But this is incorrect. Tolkien did NOT say the Elves had pointed ears. The entry for "las-" in "The Etymologies" is not saying that Elves had pointed ears.

: Of course I always tempered my argument with the fact that
: neither the Hobbit nor the LOTR describe the ears of anyone
: (aside from perhaps the Oliphant), so if that is the readers
: only source of information it would be acceptable to have all
: characters with normal ears. But this does raise a problem
: about which tidbits of information that Tolkien provides in his
: letters can or should be used and which items should be ignored
: or discarded. How do we keep personal biases from influencing
: such decisions? I don't like pointed ears, and I agree with
: your opinions, but I am still troubled by those darn quotes and
: the picture of Bilbo and no clarification in later letters that
: I'm aware of. Perhaps I'm being too legalistic or pedantic
: about the matter. At the same time I don't think this topic
: deserves as much space as we've devoted to it except perhaps
: that it may lay to rest the ear question for some.

I see no reason to be troubled by citations which have been misused through the years to argue that Tolkien's elves had pointed ears.

And the pointedness of a Hobbit's ear doesn't define the pointedness of an Elf's ear.

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