Guardian Ages on Wikipedia

[Hermes]

I've just realised why I thought Esme might not have been in VFD; at one point Lemony says Beatrice first met her at a tea party, which seems to imply that they weren't at school together; so either Esme is quite a lot older (since, as we've seen, it's hard for her to be much younger) or they were at different schools, suggesting that Esme was not in VFD. But I suppose in the heyday of VFD there may well have been more than one school linked with it.

[colette]

Feb 23, 2009 3:42:19 GMT -5 Dante said:

We know the ages of barely anyone in aSoUE. Okay, let me see:

Uncle Monty: 61 - I don't think he's that old. I'd put him in his 40s or 50s. He's evidently old enough that if he was going to start a family, he would have already, but he's not too old to be off larking about around the world with reptiles. And okay, 61 isn't too old for that. But I definitely see him as more about 40 or 50 - a bit older than the Baudelaire parents, I'd guess.

I can agree with Wikipedia. I think late 50s-early 60s. Not younger beacuse that he have studied reptiles for forty years and I don't think that he had started studying since he was a baby. But of course he is not older because hard to imagine an old man traveling so much.

Josephine Anwhistle: 55 - no way is Josephine younger than Uncle Monty. I'd say she's a candidate for being in her 60s. A sprightly sixty-year-old, sure, but that's all that coastal air and exercise. Ike might've been in his 70s; we know that Gregor Anwhistle was extremely old, so Ike should be pretty old, too.

I think Josephine is in middle 50s. And in my ficverse Humphrey and Gregor are much older than Ike.

Sir: 55, born 1873; Charles: 31, born 1897 - wow, someone's been writing serious fanfiction here. I'm not even going to start on this birth-dates. I can see Charles as being in his late 30s, but I don't get the impression that Sir's all that old, for some reason... I'd put him in his 40s. Charles seems too good a friend (or should I say "friend") to Sir to be too distant from him in age; he seems too familiar.

I guess that Charles and Sir are almost the same age - both in 30s

Nero: 59 - again, I see him as a younger man. Not that much younger. Early 50s, late 40s... I mean, he's like a big kid, really, with his candy fixation and general spoiled-brat behaviour. So I can't see him as being too old. And if he were too old, his braided hair from TPP would start looking a little implausible. I'm going to say he's in his late 40s but thinks he's still cool.

I totally agree with about Nero. Late 40s, Early 50s.

Jerome: 32 - yeah, alright. This I can imagine, as I can really see Jerome as quite a young man. There's something very alive about him. That said, he must have been around the same age as Beatrice, so that might well put him into his 40s. I'm glad Esmé's age isn't down there, as that's a whole barrel of worms - she seems 30s or 40s, but she was at school with Fernald's mother, which'd make her more like her 50s and 60s. I can see her appeal as fading, much like Olaf's, but I wouldn't put her later than her 40s, really.

I disagree with you and Wikipedia about Jerome. I guess Jerome isn't that young. Late 30s or early 40s.

Hector: 26 - no way. This is a man who has spent far more time than that being ground into the dirt by the Village of Fowl Devotees and its elders - and more time than that planning and building his self-sustaining hot air mobile home. And that's not taking into account the fact that he must have been in contact with V.F.D. at some time, as Jacques and Lemony seem to have been familiar with him, according to the U.A. I'd say 30s. 32, maybe. I envision Charles, Jerome and Hector as being around the same age, on the grounds that they're pretty much the same character cut-and-pasted.[/quite]
I think he is late 30s

Hal: 81 - no complaints here. Hal's old, but not too old. I wouldn't put him in his 90s, not plausibly, but in his 80s is fine. Some people posit him as a third Anwhistle sibling, and he's got the age for it.

I see him in 90s.

Olivia: 32 - I see her as more late 30s, early 40s... it also seems she must have been a contemporary of the Snickets, and therefore of the Baudelaires, etc. So however old they are, she's about the same. The real question is when she first fell in love with Count Olaf.

I guess middle 40s.

Captain Widdershins: 66 - nonononono. Not his 60s. 50s at the latest... late 40s at the earliest. The right sort of age to have married Fernald's mother, which would at first glance probably put him in his 60s, sure, but TGG would put Fernald in his early 30s at the very oldest, so I think 40s or 50s is more appropriate. I don't see his hair as greying yet. He's horribly unfit, but a very vibrant personality.

