What do elves smell like?

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]What do elves smell like? It's a question I've never thought about in my entire life until a few days ago, and now I'm thinking about it with alarming frequency. Because there is a line that Bilbo mentions in The Hobbit, and I'm reading The Hobbit for the first time, and it's an absolute joy so far. But there's a line that Bilbo mentions in The Hobbit about the smell of elves, and it's just got my mind going crazy considering what elves smell like. This is a line where it happens.

[00:00:24]It says, "The last green had almost faded out of the grass when they came at length to an open glade not far above the banks of the stream."

[00:00:31]Hmm.

[00:00:33]"It smells like elves," thought Bilbo.

[00:00:35]And he looked up at the stars.

[00:00:37]They were burning bright and blue. Just then there came a burst of song like laughter in the trees.

[00:00:44]Now, the main thing that I want to say here is I think that this is a literary technique. I don't think that there's a common smell for all of elves here, but I actually think it's an interesting exercise to think over what elves smell like. Because this is a fantasy realm, and I think J.R.R. Tolkien is creating something that's even more believable just by the smell of elves and what my imagination goes to with what they smell like. But primarily, I think this is a literary technique. I think that J.R.R.

[00:01:07]Tolkien is doing this because it's the kind of the same idea and the phraseology as "smells like trouble" or something along those lines. Like there is a specific scent of elves that when there are elves in the area, you know that there are elves in the area just by their scent. It's like the smell of fresh cookies or the smell of spring or something like that. But I think again, it's a weirdly fun exercise to consider what elves actually smell like. There's a line that mentions it right after this in the next sentence that it talks about how Bilbo looks up at the stars. And one of the first thoughts that I had with the elven smell is that they potentially smell like stars, but no one knows what the heck a star smells like. That's an impossibility. That's just so dumb and foolish. And so, let's move beyond that because I think there's a few other things that elves could potentially smell like. One of the first things that I think elves could actually smell like is autumn. For some reason, when I am imagining what an elf smells like, I just feel like it's autumn. And I think this is primarily because of Lothlórien in Lord of the Rings and how it's said to be this beautiful Eden-like place, especially in autumn when the leaves are all golden on the trees. So, I think autumn is a very distinct smell for the elves. Another smell that I think they could kind of exhibit is potentially the smell of spring.

[00:02:20]The smell of flowers and perfume and something light and airy. Now, again, this is maybe a more common thing because I think elves are kind of that light and airiness. But, I think the idea of a flower, a scent of lavender, or maybe even some earthier subjects like sage or um just some herbs like rosemary. I don't think that that's necessarily what they smell like. I would probably associate those smells more so with a man, like the human race.

[00:02:46]But, I think light airy flowers like roses and um like lilacs and uh lavender and all that kind of stuff. I think that elves could smell like that. Another thing that I think elves could smell like, and this is maybe a more a bit more thematic with the book, is elves could potentially smell like the sea. They could smell like salt. And not that they've not that they are living by the sea, but I think more so like when you go to the beach, you immediately smell that beachy scent and you know, oh, this is I'm ex- so excited to go to the beach. I think elves could potentially have a smell like that, too, where it's the salt because they came over the sea and they're all kind of longing to go back over the sea, even though they are in Middle-earth and they're in like the mountains and stuff like that. So, I think that's another potential scent that they have.

[00:03:31]But, I'm curious too, what you think that they smell like. Let me know in the comments what you think an elf smells like. But, I think within all of this, I think this is J.R.R. Tolkien's ability to create a convincing world. And I think I'm more and more convinced that he is the best world builder of all time, simply because something like this. And this is this is sensory language. So, when you're taught to write, you're taught to to all five senses in your writing. When I was writing, they actually taught me on every single page you should have one of the five senses. I think that's a little extreme, but it's a good exercise. But I think this is almost next level in that we don't really know what the smell is. And so sometimes I would if I was a writing professor, I would tell Tolkien I'd say, "Hey, you should specify what this scent is." But in an instance like this, I actually think it's a brilliant uh device for a writer because it's a bit ethereal, it's a bit above what our normal sensory language is.

[00:04:20]It's It's abstract. We don't know what the scent smells like, but I can kind of fill in the gap. This is again something that Tolkien is really excellent at in this book, which is including you in the journey. So you get to make decisions in The Hobbit. There are certain things that happen, there are certain discussion points that Tolkien raises and he he kind of breaks the fourth wall and talks to the reader. There's kind of There's things that he wants the parents to ask the kids, too. Like if you read the first chapter, you would think, "Do you want to go on a journey like Bilbo?

[00:04:48]Would you be more comfortable comfortable in a hobbit hole? Or do you want to go seek out adventure?" And that's a whole conversation you can have with your kid. And Tolkien's been doing this thing of including the reader in everything that he's kind of been writing up until this point. Well, throughout the rest of the novel, too.

[00:05:01]I'm only on chapter three. But I think this is one thing that he he does very well.

[00:05:05]And I think this idea of scent brings that into it. Where the most pleasant scent that I can think of, my favorite smell is the smell of spring. And it's a very generic scent, but there's a specific kind of smell like um that I kind of relate to the spring smells. And my mind first went to that immediately. That when Bilbo says, "Hmm, smells like elves." I immediately thought of that scent.

[00:05:29]And it's fun because I am inputting in my mind the best possible scents for the elves because that's what kind of feels like Middle-earth. Like the best scents belong to the elves.

[00:05:39]So I'm really curious what you think elves smell like. It's a question that J.R.R. Tolkien raised that I've never thought of before. And now that Bilbo said it, I have just been thinking about this for so [laughter] way too long for the past 24 hours.

[00:05:53]So, let me know what you think they smell like in the comments. You can also like the video, too. You can subscribe for more of this kind of content. You can become a member for some members-only content and early access videos and stuff like that. And as always, remember to look toward Numenor that was and beyond to Elvenhome that is and to that which is beyond Elvenhome and will ever be.

[00:06:08]I'll see you in the next one.