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Originally posted by Wooly Rupert

A similar High Magic ritual for turning into another race friendly to elves, such as fae, treants, or even plain old trees, seems rather likely, to me. Though I'd expect they'd not turn into regular trees, when being a treant was an option... Unless it went a step further, and transformed an elf into a copse of regular trees, instead of just one. Maybe a fully grown tree for every hit die, or every 50 years of life, or something like that.

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Originally posted by Markustay

My take on all this is that Fey can change shape naturally. In fact, I think all the creator races have some form of 'adaption ability' built in. In the case of the Fey, they are not really changing shape at all - fey are actually 'spirits'. They exist fully in the Astral, but need an 'anchor' to exist within the Prime Material. The anchors are often things associated with the ethereal (elemental) and nature. So they 'borrow' their physicality from their surroundings. Thus, Fey are not so much shape-changers as they are 'form takers' - they are already taking a form they wish, and with a little bit of power/help/whatever, they can take a different form (which is why the 'Fey' group has a nearly unlimited number of subtypes - they are all unique). They tend to spend most of their lives, however, in a single form; despite their chaotic nature, they are still communal beings, and once part of one fey group they tend to say that way for long periods of time.

This means that the closer the fey (or fey-offshoot, as elves are) to the 'original' fey bloodline, the greater its natural ability to change form is. Elves have been 'locked in' to their current forms for a very long period of time - generations even. Thus, it requires some extra 'oomph' to allow them to change. We see this when they decide to become Sea Elves - most sea elves now are born that way, but that wasn't always the case, and with Sashelas' blessing, any other type of elf can become a sea elf.

And then there are the Drow, who were 'cursed' (they considered it 'Lloth's Blessing') to be and look the way they do. That doesn't mean they have to stay that way either, despite Corellon's power/wishes. 4e (IIRC) made it so that a Drow can simply become a 'dark Elf' now, which is just a type of green (Sylvan) elf.

So we have many, MANY cases of elves changing form permanently, or, at least, semi-permanently. Becoming a tree - or anything else - isn't really much of a stretch. Just get the help of a god (ritual), or an artifact, or even a powerful mage (maybe), and it can be done. Change is part of their primal nature, even if most have forgotten this.

And that's my take - part of my 'everything is inter-related' theory of fictional settings. Make of it what you will.

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Originally posted by Fellfire

I discovered this very cool word

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Basically it means becoming a tree. This seems a very elfy thing to do. Maybe they become trees or treants to act as guardians of some sacred place. Do we have any examples of this in the lore?

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I vaguely recall reading somewhere a love story involving an elf and a dryad where something similar may have happened.

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More nature-oriented elves who wish to continue an active
role in the forest beyond their normal lifespan have two options, 
though both end their elven nature. Female elves can become 
transformed into dryads or nymphs, and they are forever tied to 
the sites close to where the transforming ritual occurs.
If a penitent elf (of any sex or subrace) is buried beneath 
the roots of a tree in Cormanthor with the blessings of a 
particular High Magic or druidic ritual, he or she becomes a 
treant and a voice of a full Elven Court. (See the chapter on
Old Elven Court for more facts.)
- Cormanthyr, Chapter 2: The Elven Mindset, section "Elven Death".

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Originally posted by dazzlerdal

I have a similar take to Markustay. The only difference is that I have the plane of faerie as a transitive plane in its own right so the fey have no need to exist on the astral plane.

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