Elves | Three Ravens Bestiary #14
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Show notes
For this week's Bonus Episode, we're peering through the veil and into the history and folklore of Elves, from their earliest recorded mentions through to today!
We start off chatting about the modern perception of Elves, which, in most of the Western world, sees them linked to Santa Claus and Tolkien's Middle Earth mythos. Yet, despite the 'White Ones' being all magical and shimmery, they actually have a shady history that is inextricably linked to tales of abduction, sexual violence, and, from the 18th century, they have a significant role in ethno-nationalism, too.
Despite becoming a byword for 'fairy' or even 'demon' by Shakespeare's day, as we dive back to the beginning we find that Elves really were distinct creatures, mentioned in some of the earliest North European literature that has survived across the millennia, as well as in Anglo Saxon medical texts, some of the very first Scottish witch trials, and, of course, the Icelandic Eddas, Beowulf, and tonnes of fascinating Medieval writing.
From ancient border ballads to myths of early kings, legends of Wayland and Erik The Red to saucy old Chaucer, we're really running the gamut with this one!
Yet, how did the terrifying, often God-like Elf become synonymous with household pixies? And what did the church to do transform elves into something to be pitied?
Plus, how could using the lavatory with extreme prejudice serve as a useful defense against Elf-kind - in addition to silver crosses and pentagrams?
As ever, we have at least some of the answers - though, fair warning, there's still plenty to fear when thinking about Elves, so leave some butter outside your door, and be sure to steer clear of wild places at sunrise and sunset...
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Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.
Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’
We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.
Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.
Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…
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