How old..

[Jon Paul]

How old was Lews Therin at the time of his death (and I apologise if this has been done before)?

[username13]

He could buy alchomohol by himself, no standing outside the bottleshop begging random passerbys for him....

[didymos]

Nobody knows, 'cause the books don't tell us, and neither did RJ. tEotW simply describes him as looking like "a man just into his middle years" but one who looks older in some respects due to "strain and worry". Based on Alivia and the Kin, we can only guess that he was anywhere from four to six hundred years old at that point.

[jdbond]

His hair had started to grey so he definitely was 400 plus. May be in AOL, they lived even longer.

[Elend]

LTT was extremely powerful as well. That could have made him slow even more. I'd say 400ish seems about right, though, as the hair was prematurely gray IMO (stress from the war, etc).

[didymos]

His hair had started to grey so he definitely was 400 plus. May be in AOL, they lived even longer.

 

Actually, his hair is said to be "already more white than brown" in the tEotW prologue, but the implication is it's mainly a stress thing, like the additional lines on his face.

 

May be in AOL, they lived even longer.

 

Well, in terms of average lifespan, absolutely, but as far as maximum potential lifespan....it's uncertain. There may have been some additional form of life-extension available. When Rand was in the columns at Rhuidean, once of his AoL ancestors, a non-channeler, is described as "sixty-three, in the prime of his life, not yet old enough for gray hairs..." Or maybe health-care in the AoL was just that damn good.

[username13]

They could have been counting in dog years, did you ever think of that?

[didymos]

No.

[fborch]

Boy did he go for jailbait :p Considering his wife, as a nonchanneler must have been at least 350 years younger than him.

[LazyMonk]

LLT is said to be in his middle years, the prime of his life.

It is suggested that all AoL people lived longer than 3rd age people. myself, I attribute this to better health care and healing knowledge... same as the difference between our times and 200 years ago.

We have Alivia and Reane that are 400+, the oldest Kin woman that is claimed to be 600+, there's a comment about Messana (I think) who is said to be 'a youngster' of 230 at the sealing of the Bore.

There are details that aren't clear, like how much strength in the OP, and amount of channeling influence the Slowing.

 

So... you can assume that a channeler, if everything goes his way, might reach 700-800 years.

[didymos]

Boy did he go for jailbait :p Considering his wife, as a nonchanneler must have been at least 350 years younger than him.

 

Er, no:

 

Bailey's Crossroads VA 2005 - John Nowacki reporting:

 

Q: Was Ilyena Aes Sedai?

RJ: Yes.

[NetSlider]

I guess I was wrong on this - I thought he might have been 200-250 tops. But all this brings a question - if AS lived until 500-1000 years (depending on the strength of a person) what's the point of immortality? If everyone around you lives somewhat normal lives of 150-200 years and you live until 1000 years (if you strong in power and most forsaken are) than it seems to be pretty freaking long time?! Greed I guess.

[didymos]

But all this brings a question - if AS lived until 500-1000 years (depending on the strength of a person) what's the point of immortality?

 

If you die, you still stop being the "you" you are now. You'll be reborn, maybe with less ability than you have now, and you'll be an infant: without memory, knowledge, or power.

[Sharaman]

But all this brings a question - if AS lived until 500-1000 years (depending on the strength of a person) what's the point of immortality?

 

If you die, you still stop being the "you" you are now. You'll be reborn, maybe with less ability than you have now, and you'll be an infant: without memory, knowledge, or power.

He was a day older than Demandred :) and Demandred was very old :)

[Mik]

My best guess is that Lews Therin is little over 300 years old.

Lews Therin is described as 'just into his middle years' days (tops) after he sealed the Bore, right before he creates Dragonmount.

There are several references from AoL characters & other sources that define 'middle-aged' as slightly over 300 years.

 

 

It's based on the little information there can be found below:

 

(TEotW)

[Lews Therin] gazed at his own image with as much wonder. A tall man just into his middle years, handsome once, but now with hair already more white than brown and a face lined by strain and worry, dark eyes that had seen too much.

 

(BWB)

"There are records of some Aes Sedai being considered barely middle-aged at three hundred years, and some channelers may have lived seven hundred years or more."

