Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I mean can they die of old age?
Because I just read Deamon Curse part 1 of Malus Darkblade series and Malus said that for him the time matters because he didn't want to be stuck there in that temple or whatever because he would die of old age...

They do age, but Warhammer elves and thanks to plenty of good old fashion dark magic, they can live many thousands of years and remain in pretty good shape (Morathi, Malekith).

Ever seen a Dark Elf army of toddlers?
Yes, they age, but slowly.

Kroothawk wrote:Ever seen a Dark Elf army of toddlers?
Yes, they age, but slowly.

Made me think of Aesop rock damnit. Nowadays even babies got guns... Diaper snipers Having clock tower fun...

ON TOPIC: I don't think anything with a body is eternal in WFB. Except daemons. Even then Thier souls may be eternal but thier bodies are not.

They are like that woman on CSI Vegas - they start off looking fairly normal but then as the Slaanesh cult of beauty overtakes them...

Yeah, Elves are not Immortal and certaintly don't have eternal youth.

The Dark Elves do prolong their life and youth through the use of Sorcery. Morathi is the prime example.


Eventually, they will die of old age. Malikath and Morathi might be able to prolong their lives indefinitly with their magic though.

Reminds me that the army book page on Hellebron gives an explicit proof of aging Dark Elves and how she desperately tries to fight it.

Or you are a witch elf and you kill people to stay young

Unless you are Morathi (oldest mortal still alive, I believe?) or Malekith then you'll eventually die of old age. Tz'arkan will probably prolong Malus' life beyond a normal Elf's lifespan.

The Cauldrons of Blood delay the ageing but each use diminishes the length of the effects for the user, except for Morathi who has kept the secrets of true eternal youth from the other Hags (hence Hellebron's ugly face for a lot of the year).

On the bright side your chances of actually living long enough to reach old age in Dark Elf society are pretty slim. Death by Assassination or a different natural cause usually ends you before then.

From what I understand Elves have no expiration date. I've only heard of them dying from external trauma, not old age.

Show me a single "old" and frail elf. I've never seen one in WFB. All of them seem to stop aging around 30ish years old.

The reason they are dwindling is because they don't reproduce often, likely because at one point they wanted to avoid over population. Generally they don't make more elves to replace those that die in battle, so war is slowly sending them to extinction.

I may be wrong, I haven't read any of the elves BL stuff yet which is considered canon.

If anything Dark Elves would deteriorate from their abuse of dark magic which takes tolls on their bodies.

Pretty sure a Lore of Life archmage elf would live forever.

The oldest mortals by far are Slann who were around even before the Elves existed. While Dragons and Dragon Ogres were around even before that, I don't think they actually have individuals that existed since that time, their species are just really old.

But the Lizardman book has a specific line that says, here, let me quote it, since it's a slap at Elves.

Slann can live for many thousands of years and perceive the passage of time differently to the short-lived mortal creatures of the world such as Elves.

Bam.

Indeed slann are the oldest surviving specimens of their species.

That does make any slann older than any elf, but that still doesn't address aging. Slann do not age really. Elves also perceive time differently, sometimes spending decades looking at a piece of art to fully appreciate it and contemplate it's meaning.

Still, slann are not truly immortal. Their bodies can die the same as elves. I maintain that in neither case have I heard of a slann or elf dying of old age.

Slann actually can "live" after their physical bodies are destroyed, relic priests, which is as close as non-Daemons (or VC ghost-y things) get to immortal.

I mean there's immortal as in not aging At All. And immortal as in never dying ever. Only Daemons could qualify as the latter. And of those, probably only the super big hotshots. Khairos will be around forever (HE HOPPED REALITIES INTO 40K! ).

Coming at it from a more philosophical view, I think Elves most definately age and die. If you are truly ageless, there's a point when no manner of art or pointy helmets or stealing back your homeland is really that interesting. You're a gazillion years old. All the stories of Slann are kind of like that. They just sit around all toad-like and meditate, sometimes for centuries. On what, no one knows--or can comprehend. But Slann are really boring to hang out with. Elves are all emo and spastic by comparison.

Likewise, Daemons are kind of 2-dimensional. They don't get bored because they are manifestations of rage/decay/change/boobs. They never get bored of the taste of pizza because they're busy being daemons and not eating pizza.

