Board Thread:News and Announcements/@comment-98.247.168.42-20181122042639/@comment-32987979-20190529053423

Yeah, I've always found the "elves are always better than humans thing" really annoying. So you're telling me all our technological advances are thanks to the elves? Greeeeat, thanks for that. Love being told that us humans can only achieve things when we're actually being spoon fed by a species we are too stupid to realize exists. Also, not a fan of being labeled as barbaric and primative. I get that Shannon was trying to create a "perfect" world, but I'm not sure why she felt the need to add SO MANY degrading moments where humans are described as or shown to be inferior to elves.

I agree with the beauty thing, though I have to say, it makes character designing really fun. I mean, I like to get really detailed with my character descriptions, and it adds a little challenge since I can't just say "oh, she's beautiful." Yeah, all elves are beautiful. What makes her look different from her friends? But character designing is one of my favorite things, so this is probably just me. Basically, it's more fun (at least for me) when you can just churn out a bunch of really beautiful characters, even though it sends a bad message to the kids that actually read the books. But hey, at least Shannon's having fun, right?

WHY are Elvin beauty standards so similar to humans? Did we get out beauty standards from them? But beauty has changed so much through the years for us humans! In the Victorian era, women who were plump and round were favored more because it was a sign of wealth. In the 1920's, a slim, boyish physique and facial features were considered ideal. A twiggy, androgynous look was popular in the 90's. Have ideal beauty standards changed so much throughout the elves' lifespans? I mean, the ancient elves are considered "beautiful" still by Sophie's standards. So how come the elves ideal beauty is so similar to just TODAY'S beauty standards??? Again, a lot of things in this book just don't make sense and we're clearly not very well thought out in my opinion.

What about elves that aren't described as beautiful like Valin, Stina and Jensi? Are they still beautiful too? Even though these elves, especially Valin, are shunned and thought of as outcasts? Are there certain elves that are just... more average than the others?