Tolkien's Pointy Ears
- Laitoste
- Michael_Martinez
- Laitoste
- Michael_Martinez
- BandwagonNewbie
- Michael_Martinez
- JohnLocke059
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» Laitoste - tolkien actually intended pointed ears?
In the Annotated Hobbit with annotations by Dougals A. Anderson, there are lots of interesting tidbits...One thing, that has nothing to do with my title, is that Sam's song "The Stone Troll" found in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil is to be sung to the tune of "The Fox Went Out." It's an old folk song, and the band Nickel Creek has it on their first album...just thought that was an interesting piece of information...
Anyway, to my intended subject... on page 10 of the 1988 Annotated Hobbit, it has an excerpt from Letters, No. 27 where Tolkien describes hobbits. As you have noticed, the hobbits, as well as the elves, have pointy ears in the movie. Ahem...Professor Tolkien says that,"[Hobbits have a] round, jovial face; ears only slightly pointed and 'elvish'; hair short and curling(brown)." Well, there you have it. An interesting fact to notice is that he said that their ears were "only slightly pointed and 'elvish'." Now why would he say 'and elvish' unless he thought elves had pointed ears? On page 165, it says that "Tolkien noted the possible relationship between the two[elvish words lasse with the meanings 'leaf' and 'ear'] in that Elven 'ears were more pointed and leaf-shaped' than human ones. hmm... elf ears are more pointed and leaf-shaped than human ones... well, if anyone can show proof of Tolkien thinking otherwise, perhaps the Professor couldn't make up his mind--as seen with other things in his works. Also, if I have misunderstood these facts, someone please correct me.
Hope everyone is enjoying all the goodies coming out...;)
-- posted by Laitoste
» Michael_Martinez - Re: tolkien actually intended pointed ears?
In response to message posted by Laitoste:Tolkien's use of the word "elvish" in that letter had no connection with HIS elves (since no one for whom the letter was intended had ever read about or seen pictures of his elves, except in the Hobbit manuscript).
Douglas Anderson and I discussed the Elvish ears controversy while he was preparing the new edition of The Annotated Hobbit last year. His latest word on the subject is that Tolkien probably envisioned his Elves with pointed ears in the 1930s. That is about as much room for agreement as there ever will be on this issue.
Certainly there are no stories where Tolkien puts pointed ears on Elves. My view is that he toyed with the idea, or originally used it for the Lost Tales but gradually shed all traits familiar to European folklorists, including pointed ears, by the time he published The Lord of the Rings.
-- posted by Michael_Martinez
» Michael_Martinez - Re: Re: Re: tolkien actually intended pointed ears?
In response to message posted by Laitoste:Thanks!
-- posted by Michael_Martinez
» BandwagonNewbie - Re: Re: tolkien actually intended pointed ears?
In response to message posted by Michael_Martinez:Does the context of these letters suggest that elf ears are differently shaped from human ears?
-- posted by BandwagonNewbie
» Michael_Martinez - Re: Re: Re: tolkien actually intended pointed ears?
In response to message posted by BandwagonNewbie:Hobbit ears, the only ears actually discussed in any Tolkien letter, are said to be somewhat pointed.
-- posted by Michael_Martinez
» JohnLocke059 - A few questions
1) What are the giants or stone giants of the hobbit? It is said that the company went into the cave because of the storm and because they were afraid of the giants. What are these giants? Are they just the product of an intended children's story and not connected with the rest of the mythology?2) How does Sauron not sense Bilbo using his ring in Mirkwood? Was he more concerned about the impending attack of the White Council, or was Dol Guldur distant enough from that part of Mirkwood that Sauron had no increased sense of awareness there?
3) Was Sauron wearing the One Ring during his imprisonment in Numenor? If not, why would he have taken it off? If so, then would it not have been enveloped in the destruction as Sauron's physical body was? How did he get it back if he was wearing it when Numenor fell?
Just a few curiosities of mine...thanks for any input.
-- posted by JohnLocke059
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