Contents
1. A brief summary of the classification of beings and beasts
2. What is it?
3. Common misconceptions
4. In the wild
5. Domestication
1
The classification of a creature into a being category or beast category is a long and frightfully difficult process, which has an equally long and frightfully difficult history. Despite this, the terms of sorting a creature are relatively few and are as follows: body shape relative to humans, intelligence relative to humans, and civility relative to humans. So what is overlooked in this list? Why, it must be the obvious bias that every creature in some way or form must conform to human standards, no matter how broad or narrow. And thus we come to yet another large oversight in Wizarding culture, the Common Elf.
2
The Common Elf, known more frequently by the name "House Elf", is a humanoid creature with a rather short stature, large eyes and head, large pointed ears, little body hair and slightly wrinkled skin. They are found today in the residences of higher class wizards that have the "wealth" and "status" to own several servants, human, elf or otherwise. Elves are commonly employed in domestic service such as cooking, cleaning and childcare, and are also conditionally employed to guard the secrets of their respected masters. Elves generally have optimistic views of their masters, their masters' friends and humans in general and their position in life, but pessimistic views of themselves, their masters' enemies and "rogue" elves.
The Common Elf is extremely well suited for harsh environments, a possible factor leading to their "domestication". An elf's large eyes and ears are very sensitive to its environment, allowing the elf to scout for prey, predators, and adhere to their masters' orders with precision. Elves also possess highly sensitive and manipulative hands and feet, in fact most if not all elves are ambidextrous. It is thought that their large ears, wrinkled skin and little hair allow them to release heat more readily to survive in their natural tropical habitats. When not in this natural setting, elves will use their own brand of magic to keep themselves relatively safe, warm, cool, and the like.
3
There are many common misconceptions surrounding Common Elves, most created by the prejudice views of wizards. One misconception is that Common Elves are simply known by the name "House Elf", and that there is no other name for them. Another is that there is no other type of elf yet known to be in existence, meaning there is no point in distinguishing the elf as "common". The reason the creature is named such is because to higher-class wizards, elves are seen as "common peasants".
Another misconception born from prejudice is the low intelligence of elves. The Wizarding population typically views elves as unintelligent and irrational beings due to their low status, third person speaking manner, submissiveness, and erratic masochistic behaviors. Even wizards that treat elves as equals see them as highly uneducated, willingly or not. What many fail to comprehend is the massive cognitive and psychological brainpower that the elf wields.
The trend in animals is that the larger the brain is relative to the skull, the more intelligent the creature. Both muggle doctors and wizard healers agree that humans have the largest brain relative to their skull size, yet few healers know of the few autopsies that show that this is not the case. Elves, as of the date of this publication, have the largest brain relative to their skull. What's more, in tests that ranked both elves and humans on memory recall, inductive reasoning, consensus reasoning and self-awareness, Elves scored 20% higher than humans 98% of the time in all sections except self-awareness. Although Elves are aware of themselves as individuals with a conscious separate from other beings, they cannot, or in most cases do not want, to apply hypothetical situations involving themselves. It is also shown that elves simply have a greater capacity to store knowledge than humans, and can readily answer miscellaneous knowledge based questions, such as national capitals, basic translations, and historical figures. This large brain capacity has supposedly evolved to handle all the information an Elf may need to serve his master in any social, political or economic environment. However, most of the time the Elf is too humble or the master too stubborn to ask for the information the house Elf knows.
Another misconception surrounding Elves is their "weaker" brand of magic. With the exception of Goblins, most wizards view other types of magic from other magical beings as inferior to their own. However, this is the opposite; the wide spectrum in human magic has been heavily aided by the creation of wands. Without wands, the human capacity to use magic shrinks considerably. Elves, on the other hand, do not need wands or any verbal command to use their magic; usually a snap of the fingers or wave of the hand is enough. Elves can also bypass many human restriction spells, such as warding spells, anti-apparition spells and the like. Though very rarely has it ever occurred, Elves can use wands with just as much proficiency as a human can.
4
Elves are known to originally live in the tropics of middle Africa. They have survived their natural predators, leopards, crocodiles and various species of snakes, by living in the tops of Palmyra Palm trees. They tend to live in groups of up to 8 individuals, with the oldest female leading. They are omnivorous and can eat practically anything that grows or moves, though they prefer fresh fruit and nuts. Today, Elves are nearly extinct in the wild, with only a few colonies documented as hidden in the depths of the tropics. These Elves are not as friendly toward humans and will often run away at the sight of them.
5
At some point during the medieval era Elf populations within wealthy households began to soar. At first thought of as clever little creatures that could mimic their own magic, wizards began to realize that the Elves had traits for compassion and docility that no other sentient creature had. What's more, when two very benevolent Elves bred their children were much more subservient to a wizards orders. In the same way that silver foxes in Russia were domesticated by breeding more docile foxes together, Elves were bred in the thousands, each couple carefully paired in order to maximize the submissive traits in the offspring. Within a hundred years the Elves were as subservient and loyal as they are today, with little change over the next eight centuries.