TES Mer are more interesting, because of their culture. Espescially the Dunmer culture.

I very much prefer the LOTR elves... especially the ones who work for Elrond. They look sick in their armor

I didn't know there was one in the films.

Haven't seen 'em.

I've seen the first one up to the point where I realised they cut Tom Bombadil and refused to have anything to do with those terrible movies ever again.

The animated one from the seventies was better, at least they stuck to the story.

Elves in LoTR are far more inhuman than those in TES. They are aloof, reserved, waning from the world and they do not practice magic, even though the other races think they do.

For them it is a way of life, comes as natural as breathing and there is nothing magical about it.

That's not how LoTR elves look at all.

It shames and saddens me that this is what LoTR has become to people, instead of fantastic books they now think of terrible movies.

This is the primary reason I gave up being a really devoted LoTR fan and took my energy to TES instead.

The meaning had just been very much diluted by lots and lots of people claiming that things are LoTR which aren't, due to those terrible movies.

I added a question to the poll: if you voted Skyrim Elves in the first question, would you have liked an Elven race like the Elves in LOTR, in Skyrim?

TES elves are the ones i experienced first, so i'd say them. Although they are influenced by all these classic books.

And everyone continues to go by the movies...

A quick glance at a Quendi's face will show you a similar appearance. Albeit much brighter, and pointy ears. A longer look will show you a sad yet joyful face. A powerful aura, if they are Calaquendi. Eyes that have seen millenia of war. A deep wisdom.

A superficial appearance matters little. And even it did matter, Feanor would not be comparable to even Aragorn, who is part elf, never mind a pure Man.

Yes! I hate the movies. They destroyed Tolkein's world. I can only hope that they won't touch The Silmarillion...

But everyone who said Skyrim elves, read The Silmarillion before making a judgement. That's basically a history book of Tolkein's world, and by far the best resource you'll find.

Quendi and Mer are two entirely different monsters. I love them both in their own ways like how someone appreciates two friends; one is not better than the other, just different.

"Seen"? LOTR is not something you SEE. It's something you READ.

(And there are only THREE Star Wars movies.)

This is correct.

Also, the Matrix was a great movie and it is a terrible shame they never made a sequel.

:Glares:

Tough one, but I'm gonna have to say lotr elves. Lotr elves were awesome, had cool armour, had their own language and characters like Elrond and Haldir were great. Yes all of them died at Helm's Deep and Thranduil turned up at Erebor with a massive army but just decided to go back home, but they were just undeniably cool.

Actually neither of those happened, the movies added them. Thranduil wasn't involved with Smaug at all, and the Elves were never at Helm's Deep. Just Rohirrim and part of the Fellowship. And Ents.

Yeah I was just thinking of the films. I read the books afterward seeing the films and was surprise to find that the elves, as you said, were not at Helm's Deep and Eomer did not come to their rescue at the end as he was already with the rest of the Rohirrim. Still, going from the films the elves were awesome.

Lol, I actually enjoyed the other three

And the other two Although the first was the best in the Matrix trilogy. Think it may be my favorite trilogy.

I'm a heathen who actually prefers the films to the books but to the real question. As another said I prefer each in their own context. Although I've definitely changed the elves to be a little less inhuman and unattractive in my version of Skyrim.. Lorewise, I've gotta go with TES elves though.

Truth is I don't like elves in general, just conceptually I don't understand how "graceful sissy" is appealing in fantasy. It's like if justin beiber was inexplicably in the NFL, he certainly would be my least favourite player because he's a little wuss and I'm inclined to watch football to admire powerful brutes displaying their formidable strength and athleticism. I approach fantasy the same, I don't want "grace and beauty" as the OP said, I want ugly gritty rugged badasses.

For this reason I like orcs, which are technically elves, so I guess that means I like TES elves, but to expand on that I like tes' racial tree with men and mer deviating at the trunk and then branching into interesting and unique races. I like how orcs are technically elves, that reminds me of nature. In real life I admire and appreciate humans as one might admire and appreciate "big cats" or whatever, like I'm a fan of them as animals, and TES satisfies this perspective of mine much more accutely than LOTR.

