Where Did Tolkien Write that Denethor Has a Beard?

Q: Where Did Tolkien Write that Denethor Has a Beard?

ANSWER: This question comes up once in a blue moon. It is a confusing point of debate for many artists have depicted Denethor with a beard and yet there is no text in The Lord of the Rings that says he was bearded. Somehow, I have managed to straddle both sides of the hedge on this issue and my own words have been thrown back in my face (albeit by someone who at the same time said Tolkien’s own words should be disregarded, so I guess I sit in good company).

There are really three questions bound up together, and the answers to these questions have slipped out through the years in disparate forms and texts. Let’s look at the questions first.

1. Does Denethor have a beard?
2. Do Numenorean men grow beards?
3. Do Elves grow beards?

The answer to the last question was always easiest to confirm: Cirdan is bearded in The Lord of the Rings. Despite Tolkien’s words describing Cirdan with a long grey beard, however, some people have insisted this passage must be a mistake (we should disregard Tolkien on the matter since he never mentioned any other bearded Elves in The Lord of the Rings). Of course, all that debate settled down after Vinyar Tengwar Volume 41 was published; it included an essay edited by Carl Hostetter titled “From the Shibboleth of Feanor”. This text included a much-cited passage about Mahtan, father of Nerdanel (Feanor’s wife), who was famous for having grown a beard early in his second cycle of life (most Elves grew beards only in their third cycles). Suddenly Cirdan’s beard was no longer an anomaly.

The supposed beardlessness of Elves is traced back to Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth, where Christopher Tolkien wrote:

In a note written in December 1972 or later, and among the last writings of my father’s on the subject of Middle-earth, there is a discussion of the Elvish strain in Men, as to its being observable in the beardlessness of those who were so descended (it was a characteristic of all Elves to be beardless);…

To the best of my knowledge this note has never been published. The only known text from it is a sentence fragment given in the same paragraph containing the previous citation, “this line had a special Elvish strain, according to its own legends”.

The note was attached to a genealogical table for the House of Dol Amroth which Christopher published in The Peoples of Middle-earth. The genealogical table itself was attached to the “C” manuscript for “The Line of Elendil”. The Unfinished Tales text goes on to quote another note, possibly dating from the same period as that described above:

In the tradition of his house Angelimar was the twentieth in unbroken descent from Galador, first Lord of Dol Amroth (c. Third Age 2004-2129). According to the same traditions Galador was the son of Imrazór the Númenórean, who dwelt in Belfalas, and the Elven-lady Mithrellas. She was one of the companions of Nimrodel, among many of the Elves that fled to the coast about the year 1980 of the Third Age, when evil arose in Moria; and Nimrodel and her maidens stayed in the wooded hills, and were lost. But in this tale it is said that Imrazór harboured Mithrellas, and took her to wife. But when she had borne him a son, Galador, and a daughter, Gilmith, she slipped away by night and he saw her no more. But though Mithrellas was of the lesser Silvan race (and not of the High Elves or the Grey) it was ever held that the house and kin of the Lords of Dol Amroth was noble by blood as they were fair in face and mind.

The “fair in face and mind” section is what convinces many people that Imrazor’s descendants were beardless. However, we can also find descriptions of Numenoreans being “fair of face”, such as this text published in The Peoples of Middle-earth:

$8. When at last that war was ended, most of the exiled Noldor returned over the Sea to Valinor or to the land of Eressea that lies / within sight of it [> near]. Then the people of the Three Houses of Men were permitted as a reward to pass also over the Sea, if they would, and to dwell in an isle set apart for them. The name of that great isle was Numenor, which in Quenya signifies Westernesse. Most of the Fathers of Men departed and dwelt in Numenor and there became great and powerful; and they were fair of face and tall, and masters of craft and lore only less than the Eldar, and the span of their lives was thrice that of men in Middle-earth, though they remained mortal nonetheless, and were not permitted to set foot upon the shores of the deathless land of Valinor. They were called Kings of Men, the Numenoreans, or in Noldorin the Dunedein [> Dunedain].

So “fair of face” may describe beardlessness but it does not necessarily always describe descent from Elves; Tolkien’s 1972 notes were most likely only intended to be first drafts and not necessarily meant for publication.

But just how clean-shaven were the Numenoreans? We can point to at least one descendant of Numenor who had a beard: Theoden. But we can also point to the fallen head of the statue of the king that Frodo, Sam, and Gollum find at the crossroads in Ithilien. The statue king had a beard:

The eyes were hollow and the carven beard was broken, but about the high stern forehead there was a coronal of silver and gold….

