Oxonmoot 2024

Though sexuality is never an explicit topic in Tolkien's legendarium, there are several patterns that may be traced, particularly in The Silmarillion.  Monogamy, for instance, seems to be the norm amongst both elves and humans, though multiple 'marriages' are not considered improper.  However, promiscuity and adultery seem to be out of the range of elven sexual behavior.  Judging by the family trees of the elves alone, there are further observations to be made about fertility and thus--perhaps--typical levels of elven sexual passion.
This paper will also discuss exogamous couplings of maiar and elf and elf and humans, which represent potential forms of sexual union that are nonetheless rare in Tolkien's Middle Earth. Indeed, these rare, cross-racial unions may indicate that, in its envisioning of an elf-dwarf pairing, Peter Jackson's The Hobbit movies may not be quite as serious an offense to canon as some fans find them to be.