Comments | daydreamblvr6: Poll with a gif for your trouble

daydreamblvr6

Poll with a gif for your trouble

Oct 16, 2011 19:56

So it's never really been established how old Damon is, we know he's the older brother (my little bro, who's been watching the show with me since mid-season 1, was actually surprised by this when I mentioned it in casual conversation O_o), but not how much older.

Which brings me to this poll.
Poll
And I'd LOVE anything you have to say about this. Tell me ( Read more... )

character: damon salvatore, vampire diaries, gifs, the brotherhood, character: tyler lockwood

Comments 36

lostandalone22 October 17 2011, 01:41:10 UTC

He was old enough to be in the Civil War before he even became a vampire, so I'm guessing somewhere in his teens to late 20's, so...

Stefan is the younger brother and he turned 162 in season one.

daydreamblvr6 October 17 2011, 18:19:11 UTC

Good point about the Civil War--I forget to take that into consideration sometimes.

Thank you! :D

lostandalone22 October 17 2011, 23:33:55 UTC

I think it tends to be overlooked because of the part of the country Damon was fighting for. If it helps, I'm remembering reading it somewhere that Stefan was 17 and Damon was 21, because it coincides with the age difference of the Winchester brothers.

daydreamblvr6 October 19 2011, 03:36:01 UTC

Ohhhhh. Thank you for that tidbit! I'm not in the SPN fandom or anything, but from what I know the Winchester brothers are an awful lot like our Salvatore boys (or I guess it's vice versa, since Dean and Sam came first). It's interesting that they'd have that in common, too.

waltzmatildah October 17 2011, 01:44:13 UTC

I really, REALLY can't decide on this! And I've thought about it MANY times! I don't know if you've ever watched Grey's Anatomy but this kind of debate has raged in that fandom for years because the writers never actually bothered to give us answers. I think this mostly happens (characters remaining ambiguously ageless) so that the writers have an extra degree of freedom and so that producers can shift their target audience more fluidly. For example, Damon could legitimately fall anywhere between about 21 and what? 35?, as your baseline and ceiling. In reality, it's unlikely to be either of those but that's ostensibly what the boundaries could be. Consider the target audience possibilities that exist for a character in that age range. And the storytelling potential ( ... )

daydreamblvr6 October 17 2011, 18:25:05 UTC

I have so much trouble deciding too! I'm kind of obsessed with figuring it out, or rather, coming to a conclusion that I'm satisfied with, for fic reasons. And you're definitely right about why the writers haven't nailed it down, freedom is key with a television series especially.

And this discussion does me the same way--with the mind-exploding--because I REALLY want the writers to just give us a hard number already even though I understand why they don't.

I tend to put him around 22. I always think of his age in relation to Stefan's--he has to be old enough to be the BIG brother, but young enough to really connect with Stefan and be as close as they are. And to me, 22 is even pushing that, just from experience with me and my brother: we're three years apart and sometimes that's too big of a gap to overcome. I think it would have been easier to be close, though, back in 1864 when you basically only had the people around you and when I take into account that their mother's gone and their father's kind of harsh--those sorts of ( ... )

waltzmatildah October 17 2011, 23:05:55 UTC

I see where you're coming from with deciding on the 22 thing, and your rationale makes perfect sense... BUT... I then get to considering Damon's relationships with other TVD characters like Alaric, Isobel and Liz. For example, Alaric has to be, what? mid-30s? I mean, Isobel was Elena's mum which, say she gets pregnant at 18 (or even 16?!!), that still makes Isobel mid-late 30s. So you'd probably have to have Alaric at around something similar. And Liz a bit older. Early 40s maybe. There is no way I see a 15 year age gap and a 20 year age gap between Damon and Alaric and Damon and Liz...

SEE WHAT I MEAN ABOUT BRAIN-EXPLOSIONS?!! Haha!

But this also only serves to reiterate my point about ambiguous agelessness being a deliberate choice. Because the writers can totally write a realistic Damon/seventeen year old Elena scene and then they can write a realistic Damon/forty odd year old Liz scene and not have to justify anything because they've never actually TOLD. US. HOW. OLD. HE. IS!!

ARGH!

daydreamblvr6 October 19 2011, 03:39:20 UTC

That's what ALWAYS trips me up! The only way I've been able to quit going around and around and around in circles regarding that excellent point about his interactions with the adults is to believe that he's lived long enough to be able to fluidly "become" whatever age it is necessary he be to relate to who he has to relate to. Does that make any sense? He has to have a certain look, obviously, for that to work so he can't be tooyoung or too old, but I also think that that would become easier to overcome as you learned how and practiced.

(The comment has been removed)

daydreamblvr6 October 17 2011, 18:37:29 UTC

I have decided it's better not to match ages to Ian's (or Paul's) face as well. xP I can't come up with anything close to canon indicates it should be if I do that.

Very good points about the war, Damon not having delusions about his father (very, VERY good point actually--I like that one a lot), and Damon being the BIG brother. And very good point about Stefan's attitude toward Damon. I tend to think of how things work between them in terms of Damon's attitude towards Stefan when considering Damon's age, but you've made very good observations about Stefan's point of view and actions. Also, I think you're right about Damon not being 27 and specifically because of his interactions with Katherine. He was obviously young and naive in that department.

And your theory about not aging emotionally after turning is very intriguing. I've played around with the idea myself.

arabian October 17 2011, 01:57:39 UTC

I swear I've read that Damon is 25, and Ian said 170 years a lot when talking about Damon's time on earth, and it's only been a year on the show, so doing the math (going by the math -- 1864+170=2035-25=2009.)

daydreamblvr6 October 17 2011, 18:39:22 UTC

Oh cool! I tend to stay away from hearing/reading what any of the actors/writers/anybody else say, so I appreciate your enlightening me to what Ian's said in regards to this topic.

Thank you! :)

emiv October 17 2011, 02:18:41 UTC

Good question/discussion topic ( ... )

daydreamblvr6 October 17 2011, 18:47:26 UTC

Thanks! ^_^

You're very right about Damon having more of a big picture mentality, I definitely see what you mean. Also, your insight into the differences between someone in their early twenties and their late twenties is very helpful--I have no clue myself, since I'm so young and consequently have neither seen much of nor experienced those differences.

And yep, Ian aging will change our thinking, I'm sure of it. That's part of what bugs me about them making Stefan seventeen--I'm really glad to have a rock solid number, but I wish they had made him older. To me, seventeen just seems incredibly young especially considering that Paul's gonna get older because, well, he's not a vampire. XP They could have made him 19 and faking younger since he has to go to school with Elena, with the powers of compulsion that would have been super easy. And a two year age gap in mortal years between Stefan and Elena would not have been a huge deal in establishing their relationship (far less than the 145 real years). Anyway, pardon my tangent ( ... )