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Re: Elvish size
I had interpreted the words to mean that the Sindar were very like the Noldor, both peoples being dark-haired, strong and tall, but lithe.
You took it that the Sindar were very like the Noldor being dark-haired, strong, and tall, but more lithe than the Noldor, an interpretation that had not occurred to me.
Now that I see it, I can't descide which is meant from that sentence. But the following phrase:<blockquote>
Quote:<hr> Indeed they could hardly be told apart except by their eyes;<hr></blockquote>perhaps pulls more strongly for my original interpretation: Noldor and Sindar are identical on the average in strength, height, and build.
Also in
Tuor JRRT writes:<blockquote>
Quote:<hr> He was come now almost to his full stature, taller and swifter than any of the Easterlings;<hr></blockquote>So Tuor is a tall man; indeed, even before reaching full growth he is taller than any Easterling.
My intent in the editing of the Tuor passage was to retain there the information that Tuor was a tall man. (A standard scene in traditional romance and epic is the hero appearing in a crowd, taller and more handsome than any of the others, and Tolkien here appears to be following the convention.) But I wished to remove the now invalid information that Elves were on the average shorter than Men, hence my replacement of "small" by "strong and tall" from "Quendi and Eldar".
Assuming that the Noldor and Sindar and the people of the House of Hador averaged about the same height in their prime, then it comes down to how much above the average height of these peoples was Tuor. If slightly above average, then it would be unlikely that he would be taller than anyone in the crowd. If very tall among those people, then the account can stand. Or is the logic instead that because of this account, which we have no reason otherwise not to accept, we know Tuor was very tall among those people?
P.5 I see now that "his heavy spear barbed with fish bone" must be deleted. From
Tuor, describing Turor and Voronwë's setting out:<blockquote>
Quote:<hr> Tuor took with him the small bow and arrows that he had brought, beside the gear that he had taken from the hall; but <u>his spear, upon which his name was written in the eleven[
sic]-runes of the North, he set upon the wall</u> in token that he had passed.<hr></blockquote>So he has no spear when he comes to Gondolin. I think "clad in the skins of bears" must also go. It might still be true; but it would be most unusual for Tuor to wear his garments over his mail-coat instead of under it, and so the Noldor would see little of them. Tuor's cloak, Ulmo's gift, which he does naturally wear over his armour, is almost certainly not bear-skin.
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Edited by: <A HREF=http://www.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_profile&u=00000212>jallanit e</A> at: 7/26/01 7:37:56 pm