The Aging of Elves

[VanimaEdhel]

Originally Posted by davem

It seems that Elves wedded as soon as they reached adulthood, had children of their own soon after, & then got on with more interesting things . Tolkien at first applied the same condition to Numenorean children, due to their longer life, as to Elves - this extension of 'childhhood' - but later changed his mind.

That's very, very interesting when compared to the human tendency to marry within a "time limit" of sorts. The average age that we get married these days is higher than it was centuries ago. This, as opposed to the Elvish reasons, derives from the average lifespan of a human. As that increases, it becomes less urgent for children to marry as soon as they hit sixteen or eighteen. Humans marry and reproduce as soon as needed so that they can have procreated before they grow too old or die. Meanwhile, Elves married and procreated so they wouldn't have to "think about it", practically, for the rest of their confinement on Middle Earth.

But you know, it would also imply that the average Elvish female probably had longer times between cycles than Human women. If they had as many children as they wanted, and then just got on with their lives, you would think that siblings you hear about would be born closer together. Elladan and Elrohir were born 111 years before Arwen - a very interesting number, actually. Unless Elves would have a child or two, let that one grow up and have their own lives, then wait a while, then realize, "Wait: I want another little bundle of joy to nurse for fifty years," have another many years later and so on.

ETA: Bethy, but imagine round-up time at the Feanor household? "We have six...who are we missing? Why can't I remember these things?!" Finarfin and Earwen probably also had a party when the kids got out of the house.

[Lalwendë]

It's also worth bearing in mind that having children seems to have taken a toll on Elven women - this is/was being discussed in another thread Luthien and Galadriel - and so it could well have been that Celebrian went through a fair amount of struggle in bearing twins!

What interests me is that if it was a custom to marry at a young age, would characters such as Arwen have been seen as 'on the shelf' as it's so delightfully put these days? There seem to be a fair few characters who this would apply to, including Legolas, so was it a case of the higher status Elves having to wait longer until a partner who was 'approved of' was found?

[davem]

To go against my earlier post somewhat, I think we have to take it as read that 'Laws & Customs' relates mainly to the Eldar in Valinor. In Arda things may have been very different - Tolkien implies as much - due to the much more dangerous situation the Elves found themselves in. Certainly Elrond was much older than fifty when he married Celebrian.

Its been stated elswhere that the probable reason there were no Elf children born during the later Third Age was due to the growing sense of hopelessness & the deepening sense of not belonging in Middle earth that the Elves felt. Probably true. Having children implies commitment - not just to the spouse but to the world & its future. Feeling that their time in the world was over, that (like Niggle) they soon had a journey to make, probably inspired in them a desire to finish their (percieved) tasks in Middle earth & have their bags packed, ready to leave.

I suspect that this also played a part in their 'passivity' - they knew that soon they would be leaving. In that situation it can be difficult to commit to anything. I suppose in a way, this sense of an oncoming end of their time in Middle earth was the closest thing an Elf could experience to 'mortality'. It was like they knew they were going to 'die' & go to 'Paradise' - albeit an 'Earthly' one. There must have been an incredible sense of 'failure', which probably produced their feelings that all they were doing was 'fighting the long defeat', 'many defeats & many fruitless victories' as Elrond put it.