Why Tolkien’s elves had long hair: The final evidence!

“He wore his long dark hair in great plaits braided with gold.” Fingon, High King of the Noldor

“The hair of Olwë was long and white, and his eyes were blue.” Olwë, king of the Teleri

“His golden hair flowed shimmering in the wind of his speed.” Glorfindel of Rivendell

J.R.R. Tolkien

Whenever Tolkien described a specific elven character he always wrote long hair. In the only drawing we know of where Tolkien painted an elf, he had long dark hair flowing behind him.

In the wake of Amazon Prime’s Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power teaser trailer being released, and the pictures that’s been published this past week, we can safely say that they have chosen to predominately make the male elves have short hair, in sharp contrast to Peter Jackson’s adaptations. So who is right and who is wrong?

If the above quotations and Tolkien’s own illustration are not proof enough that the hair of elves were long, here are some further evidence from his writings:

“But most it was their wont to sail in their swift ships upon the waters of the Bay of Elvenhome, or to walk in the waves upon the shore with their long hair gleaming like foam in the light beyond the hill.”

J.R.R. Tolkien

This statement regarding Elvish long hair is made in Quenta Silmarillion phase 1 texts, given in History of Middle-earth 10, regarding the Teleri elves.

“Elwë himself had long and beautiful hair of silver hue, but this [hair color] does not seem to have been a common feature of the Sindar, though it was found among them occasionally, especially in the nearer or remoter kin of Elwë. – J.R.R. Tolkien, The War of the Jewels, “Quendi and Eldar”

“Then Celegorm arose amid the throng” (p. 169). In Quenta Silmarillion this is followed by ‘golden was his long hair‘. – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lost Road and Other Writings: the Commentary to “On Beren and Tinúviel”

“Fingon wore his long dark hair in great plaits braided with gold.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Peoples of the Middle-earth: “The Shibboleth of Fëanor”. Fingon was a High King of the Noldor.

“The hair of Olwë was long and white, and his eyes were blue” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The War of the Jewels: “The Grey Annals”. Olwë was the younger brother of Elwë.

“The hair of the Lady was of deep gold, and the hair of the Lord Celeborn was of silver long and bright” Celeborn has long hair.

“His golden hair flowed shimmering in the wind of his speed.” Glorfindel of Rivendell (The Fellowship of the Ring)

Glorfindel’s hair had to have been pretty fabulous, because Tolkien just won’t stop talking about it. First of all, Glorfindel’s name literally means “golden hair/goldtress”. In fact, his hair was so fabulous that it killed him. He was fighting a balrog along a cliff, and when he managed to stab the balrog, it fell off the cliff. But as it was falling, it reached up and “clutched Glorfindel’s yellow locks”, and the two fell to their deaths.

Glorfindel’s hair had to be long enough to be grabbed securely by a balrog, which might have had much bigger hands than a human. So the hair should have been long enough to hold securely. Maybe you could try grabbing people’s hair to see how long it has to be to get a good grip, a grip strong enough to pull someone off a cliff instead of having the hair slip through your fingers or rip out of their scalp. Hair also has to be fairly long for it to flow shimmering in the wind!

The Elves of Valinor: ‘With their gleaming hair in the wind flying’ (The Lays of Beleriand);

The Silvan Elves in Mirkwood (Teleri) have hair long enough to twine flowers into: “Their gleaming hair was twined with flowers; green and white gems glinted on their collars and their belts; and their faces and their songs were filled with mirth.” –The Hobbit, Flies and Spiders

Long hair for Elves implied by them unbraiding it and letting it blow freely in the wind, in The Song of Aelfwine:

There blowing free unbraided hair
is meshed with beams of Moon and Sun,
And twined within those tresses fair
a gold and silver sheen is spun,
As fleet and white the feet go bare,
and lissom limbs in dances run,
Shimmering in the shining air:
such loveliness to look upon
No mortal man hath ever won.

Lost Road, FNII

“Ingwë had curling golden hair. Finwë (and Míriel) had long dark hair, so had Fëanor and all the Noldor, save by intermarriage which did not often take place between clans, except among the chieftains, and then only after settlement in Aman. Elwë and Olwë had very pale hair, almost white. Melian was dark-haired, and so was Lúthien.”
– The Nature of Middle-earth – “Hair”

Finwë’s hair was no longer than other elves:

“All the Eldar had beautiful hair (and were especially attracted by hair of exceptional loveliness), but the Noldor were not specially remarkable in this respect, and there is no reference to Finwë as having had hair of exceptional length, abundance, or beauty beyond the measure of his people.”

