: : I'll try and get my scanner working and email you my pics of Glorfindel, Frodo, Gandalf, and if I finish Legolas and Aragorn. (I'm even working on Arwen believe it or not) :-)

: : Andrea

: Thanks. And you've also given me another question. Tolkien very often dispenses with detailed descriptions of his characters, so that all of us have his general description and then fill in the blanks. He also used superlatives like "most beautiful" in describing Luthien and Arwen, which is really no description at all except that we tend to imagine what to us is our concept of beauty. But I was wondering what Tolkine's concept of beauty was. Was it similar to our present ideal of beauty, or perhaps a bit more rubenesque? The reason I ask is that the ideal beautiful woman changes over time. What was considered healthy and beautiful a hundred or more years ago is considered overweight and dumpy looking today. And even in the space of a few years we have gone from the Marilyn Monroe look (full bodied) to the very thin waifish look (or the herion addict look, depending on how you see it).

If you can find a picture of his wife (Edith Bratt Tolkien IIRC) you might see what his concept of beauty was. Luthien (and thus Arwen) is modelled on her to some extent.