to elves, and the Völuspá includes the light-elves in the audience of the recreated world. In the later Icelandic folk tradition, the elves (or huldufólk, “hidden people”) become a familiar element of the landscape, and tales of elf-churches, elf-brides, and elf-music are abundant in the sagas.
This page is an encyclopedic account of the elves: their place in the Norse cosmology, the distinction between light and dark elves, their role in the Norse cult, their relationship to the huldufólk of the later folk tradition, and their place in the Norse imagination.
The Elves in the Prose Edda
The principal source for the elves in the Prose Edda is the Gylfaginning, in which Snorri Sturluson provides a systematic account. According to Snorri, there are light-elves and dark-elves. The light-elves (ljósálfar) live in Alfheim, the world that Freyr was given as a tooth-gift, and they are described as “fairer than the sun to look upon.” The dark-elves (dökkálfar) live in Svartalfheim, the underground world, and they are described as “blacker than pitch.” Snorri distinguishes the dark-elves from the dwarves, although the two are often conflated in later sources.
The image of the light-elves as “fairer than the sun” is one of the most striking in the Eddas. The light-elves are luminous beings, beings of great beauty and great magical power, and they are associated with the upper air, the shining sky, and the bright realms of being. The dark-elves, by contrast, are dark beings, beings of the underground, of the caves and the rocks, and they are associated with the lower air, the deep places, and the hidden realms of being.
Snorri’s account is brief but pointed. He treats the light-elves and the dark-elves as a pair of opposites, with the light being of the upper air and the dark being of the underground. The pair is structural — light and dark, upper and lower, fair and foul — and the image is one of the most fundamental in the Norse imagination.
The Elves in the Poetic Edda
The elves appear in several of the principal poems of the Poetic Edda. The most important references are:
- The Völuspá, in which the light-elves are mentioned as being present at the recreated world, sitting in the great hall of Gimlé together with the righteous
- The Hávamál, in which a stanza on the gifts of the elves warns of the dangers of certain kinds of gifts, suggesting that the elves (or, more specifically, the dísir in their elven aspect) might be propitiated by the right kind of offerings
- The Alvíssmál, in which the dwarf Alvíss is asked about the names of things in the various worlds, including the elves themselves
- The Grímnismál, in which Alfheim is mentioned as the home of the light-elves
The Völuspá’s mention of the light-elves in the recreated world is significant: the elves are present at the end, and they are present as part of the renewed cosmic order. The light-elves are not just figures of the old world; they are figures of the renewed world as well.
The Hávamál’s reference to the gifts of the elves is one of the most obscure passages in the Eddas, and it has been interpreted in various ways. The most common reading is that the gifts of the elves are the gifts of the dead — the gifts of the buried, the gifts of the dead ancestors, the gifts that come from the world of the dead. The reference is, in this sense, a warning to the living to be careful in receiving gifts from the disir (the female divine beings) or the álfar (the elves) of the local cult.
Alfheim: The World of the Light-Elves
Alfheim is the world of the light-elves, and it is the world that Freyr was given as a tooth-gift by the gods. The Prose Edda describes Alfheim as the home of the light-elves, and Snorri connects the world to Freyr. The image of Freyr as the lord of Alfheim is a striking one: the god of fertility, the bringer of sunshine and rain, the patron of the field and the herd, is the lord of the luminous beings of the upper air.
The connection between Freyr and the elves is one of the most debated issues in Norse scholarship. Some scholars have argued that Freyr was originally an elven figure, a being of the upper air and the shining sky, and that he was later elevated to divine status in the post-Vanir-war integration of the pantheon. Others have argued that Freyr was always a Vanir god, and that the connection to the elves is a cultic one: the elves are the beings of the fertilizing air, and Freyr is the god of fertilizing rain and sunshine, and the two are associated because of this common function.
The Dark-Elves of Svartalfheim
The dark-elves (dökkálfar) of the Prose Edda are the elves of Svartalfheim, the underground world. Snorri distinguishes them from the dwarves, but the distinction is not always observed in the later sources. The dark-elves are described as “blacker than pitch,” and they are associated with the underground, the caves, and the rocks. The dark-elves are the opposite of the light-elves, and the two are paired in the structural opposition of light and dark, upper and lower, fair and foul.
The relationship between the dark-elves and the dwarves is a complex one. The Prose Edda treats them as distinct classes, with the dark-elves being subterranean beings of the caves and the rocks, and the dwarves being the smiths of the underground. The two are often conflated in later sources, and the modern Scandinavian traditions frequently treat the dark-elves and the dwarves as the same kind of being. The most common reading in modern scholarship is that the dark-elves and the dwarves are the same beings viewed from different perspectives: the dark-elves are the inhabitants of the underground, while the dwarves are the craftsmen of the underground.