The Peoples of Middle-earth – “The Shibboleth of Feanor”

So Tolkien stated that all the Noldor had long dark hair, and that Finwë (one of the Noldor) did not have longer or more beautiful hair than the other races of elves. Thus, it seems quite clear that all elves must indeed have had long abundant hair!

It’s also the case that many of the Noldor have “hair names” – Finwë, Fingolfin, Finarfin, Findis, Fingon, Finrod, Finduilas, all contain “fin” which is “hair”. This is no doubt significant. In The History of Middle Earth Vol. XII, The Peoples of Middle Earth, “The Shibboleth of Fëanor,” there’s a discussion of the name Finwë and whether or not his name had anything to do with the word element for hair (fin). It’s mentioned that all the Eldar had beautiful hair and that especially nice hair was a mark of physical attractiveness. It’s said that Finwë’s hair was not remarkable for length, color, or thickness. This suggests that in elves, extra length, unusual color, and/or abundance were prized. There are 29 hits for ”hair” in the Silmarillion only, describing how the hair of elves was ”long” and of ”great length”.

The elves even made bowstrings out of elf hair: “To Legolas [Galadriel] gave a bow such as the Galadhrim used, longer and stouter than the bows of Mirkwood, and strung with a string of elf-hair.” – Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, Chapter 8

“In western lands beneath the Sun
the flowers may rise in Spring,
the trees may bud, the waters run,
the merry finches sing.
Or there maybe ’tis cloudless night
and swaying beeches bear
the Elven-stars as jewels white
amid their branching hair.”

In Western Lands (J.R.R. Tolkien)

Amroth, the last elven king of Lórien was portrayed with flowing hair:

The wind was in his flowing hair,
The foam about him shone;
Afar they saw him strong and fair
Go riding like a swan.

J.R.R. Tolkien The Song of Nimrodel

“The face of Elrond was ageless, neither old nor young, though in it was written the memory of many things both glad and sorrowful. His hair was dark as the shadows of twilight, and upon it was set a circlet of silver; his eyes were grey as a clear evening, and in them was a light like the light of stars. Venerable he seemed as a king crowned with many winters, and yet hale as a tried warrior in the fullness of his strength. He was the Lord of Rivendell and mighty among both Elves and Men.” – J.R.R. Tolkien.

While the length of Elrond’s hair is not mentioned (besides Tolkien stating that all the Noldor had long beautiful hair and Elrond is a Noldo), it is otherwise indicated by wearing a circlet around his head, which is normally used to keep long hair in place. Other male elves are also said to wear a circlet around their hair, as well as Tolkien’s long-haired human kings.

If you were an elf, why would you choose to have short hair?

The elves are specifically designed in the books as ethereal beings with powers and physique far surpassing humans, even supernatural in many ways. This probably includes the ability to keep long silky hair in good repair even during battle and harsh conditions, far away from any salons and hair-grooming servants.

Here is a conjecture made with Lord Elrond as an example. At the time he left Middle-earth, he was 6,000 years old. Let us make the following calculation:

1. Elves, being naturally healthy, have fast-growing hair that grows long and beautiful. If they let it grow, they don’t need haircuts.
2. If they want a short hairstyle, let’s say they need to get a haircut at least every two months. Being beautiful elves, they want a bit of styling.
3. A haircut takes about half an hour.
4. That’s six haircuts, or three hours of getting a haircut, per year.
5. That’s 3 hours times 6,000 years, or 18,000 hours at the barber shop.
6. 18,000 hours is 750 days, about two years.

Would you want to spend 2 years getting your hair cut? Elrond had better things to do! Just imagine living for all eternity and having to go to the hairdresser every month or so.

To function visually on film and for the pointy ears to show, the actor either need to have really short hair or really long hair, anything in-between and the hair would mostly get in the way. Just a theory of why Amazon chose those really short haircuts.

Very short hair you can have trimmed back once a month or so, but you have to keep on top of it or it grows out. Long hair is more manageable because after a certain length its weight keeps it out of the way, or you can just tie it back if necessary. Mid-length hair is the most difficult to deal with. Long hair is easier to bind back and less likely to get in the eyes than medium-length hair. So either the elves should have really short hair or quite long hair for practicality reasons.

