Three baseline assumptions (read: headcanons, not canon) in order to get to a pointless headcanon:
1) Elves greatly value personal space and don’t usually get very near people who are not immediate kin, especially not if both individuals could conceivably marry each other
2) Elves have a very keen sense of smell. Maybe not as much as their hearing and sight but way better than any of us mere mortals
3) Due to the canonical widespread hair kink of the eldar, they favor scented hair oil well above perfume. I don’t think I have to say its making is a subcreation and the scent possibilities are endless, right?
And now the pointless headcanon: getting close enough to someone to be able to identify the individual scent notes of their hair oil is a major relationship milestone. How classy you are about getting close enough to do that is definitely subject of gossip, of course
…OK but if Manwe is the lord of the wind then there must be several series’ worth of self-indulgent amanyar romance novels that include Manwe and/or his maiar playing matchmaker as a minor plot point.
✔️Standing close enough that other people know you’re within scent-identifying distance (god, I bet they have a word for that and I bet it becomes an euphemism) if you’re close kin, married, or officially courting
⁉️That same closeness when you could conceivably be flirting with the person. Gossip fodder. You can do it but you’ll face social consequences. (I bet some people find that an annoying limitation - “We invade each other’s personal spaces because we’re as close as family, not because we’re flirting ”)
❔Actively smelling someone’s hair in public if you’re married. Nebulous zone. People will want to tell you to get a room but it’s not technically taboo? It’s just excessive PDA. Either comes across as overly affectionate or as vaguely inappropriate. I bet some people literally don’t care, though. (It would be mildly scandalous if you were only betrothed, though. Ultimately not a big deal but people will Comment.)
❌Actively smelling someone’s hair when you’re not related to them by blood or marriage. NO. NO. NO. Social suicide for all parties involved. What are you doing.