The Elves in the Norse Cult
The elves are central to several cult practices of the Norse world. The most famous of the elf-cults is the Álfablót (elf-sacrifice), a major autumn festival in honor of the elves and the landvættir (spirits of the land). The Íslendingabók and the Landnámabók mention the Álfablót as a major part of the Icelandic religious calendar, and the festival is mentioned in several other sources.
The Álfablót is described as a private or household feast, held in honor of the local elves and the local landvættir. The festival was held in the autumn, when the first frost came, and it was a time for the sacrifice of cattle and the feasting of the household. The festival was not held in the public temples, but in the home, and it was a time for the family to gather and honor the local spirits.
The álfrek (elf-worship) of the Norse world is closely related to the dísir-cult (cult of the female divine beings) and the landvættir-cult (cult of the spirits of the land). The three are sometimes treated as the same kind of cult, and the beings of the cult (the elves, the dísir, the landvættir) are often conflated in the sources. The álfrek is the cult of the local divine beings, the beings of a particular place, and the cult is in some sense a cult of the inhabitants of the local landscape.
The Huldufólk: The Hidden People
In the later Icelandic folk tradition, the elves become the huldufólk (“hidden people”), a race of beings who live in rocks, hills, and cliffs, and who are for the most part invisible to humans. The huldufólk have their own churches (built underground or in cliffs), their own king, their own families, and their own ways of life. The relations between the huldufólk and the Icelanders are close: they are the ancestors of certain Icelandic families, the patrons of certain places, and the objects of certain sagas (most famously the Eyrbyggja saga and the Svarfdæla saga).
The huldufólk are not always benevolent. They can be mischievous, malicious, or simply indifferent, and they have their own laws and their own disputes. The famous Selkirk woman of the 19th century (a kvennagráttr or wailing woman) is sometimes identified as a huldufólk, and the magic stones of the Icelandic countryside are said to be the altars of the huldufólk. The most famous of the magic stones is the Ásbyrgi canyon in northern Iceland, which is said to have been formed by the shoe-print of Sleipnir as Odin rode over the land, but the huldufólk are also associated with the canyon of huldufólk in the Westman Islands, the stone of the huldufólk at Þingvellir, and the church of the huldufólk at Helgafell.
The image of the huldufólk is one of the most distinctive in the Icelandic folk tradition, and it has been the subject of considerable scholarly attention. The most common reading is that the huldufólk are a continuation of the older Norse elves, but a continuation in a different mode: the older Norse elves are the cosmic figures of the Eddas, the beings of the upper air and the underground, while the huldufólk are the local figures of the Icelandic landscape, the beings of a particular rock or cliff or church. The transformation from the older Norse elves to the huldufólk is a transformation from the cosmic to the local, and it reflects the broader transformation of the Norse religious imagination in the Christianization of Iceland.
The Elves in the Heroic Tradition
The elves appear in several of the principal heroic poems and sagas of the Old Norse tradition. The most famous of the elf-related heroic stories are:
- The Helreið Brynhildar, in which the dead Valkyrie Sigrún meets the hero Helgi Hundingsbani on his burial mound, and they ride together
- The Völsunga saga, in which the hero Sigurd has a vision of a great host of light-elves riding through the air
- The Sigrdrífumál, in which the Valkyrie Sigrdrífa (a name for Brynhildr) gives the hero Sigurd the wisdom of the runes, including the álf-runes (elf-runes)
- The Hrólfs saga kraka, in which the hero encounters a being of elven appearance who gives him a magic sword
The álf-runes of the Sigrdrífumál are a particularly important feature of the heroic tradition. The Sigrdrífumál lists several kinds of runes, including the victory-runes, the wave-runes, the speech-runes, the mind-runes, and the álf-runes. The álf-runes are the runes of the elves, the runes that are used to propitiate the elves or to heal the wounds of those who have been attacked by them. The image of the runes as gifts of the elves is a striking one, and it is the basis for the elf-runes of the later Scandinavian tradition.
The Elves and the Dwarves: A Comparison
The relationship between the elves and the dwarves is a complex one, and the two are often conflated in the sources. The principal differences are:
- The light-elves are luminous, beautiful, and powerful; the dwarves are small, dark, and crafty
- The light-elves live in Alfheim, in the upper air; the dwarves live in Svartalfheim / Nidavellir, in the underground
- The light-elves are associated with fertility, beauty, and the shining sky; the dwarves are associated with smithing, mining, and the underground
The principal similarities are:
- Both are sub-creation classes, created by the gods
- Both are artisans of the cosmos, makers of great objects
- Both are associated with the underground in some way (the light-elves of Alfheim are upper, but the dark-elves of Svartalfheim are underground, and the dwarves are also underground)
- Both are vulnerable to sunlight (in the later Scandinavian folklore, the dwarves and the trolls are vulnerable to sunlight)
The conflation of the two in the later sources is due to the fact that both are non-human, non-divine classes of beings who are associated with the production of great objects. The conflation is a structural feature of the Norse imagination, and it is the basis for the dark-elves-as-dwarves tradition in the later Scandinavian and German folklore.
