Elf costume

After the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy came out, a lot of us that didn’t know about JRR Tolkien’s works, or fantasy literature in general were brought into the realm of men, monsters, trolls, dragons, hobbits, and elves. But we all know that elves were the ones that caught our attention the most, and being an elf for Halloween would be a fun way to put a little bit of yourself into a costume without being unrecognizable.

You don’t have to be any specific type of person in an elf costume, though there are plenty to choose from. (Christmas elves, keebler elves – you could hand out cookies! I‘m kidding, those options are kind of lame) Your best bet would be to simply get a decent pair of plastic ears (realistic looking ones are sold in various shapes, sizes and skin tones to match your own ears) and be your own elf.

You could choose to be something like one of Tolkien’s elves and wear an earth-toned tunic and let your hair down loose with maybe a few small braids or parts of it tied in interesting ways. Or you could construct your own costume. The key would be to ensure that it looks like something that would be in harmony with nature. If you go to stand near some trees while wearing this costume and find that you stick out like a sore thumb, you’ve probably chosen the wrong color palate or styles. Not to say that there’s any wrong or right way to make a costume when it’s left up to your own creativity, it’s just that some look more ‘authentic’ than others; like you could see this person running through the woods in a film and it wouldn’t look strange. That’s the key to perfecting your elf costume.

The lost colony of Roanoke Island was the first attempt that England made to settle on united states soil. Between 1585 and 1586 a group of one hundred men (craftsmen, soldiers and scholars) lived on Roanoke island, a place that had been discovered and scouted a year prior. Unfortunately for them, sailing the seas was not quite so exact a science and they arrived too late for the planting season. Quickly supplies dwindled, and they could not trade with nearby Native Americans due to their dislike of soldiers (which a lot of the group was comprised of) and the stupidity of their leader Ralph Lane who murdered their chief over the issue of a stolen cup. Needless to say, as soon as the next ship came ‘round, those men abandoned their fort and left as quickly as possible.

Roanoke Island

But they had requested supplies, and that ship came not even a week after they abandoned the colony. So along with the supplies, the captain left fifteen men behind to guard them; under the assumption that the 100 men would return. In the meantime back in England, another one hundred and seventeen people (comprised of men, women and children, not soldiers) were recruited to go back and try to colonize again. But this time, they intended to go to the Chesapeake bay area and stay there, permanently. Unfortunately for those 117 people, the ship captain that was hired to take them to their destination was very involved in the war between Spain and England and had a lot of trading to do, so he ordered everyone off the ship as soon as they neared land. Which was, Roanoke island, the exact same place.

Although they didn’t want to stay (especially after learning that the Native Americans had killed the fifteen men left behind there) they didn’t really have a choice in the matter. So they set up their town and attempted to live their lives in this new and unfamiliar place. Due to the war, it was another three years before anyone came from England to check up on them, and when they did; they found that everyone had disappeared. To this day we have little idea as to what happened. The colonists seem to have simply disappeared into the forest, never to be heard from again.

May we reconvene under the blood red moon,
-Black Widow