Nyx's real age

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

Just a fun thought I had.

Nyx, the Dark Mage cursed with eternal youth, often talks about her age; how she's old and experienced, etc. The way she says some things makes it sound like she's been alive for a century or something.

But, it just occured to me the other day that Nyx can have children. This means before the curse took effect, Nyx had already started to go through puberty, so she was at least 10 years old. However, women have a limited number of ova that will actually be ovulated (around 300 to 400); then they go through menopause, which usually happens at around age 45 to 55.

This means Nyx is at most in her early 50s, and has been cursed for at most 45 years. It's still a pretty long time, but honestly the way she talks makes me think she's been alive for a lot longer...

[saisymbolic]

True. Not going to lie, I legit thought Nyx was like 100 or older with the way she constantly reiterated her state of being,

[HappyHawlucha]

The opinion that I have is that the curse's effect started when she was around 12/13, and she had just started puberty, so she can have children, but the eternal youth thing prevents her from maturing from puberty, what I'm saying is that she is basically stuck in puberty(poor kid), so she can have kids, but she can't ever enter menopause. This also kind of justifies her moodiness sometimes, she could have the mindset of an older woman, but she is still prone to moodiness and mood swings due to her still being in puberty, or she could just be a cranky old woman. That got kinda wierd kinda quick.

[iavasechui]

In the words of my dungeon master please keep your science out of my fantasy world. XD jk jk Sorry I could not resist. Though to be honest I did clean up the language of his exact words XD

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

The opinion that I have is that the curse's effect started when she was around 12/13, and she had just started puberty, so she can have children, but the eternal youth thing prevents her from maturing from puberty, what I'm saying is that she is basically stuck in puberty(poor kid), so she can have kids, but she can't ever enter menopause. This also kind of justifies her moodiness sometimes, she could have the mindset of an older woman, but she is still prone to moodiness and mood swings due to her still being in puberty, or she could just be a cranky old woman. That got kinda wierd kinda quick.

But unless she somehow stopped herself from having periods with a curse, she still only has a limited number of ova, so that limits her possible age. The 300~400 number is the count when you begin puberty. She might not suffer from the hormonal effects of menopause, but she'll still eventually stop getting periods.

I think the mood swings thing kinda makes sense. She does get randomly depressed, even though she says she's past it already.

In the words of my dungeon master please keep your science out of my fantasy world. XD jk jk Sorry I could not resist. Though to be honest I did clean up the language of his exact words XD

Lol, I know. I find it fun to think of these things, but the lack of an explanation doesn't take away from a fantasy game.

[eclipse]

Perhaps Nyx has irregular periods, which could extend her age well past 55.

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

Perhaps Nyx has irregular periods, which could extend her age well past 55.

Hmm, true. At most another 5 years or so I guess.

[Samias]

Anime logic. Periods only exist when they mean something to the narrative. In Fatesland, magical anti-aging freezes your menstrual cycle so you can be fertile forever.

[DeoxyRibose]

She's clearly a manakete (or has manakete blood), but she got recessive, non-transforming alleles.

That's my theory, at least.

[eclipse]

Way too much information regarding irregular menses

Assuming that the curse stresses out Nyx's body, and she's on the lower end of period frequency (four per year), she could easily be over 100.

[Acacia Sgt]

If that is being brought up, then I guess it could also mean the hair is dyed, since hair pigments are also another thing that can ran out.

[Loki Laufeyson]

I figured she was 14 when the curse hit. So just around Elise's age. i hadnt delved into her supports, but i assumed Nyx was around 80 to 120 years old.

[Minternets]

-Genetics cannot be applied here. Sure, they *look* human, but they have magic, blue hair, dragon/fox/wolf genes, etc. If they were humans with 9 month gestation periods, you could effectively pass years between babies. If Elise is 13, but Silas has a baby with Mozu, she's 13.75 after Sophie is born. Do that paralogue, get Sophie. Then Niles gets hooked up. Do that paralogue, get NIna. Elise is now 14.5. Camilla and Benny share a romantic dinner, Ignatius happens. Recruit Ignatius. Elise is 15.25. Laslow and someone male Soleil. Elise is 16. Lather rinse repeat 4 more times, and Elise is 19. Does she look 19? Certainly not by the standards we're used to.

