After four seasons of Disenchantment, there have been a lot of questions and surprisingly few answers. And every question that does get an answer seems to create three new questions. One mystery that was finally solved in Season 4 was the origin of Elfo. But while his backstory was definitely sweet, it was also quite sad and explained a lot about Bean’s tiny green friend.
Elfo has been a core member of Disenchantment since Episode 1. He left a career making candy with the other Elves in Elfwood behind to venture out into the rest of the world. After surviving a battle between ogres and gnomes, Elfo made his way to Dreamland where he became friends with Bean and Luci. Together, they’ve embarked on a long series of adventures that started to unravel the secret history of Dreamland and beyond.
But Elfo’s life before making his way to Dreamland remained largely a mystery for the first two seasons. In Season 3, things started to come into focus. His father, Pops, began to drop hints about his son’s past, specifically about his mother. At one point, Pops tried to outright tell him what was going on, but it didn’t go well. That’s often what happens when it comes to conversations with Elfo. They tend to go off the rails incredibly quickly.
In Season 4, Episode 2, the real story of Elfo’s youth was finally laid out. It turned out that Elfo’s father was an Elf, but his mother was an Ogre. To be specific, she was Grogda the Queen of the Ogres. Pops met her when he was a traveling candy salesman and worked overtime to woo her, which he did successfully. Not surprisingly, there were more than a few issues to sort out.
A big problem was the fact that the Ogre kingdom was wholly against the idea of Grogda being with an Elf. Pops and Grogda made the only decision they could, running into the woods to build their lives together. That’s where Elfo spent his first few years. Then, the long-standing feud between the Gnomes and Ogres reared its ugly head. They destroyed the home this young family shared. Pops thought Grogda was killed and took Elfo back to Elfwood to raise on his own.
As it turned out, Grogda survived the attack. But thinking Elfo and Pops were dead, she returned to the Ogre kingdom and became their Queen. She ended up having another son, an Ogre named Junior. He has appeared several times throughout the series, having proven to be easily recognizable thanks to the dagger stabbed in each eye. All four members of this family reconnected in this episode until Bean snatched Elfo away to go on another adventure.
Fans had long suspected that Elfo was part Ogre, but it was nice to have it confirmed. As sad as the story of Pops and Grogda’s separation was, it was also beautiful to find out how much love there was in that family. And what makes the story even happier is the fact that this family can continue to grow as Disenchantment moves forward. There are a lot more great stories to tell in Elfo’s world.
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