There’s a lot said about teenage heroes, from “are teenage heroes overdone” to “I just want to read a book where the hero isn’t 18” to “leave saving the world to teenagers and the insane“.
I deliberately chose for Erin of Ferriby, in the Colour of her Magic, to be eighteen, going on nineteen. My partner read my books and went: “the only thing I didn’t really believe in was the fact her family let her go on the quest so easily in the first place.”
In answer to that, I laughed. “Do you not remember being eighteen?” I asked. “When I was 18, all I wanted to do was leave home. Mum let me go. She knew she couldn’t stop me.”
As a child, I lived in a small town. (For context, my partner lived in a city). If someone had come to me with a quest at the age of 18, I would have happily picked up my Grandfather’s sword and left home, and my mum would have done exactly what Erin’s mum did: help her pack her bags and let her go. At the age of 18, most people are ready to try new things, ready to leave, ready to challenge the world. At 18, you don’t have ties that bind: children, house ownership, a career. Things are more easily able to be let go. You’ve lived with your family for 18 years, and you need to strike out on your own, to become your own person, to recognise who you are without your family around you.
But you want their support. Erin asks her family for their permission to go – she doesn’t just leave. Her father, like Alder the druid, is cautious, and he makes her leaving contingent on passing whatever test Alder has for her. Her mother doesn’t want her to go, but she also knows how determined Erin is. She doesn’t want her to sneak out and never see her again, so she lets her go, with tears, but also with hope.
In A Winter of Intent, Erin dreamwalks into her mum’s dream, finding a nightmare about losing her, but what starts as horror quickly changes into a tender moment between mother and daughter, as Erin comforts her mum, reassuring her she is alive, and also allowing herself to break down and ask for her advice. It’s important to Erin that she is allowed to go on her quest, but it’s also important to her that her family is supporting her. When she reaches out for her mum, asking for help, she is echoing that fragile moment all young adults have when they find something in the outside world that they struggle with, and they need help but don’t want to seem weak for asking for it. Her mum doesn’t ask questions, doesn’t demand reasons, just gives her a hug and helps her talk through it.
Erin’s quest could have been done by others of any age. Garan, the woodcutter, was much older than her, as was Sir Lorrus. The bard is also older. Princess Daphne’s dreams are filled with images of those who tried (and failed), and although it is not mentioned how old they are, you can imagine they were all different. It might feel a little overdone, but all authors choose the age of their protagonist with a specific vision in mind, and for me, it was written for that 18-year-old girl that lived in a small town and just wanted to leave and save the world.