[Mirilion]

I read LOTR and the silmarilion, and nowhere does it say that elves have pointy ears !! could it be that all those years people got the wrong idea ?!?!?!

I didnt even question it until I saw some drawings of Tolkien's work from the 60's or 70's, and the elves are fair and well built but without the trademark ears.
In fact they look just like tall and handsome/beautiful humans...

As a veteran AD&D player I have to say that the whole concept of elves without pointed ears totally creeps me out. I hope someone will prove the pointedness of tolkien elves' (Tolmer ? :lol: ) ears

[blackmage256]

the funniest part is that soem hummans have quite pointed ears (like my friend
but so what no where does it say in any book that these elves are from tolkien and there were stories about elves (mainly norse) so pointed elves may not be taken from tolkien and peeps that first started drawing elves as they pictured them in tolkien might know norse mythology
I hope this makes sence ...

[Rynos]

I always pictured elves with a slight tip to their ears. Not rounded like humans.

[Ancalagon]

Agreed. There was a debate that I read about as to whether or not the Elves had pointed ears. It was much like the 'Balrog-Wings, Balrog-No-Wings' debate. Again Tolkien never really specified about that, though some will say that the evidence can be found in the name (I have no idea about this, but someone who knows sindarin and quenya could possibly elaborate). Tolkien only said that the Elves were fair of face and tall, though I do like to think that they had pointed tips but not full on pointy ears. Like Rynos' description.

[blackmage256]

well the idea of pointy ears did come from norse myths tho and its just such an intergral part of our culture that we assume that they all have pointy ears but tolkien did read uo on norse mythos if im not misstaken but may have just not have immagined it with pointy ears but that doesnt stop you from giving them pointy ears but for this mod it will be jsut like tolkien immagined it meaning no ears...
or so i think...

[Mirilion]

Oh...... But weren't norse elves kinda dwarf like ? Although there were huge "dwarves" , the name "alf" meant dwarf.
Btw the land of the dark "elves" of norse myth is called Svartalfheim, "Dark Dwarf Home". Sounds Kinda similar to Vvardenfell.
I remember from somewhere that there's no real connection between Tolkien elves and norse elves.

[.:Imrahil:.]

lol, it'll be pretty stupid if ME elves turned out to have normal ears, or maybe no ears, but holes. There's only man alive who knows the answer to this question: Daerk. Too bad he can't get online...

[Darnoc]

Well, when I watched the films I was acctually surprised to see that elves had pointy ears (and also hobbits). In the German version of LotR elves aren't called "Elfen" (this would be the direct translation) but "Elben", a much older and more "exalted" word than Elfen. I think that Elben comes from the old Highgerman (and Nors) word Alben. See "Ring des Nibelungen" and "Niebelungenlied", there it is written Alben. As I recall, Tolkien himself chose the word Elben, because it would better represent his idea of elves. I never immagined myself elves with pointy ears but rather tall, blond or black haired, very beautiful human like creature which have somekind of "inner light" that can be seen in their eyes. I don't mean litterally light, but you probably get what I mean.

[.:Imrahil:.]

I only read the book after I'd seen the Fellowship. So I already got pointy ears in my head. As well as characters.. Bit a shame.

[Ancalagon]

Thanks for posting that info. Darnoc. That's what I remember being a part of the debate that I had read on a seperate page (not on this site). There was, however, another argument that was equally persuasive on the pointed tips or 'leaf-shaped' (not full on MW Dark-Elf ears) side of the argument. In any case, I believe that the Elves should be represented by however Tolkien ment them to look like.

Though, I think that having slightly pointed tips would make them seem not as human, aside from having that inner light and the fierce bright eyes...