Elven Characteristics

[Alfirin]

Originally Posted by Lissë

Hello, unfortunately I do not own the HoME. I would like to ask if there is any passage which says that elves are more slender than humans and that they're beardless. I think in the Lost Tales there is a passage where the elves of Gondolin are astonished at Tuors deep voice. Does anyone else know this passage? Did Tolkien imagine elves with higher voices than humans? Thank you!

Technically, elves are NOT beardless. It's just that elves don't start growing facial hair until they reach the third stage of thier life (what would be analogous to old age) and that takes so long that by that point in thier lives, most elves have long since sailed for the west (or in other words, if you wanted to see a lot of bearded elves, you'd probably have to go looking around in Aman.). Cirdan, the lord of the Grey Havens, is pretty much the only elf still in residence in ME at the time of LOTR who is of such and age and has such a beard. Mention is also made of one elf who started growing a beard early, in his second stage of life, but this is generally regarded as a unique occurance.