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<blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 7308850" data-attributes="member: 6779196">The short answer is that Tolkien was a linguist first and foremost, so any thorough analysis of his work must necessarily be a great deal more pedantic than the casual fan is likely to consider. He chose his words very carefully, and if pointedness was the image he intended to conjure, then pointed is likely the word he would have used. It’s also worth noting that the two sources referenced to indicate pointed elf ears are not in his fiction, but in letters, the canonicity of which are themselves a matter of debate. In one, he refers to hobbit ears as “only slightly more pointed and “elvish” than human ears.” Note the word “more” implying that the point of reference, human ears, must have a degree of pointedness he would consider comparable. Note also the quotation marks around “elvish” which could imply reference to the colloquial use of the term rather than elves in his own fiction. In the other, he describes elf ears as “leaf-like,” and while leaves do have points, it’s important to remember that we are talking about ears, and the likeness to leaves may well be relative to general ear shape. It’s important to remember the context of the fiction in discussion as well - Tolkien describes his elves as being genetically the same as humans, and says that elves can be mistaken for humans in many situations.for the long answer, I’ll leave a link to a much more thorough argument.<a href="https://middle-earth.xenite.org/do-tolkiens-elves-have-pointy-ears/" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://middle-earth.xenite.org/do-tolkiens-elves-have-pointy-ears/" target="_blank">https://middle-earth.xenite.org/do-tolkiens-elves-have-pointy-ears/</a></blockquote>

[QUOTE="Charlaquin, post: 7308850, member: 6779196"] The short answer is that Tolkien was a linguist first and foremost, so any thorough analysis of his work must necessarily be a great deal more pedantic than the casual fan is likely to consider. He chose his words [I]very[/I] carefully, and if pointedness was the image he intended to conjure, then pointed is likely the word he would have used. It’s also worth noting that the two sources referenced to indicate pointed elf ears are not in his fiction, but in letters, the canonicity of which are themselves a matter of debate. In one, he refers to hobbit ears as “only slightly more pointed and “elvish” than human ears.” Note the word “more” implying that the point of reference, human ears, must have a degree of pointedness he would consider comparable. Note also the quotation marks around “elvish” which could imply reference to the colloquial use of the term rather than elves in his own fiction. In the other, he describes elf ears as “leaf-like,” and while leaves do have points, it’s important to remember that we are talking about ears, and the likeness to leaves may well be relative to general ear shape. It’s important to remember the context of the fiction in discussion as well - Tolkien describes his elves as being genetically the same as humans, and says that elves can be mistaken for humans in many situations. for the long answer, I’ll leave a link to a much more thorough argument. [URL="https://middle-earth.xenite.org/do-tolkiens-elves-have-pointy-ears/"] https://middle-earth.xenite.org/do-tolkiens-elves-have-pointy-ears/[/URL] [/QUOTE]

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