| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| swifty |
Posted - 31 Mar 2015 : 10:04:27
Has this ever been explained.there must only be about a 1% difference in genetic code to humans of the realms so why the huge difference in longevity. |
| 17 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Ayrik |
Posted - 07 Apr 2015 : 19:07:49
quote:
Barastir
Why do elves live so long? Because goblinoids are incompetent!
Sad, but true. Elves are like cockroaches, ugly and surprisingly hard to kill.
Elves are the favoured creations of Corellon, and Gygax, and Tolkien - not to mention most of the D&D players, DMs, and authors I've met. So they live forever because we refuse to let them die.
Elves are feyblooded half-immortals, true, but then again everybody has an origin and the fey aren't a lot more or a lot less exotic than any other thinking creature in a D&D world.
Elves are immersed, from birth to death, in the natural flow of magic. Human (and other non-elf) magic users have a tendency to also live centuries or millennia, which seems to add weight to this parameter. |
| Roseweave |
Posted - 03 Apr 2015 : 01:02:04
I think is creating a problem where there isn't one - Elven/Fae society shouldn't be like human society. There is going to be a lot of overlap, of course. People also forget that Elves have been around in the realms for a very long time. The average High Elf can hope to live to just over 300 - Elven go back at least 8,000 years. Let's take 50 to be the average age humans lived to throughout recorded history(i know in reality it's less, but counting for factors like infant mortality etc.) that's still over 1,300 years of history, which is probably more history as we have reliably recorded anyway. and of course, it's not a direct comparison anyway, because of how Faerie is a realm shaped by stories, many Fae probably take on new roles - this is especially true of the ones that live for over a millennia. So 300 years probably feels longer to Elves than 50 years to us, in the same way that someone who's hyper healthy who can and will live to 110 doesn't experience a relative length as someone who lives to their mid 70s. While they no doubt experience the passing of ages much slower than humans, in a part a lot of it is due to the fact that elves are so full of life they're going to forget or reinvent themselves a lot(which is one option presented in the above article, to an extent).
While in one way I think it's valid to write Fae as 'not as different from humans as they'd like to think' and it tends to be the approach I take, their attitudes and feelings and experiences when it comes to certain things are simply going to be different and their history doesn't need to be formed in the same way.
I think this is really an imagination issue and can be easily solved. By all means have the average elf live to only 2 centuries(I prefer the current status quo of 3) if you feel it makes things fit better, but I feel it's cheaping out a bit, and leave some Fae to be ages old in keeping with the folklore of old. Remember: while some of them no doubt act it from being around humans so long, they're not just humans with pointy ears! |
| Roseweave |
Posted - 03 Apr 2015 : 00:52:16
Just as the Shadowfel/plane of shadows represents Death, the Feywild/Faerie is a plane of Life. Fae are simply infused with more "life", and are in touch either with arcane Fae energies(like High Elves Eladrin) or the spirit and power of nature(Wood Elves), though most are a mix of both to varying degree in a way humans aren't. That's not to say humans can't be in touch with those things - and they often are, and in some cases they also live very long times if they wield powerful magic. In terms of being attached with nature - well, that might help them live longer but ultimately they have to live out their natural cycle. Fae have a different place in it, just like trees, sea urchins and tortoises. They're a higher function of the concept of "Nature" and "Life", and are simply "alive" in a slightly different way to humans, they are in some ways metaphysical representations of life or the dreams and fears of humans and other races, or children of an immortal God, depending on who you believe.
Fae of various sorts are often said to be ageless or immortal in folklore, and are somewhere between flesh and blood creatures and spirits.
Also don't forget that Elves tend to be "teenagers" until the age of 110... |
| Barastir |
Posted - 02 Apr 2015 : 18:42:04
Why do elves live so long? Because goblinoids are incompetent!
Now seriously, Tolkien elves didn't age. D&D elves live for centuries and then leave the world, so virtually they would be immortal (in terms of aging), too. |
| Fellfire |
Posted - 02 Apr 2015 : 18:09:25
I'd have to dig out my Silmarilion, wasn't Lady Galadriel a 3rd generation elf and something like 8,000 years old? |
| Rymac |
Posted - 02 Apr 2015 : 18:00:00
quote:
Originally posted by BenN
This site has a quite interesting take on the subject of elven longevity:
http://www.autarch.co/blog/trouble-elves
i.e. to build a believable world, it would be best if elves only lived for two centuries (at most).
