Posted: May 29, 2000 at 13:54:35: by Dulcinea
: : I've always wondered how big elves really were. Tolkien seems to gives several differant possible conclusions in his works. I'll demonstrate.: : 1. When the elves of Lorien give Boromir the lembas they say one wafer will keep you on your feet for a day "even if he be one of the tall men of Minias Tirith." This seems to imply that Boromir is bigger than the elves of Lorien (or maybe I'm just reading to much into it). : : 2. Thingol is the tallest of all the Children of Illuvatar. This clearly implies that elves were taller than men (or at least some were). : : 3. (This will get a response) In the Sil it says that in the begining that men and elves were of similar size and strength (or something like that). Would that mean elves and men were about the same size in the FA but as time went on and elves "wearied of the world" they would diminish? Perhaps that would explain the two previous points. : : So how big were elves? My guess is that by the LoTR the average elf was around 5 1/2 to 6 ft. tall and probably had slender build. This leads us to the next question. How physically strong were elves? : : Many thanks for any answers : : Thorin : I am of the opinion that elves where relatively tall and of medium to slender build. In other words very similar in size to that of Aragorn. Fluctuations probably occured in an elves height but not nearly as great as the fluctuations of a mans height. I also assume that no elves where fat, or fat to the extent which men get. My opinion however is only based on references in the lord of the ring for example: the orcs refer to a great elve warrior, and the sons of elrond are described as similar of size as to that of Aragorn who I imagine to be over 6 feet tall. On the same thought, how tall were men on Minas Tirith. In the LOTR, it says that the average height of a hobbit was four feet, or a little less. I am going from memory of what I read in the back of Return of the King. If I am wrong i am sure I will find out soon enough. ;-)
But whin the fellowship breaks, and Boromir tries to take the ring, Frodo looks at Boromir and it is said that he was twice the size of the hobbit! Was Frodo just short as hobbits go, was Boromir extremely tall, or was the description of Boromir's height in this chapter an hyperbole.
Check in again soon
Dulcinea
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