Well, This is a thread started because I had a theory on why elves don't get sick, and a few people asked me to share it. And here you can talk about your own theorys!

Anyway, my theory deals with the idea that the do get sick, but for one, sense they are elves, and elves stay clean, they probably didn't have all that much exposure to many harmful pathogens, and if they did get sick, it was probably very mild. Now, they also have very long life spans (Tolkien said himself that the elves were not completely immortal) which makes it possible for them to strengthen their immune systems, along with becoming immune to things such as chicken pox, measles, and mabye even strep throat. But for things such as colds, they most likely catch them once and a while, again, probably very mild, and as I've said before, they would now have very strong immune systems, and therefore making them even more mild. And due to the elves extensive knowledge on herbs, they would probably be able to get over them very quickly.

Well, there it is! Feel free to share your thoughts.

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You may (or may not) know me elsewhere as Elfpen

That's a pretty cool theory, SG.

It does imply that young elves would still be vulnerable to death via disease, though.

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Yes, but again, many elves in all of their realms are skilled healers. Probably not iliminating the risk of death by disease, but preventing it well. I didn't really study all that much on it, so... I'm no expert. I just used what I learned in 5th grade science and some common sense, as well as logic to come up with the idea.

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You may (or may not) know me elsewhere as Elfpen

^ Well, their chances of actually getting it would be little to none. More than likely Elven chilldren were used to socializing with just Elves. Therfore the Elven chilldren would have little to no exposure to such deadly illnesses. Because the other Elven chilldren would not have had exposure to such and the older Elves (such as parents, friends parents, firends ect) would have had a built up immunity or perhaps no exposure to such as well. However to have a strong immunity to such would probabley have to mean that they had had it before (depend on exactly which illness we are speaking of). Which would indeed put a hole in that theory.
Star Gazer, Thanks for posting this.

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Actually, yes, that is a good idea, but other elves could carry diseases without actually getting sick. It has happened countless times between humans, so, why not elves? If this is true, elven children are really very vulerable to fall ill.

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You may (or may not) know me elsewhere as Elfpen

You start off by saying that they would probably not be exposed to too many pathogens, which would make it hard to build up an immunity - so the theory becomes self-contradictory. I would propose that Elves would instead have a genetic propensity to resist disease, among other things, since they are not originally from Middle-Earth.

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^I have to agree with Valera.

Though it's a fascinating theory, SG. I would probably go with it if it wasn't for the fact that Tolkien said they knew no disease, and I'm assuming he actually meant that. I think they were just very strong of mind and of body, and sickness couldn't affect them.

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Yeah, I know that they really, Do. Not. Get. Sick. (LUCKY!!!!!) But I was just playing with the idea. And about it being self-contradictory, I came up with this in about 30 min. a few weeks ago, and didn't really want to publish it or anything, I just wanted to see what y'all thought, after a mentioned it and a few people asked about it. I really didn't do all that much research or anything... I'm just.... I don't know. Well, now I feel like a total fool.

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You may (or may not) know me elsewhere as Elfpen

no ... it's okay, really. I mean, yes, elves do not get sick, but we might as well theorize about the why behind it. gets the old grey cells churning and all that *applauds brainwork*

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