The Rampant Librarian

Among the denizens of Duntown there is a tendency to some more or less mild forms of Human Supremacy, at least in unconscious thought. This manifests in strange ways, not least in the conspiracy theory of the 'over-educated barbarian' or the rampant librarian.

Summary

The simultaneous and self-contradictory belief that the orcs and elves of the Western Forest are at the same time unspeakably backwards and primitive and guardians of ancient knowledge is widespread enough to have been identified as a trope or conspiracy theory by modern anthropologists. This conspiracy theory mainly pertains to the elves, who are depicted almost as a tribe of rampaging librarians, feral and bestial in their behaviour, yet literate and silent, sharing their knowledge in arcane scripts unreadable but by the elect.
It is difficult to succinctly summarise the manifold narratives that spring from this central theory. One example is the idea that the city of Hollymargret was destroyed by elves both because they were determined that humanfolk not be party to the secret technology that the city contained, and because they were too animalistic and primitive to live peacefully in a city.

Historical Basis

Like many conspiracy theories, this has a traceable but unprovable psychological origin. It is likely that humanfolk have an unconscious inferiority complex before the elves, who have a greater 'claim' to the land than the human interlopers, have a greater affinity with nature, and have long lives for acquiring knowledge. Naturally, the coping mechanism for this complex is to devalue this affinity for nature by pronouncing it 'primitivism' while simultaneously devaluing their long lives as the accumulation of useless knowledge.
In time, this has become a widespread conspiracy theory that has found favour among fans of Human Supremacy and readers of De Relegatio Homines who see the elves as both degenerate, effeminate wasters and jealous guardians of secret knowledge capable of destroying humanfolk.

In Literature

The idea of the Rampant Librarian is widespread enough to be a comic trope in human theatre, with the part of this form of the noble savage traditionally being played by a goblin wearing elf ears. Traditionally, this character will grunt and groan, swing for slapstick effect from the fly gallery, and generally clown and pratfall across the stage. When left alone with the audience, however, the character will be given a ballad to sing that often turns out to be the best song in the show, leaving the audience in poignant tears.