Ears

[Melko Belcha]

Originally posted by LutraMage
This doesn't make sense. Why should we imagine that Tolkien should put in a throwaway line about 'elvish' ears which relates to the 'pixie' type elves of "popular conception"? This is a man (nay, a genius) who had spent his life creating the most carefully crafted imaginary world, complete with history, language and integrated peoples, and who was never anything but extremely careful in his thoughts and writtings. Furthermore, a man who had gone to extreme lengths to picture and depict his 'elves' as creatures of grace and elegance, distancing his creations from the "Santa's little helpers" variety.

None of us can see the word 'elf' without automatically imagining a 'Tolkienesque' elf, so why would the master himself suddenly find himself picturing 'pixie' type elfs when discussing hobbit ear shapes? Not only does this not seem plausible, it seems wholly out of keeping with the care with which he puts pen to paper.

As far as his not mentioning the shape of the ears being"...odd if they were pointed or even leaf shaped, but since elf ears were the same as human ears it makes sense", I strongly disagree. If Tolkien pictured his Elves as having pointed ears, and thus being in general keeping with long established tradition, he might well not have even considered it worth mentioning, except in this throwaway line where he clearly feels that the pointiness of elven ears is so clearly established that he can use it as an example in his comparison with hobbit ears.

No, unless there is other evidence to suggest that he is deliberately referring to 'pixies' I think this is evidence that, for Tolkien, Elves have pointed ears!

Tolkien wrote that description of Bilbo in response to a drawing of Bilbo he saw and strongly disliked. The Hobbit did not become a part of the Silmarillion legend until The Lord of the Rings was written, so at the time of the letter nobody, other then a few friends and family, knew anything about Tolkien's Quendi. It is common knowledge that the Elves of legend have pointed ears, so Tolkien uses the common knowledge of Elves having pointed ears in his description that the Hobbits ears are pointed.