Icelandic elves are often portrayed in folklore as otherworldly, rich, beautiful, dangerous beyond measure, manipulative, strange and most importantly, **human sized.**
The idea that elves are small is, historically, rather new.
That said, it wouldn’t surprise me if some form of mental illness is responsible for some of the stories of elves and other vættir. Changelings for example are pretty clearly a coping mechanism for parents of children on the spectrum, be it autism or other illness.
Hidden people are not tiny. In folklore they are human sized. Hidden people are closer to Tolkien’s elves: grumpy recluses who live in hills and mountains and occasionally murder people, sometimes via magical means and sometimes just by running them over with horses.
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Icelandic elves are often portrayed in folklore as otherworldly, rich, beautiful, dangerous beyond measure, manipulative, strange and most importantly, **human sized.**
The idea that elves are small is, historically, rather new.
That said, it wouldn’t surprise me if some form of mental illness is responsible for some of the stories of elves and other vættir. Changelings for example are pretty clearly a coping mechanism for parents of children on the spectrum, be it autism or other illness.
Hidden people are not tiny. In folklore they are human sized. Hidden people are closer to Tolkien’s elves: grumpy recluses who live in hills and mountains and occasionally murder people, sometimes via magical means and sometimes just by running them over with horses.
Try DMT.
Is this in all cultures?
You don’t see them?