[DEBATE] Matthias's age?

[The Skarzs]

My mistake; good points all.

[Delthion]

BJ was trying to install some medieval things into his stories, and one of those is early marriages: A lot of times, boys were trained to become knights and defend their family because of how common deaths were. (Women remarrying three times was also something that happened) This training coupled with actual times where they had to battle caused early maturing; marriage can take place really any time the two are mature and ready enough to marry, which also requires a way of supporting a family. Families wished their line to continue, so this was the common practice. If anyone notices the some of the old suits of armor, they are pretty short: this is because they were meant for someone of that height, at which many thirteen-year-olds were. If they are ready enough to wear their own suit of armor into battle, then they're old enough to marry.

The point is, I think thirteen would be a time-accurate age.

But no one could become a knight until 21, they started out as a page going to a neighboring castle at the age of seven,  and then at the age of fourteen they would become a squire, and only until 21 would they become a knight.

[CaptainRocktree]

Hmmmm never thought about that......

[Mister Cheese]

Honestly I did not imagine him a teenager, I imagined him to be ~20 years old or a bit younger, young adult territory. Just to kind of fit in my head that he was able defeat a terrifying rat warlord, lol

[Tam and Martin]

Honestly I did not imagine him a teenager, I imagined him to be ~20 years old or a bit younger, young adult territory. Just to kind of fit in my head that he was able defeat a terrifying rat warlord, lol

Me neither. He seemed to mature to be a teenager. I would say something like 17 or 18 would fit Mathias better. Alot better.

[Wylder Treejumper]

I always imagined him as about 16 or so...

[Lilian of Oceanna]

I think somewhere either in the tv show or beginning of the book it mentions him being 14, but i don't remember for sure...

[SilentSam]

I think (in human years) he is 15-19

[Faiyloe]

It did state in the book that he was 13 (I think).

[Søren]

It would make sense for him to be in his late teens rather then barely a teenager.

[Hickory]

don't forget that redwall is measured in seasons! cregga was probably 30 seasons when she reashed redwall and then it was three novels (maybe six seasons? taggerung took a bit) and she was considered very old (fact: gregga was the last known badger mum!) so seasons are obviously a long time in redwall. I want to say 16 years

[Hickory]

I look back on that post and want to crawl into a corner.

Let me rephrase that.

In Doomwyte, Zaran asks whatshisname the son of Tugga Bruster how old he is, and he replies with "twelve seasons", which goes to show human years don't matter, because if they did a three year old wouldn't be a warrior and full time member of the Gousim. Even then, for Redwall time he's pretty young.

Then again, Songbreeze is, what, fifteen or sixteen when she's promoted to Abbess? There's not really a set time keeping device in Redwall except the sun. Or linear time at all. (They don't even have days of the week! Or even days at all!)

[The Skarzs]

In the series, it seems that Brian Jacques intended that the age be less important than the action. A lot of times, it is the adventures characters take on that "age" them; seems to be a focal idea in the books.

[CaptainRocktree]

Why, oh, why did you have to revive my first thread... 

Let me just go into a corner now.....

[Banya]

I've always interpreted one season as being equal to one year.  In the second book of Taggerung, titled "Sixteen Seasons On," Tagg is sixteen seasons old, and his character and maturity are appropriate for an older teen.  I would place Matthias around that same age during the events of Redwall.

Since Martin the Warrior was mentioned, I'll throw out that I'd place Martin around 18 seasons during the events of Mossflower, and that's after he spent two seasons in the prisons of Kotir.  I'd guess him to be roughly 14 during the events of Martin the Warrior.  He was considered a young mouse in the book; it's stated on the first page.  I'd put Felldoh a season or two older than Martin and Brome two or three younger.
If 14 does seem young for Martin, remember that firstly, the show takes several liberties in changing aspects of the original story, and secondly, in the Castaways series, Ben is 13.