Unfair criticism of ROP Eldar.

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

It is possible that Saeros means that Turin's hair is too long, and the standard of a good hairstyle is short-cropped hair. However, I think that an equally likely read is that Saeros takes issue not with the length itself as with the untidiness - long hair can be jagged or trimmed, can be messy and flying in all directions or combed neatly, kept out of the face by combing or with braids or various devices. The flip side to this is that it can still very easily fall over the ears - but then again, Saeros's jibe is at his overall state of unkeptness, and the ears comment can be interpreted in the same spirit - him exaggerating any trait to show his scorn. I think both are valid interpretations, but it's not a slam dunk. Personally, I imagine Turin's hair to be kinda like Movie!Aragorn's, which actually makes it shorter (but messier) than what I imagine most Elves to have.

He does immediately go on to imagine the women of Hithlum going about "like the deer clad only in their hair", which - aside from not being likely to make him many friends among the friends and family of Luthien the Nightingale - suggests that "hair long enough to act as a cloak" is at least unusual.

NoME has a whole chapter called "Hair", but it's half a page long. It says that "Ingwe had curling golden hair. Finwe (and Miriel) had long dark hair, so had Feanor and all the Noldor, save by intermarriage..." Again, there's ambiguity: a literal reading implies that long hair is a genetic trait, and full-blooded Noldor were literally incapable of cutting theirs. More likely is that "and all the Noldor" refers to the colour, not the length.

Even taken literally, I think the only RoP character who would violate this is Celebrimbor, assuming he is actually Noldorin (remember that Tolkien also wrote of him as Gondolindrim, and there's even a late text making him a Teler of Aman!). Elrond is only fractionally Noldor, Finrod only a quarter, Arondir is presumptively Sindar/Nandor, and Galadriel and Gil-Galad have long hair anyway.

hS