Choose which one you would prefer if being immortal: having effortlessly long hair of terminal length, or struggling to constantly keep it short (against its nature)? As a primeval creature who is depicted as living in graceful harmony with nature I think the choice would be easy. Cutting the hair of elves is like mutilating the branches of a tree, it just looks wrong. Depicting elves as having long hair accentuates their timelessness, longevity and the lack of a need to primp and flaunt their physical form, which is said to be already perfect.

The history and psychology of short hair

Short hair was originally a war haircut in human history, especially among the Romans. “The short hair and beardless fashion we see today didn’t become commonplace until during WWI, both for purposes of hygiene and to ensure a good seal on the gas mask. It was also psychological: everybody looks the same, individuality becomes irrelevant.” Elves on the other hand, live for thousands and thousands of years… they would never be bothered by lice or bad hygiene, and they spend a very small percentage of that time fighting. If they like long hair, they aren’t going to get rid of it because it might be annoying in a hypothetical battle that they might be involved in in a century or so. Besides, hair of some length was actually an asset when wearing certain types of helmets.

It’s worth noting that most of the characters in The Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion are high-status individuals (lords, nobles, princes, kings, etc.) for whom any difficulty in maintaining long hair wouldn’t be a serious worry.

Long hair has historically stood for health, nobility, strength and power

The out-of-universe explanation is that in the mythical material Tolkien loved and wanted to imitate, long hair for men wasn’t considered at all unusual. It might often even be described as one element of his good looks. Meanwhile, through the early Middle Ages, short hair or even a shaved head was usually considered a mark of servitude or slavery, or of sickness/bad health.

Tolkien’s main goal was always to link our history with that of Middle Earth. Lord of the Rings originated as a sort of replacement mythology for Celtic myths that had been largely lost (as well as other Norse myths). That particular culture favored long hair, particularly for warriors. It was hardly unique in this; similar patterns show up across millennia on basically every inhabited continent.

The earliest preserved descriptions of elves comes from Norse mythology, where they are known as álfar (meaning white). They are commonly described as semi-divine beings associated with fertility and the cult of the ancestors. In the High Middle Ages, germanic cultures valued long hair, especially for warriors: vikings were known to comb and groom their long hairs, and frankish lords valued their long braids sometimes above their own life, because short hair was considered as the mark of peasants or clerics. The Iliad uses the epithet “long haired Achaeans”, for those manliest of men, the dark age Greeks. The Spartans purposefully grew their hair long to intimidate their enemies. So “hero” equals “long hair” as often as not in our myths, stories and legends.

Ultimately though it’s just a cultural thing. Fashions swing constantly. Reasons behind the fashion choices vary as well… there are both practical and cultural status reasons that could be given for anything. At the moment we’re going through a phase for men to have short hair, but that’ll swing back round. In most other time periods men with long hair wouldn’t draw a second glance. There are some cultures where long hair is still the norm for men, and it has generally been common in most cultures. During the period(s) that LotR was aiming to invoke, both books and films, long hair among men was unremarkable, if not normative. It don’t seem like short hair was considered “masculine” on every social level before WWI and II. On the contrary, many people think long hair look far more masculine and powerful. The elves had no reasons to differentiate gender on hair length, why would they? That’s a purely modern social construct.

Elves are depicted as fearless and bold. Why would they succumb to fear or (modern human) societal conformist standards and cut off their hair?

Long hair is associated with wisdom, spirituality and intuition

Long hair has always been associated with wisdom. And the elves were said to be wise and deeply in tune with the spiritual sides of life.

Many ancient cultures maintain that hair is an extension of not only the human nervous system but also the soul. Long uncut hair is said to act as antennas that transmit important information to the brain stem, the limbic system, and the neocortex.

Many years ago I read an article called “The Truth About Hair and Why Indians Would Keep Their Hair Long”. It told about how some Native American men with outstanding, almost supernatural, tracking abilities were recruited to serve in the Vietnam War. “When questioned about their failure to perform as expected, the recruits replied consistently that when they received their required military haircuts, they could no longer ‘sense’ the enemy, they could no longer access a ‘sixth sense’, their ‘intuition’ no longer was reliable, they couldn’t ‘read’ subtle signs as well or access subtle extrasensory information.” An institute then initiated tests in multiple areas, and found significant differences in the men with intact hair.