As far as I an recall, elven lifespans have been gradually shortening ever since D&D 1e.
I always went with the theory that elves still lived as long as they used to in 1e, but the character age in later editions reflected the age range elves could be playable as PCs. At a certain point in their long lifespan elves, PC and NPC, would act upon the spiritual tug to return to a more Fey place.
Imagine living in a world where most other living things are born, live, and die with such rapidity. After a couple hundred years of being living witnesses to friends dying, cities and nations crumbling to ruin, etc, elves would rightly want to Retreat from the world of mortals. |
| BenN |
Posted - 02 Apr 2015 : 11:07:16
This site has a quite interesting take on the subject of elven longevity:
http://www.autarch.co/blog/trouble-elves
i.e. to build a believable world, it would be best if elves only lived for two centuries (at most).
As far as I an recall, elven lifespans have been gradually shortening ever since D&D 1e. |
| Starshade |
Posted - 02 Apr 2015 : 10:36:49
If the D&D elves was created out of some "mortal" creature with human ish genes (and human lifespan), it could be plausible the elven "longevity" DNA program require big chunks of it, intact, from most of the cromosomes to work (or it defaults to "human"). As an example, certain color varieties of butterfly wings dont get shown if some parts of the DNA is damaged or missing (since its better to not have the defective looking camouflage, than look like, a flying "Eye of Sauron" or something). |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 02 Apr 2015 : 05:46:51
quote:
Originally posted by BenN
These are just off the top of my head; and if we think only in terms of DNA similarity, none of these would possible, just like the longevity thing.
I still don't see how DNA is a factor, here. Again, if 10% is all that separates humans and cats, it surely wouldn't take that much of a DNA tweak to have something near-human but longer-lived. |
| BenN |
Posted - 02 Apr 2015 : 01:39:27
Elves are quite different to humans in many other ways too:
- Few visible effects of age / physical deterioration (compared to humans) after reaching adulthood.
- No need to sleep (reverie/trance instead)
- Offspring of two different subraces follow 100% the subrqce of either the mother or father (i.e. no half/half)
These are just off the top of my head; and if we think only in terms of DNA similarity, none of these would possible, just like the longevity thing. |
| Seravin |
Posted - 02 Apr 2015 : 00:39:52
Labelas Enoreth gifted them with longevity, that's why. |
| SaMoCon |
Posted - 02 Apr 2015 : 00:19:45
quote:
Originally posted by swifty
why do elves live so long
Because Tolkien loved elves and Gygax loved Tolkien. 'Nuff said. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 31 Mar 2015 : 17:44:02
There is a buttload of info in DNA. A small percentage can still have a lot of difference... Cat DNA and human DNA is 90% similar, and yet beyond the standard mammalian stuff, there's not a lot of visibly similar stuff betwixt humans and cats.
If 10% is the difference between having fur, claws, slanted irises, a notably shorter lifespan, and dramatically different sizes and body types, then a 1% difference can surely explain pointed ears and a more efficient telomere replacement mechanism. |
| Irennan |
Posted - 31 Mar 2015 : 16:22:42
Having the blood of something basically means sharing DNA, though. I'd say that being imbued with the magic of something would work better (and actually is the explanation to a lot of things). |
| hashimashadoo |
Posted - 31 Mar 2015 : 16:17:46
I've said in the past that 'the blood of' something works much better in fantasy than DNA. Gives a lot more room for artistic license and interpretation as well.
Markustay hit the nail pretty much on the head. Elves (and gnomes, hengeyokai, etc.) originally come from Faerie where everyone is immortal. Elves may have been removed from Faerie but their fey blood still runs strong. |
| Artemas Entreri |
Posted - 31 Mar 2015 : 15:02:32
Considering that chimps and humans share 99% of their DNA I'm betting that elves and humans share more. Then again, injecting DNA into a fantasy setting feels weird. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 31 Mar 2015 : 14:11:04
The way I explain it in my games is that Fey (TRUE Fey) are immortal, and the elves are the mortal children ("pale shadows") of those original fey, before death came into the world.
So basically, they live long because their ancestors were immortal - something every creature lost after the Godwar and the First World ended.
But thats just my own take - Elves live long because they do, and thats the official take. Thats like trying to ask why some turtles lives for centuries and others don't. |
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