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Roleplaying a Dark Elf

Introduction

This isn’t really a guide to ‘playing’ a Dark Elf. You won’t find any information here about what to hunt at level three, or what is the best race/class combo for making tacos. It isn’t quite a guide on how to ‘roleplay’ a Teir’Dal, either. That’s a matter of personal style. No, this is more a guide on how to THINK like a Dark Elf. Yes, this article is long. Yes, it is almost all personal opinions. If you don’t care how Dark Elves think, or aren’t the least bit confused about it, don’t read the whole thing. If you are like a lot of players, however, and there are a ton of questions in your mind about this shadowy race, then hopefully you will find some answers here. I started my first Dark Elf character because I was beta testing the stupidest race/class combos I could think of. A Dark Elf Cleric was high on that list. Boy was I wrong. Dark Elves need Clerics like Ogres need food. Their entire society is based around their god and how to serve him in his evil plan. The problem is, few people want to be a Dark Elven Cleric, not surprising, and even fewer know what to think about this ‘evil plan’.

Players and Attitudes

I find that where most races have two types of players, Dark Elves have three. All races have players that just want to \"play\" the game, and have no interest in interacting with others on any level higher than \"team play\", and Dark Elves are no different. Fine by me. Stay out of my way and have fun. Then, of course, are those who want to ‘roleplay’ their character, and try to play a Dark Elf as they should be played. An admirable goal. I have found, much to my surprise, that the Dark Elf race seems to have a higher percentage of roleplayers in it than any other, with the possible exception of Trolls and Ogres. I suppose this is partially because the penalties imposed on these races makes them unattractive to pure ‘powergamers’. But there is also the type of player unique to the evil races. They might say they are roleplaying, and they sometimes act like they are. What is really happening, however, is that they want to be nasty, and they think that being a Dark Elf gives them an in-game excuse, because that’s the way that a Dark Elf is \"supposed\" to act. That’s \"EVIL\", right? The real problem is that sometimes you can’t tell the difference between the second and third types of players. Sometimes the good roleplayers think that Dark Elves act the same way as the folks who are just being mean. This isn’t surprising, since the game background tends to be darned hard to reconcile with good sense. How, exactly, do you worship a god of hate, and why would you? How does anyone get anything done with all that hating going on? Good questions.

The light and the dark

This is slightly off the subject, but I need to get it out of the way first. I have seen a lot of fantasy worlds (mostly online) that have started to boil the eternal struggle between good and evil down to something called the \"light\" versus the \"dark\". Something like the Force from Star Wars, I guess, but a whole lot more open-minded and a LOT less spiritual. It gets to a point where one side isn’t really any more \"good\" or \"evil\" than the other, its more like whether you decide to play black or white in a game of chess. This, at the risk of offending someone, is lame. The struggle between Dark Elves and the other races is certainly not such a wishy-washy, indistinct matter at least not to the Dark Elves. Innoruuk is a petty god. He feels that if he can’t have the world to himself, then nobody can have it. It will be destroyed, and along the way the children of the other gods, and perhaps the gods themselves, will be made miserable. The Teir’Dal are an embodiment of his will, and live for no other reason than the achievement of this goal. Needless to say this makes them rather unpopular with other races. Hardly a mere theoretical controversy, is it? Now back to the subject.

Basic Premise

Okay, first point: Teir’Dal are NOT Drow. Yes, of course they are based on them, but they differ in many ways. There is nothing wrong with applying a bit of knowledge about AD&D races to EQ, but don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s official information. (By the way folks, High Elves here don’t speak Quenyan, either.) Of course, I can sum up all the official information on Teir’Dal in about one paragraph, so the field is pretty open for interpretation. Having said that, lets continue. The first big question that springs to mind is, \"Why DO we worship this god? Isn’t he a jerk?\" Simple question. It has a very simple answer: YOU HAVE NO CHOICE! Elves are not like the lesser races. True Dark Elves do not have free will. This is very important. Other Elves may or may not have free will, but this was TAKEN from the Dark Elves by Innoruuk when he created them. Teir’Dal do not choose between right and wrong like other races. Nobody ever thought to themselves, \"Gee, I wonder if there are any demons that have decided to be good.\" That would be unthinkable. A demon CAN’T be \"good\". It doesn’t even know what \"good\" is. The same is sadly true for Dark Elves. Now, this does not mean that you can’t play a character who has turned away from Innoruuk and tries to live a good life, but more on that later. So Dark Elves MUST obey their god of hate. What does that mean, do they hate everyone? Yes, in a way, but they don’t necessarily always act like it. Overt nastiness is the very lowest form of evil.

What the heck is evil, anyway?

