Ages of the characters

[sandtree.livejournal.com]

So, in the books we never actually get the exact ages of any of the characters. cyberskiver's comment in the post below this got me thinking about it, and wondering exactly how old everyone on this community thinks the characters are.

Eugenides is supposed to be young. How young is he? How old is the Magus? Exactly how far apart in age are Gen and Irene? Sophos and Eddis?

I doubt that everyone is going to comment and say, "Oh, easy, Eugenides is thirteen!" I don't actually think he's thirteen, chill out. ;) What I mean is, not everyone's going to be in agreement, obviously. But I'm going to go out on a limb here and say...

Eugenides: 20
Irene: 24 or 25

My mum seemed to think that Eugenides was younger, but she wasn't sure, because I seem to remember her comment being, "Eighteen... nineteen... twenty?" She also thought that Irene had been Queen for maybe four years, but I thought it was more like eight, because I got the impression that she was very young when she became Queen, like sixteen, maybe.

So what does everyone else think?

Comments

[rowana.livejournal.com]

Here's a thought. If Costis was young for a recruit (I think it mentions a year younger than most new recruits), and Gen was even younger than him, Gen must still have been pretty young in KoA. I wonder how old most new recruits are then. I think it also mentions that his last growth spurt happened in the middle of QoA. He would have been 18 at the most at that time. So assuming another year takes place after that in QoA, and then a few months before KoA, he can't have been older than 20 in the last book. Probably no more than 18 or 19 actually, since boys really stop growing at 16.

o_O

Am I analysing this way too much?

[empmai.livejournal.com]

It seems that Costis must have been in the guard for a couple of years by the time of KoA as he's a ----------- (I forget what his position is, a leader of some sort?) And he Could only be like a year older than Gen, like a 21 to his 20.

[rowana.livejournal.com]

:) Unless Gen was still only 18 or 19, which I admit I can't see, but seems possible.

That must have been incredibly odd for Costis, and it must have contributed to the contempt that a lot of guards felt towards Gen. If Costis really were three years older than Gen rather than just one, Gen's youth would have been more obvious. No one would have liked that. :) Though you're right, a difference of one year would probably have had the same effect.

Costis is a Squad Leader, whom some seemed to think had the potential to one day be captain of the guard, at the beginning. Although Costis doesn't mention it overtly (that I can remember), I think he had pretty bright prospects.

I guess the age thing doesn't matter in the end. :)