Tolkien had little use for the diminutive elven prettiness and whimsy found in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and in various Victorian fairy tales. He conceived a race of beings similar to humans but fairer and wiser, with greater spiritual powers, keener senses, and a closer empathy with nature. They are great smiths and fierce warriors on the side of good. Tolkien's Elves should be seen as a representation of what human beings might have become, had they not committed the original sin, and they are very much human, if unfallen and immortal; and although they can be killed by injury, and they do age, according to Tolkien's ''Letters'', a slain elf simply returns to life after an indefinite period of time.

Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955) became astoundingly popular and was much imitated. In the 1960s and afterwards, elves similar to those in Tolkien's novels became staple non-human characters in high fantasy works and in fantasy role-playing games (RPGs). Tolkien's Elves were enemies of Goblins (Orcs) and had a longstanding quarrel with the Dwarves — these motifs also often reappear in Tolkien-inspired works. Tolkien is also responsible for reviving the older and less-used terms elven and elvish rather than Edmund Spenser's invented elfin and elfish. He probably preferred the word elf over fairy because elf is of Anglo-Saxon origin while fairy entered English from French.

Post-Tolkien fantasy elves (popularized by the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game) tend to be beautiful, fair, slender, and close in size to humans. A hallmark of fantasy elves is also their long and pointed ears. In gaming, and to some extent fantasy literature, elves as a rule have a greater depth of knowledge (especially regarding magic) than their human counterparts, due to a racial inclination as well as their extreme age. Typically, they are also capable warriors, especially skilled in archery, following Legolas, arguably Tolkien's most well-known elf. The canonical role-playing style elf is represented by Deedlit, a major character of the anime series Record of Lodoss War.

As in the Norse lore, elven-human unions and offspring were possible in Tolkien's saga (a notable example being Elrond, the lord of Rivendell), and in many RPG's, half-elven is a possible race for player characters. Fantasy elves frequently divide up into subraces, such as the High Elves, Wood Elves and Dark Elves found in the Warhammer Fantasy game setting. Especially dark elves (popularized by TSR as drow) are a common theme in many other fantasy games and to some extent literature. Apart from malice, drow or dark elves are often depicted as being dark-skinned and living underground.

In the modern treatment of elves in Dungeons & Dragons, they are divided up into subraces that include Aquatic Elves, Gray Elves, High Elves, Wood Elves, and drow. The Forgotten Realms campaign setting's elves (or Tel'Quessir as they call themselves) differ still, replacing the High Elves and Gray Elves with Moon or Silver Elves and Sun or Gold Elves, and adding Wild or Green Elves, Star or Mithral Elves and avariel (Winged Elves) to the Aquatic (Sea) Elves, Wood (Copper) Elves, Drow (Dark Elves), and Lythari (elves that transform into wolves).

In the Warhammer Fantasy game setting, the first civilized people of the world were the High Elves from the Atlantis-like (though unsunken) island realm of Ulthuan. Early on, the High Elves colonized large parts of the Warhammer world, but following the rise of the Druchii (called Dark Elves by others than themselves), a fascistoid movement of corsairs and slavers, the High Elves were plunged into civil war and their power greatly faded. The elves who decided to stay in the colonies were forced to hide in the deep forests, and with time became known as Wood Elves.

Warhammer is also unique in the aspect that Warhammer 40,000, the science fantasy version of the game, feature space faring elves under the name of Eldar (a term borrowed from Tolkien) -- ancient rulers of the galaxy who vigorously oppose their fallen kindred, the Dark Eldar.

Azeroth, the fantasy world of the Warcraft computer game series originally featured elves similar to the Warhammer High or Wood Elves. Starting with Warcraft III, the elves (now re-dubbed High Elves) face the destruction of their kingdom and its capital Quel'Thalas, and the survivors are thereafter known as Blood Elves. The series instead introduces the naturalistic purple-skinned Night Elves as the main elven element.

