How old are each of the main characters in lore?

[Iscah]

The WoL worked with G'raha Tia during the Crystal Tower questline for all of 1 or 2 hours.

Fenral already picked on this but I want to echo it, because even if you don't count for the "year and a half of real-world time" that the quest presentation spanned, the time we as a player spend doing the quests seems to be massively shortened from the time that the characters actually spend on things.

It doesn't get touched on much, since the passage of time is kept vague, but the best example I know of is early in Heavensward when Cid rescues you from Bismarck, and he explains that he came to the Sea of Clouds on business and learned that you had arrived "some days before" him - indicating that even though we-the-player have been there for maybe an hour or so, that has taken our character a few days of time we simply don't experience in the game. All the inbetween mundane things like meals and sleep and time to rest, and probably all the odd jobs we're constantly running for people.

So for a similar time frame, we must have spent days or weeks directly working with the NOAH team, plus however much time fits into the gaps between quests. Certainly long enough for us to think of G'raha as someone we have known for quite a while, if intermittently, by the time he seals himself in the tower.

[Iscah]

I find myself in the third position on this, in that I wholly believe the Exarch's heroic sacrifice against Elidibus should have been his actual demise. It would have been a fine enough sendoff to his character, and we could still have woken up the sleeping G'raha Tia at the Exarch's behest. Then G'raha Tia could have joined the Scions, perhaps fashioning the Exarch's half-filled soul crystal into a job stone, and the story going forward could have dealt with him trying to live up to the legacy his future self left for him instead of... awkwardly fanboying out over characters like Lyse, Matoya, and Estinien.

This is what I wanted to see happen. It wouldn't have changed much functionally - he could still be playing the same role in the story, and the only real difference would be that he talks about the Exarch as a person whose thoughts he knows very well, but still as a separate person and in the past tense. He would be entrusted with the Exarch's legacy but still primarily be his younger self.

Plus for the Exarch, I feel like he earned his death there, in a good way. He's waited so long and given so much, and now his work is done and he departs with a smile, encouraging us that it's not the end - go, wake him up. Take him on the adventure I dreamed of.

[KizuyaKatogami]

I just personally don’t think Graha serves a purpose in the story. He’s just an embodiment of plot armor and plot devices now and doesn’t really add anything other than random (comedic relief) which a lot of people are starting to find annoying. He should’ve just died at the end of 5.3 because what they did at the end(putting the memories into past Graha) is such a double standard from what message they’ve been pushing with other people(mainly the antagonists). Honestly i hope he isn’t a large part of Endwalkers because it’s an apocalypse, i don’t want to see some catboy getting sparkly eyes every time we do something cool.

[Kesey]

I wish with G'raha that they'd gone a different route - I agree that he seems to have too many similarities to existing Scions (I feel his role is pretty much covered by Urianger and Alphinaud - the only "niche" he seems to have is the Allagan blood which they've relied on for two patches now).

I would have rather his arc been that due to his efforts on the First - building up the Crystarium and summoning the people who would save the shard, including his role in that - that he would realise he's a hero in his own right, and that while we were still his inspiration, that he's ready to go off and have his own adventures. I'd have loved to have seen him thank us, and go off to strike his own path in Eorzea.

Then he could have come back into the story at points where it makes sense to have him there, which would be a fun surprise for his fans. As it is I feel like he's just sort of... bloat? He was far more tolerable in 5.5 I felt, but he didn't really add anything.

This, honestly, was would have been the best course of action. Now he's on the border of a predator and really would serve the narrative best by dying. All this his dream to travel with us to be hero is nonsense because he's an actual hero on the First and in the dark timeline. He already got what he wanted. Why couldn't we have just went to his body on the source at the end of 5.3 and just laid his staff at his feet? That way each world would have their own monument to him.

His whole I have Allagan blood thing isn't a strong enough plot point that the writers could have circumvented with some other solution. If he is just hanging around till 3/4's of the way through Endwalker just be all I have the Allagan blood to allow access to the spaceship to the moon, then again why has he lived beyond the 5.3 storyline?

And since we're using obscure references, G'raha is very similar in behavior Jed Parry from Ian McEwan's novel Enduring Love. How one shared tragic experience can lead to psychological problems when one doesn't understand the context of personal boundaries.

And those who shrug off his character faux pas as flattery to be endured should really put themselves in the shoes of players who may have been victims of unwelcomed advances and now have to relive it in a video game they enjoy.

[Jandor]

I also think it would have been better if dark-G'raha and sleepy-G'raha had been kept as separate characters.

Not only was the fight in the Tower a good ending for his story, the constant fanboying and, imho, general childishness of current-G'raha is really chipping away at my opinions on the Exarch.

My dude's over a hundred years old, lived through the apocalypse, traveled through time and space, founded and led a city and saved a whole world. The shy stuttering sparkly eyed teenager shtick seems rather silly given all that. You're over a century old, act like it man!

[Vyrerus]

Maybe he doesn't feel old anymore, what with the new body and all. You're only as old as ya feel, and a lot being old in the conventional sense is the way your body feels.

He could also be playing out of the, "Smart of War." He puts on this air of happy-go lucky teen to put you off guard, but then he be using Hallowed Ground whenever he wants, and shooting you with meteors. /nodnod

[Fenral]

And those who shrug off his character faux pas as flattery to be endured should really put themselves in the shoes of players who may have been victims of unwelcomed advances and now have to relive it in a video game they enjoy.

Putting myself in my own shoes then, and yeah, not seeing it. Nice try, though.

He's really mild. Like, really. We can joke about subtext until the cows come home, but in reality he does maintain about two yalms of distance at all times. And most of his enthusiasm this patch was directed at Estinien, so it's not like he's stuck exclusively to the PC. Right now, his main purpose seems to be reintroducing important characters to the portion of the fanbase that was skipping cutscenes before Shadowbringers.

I do agree that it should have been pre-timeskip G'raha with us, but that's why I think there maybe something up with his current trajectory.

[YianKutku]

I'm very curious how the people who say G'raha is being creepy would think about Aenor.

[Rannie]

I'm very curious how the people who say G'raha is being creepy would think about Aenor.

^ this....

And as a woman who has dealt with creeps and unwanted attention... yeah no G'raha is meeting somewhat from his point of view a historical figure he's most likely only read about in Count Edmont's Journal (Estinien) so look at it from the perspective that he may see it as ... he's literally meeting history! He's meeting someone Like Abraham Lincoln or Napoleon etc.... he's literally geeking out.

Edit: And to be quite honest I'd be acting the same way especially if I met my distant Cousin Paul Revere.

[Theodric]

Eh, there's a big difference between side characters doing such things and major characters doing it. G'raha just comes across as a creepy and weird to me. If we had an option to tell him to tone it down and maintain a relationship that is strictly business then that'd at least be something - but we don't, so his actions just come across as unwelcome.

I'd also note, many of us didn't even consider him to be a very important character before Shadowbringers. I think there's far better characters that could have been chosen to have a close relationship with, so the over familiarity just feels forced to me.

Now, if he looked like Sett from League of Legends? It'd at least be tolerable! Though G'raha was designed to be overly feminine and androgynous looking - both aesthetics that do nothing for me.

I like classically handsome/ruggedly handsome men and pretty women. My character's tend to share those tastes!