i'm done for now but don't expect me not to come back with AND ANOTHER THING bc that always happens

the more likely case i think is that, since that line was added in the patch content, the writers just kind of forgot to address the elephant and didn't realize it until the game was out and went oh we should probably explain that huh

and furthermore how does ikaruga know he's part dark elf. like i guess his master could have told him, if he knew who his parents were, but i always kind of assumed it was never addressed in game because ikaruga didn't know and didn't care (which would be in line with his character)

also since elves can cast magic as we know it, i.e. from rune points, so dark elves likely can too, this also probably confirms what i thought earlier, that his abilities are so strong and he eats his own weight in noodles every day because he supplements his mysticism with regular actual magic

(which would be a better reason to call them "dark elves" than just having darker skin, since not only would that be Kinda Weird but it would also not even be necessarily accurate since ikaruga's skin color is closer to tabatha's than maerwen's. in game at least.)

since you can't take townsfolk on adventures in tides we don't know about the magical aptitudes of dark elves but the elves we've seen have been capable with magic and ikaruga is especially capable with dark element magic it's possible that dark elves are particularly capable with dark magic

ikaruga had separate reasons for turning out Like That though (you too would probably have no social skills if you were brought up through your teen years by bureaucrats and you too would end up very defensive if they refused to acknowledge your mentor's death AND made fun of your ears)

given that the one thing maerwen and ikaruga DO have notably in common is that they read as impolite to the people around them, and that ikaruga was an orphan, the implication is that dark elf blood makes you genetically predisposed to being kind of a dick which isn't a great implication

it was never clearly established what dark elves are and what distinguishes them from the elves we knew except that their ears pointed down and their culture reads as impolite to humans. maerwen's skin was darker than tabatha's but again, small sample size so we don't know if that applies generally

hell they established in rune factory ONE, the FIRST GAME, that elves aren't all pale skinned. depending on how common it is (which we don't know bc of the small sample size) it may be an indicator of royal heritage, since the only elves with darker skin we see are tabatha and minerva

but did the developers and designers just like, forget that dark elf ears point down in the rune factory universe. that's their main physical distinction from original flavor elves

we actually found our copy of quest 64 the other day

am i good? no. am i having a good time? you bet your ass