I agree with you her. I guess he is in early 50s, a bit older than Lulu.

Dewey (and by extension, Frank and Ernest): 34 - sure, why not? Goes along with the Snickets and Baudelaires and so forth.

I imagine Kit and Denouements in their late 20s.

Ishmael - thankfully not listed, but 60s at the earliest, and with no upper limit. Physically he's in good condition, but island life seems to be pretty good. For reasons I no longer remember, I've been prepared to put him at older than 100 at times...

Oh, Count Olaf's not on there, either. Going from the illustrations, and from the "creepy old man" vibe he has going at times, I'd have said late 50s or early 60s, but since he was a contemporary of the Baudelaires and Snickets, the same late 30s or early 40s group would seem to apply - although of course, that was a retcon. I'd say he's in his 40s for the nearest to canon, but age is something you should really not be going near in canon...

I think Ishmael is very old. And Olaf is in 40s

[Vanja]

We've all noticed how the VFD members are relatively young, which wouldn't be surprising if they're born and grown up in the 1880-1940's, which also suggests giving birth to a first child at a very young age, 15-20.

About Fernald's mother and Esmé going to school together would be rather plausible if we assume Fernald's in his early to mid-twenties and his mother giving birth to him between the ages of 15-20. The school system in the books also suggest children of ages around 5 to 15. Which makes the gap between Fernald's mother and Esmé be much greater than assumed before.
If we say Fernald is in his early to mid twenties (feels more real to Fiona's age, 14 or 15?) and his mother being in the 15 to 20 gap when she had him would make her between the ages of 35 and 45. Which makes Esmé's lowest age in the early 30's and considering Olaf's age (late thirties) highest age around 37.

Beatrice's and Lemony's engagement could've been made at a fairly young age, considering the legal age was much lower when they were young (considering Violet could've gotten married at 14 with guardians permission).
It seems to me that the V.F.D. school was not intended to school older children than say 16. Which could well place Beatrice's marriage to Bertrand when she was in her early 20's.

I imagine the book list is irrelevant to the story, seeing as R photograph's in TUA suggest Kit, Jacques, Beatrice, Bertrand, Lemony, Esmé, Olaf, R and so forth were born somewhere around 1910, which could of course be put in there to throw us off, but fits into the atmosphere of the story.

As for the "Advanced Computers" mentioned in TAA, the first functioning computer was built around 1910 according to wikipedia.

[Hermes]

Sept 20, 2011 21:10:08 GMT -5 Vanja said:

About Fernald's mother and Esmé going to school together would be rather plausible if we assume Fernald's in his early to mid-twenties and his mother giving birth to him between the ages of 15-20. The school system in the books also suggest children of ages around 5 to 15. Which makes the gap between Fernald's mother and Esmé be much greater than assumed before.

The worry is that we know from the photograph that Fernald was a teenager when Fiona was a baby - I suppose it's a well-spaced-out family like the Baudelaires. So if Fiona is sixteen Fernald must be at least twenty-eight, which makes his mother something in her mid forties at least. She could still have been at the same school as Esme at the same time, but I don't think the'd be close enough to be friends. (Though I suppose E could be exaggerating something rather than straightforwardly lying - that might fit her character.)

[Vanja]

Sept 21, 2011 15:17:23 GMT -5 Hermes said:

Sept 20, 2011 21:10:08 GMT -5 Vanja said:

About Fernald's mother and Esmé going to school together would be rather plausible if we assume Fernald's in his early to mid-twenties and his mother giving birth to him between the ages of 15-20. The school system in the books also suggest children of ages around 5 to 15. Which makes the gap between Fernald's mother and Esmé be much greater than assumed before.

The worry is that we know from the photograph that Fernald was a teenager when Fiona was a baby - I suppose it's a well-spaced-out family like the Baudelaires. So if Fiona is sixteen Fernald must be at least twenty-eight, which makes his mother something in her mid forties at least. She could still have been at the same school as Esme at the same time, but I don't think the'd be close enough to be friends. (Though I suppose E could be exaggerating something rather than straightforwardly lying - that might fit her character.)

Baby could mean up to 3 or 4 years old (Sunny's probably at least 3 in the end), so if Fernalds in his preteens in the photo and Fiona's 2 or 3, he could still be in his mid-twenties.