I noticed something under the Drow's description that I found interesting and thought I'd ask about it. It says that 'Some stories tell that given the right circumstances, a particularly hateful elf might turn into a drow, though such a transformation would require a truly heinous individual.' There are a couple things I have to ask;
1. Could this actually occur?
2. What are these circumstances?
3. Could a half-elf under the same circumstances experience such a change, becoming half-drow?
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This is in fact one of the central plot elements for...
1) It absolutely can occur.
2) It's super rare. In order for it to occur, the elf must be chaotic evil, must worship a corrupting influence (traditionally a demon lord or Rovagug, but any chaotic evil deity will, in theory, do), and must commit an atrocity above and beyond the norm for a chaotic evil person. Even then, it's not always going to happen. Essentially, when it happens is when you the GM decide it does, and it should be a MAJOR plot point to the story you're telling. The vast, vast, vast majority of drow come to be by being born to drow parents.
3) Nope; doesn't work on half-elves.
Wow. Already an official response. Thats good to know.
I suppose all i have left to wonder is; Can the reverse occur?
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Wow. Already an official response. Thats good to know.
I suppose all i have left to wonder is; Can the reverse occur?
Nope. It's a one-way trip for elves, and it never happens in reverse for drow.
Begging official pardon, it doesn't happen that way in my Golarion universe. "No sir, I [don't] like it," and I don't use that, not even in
Fortunately, I have players who can keep that knowledge separate from their characters if they happen to read this; we are still playing the campaign. So much for the great secret... :-/
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Nope. It's a one-way trip for elves, and it never happens in reverse for drow.
Doesn't this imply that the inevitable fate of elves on Golarion is to all become drow?
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Not unless the race as a whole goes irremediably EVIL and goes down that path...which is very unlikely to happen.Nope. It's a one-way trip for elves, and it never happens in reverse for drow.Doesn't this imply that the inevitable fate of elves on Golarion is to all become drow?
Think more long-term. Tens of millions of years long-term. Even if only a few elves turn per generation, that's enough.
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Think more long-term. Tens of millions of years long-term. Even if only a few elves turn per generation, that's enough.Not unless the race as a whole goes irremediably EVIL and goes down that path...which is very unlikely to happen.Nope. It's a one-way trip for elves, and it never happens in reverse for drow.Doesn't this imply that the inevitable fate of elves on Golarion is to all become drow?
That's an awful long time for elves or whoever to have the chance to figure out how to stop the transforamtion... and even then, the rate at which new elves are born vastly outstrips the rate at which elves transform into drow.
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That's an awful long time for elves or whoever to have the chance to figure out how to stop the transforamtion... and even then, the rate at which new elves are born vastly outstrips the rate at which elves transform into drow.
It's also an awful long time for the drow to figure out how to weaponize the process, as Second Darkness suggests they do. And they've got a head start.
That's an awful long time for elves or whoever to have the chance to figure out how to stop the transforamtion... and even then, the rate at which new elves are born vastly outstrips the rate at which elves transform into drow.It's also an awful long time for the drow to figure out how to weaponize the process, as Second Darkness suggests they do. And they've got a head start.
That's why you have heroes after all. They're the rebuttal to the bad guy's "Inevitable".
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That's why you have heroes after all. They're the rebuttal to the bad guy's "Inevitable".That's an awful long time for elves or whoever to have the chance to figure out how to stop the transforamtion... and even then, the rate at which new elves are born vastly outstrips the rate at which elves transform into drow.It's also an awful long time for the drow to figure out how to weaponize the process, as Second Darkness suggests they do. And they've got a head start.
Isn't Second Darkness built on the premise that the elves don't have heroes? That's why they have to plumb the dregs of Riddleport (who hardly become heroes by association)?
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Isn't Second Darkness built on the premise that the elves don't have heroes? That's why they have to plumb the dregs of Riddleport (who hardly become heroes by association)?
1. Not really, it's built on the premise that a bunch of people in Riddleport (some or all of whom could very well be elves) get on the trail of a scheme that a species most people on Golarion (elves included) don't even know exists cooked up.
2. Second Darkness is rife with things that most people here agree could do with some heavy editorial whacking.
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2. Second Darkness is rife with things that most people here agree could do with some heavy editorial whacking.Well, it's never getting any. We must make do with what we've got.
