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The age of Boo

Come to think of it, has anyone else thought about that cricetinae's accurate age throughout the Baldur's Gate saga?

A hamster's lifespan usually ranges between two to three years in captivity, depending on the breed. And in the case of the Campbell's and the Djungarian hamster, it's even up to whopping four years sometimes.

Judging from Minsc's portraits and its depictions of Boo, I'm inclined to believe that this rodent is at least partly a golden short haired Syrian hamster. Which means max. three years before he gets to see the Beastlands. (Especially since giant miniature hamster are nothing but ordinary hamsters to begin with!)

Now, the tricky part would be to fit that lifespan into the saga. If I remember correctly the journey from Candlekeep to godhood would be about two years, give or take some months.

Funnily enough, the size of Boo within both Minsc's BG and BG2 portraits stays about the same. Which would mean that Boo already reached adulthood before we even meet them in Beregost. And yet Minsc always on about how his hamster is too young to avenge him.

A clear contradiction in biological matters!
ARGH, IT'S DRIVING ME CRAZY
MetallomanRodrianSpaceInvaderdeltagoGrummashedtaterslolienSkatanJuliusBorisovEmpyrialbooinyoureyes

Comments

  • prairiechickenprairiechicken Member Posts: 149
    Minsc says Boo is too young to avenge him so it must be young
    Grumbooinyoureyes
  •  TheArtisan TheArtisan Member Posts: 3,277
    IIRC there's a banter in ToB between Viconia and Minsc which implies that Boo has passed his species' lifespan but nothing is confirmed.
    KamigoroshilolienJuliusBorisov
  • Lord_TansheronLord_Tansheron Member Posts: 4,211
    edited March 2016
    I do remember some mod (UB?) that allows you to actually replace a lost Boo with another hamster (Bootwo) without Minsc knowing. That would be the easiest explanation. Boo isn't a name, just a title; the Dread Pirate Roberts of hamsters.

    Whether Minsc does the replacing himself while only subconsciously aware of the fact that it's not the same pet is up for debate. But of course, there always remains the possibility of a more magical (or divine) explanation also.

    My personal version has always been that Boo is not a hamster at all, space or otherwise. It (not he) is actually an agent from the Far Realm, compressed into hamster size and shape and attached to Minsc as a sort of neural parasite. The "blow to the head" that supposedly made Minsc into who he is now was in fact simply the encounter with that parasite, and it latching on to him. The initial shock of the mind-probing abilities of the creature damaged Minsc's brain, but he remains a convenient vessel to use in exploring the Prime Material. It is also no coincidence that Minsc entered the orbit of the Bhaalspawn known as CHARNAME, as CHARNAME is a nexus of many highly important events on several planes that the powers of the Far Realm are interested in observing...

    ...and perhaps even influencing. How often has Minsc spurned CHARNAME into action? How many times has he used Boo as a supposed inspiration for some wild, crazy jump into the fray? CHARNAME indulged the poor man, perhaps even sympathized with the addled Ranger's ostensible desire for "righteousness". But who is to say what really motivated the big bald lunk, who is to say what whispers were squeaked into his ear, what notions squealed into his damaged mind by a soft, furry ball of - something.
    KamigoroshiprairiechickenEmpyrialAerakar
  • brusbrus Member Posts: 944
    edited March 2016
    I have a theory on Minsc and Boo.
    As Guenhwyvar is summoned by Drizzt using onyx figurine of wondrous power in his pocket, Minsc could call an astral being who materializes as Boo.
    Does Minsc really keep Boo inside his pocket?

    image

    More like a pocket plane from which he calls this mighty being.
    Post edited by brus on
    Kamigoroshi
  • justfeelinathomejustfeelinathome Member Posts: 353
    So slapping Boo with the Root of the Problem would reveal whether he is an ordinary hamster and thus affected by the short life span of his species, yes? But it might just cut it short anyway...

    Who would do such a thing?? Perish evil thoughts, perish!
    Kamigoroshi
  • matricematrice Member Posts: 86
    edited March 2016
    If you activate "sleep until rest" and cancel really fast the animation, into reusing immediately sleep.
    You can actually make long session of sleep, that give only 1 hp back. it's not hard to use it to sleep 800 in one go for a single hp. (thus being able to sleep for 9 years to get back 100 hp ^^ if you were 1/101 hp)

    Using that trick you can actually "age" boo by several dozen of years and thus go further those 18 years ^^.
    (the hardest part being how you rp the fact that your non deity / non elf/dwarf npc didn't age meanwhile.)
    Kamigoroshimashedtaters
  • mashedtatersmashedtaters Member Posts: 2,266
    On a completely unrelated topic, did you know Minsc has a secret Bag of Holding full of spare hamsters?

    Are you talking about inside the game code...? Or you just being wackadoo-silly, yo?
  • DaevelonDaevelon Member Posts: 605
    Shandyr wrote: »
    I totally misread the title.

    It's about Boo's age. As in how old he is.

    And here I thought it was about a new era! The age of Boo!
    As in he takes over the world and dominates it and everyone must worship him.

    Exactly the same here
    [Deleted User]Kamigoroshimashedtaters
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,714
    Now we have a title for the next IE-esque game.
    [Deleted User]Kamigoroshimashedtaters
  • The user and all related content has been deleted.
    JuliusBorisovmashedtatersDaevelonbooinyoureyes
  • DaevelonDaevelon Member Posts: 605
    I want to be serious now (not that worshipping Boo is not serious) but please, PLEASE, our dear developers, make an expansion for TOB where we will be able to go to the land of giant space hamsters.
    You will get all the money that i have for it (too bad i'm not rich).
    Kamigoroshibooinyoureyesmashedtaters
  • KamigoroshiKamigoroshi Member Posts: 5,870
    Hmm, I certainly would buy an expansion where the freshly to godhood ascended CHARNAME builds their own Spelljammer ship and explores the depths of Wildspace. The Tyrannohamster, aka Wooly Rupert, could make for a nice antagonist in such a setting. :wink:
    booinyoureyesmashedtaters
  • booinyoureyesbooinyoureyes Member Posts: 6,164
    ^Someone has censored my post, as they do not want Boo's true nature revealed
    Kamigoroshi[Deleted User]mashedtaters
  • Son_of_ImoenSon_of_Imoen Member Posts: 1,806
    I can't see the truth for the Boo in my eyes...
    [Deleted User]booinyoureyes
  • mashedtatersmashedtaters Member Posts: 2,266
  • NimranNimran Member Posts: 4,875
    Shandyr wrote: »
    I totally misread the title.

    It's about Boo's age. As in how old he is.

    And here I thought it was about a new era! The age of Boo!
    As in he takes over the world and dominates it and everyone must worship him.

    Boo is Tiax confirmed!
    booinyoureyesKamigoroshi
  • KamigoroshiKamigoroshi Member Posts: 5,870
    Nimran wrote: »
    Shandyr wrote: »
    I totally misread the title.

    It's about Boo's age. As in how old he is.

    And here I thought it was about a new era! The age of Boo!
    As in he takes over the world and dominates it and everyone must worship him.

    Boo is Tiax confirmed!

    Does that make Boo an hamsterwere, or Tiax an werehamster?
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