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Elves with beards. Yay or nay?

ButtercheeseButtercheese Member Posts: 3,766
Despite wether or not it's "true in canon" (whichever canon that may be), how do you feel about bearded elves?

Some examples of bearded elves:

King Balor (Hellboy 2: The Golden Army)
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Círdan (Lord of the Rings; Artwork by Moumou38)
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Bearclaw and Treestump (ElfQuest)
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(There is also apparently a female bearded elf in Witcher 3, but I haven't play that one yet.)
  1. Elves with beards. Yay or nay?69 votes
    1. Yay!
      27.54%
    2. Maybe?
      18.84%
    3. Nay.
      53.62%
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Comments

  • VitorVitor Member Posts: 288
    In D&D and Lord of the Rings, I don't think it fit well... But in other works it could fit.
  • ButtercheeseButtercheese Member Posts: 3,766
    @Vitor As stated above, LotR actually has a canonical bearded elf.
    And then there is also Elrond's depiction in the 1977s animated Hobbit movie:

  • BelgarathMTHBelgarathMTH Member Posts: 5,653
    edited April 2016
    As others have said, I think it depends on the setting. It doesn't seem to fit in with traditional D&D and Tolkein lore, but in other settings it's fine. It's just a matter of how the author wants to define his or her fantasy races in his or her own created world.

    I'm surprised you didn't mention Terry Brooks' "Shannara" setting as a prime example of bearded elves in a setting. I'm told he does mention the beards on some of them in his in-book descriptions, and of course now, there's the casting for the TV adaptation.







    I find these elves to be *extremely* attractive, but then, I like bears, otters, and wolves in real life, too, so there's that.
  • Lord_TansheronLord_Tansheron Member Posts: 4,212
    Why not. I mean, it's all fictional so you can write it any which way, but a nice beard is a cool feature. I always like me a beard on my men, if it's well groomed.
  • JumboWheat01JumboWheat01 Member Posts: 1,028
    As long as they don't encroach on the domain of the beard masters (dwarves & gnomes,) I wouldn't be against it. Maybe like a well groomed and trimmed goatee, nothing too long at all. Nothing too wild. Maintains the ruggedness of humans and their full lower-jaw covering, the badassery of dwarves with their epic beards, and the quirkiness of gnomes with their... creations, while giving the elves something more... sophisticated.

    And elves need to be sophisticated, gods blast it.
  • deltagodeltago Member Posts: 7,811
    Nay!

    Unless the stubble knife ear wants to be the but end of dwarven jokes everywhere.
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  • shawneshawne Member Posts: 3,239
    *shrug* Worked just fine in Neverwinter Nights...

  • brusbrus Member Posts: 944
    edited April 2016
    Elves want to show off in front of the dwarves.
    They also tend to have pointy beard as are their ears.


    Btw, that's not me.
  • booinyoureyesbooinyoureyes Member Posts: 6,164
    shawne said:

    *shrug* Worked just fine in Neverwinter Nights...

    Looks like the lead singer of Evergrey


  • PK2748PK2748 Member Posts: 381
    In Dragonlance at least the answer was a definitive"no"
  • VallmyrVallmyr Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 2,459
    I can't find the source for it but I remember reading somewhere that Drow do have facial hair unlike their Elven brethren.

    May have been Golarion (Pathfinder's setting). Unsure.
  • GenderNihilismGirdleGenderNihilismGirdle Member Posts: 1,353
    I'd love to see a comic of an elf who started growing a beard in their 70s-90s (the elf teen years), and it was super thin and wispy but they kept at it and even at 150 it's still thin and wispy but they've just got that Elven patience so even though everyone makes fun of them for it they're just like, "One day it will be a full beard!" and then at like 700 they're like "#^(* THIS!!" and shave it off when they see a 120 year old elf with a thick, lustrous, full beard that's making the dwarves jealous and theirs is even wispier than when it started.
  • GenderNihilismGirdleGenderNihilismGirdle Member Posts: 1,353



    Ay!


    Yagrum Bagarn approves of beards on elves!
    This is the one thing I'm most looking forward to the Skywind total conversion Skyrim mod finally implementing in their beta.
  • FoggyFoggy Member Posts: 297
    Them silly elves trying to look as good as the dwarfs! They can't even hold their drinks.
    Even their females started growing beards like the beautiful dwarven ladies!

    (Ilona, from Witcher 2)

    Preposterous! What next? Human skalds grooming red beards and drinking ale? Bah!
  • ReadingRamboReadingRambo Member Posts: 598
    Big Elfquest fan, I own most of the books! Beards are fine on elves imo.
  • SouthpawSouthpaw Member Posts: 2,026
    ...how about elves with face tentacles?
  • JumboWheat01JumboWheat01 Member Posts: 1,028
    Southpaw said:

    ...how about elves with face tentacles?

    You mean something like this?


  • JarrakulJarrakul Member Posts: 2,029
    I say nay! An elf with a beard is like a dwarf without one: just kind of weird.
  • Lord_TansheronLord_Tansheron Member Posts: 4,212
    edited April 2016
    "To shave a dwarf" - Elven expression meaning: 'to grow a beard'
  • JumboWheat01JumboWheat01 Member Posts: 1,028

    "To shave a dwarf" - Elven expression meaning: 'to grow a beard'

    So it's not that elves are stealing dwarven thunder by growing beards, but by actually STEALING the epic beards previously grown by a dwarf! The thieves!
  • znancekivellznancekivell Member Posts: 58
    Yay! And I also approve of dwarves without beards. Stereotypes can be lazy and boring.
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    edited April 2016
    To me elves main characteristics is androgyny, they look graceful and beautiful-feminine and masculine at the same time without effort. Plus, beard is half-elves schtick to make them apart from elves, even to disguise their elven parentage, couple it with long hair to hide the tip of their ears and they can pass as comely humans. Elves to me are too alien looking to pass as humans. Slender and long face, almond shaped and colorful eyes, clearest, palest perfect skin, lush, flowing colorful hair, long, tipped ears, and no-beard androgynous look to complete the whole elven package. Actually, half-elves are more attractive to humans, because they are more like humans but a lot more beautiful/handsome rather than the fey and distant-otherwordly looking elves.

    That's my interpretation anyway.
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