Maleketh is indeed super duper old and maybe he's such a loon because he used all that magic to extend his life. But I don't think the Elf races remotely live that long naturally.

Elves take up the fight for their homes, every single one of them. So those who would be the eldest are often on the front line as they would be the most skilled.

But again, show me an instance of an elf dying of age.

Meh, cities have all kinds of people. There's hundreds of Elves who do nothing but work on their sewer systems so poop doesn't splatter all over their golden cities. No war is ever going to bring them into conflict. Likewise the butterfly collectors on the other side of the world. And whatever else. People tend to notice, "hey, that trash worker has been around since the time of the dragons. Ask him about your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother."

Except for that whole militia rule where every high elf is trained in combat and conscripted into service when needed. So if Malekith is invading, the sewers are left unattended in the name of national security.

Aerethan wrote:Elves take up the fight for their homes, every single one of them. So those who would be the eldest are often on the front line as they would be the most skilled.

But again, show me an instance of an elf dying of age.

From memory, Phoenix Kings Caradryel and Bel-Korhadris are both noted in the High Elves book as having died of old age.

Aerethan wrote:Except for that whole militia rule where every high elf is trained in combat and conscripted into service when needed. So if Malekith is invading, the sewers are left unattended in the name of national security.

Nah. If war was sufficient to wipe out the entirety of the Elven population periodically so that normally immortal Elves were regularly purged, they would be a broken society, death-fixated. Hell, the Tomb Kings got all like that and they were just mortals who wanted to live longer. Saying Elves actually ARE immortal but are constantly getting murdered would make them TK's massively morbid evil brothers, no matter how pointy their helmets are.

And no advanced society can work off of mandatory universal conscription in a permanent warzone. Even Israel and such has exclusions for engineers and medics and religious dudes and whatever. If you get unlucky and lose your highly-skilled laborers (doctors, architects, pointy-hat makers) then you've just created a mini dark ages where people are squatting out babies on the cold floor until you can get some new people trained up. Anyone can be trained to use a spear, especially preturnaturally swift Elves, but the Master of Pooperies who designed the sewers, took 100 years to learn that job. You'll have doodoo everywhere if he gets stabbed.

No, if Elves were immortal there would be cases of some who were actually immortal. Tellingly, the start of the HE book calls them "long-lived, some say immortal". Slann refer to them a "short-lived, mortal." Maybe one of them is lying, but Slann got at least a millenia on the oldest Elf, and hung out with the dudes who created the Elves, so you figure they might know something.

Slann are too proud to admit that anyone else could be immortal >.>

Slann are also jealous of their agility and beauty.

This is science!

Aerethan wrote:From what I understand Elves have no expiration date. I've only heard of them dying from external trauma, not old age.

Show me a single "old" and frail elf. I've never seen one in WFB. All of them seem to stop aging around 30ish years old.

Warhammer: High Elves wrote: ...When Bel-Hathor died peacefully of old age, Finubar was his chosen successor.

Can I have my internet cookie now?

Aerethan wrote:Slann are also jealous of their agility and beauty.

Pshaw. Slann don't get off their helicopters because of the Chaos taint. But they are actually backflipping super ninja gymnasts!111

liquidjoshi wrote:

Aerethan wrote:From what I understand Elves have no expiration date. I've only heard of them dying from external trauma, not old age.

Show me a single "old" and frail elf. I've never seen one in WFB. All of them seem to stop aging around 30ish years old.

Warhammer: High Elves wrote: ...When Bel-Hathor died peacefully of old age, Finubar was his chosen successor.

Can I have my internet cookie now?

High Elves don't count because they're pansies.

A Town Called Malus wrote:

liquidjoshi wrote:

Aerethan wrote:From what I understand Elves have no expiration date. I've only heard of them dying from external trauma, not old age.

Show me a single "old" and frail elf. I've never seen one in WFB. All of them seem to stop aging around 30ish years old.

Warhammer: High Elves wrote: ...When Bel-Hathor died peacefully of old age, Finubar was his chosen successor.

Can I have my internet cookie now?

High Elves don't count because they're pansies.

Says the guy playing Dark Elves. I think Alith Anar would like a word. Something to do with a fear causing bow...