If you could ask Tolkien one question, what would it be?

[shadowbrides]

Mine would be what exactly he had in mind when he described Aegnor's hair: "notable: golden like his brothers and sister, but strong and stiff, rising upon his head like flames"

I'd request a sketch. Because the only thing I can come up with is this:

Comments

[curiouswombat]

[huinare]

Somehow, I approve of this interpretation.

[curiouswombat]

Thank you!

[pandemonium_213]

THAT'S IT!

[huinare]

Haha

[brookeoflorien]

Lol! Yes, this would be a good question to ask him...I'm curious as to what he meant as well. :P

[heartofoshun]

I sincerely thought he must have had friends who had this kind of hair:

[oloriel]

The version that's been suggested to me was Cloud from Final Fantasy:

[shadowbrides]

Heh. That looks a bit better, definitely. But I am trying really hard to imagine realistic elvish version of it and I just can't. I mean I keep thinking about Avari in the punk scene rather than 1st Age Noldor.

[oloriel]

What amuses me most of all is that weird, not-really-natural (as in, HAIR JUST DOESN'T GROW THAT WAY DOES IT?) hairstyles are normally something you encounter in 16-year-old LARP beginners who want to play cool punky assassins. The writings of a conservative (even in early 20th century terms) professor? NOT the place I would've expected it.
To be honest, I'm not getting it. In my Helcaraxë pic, I gave him sort of lanky, spiky hair - that was as far as I could bring myself. XD

[shadowbrides]

Yeah, that too! Which is why I'm convinced he has to have meant something different by it. I just can't for the life of me figure out what. Historical hair can actually be pretty crazy though. I recently learned something about this trend in Byzantium where youths shaved a kind of spider-shape into their hair. @_@