Quote:
Originally Posted by Belegorn
... In Gondor the life span is basically all but regressed back to normal levels even in the people oh higher Numenorean descent. Faramir makes a statement that,
"if the Rohirrim are grown in some ways more like to us, enhanced in arts and gentleness, we too have become more like to them, and can scarce claim any longer the title High. We are become Middle Men, of the Twilight, but with memory of other things." [TTT, p. 339]
Here Faramir makes clear that even the nobility are but Middle Men. ....
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There is more to Faramir's explanation:
"...For as the Rohirrim do, we now love war and valour as things good in themselves, both a sport and an end; and though we still hold that a warrior should have more skills and knowledge than only the craft of weapons and slaying, we esteem a warrior, nonetheless, above men of other crafts. Such is the need of our days. So even was my brother..."
I find it relevant that the decline from the 'high' state is associated with loss of finer crafts. This includes the loss of written and oral tradition because Boromir and Faramir did not know what Isildur's Bane might be. One feature of High and Middle Men is the refinement in their armour and weaponry, while the Men of Darkness have relatively crude and fewer artefacts.
In real world terms it has always been much the same. Neanderthal burials contain necklaces where stones have carved grooves used to tie them onto a thread or thong, while other contemporary hominids were drilling holes to put the thread through. It may not sound much but it indicates both a higher level of technology and a greater attention to detail, the beginning of a process of improvement which has continued since (though some things have been lost and not always re-discovered along the way).
I think the point of Faramir's life-span is that in a society where people support one another (enough to promote creativity, instead of focussing solely on 'hand-to-mouth' survival) the poor are more likely to live longer and prosperity increase as a whole. I do not think it coincidence that the High Elves' society resembles a monastic order: orderly gardens, chanting and song, The Wise in leadership... Neither is it surprising that outsiders view the
Lady of the Golden Wood with suspicion, or that the likes of Sam think them 'magical'.
One feature which distinguishes Boromir and Faramir is their attitudes towards listening and comanding. Stepping over the line between noble man and war leader Boromir did not listen to Elrond's warnings about the Ring and tried to demand it be given to him. Faramir passed his test because he listened to the warning of his heart. He clearly knew there is more to nobility than the virtues of warfare alone.
This is applicable in the real world, in the world of myth and parable it is exagerated.