 Like Tolkien's Elves, the Tuatha Dé Danann are inferior to the gods, but superior to humans; being endowed with extraordinary skills as craftsmen, poets, warriors, and magicians.Likewise, after the triumph of humanity, both the Elves and the Tuatha Dé Danann are driven underground, which causes their "fading", leading them to become diminutive and pale.Catholic theology and imagery played a part in fashioning Tolkien's creative imagination, suffused as it was by his deeply religious spirit.