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Flyndaran · 09-01-2019, 07:47 AM

"Race mixing" is a very different kettle of fish to species mixing. Not that any of that matters for overtly magical creatures like elves and even heroic human populations. That whole half elf thing of getting to choose whether to follow the fate of man or elf means even early 20th century genetics may not exist in Tolkien reality.

But even deleterious genes can get easily fixed in small populations. LotR world never seemed very populated to me.
Also bad or neutral genes can go along for the ride with some truly beneficial genes which I'd assume elves would pass on.
Some recent analysis suggests we inherited some negative genes from neanderthals along with the useful immune system ones, for example.

09-01-2019, 07:47 AM	#50
Flyndaran Untagged Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon	Re: Elven maturation and population growth "Race mixing" is a very different kettle of fish to species mixing. Not that any of that matters for overtly magical creatures like elves and even heroic human populations. That whole half elf thing of getting to choose whether to follow the fate of man or elf means even early 20th century genetics may not exist in Tolkien reality. But even deleterious genes can get easily fixed in small populations. LotR world never seemed very populated to me. Also bad or neutral genes can go along for the ride with some truly beneficial genes which I'd assume elves would pass on. Some recent analysis suggests we inherited some negative genes from neanderthals along with the useful immune system ones, for example. __________________ Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check.