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Elves
http://www.arwen-undomiel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=22488		 Page 4 of 4
Author:  Fanghorn fantic [ June 23rd, 2013, 1:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Elves
mean 14, sisters are 11 same height as me
Author:  Elleabye [ June 27th, 2013, 3:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Elves
Qwertyuiop wrote:
P. S. What is a normal height for an elf? (sorry for asking stupid questions).



It actually depends on what type of elf! During the Third Age (Fellowship series) most of the elves left in Middle-earth were Silvan or Sindarin in origin. The Sindar's first king (Thingol - all the way back to before the First Age) was actually the tallest of all the elves. However, as a whole the taller elves were generally the Noldor. The Sindar and Silvan were second and the Vanyar were the shortest of the elves.

Although "short" is relative, considering we're still probably talking around 5'8/5'9 for women. (Galadriel was 6'4, for what it was worth.)

And yes. More elves. need more elves.
Which is totally why after reading the Fellowship I go back and read the Histories of ME because they have more elvish characters.
Author:  Elthir [ June 28th, 2013, 7:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Elves
Quote:
The Sindar and Silvan were second and the Vanyar were the shortest of the elves.


Can you please post the references, or reasoning based on citations as to why you say that the Vanyar were the shortest of the Elves?

I don't remember this, but for example, in very late note Tolkien wrote that [generally speaking] it was the Eldarin Elves that were the taller members of the Elvish peoples...

'The Quendi were in origin a tall people. The Eldar (...) they were in general the stronger and taller members of the Elvish folk at that time. In Eldarin tradition it was said that even their women were seldom less than six feet in height; their full-grown elfmen no less than six and a half feet, while some of the great kings and leaders were taller.' JRRT, late manuscript, The Lord of the Rings Reader's Companion

And the Vanyar were Eldar, while [according to The Lord of the Rings at least] most of the Silvan Elves of Mirkwood and Lorien were not Eldar.
Author:  Elleabye [ June 28th, 2013, 1:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Elves
Elthir, it could just be that I'm getting it all mixed up among the Eldar themselves! I've never read the Reader's Companion though and I don't know where that falls in Tolkien's evolution of canon, so you may very well be right!

This may also be an Age difference. I'm not very good with content as of the Third Age. Most of my information comes from the Shibboleth of Fëanor (and again I'm not certain where this falls in evolution of canon, either.) Over the Ages it may be that height had deteriorated among the Silvan Elves remaining in Middle-earth.

I've actually been mulling over this for some time, and you seem to have citations that I've never read so perhaps you know! Did Tolkien ever give any sort of "official" height for those Elves he noted as being dramatically tall? (Thingol, Maedhros, Turgon, or even the Edain, Tuor?) The only characters I ever knew of as having an 'official' notation for height were Galadriel and Aragorn.
Author:  Elthir [ June 29th, 2013, 12:14 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Elves
Quote:
I've actually been mulling over this for some time, and you seem to have citations that I've never read so perhaps you know! Did Tolkien ever give any sort of "official" height for those Elves he noted as being dramatically tall? (Thingol, Maedhros, Turgon, or even the Edain, Tuor?) The only characters I ever knew of as having an 'official' notation for height were Galadriel and Aragorn.


I'll have to check my sources Elleabye, but from memory we could add Elendil and Isildur too -- if not an exact notation of height, something with a number. And Boromir.

If memory serves, so far nothing very specific for Thingol, Maedhros or Turgon... although Argon appears to be taller than Turgon according to The Shibboleth of Feanor (I think that's the right source).

Anyway I'll check my sources and get back to this... or I plan to :)
Author:  Nienor Níniel [ February 7th, 2014, 8:04 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Elves
But Thingol was the tallest elf ever..? Or something like that was in the Silmarillion.
Author:  Elthir [ February 7th, 2014, 11:46 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Elves
Yes Nienor, and if I recall correctly, Thingol was said to be the tallest of the Children of Eru, which to my mind would mean taller than any other Man or Elf.

Which is partly why I think Tolkien perhaps re-thought making Elendil the Tall 'nearly' 8 feet tall [Unfinished Tales], as that would arguably mean we are getting way 'up there' for some Elves. For example Thingol would have to be taller than that! Again at least arguably, if we are talking 'tallest ever' anyway.

In another late text Elendil is said to be 7 feet tall -- although from a couple discussions on the interweb, at least a couple of people think Tolkien means he was in the 7 foot 'range' and he is still 7 feet 10 inches or so...

... I do not think the two statements were meant to agree with each other however, as in my opinion 10 inches seems too significant a difference when one states that someone is 7 feet tall.

In the early 1950s Tolkien would state [something like] that Turgon appeared taller than any Elf but Thingol [when Tuor met him in Gondolin], but in the later 1960s JRRT appears to make Argon taller than Turgon, although Argon died relatively early, it seems.
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