Are Elves Shallow?

[The Saucepan Man]

Not many of the "good" human characters are unattractive either, certainly not the heroic ones. I don't exactly imagine Hurin, Beren or Turin as being "mingers". And Aragorn feeling "foul" was more, I think, to do with being weatherbeaten from his travels. I bet he scrubbed up nicely. At least I am sure Arwen (and Eowyn) thought so [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] .

Indeed, in "The field of Cormallen", he is described thus:

And then they knew him, changed as he was, so high and glad of face, kingly, lord of Men, dark-haired with eyes of grey.

Also, the likes of Eowyn and Morwen are, I think, described in terms of great beauty.

Again, the outer beauty reflects the inner beauty. Those who are not so "beautiful" on the inside are described in less glowing terms. So, Wormtongue is "a wizened figure of a man, with a pale wise face and heavy-lidded eyes". And then, in the Prancing Pony, we have the squint eyed southerner (although I believe that he may have had Orcish blood in him) and Bill Ferny, described as a "swarthy Bree-lander" with a "knowing and half-mocking expression".

So, although Elves are undoubtedly the fairest beings of ME, the same principles seem to apply (to a lesser degree maybe) to the race of Man.