Discussion of 'The Rings of Power' (which I love) and certain parallels with The Folded Earth. We should be honest here. I am going to be obsessed. I'm making this little forum area for anyone as into Tolkien and Elves as I am. Let's top it off with Galadriel....
Insofar as being an Elf goes (or being a Fata / Fate) I can't imagine how rude this action would be perceived by them. I call the move the 'Pull hair, check ear', and it got under my skin immediately--context notwithstanding (I mean, it is a rather desperate situation).
You can see it cross Galadriel's face when it happens that she's both stunned and sadly unsurprised by this. She's wondering how to handle this intrusion. I honestly think touching her hair is very impolite (don't touch people's hair), and doing so to check the shape of their ear like this has to be offensive to elves. It would certainly be so to a Fata like Ruel. Though... I can say that this is within the realm of possibility for him in the future. Later, Galadriel is forced to hide her nature by covering those elven ears that mark her. Elves are a glorious race in Tolkien's world, but it's possible to pick up distaste for them in almost every other major race at times. They even have a ranking system among their own. Sadly.