Recently the preliminary story of my slash series received an unfavorable review, citing "factual errors with respect to Tolkien's works." The reviewer asked whether I had chosen to not include "Laws and Customs of the Eldar" as part of my "personal canon." This led me to reflect on why I have never been particularly bothered by that section, considering that I strive to stay within canon in my fan fiction. Numerous online discussions of elvish behavior cite this very same section to bolster arguments against elf slash in particular or elf sex in general. It was as if elves were like Star Trek’s Mr. Spock, utterly passionless and detached for the majority of their existence, only deigning to submit to the weakness of the flesh in a burst of newlywed baby-making rutting, the Eldar version of the Pon Farr. Slash writers have countered, stating that since Tolkien obviously held the Elves in the highest regards in relation to the other talking species, he would write them as "above" the chains of the flesh. Others have pointed out that Tolkien was influenced by the sexual constraints the society of his youth, and that if he had been born fifty years later would have probably written the Elves as more "lusty." However, I believe a close reading of Tolkien's actual words leads one to a very different conclusion - "Morgoth's Ring" cannot be logically used as a blanket argument against the legitimacy of slash or other Elvish sexual writings.
The portion of the "Later Quenta Simarillion" in question is more completely called "Of the Laws and Customs Among the Eldar Pertaining to Marriage and Other Matters Related Thereto: Together With the Statute of Finwe and Miriel and the Debate of the Valar at its Making." Christopher Tolkien explains that there were two different versions found among his father's writings, which he refers to as A and B. He reprints B with differences in wording found in A relegated to the endnotes. He also makes the convincing case that the author (voice) of the document is to be assumed to be human, not elf-kind. This is an important point, as Tolkien himself wrote extensively raising words of caution about the literal interpretation of human writings concerning the matters of Immortals. For example, in Note 2 to the "Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth" (Morgoth's Ring: 337) it is stated that "It must be remembered, however, that it does not necessarily follow that 'True Information' concerning Arda (such as the ancient Eldar might have received from the Valar) must agree with Men's present theories."
In a scribbled note from the Professor (Morgoth's Ring: 374), Tolkien specifically warns that certain myths "are Numenorean, blending Elven-lore with human myth and imagination." He reflects further on these problems in "Myth Tranformed" (Morgoth's Ring: 370), where he flatly states that "Men are really only interested in men and in men's ideas and visions." It may also be argued that human writers of elf lore had a vested interest in portraying elvish marriage in a "sacred light," given that it was in the close association of Men and Eldar that the former were "raised to their fullest achievable stature, and by the two marriages the transference to them, or infusion into Mankind, of the noblest Elf-strain was accomplished...." (Morgoth's Ring: 402). The story of Luthien and Beren is a clear example where Elvish marriage was painted as a sacrament of much greater importance and reverence than the ceremony normally is given. We must certainly keep these inherent "prejudices" in mind when reading the description of Elvish "customs" reported by the author of "Laws and Customs." In the end, one may rightfully choose to disregard entirely any definitive conclusions reached from a close reading of this work by simply stating that it was a "mannish point of view" rather than absolute truth. This might seem to be a "cop-out," but no more so than the good Professor himself chose to do in certain circumstances.
If one chooses to read "Laws and Customs" in good faith, believing that that human 'author' was truthful and accurate in his reporting, one is still able to reconcile the writing of passionate elf sex with canon. Firstly, we should dispel the myth that the Eldar lacked passion. As anyone who has read "The Silmarillion" clearly knows, the Firstborn suffered from the seven deadly sins as surely as any human, under the right circumstances. Therefore it cannot be a lack of strong emotions which would make passionate elf sex "uncanonical." To understand the (false) arguments used against the veracity of "elf smut" one must turn to the pages in question and read them literally line by line. It is flatly stated that the Eldar "wedded for the most part in their youth and soon after their fiftieth year" (op. cit.: 210). Tolkien later explains that "Marriage, save for rare ill chances or strange fates, was the natural course of life for all Eldar" (ibid). These "rare ill chances" seem to be far more common than he leads one to believe. For example, Gil-galad never married, and Elrond was certainly not in his youth when he married, nor was his daughter, Arwen. There are numerous cases of elves who are not given spouses, but it is not stated for certain whether or not this was an omission by the author or a suggestion of a bachelor existence. In fact, one might argue that married elves might seem the statistical exception rather than the rule, if one begins to add up the famous elvish characters.
"Laws and Customs" writes that the Eldar "wedded once only in life, and for love or at the least by free will upon either part" (ibid). The case of Finwe already negates the absolute veracity of the first half of that statement. The second section is open to interpretation. "By free will" simply means that the two parties were not forced into a marriage, yet it does not mean that there was necessarily love between the two partners. We will not distinguish between the different possible meanings of the word "love," although one can argue that either Tolkien specifically used the word in different ways and meant for us to read it as such, or one must accept that he specifically wrote homosexual relationships. There is no reasonable third point of view for interpreting such lines as "the great love" between Manwe's son, Fionwe, and Tulkas, one of the Valar. Thus "political alliances" are feasible in canon, so long as there was no "shotgun wedding" per se.
