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Old 06-02-2020, 01:42 PM   #33
Huinesoron
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Location: The north-west of the Old World, east of the Sea
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Huinesoron is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.Huinesoron is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin View Post
Not so. Aredhel (formerly Isfin) was tagged "The White Lady" because she always wore white. Her hair was black, like nearly all Noldor; and the Noldor and the Sindar/Teleri both, according to Tolkien, were "fair of skin and grey-eyed, though their locks were dark, save in the golden house of Finarfin." And the House of Beor similarly was dark-haired but fair-skinned with grey eyes, as was the half-Beorian Turin (Adanedhel, "Man-elf.") Not to mention Luthien and her doppelgangerin Arwen. And Aragorn himself. and Boromir.

In other words, coloration akin to the "black Irish" of the real world, not a Mediterranean type.
Objection, yerhonour!

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Silmarillion
Ar-Feiniel she was called, the White Lady of the Noldor, for she was pale though her hair was dark, and she was never arrayed but in silver and white.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HoME XII
There were fair-haired men and women among the Folk of Bëor, but most of them had brown hair (going usually with brown eyes), and many were less fair in skin, some indeed being swarthy.
Good catch on the Appendix F quote; I'd missed that one. Read literally, it actually applies far more broadly than 'Noldor and Teleri':

Quote:
Originally Posted by Appendix F
_Elves_ has been used to translate both _Quendi_, 'the speakers', the High-elven name of all their kind, and _Eldar_, the name of the Three Kindreds that sought for the Undying Realm and came there at the beginning of Days (save the _Sindar_ only). This old word was indeed the only one available, and was once fitted to apply to such memories of this people as Men preserved, or to the making of Men's minds not wholly dissimilar. But it has been diminished, and to many it may now suggest fancies either pretty or silly, as unlike to the Quendi of old as are butterflies to the swift falcon - not that any of the Quendi ever possessed wings of the body, as unnatural to them as to Men. They were a race high and beautiful the older Children of the world, and among them the Eldar were as kings, who now are gone: the People of the Great Journey, the People of the Stars. They were tall, fair of skin and grey-eyed, though their locks were dark, save in the golden house of Fin[arfin]; and their voices had more melodies than any mortal voice that now is heard. They were valiant, but the history of those that returned to Middle-earth in exile was grievous; and though it was in far-off days crossed by the fate of the Fathers, their fate is not that of Men. Their dominion passed long ago, and they dwell now beyond the circles of the world, and do not return.
The text clearly says that the House of Finarfin were the only light-haired Eldar, meaning Celeborn, Thingol, Idril, and every single Vanya must be members of that same house, right?

But yes, that does swing the needle back towards 'light-skinned elves', though as with seemingly everything else, Tolkien's view seems to have shifted from time to time. That's the fun of Middle-earth - you can find texts to support anything you want.

hS
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