I have many complex feelings about aging and the appearance of age in tolkien's world. For example, I always draw Melian as an old woman [seen here at the end of the chapter - highly recommend the fic as well!] because when I realized she and Gandalf were the same species, that was the image of her that formed. It's not supported by text, but it compels me so I keep it. On the flip side, I actually don't like to depict Elros as growing a beard or aging. Elrond is never described as an elf, he's very specifically a peredhil. Elros would have been the same. I like the idea that they are both set apart a little from their chosen people.
And imagine how eerie it would have been, for Elros to look the same and yet still draw apart... to grow slower and wiser, yet somehow more tired, over the years. Almost like an invisible disability, but they both know what's happening. And then one day... this young man dies of old age. Surrounded by his children, who DO age (if slowly) for maximum uncanny valley.
