# Frodo looking Elvish...



## Wood Elf (Feb 23, 2002)

Hello,
I was wondering, in T.T., when Sam has fought off Shelob, and Frodo is laying there 'dead', Sam looks at his face on last time, and his face looked beautiful, though pale, and elvish. I was wondering if this had some special significance to Frodo, because hobbits don't look elvish in the least, and this seems to be a special quality attributed to Frodo.


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## FrodetteBaggins (Feb 24, 2002)

Well Hobbits do have quite Elvish ears but that's about it. Their complection is completely different to the Elv's as their's is rosy red.


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## Dhôn-Buri-Dhôn (Feb 24, 2002)

I think you need to keep in mind that Sam had a very high opinion of Elves. So for him to decide that Frodo looked Elf-like, he was simply saying that Frodo looked good, and that his face no longer showed the signs of mortal care and worry. He was beyond all that.


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## Wood Elf (Feb 24, 2002)

Doonie, I think I get what you are saying. Frodo did look elvish to Sam there, and he was kinda 'above it'. I was wondering if it had some symbolic meaning or something, because in the beginning( I can't remember where in FotR), it says how Frodo was paler than the other hobbits, with darker hair (something along those lines). Like he was different from the get-go than the other hobbits, and it is reflected here in this scene too.


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## LadyGaladriel (Feb 25, 2002)

Wait! Didn't Gandalf think that Frodo looked Elvish after he was healed by elrond?


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## UngattTrunn475 (Feb 25, 2002)

Thats a good point. I think that the medicine that Elrond used on Frodo when he came to Rivendell had a little something that strenghtened him. I have no idea what, part of the immortality stone they wear around their necks or elf blood. (Funny to think about, drinking elf blood. Yech)


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## Wood Elf (Feb 25, 2002)

Yes, there are several mentions in the books of Frodo looking elvish. Where is Harad when we need him? I was wondering if this had a special meaning, as it is only attributed to Frodo.


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## Quercus (Feb 27, 2002)

*Frodo Looking Elvish*

Yes there are a number of references to Frodo looking Elvish. Even the orcs who captured him thought that he was some sort of a minature elf. This has been a curious subject for me, but I've yet to discover the answer. It seems as though Frodo is treated with high regard and affection by every elf he meets, which makes me wonder what they know that the reader doesn't.


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## Úlairi (Feb 27, 2002)

*Perhaps!*

Perhaps Frodo did look Elvish, but if you notice all the times that he is referred as to 'looking Elvish' is either when he is asleep or unconscious. I have heard many times before that everyone looks 'younger' when they are asleep! Maybe Frodo 'looks Elvish' when he is asleep! Just a thought!


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## Wood Elf (Feb 27, 2002)

Heh, really?

That is cool, I should sleep more often then! LOL! I guess I think he is reffered to looking elvish on several accounts because he is Frodo, and is a bit above the other hobbits, and is carrying the ring. He seems to be wise, and possibly this trait is given to him, to show his 'superiority' to the other hobbits. Hmm...Harad?


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## Quercus (Feb 28, 2002)

Ulairi,

You've forgotten one reference. Remember how after Frodo had managed to eloquently dance around some hard questioning by Farimir, Farimir told Frodo that he had an elvish-air about him.

Also, there is the glowing thing. Sam notices a sort of glow coming from Frodo as he watches him sleeping in North Ithilien and it reminds him of the glow Frodo had about him as he lay wounded in Rivendell. But is this glow caused by the Ringwraith's wound or by elvish medicine? How about eariler in the story when Frodo wakes up inside of a barrow. At first it is pitch dark, but then he notices a pale greenish glow that seems to be coming from himself.


