I had a friend ask me why, oh why I used the term “Sidhe” (pronounced shthee) for my elves in Dare to Believe.
Simple. Because I didn’t want to use the term elf. Duh.
Seriously. Think about it. What do you think of when you think “Elf”? You think long, silky blond hair. You think men in tights, or a dark-haired man in a tiara and an embroidered gown pointing out why the furry footed people need to remain out of this particular mission, thank you. You think slender, short and effeminate.
Leo Dunne is anything but. Leo is tall, muscular, dark and handsome. He’s a corporate CEO and women flock to him like there was a sale on Godiva chocolate and he’d coated himself in it.
So by using a term most people look at and go “Huh? Why does that look familiar?” I can bypass the stereotypical “elf” and go right for the hunka-hunka. Can you imagine anyone picking David Boreanaz to play an elf? Seriously. Picture him in tights.
Now wipe the drool off your keyboard. I’ll wait.
***
You done? Good.
Admittedly, I’m using terms like “leprechaun” and “sylph” for the rest of my Fae, but I just couldn’t get past my Tolkien colored glasses and call my elves… elves. You can blame hours of Dungeons and Dragons in my parents’ basement when I was a kid. You can blame the ten or so times I’ve read LoTR.
I blame David Boreanaz and a plot bunny that wouldn’t die.
Loved this post and I like the term Sidhe that you are choosing to use.
Thanks! It’s different, but it’s something I’ve heard used before so it won’t seem quite so strange to readers. If I’d made up a term for them, THAT would have been a lot more confusing.