: one question? how long do avataras live, Are they like
: people, Alric seemed to age in sixty years, but
: myrdred is thousands of years old. maybe caliban never
: died, just retired, or was one of the nine for a time,
: or he was another avatara just hanging around, or
: maybe he died and became a fallen lord/shade?
: just some ideas and questions that i think need to be
: answered, if they can?
: Gothmog
While it's never explicitly stated, I see it like this:
Avatara do age, but a lot more slowly than normal humans. Think of them as being a bit like the LOTR men of Numenor in that respect- unlike the Heron Guard, who are simply unaffected by time.
Myrdred's thousand-year lifespan is probably more a factor of his being a Fallen Lord than his being an Avatara. After all, they can do weird evil rituals and soul-draining and suchlike, which any "good" Avatara would severely frown on (at least!)
