Beyond that, they're kinda responsible for a suspiciously large number of bad things that happened in Warcraft history. There are so many examples I will definitely overlook several obvious ones here. Off the top of my head:
* the sundering (thanks, Azshara) * yogg'saron entering the emerald dream (thanks, Fandral) * Illidan, nuff said * The Sunwell - I'm gonna go out on a limb here and call it a net bad thing. It contributed a lot to Arthas's descent into madness/ascent to power and unleashing Kel'Thuzad into the world again was pretty not good.
This... isn't conclusively ruled out by modern archaeology, as far as I know, and it would allow you to talk about "half-elves" while maintaining the notion that they're still separate species.
My very lay understanding is that in the cross-over period where early Sapiens lived with other hominids you could draw some parallels to Neanderthals as dwarves (or sometimes perhaps trolls) to Sapiens viewpoints at the time and in that case Denisovans might be elves.
If you want to throw in bad pop-genetics, there'd be more "half-dwarves" among European descendants and more "half-elves" among Asian descendants, from that viewpoint.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malazan_Book_of_the_Fallen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inheritors_(Golding_novel)
http://38.media.tumblr.com/cc5a526de1722f7fa5afcde8c432d12a/...
> 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.
In the recent past, it was a generic term for any spirit. Under a Christian view of the world, elves were pagan spirits and therefore evil. You can check out the lyrics to the song "seven hundred elves", involving a farmer defending himself from forest spirits by hanging crosses around his house.
https://mainlynorfolk.info/steeleye.span/songs/sevenhundrede...
(Note that apparently this song uses "elves" to translate a Danish reference to "trolls".)
But this usage is known not to be the original view of elves. When the word originated, it didn't refer to something bad, as we can tell by the fact that so many Germanic names include an "elf" element: Alfric ("king of the elves"), Alvin ("friend of the elves"), Alfred ("advised by the elves"), etc.
Old elf mythology appears to have thought of them as human-like spirits, who might be conventionally or sexually dangerous, but who weren't evil.
Concerning the steeleye span song, I'd like to point out that, the elves' perspective is that their home was under attack by the farmer
Tolkiens orcs were originally elves, though they were twisted with methods of torture by Morgoth (Saurons master) into becoming as they are.
I concur with OP's comments that the Second Apocalypse is much darker than LOTR. The Sranc embody this difference. Partly due to how much more graphic detail an author can get away with these days, Sranc are much more brutal, bestial and disgusting than Orcs.
imo the series (at least the first half) is eventually going to be seen as a defining piece of modern fiction.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamarckism [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_of_Doctor_Moreau
I believe Tolkien elves also "grow weary of the world", hinting at some mental health problems.
I’d have been really annoyed if someone had told me that information before I read it (fantastic series of books by the way)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melnibon%C3%A9
>Its people, the Melnibonéans, are not wholly human and are commonly depicted as elven. They are skilled with magic and beautiful, though psychologically similar to cats, with a callous nature. They lack a moral sense. Their actions are determined by tradition and by the search for pleasure and new sensations.
https://appendixnbookclub.com/2019/12/02/an-interview-with-m...
[1] which ironically are based on the common perception of Tolkien elves.