Someone once argued to me that beards signify age and wisdom and that this beard could be no more than an artistic flourish intended to denote such. Perhaps, but that symbolism only arose because real men do grow beards; why would a beardless people like the Numenoreans associate beards with age and wisdom? There must be a reason for such a powerful symbol in their (according to J.R.R. Tolkien himself) relatively simplistic philosophical view. Remember, this is pre-Noachian Earth when things like “religion” were far less sophisticated than they were destined to become. Tolkien does not describe much artwork in Middle-earth, much less allude to complex symbologies. The artwork is described in literal ways with no attached narrative exposition about deeper meanings. The passage with the statue king contains symbology that is obvious to the reader but it is a natural juxtaposition (the light from the setting sun revealing the garland of flowers on the fallen head, inspiring Frodo to observe that the king has a crown again). The unambiguous and intentional in-story symbology about the statue is the round ball that Orcs had replaced the head with, whereon they “rudely painted … the likeness of a grinning face with one large red eye in the midst of its forehead”.

So what about Denethor’s beard? How is it that even I have walked on both sides of the hedge? Did I find some hidden away passage that describes him with a beard? If so, I cannot remember it; nor can I find one now. But I have certainly mentioned Denethor’s beard on two occasions that I can verify. I believe I know why I would have written something like that, but allow me to cite something I wrote in September 1997:

> Speaking of recognizing elves, was there ever a mention of their not
> having facial hair? I thought there was, but I don’t know if I could
> find it. Conversely, I’m pretty sure Cirdan is described at the end of
> LotR as being bearded.
Cirdan is the only Elf described with a beard. In UNFINISHED TALES it is said that Elvish descent in men was detectable because of their beardlessness.

I was replying to someone else in a long, winding discussion. The immediate reply to my comment from Lalaith was:

>…(Michael Martinez) wrote:
>>
>>Cirdan is the only Elf described with a beard. In UNFINISHED TALES it is said
>>that Elvish descent in men was detectable because of their beardlessness.
>
>But then all the Dunedain should be beardless, since it was you who
>argued once that more or less they would all have Elros and hence
>Turgon and Thingol in their ancestry. Then no one would recognize
>Imrahil as special. Yet I think we have seen bearded Dunedain, such as
>Forlong the Old.
I’m not sure that Forlong IS a Dunadan. What is the basis for deciding his race? He is old and grey-bearded in “Minas Tirith”, followed by “a dusty line of men, well-armed and bearing great battle-axes; grim-faced they were, and shorter and somewhat swarthier than any men that Pippin had yet seen in Gondor.”

If he’s like his men, he’s not a Dunadan at all, but perhaps descended of the Gwathuirim (if not a non-Edainic people altogether).

Even his name, “Forlong”, is said to be or Pre-Numenorean origin, I believe, in Appendix F, section I, “Of Men”.

>Anyway, according to your own preference, Cirdan’s LR beard is
>canonical while the UT reference to beardlessness is not. So Elves may
>grow beards. Perhaps it is a special property of the Falathrim
>(crossed with a mortal once too often?).

Are my preferences that clear-cut, then?

>Note that Tolkien’s early picture titled “Beleg finds Gwindor in
>Taur-nu-Fuin” seems to depict Beleg with a full-grown black beard.

And pointy ears, too, IIRC.

Perhaps if we’d gotten a look at old Forlong’s ears, we’d know if he was perhaps one of Cirdan’s relatives.

To these points Lalaith replied:

>I’m not sure that Forlong IS a Dunadan. What is the basis for deciding his
>race? He is old and grey-bearded in “Minas Tirith”, followed by “a dusty line
>of men, well-armed and bearing great battle-axes; grim-faced they were, and
>shorter and somewhat swarthier than any men that Pippin had yet seen in Gondor.”
>
>If he’s like his men, he’s not a Dunadan at all, but perhaps descended of the
>Gwathuirim (if not a non-Edainic people altogether).
I doubt that a Dunlending could rise to become Lord of Lossarnach.

>Even his name, “Forlong”, is said to be or Pre-Numenorean origin, I believe, in
>Appendix F, section I, “Of Men”.

And what? “Michael” is of Hebrew origin – are you an Israeli?

>>Anyway, according to your own preference, Cirdan’s LR beard is
>>canonical while the UT reference to beardlessness is not. So Elves may
>>grow beards. Perhaps it is a special property of the Falathrim
>>(crossed with a mortal once too often?).
>
>Are my preferences that clear-cut, then?

