Earendil's Hair

[randy]

This is a very stupid trivial canon question for a stupid trivial story, but can anybody tell me the color of Earendil's hair?

Was it ever mentioned in the writings? Or are we down to drawing conclusions based on the hair-color of known descendants and ancestors?

[Darth Fingon]

Jun 24, 2009 9:44:57 GMT -6 randy said:

This is a very stupid trivial canon question for a stupid trivial story, but can anybody tell me the color of Earendil's hair?

Was it ever mentioned in the writings? Or are we down to drawing conclusions based on the hair-color of known descendants and ancestors?

I think we're left to guesswork. But there's a good case for him being golden-haired, since both of his parents were.

[surgicalsteel]

I'm with Darth. Blond hair's a recessive trait. Idril and Tuor are both described as 'golden-haired,' so it's logical to assume that their offspring would be, too.

[aearwen]

Then where does Elrond's dark hair come from? Was Elwing dark-haired? Or are we talking about the fifth King of Gondor, and not the Mariner?

[Darth Fingon]

Jun 24, 2009 11:35:54 GMT -6 aearwen said:

Then where does Elrond's dark hair come from? Was Elwing dark-haired? Or are we talking about the fifth King of Gondor, and not the Mariner?

Elwing would likely be dark-haired.

[surgicalsteel]

Yep, from Elwing. Luthien's described as dark-haired, so not a stretch to assume that Dior would've been - and even if Dior's wife was fair-haired, at least 50% of their offspring should've been dark-haired - 75% (at least) if his wife was also dark-haired.

[randy]

Thank you very much. Such a lot of trouble over what is basically a choice between 'the dark-haired stranger' and 'the blond stranger.'

So, am I to understand that in the wonderful world of genetics, two dark-haired parents might produce children anywhere from blond to dark-haired, but two blonds can have only blonds?

[surgicalsteel]

Jun 25, 2009 11:39:37 GMT -6 randy said:

So, am I to understand that in the wonderful world of genetics, two dark-haired parents might produce children anywhere from blond to dark-haired, but two blonds can have only blonds?

More or less. If I recall correctly, there are at least two genes controlling hair color. Pair one is brown dominant, blond recessive. The other pair codes for redness and is red recessive, not-red dominant.

But two dark-haired people might be:
- both homozygous for 'dark/brown,' in which case all of their children would be, too, (all the children would be homozygous for that trait) OR
- one homozygous for dark/brown, one heterozygous - in which case all of their children would have dark hair (half the children would be homozygous, half heterozygous, all would have dark hair)
- both heterozygous, which should yield 75% dark haired children and 25% blond (25% homozygous for dark hair, 50% heterozygous, 25% homozygous for blond hair).

To get a true red-head, as I understand it, you'd need two 'blond' genes in that pair AND two 'red' genes in the other. To get auburn hair, you'd need to be heterozygous for blond/brown and have two 'red' genes.

And that's likely way more information than you wanted, and my genetics prof would either be proud I remembered all of that or horrified that I screwed it up.

ETA: And I just had the random thought that if Earendil was blond and Elwing dark-haired AND if Elrond and Elros were fraternal twins rather than identical - then Elros could've been blond. Just a random thought.

[aiwen]

I might be wrong, but I seem to remember a young Earendil having blue eyes and either blond or "bright" hair in The Book of Lost Tales.