Not such a dumb question. What is evil depends on your viewpoint. A group usually defines evil as whatever is directly opposed to the well-being of that group. If you are human, whatever is against the continued existence of humans is pretty evil. Humans probably seem pretty evil to say termites. Interestingly enough, true evil rarely thinks of ITSELF that way. The people that tear down the rainforests aren’t doing it because they are nasty and like to hurt trees. They think they are helping mankind by clearing cropland. (Well, and maybe making a buck in the process. True evil is often quite selfish.) So, does that mean that Dark Elves think that they are right in wanting to destroy the world, and that it’s actually all the other races that are \"evil\"? Well, it would, but the great tragedy is that it doesn’t.

the Tragic irony

You see, Dark Elves didn’t start out as pure creations of Innoruuk. They aren’t demons. They started out as perfectly fine Elves. High Elves at that. Maybe Innoruuk couldn’t completely destroy the original spirit that Tunare placed in the Elves, or maybe in his pettiness he thought it would be more fun to leave just a trace. Either way, on some very deep level, Teir’Dal KNOW they are evil. They hate themselves. This is very important to thinking like a Teir’Dal. The other important thing is DON’T EVER MENTION THIS OUT LOUD! Whew. Okay, roleplaying exercise time. Think about yourself. Think about that fact about yourself that you really hate (everyone has one). That thing that is so disappointing to you about yourself that you bury it deep down inside and never think about it. Now imagine dwelling on that fact every day of your life. That is how a Teir’Dal lives; knowing how flawed he is. Now, this fact about yourself, would you ever talk about it to anyone else? To a total stranger? To your brother or sister? I didn’t think so. If someone else called it to your attention, wouldn’t you even get really defensive about it and deny it adamantly, even getting rather violent if they pushed? (Be honest, I can’t hear you anyway.) This is also the explanation behind those very few Dark Elves who want to be \"good\". They are VERY rare, of course, and they are essentially flawed (in the eyes of Innoruuk, that is). These individuals have more of the original spirit in them than they should have, and are pulled closer to Tunare and farther from Innoruuk because of it. It’s a hard path to follow something like being a half-elf, only worse. Nobody is really going to ever accept you. (PLEASE don’t let me see every second Teir’Dal in the world trying to be good. It’s just so unoriginal. If you want to play a good character, consider playing a High Elf.)

The arrogance and depravity of Teir'dal

Now we know the basis of the legendary arrogance of the Dark Elves: they hate themselves. They are flawed and they know it, they are wrong and they know it, but Heaven forbid anyone ELSE say so. Firstly other races are almost always mistaken about WHY Dark Elves are wrong, and the more correct they are, the more it annoys a Dark Elf to hear it. High Elves are worst of all. They remind us of what we SHOULD have been. They must die so we don’t have to look at them. Teir’Dal are arrogant because they are never truly happy. They are also rather wild for the same reason. Many real people drink too much, take drugs, and participate in other rather promiscuous activities just because they are trying to forget how darned unhappy they are. Teir’Dal are like this to an extreme. Their culture is full of dark \"pleasures\" which are just futile attempts to relieve the pain of existing. Remember... as a Dark Elf, don’t ever admit any of these feelings to yourself or anyone else.

Happy little elves

Okay, so now we are thinking like a Dark Elf (painful, isn’t it?) So what do we do now? How do we ACT? Well, the first thing to remember is that you should NOT be nasty and hateful to other Dark Elves. Oh, sure, you hate them deep down inside just as you despise yourself, but it’s against the will of our god to fight amongst ourselves. The rest of the world is against us and that’s plenty. The most evil societies are always the most oppressive. Dark Elf society is the most evil of all. The perfect example of how Teir’Dal should live is ants. Yes, I said ants. The ant society is very structured. It has a Queen, workers, soldiers, etc. No ant would dare deny their purpose in life and do something else. It wouldn’t be right. This sort of background is good, because it explains a game mechanic. It explains why I as a Cleric can’t suddenly decide to learn Necromancer magic, and why a Warrior can’t suddenly start doing the same thing. We all have our tasks in life. They were chosen for us by our god before we were born, and that is what we must do. So help out your Brothers and Sisters, but what about those other nasty races?

That darned pvp switch

Gets in the way, doesn’t it? I don’t see why. Is murder the only way you can think of to be evil? Now I’m not saying the alternative is to go out and steal kills from people and lead trains into newbies. That’s not evil well, it IS, but it’s not ROLEPLAYING evil. Sure, sometimes it would be nice to be able to have race wars. That’s what the dueling feature is for. It works well in small altercations, and it can work just fine in large battles, too, if everyone is willing to cooperate. If someone doesn’t accept your duel, they aren’t really playing the same game as you anyway, and they shouldn’t be bothered. The only situation that is prevented by dueling is ganging up on a person, or fighting a person that doesn’t want to fight. Neither one of these is a great loss in my opinion. Anyway, enough about that. If you disagree with me, that’s why the PvP server was created. Go play there. The important thing to remember about dealing with other races is to know the difference between being evil to a person’s character, and being evil to the PERSON. Don’t be mean. We are all trying to have fun. Being a Dark Elf is no excuse to be a nasty person. Keep yourself separate from your character. Your character can think that Dark Elves are perfect, but YOU need to remember that they aren’t, and that although your character’s purpose in life is destruction, YOUR purpose in the game is to provide a fun opponent for all the \"good\" characters out there. I can’t really tell you how to roleplay evil, I’m afraid. I can only tell you that it IS possible to do it and not be hateful. My character is certainly hard to like, and he has few friends outside of his own race. Despite that, I (the player) have made a lot of good friends, and the race they play doesn’t matter. How to do this is impossible to explain, but I suspect that most people out there know the difference between right and wrong. It shouldn’t be hard to figure out.

the end at last

Well, you may disagree with everything I said here. That wouldn’t be bad, because it would mean that you have come up with something that you think is better. In that case, you didn’t need to be reading this anyway, did you? To everyone else, I hope that this helps you build a believable character that you can have fun playing and others can have fun playing with. Dark Elves are a great race to play, don’t sell them short. HAVE FUN!