Funny you should mention elves working for the good ole Dark Lord. I'm a staff writer at another site, and I'm writing up histories of all the divisions of elves and men, and guess what? I was researching the Avari today!
Quote:
|
Whence [the orcs] came, or what they were, the Elves knew not then, thinking them perhaps to be Avari who had become evil and savage in thw wild; in which they guessed all too near, it is said.
|
~Silmarillion, Chapter 10
Erm...sorry Thalion..not all Dark elves are bad. But it is most likely that they would have been the early victims of Melkor...since they didn't, to my knowledge, build huge fortresses and hidden cities, etc.
I like the idea of the hooded figures as corrupted elves. I don't so much like the idea of rings or enchanted jewelry though...it's too...LotRish, if you get my meaning. Here are some random thoughts:
The Avari loved the wild, correct? They loved to roam the forests, etc. So I thought it would be beautiful in a tragic way if they became wraithlike beacause Melkor or Sauron locked them away in the dark without light or air or sound, and they pined so deeply and so long there (thinks a coupe, thousand years) for the sight, smell, sound, touch of their beloved forests, that their spirits broke and began to drift from they're bodies. In that weakened state the Dark Lord (take your pick...Morgoth could have done it and Sauron just retained their services when the Valar opened a can of whoop@$$ on his Master) took them and made them...well...whatever we want them to be. Perhaps to make it even more believable...the ones that were chosen could have been the "leaders" (not Kings, obviously, but there had to be some kind of hierarchy) of the Avari.
Uhhh...does that sound too insane?
By the way...I'm back! Sorry..a lot of work (just started a new job) and I was at TORn's Barlibash. I'm back in action now, though. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] Missed you all.