It’s totally cool for people to block me for whatever reason they believe warrants it, and to interpret a book differently where no absolute answer is given in the text. I do of course try not to be ableist in my depictions, especially for a character whose disability is such a large part of their story, so it did bother me… I did feel that Pheris was quite young in the book as I read it, however there was nothing to point to to say who was “right”.

I had forgotten this happened until yesterday when I started re-listening to the Return of the Thief audiobook after having a long break from the series.

It is very tricky when the author specifically avoids giving an actual figure for someone’s age, and I think that whatever age YOU think Pheris is is valid and I’m not trying to say you have to imagine a child where previously you didn’t. But I did find myself noting MANY hints that can support my reading of Pheris as being a fairly young/small child at the beginning of the book. Many of these are VERY open to interpretation, I just think they suggest together that you CAN assume from the text that Pheris is young/a child at this point in the story (regardless of his disability)—that is all.

I’m currently 16% through, so these examples come from only that section of the book.

Melisande calling him her “Little Pheris” (could just be an endearment but still worth noting)

The simple fact that Pheris was chosen to be raised in the palace because he is “young enough” to be raised away from the malignant tendencies of the Erondites clan. To me, this suggests pre-teen.

The fact that Pheris can crawl under the banquet table and MOVE AROUND without bumping people or being noticed.

In fact, he is constantly squeezing himself into very small spaces—under a couch when the king rushes into a side room to be sick, under a chair when avoiding the attention of attendants, between the hedges of the queens garden. Personally, I see a teenager having a much harder time doing this simply due to size.

Also during the incident where the king rushes into the side room, Pheris observes that he can see “nothing but the backside of the man ahead of me.” This suggests to me that Pheris standing is about butt-height to an adult. (I suppose you could interpret “backside” as referring simply to the back of a person… I generally read it as somebody’s butt though.)

When the king chooses Pheris as a companion to go with him into the temple, he observes that Pheris is “hardly even half of one.” I don’t read this as the king, a disabled man himself, suggesting that Pheris is half a person because of his disability. I think it merely suggests that Pheris is half as tall as most adults…a child.

That’s as far as I’ve gotten in my reading and I don’t know that I’ll keep noting these references to Pheris age/size. I’m not saying that the only way to interpret these passages is the way I do. I just feel like the text could be read to suggest that Pheris is a child and that this isn’t due to assuming him less capable and therefore young because of his disability.