the lord of the rings - Are Tolkien Elves taller or shorter than Men?

Are Tolkien Elves taller or shorter than Men?

In general fantasy, elves are frequently smaller than humans. But I seem to recall that in Tolkien they aren't.

Answer

Tolkien's Elves are of a similar size to Men. However, they tend to be slimmer, and probably slightly taller on average, although there are no direct comparisons recorded. A couple of examples:

Thingol, King of Doriath in the First Age and many-times forefather of Elrond and Aragorn, was described as "tallest of all the Children of Illúvatar" (which includes both Elves and Men).

Both when we meet Galadriel and Celeborn for the first time, and again when we meet Círdan the Shipwright in the White Havens at the end of Lord of the Rings, the phrase "Very tall they were/he was" is used. Again, no direct comparison, but given that the company includes Aragorn and Boromir the first time, and Gandalf the second time, it's certain that they were tall in comparison to Men.

They are certainly not small pixie-like elves like you find in a lot of fairy-tale settings - we know that Hobbits and Dwarves were of similar heights (although again Dwarves were much stockier than Hobbits) and the Elves were certainly not in that category.

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