Who is Author Megan Whalen Turner

Gen's age is unspecified in any of the books in the series, but it is clear that in The Thief he is only a teenager, not having acheived his full height yet. His age in the first two books is a subject of lively debate among members of my family. The short story "Thief!," combined with some information from the other books, sheds some light on Gen's actual age.

In "Thief!," a short story that appeared in "Disney Adventures Magazine" in August 2000, Ms. Turner specifies that Gen is ten years old. This story takes place after the old king's two sons died, but before the king dies. Helen is the heir and will become Queen of Eddis very shortly, as her father dies soon after her brothers.

The short story "Eddis," which appears in the paperback version of The King of Attolia, specifies that Helen is five years older than Gen, which means that she becomes queen around age 16. The Queen of Attolia states that by the end of the book, Helen has been Queen of Eddis for seven years. Based on this we can extrapolate that Gen is about 18 by the end of The Queen of Attolia. About two years pass in the course of the story (see p. 268), so the ages in the other books are based on this assumption.

Gen's Age (these are approximate and might be six months to a year in either direction)
A Conspiracy of Kings: 20
King of Attolia: 19
Queen of Attolia: 16 at the beginning, to 18 at the end
The Thief: about 15

The biggest question, of course, is Gen's age in the first book. There is nothing to specifically indicate how much time passes between the end of the first book and the beginning of the second, but given the speed of events happening between the three kingdoms and the Medes, it was probably about year and certainly no more than two; hence the guess of about age 15.

Did you guess that Gen was about 15 in the first book of The Thief?

Fetching blurbs now... please stand by

Yes, this is around what I was thinking!

fey says:

I actually emailed Megan Whalen Turner asking this very question. She told me that she was saving that surprise for the end. :)

Posted December 15, 2011

Lexiii45 says:

yes 15 sound right about the age i imagined him in my own mind. i only just noticed that there was no acctual age after i read this article.

Posted April 04, 2011

tandemonimom says:

I always felt that he was around 15 in the first book, so I was pleased to find this near-confirmation!

Posted February 26, 2011

NO! I totally thought Gen must have been older ... or younger!

Elle says:

I always thought he was older! For some reason, I imagined him as an adult, and when it was mentioned that he was "just a boy," I always felt that it just meant he was younger than most of the other characters.

Posted February 17, 2012

tandemonimom says:

Regarding Gen's height: it is VERY clear by the third book when Attolia notices several times how much taller he is than he used to be, and she also repeatedly notes that he was just a boy when he was caught and held in her dungeon in the 2nd book. We know Sophos is younger than Gen by a few years, and in the fourth book which deals with Sophos, Sophos is still a youth who has just reached his full growth (taller than Gen for the first time).

Posted January 22, 2012

Book<34ever says:

I agree with Paul. The other characters seemed to treat Gen equally in the book, only with a difference in class and ranking (see: Ambiades), not like he was younger than them. It also appeared that Sophus was younger than Gen...there was some confusion and unclearity about this. Although it appears that in parts of the book, Gen did state that other men would not be able to do (the thing he just did) with such ease, but I assumed that was just because he was short and agile. PS. no, tandemonimom, I don't think it is especially clear that he hasn't finished growing. Anyway, I loved this book. Three cheers for megan Whalen Turner! :)

Posted January 20, 2012

Lucinda says:

NO WAY!!!!!!! I never guessed... I thought that Gen was around 20....and that he was just short...

Posted January 20, 2012

tandemonimom says:

Really, Paul, 24? It is very clear that he hasn't finished growing and most boys quit growing in their mid- to late teens.

Posted April 15, 2011

Paul Stork says:

Nope! I imagine him being around 24. Even though he was very energetic, none of the characters referred to him as being so young, they treated him equally, no one treats a 15 year old equally, they'd throw pennies and yell FRESHMAN! =P

Posted April 12, 2011

 

• Share this conversation
  • Stumbleupon
  • Facebook
  • MySpace
  • Twitter
  • Digg
  • Delicious
  • RSS
  • Email