Brandon Sanderson explains why he keeps elves out of his Cosmere universe

Brandon Sanderson’s sprawling Cosmere fantasy universe contains sentient swords, giant monsters, and noble kings, but there’s one genre staple you’ll never see in the bestselling fantasy author’s work: elves. In the latest entry in his SanderFAQ YouTube series, Sanderson explains that his aversion to elves goes back almost 30 years.

When Sanderson was studying English literature at Brigham Young University in the late ’90s, he wrote an essay for the school magazine called “Kill the Elves” because he was so fed up with authors imitating J.R.R. Tolkien. He even put an essay on his website called “How Tolkien Ruined Fantasy,” which he admits was very clickbaity, because his thesis was actually that Tolkien was so good at what he did that it became extremely difficult for new writers to step out of his shadow.

Sanderson has done his best to forge his own path. His stories are primarily about humans. The Cosmere has some magical creatures, but they’re mostly self-aware fragments of the fundamental forces of the universe, like Devotion or Honor, which Sanderson compares to classical fae. Rather than using trolls or giants, he has enormous crustaceans known as Greatshells and the shape-changing people known as Parshendi. His one concession to Tolkien tropes is the presence of dragons in the Cosmere.

“Coming up with something that has the weight and awesomeness of a dragon that isn’t a dragon is very difficult, and I ended up just saying ‘I like dragons, I’m putting dragons in,’” Sanderson admits.

The author’s aversion to Tolkien began as a kid when he tried reading The Lord of the Rings and found the series too dense. He’s come around since then — he’s currently listening to the audiobook version narrated by Andy Serkis. He now looks back on his “Kill the Elves” essay with embarrassment, and says he can enjoy new takes on classic Tolkien’s races. The video shows a snippet of the fantasy anime Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End as an example, though it’s unclear whether that was just added by whoever edited the video, or whether Sanderson is actually a Frieren fan. Maybe the next SanderFAQ can explore his taste in anime.