Lifespan
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The common fantasy trope is that elves generally live the longest among the other races, with humans the shortest.
But then it depends on you whether to subvert or go along that trope. That's why you see different results in Google.
Edit: Angels are typically immortal, but they can be killed. Demons and dragons lie between immortality and longetivity, entirely depends on the author's wishes.
But then it depends on you whether to subvert or go along that trope. That's why you see different results in Google.
Edit: Angels are typically immortal, but they can be killed. Demons and dragons lie between immortality and longetivity, entirely depends on the author's wishes.
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I thought it's only people who die after being killed...guess I and that Fate guy were wrong.
CupcakeNinja
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Nigga its whatever the fuck you want. Why do you think there are so many different answers?... What the point of asking the lifespan of fantasy creatures anyway?
Generally dragons are seen as pseudo immortal, or just immortal, but they spend the vast majority of their lives sleeping in their lairs. The lesser variants such as wyverns and drakes generally live for between 1-200 years depending on various factors such as bloodline density or rare variations in which case they can live a lot longer.
Dwarves usually live several times longer than humans, around 150-300 years normally, but I have seen stories where they have lifespans of 500+ years. There is also the rare inclusion of the High/Elder variant of dwarves, which are generally said to simply be a dwarf enhanced in all aspects, doubling the base lifespan of a dwarf.
Elves are almost always described as the longest lived mortal species with a lifespan of about 1,000 years. However, similar to the dwarves there is a frequently mentioned variant, the High Elf, that is once again an all round enhancement of the base species attributes. High elves are occasionally described as pseudo immortals, or about ten times the lifespan of normal elves, around 10,000 years.
Beastmen commonly share the same lifespan as humans but I have seen them split by the creature they take after as well, where those such as elephants or turtles have a much longer lifespan than that of a mouse, with the dog being roughly equivalent to a human, but that can get extremely confusing.
Fairies, once again it depends on what you want but normally the lower tier fairies such as sprites have a very short lifespan, maybe about 10-15 years, whereas the higher tier species like a dryad will live as long as their tree. Either that or, depending on the way you have crafted your world the higher the rank of the fairy, the longer their lifespan.
Angels and demon, as HansTrondheim said, are almost always seen as immortals.
Remember that all of these are subject to variance and can easily be changed or adjusted to fit the rules of your world as long as you are happy with them, and also, unless special rules are in place, all of the above species can be killed.
Dwarves usually live several times longer than humans, around 150-300 years normally, but I have seen stories where they have lifespans of 500+ years. There is also the rare inclusion of the High/Elder variant of dwarves, which are generally said to simply be a dwarf enhanced in all aspects, doubling the base lifespan of a dwarf.
Elves are almost always described as the longest lived mortal species with a lifespan of about 1,000 years. However, similar to the dwarves there is a frequently mentioned variant, the High Elf, that is once again an all round enhancement of the base species attributes. High elves are occasionally described as pseudo immortals, or about ten times the lifespan of normal elves, around 10,000 years.
Beastmen commonly share the same lifespan as humans but I have seen them split by the creature they take after as well, where those such as elephants or turtles have a much longer lifespan than that of a mouse, with the dog being roughly equivalent to a human, but that can get extremely confusing.
Fairies, once again it depends on what you want but normally the lower tier fairies such as sprites have a very short lifespan, maybe about 10-15 years, whereas the higher tier species like a dryad will live as long as their tree. Either that or, depending on the way you have crafted your world the higher the rank of the fairy, the longer their lifespan.
Angels and demon, as HansTrondheim said, are almost always seen as immortals.
Remember that all of these are subject to variance and can easily be changed or adjusted to fit the rules of your world as long as you are happy with them, and also, unless special rules are in place, all of the above species can be killed.
NotYourTypicalMan
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I'm seconding this, why would you even create a Fantasy story in the first place.
Discount_Blade
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I had a thing where Elves were about 500, Dwarves were 400, and Orks were 200. And humans, could hit about 80-90, though this would increase depending on their magical potential. If they were mediocre mages, magic would boost them to about 150, but if they were reasonably gifted or elite, 200's to 300, and if they were like archmage "I'll destroy this entire city" kind of powerful, then I left the numbers to random discretion. Normally no higher than any dwarf at 400 though I had certain outlier humans who were uber strong.