-Nyx certainly doesn't *act* like she's been around a hundred or so years. Her attitude strongly reminds me of when I was in third grade, and the girls in my class would run around and say to the boys, "Girls mature faster than boooooyyyyysss~", completely oblivious to the irony that entailed. Every time you talk to her, she's touting it over her head like she's got something to prove. WHO YOU TRYIN' TO CONVINCE, NYX? YOU AIN'T FOOLIN' OLD MINT!

But for the sake of the story, I'll buy that she's a powerful witch that cursed herself with an eternally prepubescent body. Given her attitude, she obviously hasn't been around long enough to see real people grow old and die, so certainly less than four generations old. If she was venerable when she cast the spell (it's usually old wizards who fear death that end up becoming liches), we'll say she was 60-70 when she cast it, and maybe another 1-5 years have passed in solitude before meeting the party, since she's still super awkward when meeting people in her child-form. Even a small amount of exposure to strangers would give you the chance to get used to social interaction as an immortal child. I mean.. You need milk and toilet paper, don't you? You might want to go swimming in the summer with your newfound youth?

61-75 years old, for the sake of the argument.

Now, realistically, the whole "OMG I'M ACTUALLY OLDER THAN YOU WTFFFF RESPECT ME!" is a totally rebellious-teen attitude. She's not actually a super powerful old witch. She's just a kid dabbling in the dark arts (Look at her stats when you get her. Is that the sort of person you imagine when you see someone that can cast a spell of immortality? No. Stop lying. It's not). Her parents got mad at her, she took off and is living on the streets. She got tired of begging for change, and concocted this story. "I have no family" is right, but not for the reason she's telling you.

13-16 years old. Give up the lies, Nyx. Your family still loves you, no matter how your last conversation ended!

[GoXDS]

-Genetics cannot be applied here. Sure, they *look* human, but they have magic, blue hair, dragon/fox/wolf genes, etc. If they were humans with 9 month gestation periods, you could effectively pass years between babies. If Elise is 13, but Silas has a baby with Mozu, she's 13.75 after Sophie is born. Do that paralogue, get Sophie. Then Niles gets hooked up. Do that paralogue, get NIna. Elise is now 14.5. Camilla and Benny share a romantic dinner, Ignatius happens. Recruit Ignatius. Elise is 15.25. Laslow and someone male Soleil. Elise is 16. Lather rinse repeat 4 more times, and Elise is 19. Does she look 19? Certainly not by the standards we're used to.

while probably pointless since children were really, really shoehorned in and isn't really supposed to make sense, it doesn't work like that. Supports don't necessarily take place at the time you read them. like there's various Supports spoiling Corrin's relationship with his Hoshidan siblings. and just from certain events between chapters where it wouldn't make sense for longer than a month or even a day in between. if you really want to push it, when you do the Paralogues don't even have to be in the exact pt in the timeline. for example, doing any Paralogues in final chapters of Birthright make no sense since you're in the middle of enemy stronghold. or between ch 26 and ch 25 in Conquest where there's not even a few minutes difference in time

as for Elise, and any other young parents, the most likely explanation is after marriage, the two parents go to the Deeprealms for vacation/honeymoon, and have a child there through full pregnancy. so Elise is at most +10 months. though even 10 months should make her look older but w/e. as mentioned from the start, the whole children thing is very shoehorned in

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

Way too much information regarding irregular menses

Assuming that the curse stresses out Nyx's body, and she's on the lower end of period frequency (four per year), she could easily be over 100.

Huh, I see. Could be a thing.

If that is being brought up, then I guess it could also mean the hair is dyed, since hair pigments are also another thing that can ran out.

Well, if she's only 45-55 like I suggested, then it's possible for her to have very few/no gray hairs. As for the theories about her being older than that...

MAGIC

[Xaos Steel Wing]

The way I understand things, based on the Japanese version of the game, Nyx became cursed as a side effect of her use, or rather, abuse, of her magical abilities, curses, and hexes, in a way that hurt others. This would have happened in her early teens.

