Age in GFFA: Does it Matter?

With launch of the Legacy of the Force series soon this will see EU enter 4 decades of history and adventures since the destruction of the First Death Star. As such we will see Luke, Leia and Han in their sixties and beyond, meanwhile still fighting the good fight. I am not sure about anyone else but to me the idea of 60 year old humans still getting into lightsaber fights might be pushing it.

However I came across some interesting information while reading the "Truce at Baurka Sourcebook" that changed my mind considerably. In particular it mentions 2 characters Senator Orn Beldon and his wife Eppie Beldon, who at 4ABY were 164 and 132 years old. Of note was one passage, where Eppie is discussing her marriage to Orn Beldon with her mother, who thinks that as Orn is over 30 years older they shouldn?t marry. Eppie?s response(Eppie was 31years old when she said this), ?We could still celebrate our one hundredth anniversary. Easily? . ?This is little more than a frontier world ??. ?Our medical droids are as good as any in the Core. You can expect to see 200?.? Orn and Eppie were both fully functional, even particpating in rebellion against the Empire, all at the ripe age of well over a hundred. Also there was Mother Rell from the Courtship of Princess Leia who was reportedly over 300yrs old.

If this is the standard length of life for humans in GFFA (200years), then even in their sixties Luke and Leia are only a third of their way through their life. It doesn't say anywhere that Bakurans have any special longevity so if the TB Sourcebook claim of about approx. 200years is correct than in Earth terms (basing average human lifespan on about 80yrs, and roughly a third of their lifespan) they would only be about 26-27yrs old. While this may just be all pure assumption it could mean that the Big Three could be around for some time to come.

Any thoughts?

 

Just watch the movie and see Count Dooku and how well he fought in what we would consider advanced age.

 

great find, I was looking for that quotes for some time and couldn´t remember where I read them! and hell yes, 200 is average in star wars, except certain planets lower that lifespan. force use might provide longer life.

but how does one look with 80 then? or does leia look like a teenager until the age of 30? this might explain certain book covers letting her look young for a long time, but... this is what I am interested in most, how do they look at what age. and what other consequences does this bring? longer school education? they are considered mature with 16 already as we know. some age infos are given in a table with ages by species in the wizards core rulebook.

 

It seems to suggest that humans age at a similar rate as they do on Earth, but gives no upper limit. The various sources I've seen can't seem to agree on aging, though there's a general consensus that they enjoy a considerably longer life expectancy than we do. It's conceivable that relatively near-future medical technology could raise human life expectancy well above 100, so 200+ for the Star Wars universe (considerably more advanced than "near-future") is entirely plausible. And that's without considering the effects of the Force on those who can use it.

 

I suspect people have a long middle-age... questions of class and lifestyle choice probably factor in...

A lot of men (Han, Luke, Dean Jinzler) seem to go grey in their 40s-60s, and it's seen as slightly indecent to look younger than you are - Roa, for instance... but OTOH, forty is the new sixty, C'baoth was well over a hundred without batting an eyelid, and Garm and Pellaeon are at minimum about 75 and 85 in TUF...

In the early NJO, it wasn't ever said to be unusual for Mara to have Ben at forty-something, but she was old enough that she could hear her biological clock ticking...

The longest lifespans I've seen seem to be those of the Sunrider Jedi - Vima-Da-Boda seems to be about a hundred years old when she has her daughter, but the average generation of her ancestors back to Nomi is on the order of several centuries...

- The Imperial Ewok

 

awesome!!! i was hopin that there would be somethin like that cause I just cant imagine luke,leia,mara,han, or leia just around the universe with a cane or a walker.

 

don´t forget those we know were heavily active fighting all their lives, so this might age them a bit faster.

 

Force-sensitives have longer life spans as well.

 

uh speaking of force sensitive people, is danni qui(its probably misspelled)a jedi?

 

Didn't they mention in Dark Next 1, in a conversation between Han and Leia, that Han had 50-60 more years of fighting in him? He was complaining that everyone thought he was down for the count once we went a little grey.

 

Why should their age be baselined against primative Earthians'? Then again, we slameed the aliens well on 4/7/96 so I guess our Improved Touchness feat was well allocated.

It was amusing to see that brought early in Joiner King, as though for fan reassurance. An sightful touch. It's not age that has to matter, though, but how long I can see them avdenturing the same stuff after 15yrs and still be interested. Unfortunately, they just had to get Karen for three books more, so I'm in it for a third of Legacy at least.

 

Excellence- You know full well that our victory over the aliens on 4/7/96 was a result of our l337 computer use and pilot skill point ranks.

And as for age, there are contradictions. In the RotS novelization Dooku was basically keeping himself going through the Force. Plus Mon Mothma died right around the normal number of Earth years.

 

Didn't Mon Mothma get some sort of disease? And General Dodonna (I think that was him, I could be wrong) was found in the Kessel mines WAY after he should have died...

 

Having typed the date Aust way I was worried if the yankee team would home run it right, but your comment on computer skills is right on.

 

Yeah Mon Mothma had a disease, but she was younger than Garm Bel Iblis at the time of her death I believe. So if he's going to be going strong for another century, she should've had at least a few more decades left.

 

Well Dooku and Mace were no spring chickens! Still, i think the force will help Luke and Maybe Leia to a really old age, but I don't know about Han.

 

when and how did mon mothma die?

 

What about Obi-Wan? He looked really old and complained about his age but he was only in his late 50s or early 60s (assuming he was somewhere in his 30s around ep.3)

 

People in the GFFA have various means of preserving youth that we mere Earthlings don't, I would imagine. Their advanced medical technology can probably hold off some basic damage like from the sun, and in general they're healthier than we are, so their bodies stay in their prime longer. Most likely they age normally up to adulthood (using Earth humans as the comparison) but the decline is slower. Force-sensitives have even more tricks up their sleeves and also can use the Force to counteract and compensate for the slowing-up that comes with age, especially as their link to it gets stronger. But even then nobody lives forever, unless they replace parts that wear out and end up completely remade, or something.

I'd try it.

 

MercenaryAce posted on 9/19/05 6:00pm

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What about Obi-Wan? He looked really old and complained about his age but he was only in his late 50s or early 60s (assuming he was somewhere in his 30s around ep.3) [hr][/blockquote]

ANH Obi-Wan was originally going to be in his 70's. Now we just have the BS explanation "the desert did it."

 

If Bacta is a cure-all, I'm sure it can fight off most things that old people die of... I'd assume that people with Bacta allergies die at a much younger age.

 

Her immune system was weakened by the Caridan poison, and she never fully recovered to full strength. Sort of like AIDS, I guess...I got the impression that it eventually just completely neutralized her immune system's ability to respond.

 

Mothma died just before the events of Vector Prime (so somewhere between 24-25 years ABY). As I recall, she died peacefully in her sleep.