lilunebriumplays:

A friend asked me how old I consider Amell to be at the start of Origins,
and to be honest, I am unsure.

In my head, Judith was in her late teens when she was called up for the Harrowing. But Leandra’s comments and the Amell family happenings made me scratch my head.

There are scarce facts regarding a potential age for Amell (but fortunately more than any other Origin). What can be found is the following;

1. The Fifth Blight happens in 9:30.
2. Leandra met Malcolm in 9:05 and eloped with him a few months later, while already pregnant with Hawke meaning Hawke is 23-25 at the start of II.
3. This is a scandal at least in part fuelled by the fact Revka’s firstborn was discovered to be a mage.
4. Revka had five children in total.
5. Aristide Amell (Hawke’s grandfather) dies in 9:11, a year after his wife. Bethany and Carver were a week old, meaning they were born in 9:11 or the end of 9:10 and were 20 or 21 at the start of II.
6. Shortly after, Damion is accused of smuggling and Fausten

   (Warden’s grandfather)

   plunges the family into debt in an unsuccesfull attempt to exonerate his son.

7. Fausten wastes away and dies after his son’s imprisonment.
8. Revka vanishes sometime after the death of her father.
9. After the disappearance of Revka, her husband takes their four remaining children and leaves Kirkwall.
10. Jowan was in the Circle earlier than Amell.

Leandra makes a comment in II about how the Circle took all of Revka’s children, which seems odd considering I doubt Gamlen or Leandra would have corresponded with Revka’s husband after he left Kirkwall. Either the statement was retconned and only the first child was taken by the Circle, or the remaining four children ended up being taken by the Circle after leaving Kirkwall.

I am making a calculated assumption that Revka’s firstborn was already taken at the time of Leandra’s elopement, fuelling the scandal surrounding it (I’m pretty sure II made it clear Leandra’s marriage happened after Revka’s misfortune, but I can’t find evidence of it without starting a whole new playthrough, so will leave it as an assumption for now).

I am also wildly assuming it is highly unusual for infants to display magic, making the firstborn at bare minimum 2 years old when they were taken, which would place their birthyear at latest around 9:03.

The Fifth Blight happens in 9:30, which would make Revka’s first child at least 26 at the start of Origins.

I think it’s very unlikely someone who has been with the Circle from childhood onwards only takes their Harrowing in their late twenties. Especially considering Jowan’s panic about not having gone through the Harrowing himself yet, and how numerous people during the prologue comment on how talented Amell is.
Let alone how Irving and even Wynne constantly refer to Amell as “child”.

This makes me think Amell is not the firstborn child of Revka, but one of the four children who left with their father.

Everything after this would be up to the individual player, I think. 

When it comes to Judith, when considering all of the above, I’m going to stick with my initial thoughts and keep her in her late teens during the Harrowing, meaning she would be either the youngest or second youngest of all her siblings.
I like to think her dark outlook on the world stems in part from witnessing the doomed circumstances of her mother, uncle and grandfather, or even simply the fact her father uprooted her and her siblings and cut ties with their home after her mother went missing, and still being discovered by the Circle and taken away from what remains of her family. Right from the very start, her life has been marked by the shame the world places on mages and their families.  

A mother missing, a sibling taken, a family ruined. 

To roll from that into the clutches of Circle life into the Grey Wardens into being a fugitive and a branded traitor. Amell’s whole life right from the get-go has consisted out of having to fight against society’s placed shame, having to fight for the right to say their life is worthy.

This is why Amell is my favourite.