If something is stated as not fitting the creative vision of the setting, then basing predictions about the setting on it is... Ill-advised. Second Darkness doesn't need to be officially edited for its erroneous content to be quietly swept under the rug and forgotten about.
Trust me, I play L5R, we do it all the time ! ;)
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The instances of Elves becoming Drow suggests that this is some sort of whole-body genetic engineering that the Drow themselves are probably nowhere near close to being able to pull off as a remote operation (although they might be able to figure out how to do it to captives, since they already have Fleshwarping technology).
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2. Second Darkness is rife with things that most people here agree could do with some heavy editorial whacking.Well, it's never getting any. We must make do with what we've got.If something is stated as not fitting the creative vision of the setting, then basing predictions about the setting on it is... Ill-advised. Second Darkness doesn't need to be officially edited for its erroneous content to be quietly swept under the rug and forgotten about.
Trust me, I play L5R, we do it all the time ! ;)
MARVEL is really bad about that too.
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If something is stated as not fitting the creative vision of the setting, then basing predictions about the setting on it is... Ill-advised.
As far as I'm aware, the staff have never said anything of the kind. All statements to the effect that Second Darkness's content is erroneous to setting assumptions have come from fans.
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Uh... you might want to read more of the Tyrannosaur's threads, then.
Mister Jacobs is on record, several places, as being less than thrilled about things like the portrayal of elven culture in Second Darkness. It was very much in the "growing pains" phase of Golarion's publication history.
Isn't Second Darkness built on the premise that the elves don't have heroes? That's why they have to plumb the dregs of Riddleport (who hardly become heroes by association)?That's why you have heroes after all. They're the rebuttal to the bad guy's "Inevitable".That's an awful long time for elves or whoever to have the chance to figure out how to stop the transforamtion... and even then, the rate at which new elves are born vastly outstrips the rate at which elves transform into drow.It's also an awful long time for the drow to figure out how to weaponize the process, as Second Darkness suggests they do. And they've got a head start.
Second Darkness, like all AP's are built on the premise that YOU are the heroes, whatever race you happen to be. And the dregs of places like Riddleport are your typical breeding ground for modern fantasy heroes.
That's an awful long time for elves or whoever to have the chance to figure out how to stop the transforamtion... and even then, the rate at which new elves are born vastly outstrips the rate at which elves transform into drow.Think more long-term. Tens of millions of years long-term. Even if only a few elves turn per generation, that's enough.Not unless the race as a whole goes irremediably EVIL and goes down that path...which is very unlikely to happen.Nope. It's a one-way trip for elves, and it never happens in reverse for drow.Doesn't this imply that the inevitable fate of elves on Golarion is to all become drow?
And it only seems to happen to Golarion elves at that. There's no mention of Drow coming into being on Castrovel.
Uh... you might want to read more of the Tyrannosaur's threads, then.
Mister Jacobs is on record, several places, as being less than thrilled about things like the portrayal of elven culture in Second Darkness. It was very much in the "growing pains" phase of Golarion's publication history.
He may be "less than thrilled", but it's what Paizo put in there, that is what we have to go by when we're referring to the canon setting as opposed to any changes we've homebrewed. And that's pretty much how it's played out in the novels. I do agree with his point though. It's not just Second Darkness, it's reinforced by every piece of background material that Paizo has put out about the race.
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Second Darkness, like all AP's are built on the premise that YOU are the heroes, whatever race you happen to be. And the dregs of places like Riddleport are your typical breeding ground for modern fantasy heroes.
You seem to have misspelled "scum" there. And expecting characters to change over the course of an AP is expecting rather a lot of players. Character development is hard enough for people with training in their pocket and a paycheck on the line; for amateurs it's practically out of reach.
And it only seems to happen to Golarion elves at that. There's no mention of Drow coming into being on Castrovel.
The planet is inimical to elvendom, and they'd probably be better off if they left and never returned.
He may be "less than thrilled", but it's what Paizo put in there, that is what we have to go by when we're referring to the canon setting as opposed to any changes we've homebrewed. And that's pretty much how it's played out in the novels. I do agree with his point though. It's not just Second Darkness, it's reinforced by every piece of background material that Paizo has put out about the race.
Quite. It's been almost seven years since Second Darkness was put out. Ample opportunity for Paizo to massage their "growing pains." At least in the content I'm familiar with (The Elven Entanglement PFS scenario, the Queen of Thorns novel), it has yet to be contradicted in any significant way.
