French series.
Translations :
- Elves (English digital collections - Soleil)
- Elves (English translation - 2 issues for 1 - Soleil)
- Elves (Insight Editions)
- Elves (Delcourt - Soleil)
Related series :
The concept
The series takes place within the framework of "Les Terres d'Arran". The Lands of Arran is a territorial concept which encompasses places at a time. It is not a series as such. This world is particularly marked by the Elven culture, in particular because its name is a direct reference to the god of the Elves, Arran. Over time, three new series will be integrated into the concept: "The Dwarves", "Orcs and Goblins" and "The Mages".
The four series are also concept series, they do not constitute a story to follow but a succession of independent stories, taking place in a common universe. Most often, each album in the concept series is produced by different tandem of writer/artist.
Elfes was started in February 2013 by Jean-Luc Istin and Nicolas Jarry. Then five writers and five artists worked in tandem to tell the story of the five Elven peoples.
The series
The albums are published in seasons of five albums according to an identical cycle: Blue Elves, Wood Elves, White Elves, Half-Elves and Dark Elves. Each writer/artist duo is attached to a people.
The originality of the series lies, among other things, in the parallelism of the stories. While the first season presents the different peoples through adventures very distant from each other, the following issues tend towards a convergence of scenarios. The characters developed in the four corners of the Lands of Arran intersect on a few occasions and are gradually carried away in a common plot.
The peoples
White Elves
Wise and immortal, the White Elves live cut off from the world, hiding in the heart of their sacred islands. Masters of dragons and mastering the high arcana of magic. Many of them live detached from all material reality, but some have made it their mission to preserve everything that is in danger of disappearing one day, seeing themselves as the guardians of this world. Even though they are a quick-to-judge race, governed by strict codes and principles, yet they are capable of endangering their entire civilization for the sole purpose of defending the lands of Arran and its inhabitants.
Blue Elves
Immortals with azure skin, the Blue Elves have known how to penetrate the secrets of the oceans and tame the waves like no other before them. Feared and respected, they are divided into two large houses. Those living in the icy archipelagos north of Arran, whose capital is the city-island of Elsemur, ruled by the sage Aamnon, and those living in the southern seas, often considered by their cousin as more free and versatile. Beneath their seeming coldness and a phlegm of their own, they remain the elven race that interacts the most with other peoples and certainly the most concerned with the fate of the Lands of Arran.
Wood Elves
Savage and immortal warriors, the Wood Elves live in clans in the heart of the oldest and most venerable forests of the Lands of Arran. Some people think they don't exist, that they are legends or spirits of the woods. Yet over time they have tried to extricate themselves from their ostracism and live in peace with their neighbors. Unfortunately, history has shown them that they cannot trust other peoples, especially those Feljs with such short memories. Now they protect their forest territory and beware of those who would like to dislodge them.
Dark Elves
They are the source of the elven people’s greatest and most shameful secret, their curse! In the eyes of the world, these dark-skinned Elves pass for artists, scholars, poets ... Perfectly integrated into the cities they rub shoulders with. They are all born as White, Blue, Woodland elves, whatever ... Their true nature only reveals itself over time. They are then detected by beaters, then taken to the Citadel of Slurce where they undergo for several years the most relentless training, they are initiated into a multitude of fields, including the art of combat, assassination, necromancy… For the best of them, those who survive, will become unsurpassed assassins, the elite of Arran's killers, forever linked to the citadel of Slurce.
Semi-Elves
Elves have bonded with the human race, and their bastard offspring roam the vast lands of the Lands of Arran, seeking to survive in a world that rejects them. Persecuted through the ages, they have known many diasporas. Honed by the so-called pure races, they are persecuted, hunted, banished, imprisoned, when they are not purely and simply eliminated at birth. Some band together in tribes, others live scattered around, seeking to live on their art, their swords or an inherited gift. But they all have this hope in common, that of one day finding the chosen one who will lead them to a place where they can finally live in peace.
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