And also what the hell guys? He asked a question that was simple to answer. Why did anyone need to question his reasoning? Answer the question or don't. What's so hard about this?
And also what the hell guys? He asked a question that was simple to answer. Why did anyone need to question his reasoning? Answer the question or don't. What's so hard about this?
Discount_Blade
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I still snort when I read that. "People die when they are killed". I was always thinking....there's another option? Do tell.
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This. This is what @AliceShiki is talking about earlier.
Discount_Blade
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Definitely. I mean you could leave an answer that's nasty and rude...but its still an answer. There is still some progress being made regardless of how minimal.
Comments like "Why are you even writing a fantasy anyway" is just being a dick. And I know all about being a dick. I've made some pretty abrasive comments on here and I'm not ashamed of them. So a dick....is calling you a dick guys. Definitely takes one to know one.
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Anyway, just for reference...
A Tolkien elf could live for thousands of years, even across multiple ages.
A Tolkien dwarf lifespan is considerably shorter. Prolly a thousand or less years.
A Tolkien human is around 500-100 years in the Third Age of Middle Earth.
Demons, or evil god-like characters, are immortal. Some can be killed, and some can only be restrained forever.
Meanwhile, a Lewis Talking Animal (a beastman reference) have a lifespan of almost as long as a Narnian Human, which is around 70-100 years.
For subverting the trope...
My story's humans are the shortest-lived, which is around 80-90 years in estimate. Followed by Beastmen at 300-500 years. Dwarves live for as long as the Beastmen @ 400-600 years, while elves and demons live longest and die after 1000 years or a little more.
However, those are only estimates since my story's time reckoning is purposefully messed-up. They use seasons instead of years, and the season length varies too.
A Tolkien elf could live for thousands of years, even across multiple ages.
A Tolkien dwarf lifespan is considerably shorter. Prolly a thousand or less years.
A Tolkien human is around 500-100 years in the Third Age of Middle Earth.
Demons, or evil god-like characters, are immortal. Some can be killed, and some can only be restrained forever.
Meanwhile, a Lewis Talking Animal (a beastman reference) have a lifespan of almost as long as a Narnian Human, which is around 70-100 years.
For subverting the trope...
My story's humans are the shortest-lived, which is around 80-90 years in estimate. Followed by Beastmen at 300-500 years. Dwarves live for as long as the Beastmen @ 400-600 years, while elves and demons live longest and die after 1000 years or a little more.
However, those are only estimates since my story's time reckoning is purposefully messed-up. They use seasons instead of years, and the season length varies too.
Kaguro
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The widest consensus is probably going to be something like this.
Demons and Angels: immortal
Fairies, dragons, elves: long-lived to nearly immortal
Dwarves: significantly longer than humans
Beastmen: human or shorter
But obviously they can be anything you like.
Demons and Angels: immortal
Fairies, dragons, elves: long-lived to nearly immortal
Dwarves: significantly longer than humans
Beastmen: human or shorter
But obviously they can be anything you like.
Kaguro
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I should add that beastmen are probably the least defined of any genre you list.
They aren't popular at all in western fiction, I can't think of a single non-video game based fantasy book that has them as we would probably think of them today, especially not anything from beyond 20 years ago. So modern depictions of 'beastmen' like you would see on this site are pretty much solely defined by Japanese fiction.
That said, beastmen is such a broad category that includes god-like entities that were semi-immortal in lore: minotaurs, centaurs, lamias, harpies, mermaids, sirens, satyrs.
They aren't popular at all in western fiction, I can't think of a single non-video game based fantasy book that has them as we would probably think of them today, especially not anything from beyond 20 years ago. So modern depictions of 'beastmen' like you would see on this site are pretty much solely defined by Japanese fiction.
That said, beastmen is such a broad category that includes god-like entities that were semi-immortal in lore: minotaurs, centaurs, lamias, harpies, mermaids, sirens, satyrs.
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Stratothrax
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humans always get the shit end of the stick, even bloody hobbits live twice as long ☠
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¯\_(ツ)_/¯