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To be fair, Paizo's growing pains were much more a matter of establishing themselves as a viable business than correcting an AP written when WotC was still using 3.5. "Almost seven years" really isn't all that long once you fill it up with the day to day minutiae of managing your own brand. I'd also point out that the CRB doesn't portray elves as snooty, effete dinguses (dingi?), but it's really really easy to read it that way, given all the gamer elf baggage out there.
And it only seems to happen to Golarion elves at that. There's no mention of Drow coming into being on Castrovel.That's an awful long time for elves or whoever to have the chance to figure out how to stop the transforamtion... and even then, the rate at which new elves are born vastly outstrips the rate at which elves transform into drow.Think more long-term. Tens of millions of years long-term. Even if only a few elves turn per generation, that's enough.Not unless the race as a whole goes irremediably EVIL and goes down that path...which is very unlikely to happen.Nope. It's a one-way trip for elves, and it never happens in reverse for drow.Doesn't this imply that the inevitable fate of elves on Golarion is to all become drow?
If it DID happen on Castrovel, it might be rather hard for non-Elves to find out about it, given that the Elves on Golarion already go crazy trying to deny the existence of Drow, although it is remotely possible that the Castrovel Elves just wouldn't listen to those crazy Elf Supremacists on Golarion.
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If it DID happen on Castrovel, it might be rather hard for non-Elves to find out about it, given that the Elves on Golarion already go crazy trying to deny the existence of Drow, although it is remotely possible that the Castrovel Elves just wouldn't listen to those crazy Elf Supremacists on Golarion.
You've gotten it backwards. Compared to Sovyrian's, Kyonin's elves are the multicultural liberals.
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^That's a scary thought about the Castrovel Elves being even worse.
There are drows in another AP that are not from Golarion ;-)
Which one?
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Herald Of The Ivory Labyrinth, Wrath Of The Righteous.
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There is a level 2 / 3 spell to turn a willing drow into an elf for a whole day, without alignment change: Ancestral Regression
And there is another at roughly the same spell level (2 to 4), to turn even an unwilling drow into a half-elf: Ignoble Form
So if it's only about the looks and feels, a spell turning entire groups of elves / half-elves respective drow seems researchable. Changing the alignment needs more time: An turned elf / half-elf might become more evil after being treated like a drow for a while. And a turned drow might relax after enjoying sun and (relatively) surface dwellers for a while. Hope is a central pillar of good, and in its perverted version (hope for something bad to happen) also a pillar of evil.
Begging official pardon, it doesn't happen that way in my Golarion universe. "No sir, I [don't] like it," and I don't use that, not even in ** spoiler omitted **
Fortunately, I have players who can keep that knowledge separate from their characters if they happen to read this; we are still playing the campaign. So much for the great secret... :-/
I'm with Bluehawk, here. Evil elves turning into drow ranks pretty high on the (admittedly relatively short) list of things I dislike about PF canon. Was pretty quick to be excised from my home game.
I actually take it a step further and get rid of the notion of drow being a super-well kept secret by the elves. They're by no means super common or well known on the surface, but there isn't an active cover-up of their existence.
There is a level 2 / 3 spell to turn a willing drow into an elf for a whole day, without alignment change: Ancestral Regression
And there is another at roughly the same spell level (2 to 4), to turn even an unwilling drow into a half-elf: Ignoble Form
So if it's only about the looks and feels, a spell turning entire groups of elves / half-elves respective drow seems researchable. Changing the alignment needs more time: An turned elf / half-elf might become more evil after being treated like a drow for a while. And a turned drow might relax after enjoying sun and (relatively) surface dwellers for a while. Hope is a central pillar of good, and in its perverted version (hope for something bad to happen) also a pillar of evil.
Rememember that the first spell was created in order to infiltrate surface elves settlments. That's why it's a drow anti-paladin and cleric spell. The second is clearly a form of punishment and degradation, also a big drow theme.
The first spell isn't just looks and feels, it gets rid of a crippling issue that drow have in operating in daylight. It's pretty poweful magic, and I'd say it wasn't neccessarily researched but granted by one or more dieties the drow worship. After all, it's divine, not arcane.
What is the objection to the concept (asked by a person with no thoughts on the subject)?
You know, it's strange, it's something I have a hard time articulating as to exactly what my core issue with it is. It's something I have a visceral, instinctual rejection of. I just look at it and think "well that's absurd."
