Lore Experts/@Riot: How old are Jhin, Zed, and Shen?

ZedUsanGovos·5/3/2018, 1:09:35 PM·5 votes·14,378 views

Henlo there. We know Kayn to be 17 currently, as he was sent to Ionia near the end of the war. Riot WAAARGHbobo himself stated:

Kayn. The war ends. Zed begins consolidating power. Trains kayn. (He continues hostility with noxus, growing hostility with many Vastaya tribes.)

The war ended 7 years ago, and as Kayn was 10 years old,

Two days later, after word had spread throughout the southern territories, the Order of the Shadow came upon the grisly scene. Their leader, Zed, knew this area had no tactical significance. This massacre was intended as a message. Noxus would show no mercy.

A flickering glint of steel caught his eye. A child of no more than ten lay in the mud, leveling his broken sickle at the master assassin, bloody knuckles straining white.

Now, we COULD assume that the war went on for a lil longer-- at least a year, but that wouldn't do much for Kayn, raising his current age by only a year.

So that's that. https://i.imgur.com/GDZqTTY.png Now, Zed, Shen, and Jhin.

Here's what we know: Jhin is four years older than Zed/Shen. Zed/Shen were teens during the Golden Demon incident.

Now, there's no specific age given for Zed/Shen and Jhin during the GDemon Incident. As "teenager" spans from 13-17, there's a myriad of options. Jhin would be four years older than them, which means that he'd be anywhere from 17-21 years old. WAAARGbobo does say:

Kusho takes the two young teenagers undercover chasing “the golden demon”

Which narrows it down to 13-15. Then comes the war. Zed leaves and forms his own Order, but we don't know when he did it. It's after the GDemon Incident, which spanned 4 years itself. Zed would have to be 17-19 at that point. Now we have the issue of the Noxian Ionian War, which AFAIK hasn't been given a definite length of time. For all we know, it could have been 2-4 years long, with 7 years passing since then. This would bump Z/S up into near their 30s, with Jhin being in his early-mid 30s. But I'm not so sure about the calculations themselves, due to so many unknown factors, so I'd like some Lore Experts and/or Riot Narrative Writers to elucidate this issue if possible. I know we might possibly get some more information during the Akali VGU, but I just can't wait that long.

33 Comments

Tesla Effect5/3/2018, 4:25:32 PM4 votes

Zed, Shen and Jhin are in their early 40s by the present time. If I was Riot I would confirm that Jhin was 44 now, just to keep that consistent with his character.

Remember, Zed didnt just kill Kusho after the Jhin chase, he was building up frustration for years after that.

And yes Kayn is 17, he was stated to be 10 when he met Zed at the end of the war. He would be 17 by now when he met Rhaast. Same age as Ekko, so dayam Kayn working out (not too unbelievable for a well trained assassin that was also a Noxian canon fodder as well)

Strigina5/3/2018, 2:16:15 PM4 votes

Dunno how old they are, just adding info that Jhin escaped 5 years after Zed killed Kusho.

“Five years, I have waited,” Shen said.

From Jhin's short story - I.

Muten Shensei5/3/2018, 1:52:17 PM3 votes

Have you seen the new Shen skin? Hes my daddy, so probably like 50.

KestrelGirl5/3/2018, 3:48:13 PM3 votes

Talked to a guy who knows this stuff via Riot, they are all in their early forties.

SSmotzer5/3/2018, 1:20:07 PM2 votes

The LoL universe is like the Marvel universe where everyone and everything happens at nearly the same time, but decades apart and everyone is somewhere between their 20s and 50s, at all time.

If Annie's canonically 8, she will be 8 till the end of time. In Marvel, Squirrel Girl was a teenager in the 90s, having a big brick cell phone, and she had a flip phone, and now a smart phone, but she is a first year in collage, and she has been alive for all of the big Marvel events which spanned decades, but also managed to only take place over a single year.

So to your answer, "how old are they?" the answer is yes.

6FlagsFunnelCake5/3/2018, 1:49:02 PM2 votes

What we know for a fact is that Jhin is literally four years older than Zed i believe, while Zed and Shen are probably around the same age

So maybe early 30s or late 20s

Velzard of Koz5/3/2018, 7:41:53 PM1 votes

Kayn is supposed to be 17? That's some Hollywood High School Casting shit, lol.

Stars Shaper5/3/2018, 3:53:22 PM1 votes

Iirc Zed and Shen should be in late 20s/early 30s and Jhin later 30s

Tesla Effect5/3/2018, 5:08:37 PM1 votes

If Jhin was released 5 years after Kushos death, and that happened after the war, and if we place it 2 years after the war, then:

  • Zed killed Kusho 10 years ago during the Noxian War, most likely cause he totally got frustrated by Kushos passiveness for the last time (Kusho not killing Jhin scarred him for life)
  • Jhin was released 5 years ago, when Shen and Zed started tracking him.
  • Akali is much younger than her model portrays her (or at the very least in Jhins story), she is in her late teens due to Shens comment of her not being ready for Jhins work due to him also not being ready when he was her age. Meaning Akali only recently joined the Order, most likely at the end of the war or just after it and that she was a young kid when the war happened (or she joind as a kid right after Zed destroyed the original Kinkou). Hope that age theory turns out true with her Full Relaunch. She might be Irelias age of 24 at most.
BLIGHTBRINGER5/3/2018, 5:50:03 PM1 votes

Finding it hard to believe that Kayn is actually 17 lol. His visuals both in splash and in-game would suggest easily 19 and above.