Faramir's age.

[Saurondil]

Originally Posted by Belegorn

The enviroment probably did play a role in the diminishment of lifespans since it seemed to be the nature of Middle Earth with fading. In Aragorn's line unless they were killed his forebears were living to 150+ years. His Grandfather and father were both slain, but prior to them, going backwards, the Cheiftains ages were, 155, 155, 156, 156, 157, 157, 158, 159, et cetera. His father was killed with a poison missle to the eye, I believe, at 60 and his grandfather died at 110 by trolls in the mountains. If Denethor was like the nearest of kin to Aragorn I would think that Faramir was even moreso like him in behavior which is why he and Aragorn were pretty long-lived imo since we can see how the behavior of the Faithful and King's Men in Numenor effected their lifespans. The lifespan of the average man was 70 years and the average Numenorean had a lifespan 3 times that, which would be 210 [70 X 3] which was what Aragorn was when he died.

That point about Aragorn living 70 x 3 years is important, I think. Elros was given a span of 500 years - which (I assume, and the assumption needs testing) is to be understood as 5 x 100, rather than as 7 x 70 (plus 10 years). This is exceptional - no other Ruler, even before the coming of the Shadow, was anything like as old; Tar-Atanamir lived to 421, but only at the cost of becoming senile. His son was the last Ruler to reach 400. (His son reached 390 - how far this is significant, is not clear.) When Ar-Pharazon died (if that's what happened) he was 201 - which is presumably to be understood as 67 x 3; and though still vigorous to go to war, he was "feeling his age", and near to death. Presumably a 400-year life for a Numenorean Ruler would be equivalent to a lifespan of 80 for a Lesser Man; implying that a Numenorean Ruler would "wear out" 5 times as slowly as a Lesser Man. So (on this hypothesis) when Vardamir Nolimon became King at age 381, that age has to be divided by 5 (= 76.2) to find the equivalent age for a Lesser man. (A complication is that Anardil, born 700 S. A., in 725 is presumably 25 years of age, but not 5 years old in vitality; in 800, he is 100 years of age, but (presumably) has the vitality of a man aged 20, or 1/5 of a 100.

Bearing all this mind, ISTM that Elendil's premature death in battle, at 322, needs to be divided by 5 or 4 or 3. The respective ages resulting would be: 64.4, 80.5, or 107.3 & a bit. STM death in battle at 64 makes sense, & that the others are too old. This would imply that the Lords of Andunie retained their long lives even when the Kings did not, & lived five times as long as Lesser Men. If Elendil died prematurely at 322, this suggests his age should be divided by 5 - IOW, he had the vitality of a Lesser Man aged 64. On this hypothesis, the premature death of Isildur at 234 is equivalent to 234 - 5 = 46.8. IOW, he had the vitality of a Lesser Man aged almost 47.

Meneldil of Gondor was 281 (= 123 years of life in Second Age + 158 years in the Third Age). His cousin Valandil lived 260 years (3430 S.A. + 249 T.A). As Meneldil, unlike Valandil, was born in Numenor, he may have been born with an inbuilt resistance to loss of vitality that Valandil, born in Middle Earth, lacked. So - piling speculation on speculation ! - Meneldil's age may be divisible by 4 (to make 70) or 3 (to make 90). Valandil's age of 260 amounts to a Lesser Man's lifespan of almost 87 (3 x 87 = 261), of 65 (4 x 65 = 260), or of 52 (5 = 52 = 260). The waning in vitality or in lifespan or in both seems to begin soon after the birth of Meneldil in 3318, but to be slow, and not constant.

This would provide background for interpreting Aragorn's age, and therefore, Faramir's. Cirion the Steward had been Steward from 2489 to 2567 - 78 years, or almost 2/3 of Faramir's life of 120 years. So the Stewards, even under the Shadow in Middle Earth, seem to have retained their vitality until late in the Third Age. Even if Cirion was a young man when he became Steward, 78 years is a long time. It would help if we knew whether (as with the later Rulers of Numenor) the power passed from aged Stewards to their successors: there are a lot of questions of constitutional law in the Numenorean kingdoms that are not spelled out. Answers to them might resolve some of the contradictions - like the one about when Tar-Minastir reigned.

One big question I would love an answer to: is the environment & its effect on lifespans, etc., to be understood as a self-contained natural force - or is it a way of describing the action of the Valar upon the world ? When the lifespans of the Kings "wane" in Numenor, is that because of the kind of environmental change a weather-man could study; or is it, instead, the result of the action of the Valar ? What is the relation between the Valar, and events in Arda ?

Are the ages of Aragorn's ancestors "canonical" ? I've read some of the HoME, but not all. It can't all be canonical.

BTW, that essay at http://www.zarkanya.net/Tolkien/Decl...umenoreans.htm is outstanding