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## Wood Elf (Mar 1, 2002)

Yeah Quercus, that is interesting. When Gandalf is looking at him in Rivendell, when Frodo has woken up and Gandalf is sorta scrutinizing him, he notices a faint change, Gandalf says to himself, "Still that must be expected. He is not half through yet, and to what he will come in the end not even Elrond can foretell. Not to evil, I think. He may become like a glass filled with a clear light for eyes to see that can." (dir. book quote) Now Gandalf seems to be almost foreshadowing. I never was really quite sure about the whole 'Frodo being filled with light' thing, and this seems to be repeated when Sam sees him asleep in Nothern Ithilien. Maybe the light thing and the Frodo looking elvish relate. Maybe it is Frodo's pure good side coming out in the form of elvish-looking and light. I am not sure, I am speculating. It would be great if someone knew..<cough>..Harad..<Cough>. Sorry, he seems quite knowledgeable on anything LotR. It would be great if this could be figgured out...


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## Grond (Mar 1, 2002)

I'm not sure that there is anything mysterious about Frodo's appearance. He is a Hobbit who apparently has a large amount of Fallohide is his roots. In this, he is much like Bilbo. From the Prologue of LotR, 1 - Concerning Hobbits, 

_"...The Fallohides were fairer of skin and also of hair, and they were taller and slimmer that the others; they were lovers of trees and of woodlands."_ and from the next paragraph, _"...The Fallohides, the least numerous, were a northerly branch. They were more friendly with Elves than the other Hobbits were, and had more skill in language and song than in handicrafts; and of old they preferred hunting to tilling."_

It goes on to say that a strong Fallohide strain ran through both the Took and Brandybuck lines. This would explain why, in my opinion, Bilbo, Frodo, Merry and Pippin all seemed to have a more Elf-like demeanor and appearance than say Samwise who was clearly of Harfoot stock. These are just my thoughts and you may take them or leave them.


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## Wood Elf (Mar 1, 2002)

Good point Grond, but what about the 'light' in Frodo?


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## Grond (Mar 1, 2002)

The glow is the combined effects of Ring use and Morgal wound... both of which tend to make you more transparent and reflective of light. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.


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## Quercus (Mar 2, 2002)

You may have a point there Grond. But I do rather like Wood Elf's theory that it is Frodo's pure goodness that gives him the elvish look and glow. I was kinda thinking along those lines myself.


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## Greenleaf (Mar 2, 2002)

I think the idea of Frodo looking Elvish so Sam was maybe that he looked at peace. He did not look haggard like he did when he was asleep (well he was not exactly asleep but anyways). Maybe that’s why Sam thinks that. And with Gandalf maybe it was the same idea.


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## Wood Elf (Mar 3, 2002)

Faramir's men think Frodo looks rather elvish too, and Frodo isn't asleep then...


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## Elanor2 (Mar 4, 2002)

What does "Elvish looking" mean really?

Sam says something about like it doesn't matter how different elves look, they all have an air of being good and wise, even when talking, dancing, eating...

Frodo might also give that impresion. We must admit that he is learned (speaks and writes elvish, even several dialects) and that he has curiosity, even respect for thigs outside the narrow margins of every-day's life in the Shire. Accepts and invites foreigners and accepts Bilbo and his (for a Hobbit) oddities. He can be described and Good and Wise (for a Hobbit). So perhaps, people see these qualities somehow and since they are, in ME, associated with elves, they say that these people have an elvish air.

Just a thought....


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## Goro Shimura (Mar 4, 2002)

(Insightful point, Grond!)

Remember also Sam's remark that Faramir had a "wizardish" look about him....

And also... Frodo was an Elf-friend.

It seems that once you've been proclaimed such... everyone can immediately see the difference, somehow.... A light in the countenance, perhaps???

A final oblique connection: Aragorn's countenance after he died.... (Maybe nothing....)


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## LadyGaladriel (Mar 5, 2002)

But wouldn't Bilbo look "Elvish" because he was proclaimed to be an elf friend by Mirkwood and also he Lives in rivendell (Lucky hobbit)
But i dont think (Haven't got my copy at hand) that he was never said to be elvish.
Frodo is not mentioned to look elvish untill he is healed by Elrond


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## Sherri (Mar 12, 2002)

I think it's from when he was healed by Elrond. I'm not sure cause i don't have the book on me but when Frodo first woke up didn't Gandalf say that he had a glow around him especially around his left hand which was above the blanket. To me this says that it's from the healing of his left shoulder.


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## jks13 (Mar 12, 2002)

Maybe because Frodo was wearing elvish clothes


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