Most definitely the Elf Cookies Keefe likes so much!

Ok ok ok SO here's my opinion:

I would like to open with the fact that I am a big fan of LotR and KotLC. Both elves are interesting but I think that there is one clear winner here: LotR Elves. Here's why:

- Ok so the blue eyes in KotLC? I don't like it. I know it was to create emphasis on Sophie's brown eyes but saying that they're all so pretty and perfect and they all have blue eyes throws me off, because of what it implies. Also, people of color with blue eyes? No thanks. 

- The KotLC matchmaking system? Don't Like it. I get that you need to know who you're related to and stuff but it's just way to controlling and not to mention heteronormative, so yeah, I don't like it. 

- Ok, the abilities are pretty cool, but overall KotLC elves just feel like,,, too much, y'know? Like Shannon Messenger went 'here are my elves! they're all perfect and beautiful and rich and live in palaces and have incredible abilities and can move things with their minds!' It feels unrealistic.

- On the other hand, LotR elves are very cool. Idk if you've ever read the Silmarillion, but in there Tolkien goes so in depth about their history and it's very intresting. I know if you only watch/read the Hobbit/LotR the elves might seem boring and mystical but I promise they have a lot more depth 

-  That's the main thing, I think. KotLC elves and everything about them sounds like i could come up with it all in a day, while LotR elves literally have thousands of years of history, many languages (two of which are actually speakable), dozens of different kinds, and they just feel more real.

- Last thing, I just KNOW someone's gonna come at me with the 'but all of Tolkien's elves are white and the KotlC elves aren't!' which is NOT true. Yes, the movies made the elves all white but those are the movies, not the books, and in the books Tolkien never specifies that all elves are white. In fact, Tolkien often forgoes mentioning a characters appearance at all, so that leaves it up for interpretation. 

Im open to debating anyone on this :))) 

Honestly, both are awesome, and both have their strengths and flaws, but the KOTLC elvin abilities are much stronger and more varied than the LOTR elvin abilites. How would you fight an Inflictor, especially considering they're so rare and understudied? Also, if you don't know what the ability of the elf you are fighting is, it's a lot harder to defend against them. However, there are some abilities that have no combat use whatsoever, such as empaths, telepaths, and polyglots. The best they can do is find out why their opponent is fighting them, and unless this situation is a sappy Disney movie, that isn't going to do much. So I'd say it depends on the elf, especially considering most KOTLC elves are pacifists. But with say, an Inflictor or Mesmer vs a LOTR elf, the LOTR elf doesn't stand much of a chance.

I may be biased because I don't love KotLC, but I think LotR elves are way better. 

The thing about Tolkien's elves that makes them so special is their inhuman-ness.  They are ethreal, mysterious creaures with their own languages, history, and world outside of the world of the other races of Middle-Earth.  They are set apart in a way that isn't just because of magical abitilies, and they can seem more like angels or fairies than humans.  KotLC's elves aren't like this, though.  How are they different from humans exept for the fact that they have magical powers and live longer?  To put it simply, they are really just pretty, magical humans.  They have none of the mysterious beauty that Tolkien's elves have.  But that's just my opinion!

OH BEAUTIFUL I LOVE THIS THREAD AI ELBERETH YES

Okay I'm sorry, but I just have to say LOTR. I LOVE Keeper of the Lost Cities SO much. It is once of my favorites! But, I just don't like the elves-are-beautiful-and-thin dynamic. I mean, that's suggesting that beautiful = thin. :( which isn't true. we are all beautiful!

Next, LOTR is SO well-developed. I feel like Tolkein just went so deep into every species and spent a lot of time developing them. It's like...it's like you're an outsider, but you feel for a moment as if you're part of the elves' clans. You just understand.

It's just my opinion, of course. 

So, I think that all the KOTLC elves would just make the goblins fight for them. Maybe the elves would fight too. If the Keeper elves gave some Pryorkinetiks, Hydrokinetics, Inflictors, Mesmers, and Enhancers they would win, but Keeper elves are very nonviolent so I think it's unlikely they would win. Also, there are many more LOTR elves than there are Keeper elves (or goblins fighting for them). But Keeper  elves have great tech like meddlers. I think it would be a tie and they would kill each other.

Definitely LotR elves! KOTLC elves are just like modern people with a lot of very unrealistic magic powers - they don't even speak differently, they don't seem too original, they're rather helpless without Sophie. Tolkien's elves, on the other hand, are interesting - they really seem like magical creatures, so they're more fun to read about.