Cirdan the Shipwright...had a beard...

It says in Return of the King that Cirdan had a long white beard. Did I assume wrongly that Elves had no facial hair?

Does it ellaborate on this in any of the HOME books or the letters?

I though Elves had facial hair.

The Elvish beardlessness idea mostly is believed because of a passage published in Unfinished Tales, in the Appendices to Of Galadriel and Celeborn. It says there that the Elvish strain in the Princes of Dol Amroth was noted in their beardlessness, with an explanatory remark stating that Elves did not have or grow beards.

But of course, Cirdan had a beard. There are some who try to come up with radical explanations of just why Cirdan alone among the Quendi has a beard. Tolkien felt bound by everything published in his lifetime concerning Middle-earth. He must have forgot he had given Cirdan a beard when he said Elves did not have any. If he remembered he would have felt bound by it, as should we.

Most Elves indeed did not have beards. Cirdan did, but he was a VERY ancient Elf(possibly even from the time of Awakening). He was also a Teler, and most Evles in LotR were Noldorian. Maybe Teleri can develop facial hair.

To my knowledge Cirdan was the only one specifically stated to have a beard, but most everyone else is not stated not to have any. Elrond might have had one, for all we know. Facial hair, leastways. You'll have to direct me to the Teleri facial hair passage, I haven't read that, begging your pardon.

Most of the Elves in the LOTR were not Noldor. The folk of Rivendell were a mix and the little Noldorin blood among the Galadhrim was mingled. Mostly the Galadhrim were Tawarwaith (Wood-elves), with some Sindar. Legolas, who of course came neither from Lothlorien or Imladris was a Sinda. Galadriel had Vanyarin, Telerin and Noldorin blood, and Elrond eventually was descended from those three kindreds too (not to mention Mannish Races);

But I should add respectfully Cirdan was indeed an ancient Elf, and it is indeed possible only really old Elves grew beards. Also forgive me for reading in haste (not a thing to do in an Entmoot!), I didn't notice you were speculating about the Teleri, I should have.

An interesting Tolkien note, ultimately published in the linguistic journal Vinyar Tengwar, offers that Elves who exhibited beards were usually in their "third cycle" of life ~ and offers the less usual example of Mahtan the Smith, as growing one earlier.

'Third cycle of their life' ? What does that mean?

I like to think that perhaps Cirdan was the first Elf to awake, especialy because he will be the last to set sail to Valinor, sort of like a gentle father figure and perhaps the beard was wholly unique. Yet you mentioned that passage so I'm stumped.

I've always pictured Thingol with a beard.

But what is this "third cycle of life"? I thought the Elves, barring accidents, were immortal?

The Prof. didn't explain the "cycles" in the note mentioned.

Generally speaking, Elves were technically long-lived ~ of course the Eldar did "grow" older, for example in the sense that: "... the impulses and moods of their bodies change..." as with, or when, the changes of desire and thought gathered upon their spirits. [ Morgoths Ring] Their physical 'fading', the ultimate consumation of their bodies by their spirits, is also a manifestion in part, in Middle-earth.

You mentioned the Teler and I know about the Noldors and the Sindars, but exactly how many diffrent type of elves are there and what's the diffrence between them all?

There are the Teleri, the noldor, and the Vanyar...
All these were gathered at Cuivinen at the time of the awakening. When Oromë came to them the first time, many fled, and became the... I can't remember the term, they can be said to be wild elves, they are the real Moriquendi, elves off the dark, they never even set out to Valinor. When Oromë left, he took along three elves, Ingwe, Olwe and Elwe, I think(please, correct me if I'm wrong), to see Valinor, and the splendour of the Valar. He brought them back again, and they talked their people into going west. They became the leaders of the Elves, and this was when the elves were split up(I think, I can't recall reading anything about there being differences before this). The first host, led by Ingwe, was the smallest, and became the Vanyar. The second host was the noldor, and the third host, which was by far the largest, was the Teleri. It was from this host that all the wood elves, and Sindarin elves derived, as many gave up on the journey. Some wandered off when the hosts reached the great river, some left before, and some left later... It was also in this group that Elu Thingol was, unntill he was enchanted by the beauty of Melian, and frozen for so many years that the main hosts left him behind, and counted him for lost. Some stayed, and wouldn't give up on their leader, and later made Doriath, with Thingol as their king...

This is all the explanation I have the time for now, I hope it helped a bit... there is much more, but I think that I've covered the main issues...

Initially there were three groups of Quendi (Elves), these were the Minyar (Firsts), Tatyar (Seconds) and Nelyar (Thirds) (the Tatyar and Nelyar were each comprised of two groups). Orome took three Elves with him to Valinor (Ingwe, Finwe and Elwe). When they returned that got some of the Quendi to go to Aman with them. Those who went on the Great Journey were the Eldar, all of the Minyar went (they were commonly known as the Vanyar); Half the Tatyar went (these wre the Noldor) and about two thirds of the Nelyar (who were also called the Lindar) went (these were commonly called the Teleri). Those who remained behind called Avari and comprised the remainder of the Tatyar and Nelyar. The Vanyar and Noldor and part of the Teleri made it all the way to Aman and were called Calaquendi. Part of the Teleri stopped at the Hithaeglir and became the Nandor. Part of the Teleri remained behind in Beleriand, these were commonly known as the Sindar (of which there were three main branches (the Falathrim (Cirdan's folk dwelling in the Falas), the Iathrim (Thingol's direct subjects, the Doriathrim) and the North Sindar (that I sometimes refer to as the Mithrim) who dwelt in the northern parts of Beleriand.