Know Your LotRO Lore: Elven Lifestyle

The conception of Elves is celebrated much as we celebrate a birthday, as it is believed that it is this time when the life of an Elf truly begins. From conception to birth, it takes around one year, while their first year of life outside the womb will see them talking, walking and dancing. They reach full physical maturity sometime between their 50th and 100th year. Their bodies also stop aging eventually, unlike the bodies of Men.

When Elves marry, it is for life. Adultery is unimaginable to Elves, and they are only allowed to remarry if their spouse dies, as was the case with Finwë, the first High King of the Noldor. Elves have few children, and usually space them out in long intervals throughout their 'childbearing years.'

The immortality of Elves only applies to the effects of old age. This doesn't mean that they cannot be killed. In fact, the only ways in which an Elf can die are through murder, slain in battle or they can also die of grief or weariness. When they die, their spirits return to the Halls of Mandos in Valinor. These spirits are clothed in bodies identical to their 'mortal' ones. Only two Elves were reported as coming back to Middle-earth from Valinor: Glorfindel and Lúthien.