When you hear someone mention elves, you might automatically think of Santa Clause or Lord of the Rings. Both are famous examples of elves in our popular culture and fiction, but each representation of “the elf” is wildly different from the other. One is small and hardworking at a craft while the other is staturesque, powerful, and wise. So, how did we come to these variations? To understand, even the surface of the lore, we must look to the origin of countries that generated the folklore, and for the purpose of this article, I’m going to focus on Iceland, Scotland, and Ireland.
If there is one thing that links Iceland to countries beyond Scandinavia, it’s the folklore. And it makes sense when you see when and how Iceland was settled. Just as the Norsemen were raiding and settling in England, Scotland, Ireland, and beyond, they were also discovering the island of Iceland.
The Connections Between Iceland, Scotland, and Ireland
Sidenote: Evidence suggests that Irish monks found Iceland before the late 800s, having stayed there in caves like a monastery. There is also evidence that Saami people used the East coast of Iceland as a summer destination for collecting resources long before official settlement began. But for this article, I’m mainly focused on the movement of those who settled in Iceland for the long haul in the late 800s and onwards.
When you visit Iceland today, you’ll hear lots about the Viking ancestors and see evidence of Nordic culture everywhere. And if you didn’t bother to ask questions or dig any deeper, you’d think that Iceland was settled purely by Norsemen. Any British contemporary influence (like their love of kex/biscuits) is a legacy of modern influences and the occupation during WWII.
The real history tells a different story and in looking through the folklore, the fingerprints of Ireland and Scotland are everywhere.
Before settling in Iceland, Norway seized Orkney, Shetland, and the Hebrides, ruling there for centuries. It wasn’t until 1472 that Orkney and Shetland were returned to Scotland as part of a debt. So you can imagine how deep their Nordic traditions there go—that’s a whole other article.
Norsemen were also in Northern Ireland, having raided, settled, and founded towns there, like Dublin. So when word came of land in Iceland, some Norsemen went directly from Norway, but many also left Ireland and the northern isles of what we consider today as Scotland. And along with them, they brought their Celtic wives, children, and slaves.
The Celtic/Gaelic Influence in Iceland
In fact, Icelandic DNA studies show that “62% of their matrilineal ancestry derives from Scotland and Ireland,”—meaning that a majority of the women who settled in Iceland (wives, daughters, and slaves) were from these regions. While the much-exalted Landnámabók, or Book of Settlements, fails to name or acknowledge many of these women and slaves, due to their status, science reveals and proves their existence.
Thankfully, the influence of these women extends beyond the DNA traces. Their beliefs and practices were passed from generation to generation through something less tangible than genetics: their stories.
When men are busy fighting or farming, it’s the women and the slaves who tend the young minds of the next generation. Is it any wonder, then, that Icelandic folk tales have a lot in common with Ireland and Scotland? Many tales go beyond similar, to being identical copies. These stories include tales of seal people (selkies or silkies), kelpies, hidden people (fair folk, elves, fairies), and ghosts.
Where Do Elves Come From?: The Three Origin Theories
Now, my opinion and theories are just that, opinions and theories. For we cannot travel back in time and watch lore develop. But that would be really cool if we could!
The closest thing we have to time travel is folklorist scholars who study folklore and speculate on their origins and patterns. So far, I’ve come across the following three theories on the origin of hidden people, aka elves or fair folk:
Theory #1: The Start of It All
The first theory tells of Adam and Eve as the source of elves and hidden people. The tale goes like this. The world’s first couple hid half their children during a visit from God because they ran out of time to make them presentable. For their deceit, God hid those children permanently. This resulted in a race of humans evolving in a hidden world parallel to our own.
Theory #2: Embedded Memories
The second theory is that the idea of elves—sometimes described as diminutive in stature—is a blood memory of ancient beings that lived in Ireland and Scotland before the Celts began to arrive in 275 B.C.. Ancient remains of small building structures and tool artifacts were explained away as elven tools or those of the Fair Folk. A deep belief that these beings must not be offended was widely held for fear of their wrath and retaliation.
Theory #3: Links to the Underworld
The third theory links the fair folk with the underworld because in many tales, these beings live underground, emerging from rocks and hill mounds. In Irish myth, this belief links with God-like creatures, the Tuatha Dé Danann, who inhabit the world below, while humans, or the Milessians, inhabit the world above, according to a truce made between the two.
In Scottish lore, the underworld association goes a step further. Those who die and reappear to loved ones are often associated with fairies and elves, tempting to lead others to the wonderful Fairyland. Take Thomas the Rhymer himself. After his “disappearance,” legend has him popping up all over the map, always travelling with a group of elves and calling the living to follow him back to fairyland or Elphame.
The sighting of dead loved ones with elves or telling tales of being in elfland could be a way of discussing a type of afterlife or underworld.
Modern Theories
Since it’s 2025, I think it is time to add a new theory to the origins of Elves and Fair Folk. This may sound wild compared to the three I just listed, but that’s because I love speculative theory, and if any were to be true, this would be the one I would pick.
What if… the reason so many cultures have a belief in hidden people is because they really do exist in a parallel world to ours? Think Marvel movies here. If Dr. Strange can open wormholes at will, maybe that’s how hidden folk appear to walk out of the ground, rocks, and mountains. And perhaps, as our scientific understanding evolved and improved, they came to us less and less, for fear we’d either seize their technology or visit their world in return.
Personally, I prefer to think of elves and fairies as advanced and modern, not stuck in the Middle Ages as so many writers do, but that’s just my fanciful take. Why wouldn’t they evolve and modernize as we do?
Which theory do you find most compelling? Do you have your own? Tell us in the comments below.
Free Story: In the Company of Elves
In the wake of the Ragnarok Revolution, new alliances must be formed for mutual survival. When a Vanir named Ulfur finds himself lost on the battlefield and rescued by elves, he is forced to face some uncomfortable truths about his past, his kind, and the future of the entire hidden realm.
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