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

[James Nicoll]

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/

[Robert Woodward]

Post by James Nicoll
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/

I was going to add a few titles in the comments, but various people
named each one that I had thought of.

[Michael F. Stemper]

Post by James Nicoll
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.)

[Lynn McGuire]

Post by James Nicoll
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/

I have read "Little Fuzzy" and "Memory", both excellent books.

An excellent addition to this list would be would be "The Forever Hero:
Dawn for a Distant Earth, The Silent Warrior, In Endless Twilight" by L.
E. Modesitt Jr.

Lynn

[Lynn McGuire]

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by James Nicoll
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/

I have read "Little Fuzzy" and "Memory", both excellent books.
Dawn for a Distant Earth, The Silent Warrior, In Endless Twilight" by L.
E. Modesitt Jr.
Lynn

Forgot the URL:

https://www.amazon.com/Forever-Hero-Distant-Warrior-Twilight/dp/0312868383/

Lynn

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by James Nicoll
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/

I have read "Little Fuzzy" and "Memory", both excellent books.
An excellent addition to this list would be would be "The Forever
Hero: Dawn for a Distant Earth, The Silent Warrior, In Endless
Twilight" by L. E. Modesitt Jr.
Lynn

https://www.amazon.com/Forever-Hero-Distant-Warrior-Twilight/dp/0312868383/

No.

Just because the title is too long.

[Lynn McGuire]

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by James Nicoll
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/

I have read "Little Fuzzy" and "Memory", both excellent books.
An excellent addition to this list would be would be "The Forever
Hero: Dawn for a Distant Earth, The Silent Warrior, In Endless
Twilight" by L. E. Modesitt Jr.
Lynn

https://www.amazon.com/Forever-Hero-Distant-Warrior-Twilight/dp/0312868383/

No.
Just because the title is too long.

This version is actually three published books put together, a trilogy.
Guess what their original published names were ?
https://www.amazon.com/Dawn-Distant-Earth-Forever-Hero/dp/0812516133/
https://www.amazon.com/Silent-Warrior-Forever-Hero/dp/0812545885/
https://www.amazon.com/Endless-Twilight-Forever-Hero/dp/0812520009/

Lynn

[William Hyde]

Post by James Nicoll
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/

Leaving out immortals or quasi/immortals:


Captain Henry of Laumer and Dickson's "Planet Run" is 135, though a
dangerous rejuvenation treatment at the beginning of the book reduces
his physical age. He is not immortal as each treatment has an
increasing chance of being fatal.

Louis Wu is 200 in the later stories.

Heinlein had quite a few older protagonists, even ignoring LL. Jubal
Harshaw, for example.

In Anderson's last Flandry book, the hero is rather getting on, though
young for his age and Van Rijn is never young.

Vance's protagonists were a pretty active bunch, but IIRC Magnus Ridolph
was at least in late middle age.

William Hyde

[Garrett Wollman]

In Julian May's Galactic Milieu, regeneration treatment seems to be
both reliable and commonplace, so humans only die of old age because
they've chosen not to undertake the treatment. (Still plenty of other
causes of death, like physical trauma.)

In Saunders' Commonweal there are evidently a number of species that
do not senesce, which is distinguished from immortality in some
unexplained technical sense. Other species have significantly
different-from-human-norm lifespans that have the same statistical
structure as ordinary-model humans but with different expected length.

It is notable that so many sff civilizations seem to be stuck in the
mode of "people live for 75 +/- 10 Earth years". I suppose it's easy
enough to carry that assumption into your worldbuilding if that's not
something you expicitly set out to reconsider.

-GAWollman

[Lynn McGuire]

Post by Garrett Wollman
In Julian May's Galactic Milieu, regeneration treatment seems to be
both reliable and commonplace, so humans only die of old age because
they've chosen not to undertake the treatment. (Still plenty of other
causes of death, like physical trauma.)
In Saunders' Commonweal there are evidently a number of species that
do not senesce, which is distinguished from immortality in some
unexplained technical sense. Other species have significantly
different-from-human-norm lifespans that have the same statistical
structure as ordinary-model humans but with different expected length.
It is notable that so many sff civilizations seem to be stuck in the
mode of "people live for 75 +/- 10 Earth years". I suppose it's easy
enough to carry that assumption into your worldbuilding if that's not
something you expicitly set out to reconsider.
-GAWollman

Robert Heinlein has life extension to several centuries using body
rejuvenation clinics in "Time Enough For Love".

