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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Turjan" data-source="post: 1826917" data-attributes="member: 3477">Well, to tell the truth, even here the borders are more or less fluent <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />.In principle, from old germanic myths you have already different worlds for frost giants (Niflheim), fire giants (Muspellsheim), other giants (Jötunheim), light elfs (Alfheim), and dark elfs (Svartalfheim). Light elfs were more or less beautiful transparent beings, whereas svartalfar are bearded beings living under the earth and known for the smithing (basically dwarves). In stories regarding human experiences, it's the dwarves (svartalfar) or a jotne (troll) that make an appearance. As I said, the borders are fluent, so sometimes a female troll resembles a dwarf or a male troll resembles a giant, but as troll is thought to be derived from "strong", the giant connection seems to be more appropriate. Later, trolls are more or less connected to forms found in nature (like large rocks), and the idea of trolls hurling big stones or turning to stone themselves are common.Elfs looked more or less like humans, often with beards, sometimes small (3 feet) and sometimes the same size as humans, but the main difference to humans was that the elfs were connected with magic. Smithing was a magical occupation to the nordic mind, so here the relation to dwarfs is obvious. The mixing of the terms "elf" and "dwarf" is also obvious in sagas like those of the Nibelung; the king of those subterranean dwarfs was called "Alberich", "Alfric" or "Elfric".In Iceland, even today roads might be built along funny routes, because nobody wants to be responsible for removing a large rock where the elfs live in <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />.</blockquote>

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