Nevendaar, the world in the game Disciples II: Dark Prophecy and its expansions features a nation of elves called the Elven Alliance, consisting of the Noble Elves and the Wild Elves, both created by their god Gallean. Their pointy ears are shown as extremely long, possibly parodying the commonly-accepted descriptions. Certain slain elves have been brought back by the fleshless goddess Mortis as the zombie Dark Elves to haunt their still-living brethren. Unlike Tolkien's elves or those of Warcraft, there is no mention that the elves of Nevendaar are or ever have been immortal.

The Elder Scrolls game series takes a rather different approach to Elves, referred to as Mer (folk). Instead of being treated as a mysterious "magic folk", they are defined genetically as a breeding population, a distinct species from mankind (though possibly distantly related). There are several different races, all of which are physically dimorphic. The High Elves (Altmer) are tall (generally over 6'6"), inbred, arrogant, and pale golden-skinned people with highly blonde hair, the Wood-Elves (Bosmer) are wily and cunning, nomadic, short elves with ruddy complexion and hair of mixed brown, blonde, and with traces of viridian. Dark Elves (Dunmer), are a very spiritual, xenophobic, and untrusting bluish-grey skinned race whose average height is only slightly greater than that of most human races. Their hair colours naturally include only red, black, silver (grey), white, and ash. Additionally, Orcs (Orsimer) are cursed elves who were often mistreated and mistaken for goblin-kin before their war for equality during the "Miracle of Peace". Tropical Elves (Maormer) are a highly secluded species living in the tropical subcontinent of Pyandonea, who are alleged to have chameleon-like abilities. There are many other races said or thought to exist or once have existed, because elves have lived in Tamriel much longer than humans, who only have three discernable races.

In Dark Age of Camelot elves are featured as Sidhe. The sídhe (Gaelic: daoine sídhe-pronounced 'deenie shee', sing. sióg), are a supernatural race in Irish and Scottish mythology, related to the fay and elves of other traditions. They are the remnants of the underground kingdom given to the Tuatha Dé Danann after they were defeated by the Milesians. According to the Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of Invasions), the Tuatha Dé Danann, the “People of the Goddess Danu” were defeated in battle by the mortal Sons of Míl Espáine. As part of the surrender terms the Túatha Dé Danann agreed to dwell underground in the síde (singular síd), the hills or mounds that dot the Irish landscape. Each member of the Tuatha De Danaan was given one mound. Later, due to a corruption of the meaning, both the mounds and the supernatural entities (i.e. sprites) became known as the síd, modern Irish sídhe. While DAoC holds to this definition of Sidhe, they playable characters are now considered from "Beyond the Veil" and as such do not maintain many of the mystical properties that legend would lead you to believe, although the Sidhe do make the best handlers of Arcane Magic.

Magic: The Gathering includes elves in its creature library. However, some are humanoid, and others are shorter and green.

The game Final Fantasy XI even adds another addition to elves. Elvaan are the tall, long-lived elves of the game. They are adept to strong fighting skills but not magic.

In the popular game, The Legend Of Zelda, Princess Zelda is often mistaken for an elf due her pointy ears,but she is a hylian who are completly different from elves and live as long as humans. In The Wind Waker, Link is often mistaken as an elf because of his blonde hair and pointed ears, but this is incorrect, seeing as Link is a human (or Hylian, a human with pointy ears) from Hyrule. The fish in The Wind Waker also have pointy ears. The Kokiri are similar to elves in European myths.

And of course, there is Questor the Elf—the speedy, elven archer made famous for his dungeon-scouring adventures in the legendary Gauntlet arcade/video games. Elves are also playable races in games such as Dungeon Explorer, the earlier Ultima games, the Everquest games, and officially-licensed D&D games (for the personal computer and video game console), such as Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights.

In the RPG series Phantasy Star, the Newmen, an artificial race genetically engineered by humans, have pointed ears in the manner of many fictional elf-races. They are said to be physically weaker than humans but surpass them in many other areas.

Likewise the RPG game Tales of Phantasia features the archetypical game elf. However, it is insinuated in the game that the elven race was artifically created by humans that have reached their technological apex.