How old is Prince Caspian?

MTMFan

MTMFan

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How old is Prince Caspian supposed to be in this book? (I'm still reading it, so if it's mentioned later in the book, forgive me.) But when Caspian set out on his adventure in the woods, it says he took wine with him. Now, I know Narnia probably doesn't have a legal drinking age, but it still made me wonder. I had always imagined him to be pretty young, about the same age as the Pevensie kids at this point, and they're not old enough to drink! So does anybody have an idea on this?

Kristen
 
MTMFan said:
How old is Prince Caspian supposed to be in this book? (I'm still reading it, so if it's mentioned later in the book, forgive me.) But when Caspian set out on his adventure in the woods, it says he took wine with him. Now, I know Narnia probably doesn't have a legal drinking age, but it still made me wonder. I had always imagined him to be pretty young, about the same age as the Pevensie kids at this point, and they're not old enough to drink! So does anybody have an idea on this?

Kristen
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In the following book (Dawn Treader), he's described as looking "slightly" older than Edmund by Lucy. That book takes place 3 Narnian years after Caspian's coronation (at the end of Prince Caspian).

Basically, in PC he's either Edmund's age or a little younger. I would subscribe to the idea of him being younger than Edmund. As you'll find out later in that book, Miraz's lords seem impressed with the lordliness of Edmund. I don't think they would've pointed that out had he not been older than Caspian whom they seemed to regard as a "boy".

I can't give you an age, only estimate his age when compared to the children. I would say he's a little younger than Edmund in PC, maybe even Lucy's age.
 
Also, wine in those days was considered kind of like water; they didn't have friges like we do know to keep things fresh. Things would go bad too quickly, like milk, etc. People probably got bored of only drinking water all the time, so another alternative was wine.

Even the Pevensie kids had wine, at least when they were in Narnia.
 
mmmmmm

well sence he was growing up with the tuter and it said a few years later so i think he was probibly 13 or 14 at that time but remember he was royalty so he was probibly drinking wine like when he was 10! :)
 
Thanks for the replies. I figured he was around Peter's age. As for the wine, I know I'm thinking of it from my modern POV, but it still made me think. Even in Narnia, I assumed they'd know better than to give alcohol to children, lol.

Kristen
 
I can offer some insight on the wine thing. Until fairly recent history water wasn't considered all that safe. (It wasn't treated and carried waterborn parasites and such). So people would often drink beer/ale and wine instead because the process to make it killed most of the nasty stuff in the water. Given Lewis' background he would have known this, and might have taken it for granted that his readers knew this too. Plus a "drinking age" is a relatively new concept--still in some cultures children start drinking quite young and it isn't really seen a a big deal.
 
I have another question about PC, and I don't feel like starting a new thread, so I'll just ask it here, lol. How many years (in Narnian time) are supposed to have passed between LWW/HHB and this story? I know it seems like quite a few (over a hundred), but I'm just curious if anybody can pinpoint it any more than that.
 
MTMFan said:
How old is Prince Caspian supposed to be in this book? (I'm still reading it, so if it's mentioned later in the book, forgive me.) But when Caspian set out on his adventure in the woods, it says he took wine with him. Now, I know Narnia probably doesn't have a legal drinking age, but it still made me wonder. I had always imagined him to be pretty young, about the same age as the Pevensie kids at this point, and they're not old enough to drink! So does anybody have an idea on this?

Kristen
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seriously. dude, some of you guys think that you are real fans caspian is not slighty older than edmund. he's older than peter on the voage of the dawn treader, and he's as old as peter in prince caspian. you think next time you guys can read the darn books.
 
lions mane said:
seriously. dude, some of you guys think that you are real fans caspian is not slighty older than edmund. he's older than peter on the voage of the dawn treader, and he's as old as peter in prince caspian. you think next time you guys can read the darn books.
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Actually, that's just about impossible. If he's Peter's age in PC then alot of things that follow don't make sense, like:

"About as good a friend as a chap could have. And last time he was only a few years older than me."-Eustace in Silver Chair.

Eustace is younger than Edmund for sure, and more likely he's younger than Lucy because of this:

"For deep down inside he liked bossing and bullying; and, though he was a puny little person who couldn't have stood up even to Lucy, let alone Edmund, in a fight, he knew that there are dozens of ways to give people a bad time if you are in your own home and they are only visitors."- Dawn Treader

So, Caspian is "a few years older" than Eustace in Dawn Treader. That doesn't give us a number, but given the fact that Eustace is more than likely younger than Lucy...that makes it extremely unlikely that Caspian is anywhere near the age of Peter in PC (which takes place 3 narnian years before VDT).
 
well i no in the BBC movie, he is like 13 to14 or a little younger, but in the book(which iam reading this very moment) he might supposed to be like ???15? or younger.
 
