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madclairvoyant.livejournal.com posting in

This has been debated for a long time, but I thought that there is some evidence i should type out before I forget it all in my scatterbrain-es. (That is probably not a word) Anyway, from the short story Eddis, she is 9, and Gen is 4. Therefore, we know that she is 5 years older than him. Next, Eddis has been queen for five years, if my memory serves me correctly, so she should have taken the throne when she was 15, I think. Also, in Thief!, Gen is 10, and she would be 14, and her brothers and father was dying or dead already. Now, we know that Irene is not much older than Helen, but ruled longer than her, so I think that it is safe to say that she was probably 16 in her first marriage. And since she was engaged and married younger than Gen, that means Gen is only 14-16 in QoA.

???

Okay, I give up; it is too late on my side for my brain to be functioning. Your thoughts?

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From:

ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com

I actually made a timeline trying to figure how old Gen was at different points in the story. It's not quite done yet, but here's what I got so far.

-

Age 4: Events of the short story Ediss, Helen is eight.

[he was born] Four years ago. - p13 Eddis

Age 6: Gen visits Kathodicia with his grandfather in northern Attolia where Phresine was raised.

I was six. My grandfather took me. I don't remember anything but towers of rock. - p273 KoA

Age 7: Helen's nose is broken in a practice sword fight.

My brother Temenus had broken her nose with a practice sword when they were eleven... - p270 TT

Age 7-10: Gen sees Irene dancing under orange trees in Attolia.

And how old were you? Six? Older than that. - p248 QoA

Age 10: Helen's brothers die, Gen's mother dies.

Fall out of a window when I was ten? - p275 TT

Age 10-11: Gen's grandfather dies, Helen's father dies, Helen becomes queen.

Age 11-13: Fights with the Minster of War.

Age 13: Gen tears up his enrollment papers and swears to never take a sword by the hilt.

I explained that I hadn't held a sword in the two years since I'd torn up my enrollment papers in the Eddisian Guard. - p269 TT

Age 15: Events of The Thief, Gen wanders around Sounis and is locked in prison for an unspecified number of months, steals Hamiathes Gift after about a month long journey. Helen has reigned for five years.

The watermelons were as big as my head, so it was later in the summer than I'd thought. It had taken a long time to get out of prison. ...the late-summer winds, the etesians*, hadn't come yet. - p27 TT

*“The etesian winds are the prevailing annually recurring summer winds, blowing over large parts of Greece, the Aegean
Sea and eastern Mediterranean. The name derives from the Greek 'etesios', annual. They blow steadily from northern to
northwestern directions, bringing cold continental air and clear skies between end of May and beginning of October."
- Wikipedia

In her five-year reign she'd won the loyalty and love of her subjects. - p270 TT -- Note: This gives us cannon evidence that Gen is fifteen in The Thief, based on the fact that Helen began her rule when he was ten.

Age 16: Start of the events of The Queen of Attolia, Gen is captured in Attolia and his hand is cut off, Gen is returned to Eddis after a little over two weeks.

Before she cut off my hand. (...) Maybe ten days? - QoA

Age 16-17: Gen recovers in Attolia from fall into early spring (about 6 months?), blows up Sounisian navy in spring

Age 17-18: Second half of the QoA.

Age 19-20: Gen becomes King of Attolia.

-

I need to add more quotes and details, but I need to re-read the books again. :)

From:

manderelee.livejournal.com

Age 17-18: Second half of the QoA.

Age 19-20: Gen becomes King of Attolia.

Oh, so there is a year gap between the end of QoA and beginning of KoA? I didn't get that impression. I thought they were the same year... must really be time for a reread.

From:

ninedaysaqueen.livejournal.com

I mean to say that the second half started with him being about 17 or 18 and there was about a year from then until the end of the book. QoA covers about two years altogether. So if he was 16 when it started, he would be 18 or 19 by the time it ended, depending on when his birthday is. There appears to be only a month or two between the end of the QoA and the beginning of the KoA, and the KoA events appears to take place over a couple of months.

The timeline is still under construction, so I know its a bit confusing. I also need to find more quotes to back up my theories about his ages during the QoA and the KoA. Once I get around to re-reading the books, I'll post it when it's done. :) I want to see if I can work out Irene's, Helen's, and Sophos's timeline, as well. Fitting in Cok will be tricky...

From:

madclairvoyant.livejournal.com

I always thought that Eddis was nine in the short story Eddis.

From: (Anonymous)

I just re-read the quote and you are correct, Helen is nine in "Eddis". "She had her belt knife, and her own crossbow hung on the saddle with the cranking mechanism geared for her nine-year-old arms."