Why do Hobbits have pointy ears?

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Guardian of Imladris
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Hi everyone :)

I just started to read the Silimarilion again and I ask myself why Hobbits have pointy ears in the movies.

Also (until now) I didn't read anywhere that elves are supposed to have pointy ears, except that the elvish word for ear is pretty close to the word leaf. So why are elves and hobbits portraid with pointy ears?

Thank's for any help :D
"Mae govannen mellon nin."

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Well, I'm not sure I can give a definitive answer as to why Tolkien opted to give his Elves and Hobbits pointed ears, as in where that motif comes from (I suspect the answer is complex, as all Folklore study tends to be) but as for the movies, they seem to have been drawing from Tolkien's own thoughts. In a letter to Houghton Mifflin, his American publisher, the Professor gave this guide of how to draw Bilbo:
THE LETTERS OF J. R. R. TOLKIEN, Letter 27 wrote: I picture a fairly human figure, not a kind of 'fairy' rabbit as some of my British reviewers seem to fancy: fattish in the stomach, shortish in the leg. A round, jovial face; ears only slightly pointed and 'elvish'; hair short and curling (brown). The feet from the ankles down, covered with brown hairy fur. Clothing: green velvet breeches; red or yellow waistcoat; brown or green jacket; gold (or brass) buttons; a dark green hood and cloak (belonging to a dwarf).
So, Hobbits (at least, at the time of The Hobbit) have pointed ears. My gut sense is probably that this has something to do with their general fairy-ness (they do seem to resemble fairies, in the first book anyway, especially since they are suggested to still exist, hiding from Big People, and they live beneath the hills) but this element is diluted by the time of Lord of the Rings, when Tolkien imagined the Hobbits as a sort of cousin to mankind which had lived once in Rhovanion and is closest (linguistically, anyway) to the Rohirrim who came down out of the north. Would Tolkien have given the Hobbits pointed ears at that stage? I'm not sure.
Last edited by Androthelm on Mon Sep 14, 2020 3:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Welcome to the forum Legolas!

You are right that Tolkien doesn't really mentions the ears as a distinguishing feature between Elves and other races. He more often compares their voices and eyes being the distinguishing feature.

I can't remember if there is a mention of hobbit ears being "pointy" or not. I doubt their ears are noticeably different from other races, but I don't remember for sure.

I think they get portrayed that way in the movies as being an artistic choice to differentiate from other races. I'm not sure why Peter Jackson and other adaptations are obsessed with portraying their ears as pointy, because as you say, elf/hobbit ears did not seem important to Tolkien to point out as different.

Edit: simul with @Androthelm! Ahh there's the reference on hobbit ears. I tried searching in the Prologue to LOTR.
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Guardian of Imladris
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Thank you for your answers, they were really helpful :)

ps: Thanks @Boromir88 I'm glad the plaza is back up again :D
"Mae govannen mellon nin."

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The whole thing about Elvish ears is, I think, based on a note in The Lost Road (The History of Middle-earth volume V). In ‘The Etymologies’ under the word LAS¹- (En. ‘leaf’), there is a parenthesis stating that “Some think this is related to the next and *lassē ‘ear’. The Quendian ears were more pointed and leafshaped than [? human].”

Taken together with the description of Hobbits quoted already by @Androthelm we have all the basis we need for the pointy-eared Elves :wink: And of course, comics such as e.g. Wendy Pini's Elfquest (the first of which were published years before the publication of The Lost Road)have contributed to firmly fixing the pointed ears of Elves (and Elfs) in the minds of the modern fantasy audience, making it well-nigh impossible for any film-maker with Elves in the script not to insist on pointed ears.
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I was just reading this funny question when.....I realized that...i started to see hobbita ears .....only when i saw the movie.
i read the book many times but ,.i never had imaginated hobbits with pointy ears in my mind. strange.
Probably each one of us read and imagine things differently when reading.

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@Troelsfo thanks for the Ear - Leaf connection. Interesting stuff to see, especially with how small the link I'd found was (and written in the Hobbit-Era, which does make it a little questionable in application to the later world).

@Paracelio I think you're right! Everybody has a different image -- and it's very interesting to see how we influence each others.
In the deeps of Time, amidst the Innumerable Stars

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