Living conditions in Elftown are harsh; it is subsistence living. Over the centuries of the prison slum’s existence, the humans have suppressed and the elves have forgotten all aspects of elven cultural knowledge and practices.
But Arq, a random former homeless street rat turned criminal enforcer, has this cultural knowledge. He knows about elven funeral customs, elven artistic expression - painting, dancing, music, singing - and he even knows the type of wood elves use for their longbows, though there are no trees in Elftown and bows are prohibited.