Oh, good grief.

I don't even know where to begin to explain what is fundamentally wrong with that.

So I suppose I just will take the easy way out and not attempt to.

Which is why I like dunmer as far as elves go. They're not so brutish to be dumb like orcs stereotypically are, although we know that isn't quite true. But anyway, Dunmer are still elves, but they can be tough and gritty SOBs. They survived their homeland being decimated by a volcano and an argonian invasion despite of it, and before that the oblivion crisis. Dunmer will always be my favorite elves.

So glad this didn't happen. The horror.

I don't really care about enduring hardship, or, alternatively people argue for altmer that they have powerful armies and are smart and so they're formidable for that reason and therefore my anti-elf views are invalid... no they're not. I mean yes altmer are a powerful race ofcourse, and dunmer are "tough" for enduring their hardships, but it's not what I'm talking about. To use the NFL anology again, someone might say the little feeble old man who signs ray lewis' cheques is more powerful than ray lewis because he has more money and "power" from a society perspective, someone might say a little cambodian refugee is more tough because he's endured more hardships floating on a lump of driftwood across the entire pacific ocean while being pecked by seagulls... whatever, we're going off on weird tangents here which I personally, and it's JMO, dgaf about. The bottom line is you put the linebacker and the old ceo and the cambodian refugee all in a room together, nvde, and the linebacker grabs each by an ankle and hulk smashes them to death like a pair of nunchukkas, and that's what I care about.

The CEO is a wuss, and the cambodian refugee is a wuss, because they're small and they're weak and they're unathletic, and that's my opinion. I'm not going to admire them on the football field, and I'm not going to admire an elf in a fantasy world which, to me, and again this is my opinion, is about being a badass that excels at caving skulls in with a big hammer. Elfs are just inherently wussy to me, which doesn't mean they can't be great at magic or have powerful armies or endure hardships, even win wars over orcs or whatever, all beside the point.

I know what you meant. Lorewise Dunmer are rather muscular and athletic themselves. Not as much as an orc, but they make strong and impressive warriors. I prefer nords really, but Dunmer aren't bad themselves. For the football anology, they wouldn't be serving on the line of course. Still, they're not your typical scrawny wussy elf. They had to fight Nords after all.

You are entitled to your opinion and all, but I generally wouldn't write off the elves as "weak" considering that in that same situation with the NFL guy and cambodian, etc, just one ZAP would be enough to obliterate everyone in the room were you to do the same with an Altmer and a Nord, Redguard or Orc.

To me, power is beauty, and the ability to destroy someone by barely lifting a finger is one of the ultimate expressions of power (and therefore beauty, even if the wielder is the ugliest bastard alive). Being a badass that can nuke an entire town with a flick of their wrist is another feature of fantasy worlds, and what I admire most.

Imagine if the Psijics or Telvanni wizards were more inclined to interfere in wars. I can't imagine anyone would be able to go against them.

I think you're overstating that power a bit. While I agree he shouldn't write elves away, its a bit more impressive for those who fight those with said power and still prevail using war tactics brawn and grit, cunning and strategy. Point being of course both have merit, but when we're talking about warriors, the elves and their magic don't have much room in the convo. Dunmer are more fit as warriors than mages surprisingly, and are intelligent which is why I like them over the brutish orcs.

I could be wrong, but I think the OP was more or less asking whether "pretty elves" or "TES elves" were better.

That said, I think I'd prefer if each stayed in their own franchise.

Not when the Psijics and the Telvanni are involved, I'm sure.

Okay, maybe I am overstating it a little, but it's no different than getting a boner over a skull-breaker. I mean, if one were to posses both cunning, strategy(or at least foresight), and sheer power, warriors wouldn't matter at all. I wonder what Tamriel would be like if the Psijic order actually intervened more often.

Also, it's because of the cliche that the evil wizard is defeated by the noble warriors because of the wizard's overconfidence and shortsightedness that I tend to dislike them.