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Mithalwen · 02-01-2008, 02:10 PM

There is something in UT about Elendil's height which would make him the best part of 8 ft but that might have been a miscalculation seeing as he was working in a ME unit of measurement (and it is hard enough, I find, to think of the metric equivalent to feet and inches).

This is from the LOTR Companion by Hammond & Scull:

The Numenoreans before the Downfall were a people of great stature and strength, the Kings of Men, their full grown men were commonly seven feet tall, especially in the royal and noble houses. In the North where men of other kinds were fewer and their race remained purer this stature remained more frequent, though in both Arnor and Gondor apart from mixture of race the Numenoreans showed a dwindling of height and longevity in Middle-earth that became more marked as the Third Age passed. Aragorn, direct descendant of Elendil and his son Isildur, both of whom had been seven feet tall , must nonetheless have been a very tall man...probably at least 6 ft. 6; and Boromir, of high Numenorean lineage, not much shorter (say 6 ft. 4)...
Tolkien Papers, Bodleian Library, published in The Lord of the Rings Companion , Hammond and Scull, 2005

Now given that Tolkien associates height with high lineage..it is reasonable to expect that Elendil would not have been so much shorter than the tallest elves. We know that Galadriel was the tallest elf woman at about 6 foot four.

But her growth may have been stunted by her elder siblings

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle2441839.ece

I have played around with some potential height calculators and it seems that a woman is likely to be between 4 and 10 inches shorter than her brothers which suggest that Finrod and co would have been bewtween 6"8 and 7"2.

Their first cousin Turgon was second tallest of the CHildren of Illuvatar so has to be over 7 foot to beat elendil and possibly over 7"2 to be taller than the maximum likely height of Galadriels brothers. However they don't have to be a lot taller. Elendil is nicknamed the tall which suggests conspicuously different height whereas Turgon and Thingol may have just happened to be the tallest of a generally tall people rather than towering over their peers... so maybe only a few inches in it. But this is my supposition not fact.

02-01-2008, 02:10 PM	#2
Mithalwen Pilgrim Soul Join Date: May 2004 Location: watching the wonga-wonga birds circle... Posts: 9,459	There is something in UT about Elendil's height which would make him the best part of 8 ft but that might have been a miscalculation seeing as he was working in a ME unit of measurement (and it is hard enough, I find, to think of the metric equivalent to feet and inches). This is from the LOTR Companion by Hammond & Scull: The Numenoreans before the Downfall were a people of great stature and strength, the Kings of Men, their full grown men were commonly seven feet tall, especially in the royal and noble houses. In the North where men of other kinds were fewer and their race remained purer this stature remained more frequent, though in both Arnor and Gondor apart from mixture of race the Numenoreans showed a dwindling of height and longevity in Middle-earth that became more marked as the Third Age passed. Aragorn, direct descendant of Elendil and his son Isildur, both of whom had been seven feet tall , must nonetheless have been a very tall man...probably at least 6 ft. 6; and Boromir, of high Numenorean lineage, not much shorter (say 6 ft. 4)... Tolkien Papers, Bodleian Library, published in The Lord of the Rings Companion , Hammond and Scull, 2005 Now given that Tolkien associates height with high lineage..it is reasonable to expect that Elendil would not have been so much shorter than the tallest elves. We know that Galadriel was the tallest elf woman at about 6 foot four. But her growth may have been stunted by her elder siblings http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle2441839.ece I have played around with some potential height calculators and it seems that a woman is likely to be between 4 and 10 inches shorter than her brothers which suggest that Finrod and co would have been bewtween 6"8 and 7"2. Their first cousin Turgon was second tallest of the CHildren of Illuvatar so has to be over 7 foot to beat elendil and possibly over 7"2 to be taller than the maximum likely height of Galadriels brothers. However they don't have to be a lot taller. Elendil is nicknamed the tall which suggests conspicuously different height whereas Turgon and Thingol may have just happened to be the tallest of a generally tall people rather than towering over their peers... so maybe only a few inches in it. But this is my supposition not fact. __________________ “But Finrod walks with Finarfin his father beneath the trees in Eldamar.” Christopher Tolkien, Requiescat in pace