May 20
New slightly crack but also absolutely defensible theory: beards are to elves what balding is to humans
Evidence: we know Mahtan had a beard weirdly young (= premature male pattern balding), and Thingol entered the third stage of life associated with beard growth early due to grief (= hair loss from grief/stress). Also Cirdan isn’t the only super old Elf but he’s the only one with a beard from normal aging just like not all human men go bald with age!
But also imagine Elves being like “Does premature male-pattern bearding run in your family?”