Shadowhunters’ Magnus Bane Is Old, but Not as Old as He Claims to Be

An “800-year-old warlock”? Old enough for dalliances with famed Renaissance man Michelangelo? Can he really remember when the Dead Sea was a lake that was feeling a little poorly? Did he actually live through the fall of Rome? Like a middle-aged, twice-divorced lady, Magnus Bane is frequently evasive about his real age – whether that’s intentional or he truly doesn’t remember exactly how old he is, we can’t say. But what we can say is that he can’t possibly be older than 404, and that he’s definitely lying about a lot of it. Here’s why.

First off, three things we are assuming to be true on Shadowhunters:

1) His birthday is December 8th (we’re going off entirely show canon here, but given the show’s social media celebrates the birthdays given in the books, it’s a safe assumption).
2) As per his Clave file, his place of birth is stated as Batavia, Dutch East Indies.
3) His mother is Indonesian, his (step)father is Dutch.

Time for a Brief History Lesson

So why not older than 404? Simply put – Batavia just didn’t exist before then.

The first permanent Dutch trading post in the archipelago was established in Bantam, West Java, in 1602. In 1610, Prince Jayawikarta gave the Dutch permission to build an outpost on the east bank of the Ciliwung River, opposite to Jayakarta – the city that predated Batavia. This outpost was established in 1611.

Tensions rose between Prince Jayawikarta and the Dutch, and in May 1619, the Dutch governor and reinforcements razed Jayakarta to the ground, expelling its population (the Prince retreated to Tanara in Banten, where he remained until his death). The area that was to become Batavia, including the ruined area that was Jayakarta, came under Dutch control and was intended as an extension of the original fort. It was officially named in January 1621.

Magnus’ Clave file specifically says Batavia, and while the Dutch were present elsewhere in Indonesia at the time, why would it say Batavia if he didn’t grow up there?

We think that the colonization history is pretty ironclad ourselves, but there’s another reason why, if it’s not the exact date we’re estimating, Magnus still isn’t as old as he often claims to be. Take the keris (also known as kris) that Magnus’ mother used to commit suicide.

The keris is said to have developed into the blade we now know around 1361 CE – thus ruling out Magnus being 800! The keris itself is indigenous to Indonesia, as well as Malaysia, southern Thailand, Brunei, and the southern Philippines, and held great cultural significance.

So What’s the Verdict?

If we give ourselves a bit of a margin for error, we can safely put his oldest possible birth year between 1611-1613, with 1611 being the most likely – it could be later, but we’re arguing for the maximum possible age he could be.

And while we’re dealing with show canon only here, it may be worth noting that he’s 10 when he kills his stepfather in the books – which we think fits a 1611 birth date just as well. Further adding weight to this age is the fact that the actor who plays young Magnus, Cassius Doroja, was approximately 8 or 9 during filming.

So, looking at the facts we currently have – Magnus Bane is probably just over 400. Which is still, you know, old as balls.

Got anything we’ve overlooked that proves us wrong? Let us know on Twitter! We’re on this fact-finding journey together.

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Shadowhunters returns with Season 3B starting Monday, February 25, 2019 on Freeform.

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