[Tyridan]

So just listened to the 2x Paths of Ascension books on Audible before starting Gardens of the Moon again.

Garden's of the Moon - siege of Pale - 105th year of the Malazan Empire. Dujek is 79. Tattersall notes he looks younger - 50's.

How exactly is he alive pre-Empire Malaz in Deadhouse Landing?

Tyridan

[Aptorian]

The new Eslemont Books don't appear to care much about the main series timeline.

In the main series the longevity of the Old Family or The Old Guard was suggested to be linked to their connection to the Deadhouse. From what I recall, it was said they actually lived in the Azath at one point or at least in some way were connected to it. This gave them increased longevity.

In Return of the Crimson Guard, Eslemont also hints at several of the Old Guard using potions to increase their life spans.

What ever the case, the timeline is off in the Path of Ascendency books because supposedly at the start of GotM the Malazan Empire is around a hundred years old. This doen't fit with Tattersail being very young in Deadhouse Landing. Nor does it fit with Dujek and Whiskeyjack being there at the beginning of the Empire if Dujek is only 70 and Whiskeyjack is supposedly younger than Dujek.

[Tyridan]

Yeah, I mean Tattersail could have it wrong about his age, but it was the specificity of him being exactly 79 years old coupled with 105th year of the Malazan Empire in the Chapter text.

Say he's 20 in Deadhouse Landing that's 26 + 20 years out! He was also in Malaz at same time as Tattersail and birth of the Empire, so unless she leaves Malaz beginning of next book...

Why would he choose to disregard Dujek's mentioned age when plotting his ark? Seems lazy.

[Gorefest]

GotM is already retconned to bits because it doesnt really fit with the rest of the series, so either he simply forgot it or decided that it was yet another GotM-ism that broke the flow of the rest of the story and so ignored it. As long as time inconsistencies do not present glaring story event errors, the writers dont really seem to find it that important. And with a work of fiction of this size, I think that is a sensible approach.

[Coltaine -]

Actually that's not the first time Dujek's age doesn't fit. Him being part of the group that founded the empire is mentioned several times in later books.

There are several things in Gardens of the Moon that doesn't fit with later books. It was written nearly a decade before the next book of main series and there are some connection issues with later books. And the Path to Ascendancy books actually seem to tell their own story about the founding of the empire.

[WhiskeyJohn]

I think Tattersail is also old even in GotM. In the scene where Paran beds her, she think it's funny since she is far older than Paran. Old Guard ages older than rest of them, I presume.

[Slow Ben]

As of one of her early POV's in GotM, she's 219.

[Werthead]

An easy explanation is that time stopped in the Deadhouse (for whatever reason) when the guys went in, so Dujek and Whiskeyjack are going by their physical ages, not the total amount of time that has passed altogether in the external world. If they spent, to them, 1 night in the Deadhouse and came out and found that 30 years had passed, they're not going to start counting themselves as 30 years older. It'd be weird.

We'll have to see if the later books expand on if that's what happened, or it was just yet another timeline issue, like the GoTisms and the "six years later..." stuff in Toll the Hounds which ICE completely destroyed in Orc Sceptre Throne (because, to be fair, it didn't make one iota of sense).

[Abyss]

Werthead, on 05 April 2018 - 09:57 PM, said:

... Orc Sceptre Throne...

I want to read this book!

[nacht]

Abyss, on 06 April 2018 - 01:37 PM, said:

Werthead, on 05 April 2018 - 09:57 PM, said:

... Orc Sceptre Throne...

I want to read this book!

You mean "Orc Specter Crone"