We usually think of hair as just being a matter of personal preference, but in reality its much more than that. Nature (or Ilúvatar according Tolkien) put every hair on your body for a reason. In Native cultures, men and women are recognized by the length and glory of their hair. The cutting of hair by oppressors has long represented the submission and defeat of a people, through humiliation. The way a people comb, braid and tie their hair is of great significance. Hair is just not a fashion accessory for aesthetic advancement, it’s literally the pinnacle of their spiritual expression and is a source of their strength, intuition and power.

Some more examples of how long haired males were the norm in Tolkien’s Middle Earth:

In fact, the only reference or race who seem to have ever been described with short hair according to Tolkien are hobbits. Long hair wasn’t reserved for elves, but seems to be common all over Middle Earth:

“The men that rode [the horses] matched them well: tall and long-limbed; their hair, flaxen-pale, flowed under their light helms, and streamed in long braids behind them; their faces were stern and keen.” The Rohirrim had long hair.

“His white hair was long and thick and fell in great braids from beneath a thin golden circlet set upon his brow.” (Theoden – TTT)

‘Proud and tall he seemed, the hair that flowed beneath his high helm was like snow; and many marveled at him and took heart to see him unbent and unafraid.’ (Theoden – ROTK)

Plenty of human warriors in LotR have long hair too, like Èomer; they either tie it back in battle or it lies on their shoulders below the helmet. Bard’s hair was long enough to ‘fall over his face and shoulders’. The Southrons that Gollum sees have long hair, and Sam sees one having plaits with gold braided into them. Aragorn had hair blowing in the wind. Boromir and Faramir are other examples, they too have remnants of elven blood, and are noted for their fair looks of long dark hair and no beard.

“And so they [Faramir and Èowyn] stood on the walls of the City of Gondor, and a great wind rose and blew and their hair, raven and golden, streamed out mingling in the air.” For Faramir’s hair to be mingling with Èowyn’s, it must have been really long, as he was much taller than her. For further exploration, read this.

Boromir: “They combed his long dark hair and arrayed it upon his shoulders.” (LOTR, The Departure of Boromir, p. 416).

Tuor: “his hair streamed from his head” (UT, Part One, I. Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin, p. 32)

Túrin:‘For his garb was of the wild woods and his hair was long’ (The Book of Lost Tales)

Eorl the Young: ‘His yellow hair was flying in the wind’ (TTT)

Sam observed that the Haradrim had “black plaits of hair braided with gold” TTT, LoTR Book 4, Ch 4

“[Gandalf’s] long white hair, his sweeping silver beard, and his broad shoulders, made him look like some wise king of ancient legend.”

The Witch-king of Angmar: ‘His hair was long and gleaming’ (FOTR); in an earlier draft of the scene, Tolkien wrote that all the Ringwraiths had long hair: ‘Upon their long grey hair were crowns and helms of pale gold’

Even the Balrog is described as having long hair: ‘Its streaming hair seemed to catch fire, and the sword that it held turned to flame’ (The Return of the Shadow)

These are obviously some very few examples, as I didn’t delve as deep to find these. But if long hair was so common and prized even among men, just imagine how it would be among the elves! Did Tolkien ever even describe a character as having short hair? I don’t think so and couldn’t find any, except for hobbits. But we have numerous descriptions of long hair, both in elves and men.

But wHY DoeS it MAtteR?

Or this other statement that’s been going around: “That doesn’t have to mean that some elves didn’t have short hair, since Tolkien never specifically stated that ALL elves had long hair?” No, not necessarily, but there simply are no evidence for short haired elves whatsoever, in contrary to the heavy proofs stating that they had indeed long hair. We don’t have any evidence that some elves didn’t have purple hair either, and it would be weird to make it the new standard, when hair colors they actually had is regularly described.

The only place we see a short haired elf is in fandom by the artist Jenny Dolfen, where the character Maedhros’ red hair is cut as a form of humiliation when he is captured by orcs and hanged by the wrist of his hand at the mountainside of Thangorodrim for 30 years in torturous agony as a captive of Morgoth:

“Maedhros was ambushed, and all his company was slain, but he himself was taken alive by the command of Morgoth, and taken to Angband.”

Are Amazon trying to provoke, or do they despise long-haired men?

Either the people in Amazon working on character designs have something personal against long-haired men, or they are just looking for ways to provoke the fanbase and put their own mark on it. One thing is certain: Amazon is definitely aiming to provoke on many levels, and I don’t think it will benefit them, as long as they don’t let it make sense lorewise. Only time will tell if they will give us any answers, and although it is unlikely, I’ll be fair and include it in this article. Update: They actually did, the showrunners kind of shrugged and said that they just thought that elves would get tired of having long hair all the time. But the thing is, long hair gives you endless variations of hair-do’s, short hair gives basically none. So no deep thoughts or research went into this. Besides, not a single female elf have short hair; why wouldn’t they get bored?

