where his civilizations, including our own

I have highly mixed opinions on the house elves. Certainly they're mistreated in some vital ways, and I'd definitely be interested in learning the history of their relationship to humans. However, I think that they *all* think for themselves, as Black Dog suggests; most of them nonetheless came to the conclusion that they are supposed to serve and be subservient. It's hard to say how much of my (at this point very loose) theories on house elves are from my "objective" (like that ever happens) analyis of the elves and how much is a reaction to my rather severe dislike of Hermione's crusade.