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I'm not as well-versed in the Elder Scrolls lore as I'd like to be. Through my readings at the Imperial Library and the wiki I haven't found anything to answer my question.

Does anyone know how long each elven race is supposed to live naturally? I know the Altmer supposedly have long life spans (up to 1000 years), but do the other Mer share their aging process?

The Altmer have long life spans yes, I'm under the impression the Dunmer have slightly longer spans than the human races, and I think it's the same for the Bosmer, though I think the Dunmer live longer than them too. The Dunmer though, while they can live longer, not by nearly as much as the Altmer. It was something that a god taught the Altmer specificly that added like 400 years to their life span. A walking method I believe. Anyway. The Dunmer probably live to the Altmer's life span -400, and the Bosmer probably live almost as long as the Dunmer do. But I know nothing specific besides about the Altmer, so this could be totally off. Although considering how long Divath Fyr has lived in Morrowind... maybe the Dunmer have extremely long life spans as well (or it's just a perk of being a sorcerer). The bosmer though I know can't live as long as Altmer or Dunmer sorcerers.

I'm pretty sure the dunmer can reach ages of a thousand years and above, because I read somewhere that Divayth Fyr was that old. Also, Master Neloth of the Telvanni Council referred to a dunmer woman as a mere child of three-hundred years.

I personally hope I'm way off and the Dunmer have the longest life spans.

Divayt Fyr is more than thousand years old and this is old, even for a dunmer.

This might give you some clue: (quoted from the imperial library)



So at the events of Morrowind, Queen Barenziah is 430+(896-865) = 461 years old.
In Tribunal, there's a rumor that Symmachus might've been murdered because he was not that old. He died at the age of 422.

Conclusion: My guess would be that the average dunmer would become 500 years old.

The altmer probably live longer because of their resistance to diseases as they have in the games.

Divayth Fyr is about 4000 years old, according to Alpha Fyr or whatever her name is. But Telvanni wizards do crazy stuff that prolongs their lifespan.

Actually that point I'm quite positive on. Some god or other taught them a way to walk to increase their natural life spans by 400 years.

The oldest NPC in Morrowind is a Dark Elf, Mistress Dratha.

That means he was born in the beginning of the first era
He was already alive when the dwemer disappeared and when the battle of red mountain happened.




Where did you get that information? (just curious)

Memory, which is not 100% now I have looked it up as it says she is the oldest living Telvanni councilor, and as Fyr is not a councilor could be that he is older.

There is an interesting post with quotes and references here.

The Telvanni lords probably aren't representative for the entire dunmer race.

500 years is IMO still probably the average age for a dunmer.

I agree.


Dratha? I always figured Therana was the oldest of the Telvanni councilors and that's why she's so messed up. And actually I'm not 100% sure that I didn't misread the number of zeroes for Divayth Fyr, and besides, Alfe Fyr could have been exaggerating.

The whole thing about Telvanni aren't representative for the entire race is very true, but you could consider it to be they're representative for what the entire race could choose if it had a mind to. It can safely be said that it takes a very special kind of Dunmer to not be gifted in the arcane arts (assuming their life circumstances allows them to practice it, much unlike the folk of Seyda Neen on Vvardenfell).

So basically, all those references in the link rohugh posted about leading a better lifestyle helping the aging process slow down, add vast magick arts to increase the lifespan further, the only thing stopping any Dunmer (or Altmer it seems) from obtaining an average life span in the several-thousands is poverty.

Divayth Fyr sort of alludes to experimenting with the preservative effects of Corprus.

One thing I want to know though, is if House settlement of Vvardenfell is fairly recent, what's a 4000 year old wizard doing setting up shop there? Telvanni councilors seem to be pretty set in their ways, and I would expect they'd be reluctant to move.

Unless they just figured it was too crowded on the Mainland and saw it as an opportunity to have more lebensraum.

Actually it was 100 years. According to the Imperial Library.

Lol, my bad. I have slight dyslexia so sometimes I read things a bit off. xP guess my head put in an extra word that wasn't there.

As for Fyr setting up shop in Vvardenfell. Just think of all that prime real-estate just waiting to be used by the oldest Dunmeri sorcerer alive. He probably figured that a nice out-of-the-way place would benefit his corprus research far more than a crowded area (not just because it would be more practical for the research but it's a nice way of NOT spreading the disease).

The telvanni are true expansionists, as proven by the fact that they've set up shop all over the island.

Any idea how long orcs live??

Elves 1000 years accrding to the real barnza.

Orcs mybe 200 althgh I herd as low as 35 years.

So he's pretty damn old.