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Originally Posted by Galadriel
That was a very well thought out answer  But could you clear up one more thing for me, if you don't mind: For the elves in Aman and Arda, were there shops and places they could ask for clothes and the like? Or did they have to make them themselves? |
Well, bear in mind that although it is all based on the sources we have, it is purely my conclusion, perhaps somebody might disagree. Nevertheless, as for your question, I think it is the same - I cannot imagine Elves having "shops" in real at all. If you wanted, say, new clothes, either you had to make them yourself, or you went to somebody whom you knew (and bear in mind that among the Elves, probably everybody knew more or less everybody, given their lifespan), and asked him to make it for you. I got the impression that the Elves preferred to make the clothes for themselves, as that's also the way to make them most to their liking, but obviously there also were some folks who tended to make clothes for the others - for example, in Lórien, we read that the cloaks for the Fellowship were made by Galadriel and some of her maidens, I assume from time to time some Elves might've been given them as well. Also from other things, I think acquiring new possessions among the Elves was often through the way of a gift - you can also see it with the Fellowship, or with various visitors in Menegroth and so on - you simply didn't come and ask "hello, how much would this bow cost?", but somebody gave it to you. I assume that, let's say, if an elven hunter discovered that he needs a new bow, mostly by the time he would start asking for it, some of his good friends would have already noticed it and made him a new one, or something like that. Of course, that's one of the things. Given how skilled the Eldar usually were, I believe they made lots of things for themselves. But there were probably always people around willing to make something for you, if you asked them.