I was in Falkreath awhile ago as my Altmer character. As some may know the local priest of Arkay is also a High Elf (there's a minor quest involving him). After exiting the conversation he said something to me along the lines of "life is too short, so enjoy it while you can". This is something you'd expect from a priest of Arkay I suppose, but it seemed an odd thing for one Altmer to say to another, as I assumed they had exceptionally long life-spans. It could be he had intended it for a non-elf, his programming unable to recognise my species, or that simply all species don't live as long as I expected. Could be Altmer life spans subjectively don't seem that long to them. Could be just an oversight altogether.

Either way, it got me thinking, and I was looking for some confirmation as to the life spans of the various races. Traditionally elves live a lot longer than other species, but even then I don't know the specifics of each race, and have little clue as to the beast races. I don't remember it ever mentioned in their race descriptions as part of the character creator or the instructions booklet, seeing how it's auxiliary to helping you fit your playstyle.

More or less this is just a jumping point that will hopefully invite some interesting debate, which is the object in my mind, so the more out of the way your source the better, hehe.

Elves in es games only live like 200 years. It is mentioned in game in skyrim but not much

In particular, no elves in skyrim were alive during oblivion (well, mostly)

This wholly depends on the lifestyle/ magical aptitude of the subject.

For instance a noble like Barenziah lived well over 200 years but we have an interview with a Dumner peasant that states Dunmer are lucky to get above 150.

When someone lives a good life and has magical aptitude there seems to be no unnatural limit to the life of a mer. Note Divayth Fyr who at the time of Morrowind was 4000. (and he said he was not the oldest).

Elves apparantly use to be Immortal, if i remember correctly they blame man for being mortal now... so that may explain why he says its so short...
I believe the Altmer claim to be the closest to the "true elves" which were immortal, which is why they call themselves high elves, and they live about 300 years

Of course the Telvanni Dunmer seem to be immortal with some of them having lived for thousands of years.

Wrong.


"How old are you, Berry? Seventeen? Well, you've a year or two yet before you're fertile, unless you're very unlucky. Elves don't have children readily with other Elves after that, even, so you'll be all right if you stick with them."

Barenziah remembered something else. "Straw wants to buy a farm and marry me."

"Is that what you want?"

"No. Not yet. Maybe someday. Yes, someday. But not if I can't be queen. And not just any queen. The Queen of Mournhold." She said this determinedly, almost stubbornly, as if to drown out any doubt.

Katisha chose to ignore this last comment. She was amused at the girl's hyperactive imagination, took it as a sign of a well-functioning mind. "I think Straw will be a very old man before 'someday' comes, Berry. Elves live for a very long time." Katisha's face briefly wore the envious, wistful look humans got when contemplating the thousand-year lifespan Elves had been granted by the gods. True, few ever actually lived that long as disease and violence took their respective tolls. But they could. And one or two of them actually did.


^ That's from The Real Barenziah, Volume II. The uncensored version, at least.


Although of course, it all depends on magical aptitude. Magic users seem to live longer.

It depends on many factors, but high elves have the potential to live for over 1,000 years. Even other breeds of Men have the potential for far longer lives than is common, Divayth Fyr for example is over 4,000 years old. Most Dark elves however live lives closer to 200-250 years, while the Altmer are in upwards to 800. Still, the Mer far overshadows Human life expectancies which are less than 100 years.

Remember who ever writes the NPC lines out at Bethesda is not very good (think guard lines), so take that line with a pinch of salt. Head over to the Imperial Library if you want to get the facts straight.

I think you are confused with Dragon Age.

In TES elves remember that http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:The_Monomyth.
They not only think Aedra are their ancestors, they can trace their lineage back right unto father Auriel.

There are multiple sources about this actually, they seem to argue against each other. We know that Barenziah lived until at the very least 400+ years, but she was a noble so that doesn't mean much.

We also know that many elves especially those that practice magic can live a lot longer, but then again so can humans that have mastered the same magics.

This is a subject of debate amongst the elves. According to them Lorkhan tricked their ancestor into giving up their mortality which caused the Mer to lead mortal lives, but no such thing happened according to the Humans. Many belive that whatever happened was the birth of the Human-Mer rivalry.

I was under the impression Altmer could live for up to 1000 years or more.

Also that NPC dialogue can be easily explained, considering this Altmer priest is of Arkay, he's surely seen his share of dead young people. He's probably realized how fragile and how quickly someone, even an Altmer, can get killed out there by what have you - Since really, at any moment a dragon could eat you, or while in a Dwemer ruin you get chopped up by those floor blades, or you accidentally slip off the side of a cliff and die.

So I doubt he was referring to life being short in terms of years lived, and more in terms of the likelihood of you making it to the twilight years.

It was a similar thing in Dragon Age, but i thought i remember reading it in the TES universe aswell?

They can, many Altmer wizards and people of national responsibility are quite ancient.

They can live for thousands of years, however very, very, very, very few ever make it to such ages due to famine, disease, war etc.

The main thing i remember on this subject is Divath Fyr being 4000 years old, and is apparantly one of the oldest "mortals" alive

The dichotomy starts with [creator/ father]

Interestingly, the ancestor-god of Phynaster taught the Altmer a stride of walking that increased their lifespan 100 years.


In TES, the main difference between man and mer is that mer are descendant from gods, where men are created by them.

The quest giver for Sheogorath is an elf named Drevenin(correct me if |'m wrong) and I'm pretty sure I saw him on oblivion as Sheogorath's worshipper. Not sure if they're the same person, but both are definitely elves. oblivion was more than 200 years ago.

The second the mad god is involved you should ignore all evidence and just walk away...

Correct.
There are several Dunmer in Skyrim that when you do the math must be over 200-150 years old.

He was the High Priest of Mania.

Basically I think this is the most relevant thing about that altmer priest. Even though he could have a longer life span being an elf he can still be killed by means other than old age, especially considering he was a soldier.
Plus time isn't really a constant uniform thing I could spend an hour drawing on paper, that might seem like a long time to an observer. But that might only be like drawing in a short time spent drawing in a small portion of the corner of a paper to me.

Dervenin was wood elf btw and besides Sheogorath could have made him live longer as well.

If you're skilled in magic it can increase your life span by a large amount, add that to an Elf's natural lifespan, and I'd say they can live very long.

To quote the Archmage at the College. "What you learn here will last you a life time. Several if you're talented."

So do Bretons have a longer lifespan that other humans since they are supposedly part Aldmer then?

I believe so, they live longer than other human races, but less than elves.... not sure about beast races but i think longer