Welcome Guest 

Register

Forum Home » Books Discussion » Discuss the Books » Halflings
12
Author Topic:
Gandolorin
Council Member
Posts: 24040
Send Message
Post
on: June 14, 2014 09:41
Odd scraps from memory:
"Halfling" in height when comparing the Hobbit average to the Númenórean average (in earlier times) 3'6" to 7". The Númenóreans would have fielded an awesome basketball team.
Galadriel stated somewhere to being "near man-high" (in later times), a height estimate of 6'5" given (imagine the high heels Cate Blanchett would have needed!!!)
Elendil "the tall" being remarkably tall even for a Númenórean, a translation of Númenórean measures making him 8' tall (!).
Elwë (Elu Thingol) being named the tallest of all the Children of Ilúvatar.
The imagination staggers, because the tallest human being on record is Robert Wadlow of Alton, Illinois (check out Wikipedia on this), 8'11.1", or 2.72 meters ... Image
Image
Elthir
Council Member
Posts: 433
Send Message
Avatar
Post
on: June 14, 2014 10:30
Gandolorin said: Galadriel stated somewhere to being "near man-high" (in later times), a height estimate of 6'5" given (imagine the high heels Cate Blanchett would have needed!!!)


Yes Galadriel, 'the tallest of all the women of the Eldar of whom tales tell,' was said to be man-high, but it is noted 'according to the measure of the Dúnedain and the men of old,' indicating a height of about six feet four inches.

That said, this may be too 'short' in my opinion -- although that depends upon which other quotes one mixes it with, with respect to Eldarin height in general. It works well enough with a relatively new description ['new' as in fairly recently published] however.

Compare Of Dwarves And Men...

'They were called 'halflings'; but this refers to the normal height of men of Numenorean descent and of the Eldar [especially those of Noldorin descent), which appears to have been about 7 of our feet.']


... to the 'newer' and likewise late description [but not necessarily later than Of Dwarves And Men]

'The Quendi were in origin a tall people. The Eldar (...) they were in general the stronger and taller members of the Elvish folk at that time. In Eldarin tradition it was said that even their women were seldom less than six feet in height; their full-grown elfmen no less than six and a half feet, while some of the great kings and leaders were taller.'

JRRT, late manuscript, The Lord of the Rings Reader's Companio


To my mind [knowing that some disagree] Tolkien has 'diminished' the general height of the Eldar in this quote, compared to Of Dwarves And Men -- although again, who knows which description is later than the other... if so.

Elendil "the tall" being remarkably tall even for a Númenórean, a translation of Númenórean measures making him 8' tall (!).


The 'nearly' goes with the Elendil quote, which I use to estimate Elendil at about seven foot eleven, according to text in Unfinished Tales...

... but in A Reader's Companion (Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull) however, here's a note dated 1969 referring to Elendil and Isildur 'both of whom had been seven feet tall' ... while Aragorn was 'probably at least 6 ft. 6' and Boromir 'not much shorter (say 6 ft. 4)'.

Maybe Tolkien thought he had been letting things get too tall? Not all of the Tolkien written descriptions about heights agree in my opinion; and need not agree in any case, as he himself didn't publish all of them.
12
Members Online
Print Friendly, PDF & Email