Never try to beard the lion in his den…

>>Note that Tolkien’s early picture titled “Beleg finds Gwindor in
>>Taur-nu-Fuin” seems to depict Beleg with a full-grown black beard.
>
>And pointy ears, too, IIRC.
>
>Perhaps if we’d gotten a look at old Forlong’s ears, we’d know if he was perhaps
>one of Cirdan’s relatives.

… or Imrahil’s, for that matter. Or Aragorn’s.

BTW, is there any basis in the text for why Denethor is always painted with a long beard by the illustrators? Am I the only one who imagines him clean-shaven?

In my reply to Lalaith I wrote:

>I doubt that a Dunlending could rise to become Lord of Lossarnach.

Why is that? Where does Tolkien say that all the lords of Gondor were Dunedain? He doesn’t. In fact, he indicates in several places that the Dunedain settled amongst older peoples, mingled with them, and then brought in people from Rhovanion to increase their numbers.

It’s highly unlikely that Forlong would be considered a Dunadan.

>>Even his name, “Forlong”, is said to be or Pre-Numenorean origin, I believe,
>>in Appendix F, section I, “Of Men”.
>
>And what? “Michael” is of Hebrew origin – are you an Israeli?

I don’t know. I can only trace my Spanish ancestors back a couple hundred years, and there were many Jews who went into hiding before then. 🙂

However, in Gondor, apparently obvious Dunedain (Faramir, Boromir, Denethor, Beregond, Imrahil, Adrahil, Finduilas, et al) tended to have Dunadan (Sindarin or Adunaic) names.

[beard comments snipped — there is no apparent way of resolving the issue to our mutual satisfaction]

[ears stuff snipped, too]

>BTW, is there any basis in the text for why Denethor is always painted
>with a long beard by the illustrators? Am I the only one who imagines
>him clean-shaven?

I don’t have the books handy. I know that Denethor had white or grey hair. He looked old. I don’t recall anything about a beard.

Lalaith replied to my point about Forlong with:

>However, in Gondor, apparently obvious Dunedain (Faramir, Boromir, Denethor,
>Beregond, Imrahil, Adrahil, Finduilas, et al) tended to have Dunadan (Sindarin
>or Adunaic) names.

Yet, Bergil mentions that Forlong ruled the area where his “grandsire” lived. Now, since Bergil was evidently a Dunadan, would Dunedain tolerate to be ruled by one of Dunlendish descent; especially if you consider the Eldacar case?

This hardly settled the matter of Denethor’s supposed beard, but in March of 1999 while discussing the use of color as symbols of good and evil (I opposed the idea then as I do now) I did write:

>And in our list of “white” characters we shouldn’t forget Galadriel,
>who starts out “evil” and ends up “good”.

Galadriel did not start out evil — unless you mean that by taking part in the rebellion of the Noldor she did evil, but that is not quite the same as being, say, a Feanorian and involved in all three of the Kinslayings.

We could also mention Eowyn, but by “white characters” I mean those who are somehow given a white symbology: as in the beards of Denethor and Theoden, and their white clothing.

So, how did I go from being uncertain of Denethor’s beard to being certain of it? I will explain below but there is one more citation to share. I repeated this error in August 2002 when I replied to David Bratman in a discussion of Tolkien’s view on Elf beards:

> At 05:55 PM 8/4/2002 , Susan wrote:
>
> >1. JRRT says somewhere, does he not, that the Elves are
> > beardless? And yet near the end of “The Grey Havens,” Cirdan
> > the Shipwright is described as having a long beard. He’s Elven,
> > no? Can anyone resolve this?
>
> There’s an implication buried somewhere, probably in _Unfinished
> Tales_, that Elves are beardless, and that’s the way they’re
> certainly normally seen. Yet this is something on which Tolkien
> must have changed his mind at some point, for at some other time
> he wrote that Cirdan has a beard.

This whole “bearded Elves” issue has caused a great deal of discussion through the years. Happily, it can all be resolved with a few citations….which I am unable to provide, because I’m about to leave work and don’t know when my Internet access at home will be restored. Still, here is what I can recall on my own. Treat it as a rough summation of the facts, subject to correction at a later time.

The passage in UNFINISHED TALES is found in the chapter on Galadriel and Celeborn and is in one of the appendices. It concerns Prince Imrahil’s Elvish ancestry, and Christopher Tolkien paraphrases some late-life essay of his father’s. Many readers have taken this as the final word in Elf beards.

But it’s not. A couple of issues back, VINYAR TENGWAR published some additional material for “The Shibboleth of Feanor”. In one of the notes associated with this material, JRRT writes that Nerdanel’s father was remarkable for having grown a beard in the Second Cycle (of his life).

