meridian_rose

I always think of Darken as 15-19 when he kills Panis, just based on the look of the actor that plays young Darken. So when the series starts he's about 38-42, because I think Richard is around 22, since Cara is described as 26 and I think Richard and Kahlan are a little younger than her.

Zedd I would put at around 60ish when the series starts, though with him and Shota they could be 300 and it wouldn't make a difference either way because they can keep themselves young with magic. If you account for his years of training in the Palace of the Prophets, he could be much older. But then his brother Thaddicus is still alive, so that grounds his age in the normal human range, since Thaddicus doesn't have magic so...tl;dr, He's probably around 60ish when the show starts.

So, rewinding around 22 years to the time of Panis' death, Zedd would be about 40ish, and then rewinding further to Darken's birth about 15-19 years, he'd be between 20-25.

As for Giller, Phil Peleton who plays him (and is shockingly handsome when not dressed as Giller) is in his mid to late 30s, so based on his age, I'd put him at about 8-10 years younger than Darken. ~~I think I might have just developed Giller issues~~ So depending on Darken's age, it might not be realistic for Giller to be there because he'd be too young to be a student.

As for Jeziah, if we base it on the actor's age, Calvin Tuteao was in his 20s when he played Dagon in Xena, so he's around 40 now, which would make him around the same age as Darken give or take a year or two.

Edited Date: 2012-05-05 05:12 pm (UTC)

From:

As always this is a thoughtful and convincing comment. Thank you :D

Originally I did want Giller but for the reasons you've more eloquently outlined, the timeline just doesn't work, which is why I chose Jeziah who is older and also one of Zedd's students. I'll have to write Giller fic instead to make it up to him - and wow, he looks so different in those headshots. ~~And yay, uniform kink~~

From:

dorothydeath.livejournal.com

I still think Giller is older than Darken because of the ~~sexy~~ gray hair.
And I find the actor very attractive as Giller cuz, come on, doesn't he look a bit like Severus? *drools*

From:

I just don't see Giller as older than Darken let alone Jeziah. It's a false assumption that a grey hair or two makes someone older; Giller just looks more youthful overall. I really wish the show had given us more details about things like when Jeziah trained with Zedd, and how old Darken was specifically. But yes, Giller has definitely got a Severus vibe going! I'll write a specific Giller fic/some artwork to make it up to him. That uniform pic in the link gives me Thoughts :D

From:

I think it's more I don't like Giller's robes than anything else. I was like YOWZA when I went to his actor page to find his age and saw his other headshots. Especially the uniform ones!

From:

My newfound Giller issues approve of Giller fic. *_*

From:

I have very specific ideas about how old Darken, Kahlan, Richard, and Cara are in relation to one another. My personal canon is that Darken is only 14 when he kills Panis, and thus about 38 or 39 in season 1, while Richard is 23-24, and Kahlan and Cara are both 25 or 26. (We do know that Kahlan was five when her mother died, and that she was rescued from her father 15 years before 'Bound' in season 2, so she must be about 26, anyway.)

Based on how he looks in Vengeance, and how it's supposedly been years since he and the queen have been unsuccessfully trying for a child, I usually think of Panis as about 30 when Darken is born and Zedd a little younger. Just based on our limited glances of them, I think Jeziah is a bit older than Darken and Giller either the same age or a bit younger.

As Pris said, there's Thaddicus, so we know Zedd must be in his sixties during the series, and not 100s of years old - although I wonder about Shota, I really do. (Except that she's still alive in 'Reckoning' with a Rada'Han around her neck - this doesn't actually make sense, as it's been 58 years since season 1, when Zedd was in his 60s we assume, and Shota looked about the same then as she did when Darken was born, so she has to be also about 60ish then, so she's what, 138 in 'Reckoning'? And still alive even without her magic? I have a theory to account for this, actually, about the way magic works, but I have to figure it out a bit more before trying to explain it.)

From:

Thanks for the input :D So yes, Jeziah it is, as he's older than Giller. And maybe one day you can put forth your Theory of Magic in LotS thesis for us all to enjoy and comment on :D (and I need to credit you for some of the stuff in this fic, specifically the wonderful/dangerous attics of the palace!)

From:

And maybe one day you can put forth your Theory of Magic in LotS thesis for us all to enjoy and comment on I was actually just thinking about that - in the honeyverse, Dacey Rahl is a powerful wizard, and kind of research-y like Giller, so I may write her Comparative Theory of Magic (Confessors, the pristinely ungifted, Seers, magical artifacts, and so on...) because I have a lot of thoughts about it, and it would explain how things work in the honeyverse at least...

