Alright, so I am aware that blood elves mature at the same rate as humans do, before their aging slows down drastically over the course of 2000-3000 years or so. But I wanted to know at what point would a blood elf be considered old enough to be at least independent and go out on her own and fight by her people’s standards. My character is currently 16-17ish, following the end of Shadowlands, prior to are presumable three-year time skip.
This made me think, after playing through the new blood elf questline, featuring the blood elf girl Solandria, and the last time we saw her in TBC, she was at least five or six years old. I just wanted to know if this current age range was acceptable, since I got a lot of mixed information on it.
Imagine living for thousand of years.
I wouldn’t worry much about it, given who nebulous age and its place in the societies of long-lived species tends to be in this setting. Upon writing I was going to mention how Tyrande was considered an adult at a few decades old, only to find that even this bit of info not as clear cut as I remembered, so…never mind. Do what you think is best, and if someone tries to call you out challenge them to verify knowing they very likely can’t.
I imagine it’s safe to say even for long lived species, in general, the point they reach physical maturity is the least point they achieve personal independence. I’d say that’s a fair stance to take, especially with the likely frequent need for able bodies.
Yeah, I figured the race’s mindset on who they view as a ‘child’, may have changed with the need of able bodies after the fallout of BfA. That, and I’m not even sure if they can still reach that longevity, after the destruction of the original Sunwell, and the fact that the new one has a different power source. We’ll see if Blizzard ever does address this though.
It would also seem present-day Salandria may also be around that same age range too (16-17ish), since they did say that she was still an infant, when she was brought to Shattrath (presumably during the blood elf campaign in Warcraft 3, but I could be wrong). Chances are the Sin’dorei may be going along with the rest of the Horde, by allowing their children to become independent early, to help with any internal conflicts they currently have, like in Ghostlands.
If my memory serves Sylvanas was described as very young in her “20th summer” or something along those lines around there and assuming that there are near the same as they are on earth than the High/blood elf aging standard matches humans with the age of "adult responsibilities " falling in their twenties.
If we want to look at some “Internal Lore”, there is that blood elf paladin who is part of the Eastern Plaguelands quests who uses a normal Blood Elf Male model and speaks about hunting undead in the Ghostlands in his youth. When Cataclysm was launched roughly 7 years would have passed, and as minor as that sounds that means that only a short time had passed from being a “youth” to his personal quest to join the Argents.
My personal take is that traditionally the High Elves were influenced by their Human neighbors and looked at late teens and early twenties as Adults. How ever it has been about a decade in lore since the Sin’dorei formed after a massive tragedy, so there may have been another cultural shift amongst the survivors to place adulthood younger simply to increase the amount of hands to rebuilds.
Here is my advice to you and just about everyone else who plays elven characters.
Forget the numbers, it’s all about qualitative.
When you’re considered a young adult, you’re considered ready to fight. that’s why I’ve always described Drahliana as a young adult.
The converse is true also. If you’re considered ready to fight, you’re considered an adult.
Instead of trying to describe your age in a quantitive manner, focus on the qualitive, the descriptive. Even Humans in real life can age drastically differently depending on genetics or their quality of life.
Because the only numbers that exist for race ages are in a now discredited source, the TTRPG. The game itself contradicts over and over again. Logrash for instance held a grudge against Malfurion that dated all the way to the Exile of the Highborne, yet we’re also told that ten generations of Sunstrider kings have ruled. And kingships are lifetime appointments.
Yeah, normally I play blood elves that are usually in their hundreds at the very least. But since this character has been in the queue for a while for me to use, after my previous main Alariah died right before BfA (this character’s mother), I figured I’d try something different. I know 17-18ish is probably considered adult by most races, but I know a lot of roleplayers have different views on what is considered ‘adult’ for longer-lived races and playing a character that young might be dodgy in that aspect. Even if they physically mature at the same rate.
But for what it’s worth, she’ll still act her age for a while, by getting in a bit over her head, before reality comes smacking her in the face. Especially during her upcoming first real mission. Thought it would be kind of endearing to play a new blood adventurer again, since this character has already seen her fair share of issues over the years, during the events of past expansions.
Edit: May actually use this idea for the TBC/Wrath timeline instead, since it adds more build-up for the blood elf character.
Personally, for’adult’ for Humans and the races that mature at the same rate, I take the average age in history that a young person became a squire: 14, with 21 usually being around the age they were knighted, and that is when I consider their adulthood to begin.
Also 21 used to be the old voting age, and 21 was also the age when one could inherit any property.
Alright, so I guess if I put this character Kal’diana (still need to rename this avatar I’m currently using on Retail), at 21-22 at the start of Vanilla (right before the blood elves join the Horde fully), that would put her roughly 36-37 years old at the start of Dragonflight.
Assuming the information they gave on the timeline doesn’t change upon the release of the expansion. As for actual blood elf society, it seems that what they view as children is fairly loose. Especially if they show interest in humans, like in Prince Kael’thas’s case. Following the events of the Third War, they seemed to have become very pragmatic, in terms of reclaiming their home from the Scourge, and therefore need every able body they can get. Even if some are still in their youth, like Salandria. Or at the very least now, they allow them to make that choice, if they feel they are ready to take on that responsibility.
Here’s how I’ve approached it:
Physical maturation is on par with humans, with adulthood happening around age 20. From there, the aging process slows down dramatically.
The 2000-3000 years point is an exception though, not the rule. Just like how humans can live well into their 100s, that is not the norm. There are also a lot of lifestyle things to consider which could alter life span. For example, an elf who survived the Lich King’s march on Quel’thalas (and thus dealt with the fallout which followed - persecution, fel addiction, etc), is highly likely to have accumulated more physical stressors which can result in a decreased life expectancy than one who was fortunate enough to avoid that conflict.
Having said that, I work on the assumption that the typical lifespan of a blood elf is around 800 years. That makes easy to “translate” human aging to elven aging by merely applying a factor of 10; late 20s becomes age 270+, early 30s becomes 300-340, and so forth.
Of course, doing that means you have to be mindful of whatever passes for the canon timeline for earlier events and be aware of how they would’ve affected your character during their respective time.
Or at least, that’s my 2 copper fwiw.
Even before Blizzard kind of stated that most of the races, including elves, age at the same rate as humans, I always figured they did, so that if you wanted to be a 20 year old elf running around and soldiering through, no problem.
To me, where the elven longevity really plays a part is how an older elf will view others. I, for example, am almost 40, and my wife is a few years older. Our son is 21. Is he an adult? You bet! He votes, he works, he pays bills. Is he a kid? Well, to my wife and I, yes, a lot of times he is a kid. As a young adult, his life experience isn’t as rich as ours. We’ve seen more, had time to think about more, and experienced more. I can only imagine what it might be like if I’ve had centuries to work on things, talk to people, learn from people who’ve possibly had a millennia to learn about a subject.
Is your character physically an adult? Yes, but simply from an experience perspective, someone who is 500 years old will probably not be able to remember what it was like to be that age, and when comparing the some of life experiences, you’d seem like a child
About 20 - same as with humans. Earlier, and it’s rushing it, but just for one example, Lady Liadrin did take Blood Knight initiates still in training, to face the San’layn-led Scourge attack on Tranquilien. They’d not have been in the field, yet, in ordinary circumstances. In an emergency, adolescents are allowed to take arms. I think your age range is fine.