# If the Elves were demi-immortal, was it still necessary for them to eat food?



## Ellatur (Apr 25, 2005)

If the Elves were demi-immortal, was it still necessary for them to eat food?I mean, they don't die of illnesses and stuff, so they wouldn't die of hunger right? so why did they eat? just for fun?


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## Ithrynluin (Apr 25, 2005)

It's nowhere stated that they don't die of hunger. Their bodies do need the succour and nourishment of food and drink. They may be able to last out much longer without either of these than mortals, but they need them all the same.


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## Barliman Butterbur (Apr 25, 2005)

Ellatur said:


> If the Elves were demi-immortal, was it still necessary for them to eat food?I mean, they don't die of illnesses and stuff, so they wouldn't die of hunger right? so why did they eat? just for fun?



"Demi-immortal." Hmmm, a fascinating description! I wonder if lembas and elf-made wine are demi-immortal foods — parve at the least... 

Barley


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## Gil-Galad (Apr 25, 2005)

Well,they could die from a sickness,which makes me think that they did need food.

They were immortal in terms of aging,that is why the could die in a battle,from sickness or why not from starvation.And do not forget that they had lembas...obviously they needed food and the lembas is a fine example for what they ate during long trips...


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## Ithrynluin (Apr 25, 2005)

Sickness could not affect elves, unless grief/depression counts as a sickness.



> _The Silmarillion; Of the Flight of the Noldor_
> 'Ye have spilled the blood of your kindred unrighteously and have stained the land of Aman. For blood ye shall render blood, and beyond Aman ye shall dwell in Death's shadow. For though Eru appointed to you to die not in Eä, and no sickness may assail you, yet slain ye may be, and slain ye shall be: by weapon and by torment and by grief; and your houseless spirits shall come then to Mandos. There long shall ye abide and yearn for your bodies, and find little pity though all whom ye have slain should entreat for you. And those that endure in Middle-earth and come not to Mandos shall grow weary of the world as with a great burden, and shall wane, and become as shadows of regret before the younger race that cometh after. The Valar have spoken.'


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## Gil-Galad (Apr 26, 2005)

I should have clarified what I meant by sickness...but you did it,Ithy...


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## Varda35 (Apr 26, 2005)

Maybe they could survive without eating, but if they didn't eat they would feel hunger and we all know that isn't a very comfortable feeling. So the eating might have been just to keep up their strength, and also because I would imagine elven food would taste really really good..wow I'm hungry now


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## Ithrynluin (Apr 26, 2005)

I believe nourishment from food was necessary for the Elves, so that they could be able to sustain their bodies (or '_hroar_'). Furthermore, I think food was a necessity to _any_ incarnate creature, be they noble Ainu or lowly Halfling. It's just that those whose spirits (or '_fear_') had a greater control over their bodily forms (such as the Elves and Ainur), would be able to endure for a longer period of time.


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## Inderjit S (Apr 26, 2005)

Wasn't Maedhros hanging off the precipe for some years, without, I presume, any food?


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## Ithrynluin (Apr 26, 2005)

Well, so was Hurin held captive by Morgoth for a considerable period of time in an equally lofty and desolate place, presumably without any nourishment either, so this is no definite evidence. But it's possible, of course.


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## Gil-Galad (Apr 27, 2005)

Or Tolkien just missed to mention anything about eventual food given to Maedhros and Hurin.

In Hurin's case,although Tolkien did not mention anything about "food" ,he should have been fed up with something.Wasn't Morgoth's aim to make Hurin suffer,watching what was happening with his family?I doubt Morgoth wanted him to starve.....


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## Ithrynluin (Apr 27, 2005)

Regarding Morgoth and Hurin, we have the following:



> _The History of Middle Earth XI: The War of the Jewels; The Grey Annals_
> Then Morgoth cursed Húrin and Morwen and their offspring and set a doom upon them of sorrow and darkness; and taking Húrin from prison he set him in a chair of stone upon a high place of Thangorodrim. There he could see afar the land of Hithlum westward and the lands of Beleriand southward. There Morgoth standing beside him cursed him again, and set his power upon him so that he could not stray from that place, nor die, unless Morgoth released him.


