#female elves/peredhil/dúnedain in lucrezia coiffures WHEN

[anghraine]

It's always interesting (to me) to go back to Tolkien's descriptions of hairstyles among some of the women of LOTR.

Here is the description of Galadriel's gift to Gimli:

Then the Lady unbraided one of her long tresses, and cut off three golden hairs, and laid them in Gimli's hand.

Here is the canonical description of Arwen's hair:

The braids of her dark hair were touched by no frost ... Above her brow her head was covered with a cap of silver lace netted with small gems, glittering white; but her soft grey raiment had no ornament save a girdle of leaves wrought in silver.

Here is the explanation of Gilraen's name:

The meaning of Gilraen as a woman's name is not in doubt. It meant 'one adorned with a tressure set with small gems in its network,' such as the tressure of Arwen ... The women of the Eldar were accustomed to wear such tressures ... Names such as Gilraen, and others of similar meaning, would thus be likely to become first names given to maid-children of the kindred of the "Lords of the Dúnedain". The element raen was the Sindarin form of Q. raina 'netted, enlaced'.

Personally, I think it's interesting that it's Éowyn, a shieldmaiden from a distinctly different culture, who has the loose long hair that fandom often goes for. But I also think the canon aesthetic for Elvish women and those akin to them is really intriguing and could be quite beautiful, but contemporary fandom preferences have definitely obscured Tolkien's affection for braids and pretty hairnets.

#female elves/peredhil/dúnedain in lucrezia coiffures WHEN #anghraine babbles #long post #legendarium blogging #legendarium fanwank #hair #it is genuinely interesting to see what fandom does and does not care about when it comes to Hair Fidelity #this is such a different look from what we usually see! #galadriel #arwen undómiel #gilraen