Redheads of Middle-Earth

[Cúdae]

Finally, someone gives redheads some credit in Middle-Earth!

Anyway, to stay on topic... Redheads are rare anyway. Tolkien probably reflected the world in this. The country with the highest percentage of redheaded people is Scotland. Scotland is not a huge country and even in Scotland red hair isn't as common as, say, black hair in Japan. When one brings in the fact that three of Feanor's sons had red (reddish anyway, if not full blown red) hair, then I'm willing to bet that Tolkien did that on purpose. He probably didn't wake up one day and think "Hey, I'll make me some redheaded elves!" Actually, he might have said that, but I doubt it.

Just to muse on somehting a little... Maedhros, Amrod, and Amras are the ones who had red hair. Maedhros was tortured and lost his hand. Either Amrod or Amras died in the burning of the ships (going by the Shibboleth). Does this sound a little strange to anyone else? Maybe Tolkien had something against redheads... Sorry, I'll be quiet now.