i love you guys very much please don't hate me

Everyone should just make cave elf ocs and write your own adventures about them, mines a Pirate

Lady of Monsters

please don't

Meg Syv

Well, now I think you should draw Secret Cave Elves into a scene here and there!

GracieV

I don't think it's mean spirited. It's funny. :D

Galev

didn't even know that I could be looking for cave elves in the background, but will do now! :D

Stein

People be put here thinking there be secret Cave elves running around in hoodies and masks. Underground group of outcasted Cave Elves sneaking about lmao

Lady of Monsters

I think it's just the audience not paying attention. Professor Fike and his son were both darker skinned elves. I think the ears are a pretty big giveaway.

Renee

Holy crap, that is very long im very sorry :'I

Jennifer Gauna

I don't think its anything to do with your drawing skills, but I also don't think it's some sign of a huge impending problem with the reader fanbase either. (I don't want to sound dismissive, and I'm really really sorry if I come across as it cause I'm trying really hard not to sound that way). I can only imagine the frustration that comes with misinterpretations or silly questions that can come from a fanbase, so I definitely agree that's no fun to handle. And I've read all the comments here and I think they are all very valid! I agree with quite a few of them, I think that fantasy in general has a real big problem with placing color in fantasy races likes elves and such, especially since the emergence of the drow in Forgotten realms (I love Drizzt Do-Urden but man, important elven characters only bein dark in media when theyre drow or 'evil' is very sad) gives people an easy out for where to put dark skinned characters even if it's super sketchy. Edit: oops, posted this before it was done... Anyway I think a problem here might also come from that, that there are very few dark skinned elven types in your comic, up until very recently. I've gone back and reexamined the comic just so I don't sound like I'm talkin out of my butt here, and while youve got a few other dark skinned people hangin about, they fall clearly into different categories : stout, bearded dwarves, heavy browed, tusked orcbloods, etc. Theyre very visibly Not Elves. Thistle and cave elves so far have been pretty unique: theyve got uniquely hued dark skin, they have large sharp teeth, and claws they either cant seem to retract or cannot file down, for whatever reason. I don't include the nose or the markings because Thistle doesnt have markings so its an added feature not an innate one possibly, and the nose isnt distinctive enough to be immediately noticeable. The ears are more distinctive but some people skim the comics and could miss them. We've seen the teeth can be hidden just by keeping their mouth closed, and the claws can be hidden by gloves. To me, that just leaves the skin tone. Of all the comic so far, there are five distinct pages where you have people who fit the elven profile that are also dark skinned, 3.27, 4.01, 4.11, 5.19, and 6.33. (then of course Fike and Jamie, who are pretty prominent) Then once you hit the epilogue, *after* the Thistle reveal, they are suddenly a lot more prevalent, which is great! I'm not sure if that was intentional or not, but I definitely think that as time passes and more darker elves are shown people will sort of get the hint that they should be focusing on different aspects if they somehow want to catch you drawing rogue cave elves in the background, which I doubt will happen, at least not any time soon lol. But I think this could also work in your favor, cause if people are confused about Thistle and whether or not other cave elves are present, then yes! That's the point, isn't it? Cave elves are a *people*. They have lives, and language and mothers and children and brothers and *families*. They're just like the elves that live down the street, whether or not they're cannibals or not. You don't have to understand them to understand that they represent life in the same way everyone else does. Perhaps I have talked a little too much, haha. This feels very long. Anyway, I think perhaps this issue will solve itself with time, and once people calm the heck down over Thistle bein a cave elf, which is still a Hot Topic that we've been munching on since it happened lol. I think you're doing fine, and your drawing skills are also fine, and you'll be okay, even if it is Intensely Frustrating that people keep asking the same questions haha (again im very sorry if this comes across as mean or dismissive, i swear it is not)

Jennifer Gauna

There is more than one type of Elf, be they Brown, white or blue, they be elves

Lady of Monsters

Youll know theyre a cave elf when you see their markings and their mouthful of sharp teeth, plus their ears are bigger

Lady of Monsters

Pfffuhahaha no hate at all, this gave me a good chuckle! xD

The truth is sometimes impertinent. I love this, personally.

Jim Sharkey

cough

Meg Syv

you guys literally see a cave elf in disguise from the very beginning of the comic you did it good job

Meg Syv

Pretty sure people just aren't used to diversity and elves not being completely color-coded by type. They just think pale must equal city elves because of Lyra, brown must equal cave elves because of Thistle, and so on.

You're making me regret that comment about Dart and Ranu in my Everything Wrong with DotL thing, aren't you? ;p

Royce Day

I LOL'ed! I'm sure everybody playing "I spy" with cave elves is just eager to see them brought into play. Plus we are now primed to look for cave elves in disguise...

lmao

Elouan

Pffft! Mean-spirited? I hope nobody reading is that thin-skinned.

Robert

Ok that genuinely made me lol. Hope you figure out a solution soon, and in the meantime I love the meme.

Of course