An intriguing "loophole" closely follows in that same paragraph: "seldom is any tale told of deeds of lust among them." Firstly note that the word "seldom" is used to qualify the statement. Equally important is the usage of the word "lust." Christopher Tolkien writes in a footnote to that sentence that in version A, it was instead written "Some fell into pride, and self-will, and could be guilty of deeds of malice, enmity, greed and jealousy. But among all these evils there is no record of any among the Elves that took another's spouse by force...." Therefore, any sexual vice short of outright rape with an elf as a perpetrator could rightly be argued as within possible elvish behavior under the right circumstances. Consensual incest was considered anathema in Tolkien’s world (as writings on the unnatural lust of Maeglin for Idril seem to prove), but it did happen under unhappy circumstances. That topic is beyond the purview of this current discussion.
The discussion then turns to the betrothal of elves, and states that
for the Eldar "their spirits being the masters of their bodies, they are
seldom swayed by the desires of body alone...." (op. cit.: 211). Note that
once again the qualifier "seldom" is utilized, leaving a door open within
the gate of canon. Note as well that it is said that "desires of the body
alone" are usually not the sole reason. Tolkien is NOT stating that desires
of the bodies do not exist, or are not important, but merely that they
usually do not act alone, but in concert with the "desires" of the spirit
(and mind, one would think).
An overworked line from this work reads that the trappings of a marriage
ceremony are not required from a legal point of view because it was "the
act of bodily union that achieved marriage, and after which the indissoluble
bond was complete." (op. cit.: 212) This passage certainly can be used
to argue against cheap, extramarital affairs in most cases (remember all
the "seldoms" and other caveats used in earlier passages) but says nothing
against long-term, monogamous relationships which do not have the benefit
of a formal marriage ceremony. For example, one might convincingly argue
that if Glorfindel and Legolas (two assumed bachelor elves) began a long-term,
monogamous affair it would be akin to a marriage by the definition of canon,
and there is nothing specifically in canon which would prevent it. Similarly,
since Finwe had more than one wife, it is not impossible for an elf to
be "serially monogamous" so long as the previous partners were dead, or
in the case of another sort of intervention by the Valar, who seemed to
be able to bend the rules at will, or at the very least invent new ones,
as they did in the case of Finwe and Miriel. We also have the tantalizing
suggestion that with the passage of time the Eldar have "changes of desire
and thought" which is reflected in changes in "impulses and moods of their
bodies." (ibid)
This brings us to the matter of childbearing. "Laws and Customs" explains that "in the begetting, and still more in the bearing of children, greater share and strength of their being, in mind and body, goes forth than in the making of mortal children. For these reasons it came to pass that the Eldar brought forth few children; and also that their time of generation was in their youth or earlier life, unless strange and hard fates befell them." (ibid). This section really says nothing new, but confirms the reason for Miriel's weariness after giving birth to Feanor. Elves apparently have some conscious decision to produce children and give of their strength and will in order to do so. An interesting parallel appears in the feminist Utopian work "Herland," where the women produce children through parthenogenesis after cultivating a "feeling" and desire to produce a child which comes over them after attaining a certain age.
The following section is the one most often quoted, and, it is my belief, most wrongly interpreted: "For with regard to generation the power and the will are not among the Eldar distinguishable. Doubtless they would retain for many ages the power of generation, if the will and desire were not satisfied; but with the exercise of the power the desire soon ceases, and the mind turns to other things." (op. cit.: 212-3) Commonly authors interpret this to mean that elves lose interest in sex. However, if one reads carefully, one sees that this is not necessarily true - Tolkien merely states that since the production of children is a conscious decision, if elves lose the desire for such production, they will cease to have them after a certain period of time. How different is this from many human couples today? The confusion surrounding the true intent of this passage can be removed when one reads Christopher Tolkien's note on this section, which quotes version A as stating "For, whether the Eldar retain their power of generation... at all times they lose the desire and will with the exercise of that power." (op. cit.: 229) Note it is the interest and will to exercise "that power" [of generation] which wanes, not the desire for one partner for the other.
The main narrative continues to say that "The union of love is indeed to them great delight and joy, and the 'days of the children', as they call it, remain in their memory as the most merry in life; but they have many other powers of body and of mind which their nature urges them to fulfill." (op. cit.: 213) The "union of love" is most naturally identified as "sex," but the "other powers" mentioned refer to replacing not this union, but the power of generation - the production of children. Hence, while it is possible that some elf couples do lose interest in sex after their children bearing and rearing years are over (as happens in some human couples today), it is not true that canon states that elves necessarily stop having sex!
It has been argued that elves possibly only have sex to procreate. This is illogical, and indeed not supported by canon. As was stated previously it is the union of the body which marks the beginning of a marriage. If it were true that sex must equal conception then the firstborn of every elf couple would necessarily be born on their first anniversary. However, Tolkien states that children are rather "born within a short span of years after their wedding," then adds that the span is "short as the Eldar reckoned time. In mortal count there was often a long interval between the wedding and the first child-birth, and even longer between child and child." (Op. cit.: 212)
In conclusion, fan fiction authors have a tremendous latitude within
canon to write the sexual habits of elves, with the probable exceptions
of rape with an elf as perpetrator or purposeful polygamy.
Reference: J.R.R.Tolkien (1993) Morgoth's Ring (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company)