The Elves in the Christianization of the Norse World
The conversion of Scandinavia to Christianity had a profound effect on the Norse conception of the elves. The single Christian God, with his angels and his saints, was superimposed on the plural Norse divine world, and the Norse elves were assimilated to a variety of Christian figures. The light-elves were sometimes identified with the angels, the dark-elves with the demons, and the huldufólk with the hidden Christians of the Icelandic tradition (a legend that the huldufólk were once a human people who were banished into the rocks by the Christian missionaries).
The image of the elves as demons is one of the most striking in the Christianization process. The Norse elves, who had been the beautiful and luminous beings of the Eddas, became the evil and mischievous beings of the Christian tradition, and the cult of the elves was transformed from a respectable cult of the local spirits to a superstition that was to be avoided by the Christian. The transformation is a complex one, and it is the basis for much of the demonology of the medieval Scandinavian tradition.
The Elves in the Christianization of the Norse World
The conversion of Scandinavia to Christianity had a profound effect on the Norse conception of the elves. The single Christian God, with his angels and his saints, was superimposed on the plural Norse divine world, and the Norse elves were assimilated to a variety of Christian figures. The light-elves were sometimes identified with the angels, the dark-elves with the demons, and the huldufólk with the hidden Christians of the Icelandic tradition (a legend that the huldufólk were once a human people who were banished into the rocks by the Christian missionaries).
The image of the elves as demons is one of the most striking in the Christianization process. The Norse elves, who had been the beautiful and luminous beings of the Eddas, became the evil and mischievous beings of the Christian tradition, and the cult of the elves was transformed from a respectable cult of the local spirits to a superstition that was to be avoided by the Christian. The transformation is a complex one, and it is the basis for much of the demonology of the medieval Scandinavian tradition.
The Elves and the Eddic Poetic Tradition
The elves appear in several of the most important kennings of the Poetic Edda. The light-elves are referred to in kennings as the “shining host,” the “fair people,” the “sons of light,” and the “people of the bright sky.” The Völuspá’s mention of the light-elves in the recreated world is one of the most famous, and the image of the elves as part of the renewed cosmic order is a fundamental one.
The relationship between the elves and the Vanir is also important. Freyr, the lord of Alfheim, is the principal Vanir god, and the light-elves are in some sense the followers of Freyr. The image of Freyr as the lord of the light-elves is a structural image of the relationship between the Vanir and the elves: the Vanir are the gods of fertility and the upper air, and the elves are the luminous beings of the upper air, and the two are connected by their common function.
The relationship between the elves and the gods of the dead is also important. The Álfablót was a sacrifice to the elves and the landvættir, and it was held in the autumn, at the time of the dísablót (the sacrifice to the dísir, the female divine beings of the family). The connection between the elves and the dísir is a structural one, and the two are sometimes conflated in the later sources. The elves are the luminous beings of the upper air, the dísir are the female divine beings of the family, and the two are connected by their common function of the protection of the household.
The Elves and the Concept of the Hidden People
The image of the huldufólk (“hidden people”) of the Icelandic tradition is one of the most distinctive in the Scandinavian folklore, and it is closely related to the image of the elves. The huldufólk are conceived of as a hidden race of beings who live in rocks, hills, and cliffs, and who are for the most part invisible to humans. The huldufólk are often described as having a dual nature: they are invisible to most humans, but they are visible to those with the second sight, and they are present at every kind of local event.
The Elves and the Goddess Freyja
The relationship between the elves and Freyja is also important. Freyja is the goddess of love, war, and the magic of seiðr, and she is associated with the Vanir and with the elves in some readings. The image of Freyja as the goddess of the elves is a striking one, and it is the basis for much of the elf-cult of the Scandinavian tradition. The connection between Freyja and the elves is most explicit in the Völuspá’s reference to the Brísingamen (Freyja’s necklace) as the work of the dwarves, but the connection between Freyja and the elves is also present in the Hávamál’s reference to the gifts of the elves.
The Elves and the Eddic Lists of Beings
The elves appear in several lists of beings in the Eddas and the Prose Edda. The most famous of these is the list of beings in the Gylfaginning, which includes the gods, the giants, the dwarves, the elves (light and dark), the valkyries, the norns, the dísir, and others. The image of the elves as one of the principal classes of beings in the Norse cosmos is a fundamental one, and the elves are a structural element of the Norse imagination.
The structural role of the elves in the Norse cosmos is as the luminous beings of the upper air, the counterparts of the dark dwarves of the underground, the giants of the cold north, and the gods of the heavens. The elves are one of the four (or five, depending on how one counts) principal classes of beings in the Norse cosmos, and their role is to inhabit the upper air of the cosmic tree, the realm of the shining sky and the bright light.