Is he really that young...

[ex-drashizu726.livejournal.com]

I've been rereading the books lately, and I think Eugenides is way younger than we all thought he was. In The Thief, we know that Eugenides's mother died when he was ten years old (p. 275). We also know that Eugenides's big fight with his father occurred two years before the events of The Thief (p. 269), because Eugenides told his father he wanted to be the next Thief of Eddis (p. 225). Then, in The Queen of Attolia, we learn that Eugenides told his father his intentions immediately after his mother's death (pp. 48-49). Therefore we know that Eugenides was ten years old when he became the next Thief of Eddis --- making him twelve in The Thief, thirteen at the beginning of QoA, and fifteen at the end. That's a good three years younger than I previously believed (and slightly worrisome).

Also, I've come up with an easy (ha) way to approximate Attolia's age at the end of QoA. Just take Eugenides's age (15), add the number of years Eddis has reigned (7), add the number of years Attolia had been on the throne before Eddis's coronation (probably less than 5) and subtract the number of years' age difference between Eugenides now and Attolia when she first married (probably less than 3). That would make her around 25-ish, give or take a few years. I'm feeling better now that I can assume there's only a 10-year age difference between Gen and Irene instead of 20 or more, as I previously thought.

All page numbers refer to the new 2006 Eos editions.

Comments

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Interesting arithmetic! I never thought Eugenides and Irene were more than ten years apart in age, but I'm not sure I'm convinced that he is 15 at the end of QoA either. Must reread and see what clues I find.