Subject: Yeah, about that.
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Posted on: 2014-08-07 07:03:00 UTC

The mechanics of elven aging are a bit unclear, particularly since they're based on a single source. In essence, though, our their bodies age slower, but their minds age faster. So they talk and run by the age of one or so - but by the age of (say) five, they still look to human eyes like a two-year old. Even though they're probably as bright as a ten-year-old.

In Aman, the age of adulthood was 50 (!!! and that might even be 50 Valian years, or 500 years of the sun), but that doesn't necessarily imply that's when their bodies reached adult stature. Humans reach full growth long before 'adulthood' - particularly in Tolkien's time, when 'adult' meant 21.

So I read this as Arwen looking around 13, since it seems to be stage direction, not dialogue. That would make her about, oh, mid-twenties, maybe? And intelligent enough to have several university degrees. ;) 'course, she's only half-elven, so it may be even more messed up...

hS

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