Middle Earth is supposed to be this lost ancient time missed by human history. There’s supposed to be something very archaic, graceful and deep about Tolkien’s world, something that’s gritty and realistic but at the same time larger-than-life, something that the movie trilogy absolutely nailed. A subtle sense of majesty and profoundness, magical and elegant, yet also lighthearted and wholesome.

Elves are “fair of face beyond the measure of Men”. In Tolkien’s writings that does not merely mean physically attractive, but also noble and virtuous. They exuded warmth and compassion. Their physical bodies were ‘a veil that did not wholly conceal their spirits’; and those among them who had lived in the Undying Lands and had seen the light of the Two Trees shone with an inner light that dazzled mortal eyes. They were joyful and full of life; not stonefaced, sullen, and humourless, as Peter Jackson unfortunately often portrayed them. Although most of us loved the way they appeared in the movies, and I think most can agree that their design were quite remarkable:

I would say Amazon seem to be greatly missing their chance to show us the rightful depiction of elves true to Tolkien’s legendarium, which we have waited for during all these long years. It’s not that fans necessarily want to see elves the way the film trilogy imagined them. But with today’s technology we expect something even more impressive and otherworldly than was made 20 years ago, something created with even more love and eye for intricate details.

Since diversity and representation seems to be important to Amazon, the fact that they are making a majority of their male characters short-haired are puzzling. In many parts of the world now, including America and Europe, men and boys have to fight for the right to grow out their locks. They are tired of being persecuted, ridiculed, bullied, harassed and threatened in their daily life, or forced to cut their hair to get a job or to join the army. Young boys and children especially are constantly pressured and bullied to cut off their hair. Lord of the Rings were one of the few things we had which made this situation easier, and brought hope and inspiration to all of us. Amazon are sadly obviously catering to the mainstream pop-culture in their view of appropriate hairstyles.

Amazon have however experienced lots of backlash from Tolkien fans all over the world, and this is a few of the reactions towards their predominantly short-haired elves:

–“I am so not here for these modern, real world hair cuts I’ve seen in the elvish men so far.”

-“Who ever had the idea to give all the male elves short hair should be fired immediately. Give them long hair for pity sake.”

-“These elves are ridiculous and unimpressive, and the dignified aura is entirely absent.”

-“All of these characters look like cosplay. Like they went dumpster diving through the costume trunk in the attic. Why don’t the male elves have long hair?”

-“Therapist: “Short-haired Elrond isn’t real. He cannot hurt you.”
Short-haired Elrond: “……”
 
-“There is nothing ethereal or otherworldly about these shots. This could be a GoT set. I’m not convinced they are going to capture the scale, majesty or magic of the work at all.”

-“No ethereal elves, only manly men in t-shirts.”

-“Those elves really do have the most hideous haircuts I have ever seen.”

-“Its like Jeff Bezos is trying to normalize not having hair because he’s bald.”

Is Amazon ‘longhairophobic’? Or did Jeff Bezos (the owner of Amazon) feel offended because of all that long gorgeous hair?

If Amazon want to showcase less ethereal and intimidating elves to the world, maybe they should write their own fantasy book trilogy, or help making film adaptations of the Witcher or Dragon Age instead, because they are obviously creating fanfic in the wrong fandom.


Here you can see some more pictures of Tolkien’s characters masterfully brought to life by the fandom:

What’s your thoughts about all this? Do you have any more ponderings/reasonings/theories? Or even more examples from Tolkien’s writings and letters? Or what do you think of Amazon’s elves? I would love to hear from you!

Disclaimer: I’m not a Tolkien expert, just a lifelong fan who has read Tolkien’s works numerous times. Putting together this article took me weeks of research and writing. I couldn’t find any articles about this, that’s why I felt it was so important to write one. Here are some links/sources:

https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/33693/do-male-elves-have-long-or-short-hair
https://www.quora.com/Why-do-the-elves-in-LOTR-all-have-long-hair-instead-of-short-er-hair-like-the-humans-Wouldnt-short-hair-be-more-practical-in-battle
https://askmiddlearth.tumblr.com/post/45860682877/elf-hair-length?
https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?547104-Why-does-everyone-in-Lord-of-the-Rings-have-long-hair