As a staple in fantasy video games, elves show up a lot in many video game franchises, and often with different types of elves within the same video game world, such as high elves and wood elves.

In The Silmarillion and the wider legendarium, there were few clear-cut villains among Lord of the Rings' diverse types of Elves. Of all the Elvish factions, the Noldor were the most controversial.