Relating to the Elves: Part 1

“The beeches were their favourite trees.” 

(--The Hobbit, about Elves)

Reality of the Fantasy Series

In this day and age it can be pretty difficult relating to people—let alone Elves, and what most people seem to get wrong in ‘relating’ or understanding somebody is they first size up what that person looks like. I’m not going to do that.  If you were to ever happen to run into an Elf, specifically “Tolkien Elves” or Quendi (their variable tribes, and groups to be sorted later) you might not want to check to see if they have pointed ears, nor stare at their hair or check to see what kind of knife they might have, you might actually want to greet them, you know, ‘whassup?’  Or rather, “Gi suilon!” (I greet you!) 

A good thing to do when meeting anybody of course, but you might then like to make a respectful attempt to acknowledge something they appreciate… and there can be no better thing than starting up a conversation about something they particularly like, a common frame of reference, something ‘real’ that both parties can point to and look at, and that can be no better thing than Beech Trees.

Elves loved trees. Real trees. The very same trees that exist today in our world. By name. There are over 100 real world trees and plants mentioned in Tolkien's books, and that means that not only do these 'people' identify with them the same we we do, such as eating, utilizing them, there's something expressed that is no doubt just as 'real' for this fantasy as it would be for the real world of our very own. So that means we can also identify with them.

Yeah, as one of the Atani, you couldn’t give a shit about Beech Trees, yes, I know, but if you’re thinking of even attempting to relate to Elves, you better at least give it a shot. It’s likely they already think you’re an asshole anyways and this would be your opportunity to make a good impression.

The Elves call them ‘feren’ (phernê) and you might want to know a few things about them before you shoot off your mouth. (fernë in Quenya) Trees are important to Elves, and especially Beech. Why would that be? As one of the Atani, trees mean nothing to you, unless you’re cutting them down to burn shit, or make weapons, but Elves don’t see it that way, they see trees differently, and so you better get a few things straight in your head. 

Now the Beech Tree (Fagus; as in “phay-gus”) is a tree, and that’s basically as far as your Atani mind understands it, it’s main use is for firewood, easy to split with an axe, it burns for a long time and produces a nice calm flame. Beech chips have been known to be used in brewing beer, and today the Atani use the wood to make weapons, the ones that shoot lead projectiles, for the ‘stocks’ of their ‘guns.’ Not something you want to bring up I’m afraid, so don’t even try.  

Now nobody knows all the details about why they like Beech Trees so much, but we do know that the Forest of Neldoreth also called Taur-na-neldor is a forest of Beech Trees where Beren met Luthien (some famous Elvish lore) and there was this Beech Tree called Neldor or Hírilorn “Tree of the Lady” where Luthien was kept by her father.  There are 17 references to Beeches in “Lord of the Rings”/“The Hobbit” together, and 8 in the Silmarillion, and 2 in “The Children of Hurin.”  

Elves live pretty close to what humans call “Nature” though no such word is ever used in Tolkien’s books.  One might rather use the term Eä, but ultimately, the Elves seem to appreciate the ‘growing things’ of this world. They likely know a lot more about them, and so knowing a little more about them and engaging in the appreciation of such things is probably the best idea. 

The first thing you might want to consider is a concept that Elves are also very fond of and that is also the concept of Lambelë, and that means our words for Beech could be something to consider and be very ‘excited’ about. “Beech” comes from words like ‘buche,’ and ‘buke,’ and ‘boke,’ and to an Elf, this is fascinating, because it’s where we get the word “book” from.  The word “fagus” (phagus)(phaya) has to do with ‘eating,’ or ‘edibility,’ and so combine those concepts and you’ll get a weird new concept like ‘eating books’ or something, but I suppose it would depend on the Elf you’re talking to as to whether or not they like to entertain such odd notions. 

The edibility of Beech is good to know, the ‘beech nuts’ can contain 19.4-21.8% protein, 18-20.3% carbohydrate, and a whopping 50-53.5% fat, while one can eat a handful in the fall, in order to utilize large amounts for food, one must process them as one would with acorns, which is to ‘leech’ the tannins out of them by soaking ground up powder or flour of beech nut. Tannins aren't that good for your insides, it’s what leather-workers use to make leather last. So unless you want a rawhide stomach, you better do as the native Americans did and soak the tannins out of them, they also contain a toxic substance, a saponin glycoside, which -- while not fatal -- can cause gastric problems so you also would probably be served roasting them like chestnuts, as this will destroy this toxin as well as enhance their flavor.  If you’re going to run around outside and live like Elves and eat this stuff, you gotta know these things.  

“The leaves were used to help heal burns and scouling, to restore frostbitten extremities, and to heal sores.  The north side of the bark was used as a wash for poison ivy. The bark was also used for pulmonary troubles. Sometimes the bark was used for abortions when the mother was suffering.  Nut meat mixed with bear grease was used to prevent mosquitoes. They chewed the nuts to prevent worms.  They also used beech trees in mixtures to prevent gall, and as a blood purifier.” http://sciweb.hfcc.net/kelly/nature/woody/trees/abeech/abeech.html

Now, the Beech tree can get pretty big, a good candidate for building tree-houses in them, and many Elves do like their tree-houses, also Beech trees actually benefit other trees that grow around them, by conserving the productive capacity of the soil better than any other kind of tree, they’re ‘good guys.’ 

As they grow really old, they start to look like the trees we all imagine in fantastic places like “Middle Earth.”  

There’s some info here about Beech that humans might find useful: Beech. http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/b/beech-27.html

The Leaves of Lorien

And whatever you do, do NOT show him/her your “Peter Jackson” Lord of the Rings “brooch” you bought off the internet, because it will just piss him/her off.  The “Leaves of Lorien” brooch was a Beech-Leaf not that of Ivy or Hedera which appears to be the model for the ‘collectible trinket’ marketed by the movie franchise. (Not to insult Hedera of course, there’s nothing wrong with it, but it wasn’t the Leaves of Lorien that we know). 

“And look at this! He held up a thing that glittered in the sunlight. It looked like the new-opened leaf of a beech-tree, fair and strange in that treeless plain.

'The brooch of an elven-cloak!' cried Legolas and Gimli together.

'Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall,' said Aragorn. 'This did not drop by chance: it was cast away as a token to any that might follow. I think Pippin ran away from the trail for that purpose.’”

Now by saying something like, “Hey there, Gi suilon, look at the size of that Beech Tree, amazing isn’t it?” Or by talking about Beeches, perhaps asking them about them might be the best way to get to know an Elf.  You might want to discuss the higher concepts of what ‘trees’ mean to them and ask just what is it about trees they hold so dear, rather than say, “It’s a tree, dude, what’s the deal.”