Author's Note

Attention: This is not a standalone story or a sequel. Instead, these 'chapters' are supplements to my story, Loki: Lover of Fidelity (though you may be interested in reading what's below in its own right... if you are a nerd like me). Each appendix was simply too long to include as a footnote at the bottom of the chapter. You can find a link to Loki: Lover of Fidelity on my profile page.

Yeah... Anywhooo... back to this particular appendix. While doing research to determine an appropriate age for my OC, I came across fyeahlokisif's tumblr post on Loki's age (where it was claimed that Loki is 1048 years old, which I dispute, see below). I took what was discussed in that post and ran with it like scalded cheetah. Below is basically that same post, but paraphrased and interspersed with my own commentary and (what I consider to be more accurate) assumptions/conclusions. You can find links for all of this on my tumblr page (see my profile as well to find a link for that web address).

Numbers in [brackets] denote footnotes, which you can find at the bottom of this chapter/appendix. Nothing from the Marvel universe is mine.

~ Refictionista, October 7, 2014

§ Appendix A §
lecture on Asgardian aging

§ See chapter 15 of Loki: Lover of Fidelity (Chapter XIV: he's a cold-hearted snake)

In the Marvel comic universe, the Æsir gods (otherwise known as Asgardians) are gifted with extremely long life, but are not immortal like the gods of Olympus. In Thor: The Dark World the life expectancy of an Asgardian was stated to be around 5,000 years. We are going to assume that the life expectancy of the Jötunn (Loki's race) and Asgardians is the same.

The average life expectancy of humans ranges wildly based on geographic location and income. The sovereign city-state of Monaco has the highest life expectancy of any country here on earth, at 87 years.[1] We are going to assume that the royal Asgardians would live comparatively as long as the people of Monaco. I make no assumptions on the life spans of the average Asgardian commoner.

On my tumblr page, you will see the only two good pictures I could find online of Loki as a baby from the movie Thor. We are going to assume that the age of the actor baby correlates with the age of baby Loki at the time Odin found him.

Unfortunately, I know absolutely nothing about babies.

This did not deter me.

I asked one of my coworkers, a mother, to tell me what she thought the age of this baby was approximately. Her response: "5 months. Best guess." I was so excited when she gave me this information, as it was the last piece of the puzzle I created (involving spreadsheets, mind you) to refine the "logic and shit" from fyeahlokisif's tumblr post.

So anyway, based on my coworker's best guess, I deduce that the baby in the movie is about 24 human years old.

Supporting calculations:

Where "X" is the age measured in human terms of baby Loki (it may help to write these formulas out as mathematical equations):

X divided by 5000 years equals 5 months divided by 87 years

Therefore:

X is equal to (5 months multiplied by (1 year divided by 12 months)) divided by 87 years

X is equal to 23.95 years

According to the captions at the beginning of Thor, the battle between the Jötunn and Asgardians take place in Norway, 965 AD. With the calculation from above that baby Loki was 24 years old at the time of that battle, we will now assume that Loki was born about 941 AD (965 minus 24 equals 941). Oddly, Loki's birth was not listed on the Wikipedia page for the year 941... how dreadfully dismissive... no wonder Loki has issues about being overlooked.

So anyway, take 2014 (the current year at the time of my story) and subtract 941... what do you get?

Da Dunt da Da... Loki is 1073 years old, as measured by the Gregorian calendar.

Therefore, converted into human years, Loki is 18 (almost 19) years old.

Supporting calculations:

Where "X" is the corresponding Asgardian age in human terms of movie Loki (again, it may help to write this formula out as a mathematical equation):

X divided by 87 years equals 1073 years divided by 5000 years

Therefore:

X is equal to (87 years multiplied by 1073 years) divided by 5000 years

X is equal to 18.67 years

Well now... Now that we have determined that Loki is 18, how old is Thor?

We can assume Thor is roughly Loki's age, but we know he's the older brother. We can also assume he was young enough to not understand that Loki was adopted when Odin brought him to Asgard, so I'm going to say he's about 19 to 21 in human terms, roughly 1092-1206 in earth years.

According to the original tumblr post, someone remembered an interview from 2011 where Branagh/the actors came right out and said, "Yeah, they may seem all grown up to us, but to Asgardian standards they're still basically teenagers". You now see how that makes sense, right?

Because why else would Odin have argued to Laufey that Thor was just a boy and his stupid mistakes shouldn't be given the same weight as a grown man's?

Also, who other than an idiotic teenage boy wouldn't call his girlfriend when he was back on earth? Seriously, Thor took time out to chill out and eat a swarma with the guys (and Natasha) after the battle of New York, but he couldn't be bothered to call Jane Foster before he went back to Asgard? Let alone use Mjölnir to fly to Traunsee (where Fury stashed her) and see her. Interesting tidbit, I found out that Traunsee is a lake in the Salzkammergut, Austria. Anyway... Yeah, Jane slapped him twice in Thor: The Dark World, both times deservedly... and I'm not even one of her fans. Unfortunately, what Jane just doesn't realize is that she needs to lower her expectations when dating someone immature. She most likely doesn't realize that he's "just a boy" as she is blinded by the fact that he's "all muscly and everything" and let's face it, a god. The poor foolish woman is under the delusion/misinterpretation that Thor is this thousand plus year old adult.

So yeah... In conclusion, Loki and Thor are teenagers. Hence the ambiguous age of my OC, Sydney, in Loki: Lover of Fidelity.

And that, my friends, has been your nightly lecture on Asgardian aging. Good night! [mic drop]

§

[1] See the Wikipedia entry on List of countries by life expectancy.