Robbing the Cradle

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Among themselves, I'd agree. But it appears they generally did take it into consideration when dealing with Men. Thingol had his 'baseborn mortal' remark to Beren. Legolas made several references to his great age relative to the rest of the Fellowship.

That is true, although I think again, it was not really the "age" that was in concern there, when they said "age", they meant "race". I mean: when an Elf said "I am 1000 years old, you youngsters", it was more like just underlining the fact that he was an Elf. I don't think the age would play that big role per se. Aside from that, I think the Elves got quite soon used to the humans' short lifespan, they had to cope with the fact that there is this short-lived species, but they very soon discovered that amazingly, these mortals can make so much of a difference in even their short lives, or that they can be so wise no matter that they are ten times younger than an average Elvish kid. So the Elves, I think, would not really consider the age a problem. Saying "I am Elf AND I am old and have experienced far more than you" was an argument for the sake of an argument, an argument for racists, if I were to put it rather nastily - I think it would not be "politically correct" among Elves to normally use it as a real argument. In Thingol's case, it was just this, in Legolas' case a mere joke.