Quote:
Originally Posted by Belegorn
I'd agree that this was probably the high mark for nobles not of the Royal line. I tried looking around but I'm not sure I can find anything about the nobles' life expectancy in the last 400 years of the rule of the kings. Hurin was the Steward of Minardil for 14 years [1621-1634 until the king died] and he would have been late into his life at this point. Perhaps the span for the nobles was generally from 100 to 150 years. Over 200 years later Peneldur [1879-1998] lived for 119 years.
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Looking at The Peoples of Middle-earth, specifically at
The House of Dol Amroth, might give us a better idea of the general life expectancy of the nobility of late Gondor...
Galador lived from 2004-2129 (125). His son lived to be 143, the high point in the line which ranged between 134 and 120 or until the 10th Prince, who lived from 2463-2582 (119). From there the lifespan drops slowly, but mostly steadily (barring two deaths in battle), until Adrahil, father of Imrahil, first Prince to die of natural causes under the age of 100 (he was 93). Imrahil died at 99, his son at 100, and
his son at 98. So, we might say that, around the time of the War of the Ring, Gondorian nobles of relatively pure heritage could expect to live around 100 years, or perhaps shortly less. Between the 27th and 29th centuries, I'd guess it was somewhere between 120 and 100. Before then, at least stretching back to the early 21st century, it was probably somewhere between 150 and 120.
It seems that the lifespan of the line of Dol Amroth declined just a bit more slowly than that of the Line of Hurin, though to be more sure I'd want to do a side-by-side comparison and that would take just a bit longer. I know that the Lines of Dol Amroth and of Hurin married into one another, at least late in their history. If I remember correctly, Denethor's wife was the sister of Imrahil.
EDIT: I'm sorry, you were looking for lifespans during the rule of the Kings. Haha, I'm afraid I goofed there.