Home » Reading & Literature » J.R.R. Tolkien » Does Barliman Have a Beard? And Other Important Fannish Issues - Page 4

Does Barliman Have a Beard? And Other Important Fannish Issues - Page 4

© Michael Martinez

What did Elves eat? I've seen this question more than once. Every time it comes up we truck out the citations from The Hobbit (concerning the Wood-elves' feast, their trade in apples, and Bilbo's theft of food from the raft-elves' village, not to mention the fact that raft-elves attended a feast in Laketown and the Elvenking brought food to the starving survivors of Laketown) and The Lord of the Rings (Gildor's folk supplied Frodo, Sam, and Pippin with cheese, bread, and fruit) and other sources. Never mind the fact that lembas is the waybread of the Elves. Well, the answer is that the Elves pretty much ate whatever they wanted to. And yet some people refine the question by asking, "Did Elves eat meat?" Sure, they ate meat. All but the Green-elves of Ossiriand. The sons of Feanor and Finrod often went hunting in east Beleriand, and the Elvenking of the The Hobbit hunted the white deer and later had a roast going in one of his feast sites. Nonetheless, people aren't sure if Elves eat meat. Why? Probably because the Green-elves of Ossiriand didn't eat meat. Perhaps also because Legolas didn't ride horses with a saddle. What has Legolas' refusal to use a saddle have to do with whether Elves eat meat? The connection is in there. Ask the people who call him, "Nature boy". Speaking of beards (as in the title of this essay), every now and then someone asks if Aragorn had a beard. Inevitably someone drags out their copy of Unfinished Tales and cites the brief note near the end of "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn" that Christopher describes. This note, written probably in the last year of JRRT's life about Prince Imrahil, says that his Elvish ancestry was denoted by the fact that he didn't have a beard. Um, the Elvenking had a beard in The Hobbit. So did Cirdan the Shipwright. Maybe this time the author really was wrong. In fact, there are many discrepancies between Tolkien's early writings (and drawings) and what he decided later on. For example, in the painting "Taur-nu-Fuin" (which depicts Beleg finding Gwindor asleep in the forests of Dorthonion) Beleg has a beard. He also has pointy Elf-shoes. Well, the beard may be a beard. Maybe it's just a very pronounced facial outline. One really has to squint to examine Beleg's face in that picture, and if one squints too hard one will see the Ent in the trees (no, there is no Ent in the trees).

The copyright of the article Does Barliman Have a Beard? And Other Important Fannish Issues - Page 4 in J.R.R. Tolkien is owned by Michael Martinez. Permission to republish Does Barliman Have a Beard? And Other Important Fannish Issues - Page 4 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.