A Collection of Ranger's Apprentice Theories

How Old Was Crowley When He Died?

The Flanagan wiki from the FANDOM powered by Wikia site states Crowley's age at death: 64. Accuracy to this number can be taken with a grain of salt. Where the year of his death, 668, was found is not cited, and it depends on proof like how the map at the front of 'The Tournament of Gorlan' originally claimed it was from 628. This date has since been removed from new editions, and maps don't simply expire at the end of the year; a map from 2016 can appear in a story placed in 2019 and still be fine. While a far more manual calculation could be even further off, it gives a chance to place all the events in the Ranger's Apprentice universe, including Brotherband, on one timeline.

The Royal Ranger books are so far close together and straightforward in the timeline, tracking Maddie's adventures during apprenticeship. Book 1 follows her during her first year, 'A Beast From Another Time' occurs at the end of her second year, 'The Red Fox Clan' picks up in her third year, and so on. Crowley dies three years before the series begins, so estimation for the main goal only needs to reach 'A New Beginning.'

'The Hibernian' short story is essentially an extended prologue to 'The Tournament at Gorlan,' only a few weeks passing between them. During the novel, two months pass, ending at the tournament. 'The Battle for Hackham Heath' has some major time jumps, though Halt's reference to being a Ranger for 18 months around the time of the battle equates to about 2 years passing during the prequel series. Then, 15 years pass while Will grows up to apprenticeship age.

'The Burning Bridge' takes place 16 years from the Hackham Heath battle—however, Will isn't 16, so the exact date of the battle has not passed yet. Then, Will gets captured, and Halt can't stand to wait around, getting exiled in 'The Icebound Land,' returning eleven months and five days later in 'The Battle for Skandia.' Then, 'Erak's Ransom' fits in right before Will graduates, getting sent to his first fief assignment in 'The Sorcerer of the North.' By this point, Will spent 6 years with Halt, presumably including the brief break where Will was enslaved by the Skandians, making his apprenticeship last a year longer than usual to receive full training. 'The Siege of Macindaw' takes place over just a few months, being negligible in the calculations. In total, this is another 6 years.

Crowley is said to be "long in the tooth" and has been in the Corps for 30+ years in 'The Sorcerer of the North.' From the previous theory on ages, Crowley was 23 at the beginning of the timeline. With 23 more years, doubling his age, 46 can qualify for old person jokes where he's not actually that old. 46 minus 30 years in the Ranger Corps is 16, right around where Crowley would have started an apprenticeship.

From here, the dating gets sketchy, to be frank. Crowley suggests Will become a special Ranger for special missions in 'The Kings of Clonmel,' since Will had solved a few international emergencies by this point, offering to base him in Redmont Fief with Halt, rather than languish out in Seacliff away from found family. A little time has passed. 'The Emperor of Nihon-Ja' says the events of 'Erak's Ransom' took place "some years ago" which is the most vague way of indicating time, like not even Flanagan knows the timeline perfectly. Have the events of 'Halt's Peril' also happened some years ago by book 10, or were they more recent in memory? Horace is in Nihon-Ja out of boredom, but how long he took to become bored and whether he had his own side missions delaying the onset of boredom is unknown. One interesting fact is that Duncan had just made an update to the treaty with Skandia specifying a duty ship for his use stationed in Araluen.

12 years before the start of 'The Outcasts,' Erak is still the active captain of a wolfship. Within the next 6 years, he became Oberjarl, placing the beginning of the Brotherband series between 6-12 years after Will's capture and the saving of Skandia from Temujai. The Brotherband training has annual graduates and the Herons graduate fairly quickly after they begin, as opposed to 5 years of apprenticeship for Rangers. This means in addition to chasing Zavac and getting reaccepted for returning the Andomal, at most 1-2 years passed. Soon after, Lydia is getting restless in 'Slaves of Socorro,' hoping for a new mission, and finds the cabin Will and Cassandra holed up in, but rotting and abandoned. This new mission is to become a duty ship for Araluen.

Along with Erak thinking it's been a long time since he was a skirl and how giving Araluen a duty ship is a longstanding practice by the time the Herons become the next duty ship, Will's adventure in Skandia leans towards being 10 years before the Heron's Brotherband was formed, with 'The Emperor of Nihon-Ja' happening a couple years before the brotherband formation. This is time for Will to become a full Ranger and have adventures—4 more years after he returns from Skandia, and then a few more for the events of books 5-6 & 8-10 to happen. 'Scorpion Mountain' takes place right after 'Slaves of Socorro,' and in it, Cassandra is definitely not pregnant or has a child, but is confirmed married to Horace for about a year.

For some clarity on all these numbers, that means Cassandra's wedding takes place around 11 years after the events of 'The Battle for Skandia,' and 7 years after the last calculated point for time passage.

'And About Time Too...' acts as the union between Alyss and Will finally happening, and an early pregnancy announcement—Cassandra is not even showing. From this story is 16 years to the Royal Ranger series, for Cassandra to reach full term and then for Maddie to grow up to apprenticeship age. The only time gap to close is between Cassandra's wedding and Alyss'.

In 'The Wolf,' it's acknowledged that Tug has been Will's trusty horse for 15 years, so the story takes place 9 years after 'The Sorcerer of the North,' and 2 years after Cassandra's wedding in 'The Lost Stories.' In this short story, Will is stressed about Tug and is lonely; Halt and Pauline are off on a mission, and he is alone in his cabin. Alyss' location is a complete mystery, not being mentioned at all. The implication leans toward Will living in his cabin alone, meaning Alyss and Will were still not married.

Gilan is assigned to work with the Herons in 'Slaves of Socorro' and 'Scorpion Mountain' because Horace and Will are in Clonmel speaking with King Sean. When the two men return home, they would have good reason to make some moves. Will by finally proposing properly to Alyss, and Horace and Cassandra conceiving Maddie. It's a best estimate—backed up by Shadow being alive to attend Will's wedding when she was already a mature dog when Will found her; border collies [assumed the same as the book's border shepherd breed] live about 12-15 years according to various sources on the internet.

Putting this all together, an estimated 48 years pass from the earliest story chronologically to what was once the 12th book of the main series. 45 years go by before Crowley passes away at the age of 68. That isn't far off from the Wiki's age!