Two questions

[Strange-Looking Lurker]

I figured I'd just ask two questions in this thread rather than starting to seperate ones.

Do male elfs have facial hair?

Who sent the dreams to Boromir and Faramir?

[crow]

I don't think of male elves as having facial hair. As far as I can recall, all elves portrayed have been cleanshaven.

I'm not going to even try to tackle that second question. I've only read the Hobbit and the Trilogy and I doubt possible answers would be found there.

Note to self: buy up all of Tolkien's works on Middle Earth. Read them. Study them. Know them.

[Darth Tater]

1. No

2. Um, the powers that be? sorry, couldn't resist, inside joke for any btvs/a fans here ;)

[Ñólendil]

Male Elves actually can grow facial hair. If you'll notice, CÃ*rdan of the Grey Havens is described as having a long, silver beard. Tolkien said in a note once (published in Unfinished Tales) that Elves do not grow beards, but he probably forgot about CÃ*rdan. Tar-Elenion will tell you that one linguistic text or other on the internet quotes Tolkien as saying that only Elves in their Third Cycle of life could grow a beard, but no one knows what that means. We do know that CÃ*rdan was very, very old. You can see him in the Prologue to the movies, he stands in the dark briefly with Elrond and Galadriel, white haired and bearded.

I don't think anyone knows the answer to the second question. I imagine that it was a Vala. The BBC's radio dramatization of the LotR gave the words of the dream to a woman's voice, and listening to it I was reminded of Varda.

[Comic Book Guy]

It's not Elrond with the ring at the Prologue, its none other than Gil-Galad. Unless my eyes decieve me Cirdan is not shown with a beard either, it looks both old and young oddly.

Is it possible that instead of Varda, it's Varië instead? I have also heard of theorys that it could have been Gandalf using his abilities as Olorin.

[Michael Martinez]

The dreams were probably sent by Varda, who seems to play an active part in the story.

The "beardlessness of Elves" note (published in Unfinished Tales) has led to much confusion, and may be responsible for the portrayal of Cirdan in the movie. However, it may also be that if Cirdan appears in the third movie, he will have a beard as in the book.

One of the essays on the Istari (published in Unfinished Tales) says that Men believed they were Elves. That is a strong indication that very old Elves would have beards.

The note that Inoldonil refers to, concerning the third cycle, is appended to "The Shibboleth of Feanor". Most of the Shibboleth was published in The Peoples of Middle-earth, but this part was published in the journal Vinyar Tengwar, number 41 (July 2000). The note reads: "Elves did not have beards until they entered their third cycle of life. Nerdanel's father [cf. XII:365-66 n.61] was exceptional, being only early in his second."

The page reference is to The Peoples of Middle-earth, where in note 61 to "The Shibboleth of Feanor" a little information is provided about Nerdanel's father, including alternate names (he is called Mahtan in The Silmarillion but is here called Urundil and possibly also Sarmo). The note does not say that he is bearded, but presumably he possessed the beard in Aman, before the rebellion of the Noldor.