David Weber has significantly enhanced human beings living to 600 years
in "Mutineer's Moon".

Lynn

[Don_from_AZ]

Post by William Hyde

Post by James Nicoll
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/

Captain Henry of Laumer and Dickson's "Planet Run" is 135, though a
dangerous rejuvenation treatment at the beginning of the book reduces
his physical age. He is not immortal as each treatment has an
increasing chance of being fatal.
Louis Wu is 200 in the later stories.
Heinlein had quite a few older protagonists, even ignoring LL. Jubal
Harshaw, for example.
In Anderson's last Flandry book, the hero is rather getting on, though
young for his age and Van Rijn is never young.
Vance's protagonists were a pretty active bunch, but IIRC Magnus
Ridolph was at least in late middle age.
William Hyde

Has anyone yet mentioned Lucas Garner, from Niven's ARM stories?

-Don-

[William Hyde]

Post by Don_from_AZ

Post by William Hyde

Post by James Nicoll
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/

Captain Henry of Laumer and Dickson's "Planet Run" is 135, though a
dangerous rejuvenation treatment at the beginning of the book reduces
his physical age. He is not immortal as each treatment has an
increasing chance of being fatal.
Louis Wu is 200 in the later stories.
Heinlein had quite a few older protagonists, even ignoring LL. Jubal
Harshaw, for example.
In Anderson's last Flandry book, the hero is rather getting on, though
young for his age and Van Rijn is never young.
Vance's protagonists were a pretty active bunch, but IIRC Magnus
Ridolph was at least in late middle age.
William Hyde

Has anyone yet mentioned Lucas Garner, from Niven's ARM stories?

I knew there was a better example than Louis Wu.

Garner shows up in a number of other works, but "Protector" is the only
one I am sure of.


William Hyde

[David Duffy]

Post by James Nicoll
Over the Hill: Five Not-So-Youthful SFF Protagonists
Brought to you by a conversation I overheard between teens.

In numerous Chinese webnovels, the teenage protagonists are put off
by being hit on by young-looking multicentenarians.

[Default User]

Post by James Nicoll
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.

Nathan Brazil of the Well World books is I guess billions of years old?
It's a little uncertain as to how much time passes whenever he reboots
the Universe.


Brian

[Tony Nance]

Post by James Nicoll
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/

Memory is excellent[1], but I have not read the rest.

As to a few other candidates:
- Kez Maefele (aka Turtle) in Cook's The Dragon Never Sleeps
- Master Li in Hughart's 3 books featuring Master Li and Number Ten Ox
- and the one I'm now forgetting because it has been over 27 seconds
since I started typing

Tony
[1] I believe Memory was the one described (by Lois I think) as "Miles
hits thirty. Thirty hits back."[2]
[2] Ah - I see that someone sort of mentions this in the comments.

[The Horny Goat]

Post by James Nicoll
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/

One wonders what these kids would think of Lazarus Long

[John Savard]

Post by James Nicoll
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/

Being sixty-eight years of age, I found the piece comical.

John Savard

[The Horny Goat]

On Fri, 19 Jul 2024 23:37:48 -0600, John Savard

Post by John Savard

Post by James Nicoll
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/

Being sixty-eight years of age, I found the piece comical.
John Savard

As did I - being the same age. Went through that page and realized the
ONLY one of the books I had read there was the Miles Vorkosigan book -
and am enough of a fan of Bujold's work that I am sad I got rid of the
issue of Analog (or was it Asimov's? Can't remember - I subscribed
both but ended my subscriptions when I started grad school as I had to
move every 4 months for 2 1/2 years...) where the first story in the
series was published.