Q: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Tolkien Elves

ANSWER: Properly answering the following questions really doesn’t call for long blog posts. So I thought I would publish a simple FAQ-like document.

Are Tolkien’s Elves Immortal?

Yes and no. Most attempts to answer this question give you either the “yes” or the “no” version of the full answer.

Yes, Tolkien’s elves are immortal because their spirits or souls (what many fans call fëar because J.R.R. Tolkien used that term in his private notes) continue to exist within the confines of the universe for all time. They never leave.

No, Tolkien’s elves are NOT immortal because their bodies can be killed and if that doesn’t happen they eventually fade, a process which Tolkien didn’t fully explain. We are sure that a fully faded elf is just a “houseless spirit”, a ghost. I don’t know if anyone has ever speculated on what a partially faded elf would be. Tolkien didn’t say.

I suspect he might have settled on a state of flickering between full corporeality and a sort of transparentness, leading gradually to more transparentness followed by full invisibility. As we know from everything about the Nazgûl, they could interact with the physical world if they were cloaked. We don’t know if there was any magic in the cloaks but apparently they needed magic to “knit [their] unseen sinews” to their wills.

Are Tolkien’s Elves Vegetarian?

Only the Green-elves of Ossiriand swore off eating any meat. The Noldor and the Silvan Elves of northern Mirkwood are explicitly stated in the stories to have enjoyed hunting animals.

Hence the vast majority of Elves appear to be meat-eaters and for some strange reason many fans came to the wrong conclusion about them.

How Tall Are Tolkien Elves?

Like Men they start out as babies and grow to varying heights. They tend to be somewhat taller than Men on average.

In one passage Tolkien says Aragorn was about the same height as Galadriel (six feet and six inches tall). She was a very ancient Noldorin woman so take that for what it’s worth.

Elendil the Tall was much taller than Aragorn, and he carried the sword Narsil, which had been made by Telchar the Dwarf in the First Age – apparently for an elf-lord. Narsil would have been too long for Aragorn to wield easily (unless he had great strength, which he might have). When Elrond’s smiths reforged Narsil into Anduril they would have made a sword of proper size and shape for him.

What Were Tolkien Elves Based On?

There are many theories about what Tolkien’s elves were based on. I don’t think he had a single source in mind. They probably reflect a blend of:

Anglo-Saxon and Celtic myths

Catholic traditions

Philologists and polymaths

There are so many theories about inspirations for Tolkien elfdom I can’t cover them all properly. Someone just published a new bit of research arguing that there was a strong Anglo-Saxon source for Tolkien’s Elves.

We know from “The Shibboleth of Fëanor” that he modeled the rift among the Noldor on real-world linguistic community rifts. There aren’t many Elves in Norse or Germanic myth who draw up sides on the basis of how to pronounce a certain word or consonant.

The concept of shibboleth is Biblical, in that the Bible says the Israelites identified Ephraimites by the way they pronounced the Hebrew word shibbólet. This wasn’t done because people objected to the way the Ephramites spoke. It happened because the Ephraimites attacked the Gileadites, and the Gileadites seized a river the Ephraimites had to cross.

Well, how do you tell friend from foe?

Ask him to pronounce a word you know he won’t say properly if his native dialect is different from yours.

The Fëanorian story says that Fëanor and his followers chose to use a different (more conservative) pronunciation than other Noldor, who allowed their language to evolve.

Did J.R.R. Tolkien Invent Elves?

This question seems to imply “tall, beautiful elvish people”.

No, Tolkien did not invent that archetype. It existed in ancient European folklore long before he was born. Scholars disagree on which traditions most influenced Tolkien. I’ve even seen arguments positing that he drew upon eastern European folklore.

Tolkien popularized the tall, intelligent, beautiful elf archetype – and that subsequently became a stereotype among fantasy authors and game designers. To offset that stereotype they introduced dark elves, which are totally unlike Tolkien’s dark elves.

Can Elves Have Babies?

Yes. They never stopped having them.

The elf population of Middle-earth declined because of all their wars. Many of the Elves who survived the wars simply fled over Sea.

The last great elf migration occurs in the years after Bilbo’s Party. The narrative says that many elves pass through the Shire on their ways to the Grey Havens, never to be seen again.

When Elrond says at his council that he doesn’t have an army with which to oppose Sauron, it’s because a large part of his remaining people had departed.

Can Elves Marry Humans?

Yes. There were more than three such marriages and Tolkien never said or implied there were any laws against such marriage. It’s just that they didn’t happen very often. And he only wrote about such marriages if he could compose a story about them.

One of his posthumously published stories, the “Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth”, reveals that one of Finrod’s brothers fell in love with Andreth (an Edainic woman).

Do Tolkien Elves Have Pale Skin?

Some of them have pale skin. We know of at least two Noldor who had ruddy skin, and in one passage it is suggested (perhaps as an insult) that Eöl had a darker complexion than other elves (perhaps because of his constant smithing).

Do Tolkien Elves Have Pointy Ears?

No more so than Men, despite all the convoluted arguments you’ll see among fans. See below for a link to the full discussion (so this really wasn’t a short answer).

Do Tolkien Elves Have Beards?

Yes, the male elves grow beards late in life. This was always evident in The Lord of the Rings from two characters:

Cirdan is depicted as having a long grey beard. Despite his late introduction in the story, many readers insisted his beard must have been a mistake. Tolkien had plenty of time to think about that beard.

Gandalf has a beard. His “northern” name is translated as elf of the wand (staff). This is a real Norse name (for a dwarf). The fact that northern men called him “the Elf of the Wand” (a translation Tolkien himself provided in the appendices) should have made clear that Gandalf was believed to be an elf by most people in the north.

Unfortunately people latched on to a partially explained note about “the beardlessness of elves” as proof that Cirdan’s beard and Gandalf’s name didn’t mean anything.

See Also …

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