[DragniRake]

So this was recently brought up on the facebook page, and i figured id bring it here due to my curiosity.

Who is the oldest living character in the series? The poster rules out anyone from different realms: Mother Dark, etc.

I was thinking Ereko and the Thel Akai. Any thoughts?

[amphibian]

Bellurdan was a Thel Akai. He's probably in the discussion.

The exact chronology of the Deragoth and the Eres'al is tricky to pinpoint, but they too are ancient.

[DragniRake]

Yes, the Deragoth and Thel Akai have been the best arguments so far.

[AnomanderRakeSoD]

I believe the Tiste Andii are the oldest race. Therefore I wouldn't be surprised if Rake is the oldest character - potentially ignoring the other Elder Gods/Dragons in certain cases. If the K'Chain are the oldest race on Wu we clearly know then, as they are likely to be offspring of the Dragons, that the oldest Races are alien to Wu.

[Aptorian]

Oldest living character coming from Wu and not another realm?

Probably Burn (if you ignore Raests comment in GotM) or Mael. The Earth and the Sea. All life supposedly originated from the Sea.

[D'rek]

Bellurdan was a Thel Akai? I thought he was just a Theloman?


So who's the oldest? Well let's start with races:

Humans are pretty universally stated to be not as old as a bunch of other races
Nerek are descended from the Eres, so at the least the Eres are older
Jheck and Barghast seem to be some combination of Imass/Human descent so at the least the T'lan Imass would be older

Imass don't seem to have had particularly long lives, so all the T'lan Imass have been "living" only a little over 300 000 years.

The Eres are said to have predated the Imass, though there was surely some overlap. The only Eres character still alive from that time would be the Eres'al, except that when you throw in time travel there's really no way to say she is very old at all.

K'Chain Che'malle are a newer evolution of the Nah'ruk, but the Nah'ruk went extinct and were revivied, so the Che'malle as a race are older. K'Chain do age and die, though, so it seems likely the oldest living one we see in the series is the Matron from Morn.

Forkrul Assail also age, Sister Reverance being the example case. No idea just how old she might be, though.

Jaghut we know can live a very, very long time. Gothos, Gethol and Hood would be among the oldest still living.

Toblakai, Thelomen, Tarthenal, Teblor, Fenn, etc are all descended from the Thel Akai. Ereko is/was the last Thel Akai so he's the oldest from that strain.

Tiste races, Eleint and the many races of Shadow/Emurlahn/Aral Gamelon/Hood's Path/etc are all not considered as they are not of Wu.



So from those races, really old characters would be:

Ereko - last surviving Thel Akai and therefore older than any other Thel Akai or their descendants (presumably)
The Morn Matron - The Nah'ruk rebellion on Genebackis supposedly was around the same time as the first Tiste invasions (MT prologue), but it is difficult to state exactly when that was in relation to other events, and who knows how long she'd been alive before then.
Gothos - old enough that he was around to freeze Lether during the sundering of Emurlahn
Gethol - Gothos' brother, probably not a humongous difference in age between them.
Hood - Lead the Jaghut Death War, an event so long ago almost no one knows it ever happened.
Reverance - probably the oldest FA, but who knows just how old


Then you've got Elder and other long-lived gods:

K'rul
SoCN
Draconus
Olar Ethil - sister/daughter of Tiam, probably much older than her T'lan Imass affiliation
Mael - God of the Seas, from which all life came (with exceptions). Called young by Ay'edenan tek' velut !enan, but it was pretty delusional at the time so let's ignore that.
Kilmandaros?
Errastas?
Burn - called Mother by the Thel Akai, and those guys are bloody old!
Togg & Fanderay - among the oldest gods created/ascended by mortal worship

All of those gods are impossible to give any particular date of creation/birth to. Furthermore, many of them may not be considered to be native to Wu, either - MT says the K'Chain Che'malle matrons kept "the Elder Gods from coming to [Wu]" and that could mean all kinds of things. Burn is an interesting case in that if she is the embodiment of Wu itself, maybe she's as old as Wu (and therefore wins this contest), but alternatively maybe Wu existed before she was created to personify it.

So, yup, one of them, but I couldn't say which one.

[champ]

D, on 13 December 2011 - 03:28 PM, said:

Bellurdan was a Thel Akai? I thought he was just a Theloman?

Aye in a recent Q&A, SE confirmed that Bellurdan is actually a Thel Akai (iirc Tor Q&A)

[amphibian]

champ, on 13 December 2011 - 04:20 PM, said:

Aye in a recent Q&A, SE confirmed that Bellurdan is actually a Thel Akai (iirc Tor Q&A)

Exactly.

D'rek, why are you discounting the Deragoth?

[Siergiej]

Quote

Hood - Lead the Jaghut Death War, an event so long ago almost no one knows it ever happened.

I think being dead effectively rules him out of the "oldest living character" discussion

If we are talking about Wu-only characters, Olar Ethil/Burn seems as the best options since she is like an avatar of he universe.

[DragniRake]

See, i suggested Burn as well, but the original poster discounted gods. for some reason.

[D'rek]

amphibian, on 13 December 2011 - 05:46 PM, said:

champ, on 13 December 2011 - 04:20 PM, said:

Aye in a recent Q&A, SE confirmed that Bellurdan is actually a Thel Akai (iirc Tor Q&A)

Exactly.

D'rek, why are you discounting the Deragoth?

I forgot!!!

[Bonecaster]

Yeah, didn't the Deragoth tame the Eres?

Siergiej, on 13 December 2011 - 07:32 PM, said:

Quote

Hood - Lead the Jaghut Death War, an event so long ago almost no one knows it ever happened.

I think being dead effectively rules him out of the "oldest living character" discussion

[tiam]

champ, on 13 December 2011 - 04:20 PM, said:

D, on 13 December 2011 - 03:28 PM, said:

Bellurdan was a Thel Akai? I thought he was just a Theloman?

Aye in a recent Q&A, SE confirmed that Bellurdan is actually a Thel Akai (iirc Tor Q&A)

Wheres this interview/QA anyone?

Also the winner here has to be Rake. Ive mentioned this before and First Born of MD makes him easily half a million years old. If we use the 'EG are MD First Children' line then one of them potentially Draconus.

[amphibian]

tiam, on 14 December 2011 - 09:11 PM, said:

Wheres this interview/QA anyone?

Also the winner here has to be Rake. Ive mentioned this before and First Born of MD makes him easily half a million years old. If we use the 'EG are MD First Children' line then one of them potentially Draconus.

The confirmation - direct from Erikson's fingers - is here and here.

Also, you've missed the point of the OP's question.

Quote

Who is the oldest living character in the series? The poster rules out anyone from different realms: Mother Dark, etc.

Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

[Salt-Man Z]

I didn't take SE calling Bellurdan a "Thel Akai" as anything other than lumping him in with the whole TTT racial family.