# Why do elves have pointy ears?



## Link (Jan 11, 2003)

Did Tolkien ever actually state that elves had pointy ears?? Or was it just kind of implied?


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## Confusticated (Jan 11, 2003)

As far as I know it is either implied or not true. There may be something about it in his Letters, but there is nothing in TLotR, The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, or anything else I've read from HoMe that states that elves had pointy ears.

Now, I did read somewhere (perhaps in The Hobbit) that hobbits have pointy ears like elves... though I do not know if this was a reference to Tolkien elves or the mythical creatures in general.
Perhaps someone can add to this?

I have always envisioned his elves with pointy ears though.


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## Rasec (Jan 11, 2003)

I think he must have said it somewhere. Peter Jackson would not invent it, for he is a lover and an expert on Tolkien's works.
Using the subject and the thread, I'll ask another question similar to the one here: Did Tolkien state that all Elves had long hair? I know that he mentioned some of the characters with long gloden hair and so on, but where does it say that ALL them had long hair? Sorry if I'm not allowed to use this thread for another question. Just felt like doing it. 

'Rasec.


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## HLGStrider (Jan 11, 2003)

Faramir and Boromir both have or had long hair.. hence Faramir's intermingling with Eowyn's and them having to arrange Boromir before they launched him over the falls... Also the Rohirim have braids, that is mentioned... Elves I do not know.


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## BlackCaptain (Jan 11, 2003)

He never said that they did, but he did say, like if he was describing an elf like Elrond, Legolas, or Glorfindell, that they had long hair. He never said that all Elves had long hair, unless in the Silmarillion...


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## Beorn (Jan 11, 2003)

If Kem were here, she'd point out that they were leaf-shaped...


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## ltas (Jan 12, 2003)

I digged up this really old THREAD on the same subject. It seems that Cian has some pretty reliable information concerning this question:

*Originally posted by Cian:*_"Tolkien does comment, however, on ears (regarding both races) in his entire 'corpus', including his Letters. From this, 'discussion' often arises 

At the time JRRT wrote his famed letter of (probably) 1938 at least, he thought Hobbits had: " ... ears only slightly pointed and 'elvish'." (he also drew Bilbo for folk to inspect)

Also, at the time Tolkien wrote his LAS entries in the linguistic document Etymologies he thought:

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The Quendian ears were more pointed and leaf-shaped than [?human]." JRRT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Words within [?] indicate some question as to legibility. Etymologies is considered a basically "pre-LotR" document (though there is some overlap). There's more to this, concerning words used in LOTR, and the LAS1 and LAS2 entries (and S-LAS too) but those are two of the usual quotes one finds in this discussion anyway.


*
Consider the Quenya word "lassi" for "leaves" (in LOTR) and considered to be from stem LAS1, given in Etymologies.

Then consider a word like "lasto" in LOTR, the Sindarin verb (in imperative form here) for "listen!" ~ a language expert, David Salo actually (hired for the film), has considered this word to be derived from stem LAS2.

Just two examples, but this points to the same 'relationship' (of Elvish stems) found in Etymologies, under which is found the quote about Quendian ears being more pointed and leaf-shaped than human.

Whatever your opinion, it would be very Tolkien-ish IMO for the Prof. to have left this detail as such. I note Carl Hostetter, for example of a mega-Tolklang linguist who has given his opinion on-line, has argued that Etymologies is Tolkien's answer to the question."_


It seems that Tolkien imagined Elves with pointy ears too. Hope that helped.


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## Confusticated (Jan 12, 2003)

Thanks a lot for posting that!
I did not know that Tolkien ever mentioned the Quendi having ears that were different than human(?) ears. It is good to know.

las1 and las2 is very interesting, and a demonstration of how studying these languages can enrich one's understanding and enjoyment (not that I know anything about the languages).

Now... how did the ears of the half elves look?


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## Rúmil (Jan 12, 2003)

By the way, I'm sure he also wrote that Elves had no breads somewhere in Home, but I can't find it any more (if I didn't just invent it). Can someone help me?


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## Confusticated (Jan 12, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Cian _
> *As regards the beard question here, of interest (anyway) might be a note written by JRRT and ultimately published in Vinyar Tengwar
> _____
> "Elves did not have beards until they entered their third cycle of life. Nerdanel's father [cf. XII: 365-66 n. 61] was exceptional, being only early in his second." ~JRRT
> ...


Maybe that is what you were thinking of?
Anyhow, he also posted that bit about the elf ears in the same thread...

Cirdan the Shipwright


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## Rúmil (Jan 12, 2003)

Ah, yes, that's it! Thank you Nóm.


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## Lhunithiliel (Jan 12, 2003)

I have recently done some research in this matter, in answer at the FAQ-section at Tolkien Wiki.
I'd like to share what I've found.
It is here


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## quickbeam (Jan 12, 2003)

<I think he must have said it somewhere. Peter Jackson would not invent it, for he is a lover and an expert on Tolkien's works.>


He is far from being an expert - he is familiar with Tolkien's work, but doesn't even have a detailed knowledge of the LOTR let alone all of Tolkien's works.


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## LordOfMoria (Jan 12, 2003)

*Other Tolkien books*

I have read the Lord of the rings last year and i loved it. i loved it so much i went out and bought the Silmirilian or however u spell it. I also saw a few other books of his that delt with middle earth. what are they and do they explain a lot of fuzzy area's in LOTR?


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## Rasec (Jan 12, 2003)

> _Originally posted by quickbeam_
> <I think he must have said it somewhere. Peter Jackson would not invent it, for he is a lover and an expert on Tolkien's works.>
> 
> He is far from being an expert - he is familiar with Tolkien's work, but doesn't even have a detailed knowledge of the LOTR let alone all of Tolkien's works.


Are you a relative of Peter Jackson or something?


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