Armybook High Elves p.76 says "All High Elves wear white robes, decorated with second color."
Is there some sort of fluff reason for the white robes and what is the significance of the second color?
Armybook High Elves p.76 says "All High Elves wear white robes, decorated with second color."
Is there some sort of fluff reason for the white robes and what is the significance of the second color?
Order. Unity. Obedience.
White is the colour of death. I'd imagine it's got summit to do with that
The second colour is more than likely for the kingdom they belong to
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White is the colour of death? Is that purely an elven thing? What?
White to me means purity and goodness or righteousness. Something that the folk of Ulthuan represent. And just to impress everyone else by managing to keep their robes a pristine white even during long campaigns.
Secondary colour represents their kingdom or the regiment they belong to our their bloodline. Purple = noble. Grey and black = grief (ie. shadowlands and tiranoc).
Originally Posted by nagash66
Nope. Actually white is the color of death in a big part of the world.
Wow. The more you know!
They refer to it in malekith, elves any all the happy clappy type many would have us believe.
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Its the way High Elves were depicted in LOTR. Helps identify them as the good guys.
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High Elves wearing white dates back to the 4th Edition army book, predating LotR by a fair margin. In there it is specifically mentioned white is the Elven color of death.
Damon.
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LotR is a little bit older than the 4th edition - it's not only the movie but there was a book before ...
(and some very good paintings too)
I re-read the Lord of the Rings almost annually for the last 20 years, so I'm probably aware it pre-dated the movies. That being said, I don't recall any extensive descriptions of elves garbed exclusively in white.
Damon.
"Nicht kleckern, klotzen!"
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Impressive, I can't get past the "About Hobbits" chapter myself so I just skipped ahead to the last pages in the third book to get some goodies out of the series. But being a 90's kid I belong to the TV-generation. So the movies are where it's at.
OnTopic:
And to the ones that claim that white is the color of death for many cultures (or similar establishments) around the world.. could you provide a source for this? Certain symbols like skulls can mean life in one part of the world and death in another, so I know that some things can mean a completely different thing depending on where you are at. However, does the color white really mean "death" or could it be "rebirth", "passing", "cleansing" or anything of the sort? Because outside of some ceremonial aspects I can't think of some cultures or countries that have a equality sign between the color "white" and "death". So please, do enlighten me.
In LOTR itself there probably isn't much. Except perhaps the description of Galadriel (who is a High Elf even though she lives with Wood Elves). However in nearly all the licenced artwork the artists chose to depict high elves in white-grey. Not sure whether this was the artists own interpretation or whether it was based on more detailed sources such as the Silmarillion (been a long time since I read the latter).
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Actually LOTR, and Silmarillion, predate warhammer by several decades.
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LOL WOT
The book is way older than the films and i am pretty sure that the whole of warhammer is influanced by it
I've read Tolkiens books pretty many times and I don't find any exclusive mentions of elves wearing white robes. On the contrary I think the Noldor preferred gold and Sindarin greys and blues. At least in artwork, eben though I'm not sure their colors were ever firmly established in the actual books. Moriquendi, however, were specifically mentioned to dress in brown and green.
Order. Unity. Obedience.
Yeh but we all know LOTR was a rip off of Harry Potter :P
http://www.uproxx.com/webculture/201...-harry-potter/
Read that this morning and had to laugh.
But back on topic, I agree with the majority on here. The whole High Elves wearing white, as far as I can remember from reading the background, is because it's the colour of clothing the Elves associate with mourning. I'm not quite sure as to what they are mourning, I think it was something to do with all the death caused during the Sundering. Hense the reason the Dark Elves still wear the Black/Purples they wore when they inhabited Naggarythe.
Ultimately the only arbiter is your sense of asthetics as it is your army.
That being said, there are choices that are more or less aligned to the background. Where that line is, varies from person to person depending on how they interpret it. In this case, the fashion police seem awfully draconian if the only robes they could wear where white (with a secondary colour).
We know from the novels that Elves do wear other colours (particularly mages), does this extend to military uniforms though?
I would interpret it to mean white is the usual colour but it would not be unheard of for an army to bear house colours which may or may not include white. If you really think they should reference the mourning somewhere, keep in mind it could be as simple as a white sash or cloak or patch.
Last edited by Shadey; 24-06-2012 at 11:00.
I suspect it's at least partially inspired by Roman sumptuary laws, in which the colour of your toga (or the trim on it) was an at-a-glance indicator of your social position.
So, if white is the color of death, the dark elves should use it a lot, and they do not :s
Its the colour of death as in funeral attire, more mourning than death it represent those who died fighting the demons. The dark elves dont view death that way thus they dont wear white. its said already when bel-shanaar is chosen that the dark elves dress in rich purples and blacks to prove their might and glory rather than the mourning colours of their brethren from other kingdoms.
Also there are many kinds of whites. I always prefered to view it as a whitish colour rather than white itself (since white is boring and hard to paint). Diffrent grays and light browns (or khaki) is close enough if you ask me.
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