Since then, decades passed, but her body remained the same. A lot of this time she isolated herself intentionally, as a form of self-punishment, but also to keep her away from others to no longer hurt anyone anymore. Living like that, in shame, regret, and isolation, would certainly have an effect on how one acts, develops, and sees the world.

I envision Nyx as being in her forties in terms of real age. That's still decades she spent in her cursed form, but she isn't THAT old, and she has a different type of maturity about her as she spent much of that time in loneliness and seclusion.

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

I haven't actually gotten the supports that tell me that yet, so thanks. (I'm playing the JP one too)

I think one of the reasons she seems like a hundred years old to me is because she reminds me a lot of C.C. from Code Geass lol. Also, she does say "hundred years too early" a lot, compared to the usual "ten years early" that most people use.

[XiahouDun1225]

On 3/19/2016 at 2:21 PM, Minternets said:

Now, realistically, the whole "OMG I'M ACTUALLY OLDER THAN YOU WTFFFF RESPECT ME!" is a totally rebellious-teen attitude. She's not actually a super powerful old witch. She's just a kid dabbling in the dark arts (Look at her stats when you get her. Is that the sort of person you imagine when you see someone that can cast a spell of immortality? No. Stop lying. It's not). Her parents got mad at her, she took off and is living on the streets. She got tired of begging for change, and concocted this story. "I have no family" is right, but not for the reason she's telling you.

13-16 years old. Give up the lies, Nyx. Your family still loves you, no matter how your last conversation ended!

Your entire premise is groundless, and quite frankly, stupidly reasoned. Everything hinges on people buying into your personal opinion about her character. Because  you don't personally like her, you concoct this half assed "theory" about how "She's like, a runaway, or like, something man, and like, it's because her like, parents did some things or whatever, yeah.". I mean like....Have you considered perhaps, she's distrustful of people? It's almost as if you know nothing about her interactions with other characters. I am beginning to think that you haven't seen her support conversations, no, perhaps you haven't even played the game? And the condescension in the post itself is pure gold, best make sure you not fall off that high horse.

Edited May 16, 2018 by XiahouDun1225

[Shoblongoo]

I'm gonna be the negative nancy that says because she's under the influence of anti-aging magic, sorcery supersedes science and it is not possible to construct an accurate estimation of Nyx's true age from her fertility. 

that being said...its still damn-fun to theorycraft...

________

I had a theory a while back that you could extrapolate the natural lifespans of the various laguz species by inverse ratio of the lifespans of their compatriot animal species to the lifespan of an average human, and then use the life cycle of the animal species to further extrapolate their maturity and aging patterns.

Real World 
The maximum human lifespan is about 100 years
Hawks in captivity have maximum longevity of 25 years and reach sexual maturity at 1 year old
Great Blue Herons have a lifespan of 15 years and reach sexual maturity at 22 months old
Lions and Tigers in captivity have maximum longevity of 25 years and reach sexual maturity at around 3 to 4 years old

Shobby Math
Lifespan of Hawk Laguz 100 x (100/25) = 400 years
Age of Maturity of Hawk Laguz = 400 x (1/25) = 16 years

 

Lifespan of Heron Laguz = 100 x (100/15) = ~667 years 
Age of Maturity of Heron Laguz = 667 x (1.833 /15) =  81 years

 

Lifespan of Lion/Tiger Laguz = 100 x (100/25) = 400 years 

Age of Maturity of Lion/Tiger Laguz = 400 x (4/25) = 48-64 years 

 
(This whole theory goes to shit when you remember that crows IRL have a near-human lifespan of up to 70 years)

__________

^^^
Its completely baseless, relying upon assumed application of facts and numbers that have no established applicability to the setting. 

But it's fun to theorycraft.

I'd throw any calculations of Nyx's true age in the same boat of fun, but baseless.

Edited May 16, 2018 by Shoblongoo

[DisobeyedCargo]

Short answer: magic

long answer: magic 

And we don't have anything resembling magic in our world so it is very hard to determine her age

 

Edited May 16, 2018 by DisobeyedCargo

[SatsumaFSoysoy]

4 hours ago, Shoblongoo said:

fun, but baseless.

I can't believe you figured out the point of this topic Σ(°ロ°)