Casey’s Literary Rants

Casey Literary RantsIn which I rant about old characters

Okay, so this is going to be a super short and slightly random rant. But then, aren’t all my rants slightly random? Yes, yes they are. Anyway, getting back to today’s topic: old characters. How is it that I don’t bat an eyelash when I find out some supernatural character is several hundred years old (“He’s 456? Awesome!”) but when I find out a human character is old then I’m flabbergasted (“Wait, he’s 54?! DUDE! He’s ANCIENT!”). I should point out right now that it’s the hero/heroine’s ages I get shocked over – not random secondary characters. I don’t care if Uncle Billy is 54, but if Hot Human Hero is 64 then I’m all, “Uh…..next book!”.

When I found out Butch, from the Black Dagger Brotherhood, was about 50 years old, my first thought was, “Wow he’s old.” My second thought was, “How can I possibly think that that’s old when every other Brother is several hundred years old? He’s like a baby to them!” Was I being age-ist just because he was human and not a vampire like the rest of them? Yep, I totally was. But I did end up falling head over heels in love with Butch, so maybe I’m not so terrible after all.

As much as the older human characters’ age bothers me, strangely, any giant gaps in age in relationships don’t bother me at all. Talking about supernaturals again. I mean, an 80 year old human man with a 20 year old human girl is “Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww!” But anytime a 387 year old vampire falls in love with a 27 year old human woman then I’m all “That’s cool.” Unless said vampire sparkles.

In Joss Ware’s book Night Betrayed, the hero and heroine were both old humans BUT they looked really young. (It had something to do with surviving the apocalypse. Magical stuff.) Theo was almost 80 and Selena was 50 but they both looked like they were 30ish. I could have gone with it (they’re somewhat supernatural. I mean, you don’t often see an 80 year old man looking like a hot buff 30 year old man unless he’s had a TON of plastic surgery. And taken steroids.) except Theo’s identical twin brother was walking around. Lou wasn’t as lucky during the apocalypse. He did survive, which is always nice, but he didn’t get any supernatural powers. So he aged like the normal human man he is. Meaning, he was old and wrinkly and had lots of white hair and no buff six-pack abs. As identical twins, that’s EXACTLY what Theo should have looked like. Can you see the problem?!?! I couldn’t always keep the young version of Theo in my mind, especially when Lou was around.

All in all, I suppose I am human age-ist. I mean, clearly I love supernaturals enough to accept their age but humans, nu-uh, no way. Is anyone else age-ist against humans like me?

P.S. I should probably add, I ONLY mean fictional characters. Real old people do not scare me or freak me out. And when I finally do grow up and get old, I will wear my wrinkles proudly!  The sagging boobies will have to go though. I can’t stand them.

About Casey 203 Articles
Casey is the founder of Heart Full of Ink, Director at Reading Until Dawn Con, and a full time cheese addict. She's been ranting and reviewing for Literary Escapism since 2010, and is part of the trio #3Bloggers1Series podcast. When she's not reading, looking for new books, or stalking authors online (waiting for more books), she can be found binge watching Netflix. But really, her life is all about DEM BOOKS!

1 Comment

  1. I’m human ageist too, I think maybe its because I expect to be able to identify with humans (in books, at least, in person…..not so much, lol) and then they’re the same age as my parents and they become unrelatable somehow. And as stupid as it sounds, i’m 21 now and it feels like I will never be 50, honestly, 30 is so far in the future its a lifetime away. (I have no concept of time, haha.

    But it doesn’t bother me too much, I tend to just forget about it as I read in all honesty.

Comments are closed.