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## Ingwë (Apr 28, 2005)

It is said that Dwarves don't produce their own food; they give goods and take food from the other peoples. About the Men, especially Numenoreans. In the Unfinished Tales (About Numenor) we may read that there were vineyards on the island or something about that... there were pastures, too. Therefore the Men eat and they produce their food. 
And what about the Elves? Yesterday I read the chapter "Farewell to Lorien" and the chapters before this. The Elves themselves say they make lembas - the waybread. I think that is enough: we may say *they eat food.*


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## Gil-Galad (Apr 28, 2005)

So,Ithy,it seems that Morgoth kept Hurin alive without food......

Ingwe,the way the Dwarves lived made it impossible for them to produce their own food.Neither plant,nor animal could live in the mines of Moria,Belegost etc. ...


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## Alcuin (Apr 29, 2005)

The Dwarves traded for food: that’s how the hobbits in the Shire got to know them, and that was apparently one of the foundations of commerce with Erebor and the Men living nearby in Dale and Laketown. 

There are several instances of Elvish feasting in Silmarillion. Just before Morgoth killed the Two Trees in “The Darkening of Valinor”, “Manwë decreed a feast more glorious than any that had been held since the coming of the Eldar to Aman”, implying that there had been quite a few of these feasts. 20 years after the Sun rose, Fingolfin held the Feast of Reuniting, _Mereth Aderthad_, at the Pools of Ivrin to heal the wounds among the factions of the Noldor and join them together for making war upon Morgoth. Not long after, Thingol confronted Finrod, Angrod, and their sister Galadriel with the words, “‘I marvel at you, son of Eärwen [Thingol’s niece; he was speaking to Finrod], … that you would come to the board of your kinsman thus red-handed from the slaying of your mother’s kin…’” “Board” in this case means “table”, and is a typical way to say “sit down to dinner” in Dark Age and Medieval literature; it is still used in many places today (I have usually heard it at family reunions), but in modern usage when the speaker means to be deliberately old-fashioned. Saeros, one of the Nandor who was a councilor to Thingol, disliked Turin, and “seated opposite to him at the board he taunted him”; in other words, he mocked Turin in front of everyone while they were having an old-fashioned royal dinner. (Think of one of the opening scenes in Errol Flynn’s “Robin Hood” when he walks in on King John with a royal deer.)

Then there’s Elrond’s formal dinner the night before the Council of Elrond, when Frodo sat on cushions next to Glóin the Dwarf. Remember the Parting Feast given by Celeborn and Galadriel before the Company of the Ring left Lórien? And if Frodo noticed that Legolas left little imprint on the snow at Caradhras, would he then fail to notice that Legolas never ate anything? “More lembas for the rest of us!” 

Perhaps, however, as the elves in Middle-earth _faded_ during the Fourth Age, they no longer required food…


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## Alatar (Apr 29, 2005)

This thread is about them needing to eat.
Were they imortal?Yes
Did they eat?Yes
Why?
I think ith nailed it on the head


> I believe nourishment from food was necessary for the Elves, so that they could be able to sustain their bodies (or 'hroar'). Furthermore, I think food was a necessity to any incarnate creature, be they noble Ainu or lowly Halfling. It's just that those whose spirits (or 'fear') had a greater control over their bodily forms (such as the Elves and Ainur), would be able to endure for a longer period of time.


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## Thorondor_ (May 16, 2005)

We should keep in mind that the lembas is offensive to evil creatures. Maybe, this was in fact a sacrificial item, and through the sacrificial rite, the elves would get in contact with the higher spheres - be they of Valar or of Eru himself. So no need to actual feed in the normal sense... but in the elvish sense


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