A half-elf cleric from Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition.
A half-elf is a character of mixed human and elf descent. Half-elf is a common playable race in many fantasy role-playing games, one of very few commonly used races with mixed ancestry (along with half-orcs).
The common depiction of half-elves with a strong mix of characteristics of their ancestor races was established by Dungeons & Dragons, in which they were introduced as playable characters in the 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook. Their inclusion in D&D was inspired by Half-Elven characters (notably Elrond) in the Middle-earth tales of J.R.R. Tolkien, although they are very different.
Half-Elves in Tolkien's Middle-earth[]
In the Middle-earth Legendarium of J.R.R. Tolkien, the Half-elven are offspring of the union of Men and Elves. Several Half-elven characters appear in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (both published before the original edition of D&D), as well as The Silmarillion (published later, in 1977). The most famous of these is Elrond, who appears in all three books.
In Middle-earth, Half-elven ultimately faced a spiritual choice between the mortal lives and deaths of Men and the immortality of Elves. Elrond chose to life as an Elf, whereas his twin brother Elros chose to live as a Man.
Note the the term Half-elven is imprecise here as in other media, and refers to many characters descended from both Elves and Men. For example, Elrond's daughter Arwen is both an elf-maiden and one of the Half-elven; Elros' descendent Aragorn is both fully a Man and one of the Half-elven. However, while Elrond's children faced the choice of other Half-elven between mortality and immortality, the mortal children of Elros (down to Aragorn) did not.
Half-Elves in Dungeons & Dragons[]
In Dungeons & Dragons, half-elves generally have roughly even human and elf ancestry.
In the Dragonlance series, Tanis Half-Elven was a Hero of the Lance.
In Mystara, elves are all but unknown except for a unique community on the Savage Coast.
Other Half-Elves[]
In Sword of Shannara, the main character is a half-elf.
External links[]
- Half-elf at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
- Half-elf (Dungeons & Dragons) at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
- Half-elf at Dungeons & Dragons Lore Wiki (on Fandom)
- Half-elf at Forgotten Realms Wiki (on Fandom)
- Half-elf at Dark Sun Wiki (on Fandom)
- Half-elf at Dragonlance Wiki (on Fandom)
- Half-elf at Eberron Wiki (on Fandom)
- Half-elf at Spelljammer Wiki (on Fandom)