r/ExplainTheJoke 2d ago

Something about mushrooms?

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u/Next-Yogurt5675 2d ago

Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder. Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels. Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies. Elves are glamorous. They project glamour. Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment. Elves are terrific. They beget terror. The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning. No one ever said elves are nice. Elves are bad.

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u/Amerisu 2d ago

No one ever said elves are nice.

I'm sorry, but this is just false. Lots of folks have said elves are nice. Tolkien, the source of modern elves, literally called them in The Hobbit, "A Good People." You can say Tolkien perverted it or twisted it or basically did with elves what Twilight did with vampires, but saying that "no one" ever said elves are nice is simply absurd.

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u/Robossassin 2d ago

This is in Discworld lore, rather than Tolkienian.

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u/Next-Yogurt5675 2d ago

This is based on the old folklore around elves and the fae folk, which is what the meme is talking about. That's actually a quote from one of the greatest authors of all time in his book that's all about elves breaking through into discworld because everyone had forgotten the old ways, whiched seemed to fit perfectly. Tolkien was amazing, but it's a damn shame that his fantasy elves are reused in every fantasy book or game and no-one uses the old folklore anymore

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u/Amerisu 1d ago

Ah, sorry, wasn't familiar with the quote.

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u/Next-Yogurt5675 1d ago

It's a pretty obscure reference. When it comes to sir terry pratchett you don't know him at all or you're a megafan. Or your british and you heard about him when he got knighted and hid a meteorite sword i guess lol. GNU STP