stone elves

[Lindale]

You actually make a good point, Rune! I never thought of that. But anyway I still don't think Elves made statues of themselves. For some reason, I think they're beyond "that mortal nonsense."

[mark12_30]

Originally Posted by Lindale

You actually make a good point, Rune! I never thought of that. But anyway I still don't think Elves made statues of themselves. For some reason, I think they're beyond "that mortal nonsense."

Agreed. They liked music, dancing, song, and things that threw light or water. They strewed gems on the beach after they made them... stone statues just don't fit that pattern.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

I do understand that it is not a thing that fits the pattern perfectly and especially not in places like Rivendell or Lothlorien, but I have a hard time imagining places like Gondolin and Tirion without some sort of statues.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Already in Valinor the Noldor were making portrait-sculptures: check out the (full) description of Feanor's wife Nerdanel, the sculptress, in Morgoth's Ring. And the Elves may also have had the Renaissance attitude of celebrating the Hroa, the body- not that of any particular Elf, but its idealized form.

[Nerwen]

I think the the problem is that some people are thinking of Tolkien's Elves as an homogenous group, which they certainly weren't. So it's not a question of whether "The Elves" would make statues, but of whether particular Elven cultures would.

Originally Posted by mark12_30

Agreed. They liked music, dancing, song, and things that threw light or water. They strewed gems on the beach after they made them... stone statues just don't fit that pattern.

*cough* but ships "in the likeness of swans," do?

That said, the people of Lorien are mainly Silvan Elves, and I should say aren't all that likely to make statues.

Still, I really don't think it's that important.

[mark12_30]

SHips get you to Valinor. They have an extremely practical reason for making them, and while they are at it, they'll make the most gorgeous ships they can. THey make bows, beautifully; they make rope, beautifully; they make clothes, beautifully. THey make houses, beautifully. THe caves of Nargothrond (or was it Menegroth? Both?) were carved into the stone as if the ceiling was held up by trees, rooted beneath, branching above.

But that is different (I think) than sticking a statue of an elf (or other humanoid) into the woods. Or having a statue of an elf in your library. The latter seems very mortally minded, to me.