Merish lifespans are kind of a mess in TES. There’s three chief stated sources: the Real Barenziah (a Daggerfall era book) states that mer live to be a thousand, the Interview with Alvur Relds (pre-Morrowind) has the lower class mer living only slightly longer than humans, and an ESO PR response that states they live to be a couple hundred.
There is also information we can glean from within the games and the lore. Of the elves for whom we can discern ages, most are 200 or more (Avrusa Sarethi, Brand Shei, Rythe Lythandas, Barenziah, etc.). The ones for whom we know exact ages are even older: Symmachus was 375 when he was murdered, Tjurhane Fyrre was 357 when he died (cause of death not known), and Rangidil Ketil was 288 when he was slain. From all this we can pretty clearly discern that both the ESO answer and the Relds interview aren’t right. At the same time, if 1000 was the lifespan of elves like the Real Barenziah says, we’d be seeing a whole lot more elves in their late hundreds.
Personally, I reconcile all this by saying that the average lifespan of a lower class, working Dunmer who leads a hard life and doesn’t have access to good healthcare and nutrition is about 150 (the Relds number). The top natural lifespan of elves, excepting magical or scientific intervention, would be somewhere around 1000 (Real Barenziah). Most elves live to be about 300-500, depending on genetics, the sort of life they lead, and the sort of amenities they have access to.
We do know for certain, though, that mer age at roughly the same rate as humans until they hit adulthood, at which point they slow way down and don’t start looking old until much, much later in life. If you accept that mer live to be several hundred years old, it’s definitely possible that a Bosmer would look to be in her 30s when she’s in her 100s.
There is also information we can glean from within the games and the lore. Of the elves for whom we can discern ages, most are 200 or more (Avrusa Sarethi, Brand Shei, Rythe Lythandas, Barenziah, etc.). The ones for whom we know exact ages are even older: Symmachus was 375 when he was murdered, Tjurhane Fyrre was 357 when he died (cause of death not known), and Rangidil Ketil was 288 when he was slain. From all this we can pretty clearly discern that both the ESO answer and the Relds interview aren’t right. At the same time, if 1000 was the lifespan of elves like the Real Barenziah says, we’d be seeing a whole lot more elves in their late hundreds.
Personally, I reconcile all this by saying that the average lifespan of a lower class, working Dunmer who leads a hard life and doesn’t have access to good healthcare and nutrition is about 150 (the Relds number). The top natural lifespan of elves, excepting magical or scientific intervention, would be somewhere around 1000 (Real Barenziah). Most elves live to be about 300-500, depending on genetics, the sort of life they lead, and the sort of amenities they have access to.
We do know for certain, though, that mer age at roughly the same rate as humans until they hit adulthood, at which point they slow way down and don’t start looking old until much, much later in life. If you accept that mer live to be several hundred years old, it’s definitely possible that a Bosmer would look to be in her 30s when she’s in her 100s.