Also, yay for the dangerous Rahl attics ;) My personal canon is that that's where the first Box of Orden was and Darken just came across it one day while exploring ;)

From:

I have a theory to account for this

I actually see it as, Rada Hans cancel out the ability to perform magic, not all magic that has ever been done to a person. So say Shota uses her magic to continually keep herself young (which I believe she does based on the line "When the magic goes, youth goes" implying that that's what she does). The Rada Han would cut off her ability to do magic at the time that it is put on forward.

So let's say Shota is 300, but she's kept herself looking 30-40 with magic. The Rada Han is put on. She has -already- made herself 30-40. The Rada Han doesn't negate old spells, it just keeps her from being able to perform new ones. So she would start aging from the day she had the Rada Han put on forward, rather than suddenly gaining all her years back.

Say it's a spell she casts every day - she already cast it yesterday, she just can't cast it today because of the Rada Han. Yesterday she made herself 35. So today she is physically 35 and one day, rather than her actual age of 300.

Say it's a one time spell that just needs continual power to work. Same deal. The spell works until the power is cut off, and then the result is the same as above.

I think this theory is further supported by canon by the fact that Zedd returns Richard's youth to him in "Wizard." If the youth wouldn't stick even with a Rada Han around the person's neck, then Richard should have turned old again in "Light" and "Dark" when he Rada Han'd himself to trick Nicci.

From:

Your theory makes a lot of sense. Mine is a bit different, but I'm still trying to figure out if it works with Richard's youth returned in 'Wizard.'

I definitely agree that the spell to keep oneself youthful is something one casts every day and which then sticks - I think for me the problem is, what if Shota is 300? Why aren't there more wizards from centuries ago still hanging around causing trouble?

Or are there? ;)

From:

Why aren't there more wizards from centuries ago still hanging around causing trouble?

I think that's answered by saying you have to have a certain level of power to maintain such a spell. Zedd is the most powerful wizard EVAR until Richard comes into his power, and Shota is portrayed as being on a par with Zedd. So maybe there simply aren't a lot of people born with the amount of oomph it would take. And then there could be just those who choose not to be immortal - Zedd himself says he chooses to be old, even though he could stay young (which I actually think is part of his penance for being so arrogant as to help Darken Rahl be conceived, but I digress).

Or are there?

If you count the Sisters of the Light/Dark, then there's loads. :P

From:

Zedd himself says he chooses to be old, even though he could stay young (which I actually think is part of his penance for being so arrogant as to help Darken Rahl be conceived, but I digress). Agreed, definitely.

Given people's natural tendency to want what's bad for them, though, and assuming this applies to wizards as much as to anyone else, I can't see so many people choosing not to be immortal, if they had that power.

The Sisters of the Light/Dark are different, though, because they don't live longer, exactly - at least in the show, it's more a matter of a different temporal scale.

(reply from suspended user)

From:

And I'm sure there are plenty of wizards who thought they had a great idea for a spell until their atoms were scattered halfway across the continent. I mean, look at the magical objects we keep see popping up. For every success I'm sure there's a possibility of explosive failure. Oh, agreed. Definitely the potential for horrible magical mishaps.

Did Amfortas die in battle? I rewatched that episode recently, and it sure looked like he killed Kieran, did the fancy magic to be sure Kieran's spirit would be trapped, and then stayed in the tomb and died too so that his spirit could obsessively guard Kieran's. Although I suppose he wrote the fake Kieran/Viviane story first, where they die together all romantically.

Whatever happened to Kieran's quest, anyway? Do you think he finished it before Amfortas killed him or not?

Zedd's family seem to be big believers in natural aging. Hmmm. We know both Zedd's mother and Thaddicus didn't have any wizard power, and neither did Taralyn. So the only other person with the power to halt aging would be Carracticus, and Panis kills him while he's presumably still reasonably young...I don't remember how old he looked now. So I'm not sure there's enough evidence to say that.

(reply from suspended user)

From:

I thought I might as well include Demmin since he and Darken are close. Darken had friends before RKZ killed them one by one.

This is just such a good point! First Demmin, and then later Egremont - and then there's that guy in 'Conversion' who's supposed to be a childhood friend, although since he's plotting to kill Darken maybe they weren't that close...I actually wonder how he met Giller, too, because they seem to have known each other for awhile, though probably not since childhood.

I actually think Darken has more friends, or acquaintances anyway, who are not going to be thrilled when/if Richard takes the throne of D'Hara.

(reply from suspended user)

From:

Thanks, that's incredibly detailed and useful :D I'm sure it will come in handy time and again!

From:

brontefanatic.livejournal.com

I"m trying to catch up on posts, and since Vork, Pris and Riona have already laid everything out in such detail, I don't have anything to add other than I'm anxious to read your fic.

From: