I was wondering how long centaurs, fauns, and other Narnian creatures lived on average. I don't think the answer is ever explicitly addressed in the chronicles, but three instances by which we might draw conclusions come to mind.
1) In the Last Battle, Roonwit comments that "we centaurs live longer than humans, and even longer than unicorns." By this, we can reasonably assume that humans live lives about as long as Earth humans, but that unicorns live longer, and centaurs live much longer.
2) It is stated that Dryads live as long as their tree.
3) Mr. Tumnus gives us many hints. He vividly remembers Narnia in the summer, specifically the dances with the Dryads. Now, we know that the winter has lasted for one hundred years.
Tumnus is now 100 years old.
We will now assume that fauns started dancing when they came of age (this is never stated in the chronicles, but we will assume ). Let us say that coming of age is marked at 16. He has turned 116. But to remember everything, even Bacchus, he has obviously had many experiences. Let's say four years worth. 120.
Now, at the end of LWW, maybe 20 years since we first met him, it says that Mr. Tumnus "was a middle-aged faun by now.."
So at the approx. age of 140, a faun is middle-aged.
But are there any more hints as to how long a Narnian would live? Let me know!
Maybe it depends on the species. Like Fauns might live longer than other creatures. I think humans live the same age there as here.
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Or was the "middle-aged" thing on of Mr. Lewis' oversights? He did make a few. I love his work, but he did.
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Another inference that I think we can make is that the Talking Animals lived longer then their dumb counterparts. For example a Mouse usually would live about 3-5 years max. (Taken from google) But Reepicheep obviously has lived much longer then that.
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I picked up on the 100 year lifespan of Mr Tumnus, but you never know, it might be plausible. I've always gathered that Talking Animals live longer than their Earth counter-parts, but that's interesting about the Centaurs.
That's some interesting working about Mr Tumnus' age...he would be pretty old at middle aged, wouldn't he?
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I don't think we can conclusively state Mr. Tumnus' age. It has been suggested by others that during the 100 Year's Winter, all things stopped growing...even the people. Therefore, it's possible Mr. Tumnus was X number of years when the winter started and didn't age any after a hundred years. When the Pevensie's reign began, he started aging again. There's no proof for that, but neither is there proof against it.
Animals, I should think live slightly longer than their dumb counterparts.
Humans, I think likve to be around 60. Caspian was described as an old man at his mid-60s, and that would be pretty consistent with a medeival mindset. I know that threw me off when I first read SC; I'd forgot that in that time, people didn't usually live to be 90.
It would make sense that talking animals would live longer than our animals. After all, they are much smarter and can take care of themselves a lot better. Their knowledge is key. For example, if a mouse had a broken tail, what could they do about it? They wouldn't know what to do and can't talk or get help from anyone. On the other hand, Reepicheep was able to explain that he needed his tail and all and Aslan healed it.
It would make sense that talking animals would live longer than our animals. After all, they are much smarter and can take care of themselves a lot better. Their knowledge is key. For example, if a mouse had a broken tail, what could they do about it? They wouldn't know what to do and can't talk or get help from anyone. On the other hand, Reepicheep was able to explain that he needed his tail and all and Aslan healed it.
That would be true. I had also thought that there where some kind of Doctors, or vets for the talking animals. Maybe of theer own kind, maybe not.
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