I have another question about PC, and I don't feel like starting a new thread, so I'll just ask it here, lol. How many years (in Narnian time) are supposed to have passed between LWW/HHB and this story? I know it seems like quite a few (over a hundred), but I'm just curious if anybody can pinpoint it any more than that.
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actually it appears tome that they happen around the same time...maybe 5-10 years after the penvensie's coronation, because in HHB the calormene prince/tisroc (i can't remember what they called him) wants to marry susan.

i also found this passage, which is the first paragraph of the book - "this is the story of an adventure that happened in narnia and calomen and the lands between, in the golden age when king peter was high king in narnia and his brother and his two sisters were king and queens under him."

so there you go, that settles it
 
shmeepie said:
actually it appears tome that they happen around the same time...maybe 5-10 years after the penvensie's coronation, because in HHB the calormene prince/tisroc (i can't remember what they called him) wants to marry susan.

i also found this passage, which is the first paragraph of the book - "this is the story of an adventure that happened in narnia and calomen and the lands between, in the golden age when king peter was high king in narnia and his brother and his two sisters were king and queens under him."

so there you go, that settles it
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Isn't that quote from HHB? I meant, how long is it after the kids leave Narnia in LWW that they come back in PC (In Narnian time)? Does that make more sense?
 
MTMFan said:
Isn't that quote from HHB? I meant, how long is it after the kids leave Narnia in LWW that they come back in PC (In Narnian time)? Does that make more sense?
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I can't recall any reference to the time passed between LWW and PC other than between Peter and DLF in the woods:

"Your Majesty says is," replied the Dwarf, but oughtn't you to say was? You knew this country hundreds--it may be a thousand--years ago. Mayn't it have changed?"...- Trumpkin in PC


If anyone else finds a better reference, go for it, this is the only quote I can remember on the subject.

Caspian is the 9th descendant from the Telmarine conqueror that invaded Narnia, but we have no idea how long it was between the Golden Age and the invasion of the Telmarines.
 
as to caspians age... he would be around edmunds age in pc, probably about 13 or 14 and i always imagined him about peters age in VDT

and as for the time between llw and pc, i remember reading somewhere that it is about a year in our time and a little over a thousand in narnian time.
i have a book called "companion to narnia" and there is a map tracing out the two different times and where they connect, apparently the guy who wrote this one got it from another book called "past watchful dragons"

it also estimates that the four pevensies where ruling narnia for about 15 years so i would guess that HHB takes place less than 10 years after they defeated the witch because prince rabadash wants to marry susan... so in less than 10 years i would guess susan to be under 25, probably a good age to get married in narnia.
 
sailndwntrder said:
it also estimates that the four pevensies where ruling narnia for about 15 years so i would guess that HHB takes place less than 10 years after they defeated the witch because prince rabadash wants to marry susan... so in less than 10 years i would guess susan to be under 25, probably a good age to get married in narnia.
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I cannot remember where I heard it now, but for some reason I have it in my head that Pevensies ruled Narnia for about 20 years. In Medieval Europe princesses and queens were married (for the first time) usually anywhere from their early teens into their twenties. I am actually a little surprised that the bit in HHB is the only time they even mention marriage relating to the Pevensie monarchs.
 
Corin Thunder-Fist said:
Actually, that's just about impossible. If he's Peter's age in PC then alot of things that follow don't make sense, like:

"About as good a friend as a chap could have. And last time he was only a few years older than me."-Eustace in Silver Chair.

Eustace is younger than Edmund for sure, and more likely he's younger than Lucy because of this:

"For deep down inside he liked bossing and bullying; and, though he was a puny little person who couldn't have stood up even to Lucy, let alone Edmund, in a fight, he knew that there are dozens of ways to give people a bad time if you are in your own home and they are only visitors."- Dawn Treader

So, Caspian is "a few years older" than Eustace in Dawn Treader. That doesn't give us a number, but given the fact that Eustace is more than likely younger than Lucy...that makes it extremely unlikely that Caspian is anywhere near the age of Peter in PC (which takes place 3 narnian years before VDT).
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o.k.. did any of u actually read p.c., because if u haven't(it sort of sounds like no one has) i highly suggest it. in p.c. go to chapter 12 and read wher it says:
"the next minute or so was very confused.there was an animal roaring, a clash of steel; the boys and trumpkin rushed in; peter had a glimpse of a horrible gray, gaunt creature, half man and half wolf in the very act of leaping upon a boy about his own age."

so that should settel all the confusion about caspians age. sorry to the narnia fans confused by such crap(he's ed's age)
 
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