Elven Characteristics - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Nerwen · 01-28-2014, 07:00 PM

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Originally Posted by cellurdur

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nerwen

But somebody who is 5'10, like the aforementioned average British male, is not going to be described as "five foot tall".

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There is not a significant difference if Isildur were 7'3 or even 7'4. Their average height would be around 7'6 and so it would be correct to roughly pin them as 7 ft.

That's a lot to do with 5ft being considered short. The difference between a man, who is 5'10 and another who is 5'3 is huge. If Elendil walked past you at 7'10 and then later Isildur walked past you at 7'2 the comparative difference is much smaller.

Or even in real life if you saw two men one being 6'6 and the other 6'1 you are likely to refer to both as 6ft.

Well, no, I actually wouldn't, as 6'6 is in fact noticeably taller. And for me, I think you can probably substitute most people; I really don't think I've ever heard anyone describe height the way you're doing here. Come on, are you sure you're not just, well, stretching things?

I'm not saying either version is the "right" one, understand, just that they do seem to me to be clearly contradictory. I don't see why this should be a problem- authors always do rewrite things, and play with different ideas, and so on.

Also- I guess I read your post in a hurry, because the first time I missed where you said "Christopher Tolkien has the right himself to define what is canon". As far as I know, this isn't the case, at least not in a way that would apply here. I mean, yes, he could have chosen not to publish, or make available, any of this. Again, I don't think that's relevant.