Difference between revisions of "Talk:Gentius"

Latest revision as of 03:09, 8 September 2010

Age[edit]

I am trying to discover how old Gentius is. He must be quite old for people to have talked differently in his day. Also, we know Excidium was born "c. 1725." He says he had fought "something with the Prussians" (I am not sure if that is with or against the Prussians. Possibly the "Great Northern War"? But then I am just searching wikipedia randomly and not a historian.) Does anyone have any thoughts? Strangerface 08:29, 9 July 2008 (PDT)

It could have possibly been the Seven Years War (1756–1763). It was a pretty big conflict, almost a world war, since it took place in Europe, North America, India, the Phillipines, and other spots around the globe. Unless he's really old (which is possible...the dragons seem to be combat capable at about 1-2 years old), I would think it might be this.

-- Sjolly75 11:56am, 09Jul08 EDT

At the time Temeraire first meets Celeritas in the spring 1805, Celeritas gives his age as 200 years and is still quite vigourous. When they meet again in the fall of 1807, Celeritas appears to be showing signs of age - possibly accelerated by the plague? He retires to the breeding grounds in Ireland shortly afterwards.

Since Celeritas is a Reaper, a middleweight, Gentius as a Longwing ought to have *at least* as long lifespan, possibly longer. However, he can't have been born before 1558, which is when Elizabeth I took the throne. She was the one who came up with idea of putting women on Longwings, and Gentius' first captain was a woman.

However, also note that Gentius' first captain lived long enough ago that there had been significant changes in the way people spoke. Gentius' memory of her speech sounds something like the original King James Version of the Bible, which was published in 1611.

Tentatively, I'm guessing that Gentius was apx 200 years old when he fought alongside Laetificat in 1776, i.e., born c. 1575-1580. By the time Temeraire meets him in 1807, old age has definitely set in - rather like a human who's been quite vigourous and spry until they were 70 but is now 80 and considerably less mobile, having major vision problems, etc.

Also, dragons mature physically very quickly, apparently reaching full length by the end of or soon after their first year and also going through puberty by/at about that time. So it may be that, after maintaining physical vigour for a relatively long portion of their lives, they experience more rapid senescence than is typical for humans.

What would be really useful to know would be whether or not Gentius remembers fighting against the Spanish Armada (1588) with Conflagratia!

IIRC Gentius also says that his captain was the first female British aviator who actually took command of the crew, instead of riding along and being called "Miss". That would definitely place him in the Elizabethan era. --Wombat1138 07:37, 17 August 2010 (PDT)

"Deadly"?[edit]

What's the basis for this translation of his name? My Latin is admittedly rusty, but I'm not finding any immediate corroboration in Cassell. It could be the neuter comparative of an adjective with a slightly different root entry, but if so, I'm not finding that either. My best gusss so far is that it's faultily based on "masculinizing" gentium, which superficially resembles a 2nd-declension neuter but is actually the genitive plural of gens, gentis, a 3rd-declension feminine ("clan/people"; nom. pl. gentes). Perhaps Queen Elizabeth's maidservants didn't have a good grounding in Latin grammar, though... or maybe when being named, Gentius himself misheard gentilis, which could be parsed as meaning the same thing as gentium: "belonging to our tribes/nation", ~"for the nation's benefit"/"for the common good"?) --Wombat1138 07:37, 17 August 2010 (PDT)

"Something with the Prussians"[edit]

I ran a quick check on Wikipedia for wars involving Prussia, to see if we can guess which war Gentius is referring to, as it would add another date to the wiki (the invention of Pepper-guns). Given the context, I think he means that they were fighting against the Prussians (surely he would have mentioned their enemy instead of just an ally), and that makes the war the "War of the Austrian Succession" (1740-1748). All other wars inbetween the 16th and 19th century involving Britain and Prussia had them fighting on the same side.Almaron 20:08, 7 September 2010 (PDT)