I'd be quite grateful if some lore buff helped me figure out this little problem. I've developed Gothren quite a lot for RPs and fan fiction, but I can't give him a proper background before I have at least a clue about how old he could be. Fast Eddie describes Gothren and Dratha as "barely living". Dratha has "been a Telvanni councilor since they invented dirt". Aryon's coded message to Fyr says: "Even Gothren and Neloth must admit that you are older and wiser and in every way superior to them in the arcane arts." I know there are more lines going like that, but there is no point in repeating them all here. Alright, so Gothren is old, but HOW old? There is one clue that I have found in his dialogue, but it is far from precise.



From this I guess that Gothren was at least rather young when they appointed a Hortator the last time. One guess I had was that the war he talked about was the Imperial invasion, but then the great houses did not co-operate very well. No talk about a Hortator and the Redoran were left alone to defend the border. Any good guesses what war he could have meant? Am I just misunderstanding, so he means that the last time the council all agreed on something was back when he was an apprentice? In that case, they did perhaps agree to be neutral in that conflict so I could just have that as backup plan I guess?

Apart from that, he has been Archmagister for a long time, but not longer than Ranis Athrys is old since the previous archmagister killed her parents.

So, that's all I know. If anyone knows more, or just thinks that they know, go ahead and enlighten me