I think a large part of it is that I personally oppose any and all designations of laying out good and evil along racial lines in the first place. I don't think a mortal, flesh and blood race should be defined by an alignment, at least not along the good/evil axis.
So, while I am personally as sick and tired of the "chaotic good drow rebel" archetype as anyone, I do personally prefer the notion that drow are not inherently evil as a species. I like the idea that, in classic D&D, the majority of drow are neutral aligned and basically living as slaves under a corrupt and decadent aristocracy which in turn is ruled over by an evil church, so that their alignment and behavior is more the result of social conditioning and the influence of an evil deity than it is anything inherent to their nature. I think that's easier to pull off when the transformation is the result of the cruel judgment of a capricious and vengeful god rather than the result of an individual's morality. I suppose one could still apply the same standard to subsequent generations of drow, but still, there are different connotations.
On that note, I find the line that needs to be crossed to trigger the transformation to be annoyingly arbitrary. James Jacobs himself, while outlining the basic criteria, pretty much said that there's no fixed point where it happens and is ultimately up to GM/Writer discretion. And frankly I find something that boils down to "I need a convenient visual way of conveying that my villain has crossed the moral event horizon" to be lazy.
There are other things, such as the effect, whether it's magic or otherwise, being so absurdly immutable and omnipresent. Nothing can reverse it? Not even a wish or miracle spell? It can effect any elf, even those who's ancestors weren't here for or before earthfall and have never stepped into the darklands? What makes elves so special that they're the only race that's effected by this? Far as I'm aware, only way a dwarf can become a duergar is by rolling a 100 on a reincarnate table and having a GM who's feeling cheeky, no matter how much of an evil monster they are.
Now, my interpretation as to why this feature was put into place, and it is entirely possible I'm wrong on this, but my interpretation is that it's a two birds, one stone situation where they get to quash the good drow trend and get drow back to their villainous roots, while at the same time making their drow distinct from the competition.
On the first bird, well, I've laid out why I think that's a bad idea already, but beyond that I think just from a writing perspective you make the drow, and any race, less interesting when you limit them to the one alignment; you limit the stories that can be told. On the second, well, I think that if you really wanted to distinguish your drow from the other guy's drow, maybe do something more practical and fundamental than that? Like, for instance, don't make them matriarchal when they have no actual reason to have a matriarchy given that instead of having a pantheon dominated by a female god - who at times has an out and out monothesim over them - they're instead pantheist who worship a plethora of demon lords with no real hierarchy, with a more or less equal number of male and female demonic patrons.
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It bears mentioning that non-evil drow can exist, even in the midst of drow culture - there's one in Second Darkness. It's likely that most of their evil is cultural, not inherent, and I haven't seen it stated that drow can only be evil, any more so than orcs or hobgoblins. As for the matriarchy, it's explained in Inner Sea Races - it involves their initial fear that so many women would die that their race would go extinct.
I think some of this is the dwarf problem at work. If your dwarves are tall, beardless, and live in trees, are they really dwarves anymore? And how will fans of classic dwarfdom feel about that?
There's also a metagame aspect - Second Darkness (where Golarion's drow culture was designed) was written at the time of Paizo's decision to create the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, right when they were most worried about maintaining a fanbase driven by nostalgia. Not the time for beardless treehouse dwarves.
The Dark Fate is another thing. It's written "arbitrarily" because laying out explicit rules limits your writing options. You've already used the phrase "you limit the stories that can be told" - that's the exact reason why it's "arbitrary". (In fact, Inner Sea Races did add a specific constant - only elves who worship demon lords or Rovagug himself change this way. Even then, not all demon-worshipers become drow.)
As for "why only elves", there are various reasons. Elves naturally physically adapt to their surroundings within their lifetime in a way that no other race does - Rovagug's influence accelerated this change in the Darklands. In addition, Rovagug "sees" elves in a way that isn't the same for other races - Inner Sea Races says "For when Rovagug’s attention shifted, however briefly, to the Mierani elves so long ago, he never fully turned away."
Also, it's almost certainly possible for drow to become elves with a wish or miracle - Inner Sea Races says "a drow who redeems herself and wishes to change her race to avoid any stigma must seek truly powerful magic to achieve such a goal." If there's another spell they're thinking of, I don't know what it is.
