60
votes
What is the earliest instance of "Dark Elves" in modern Fantasy?
The origin of the dark elf / light elf trope can be traced back as far as the 13th century, where Dökkálfar (dark elves)and Ljósálfar (light elves) are mentioned in the Prose (or Young) Edda by Snorri ...
- 20.3k
53
votes
Accepted
What is the earliest instance of "Dark Elves" in modern Fantasy?
The first example of the "dark elves" as a distinct dark-skinned, subterranean, evil sub-race of elves may actually be their appearance in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Prior to that, "dark elf" ...
- 95.6k
46
votes
Accepted
Are there differently coloured races of Man in Middle-Earth, and if so how are they explained?
Yes
The Southrons were described as both Swarthy and Brown
Sam, eager to see more, went now and joined the guards. He scrambled a little way up into one of the larger of the bay-trees. For a moment ...
- 14.6k
43
votes
Accepted
Is racial interbreeding possible in Tamriel?
Originally posted on Gaming.SE for a similar question.
Mixed-race children like Jagar Tharn exist, but are exceedingly rare
The prototypical example of a mixed-race individual is Jagar Tharn, villain ...
- 51.5k
36
votes
Is the name "Rohirrim" based on "Houyhnhnm"?
Similarity is completely coincidental.
It is commonly assumed that Swift meant for the word Houyhnhnm, as well as other words from that language to sound vaguely like a horse's whinny. Houyhnhnm ...
- 32.5k
35
votes
Are there any Star Trek characters that are hybrids of non-human species?
Per Memory Alpha's article on "Hybrids"
Betazoid / Tavnian (Lwaxana Troi's and Jeyal's child) (DS9: "The Muse")
Cardassian / Bajoran (Mika and Dukat's child, and Tora Ziyal) (DS9: "Covenant")...
- 677k
26
votes
Accepted
Height of the LoTR Races
Men
Númenóreans (2nd age) - 7'
Halflings was derived from the Numenorean name for them (in Sindarin Periannath). ... The name thus evidently referred to their height as compared with Numenorean men, ...
- 88.6k
25
votes
Is racial interbreeding possible in Tamriel?
There is a book in game about it, called "Notes on Racial Phylogeny":
After much analysis of living specimens, the Council long ago determined that all "races" of elves and humans ...
- 29.2k
22
votes
Are there differently coloured races of Man in Middle-Earth, and if so how are they explained?
As I've discussed elsewhere on this site, there's no indication that Middle-earth's creation myth is incompatible with evolutionary theory; so the most likely explanation is this:
In The Beginning, ...
- 163k
20
votes
Accepted
Which species dance in Tolkien's works?
Elves (and Bilbo, a Hobbit)
And with that he went back to bed and slept till late morning.
Weariness fell from him soon in that house, and he had many a merry
jest and dance, early and late, with the ...
- 677k
17
votes
Are there any Star Trek characters that are hybrids of non-human species?
Yes.
You can find a full list here.
DS9
Tora Ziyal is a Bajoran-Cardassian hybrid.
In the DS9 episode The Muse, Lwaxana Troi and her husband Jeyal have a half-Betazoid half-Tavnian child.
In the ...
- 134k
17
votes
What is the first instance of human-sized, bipedal intelligent rat-people?
1931: "Devil Crystals of Arret", a novelette by Hal K. Wells, first published in Astounding Stories, September 1931, available at the Internet Archive and at Project Gutenberg.
The sound of ...
- 159k
15
votes
Are there differently coloured races of Man in Middle-Earth, and if so how are they explained?
Yes
In short, the Haradrim and Southrons were described as dark skinned and more asian looking with darker skin. Further, Ghan Bûri Ghan's people were also described as darker skinned. Whereas the ...
- 77k
13
votes
Accepted
Was there ever a black Sith Lord in Star Wars canon or "Legends"?
As far as I can tell, no. The two closest would be:
Sora Bulq, who wasn't human but a Weequay humanoid with dark brown skin. He fell to the Dark Side and trained with Count Dooku, before being killed ...
- 6,427
12
votes
Was there ever a black Sith Lord in Star Wars canon or "Legends"?
