Wizard ages

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 149224

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Edis" <A.E.B.Bevan at ...> wrote:
>
> Just a small niggle that I havent seen covered as yet...
> 
> It seems to be Canon that wizards have longer lifespans than 
> Muggles. 
> 
> But on her Website Jo celebrates the Wizard of the Month ... and
> the WsOTM as listed dont have really longer lifespans than 
> expected of Muggles...
> 
> So just a sliver of flint or what???
>

bboyminn:
Keep in mind that there is a difference between Maximum Lifespan and
average life expectancy. In the real world the Maximum Lifespan is
about 125 years. Though I will note that in one particular area of
Russia noted for its longevity, people are active and generally
healthy at a claimed age of over 130. However, all that said, the
Average life expectancy is about 70 years. That's a big gap.

Further, in the middle ages an exceptionally old person could live to
be age 70 or 80 years, yet the average life expectancy was probably
closer to 40. 

Magical people do have more advanced health care than muggles, and
they seem to have a resilience to injury and illness, BUT they also
have several (many?) magcial diseases that Muggles don't have to worry
about, like Dragon Pox. And they seem to live pretty rough and tumble
lives, so the risk level is somewhat higher.

The current Wizard of the Month -

Daisy Dodderidge
1467 - 1555.
First landlady of the Leaky Cauldron.

You will note that in the 1500's she managed to live to an age of 88
years. In that time in history, that was a VERY OLD age. That's
roughly the equivalent of a modern person living to the age of approx.
 118 years.

Many of us, well specifically me and a couple others, believe that the
Maximum age difference is about double, disregarding the first 18
years in which wizards develop normally.

So here is the formula-

WA = Wizards Age
MA = Muggles Age
ME = Muggle Equivalent Age
WE = Wizard Equivalent Age

ME = ((WA - 18)/2) + 18

WE = (MA - 18)*2) + 18

Examples:

Dumbledore-

ME = (150-18)/2 + 18 = 84

So, functionally, at real age 150, Dumbledore functions like an 84
year old Muggle.

Further, I suspect that JKR thought wizards living longer was such a
minor point in the overal story, that it never occurred to her that
people would work it out in detail. So, some error or some degree of
illogical results can certainly creep into the story. But that
shouldn't really matter if it doesn't distract from our enjoyment of
the stories in the moment.

Just a thought.
STeve/bboyminn