Posted: July 02, 1998 at 06:27:52: by Martin Read
: In The Lord if the rings, before the battle at Minas Tirith, Pippin meetsa the son of one of its gaurds-5 ft tall, and yet only 10 years, implying that the elven blood in Numenoreans makes one mature physically faster. Is there anything said, anywhere, either by Tolkien or in the myths and legends of Europe about how fast Elves, Dwarves and other creatures mature physically, psychologically, or spiritually?
I think the relative tallnes of Beregond's (?) son would be due to the greater mature height of people of Numenorean descent, rather than a more rapid maturation process. By this I mean a person destined to be 6ft 6ins when fully grown is likely to be taller than average at 10 years old. Tallness in the Numenoreans seems to be derived from their tall ancestors, the Edain of the First Age, and to the effects of living on the island of Numenor. Tolkien implies that the decrease in height of the Dunedain in the Third Age was due to both intermarriage with shorter strains of men and to the effect of being separated from Numenor.
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