Ears

[Wayfarer]

Pointy elf ears is a stereotype propogated by people who don't know better. You should all know better. So shut up about it.

[Guardian_of_the_Forest]

I believe it is in "Concerning Hobbits" where it says that they have slightly pointed ears.

[Evenstar1400]

i like pointy ears. theyre cool.

[L@ur@y Elven Warrior]

one of my friends has pointy ears like an elf.

[Elvedans]

Well I know someone with one large pointed ear and one small normal one. Strange?!

[TopazJedi]

Oooh, i would love to have pointy ears! but one ear pointy and one ear not would be freaky! On topic, i read the special annotated edition of the hobbit, (in case you don't know, annotated means that the book has a "commentary" like in a DVD, exept the commentary is on seperate margins on the page off to the side.) It said that at some point, JRRT described elvis as having "leaf-shaped" ears, which would lead you do believe that they are pointed, or at least shaped somewhat differently from human ears, but he never really describes them other than that. And, all of the pictures that JRRT painted were of landscapes and citys, with the people being very tiny or non-existant. So, noone knows. *shrug*

[Bombadillo]

I assume by 'elvis' you mean elves. I just had to be an ass and point that out.

My brother looks a lot like an elf. He's tall and got long blonde hair and a Scandinavian type look and a green hat all the time. But he's skinny and ugly too.

Anyway I don't think it really was mentioned by Tolkien what elf ears are supposed to look like. I never even thought about it actually, although I can't stop thinking of them all wearing green and jingle bells. I don't doubt that he had ideas of what elvish ears are supposed to look like, but I think it would probably be more pretty than pointed.

[Legoles]

Originally posted by Beleg Strongbow
My theory is that PJ just likes doing ears.
And shouldn't this belong in the movies, since it's based more on movie ears?

Ya know those "EARS" r silicone so they last about an hour or less

But I WANT POINTY EARS I've got loads of long blond hair green eyes and I want to be an elf

[TopazJedi]

OOOPS! I meant Elves! Not Elvis! AAAH!

[Inderjit Sanghera]

Here is a passage taken from HoME 5; The Etymologies

Las: lasse;ear: The Quendian ears were more pointed and leaf shaped then human

So we can see that in his pre-LoTR writings on the Silmarillion, Tolkien imagined the Elves to have slightly leaf-shaped ears. I see no reason for a change of mind, so one can assume from this passage that Elves had slightly pointy ears. Or at least they differentiated from human ones.

[BeardofPants]

Actually, we're not sure that the word is human, and some of those comments are Chris'.

[Wayfarer]

Elves may have had more leaf-sheped ears than humans. But that doesn't mean they had the humongous sword-ears that low fantasy elves today are given.

Elf and hobbit ears were not sufficiently different from humans that they were used to distinguish the races apart- that in itself should tell you a great deal.

[Ornelírë Mistë]

I dont believe hobbits have pointed ears. To me it doesnt seem quite right. I dont believe Elves had pointed ears either, or if they did they were slightly.
And about those low fantasy ears- look at the newest DnD pictures of elves. Those ears could poke someone's heart out!

[Blue Scout]

I've got hairy feet, myself.

[LutraMage]

Originally posted by cassiopeia
Tolkien wrote in the Letters that, when describing Bilbo: A round, jovial face; ears only slightly pointed and 'elvish'; hair short and curling (brown).
"Elvish" here, I believe, refers to the popular conception of elves, so still no evidence that elves had pointy ears.

My emphasis

Originally posted by Wayfarer
Tolkien never said that his elves had pointy ears. In fact, ne never mentions their ears at all. That would be odd if they were pointed or even leaf shaped, but since elf ears were the same as human ears it makes sense.[/i][/B]

Again, my emphasis

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!

[TopazJedi]

But as you said, he did mention "elvish ears", from which one can conclude that he meant they were shaped differently from the ears of the Men. To that i say, what other shape is there of ears? in normal, RL humans, ears are generally rounded, and the only other shape they ever come in is pointed (excepting people with genetic deformities). If he had invented a different type of ear shape peculiar to elves and elves only, then surely he would have described it! One can only conclude that in saying elves had a different type of ear than Men that Mr. Tolkien meant pointed ears.

[LutraMage]

Hear, hear TopazJedi, point well made!

[legolialis]

I would just like to say that I would like to have cool elf ears
but not be as short as a hobbit or dwarf.
and be as tall as a dunedain(excuse my spelling)

[Eärloth]

I support the belief of LutraMage and TopazJedi; also it is noted even the words for 'leaf' and 'ear' in Elvish are similar.

I would also like to note that I second the point stated by Legolialis: I will, on pain of death, get plastic surgery to make my ears look pointed, if only slightly. Lame and dpesperate, I realise, but they're MY 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.