In short... I recommend reading Inner Sea Races. ^_^
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I can't help but wonder just how disappointed Rovagug must be in the drow. The greatest of the qlippoth makes them what they are today (with.. other influences and we can debate whether it was intentionally or if he just basically looked at them), and what do they do? They turn to demon worship.
I wonder how they would have turned out with influences from NE or LE entities instead.
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I can't help but wonder just how disappointed Rovagug must be in the drow. The greatest of the qlippoth makes them what they are today (with.. other influences and we can debate whether it was intentionally or if he just basically looked at them), and what do they do? They turn to demon worship.
I wonder how they would have turned out with influences from NE or LE entities instead.
I imagine that as long as death and destruction come as a result, it's all good to him. Rovagug isn't recruiting worshippers because he wants company and support, he wants tools in destruction. So even if they don't worship him directly, the drow still help serve that end in the havoc they wreak on the Darklands and the surface world.
What is the objection to the concept (asked by a person with no thoughts on the subject)?
You know, it's strange, it's something I have a hard time articulating as to exactly what my core issue with it is. It's something I have a visceral, instinctual rejection of. I just look at it and think "well that's absurd."
I think a large part of it is that I personally oppose any and all designations of laying out good and evil along racial lines in the first place. I don't think a mortal, flesh and blood race should be defined by an alignment, at least not along the good/evil axis.
So, while I am personally as sick and tired of the "chaotic good drow rebel" archetype as anyone, I do personally prefer the notion that drow are not inherently evil as a species. I like the idea that, in classic D&D, the majority of drow are neutral aligned and basically living as slaves under a corrupt and decadent aristocracy which in turn is ruled over by an evil church, so that their alignment and behavior is more the result of social conditioning and the influence of an evil deity than it is anything inherent to their nature. I think that's easier to pull off when the transformation is the result of the cruel judgment of a capricious and vengeful god rather than the result of an individual's morality. I suppose one could still apply the same standard to subsequent generations of drow, but still, there are different connotations.
On that note, I find the line that needs to be crossed to trigger the transformation to be annoyingly arbitrary. James Jacobs himself, while outlining the basic criteria, pretty much said that there's no fixed point where it happens and is ultimately up to GM/Writer discretion. And frankly I find something that boils down to "I need a convenient visual way of conveying that my villain has crossed the moral event horizon" to be lazy.
There are other things, such as the effect, whether it's magic or otherwise, being so absurdly immutable and omnipresent....
I take the opposite view. You don't see any consistent normal elves that develop a following. R Salvatore doesn't write books on sea elves, and you don't have tons of players posting on how wonderful it is to be an elf character. It's drow, drow, and more drow. And it's entirely BECAUSE of that chaotic evil hat assigned to the race that makes them popular. There wouldn't be a Drizzt series if Drow were just dark skinned elves.
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It's worth noting that elves turning into drop could potentially be related to the phenotypic adaptability of elves in general. I don't have the source in front of me, but I believe that Elves of Golarion has stated that, while elves exhibit at least as much variation as humans, their appearance is far less linked to their genetic heritage. A dark-sknned Ekujae elf who goes to live with the Snowcasters will gradually become as pale as they are, and undergo other minor physical changes advantageous in response to his environment. Assuming this feature is at least partly magical, we might hypothesize that extreme evil interacts dramatically with this inborn magic.
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I can't help but wonder just how disappointed Rovagug must be in the drow.
I don't think Rovagug cares.
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And it only seems to happen to Golarion elves at that. There's no mention of Drow coming into being on Castrovel.That's an awful long time for elves or whoever to have the chance to figure out how to stop the transforamtion... and even then, the rate at which new elves are born vastly outstrips the rate at which elves transform into drow.Think more long-term. Tens of millions of years long-term. Even if only a few elves turn per generation, that's enough.Not unless the race as a whole goes irremediably EVIL and goes down that path...which is very unlikely to happen.Nope. It's a one-way trip for elves, and it never happens in reverse for drow.Doesn't this imply that the inevitable fate of elves on Golarion is to all become drow?If it DID happen on Castrovel, it might be rather hard for non-Elves to find out about it, given that the Elves on Golarion already go crazy trying to deny the existence of Drow, although it is remotely possible that the Castrovel Elves just wouldn't listen to those crazy Elf Supremacists on Golarion.
