Why Have Elves?

Sometimes writers will add certain elements to their stories 'just because.' SFF (Science fiction and fantasy) are particularly vulnerable to this. For example since Tolkien, many fantasy writers have chosen to include notions of wizards, elves, dwarves, and magic for either an overused message or for the simple reason of 'it's fantasy to have these things.' The same can be said about Science Fiction with faster than light travel, aliens, space fighters, and intergalactic empires. The key concept that gets overlooked in this case is that everything that is put into stories is supposed to serve a purpose (even if that purpose is to have no purpose at all). If a story includes aliens or elves, they cannot exist in the story just because it makes the genre. Tools, plot devices, characters, etc. are put into stories to tell a story; the items put into the story should help tell that story.

Back to my title question: Why have elves? This is a question that one can ask of almost any fantasy book because elves are so common Since Tolkien's creation of the popular conception of them. Many simply include them as a given in a fantasy story to represent a patented message, or include them to add 'diversity' into their stories. Rarely however, to elves play unique and original roles specific to a given author. It should be noted that Tolkien had a well thought out conception of elves and why they were in his stories. They had a clear role and their identity, characteristics, culture etc. played a role in making the story of Middle Earth what it was. Without Tolkien's elves, Middle Earth would not be Middle Earth. Now when looking at bad fantasy, elves can be taken out of a story and the result is little or no impact on the story. Or, that the reason for having the elves is so stereotypical and overused that the story becomes a bore to read.

The question that writers must deal with is what is the purpose of putting elves in their story? Do they play a key role? A minor role? Or any role at all? Because elves (and other plot devices used to such a large extent like elves) are used so much,  extra pressure is also put on the writer to do something original with them. Elves should be used like all other items in a story; to help that story's message be carried to the reader. If a story has elves then they must be for the purpose of that particular story and say something key involving that story.

This brings to mind a further complication, one that Tolkien also addressed in his stories. When writers fall into the trap of including 'elves' because they have a fantasy story, they often assume the readers to have a general idea of what elves are. Writers of this type assume that elves have already been defined by Tolkien and thus do not need to be elaborated on originally. What this means is that elves are continually unchanging regardless of the author (or at least changing in minor technical ways that have almost nothing to do with the main point of a story). This is a short cut that Tolkien did not take. When he introduced orcs, hobbits, dwarves, elves, dragons, etc. he defined them all. He clarified to the reader how they all worked and fit into his story in such a way as to say something monumental. This is something that every other writer must do and redo for their own stories. If a writer chooses to have artificial intelligence or aliens (or any other sci-fi trope or gadget) then it must be given rules and a role to play in the story. Thus I suppose that what I really mean is that when a writer uses well worn tropes in a story, then it must be unique and original to that story in oder to say something. 

I ran into a similar issue when workshopping a short story. Because my short story was set in a wider fantasy world that I intend to write larger works about, magic appeared in it. Now I ran into trouble because my short story was centered around the idea of history and how it can be manipulated by nationalism to violent ends, and how history itself is formed by individual forces as well as massive ones. Magic, in this second draft, played a minor role but it nevertheless appeared because of the wider world it was set in. This gave magic the appearance of just being there because my short story was fantasy, not because it had anything meaningful to contribute. When I go to edit it, this issue will have to be resolved by clarifying magic's role, or even connecting it to history in some degree. The latter, now that I think about it, might be more useful seeing as how I want to treat magic in my fantasy world, and what I want the idea of magic to say to the reader.