After watched some documentaries on human evolutions, I got an idea that the
elf,
orc,
dwarf,
halfling etc. might have really existed at some point.
Hear me out first.
Well if you believe in evolution, the Documentaries of
Ape to Man and
Becoming Human are some really good shows to watch. They are available for streaming on Netflix as of now. These shows are based on the history and the most recent scientific discovery of fossils, tools, and other evidences.
It is interesting that the latest theories of human evolution have come to the new conclusion that it was not a straight line from ape to human. Rather, it was a huge family tree where one species evolved into many more and more apes and humanoids species.
As late as 40,000 years ago, most part of Europe and beyond were occupied by another human like species called Neanderthal. This theory came to light from the bones discovered in 1800s in Germany. They are about 5 foot tall, big nose, big forehead. Similar brain size as us. Walking on two legs, using stone tools, hunting in groups, have their own languages, live in caves. They were used to be thought as our ancestors until recently where the DNA tests proved it otherwise. Although they had common ancestor as our ancestors millions years ago, they had split with our ancestors due to they have relocated to Europe from Africa for half a million years earlier than our ancestors. Which resulted in not only different physical look but also enough difference in DNA to become different species.
In Ape to Man, it stated that our ancestors killed off the last Neanderthal at around 20,000 years ago.
Some other documentaries stated there were more than 60 different types of "near" human species existed at one time or another. But only one was our ancestor. The others all died off one way or another, some died off on their own due to unable to adapt to the changes, and some others died off due to intensified competition from other human like species. One other noticeable humanoid species was only 3 foot tall, they were also advanced enough to develop stone tools.
So the last other humanoid species Neanderthal had survived up to 20,000 years ago, which wasn't really all that long ago, but it did happen before our ancestors had developed writing to record history.
I got an idea from this. Maybe the tales of other humanoids such as elves, dwarfs, orcs, halflings, giants, were based on the true stories of our ancestors' encounter with other humanoids. Because we did not have any writing records back then, these true stories had to be passed down many generations by the word of mouth. And you know that how stories can change by the word of mouth, and they get twisted so much and become the beings in our stories today.
What do you all think of my theory?
Hey, you'd never know, maybe your great great great great x500 great grandpa killed an elf or an orc, and strangled a dwarf... before hunted down a troll for dinner.
Bottom line, our ancestors prevailed, while all others had failed. Now we have the control of the entire planet as the dominant species unchallenged.
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Elf, Orc, Dwarf, Halfling, troll etc. might have really existed
