I've been scouring the internet for hours and have yet to find any sort of answer to this question, I wish i could say I've found conflicting information, but I've found nothing at all.

How long do elves live in TES lore? I'm particularly interested in the Dunmer here. I realise it may seem like a trivial question, but I enjoy roleplaying my characters and having an idea of their lifespan would help me out a lot. If anyone knows this, and preferably is able to provide a reliable source, I'd very much appreciate it.

I am curious about this as well.
Wondering if I should continue with the first character I had with Oblivion (who traveled from Morrowind), or play as that character's daughter.

I may have your answer sir!

http://www.uesp.net/morrow/preview/morinter1.shtml

It's a bit down into the article, but you'll find that the Dunmer particularly live to about 120-130 years of age, which is nearly half a lifetime more than your average human.

Well, Barenziah is a few hundred years old, but I'm no lore expert. Wouldn't it be best to ask this in the lore forum?

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Interview_with_a_Dark_Elf

This says about 120-130 or up to 200. It was written by Bethesda employees so I guess it's canon.

This is the typical life span of all elves. They are a long lived race but not immortal.

Depends on the social class. If it's a peasant, 120-130 is a good number. However, those who are well taken care of can generally tend to live up to 1000. And Telvanni mage-lords have been known to extend their lifespans up to 4,000 years old.

Depends on your type of elf.

Bosmer liver between 70 - 140
Dunmer - 75 - 160
Altmer - 80 - 250

Note: these are averages. There are those that can live to be 4000 years old though this is extremely rare.

The elves can live for up to a 1000 years if they have pure blood according to one book i read on the Uesp site. I think the book was one of the series The real Barenziah or Biografy of Queen Barenziah. According to the book few accually live that long because of dicease and violence. This info could be wrong though.

Alright then, thanks for the info guys. Probably should've posted this in the Lore forum yeah, not sure why I didn't.

The ironic thing is, I just remembered that the Nerevarine went to Akavir, and that my character in Oblivion became the new Sheogorath, so new roleplaying plan I'll figure out exactly when Morrowind was destroyed, then say he was born there some time before that, problem solved, knowledge of Morrowind and life there is kind of essential for this to work.

Anyway, thanks for indulging me.

EDIT: Ooh, it seems there are conflicting sources after all. Well then, come on people, let's figure this out. We can do this.


Alright, well he's a mercenary, so that's a rough life and bound to take a few years off. Not really a peasant though, as he's good at his job and has the money to live well. Okay, this is my character, so I'm gonna take some liberties and say he's a few hundred years old, at least old enough to have lived during the events of Morrowind, Oblivion and now Skyrim. Due to lore reasons though he's not the Nerevarine and not the saviour of Cyrodiil, just some merc who happened to work in those regions while that was going on.

Thanks again, this perfectly illustrates why I love this place.

i think i read in the king edward books from daggerfall that they can become many tousands of years old. also berenziah is about 500 years old, she slept with tiber septim lol.

You have several answers already, but for future Lore questions you would get the best(and most knowledgeable) answer by searching or posting in the Lore forums. A lot quicker than searching than internet too.

at least, in Morrowind, the dunmer.. well the Telvanni are referred as thousand years old mages. bit is that due to some magic? dunno, the game never gave any details about that. anyways, interesting topic, keep it going

Yeah i know, not sure why I didn't. I'm going to request that this is moved there actually.

Yes, but that's only the Aldmer, Dwemer and Ayleids that could live that long. The rest of the elves have been diluted.

redguard 1-150
breton 1-250
altmer 1-1000
dunmer 1-1000
bosmer 1-1000
imperia 1-85
argonian 1-125
orc 1-75
nord 1-120
khajiit 1-90

but anyone very very skilled in magic can extend their lives

Yup, Barenziah was around 500 years old.
Social class and/or the purity of elf blood probably has something to do with lifespan, too. Or maybe the figures that say something around 120-200 years take things like violent death into account and not just natural death?

We do know that a few Telvanni have lived thousands of years, but that's most probably because of magic they employed and not something any elf could do.
After all, the book "Corpse Preration I" states, about Summerset Isles:

I'm certainly no expert but I believe Mastrius's answer to be in line with the in-game books I've read. I think the oldest of Morrowind's Dunmer mages is 900 years old, and as mentioned, Barenziah is many hundreds of years old. I've assumed, barring disease or injury, that a lifespan of 600-700 is not unusual, though it is remarked that 900 is particularly old.

Yes the age of some of the mages are mentioned in morrowind but the oldest was not 900, it was 4000 years old http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Divayth_Fyr was his name.

Being high class with access to magic is at least as important as which type of mer you are.

I was indeed thinking of Divayth Fyr. I wonder why I thought he was 900?

Because he's handsome and fit for his age?

who's that prophet guy in the shivering isles MQ who has been locked in a dungeon for 1000 years..

Dont forget his awesome armour.

His name is Dyus and he doesn't count. He had a spell put on him by Sheogorath so he could never die.