A recent phylogenetic study confirms what I’ve long contended:
This study reconstructs the evolutionary tree of elves using 26 life history, morphological, behavioral, and magical characters. Notably, we include Christmas elves, J.K. Rowling’s elves, and the elves of The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit. Our findings suggest that Christmas elves should not be classified as elves but are actually more closely related to dwarves.
Now, we need a phylogeny of the reindeer.
No problem, Warwick Davis can play both!
Fun fact from Rod in the article comments: