Random observation (of the fannish sort)

You know, it's funny. Whenever the "Are Elves (biologically/genetically) human" question comes up in discussion somewhere (As far as I am concerned, yes, they are, Tolkien pretty much explicitly said so, much of the textual "evidence" suggests it, too, why are we still discussing this), someone will pipe up and say "So Elves don't have pointy ears after all!"

The logic, it escapes me. Homo sapiens sapiens features a great variety in outer appearances. This starts on an individual level, of course, but there are also features that generally set different ethnic groups apart, right? Like, some people have (on the whole) darker skin than others. Some tend to grow a lot of facial/bodily hair (unless they shave), and others consistently have a lot less of that (if any). The point is, there are all sorts of physical features that may be "typical" for people whose ancestors come from a particular region or whatevs. I am not a biologist, but I'd expect that it isn't entirely impossible that, hypothetically, pointy ears vs. "rounded" ears might be among such features? So why does "Elves = human" equal "Elves =/= pointy-eared" in some people's minds?

(And before you start on the age-old discussion whether Tolkien's Elves would have pointy ears: Please take that discussion elsewhere, I don't care to have it here. I can off the top of my head think of two instances in which Tolkien states that Yes, they do, so for me, that case is as closed as the "Are they human" question. Oh, and I simply don't care whether Balrogs have wings or not.)

Yes, these things bother me. Deal with it or ignore at will!

Alles Liebe zum Geburtstag, sermanya!

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