I thought it would be a good idea to make a thread where we could try to figure out birth/death years of characters, similarly to
these threads at westeros.org. Those could later be added to the wiki if not already there.
I'll start with those I had already thought about (more characters can be added later on). Since death years are usually more explicit in TSA, I'll concern myself with birth years for now.
The Eärwan YearI think it can be assumed that an year in Eärwa lasts about as long as one of ours (feel free to say something if I'm completely wrong about this).
We have a normal human pregnancy lasting what would be a normal amount of time if Eärwan seasons last as long as ours (Serwë was pregnant from the spring of 4111 to early winter of the same year).
The new year apparently starts late in the winter, though, unlike ours, which would begin in early winter (this referring to the Year-of-the-Tusk, not the New Imperial Year).
Part I - Achamian, Cnaiür, Kellhus, Esmenet and SerwëThe Character and Faction Glossary includes this information:
Drusas Achamian (...), a forty-seven-year-old Mandate sorcerer
(...)
Cnaiür (...), a forty-four-year-old Scylvendi barbarian, Chieftain of the Utemot
(...)
Esmenet (...), a thirty-one-year-old Sumni prostitute
(...)
Anasûrimbor Kellhus (...), a thirty-three-year-old Dûnyain monk
(...)
Serwë (...), a nineteen-year-old Nymbricani concubine
The second part of the TDTCB prologue takes place in late autumn of 4109, and the last chapter of the book in late spring of 4111. Now, we're not sure what date these ages refer to - perhaps to the earliest date given. I've also wondered, though, if they could refer to specific dates for every character, that is, to the date of the chapter where they were first introduced. Keeping this in mind, we would have (from oldest to youngest):
Achamian-Supposing age refers to 4109: he could be either 46, turning 47 later in the year, or 47, turning 48 later in the year; thus, his birth year would be 4061 or 4062.
-Supposing age refers to first appearance: he first appeared in chapter 1, which took place in midwinter of 4110. He would then have been born in 4062 or 4063.
Cnaiür-Supposing age refers to 4109: he could be 43 turning 44 or 44 turning 45, which would give him a birth year of 4064 or 4065.
-Supposing age refers to first appearance: he first appears in chapter 6, which takes place in early summer of 4110. He would then have been born in 4065 or 4066.
Kellhus-Supposing age refers to 4109: he could be 32 turning 33 or 33 turning 34, which would give him a birth year of 4075 or 4076.
-Supposing age refers to first appearance: (same as above)
Esmenet-Supposing age refers to 4109: she could be 30 turning 31 or 31 turning 32, which would give her a birth year of 4077 or 4078.
-Supposing age refers to first appearance: she first appeared in chapter 3 (though not as a POV), which took place in early spring of 4110. She would then have been born in 4078 or 4079.
Serwë-Supposing age refers to 4109: she could be 18 turning 19 or 19 turning 20, which would give her a birth year of 4089 or 4090.
-Supposing age refers to first appearance: she first appeared in chapter 13, which took place in spring of 4111. She would then have been born in 4091 or 4092.
But we have more information in the text, and this is where inconsistencies start to crop up:
-In TDTCB, we have this quote mentioning Cnaiür's age:
He was the many-blooded chieftain of the Utemot, a seasoned Scylvendi warrior of more than forty-five summers.
This chapter takes place in the early summer of 4110. That would mean he was at least 46 at the time, though it's possible he would still turn 46 later in the summer, and the "more than forty-five summers" comment would still make sense. If he still had a birthday later in 4110, he would have been born in 4064
at the latest for his age to be "more than forty-five summers".
-There's also this:
He’d counted only sixteen summers the year his cousin Okyati had ridden into camp with Anasûrimbor Moënghus.
Cnaiür also thinks about how the Rite-of-the-
Spring-Wolves took place a few weeks after Moënghus' arrival:
Several weeks passed before Moënghus actually spoke to him. The man chose his moment well: the night of Cnaiür's return from the Rite-of-the-Spring-Wolves.
Later in the same chapter, there's also this:
Months later, Skiötha was dead and Cnaiür had become Chieftain of the Utemot.
From the glossaries, we know Skiötha's death took place in 4079:
Skiötha urs Hannut (4038-79)--The father of Cnaiür urs Skiötha, and former Chieftain of the Utemot.
If "sixteen summers" is to be taken literally, Cnaiür would have turned 17 that year (since Moënghus arrived sometime in the spring or earlier), which would mean he was born in 4062. Going by this birth year, Cnaiür would have been 48 in 4110 (or would turn 48 later in the year). Which yes, would still be "more than forty-five summers", but does
not add up with the age of 44 given in the character and faction glossary (even if that was supposed to be his age as of the prologue)!
-Serwë thinks of herself as "a girl of twenty summers" in TWP:
She was wise, far more so, she knew, than a girl of twenty summers should be.
This chapter takes place in the late summer of 4111. Presumably, she would have already turned 20 that summer, giving her a birth year of 4091. There's still a possibility her birth falls very late in the summer and she would still turn 21 that year, though, meaning she would have been born in 4090.
Working from Serwë's possible years of birth given above, considering the age differences given in the TDTCB and TWP character and faction glossaries, we'd have (forgetting the Cnaiür inconsistency for now):
-Achamian (28 years older than Serwë): born 4062 or 4063;
-Cnaiür (25 years older): born 4065 or 4066;
-Kellhus (14 years older): born 4076 or 4077;
-Esmenet (12 years older): born 4078 or 4079.
Which
does work with the "age at first appearance" theorized above, actually, except for Serwë herself. However, the 4091 year works with that and with the "twenty summers" reference from the text, so maybe that can be considered as the actual birth year of Serwë?
In that case, Achamian, Kellhus and Esmenet's birth years could in turn be 4063, 4077 and 4079 respectively, since there's nothing in the text to contradict those. Cnaiür is still an issue, though, because it doesn't make much sense to have him be only 13 (or even 14) at the time he met Moënghus...
Please tell me what you think.
I will add new information to this thread/change whatever turns out to be wrong as I go. I'm hoping to add a post covering the birth years of more characters later this week.
We must keep in mind that there are many characters whose age is not easy to determine beyond "young", "middle-aged", "elderly" and so forth, so I won't cover every single character in this thread as the hard-working people at westeros.org did with ASOIAF ones. (Though if anyone else may want to try that for the sake of completeness, feel free to do so!)
Feel free to suggest characters whose birth/death years are not in the appendices/glossaries and can be estimated from the text (I have some in mind already for Part II already, but I might be forgetting someone).