The tree elves are a creature who appear in the webcomic Gunnerkrigg Court. With green skin and pointy ears, these elves live deep in the forest of Gillitie Wood and, although they are often called “tree elves” they do not refer to themselves as such.
Antimony Carver stayed with a family of them, the Anwyns, during her summer after year 9, which is the biggest and most crucial appearance of tree evolves in the comic. The Anwyn family is know to be a very large one, headed by Khepi, the matriarch.
Through most of the main story of the comic, the tree elves rarely appear. However, they play a rather large part in the side comic Annie In The Forest, which is set during the same summer mentioned previously.
Some of the tree elves carry various symbols on their clothes. It is unknown what this symbol means as very few seem to carry it. Though seeing as Khepi's symbol appears on the illustration of her family (see below) it might show which house they belong to. Other than Khepi, Irial and another girl at the party can also be seen with one as well as a person on Annie In the Forest: Part 1 Page 5. There are also some seen at the first few pages.
Notable elves[]
Khepi Anwyn[]
Khepi is the head of the family Annie stayed with. She has many sons and daughters. She is mentioned by Annie in chapter 33, has a major part in the side-story "Annie in the Forest", and makes her first main-story in-person appearance in chapter 74. Tom has also made a drawing of Khepi that he posted on his Tumblr, which is in fact, her first appearance where she's drawn in full-color.
Khepi is a very loving, but strict character, having no problem in taking her under her roof for the summer, but expecting the daily chores to be done before anyone gets fed. She is pregnant during "Annie in the Forest" and gives birth by the time Annie returns to the Court. Her husband is named Mark.
Kamlen Anwyn[]
Kamlen is one of Khepi's sons. He is around the same age as Annie and her best friend Katerina Donlan. During Annie’s stay with the family he was the first of Khepi's children to try and be friendly to her, for example by making her a wristband to hide Coyote's bind on her arm and inviting her to a hang out down by diver's pool.
Not only did he and Annie develop a close friendship, she also developed some level of feelings for him. It is revealed that he has a girlfriend named Irial, however, which slightly upsets Annie.
Technically, Annie's crush on Kamlen was first shown in Zimmy‘s dreamscape of Chapter 38: Divine, which shows them being somewhat intimate; as in the short story Annie never explicitly states whether she likes him or not, and earlier in the comic she even stated that Kat would like him, implying she did not care much for him romantically. However, this may mean she instead got over him.
Sareed Anwyn[]
Sareed is one of Kamlen's two sisters. She has the ability to manipulate plant shapes. She aspires to use this ability to make houses when she's older.
At first she does not like Annie much, only interacting when she's mocking Annie's makeup with her friends.
When Annie and the young Anwyn hangs out at the Jumper's Pool she gives Annie a drink called achewater. This intoxicates her, similar to hard liquor and makes her black out, which was not Sareed's intention.
Because of what she had done to Annie it was her responsibility to take care of Annie the following morning. After this the two develop a better bond and walk together out to the town, with Sareed feeling bad for how she treated Annie. Kamlen later mentions that Khepi is still mad at her for doing this. Sareed is distinguishable for having a visible bruise on her cheek.
Irial[]
Irial is Kamlen's girlfriend, or "love" as the other tree elves often say. She is a very understanding young woman, and is alright with Annie having a crush on her boyfriend.
She also has some girl talk with Annie, giving her some tips on how to get a boyfriend.
Later, when Annie passes out from having drank too much achewater, she's one of the first people to chastise Sareed for what she has done.
Idra O'Kerrigan[]
Idra is an elf who was in the deep forest when everything froze because of Loup. She followed some tunnels into the Court, and lived there for months, avoiding patrols and hunting wisps for food. When Annie and her friends went into a wisp nest, Idra noticed and decided to help them. She also recognized Annie from her stay in the village.
Jeanne's lover[]
In early Court history, Jeanne had an unnamed lover among the tree elves.
Although their relationship appeared to be healthy before the court separated from the forest, this event proved to be traumatic for Jeanne. Eventually their relationship would be a cog in the court's schemes, and he died by being shot with Diego's Arrow.
After his death, Jeanne appeared to die of heartbreak on the shores of the Annan Waters. Though she seems to haunt the chasm there seemed to be no evidence of his spirit in the vicinity. Very recent events, however, prove otherwise.
Trivia[]
- The name "Anwyn" may come from the world "Annwn", a magical world in Welsh mythology where people do not age.
List of Appearances[]
- Chapter 23, Page 11 (Only a simulation, and it might not be an elf at all.)
- Chapter 30, Page 11
- Chapter 33, Page 3
- Chapter 38, Page 10
- Annie in the Forest Part 1: Page 2
- Annie in the Forest Part 2: Page 1
- Chapter 48, Page 15
- Chapter 58, Page 2
Gallery[]
