29 Did Elves have beards? (Tolkien)
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This article is from the Tolkien Newsgroups FAQ, by Steuard Jensen sbjensen@midway.uchicago.edu with numerous contributions by others.
29 Did Elves have beards? (Tolkien)
Most of Tolkien's writings imply that Elves were generally
beardless. This is stated clearly in a note written late in Tolkien's
life which is summarized in the section "Amroth and Nimrodel" in "The
History of Galadriel and Celeborn" in _Unfinished Tales_. In the note,
there is a discussion of the Elvish strain in Men, as to its being
observable in the beardlessness of those who were so descended (it
was a characteristic of all Elves to be beardless).
At first glance, this would seem to settle the issue.
However, this ignores a crucial exception. In "The Grey Havens",
when Cirdan the Shipwright greets Frodo and the Elves, we read "Very
tall he was, and his beard was long". This canonical evidence makes it
clear that some Elves do have beards. A very incomplete explanation of
this apparent discrepancy appears in a note associated with "The
Shibboleth of Feanor" which was published in the journal _Vinyar
Tengwar_ #41, which reads
Elves did not have beards until they entered their third cycle of
life. Nerdanel's father was exceptional, being only early in his
second.
(Nerdanel was Feanor's wife.) No other mention of Elvish "cycles of
life" is known. Even without a full understanding, however, this helps
to reconcile these statements: Cirdan was one of the oldest Elves in
Middle-earth and could easily be in his "third cycle of life", and
humans descended from Elves might never live long enough to reach the
bearded state.
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