Beardless

[Arathul]

Pardon for slight off topic

now that you mention Cirdan and his beard, he 's an elf right? and they were gifted with the gift of immortality and never grow old. then why did Cirdan looks like an old man. just look at Galadriel, she's at least as old as Cirdan and yet they say she's very beautiful. remember the first movie, at the beginning when they mention "three rings were given to the elf"? there's 3 elf there, Galadriel (Cate Blanchet), and there's also 2 other elves. i assumed the dark haired one is Gil-Galad and the White haired old loking one is Cirdan. even in movie depictionas he look quite old.

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Arathul

Pardon for slight off topic

now that you mention Cirdan and his beard, he 's an elf right? and they were gifted with the gift of immortality and never grow old. then why did Cirdan looks like an old man. just look at Galadriel, she's at least as old as Cirdan and yet they say she's very beautiful. remember the first movie, at the beginning when they mention "three rings were given to the elf"? there's 3 elf there, Galadriel (Cate Blanchet), and there's also 2 other elves. i assumed the dark haired one is Gil-Galad and the White haired old loking one is Cirdan. even in movie depictionas he look quite old.

Well....

Actually, you have a good point... but I must quibble about the relative ages of Círdan and Galadriel.

Círdan is quite a bit older than Galadriel. From texts about him in the Silmarillion writings, we can see that he was clearly born either before or on the Great March, since he was an adult at the time that Elwë (Thingol) was lost in Nan Elmoth, and I would lean towards an earlier date for his birth rather than a later one, since he was clearly a person of some stature among the Teleri, as evidenced by his lordship from the beginning of the Falathrim, and since the Sindar in general were widely composed of those akin to Thingol, it cannot have been on the basis of his kinship to Thingol alone.

Círdan, then is probably about the same age then as Thingol, or his good friend, Finwë-- Galadriel's grandfather. We are also told, in Unfinished Tales that it was not long before the brightness of Valinor was dimmed (with the release of Melkor) that she grew to adulthood. And since Melkor was imprisoned for three Ages, and since most of those three Ages passed after the arrival of the Vanyar and Noldor in Valinor, it seems likely to assume that Círdan was something like two and a half Ages older than Galadriel. It also seems probable that Galadriel was the youngest of Finwë's grandchildren, or one of the youngest, seeing as she was the youngest child of his youngest son.

(It should also be noted that these "Ages" before the demise of the Two Trees were of a fixed, numerical length--one that I can't recall at the moment, but one which I believe was rather shorter than the 2nd and 3rd Ages turned out to be... Still, although Galadriel and Círdan are both quite old, the Shipwright has a decided edge.)

[Morthoron]

Formendacil is correct, Cirdan is literally ages older than Galadriel; in fact, I think it's safe to say Cirdan was the oldest Elf existing outside of Aman (at least of any named Elf in the story). To me, it seems Tolkien used a long beard as an outward symbol of Cirdan's immense longevity.