It is very difficult to define the Elinar. They have similarities both to fairies and angels. In the novel, The Emissary, I chose the term Angels. This is not quite so astonishing since Angels are often divine heralds. The Tinavar, for instance, considered the Elinar to be the divine Heralds of Wisdom and the Guardians of Passage.
Fairies are usually quite small. The Elinar, on the other hand, are tall, even by human standards. It would be difficult to reconcile the daintiness of many fairies depicted in contemporary artwork to the majesty, nobility, and pride of the Elinar.
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In The High Priestess, the second volume of The Selanian Chronicles, Catyana Faeren describes the statue of the Queen of the Elinar in the gardens of His Excellency’s residence in Tolares:
“Catyana studied the figures. The queen stood more than half again as tall as she was. Her shimmering white hair was braided as a waterfall cascade and flowed over her shoulders and down to her waist in glowing waves. Enormous, silvery, semi-translucent wings spread out behind and over her. They had the elegant curvature of a bird yet the patterned texture of a butterfly and seemed at the same time strong but delicate. The queen possessed finely shaped features, and the skin of her face and hands shimmered in a pale silvery blue. Her white robe swept down to the ground. On her head, she carried a delicately crafted crown of platinum interspersed with diamonds. Her left hand caressed the back of the creature beside her. But her most prominent feature was her eyes. They looked down upon Catyana completely blue in blue, like dark, glowing sapphires, with no whites whatsoever. Catyana shivered at the cold, proud beauty of the queen’s gaze.”
It is rumored that the Elinar and the Demantar coexisted in some form of symbiosis. Evidence in this direction is the statue of the Queen of the Elinar described above. The Queen is displayed together with a Demantar, the creature mentioned to be beside her.
It was difficult to find images that had a semblance of the Elinar’s nobility. I hope the image above by Gilbert Williams will give you an idea. Please click on the image to go directly to the Gilbert Williams Studio Facebook page.