Thread: Revelations from Patch 4.3

I wouldn't call Varis ugly, per sé, but I certainly don't find him attractive. The pale skin, sallow eyes, hard lines, and white hair all make him look somewhat older. The major issue is that he's only got a couple very hard lines on his face - the effect makes his face look rather plastic, for want of a better term. The older look suits him (if we're to assume Zenos is 20+, he's likely 40+; not exactly a spring chicken, and being a military leader / sovereign is stressful), but the plastic look is off-putting.

Shadowhunter (Gauis), on the other hand, is ruggedly handsome. He does look more youthful than someone nearly 60 would reasonably be expected to look, though.

I agree that characters tend to flip-flop between "spring chicken" and "old and decrepit," unfortunate as that may be. I'd argue it's a limit of graphical rendering - the subtleties of age are hard to graphically display. The only character who does this well is, in my opinion, Count Edmont, who looks older but not ancient; unlike Shadowhunter he's got subtle hard lines, and unlike Varis has enough that the rest of his face doesn't look fake.

Originally Posted by Theodric

I'll have to double check but I'm pretty certain that the lore book puts both Varis and Regula as being in their mid forties. So comfortably middle aged rather than old. I'd use the former term to describe characters such as Varis and the latter to describe the likes of the Archbishop of Ishgard.

You are correct, Varis is 46 and Regula is 44. Gaius should be 56, and weirdly enough Eula was 38. Huh, Nero is 34. I wonder how old Nael was supposed to be that they felt comfortable bestowing upon him the title of Legatus...

Also, as always, the sort of "hot or not" is pretty subjective. I... don't find much about Hien attractive at all... it has earned me quite the scorn from some folks! Though I do feel like this opinion of mine has changed somewhat recently...

Originally Posted by Rocl

You are correct, Varis is 46 and Regula is 44. Gaius should be 56, and weirdly enough Eula was 38. Huh, Nero is 34. I wonder how old Nael was supposed to be that they felt comfortable bestowing upon him the title of Legatus...

Also, as always, the sort of "hot or not" is pretty subjective. I... don't find much about Hien attractive at all... it has earned me quite the scorn from some folks! Though I do feel like this opinion of mine has changed somewhat recently...

Well considering Zenos can't be much older than 25 and he's a Legatus, who knows. Garlemald is believed to run on a very "might makes right" philosophy, after all... so people like Nael (Eula) and Zenos becoming Legates at a young age is entirely plausible... even if it lets batshit insane people take on positions of power they have no right being in...

I find Hien to be ruggedly handsome, much like the Shadowhunter (Gaius).

Even if he's only ~45, the stress of military life and becoming the sovereign ruler of Garlemald would leave Varis looking a bit older than his physical age. Being the leader of a nation is notorious for making people age badly: see US Presidents (who hold office for, at most, 8 years, but typically come out looking 10 - 15 years older).

I figured it out, though - it's the jowls.