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In other words is it an unwriten rule of Modern day fantasy that Elves were the first people around ?
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I dont know about that, but elves are not human/man. They are a different race, and must have a different culture and background and history to put them apart from all the other races, just like dwarvers or halflings, kenders, gnomes, giants, trolls, minataurs, dragons, etc, etc. Many fantasy novels do make their version of the races very similiar to other novels.
Alot of the novels I have read that include elves, do call them the "First born". It seems to me that alot of people imitiated Tolkiens version of Elves, although he did not create them. Must Elves all love outdoors and are excellent marksmen. Must elves are not considered as barbaric as the other races. Many elves in other worlds, are the same, some are imortal, some are mortal but live for hundreds of years, some get sick, some dont. Some are the Gods favorite, some are not. Some get along with the other races, some think they are superior.
It mostly depends on the author. And how she/he wants their world to be like.
I always was fund of the way that Tolkien used magic in his world. It is quite diffrent than the norm. But thats what makes it a great novel.