[Jurble]

Looking at what I've seen so far based on this world's timeline, either their year is shorter than our solar year, or humans have longer lifespans. Or do the main characters in the books just have some sort of extended lives?

[Sindriss]

I don't think you should expect the average human to be much older than 40-50 years, depending on how rough a life they had and how hard they worked. Nobles probably longer due to better food (more meat) and less hard work.
Users of magic do however live a lot longer, hard to say how much precisely, probably depending on their skills, willpower and maybe warren, who knows.

[D'rek]

There are a lot of ways people have of extending their lives in these books, especially prominent characters we're likely to encounter. Talented magic users especially seem to be able to extend their lives (Tattersail is over 200).

Spoiler

Additionally, the original group that founded the Malazan empire with Kellanved and Dancer lived in the Deadhouse (an Azath in Malaz City), and it turns out this extended their lives (this goes for Kellanved, Dancer, Laseen, Dujek, Cartheron Crust, Urko, Toc the Elder and others (but not WJ. He's not really all that old)).

Kallor (minor character in GotM) extends his life with alchemical candles of some sort. And there are a ton of other ways.

Furthermore, many of the non-human races are profoundly long-lived (Tiste Andii, Jaghut, K'Chain Che'malle to name a few). Also Ascendants and gods obviously tend to live a long time, human or otherwise.

Above all that, many characters in the series have a tendency to keep on soldiering past their prime. Dujek is described as being about 70 in GotM, I think, and while this may be a GotMism, it's still a bit unusual he would be still leading armies at such an age. Likewise, Fiddler is pretty old too but doesn't show it as much this early in the series.

And finally there are lots of timeline problems with the series. Sometimes you just have to accept a weird discrepency or assume crazy theories to justify things.

[Jurble]

thnx

[D'rek]

Right, see Sitruk this is the Deadhouse Gates forum so you shouldn't be saying that stuff, or else put it in spoiler boxes (type [spoiler_] before and [/spoiler_] after the text that is a spoiler, without the underscores in there)

and yeah, I must correct you because you are wrong:

Spoiler

Nightchill was cursed to be ripped apart by unhuman hands on a battlefield, and this came true in GotM when one of Tayschrenn's demons tore her apart. Quick Ben is uninvolved

This post has been edited by D'rek: 28 February 2009 - 04:58 AM

[Grief]

Spoiler

Tatttersail is not an Elder Goddess. That's Nightchill

As for Dujek, D'rek, you list him as being able to live longer due to the deadhouse.
Now, consider that in the time of the Emperor, Whiskeyjack commanded Dujek, its only in more recently that the roles were reversed.
So, if Dujek was in the deadhouse, why not Whiskeyjack? He is, i'd say, at least as old as Dujek, and they both have the K'chain communication knive things given to the old guard.

[Aptorian]

Too many spoiler boxes in this thread.

Continue the discussion in a later book forum or cut it out.

Short explanation is that, like mentioned above, there are explanations to why mortals with extended lifespans live as long as they do in later books, read and find out.

[chartman]

D, on 27 February 2009 - 05:00 AM, said:

There are a lot of ways people have of extending their lives in these books, especially prominent characters we're likely to encounter. Talented magic users especially seem to be able to extend their lives (Tattersail is over 200). Additionally, the original group that founded the Malazan empire with Kellanved and Dancer lived in the Deadhouse (an Azath in Malaz City), and it turns out this extended their lives (this goes for Kellanved, Dancer, Laseen, Dujek, Cartheron Crust, Urko, Toc the Elder and others (but not WJ. He's not really all that old)). Kallor (minor character in GotM) extends his life with alchemical candles of some sort. And there are a ton of other ways.

Furthermore, many of the non-human races are profoundly long-lived (Tiste Andii, Jaghut, K'Chain Che'malle to name a few). Also Ascendants and gods obviously tend to live a long time, human or otherwise.

Above all that, many characters in the series have a tendency to keep on soldiering past their prime. Dujek is described as being about 70 in GotM, I think, and while this may be a GotMism, it's still a bit unusual he would be still leading armies at such an age. Likewise, Fiddler is pretty old too but doesn't show it as much this early in the series.

And finally there are lots of timeline problems with the series. Sometimes you just have to accept a weird discrepency or assume crazy theories to justify things.

I don't think Fiddler is as old as you think...in GotM prologue, Ganoes comments to himself that Fiddler is only a few years older, Ganoes is 12 yrs old at the time...lets call Fiddler 15-16, so at beginning of DG, Fiddler should be in the 25-26 yrs old range. Wiskeyjack was described as looking young for a commander...don't know how old a typical commander would be though...

