Re: (ReacTor) Over the Hill: Five Not-So-Youthful SFF Protagonists

On 18/07/2024 09.25, James Nicoll wrote:

Over the Hill: Five Not-So-Youthful SFF Protagonists
 Protagonists in their late twenties or even older are still alive
in many senses of the word, and can still have adventures, of a sort.
 Brought to you by a conversation I overheard between teens.
 https://reactormag.com/over-the-hill-five-not-so-youthful-sff-protagonists/

A few that might be outside the box:
Nicholas van Rijn, the fat spider sitting in his web, is already
pushing forty when we first see him in "Margin of Profit". (Poul
Anderson's Polesotechnic League stories)
Mayor John Amalfi of "two names twice" is hundreds of years old
when he is first mentioned in _A Life for the Stars_, and is much
older by the end of the series. (James Blish's _Cities in Flight)
I can't find textev, but I'm pretty sure that Lord Darcy is well
past thirty in Garrett's stories about him.
The infamous Lazarus Long is either 213 or 224 at the beginning of
_Methusalah's Children_. He gets much, much older. (RAH)
By implication, Louis Wu was conceived contemporaneously with the
events of "Grendel" or "The Borderland of Sol", which put that in
about 2640, but we first encounter him in "There is a Tide", which
takes place about 190 years later. (Niven, Known Space)
Scalzi's "Old Man" series starts with John Perry enlisting in the
military on his 75th birthday.
I suppose that Frodo, Sam, and Smeagol shouldn't be counted here,
so I won't even bring them up.
(Note that in all cases, when I say "before" or "after", I am
using these terms with respect to internal chronologies rather
than publication order.)
--
Michael F. Stemper
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.