Q: Do Elves Live in Houses?
ANSWER: Many readers have asked questions about J.R.R. Tolkien’s elves, such as whether they live in houses or if they sleep. The answer to many of these questions is almost always “yes”, although there may be some qualifications.
Tolkien was careful to give the Elves of Middle-earth a diverse set of cultures. They did not all live in the exact same way. Still, most if not all of them lived in some sort of dwellings. Perhaps only the Green-elves of Ossiriand may not have constructed any dwellings, although they could have worked with stone and perhaps with other materials.
Many Elves lived in great underground cities such as Nargothrond, Menegroth, and Thranduil’s halls in northern Mirkwood. But the Noldor built cities of stone, according to The Silmairllion, and in those cities they built both houses and towers of stone.
When Thingol Greycloak imprisoned his daughter Lúthien Tinúviel in a tree (to prevent her from going to Beren’s aid), the king had a house constructed for her. When the eight surviving members of the Fellowship of the Ring arrived in Lothlorien and were presented to Celeborn and Galadriel, they climbed a great mallorn tree in which was built a house where Celeborn and Galadriel received them as guests.
When Bilbo helped Thorin and his companions escape from Thranduil’s halls, he stopped the barrels at a small village of raft-elves — Tolkien drew the famous picture “Bilbo comes to the huts of the Raft-elves”.
And, of course, Elrond lived in and was master of The Last (or First) Homely House East of the Sea in Rivendell. Not only did Elves build houses, but they built chairs, beds, and tables, dressers, lockers, and virtually every type of furniture one could expect to find in such well-kept homes.
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