There are no black Sith Lords in canon.
In Legends, there are at least two human Sith Lords with dark skin like Mace Windu's. Both are from the video game Star Wars: The Old Republic, which takes ...
Null♦
- 69.5k
12
votes
What is the first instance of human-sized, bipedal intelligent rat-people?
Brian Stableford's "The Realms of Tartarus" trilogy (The Face of Heaven, A Vision of Hell, A Glimpse of Infinity) from 1977 has an underground civilization that evolved from rats (also ...
- 17.4k
11
votes
What is the first instance of human-sized, bipedal intelligent rat-people?
A. Bertram Chandler's Contraband from Otherspace, a 1966 novel in the John Grimes series, has human-sized, bipedal, intelligent rat-people...in spacesuits.
Revealed here in Chapter XIII as the heroes ...
- 50.3k
10
votes
What Star Trek species are represented with mostly/all non-white actors?
Warning!
The list below is somewhat conjecture on my part. Unlike the Ligosians where Memory Alpha explicitly states about their physiology, we don't have much background information on the ...
- 69.1k
10
votes
What Star Trek species are represented with mostly/all non-white actors?
Ligonians
In the TNG episode "Code of Honor", the Ligonians are humanoids with the following physical description:
Ligonians generally resembled Humans of Sub-Saharan African descent physically.
(...
- 111k
10
votes
Accepted
Besetting failing of Tolkien races
The desire for power in men was clearly showcased a fair few times throughout the Tolkien books/movies, especially noticeable as a major flaw in men as a race with Gondor seeking the ring to use its ...
- 1,532
8
votes
Is the name "Rohirrim" based on "Houyhnhnm"?
The name has a straightforward etymology in Sindarin, one of Tolkien's constructed languages that was well developed by the time he wrote The Lord of the Rings.
According to Tolkien Gateway:
...
- 95.6k
7
votes
Accepted
What accounts for the Nox's apparent double ethical standard?
TLDR
The Asgard and the Tollan acknowledge that violence is sometimes necessary
The Nox have no problem with them ^
The Nox also acknowledge that it is morally understandable that a given action will ...
- 5,889
6
votes
Does Star Wars society differentiate between race?
In the films (and canon cartoons) a number of species seem to have races based on differences in skin colours.
These include:
Twi'leks
Twi'leks definitely appear to have different races with big ...
- 14.6k
6
votes
What is the earliest instance of "Dark Elves" in modern Fantasy?
As reported by some users in the comments of this question, even if in Tolkien's Legendarium there is not a whole race of typical fantasy "Dark Elves", there are some single individual characters with ...
- 15k
5
votes
Accepted
Are humans the only race in the Mandalorian ranks?
Choice of race will never restrict you in any way to play through any storyline in swtor.
As for story/lore/RPG i direct you to this wiki page.
"An interspecies warrior culture stretching back ...
- 1,686
5
votes
Is there a well-established iconic amphibious fantasy race?
Amphibious fish people have become very much established over the last 80 years or so. The first ones were the deep ones by H. P. Lovecraft, which in turn strongly influenced the kuo-toa of Dungeons &...
- 366
5
votes
What is the first instance of human-sized, bipedal intelligent rat-people?
The rats of Lankhmar Below* first appeared in Fritz Liber's 1962 magazine story "Scylla's Daughter." This was expanded in 1968 in the full-length novel The Swords of Lankhmar. Per ...
- 95.6k
4
votes
Are humans the only race in the Mandalorian ranks?
Legends:
In Legends, Mandalorians used to all be aliens, comprised of the Taung.
Many different species later went on to join them.
Here's why you can't exterminate us, aruetii. We're not huddled in ...
- 66.7k
4
votes
Accepted
What is the history of Gungans and their tech?
This is largely covered in the Phantom Menace Visual Dictionary.
In short, the Gungans evolved in the Naboo swamps, where most of them currently reside. After their planet was contacted and ...
- 677k
4
votes
Are there any more races in Middle-earth?
Perhaps the dancing bears of Númenor would count?
There were bears in considerable numbers, in the mountainous or rocky parts; both of a black and brown variety. The great black bears were found ...
- 88.6k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible