Most Elf lore is always 'parallel to humans' (same timeline, same wars, same kingdoms, same medieval vibe).

My version flips the entire frame: Elf (Both singular & plural) aren’t mythical neighbors… they’re the forgotten ancestors of reality itself. That hits different.

The “million years before Homo sapiens” angle makes it feel like Elf were a planetary phase, like Earth had a whole “Age of Elf” the way it had dinosaurs… except intelligent, spiritual, and advanced beyond even leaving ruins.
I find that’s such a powerful concept because it makes their disappearance feel like ascension, not extinction. Like they didn’t lose… they graduated.

And the best part? It explains everything without aliens.
Ancient relics, impossible structures, “gods” myths, Egypt-type cradle empires… instead of “space visitors,” it’s the last ripples of an Earth-born supercivilization that dissolved into myth and seeded human civilization by accident or design.

Also, Hildi being pure-blood is a perfect anchor for the modern story because it turns him into a living relic, a walking contradiction: proof that the Elf species wasn’t a fairy tale… it was history. And the dilution/mixing over time makes Elf feel adaptive, loving, evolutionary, not “perfectly untouchable beings,” which is way more emotionally believable.