Q: How Long Do Men Live in Middle-earth?
ANSWER: What is the natural life span of a man in Middle-earth? People ask this question because they are curious about the natural life span of a Númenorean in Númenor. According to most of J.R.R. Tolkien’s published works, the Númenoreans (except for the line of Elros) were given life spans about three times that of “normal” men. But what is the normal life span of a “normal” man?
J.R.R. Tolkien was probably aware that modern people living in the 20th century could expect to live much longer than people living in northern Europe during the Middle Ages, particularly before the Renaissance. Scholars disagree on how long people lived but many people may be making a mistake in these kinds of discussions. That is, scholars tend to look at life expectancy and not at life span.
A creature’s natural life span is the approximate average age to which it can expect to live if it enjoys good health, access to adequate life-sustaining resources, and faces no disasters. In other words, a natural life span represents the upper limit of the full range of life expectancy. If we set aside modern research into extending human life spans an expectancy and only look at historical factors, we can provide a context for life expectancy in the past.
In medieval Europe natural disasters presented themselves mostly in terms of plague and famine. Flooding could also occur but famine covers all sorts of situations that disrupt the food supply, including war. War, of course, is not really considered a natural disaster. That is, war is an act of man and in war people die simply because they are actively trying to kill each other.
Hence, while the natural life spans of people were not necessarily different from today, medieval life expectancies were considerably shorter. And we know that life spans have not changed much because we can look further back to the Classical Age of Europe and the Mediterranean, as well as to Chinese history, and see that people could live about as long 2,000 years ago as they can today. Having access to good nutrition, good hygiene, and a safe environment extends one’s life expectancy.
Taking these factors into consideration, scholars have collected a lot of data about medieval life expectancy through the ages. And despite what many people believe, the data suggest that life expectancy actually increased from the Classical Age to the Middle Ages. As one historical novelist who has researched these matters notes, royal families tended to live longer than the peasant families.
Calculating life expectancy is no simple feat, simply because there are so many possible factors to take into consideration. One study of life expectancy in medieval Japan illustrates how careful experts are to filter out incomplete or unreliable data sources (in this case, data based on skeletal analysis). What people need to remember is that life expectancy is estimated only on the basis of partial demographic data inferred long after inhabitants of a region have died. Our best estimates may be misinformed simply for lack of reliable data.
All that said, we can see when reviewing various studies that peasants tended to live between 35 and 45 years whereas nobles tended to live between 45 and 55 years. Notable exceptions have been found in all regions, but it was nonenetheless a rare peasant who lived to be a gaffer of 60 years. So when looking at the story of the Númenoreans and their “mortal” kin in Middle-earth, we have to ask what Tolkien really had in mind. And unfortunately he provides very little demographic data about life events. Nearly all the life/death dates we have are for members of royal or noble families, and even the Hobbit genealogies are provided mostly for the wealthier families of the Shire (Sam’s family being the only exception).
As an aside, I believe the Shire represents a sort of “bridge to fairy-land” but I haven’t had time to articulate that point of view. I think there are a few references in Tolkien literary scholarship, but I only mention this as a justification for not really including Shire demographics in these qualifications.
Thus, if we assume that the various kings and princes of non-Númenorean descent represent what Tolkien had in mind for normal human life spans (as opposed to life expectancies), I would say he was thinking in terms of 80-100 years. In other words, human life span in Middle-earth was probably no more than 100 years. And thus we can argue that a typical Númenorean (outside the descendants of Elros Tar-Minyatur) should have had a life span of between 240 to 300 years. I think it’s safe to argue for 300 years if only because there is at least one instance of a 100-year-old man — Aldor the Old, an early King of Rohan. Bëor the Old also lived to about 93 years of age in Beleriand. Using his life as a general rule of thumb, then, we can argue that a Númenorean might have a natural life span of about 270-280 years, if not necessarily 300 years.
However idyllic life in Númenor might be, eventually they began to wage wars of conquest and assist the Eldar of Middle-earth in their wars against Sauron. Hence, Númenorean life expectancy would have declined before their life spans began to decline (as a result of the slow withdrawal of the gifts of the Valar). By the start of the Fourth Age, when Númenoreans of Gondor could expect to live about 100 years, their life spans were only just a little more than those of other Men in Middle-earth. I think a hallmark of the Fourth Age, then, was that the Númenoreans completed their journey back to the ranks of “normal men” in Middle-earth, and only true royal families descended from Aragorn would continue to live longer than their subjects. According to a note published in The Peoples of Middle-earth there were to be many such dynasties. Tolkien therefore seems to have been well aware of the discrepancies in life expectancy between royals and peasants.
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