The reader is left to infer that all male Elves normally grow beards when they reach their Third Cycle (no clues, yet, as to what defines a cycle of life). Cirdan, by inference (rather than implication, since the note does not mention him), must have long since reached his Third Cycle by the end of the Third Age.

Since Denethor sports a long white beard, and since the statue of the Gondorian king by the crossroads (where Frodo, Sam, and Gollum watch the army from Minas Morgul pass by) has a beard, it must be accepted that Dunadan men DID grow beards, but perhaps because of their Elvish ancestry (THE PEOPLES OF MIDDLE-EARTH says that the Stewards were “ultimately of royal origin”), some of the Dunedain did not grow beards until THEIR Third Cycle (or some Dunadan/half-elf equivalent of the full Elvish Third Cycle).

So far as I can determine, these are the only occasions where I attributed a beard to Denethor. So what happened? Why would I write as much if I had no source for my information? The plain and simple truth is that it is these lapses which always forced me to consult the books before replying to people in the online discussions. Despite what rumor tells you, I don’t have an encyclopedic memory. I often mis-recall things that it seems like I know very well. You just rarely see me get the facts about Tolkien wrong because I cite the books directly (or refer to online citations I provided in the past where I know I cited the books directly).

When I didn’t have the books to consult I often confused Denethor with Theoden. Theoden has a long white beard, not Denethor. I cannot count all the times I have written Denethor for Theoden and Theoden for Denethor, only to catch myself (or to be gently corrected). Why do I confuse the two characters? I just do. But there is a scene in The Lord of the Rings that I know influenced my decision to refer to Denethor’s beard on one of the above occasions. I had hastily read the passage where Gandalf brings Pippin before Theoden–I mean, Denethor:

‘It is all that I have to spare, for there is much else to heed,’ he said to Gandalf. ‘Much of more import, it may seem, and yet to me less pressing. But maybe we can speak again at the end of the day.’

‘And earlier, it is to be hoped,’ said Gandalf. ‘For I have not ridden hither from Isengard, one hundred and fifty leagues, with the speed of wind, only to bring you one small warrior, however courteous. Is it naught to you that Théoden has fought a great battle and that Isengard is overthrown, and that I have broken the staff of Saruman?’

‘It is much to me. But I know already sufficient of these deeds for my own counsel against the menace of the East.’ He turned his dark eyes on Gandalf, and now Pippin saw a likeness between the two, and he felt the strain between them, almost as if he saw a line of smouldering fire, drawn from eye to eye, that might suddenly burst into flame.

Denethor looked indeed much more like a great wizard than Gandalf did, more kingly, beautiful, and powerful; and older. Yet by a sense other than sight Pippin perceived that Gandalf had the greater power and the deeper wisdom, and a majesty that was veiled. And he was older, far older. ‘How much older?’ he wondered, and then he thought how odd it was that he had never thought about it before. Treebeard had said something about wizards, but even then he had not thought of Gandalf as one of them. What was Gandalf? In what far time and place did he come into the world, and when would he leave it? And then his musings broke off, and he saw that Denethor and Gandalf still looked each other in the eye, as if reading the other’s mind. But it was Denethor who first withdrew his gaze.

It was the comparison of Gandalf and Denethor that I sometimes feel led me to stumble on the matter of the beard. After all, Gandalf is bearded (as is Saruman); if Denethor seems wizard-like to Pippin then could that imply that he, too, has a beard like Gandalf? When you are rushed, or weary from having spent hours scouring the books, such small mistakes are easily made. The inference of a beard is legitimate but this passage in no way proves that Denethor was bearded; nothing in the published texts of which I am aware proves that Denethor had a beard.

So why have so many artists (prior to Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” movies) painted Denethor with a beard? I have no idea, but I would not be surprised to learn that this comparison of Gandalf and Denethor has influenced many people’s imagined appearance for Denethor. Beards are not unknown among Elves and Numenoreans; hence, it’s reasonable to infer that at least some of Denethor’s fellow Dunedain had beards. We just cannot say definitively that he did. But neither can we say definitively that he was clean-shaven (or incapable of growing a beard).

Many people will forever see John Noble’s beardless face when they think of Denethor, and that’s fine. But with respect to the question that inspired this article, I know of no passage where J.R.R. Tolkien writes that Denethor had a beard. Any statement I made in the past was incorrect, and may only have been due to my thinking either of Theoden or of the comparison of Gandalf to Denethor when I could not check the books.

See also:

• Why Does Cirdan Have a Beard?

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