-chartman

[Vesper]

If anyone is capable of accessing a warren in the Malazan series, Jurble, it's fair to say that they receive a considerable boon to their lifespans. Tattersail has at least a century under her (somewhat engorged) belt... maybe two, I can't remember. Tayschrenn is cited as being more than a century in age. On top of that, many Malazans of respectable social caste (Duiker as an Imperial Historian, for example) have access to vaguely mentioned alchemical elixiers that "keep them fighting well beyond their prime". It's fair to say that, while an average lifespan of 55-70 would be fair to expect for a normal person in the Malazan empire, that pretty much is discarded as soon as magic is brought in to the equation.
Or an Azath House.

Other races (such as the Four Founding Races) seem to be of exceptional longevity. Icarium is a half-Jhagut and well over 90,000 years old; Mappo, a Trell (not one of the Four Founding Races), has been his friend for a fair portion of that time. Ascendants seem to have an indefinite lifespan (Anomander Rake was cited as being over 200,000 years old!).

It's possible that the Elder Warrens are so potent that they confer such incredible boons to longevity that the person is effectively immortal, meanwhile the lesser warrens are not as effective. Or it could also be that these races simply found a way to make themselves immortal through other avenues (such as the Imass becoming the undead T'lann Imass). We (or at least, I, at this point) really don't know.

[Soulessdreamer]

Magic + Imagination + Desire = No limits

Any sort of healing when common enough will alter the "normal" life span of humans, not accounting for the other factors like climate, food, trace minerals, clean water and lifestyle.

And just like on our world access to such healing is governed by money, power and availability.

TTFN

[Bauchelain the Evil]

@Vesper: while we don't know the actual lifespan of Trells and Jhags, nothing excludes them from being long-lived, Mappo and Icarium longevity is duemore to them being Ascendant,who are usually immortal albeit not unkillable, in their own right

[Vesper]

Bauchelain the Evil, on 10 February 2010 - 03:08 PM, said:

@Vesper: while we don't know the actual lifespan of Trells and Jhags, nothing excludes them from being long-lived, Mappo and Icarium longevity is duemore to them being Ascendant,who are usually immortal albeit not unkillable, in their own right

I was unaware that Icarium and Mappo are ascendants... I don't recall them ever being listed as ascendants by Erikson in any of the Dramatis Personae tables. DG mentions them, for example, as "On The Path Of Hands". It describes Icarium as a wanderer, and Mappo as his friend; nothing about being ascendants. I just figured that their races possessed incredible longevity (or, like Icarium desperately suggested and Mappo confirmed for his own reasons, Icarium's calibration of the time-piece in Raraku was imperfect, and the figure of ninety-four thousand years was incorrect -- though it's likely spot-on).

[beru]

most people asume that the one who can destroy Citys and his companion (who nocks him down from time to time) is acendants at least...

[Sinisdar Toste]

although, when they first meet iskaral pust in DG he's ask why they haven't ascended along with all the rest. personally i think that iccy's memory problems keep him from ascending. he can't make plans, can't have goals, he just searches endlessly. and mappo's just his companion with a naturally extended trell lifetime that's been extended by nameless ones magics.

they're dangerous as hell sure, but so are kenryl'ah demon lords and they're not ascendants either.

[Vesper]

Sinisdar Toste, on 11 February 2010 - 06:10 PM, said:

although, when they first meet iskaral pust in DG he's ask why they haven't ascended along with all the rest. personally i think that iccy's memory problems keep him from ascending. he can't make plans, can't have goals, he just searches endlessly. and mappo's just his companion with a naturally extended trell lifetime that's been extended by nameless ones magics.

they're dangerous as hell sure, but so are kenryl'ah demon lords and they're not ascendants either.

I forgot about all that. Yes, Icarium is stated to have not ascended, as well as Mappo, but Mappo had his life extended by the Nameless Ones while Icarium's Jaghut blood confers on him -- essentially -- an indefinite lifespan.

And somehow or another he also has RAGE that allows him to singlehandedly destroy cities.

[Crow Clan Baby]

chartman, on 28 November 2009 - 03:17 PM, said:

I don't think Fiddler is as old as you think...in GotM prologue, Ganoes comments to himself that Fiddler is only a few years older, Ganoes is 12 yrs old at the time...lets call Fiddler 15-16, so at beginning of DG, Fiddler should be in the 25-26 yrs old range. Wiskeyjack was described as looking young for a commander...don't know how old a typical commander would be though...

-chartman

I wouldn't worry too much about what GotM says about somebody's age (or anything else for that matter).