Why do elves eat?
 

correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it true that elves only can die from three things (battle,grief or getting tired of the world and leaving their bodily attachment to the it). So why do they eat lembas and stuff? perhaps they can survive without food but they will look like gollum after a millenia of two? =)

maybe there's a simple answer to this but I'm to lazy to seach it up.

Because it is awesome.

great answer! thanks for all your help. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

lol. Enjoy being dead.

I think that elves can die from starvation, or they can just pig out because they have a fast metabolism.

Well, they are living beings, so they must have some kind of metabolism. It's probably a lot slower than, say, a human's, but they have to have some way to create energy in their bodies. Simple sugars+metabolism= life.

Please forgive me, I just went into AP Biology mode.

I'm sorry, but it is not true that elves can only die of three things.
Elves can die of anything a human can die of, except old age and disease. They can also die of growing weary of the world, which humans cannot do.
Elves can die from fire, sword, drowning, starvation, suffocation, poison, ect.
There are many interesting threads on the topic of how elves can die. You might want to search and visit them.
Hope this helps.

That's not exactly "AP Biology" material. Anyway, even if you were to suppose that elves can't die of starvation, they would be really really weak and almost helpless.

I know!! Because they're hungry!! *giggles insanely*

They eat because they need to. They would die if they didn't and so they do. you need something to burn for energy, if you don't have anything then oops your not gonna have any and you will die. There it is, I won't go into this too deep...

They eat for all the same reasons we eat, but mainly, for energy. Their hroar work in the same way as Human hroar, in that they need nourishment, rest (even though it's just a little rest), etc. Elves may be able to live on less food than Humans, but they need that food nonetheless.

If elves didn't need food, why would the elves of Lorien have Lambas?

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 6:28 PM December 26, 2003: Message edited by: The Perky Ent ]

Is it not true that Elwing (Elrond's mother) had brothers that were left in the forest to starve by the sons of Feanor when they were mere children? So sad. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 2:54 PM December 27, 2003: Message edited by: Silmiel of Imladris ]

They could have also died from exposure, or could have been eaten by the wild animals or monsters of Morgoth that came in when the Girdle of Melian went down. There are plenty of ways those two poor boys could have died, most of which make me want to curse the House of Fëanor.


Oh wait, they're already cursed. [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img]

Because otherwise they would starve to death. End of story. [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img] [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

its simple Elves eat because they're hungry. No on likes being hungry right?

Gwindor was described as, physically and mentally, a shadow of his former self after he escaped from his thraldom in Morgoth's dungeons. This may have been attributable to harsh living and working conditions and lack of food and drink, indicating that Elves are more physically vulnerable than some of us think. I think their mental state, too, has a great deal of bearing on their physical prowess, at least moreso than any other race, but that is a topic for another thread.

In my opinion Elves would have to eat more than mortals do for immortality must take a lot of energy. Maybe that is the explaination for the Lembas being so potent.