It's actually very hard for non-elves to find out about it even on Golarion--it's very easy to forget that a lot of the stuff we talk about in the APs and Campaign Settings is supposed to be GM-facing info that the players discover as Great! and Mysterious! Secrets! In the case of the drow, you even have elven groups working to keep knowledge of their existence secret. Most of it isn't common knowledge among your average janes and joes on Golarion. (Even stuff that ISN'T terribly secret isn't necessarily widespread. There's no reason to think that your average Asmodean in Cheliax can name Erastil's scriptures, for example.)
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It's actually very hard for non-elves to find out about it even on Golarion--it's very easy to forget that a lot of the stuff we talk about in the APs and Campaign Settings is supposed to be GM-facing info that the players discover as Great! and Mysterious! Secrets! In the case of the drow, you even have elven groups working to keep knowledge of their existence secret. Most of it isn't common knowledge among your average janes and joes on Golarion. (Even stuff that ISN'T terribly secret isn't necessarily widespread. There's no reason to think that your average Asmodean in Cheliax can name Erastil's scriptures, for example.)And it only seems to happen to Golarion elves at that. There's no mention of Drow coming into being on Castrovel.That's an awful long time for elves or whoever to have the chance to figure out how to stop the transforamtion... and even then, the rate at which new elves are born vastly outstrips the rate at which elves transform into drow.Think more long-term. Tens of millions of years long-term. Even if only a few elves turn per generation, that's enough.Not unless the race as a whole goes irremediably EVIL and goes down that path...which is very unlikely to happen.Nope. It's a one-way trip for elves, and it never happens in reverse for drow.Doesn't this imply that the inevitable fate of elves on Golarion is to all become drow?If it DID happen on Castrovel, it might be rather hard for non-Elves to find out about it, given that the Elves on Golarion already go crazy trying to deny the existence of Drow, although it is remotely possible that the Castrovel Elves just wouldn't listen to those crazy Elf Supremacists on Golarion.
Didn't Durvon Gest blow the cover off on the Elves' big secret in the Pathfinder Chronicles Volumne 4? The book Kyonin tried to have the Society suppress? Of course how widespread the Chronicles are published, would be another question.
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Didn't Durvon Gest blow the cover off on the Elves' big secret in the Pathfinder Chronicles Volumne 4? The book Kyonin tried to have the Society suppress? Of course how widespread the Chronicles are published, would be another question.
The population isn't a monolith--a bestseller in Absalom is still not likely to be read by farmers in Varisia. I don't think we've ever said how widely read the Chronicles are, and probably won't.
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Didn't Durvon Gest blow the cover off on the Elves' big secret in the Pathfinder Chronicles Volumne 4? The book Kyonin tried to have the Society suppress? Of course how widespread the Chronicles are published, would be another question.The population isn't a monolith--a bestseller in Absalom is still not likely to be read by farmers in Varisia. I don't think we've ever said how widely read the Chronicles are, and probably won't.
What's more, the discovery of a corrupted/forsaken/evil elven subrace that lives a mile underground might seem more a curiosity in a world where there's a three-headed, fire-breathing, snake-tailed death lion that lives just over the next hill. The existence of drow no doubt varies in relevance to much of Golarion's people, with elves finding the idea the most alarming and most others seeing it as a bit of trivia that's easily replaced by more pressing threats and opportunities.
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What's more, the discovery of a corrupted/forsaken/evil elven subrace that lives a mile underground might seem more a curiosity in a world where there's a three-headed, fire-breathing, snake-tailed death lion that lives just over the next hill. The existence of drow no doubt varies in relevance to much of Golarion's people, with elves finding the idea the most alarming and most others seeing it as a bit of trivia that's easily replaced by more pressing threats and opportunities.Didn't Durvon Gest blow the cover off on the Elves' big secret in the Pathfinder Chronicles Volumne 4? The book Kyonin tried to have the Society suppress? Of course how widespread the Chronicles are published, would be another question.The population isn't a monolith--a bestseller in Absalom is still not likely to be read by farmers in Varisia. I don't think we've ever said how widely read the Chronicles are, and probably won't.
This right here? Amazingly poetic, and relatively tragic in that poetry (though kind of humorously so): the elves go to such incredible trouble and extreme lengths to hide their biggest secret, their greatest shame, and their mightiest terror, and when it's finally revealed to the rest of the world, the world beholds the vile shame and declares with a unified voice, "Meh. I've seen worse."
EDIT: I mean, granted, there are going to be people who it bothers. It's just funnier putting it this way.