 

(BWB, Mesaana)

At the time of the sealing of the Bore, Mesaana was considered just in her middle years, a little over three hundred.

 

(Mesaana , LoC, Prologue)

In truth, those girls—the oldest seemed girls to her; she had lived over three hundred years, quite aside from her time sealed in the Bore, and had only been considered just into her middle years—those girls were no real danger

 

(Moghedien)

Yet even your wildest tales no more than hint at the half. I had lived over two hundred years when the Bore was opened, and I was still young, for an Aes Sedai. Your ‘legends’ are but pale imitations of what we could do. Why . . . ”

 

Hope that narrows it down enough for you.

We just don't know how many candles to put on Lews Therin his b-day cake for sure. I'd go for 310.

[Bob T Dwarf]

My guess would be that those referenced ages are for approximately when the Bore was opened.

 

Then we have to add the period from the Bore to the Strike on Shayol Ghul, which occupied close to 100 years. So, they should all be circa 300-400 with LTT, Demandred, and probably Ishy being at the upper end of the range, and Moggy at the lower end.

[Jon Paul]

I would actually take Lews Therin's description of being in his middle-years as a sign that he was even older than 300 years. Slowing has a connection with strength in the power. Lews Therin is the strongest male channeller that the wheel spins out. Or at least his class is (Demandred, Elan, Aginor etc). If he looks to be into his middle-years, the effects of slowing must be taken into account there. So I would say he's closer to 500 than the 300s. The age of 300+ may be considered to be the middle-years, but that doesn't mean every who looks like they belong to it, does.

 

I would also say that, I doubt the First Amongst the Servants, a career channeller, the most popular man of his Age, would only be a child at 300 !

[WhiskyJack]

He was older than my grandpa.

[didymos]

Here, this should help:

Knife of Dreams book tour 13 October 2005, Harvard Coop - Allen Bryan reporting

 

Q: Does the rate of slowing depend on your strength in the Power?

 

RJ: Yes: Basically; you age at 1/X your normal rate, with X being dependent up to a point on Power strength. The Power acts as a natural rejuvenator on you; even at the point of death you won't look or feel worse than a normal 65-year-old.

[Tom Sawyer]

I guess I was wrong on this - I thought he might have been 200-250 tops. But all this brings a question - if AS lived until 500-1000 years (depending on the strength of a person) what's the point of immortality? If everyone around you lives somewhat normal lives of 150-200 years and you live until 1000 years (if you strong in power and most forsaken are) than it seems to be pretty freaking long time?! Greed I guess.

 

Ya, but their thoughts about immortality aren't in the context of "Yay! I'll live to be 1000 instead of 700!", they're in the context that they'll live forever. For instance, IIRC, there was one time when Semirhage was thinking about Moridin being Nae'blis. She wanted the position herself and was waiting for him to make a mistake so that she could pull him down. She was in no rush, however, since immortality meant that she could afford an eternity of patience. If she has to wait a million years then she waits a million years - what's the big deal?

[WhiskyJack]

LTT, Ishy, Lanfear, Aginor..probably were much older than anything we are guessing here.

[Sid]

Semirhage thinks to herself that her choices were to join the shadow or be bound (oath rod) and see her final days draw closer. This probably means that even with this she'd have a normal person's full lifetime worth of time left to live, but less than what an unbound channeler would expect at her age. It's all relative.

 

I'd assume, based on a kinswoman being over 600 years old in the third age, and not being forsaken strength (that we know of) that LTT (who is forsaken strength) would live a while longer than that easily. Into his middle years with more white than brown in his hair indicates that he was probably at least 400, if not closer to 500 when he died.

[didymos]

LTT, Ishy, Lanfear, Aginor..probably were much older than anything we are guessing here.

 

Based on what evidence? Of course, there isn't any, because, as you've noted, we're already stuck with barely-educated guesses as it is. It should be noted, though, that per RJ there's a maximum rate of slowing after which additional OP strength doesn't matter.

[Jon Paul]

I got my answer from Towers of Midnight. Lews Therin's age is given for him at the time of his death. Not sure if I can post it though, whether it comes under the NO SPOILERS SRYLSY! rule or not.

[JenniferL]

It is a spoiler.