I disagree. Even the idea that elves have pointed ears is something we only get from artists and film makers today. Tolkien never once, in all his writings, mentions elves having them. And Tolkien did write that the children of elves and men were easily mistaken for each other (which one might say rules out pointed ears, as that's a rather noticeable difference that should prevent the children of elves and men from being mistaken for each other).
Elves and men are both the children of Iluvatar, and (given Tolkien's strong Catholic faith, which quite definitely informed his writing) means that both were made in Iluvatar's image, so I would say they were absolutely meant to look more alike than they were different -- in his writing, Tolkien distinguishes elves and men by their eyes and their voices.
Finally, elves and men are attractive to each other (at least the most beautiful ones are). Thus Beren falls in love with Lúthien at first sight, and so too does Aragorn with Arwen. Tuor and Idril fall in love and marry (leading to Elros and Elrond), and Finduilas fell in love with Túrin Turambar (though he did not return her love) -- and in fact Túrin was called (among other things) Adanedhel (Man-Elf) because he was so like an elf in all ways, including appearance.
You seem to have something like Skyrim elves in mind, but Tolkien's elves aren't supposed to look like that. And I would argue that the rather (to human eyes) freakish features such as you describe would explicitly undermine one of the central facts about Tolkien's elves: that they are supposed to be angelically beautiful beings. To be that, they would have to conform to human canons of beauty, and the exaggerated features you would give them would mean they did not.
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Karl Aksel (1498)
3 years ago
Even the idea that elves have pointed ears is something we only get from artists and film makers today. Tolkien never once, in all his writings, mentions elves having them.
Tolkien did mention they had "leaf-shaped" ears, and that hobbit ears were "not as pointy" as elf ears.
And Tolkien did write that the children of elves and men were easily mistaken for each other (which one might say rules out pointed ears, as that's a rather noticeable difference that should prevent the children of elves and men from being mistaken for each other).
Not at all. Children have not yet developed mature features, which is why boys and girls can be mistaken for one another more readily than men and women can. You'd also be hard pressed to positively identify a race of cats or dogs by their infant looks.
Speaking of cats: cats have very pointy ears - but not at birth. Some kittens have
hints of pointy ears, and others may have perfectly rounded ears - which will grow long and pointy as the kitten matures.
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