sokka!

Elezen ears are known to come in multiple shapes and have a limited random of motion, allowing for temporary positioning and movement. While they can respond to sound in the surrounding environment, the muscles in their ears typically don’t have the strength or control for precise/subtle shifts of the ear. Usually, the most obvious display of movement is during high emotion: their ears can shoot upwards, downwards, and even backwards depending on the Elezen’s mood and personality as a whole.

Interestingly, newborn Elezen are usually born with ears that are oversized in proportion to their head, and are too heavy for them to move due to the size of and the underdeveloped muscles attached to the child’s auricle. They tend to have ears that point downward and are relatively floppy.

With time, usually right past the toddler phase, elezen children start to catch up with their ears, at least enough that the nuetral position shifts to point more outwards rather than downwards.

Occasionally, a child’s ears continue to grow at the same rate and “stay ahead” of the rest of their body rather than slow down- or the muscles in their ear don’t develop like they should. Both of these can preserve that downward angle while the former results in larger than average ears as well. It’s typically referred to as Auricle Misalignment Syndrome or Ear Misalignment Syndrome.

It doesn’t cause harm but it can slightly impact hearing and be deemed a cosmetic issue, since downturned ears are typically associated with infants and very young children. Otherwise, it's not usually much to worry about, as it typically resolves itself during the elezen's eventual growth spurt in their 20s. Typically.

An example would be Alphinaud- who has a fairly extreme and rarer case of it: Both large ears and weak ear muscles.

Physical therapy and other medical treatments can help, but the combination of both issues made it difficult to really fix it long term without more invasive methods, so it was decided against and twisted into a "benefit": Being the youngest student ever to enter the Studium with a feature that made him appear even younger.

In Sharlayan, Alphinaud never felt particularly insecure about them due to his status as a young prodigy. However, after he left for Eorzea, he discovered his condition would not be perceived quite so graciously, especially during his time in Ishgard, with some questioning why it had gone untreated for a boy of his station.

Nowadays, he’s grown more insecure about his ears, but doesn’t really have the time to dedicate to “fixing” them. Any sort of physical therapy to build the strength in his ear muscles would take time and consistency that he doesn’t have. He just hopes that he’ll grow into them in his eventual growth spurt- but in the meantime, he's just dealing with accepting an aspect of himself he thought he already had years ago. What good are they if they don't make him look more respectable? (Normal, healthy thing to think)

As for Alisaie? She had a milder case of it and had physical therapy to fix it years ago. She has her own ear problems though. If it’s not obvious.