Peace Talks snippet on Entertainment Weekly

[g33k]

We don't know specifically how old Bob is.  What we do know is Bob was bound to the skull by Etienne the Enchanter during the Middle Ages.  So Bob is at least that old.

Bob is a thousand years old, per WoJ.

When I hear such a round number, I usually presume some sort of rounding, that it is not exactly 1000 but approximately.

This puts Bob's birth/creation/etc remarkably close to the same timeframe Jim has alluded to before, with momentous events...
 

[123Chikadee]

I've got a theory that Bob's supernatural parent is Mab and that's in part the reason why he's so afraid of her.

[Sir Huron Stone]

I've got a theory that Bob's supernatural parent is Mab and that's in part the reason why he's so afraid of her.

We know exactly why Bob is terrified of Mab. We learned it in... uh, Cold Days I think.

Crap. Now I have to go back and re-read all the books. My Dresden knowledge is fading!

[morriswalters]

Bob is a thousand years old, per WoJ.

When I hear such a round number, I usually presume some sort of rounding, that it is not exactly 1000 but approximately.
This puts Bob's birth/creation/etc remarkably close to the same timeframe Jim has alluded to before, with momentous events...

"Because I've got about six hundred years' worth of memories to sort through, and I'm exhausted," Bob said, his voice softer, as though coming from far away. "But you can be pretty sure that whoever is backing a death curse isn't real friendly."

It would seem that Bob disagrees.

[Mira]

It would seem that Bob disagrees.

   I think the quote from Blood Rites is a bit misleading because at least part of his memories are
being blocked by him on orders from Harry.   Those were the years when he was in Kemmler's keeping.  One could argue they weren't that many in the whole of Bob's life, but at the same time
it shows that Bob can be selective as to his memories..  So how much else is he forgetting on purpose?  So his recall of years of memory cannot be relied on as an accurate gauge for his age.

[Arjan]

He skipped the boring bits.

[morriswalters]

He would know the date of his first memory.  He would also be aware of the holes.  Bob is an information appliance and information appliances manage when and how they amass data.  He knew he was missing memories of Kimmler.

[toodeep]

And if he acquired knowledge from his progenitors he might have knowledge that goes back further than his "memories." 

It is interesting to note that Bonea may have knowledge no other non-divine or semi-divine being might have the she may have inherited from Lasciel's shadow.  Divine or semi-divine beings appear to generally be limited in what they can do and what information the can share, while Bonea may not be.  She might be able to perfectly describe many secrets of how the universe works without the usual limitations.  Not that I expect that though...

[g33k]

   I think the quote from Blood Rites is a bit misleading because at least part of his memories are being blocked by him on orders from Harry.   Those were the years when he was in Kemmler's keeping.  One could argue they weren't that many in the whole of Bob's life, but at the same time it shows that Bob can be selective as to his memories..  So how much else is he forgetting on purpose?  So his recall of years of memory cannot be relied on as an accurate gauge for his age.

All of this is a plausible and possible explanation.

Another one is that Bob may be blocking vast swaths of time as "no, for those 48 years I was serving a freaking mushroom-wizard who studied the deadly stuff and the nutritious stuff and the hallucinogenic stuff and nothing relevant to this query," etc...

[morriswalters]

I had a hard drive like that.  I threw it away.

[123Chikadee]

@SirHuonStone: No, you're right that is why he's afraid of Mab, but my theory as to how/why he got the info is b/c it was knowledge that he inherited from her and she couldn't fully control him for whatever reason.

[Bad Alias]

I believe that was later changed and Bob started much the same way as bonea did.

I recall this. It was something along the lines of "that's where spirits of intellect come from."

Bob probably knows some old Celtic languages. He's quite familiar with faeries and faeries are very Celtic. Harry is friends with the king of the Welsh fairies, the Tylwyth Teg.

And who says Merlin's journals are in Welsh? If I had to bet, I'd say they were more likely in Greek or Latin. Whatever was the lingua franca of the time.

[Arjan]

I recall this. It was something along the lines of "that's where spirits of intellect come from."

Bob probably knows some old Celtic languages. He's quite familiar with faeries and faeries are very Celtic. Harry is friends with the king of the Welsh fairies, the Tylwyth Teg.

And who says Merlin's journals are in Welsh? If I had to bet, I'd say they were more likely in Greek or Latin. Whatever was the lingua franca of the time.

Latin was the language of the church and the old empire that was gone but old welsh was actually the language of everyone on the kingdom(s) where Merlin operated.

But why would he use latin for his personal diaries? His mothers tongue would be far more logical.

It depends on what Jim does with the stories but the oldest stories suggest bardic roots:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrddin

Harry might get impossible to read bardic poetry with hidden meanings depending on a context long gone. The stuff is as usefull as Jim wants it to be.

Or it is full with prophesies specially meant for Harry, only with a clear meaning after the facts of course :-)
 

[g33k]

... And who says Merlin's journals are in Welsh? If I had to bet, I'd say they were more likely in Greek or Latin. Whatever was the lingua franca of the time.

In the Mediterranean, sure!

But not in the British Isles.  Almost no Greek, and only a small amount of Latin, which was dying out post-conquest as the Romans had largely withdrawn by 410AD.

Arthur was in the tumultuous post-Roman era.  Latin was limited to being a liturgical/church language (which emphatically was not Merlin's background or allegiance!  Folklorically, Merlin came from the people FIGHTING the Romans (and the Christian church!))

If we want to get pedantic:  Old Welsh is probably too recent to be Merlin's mother tongue!    The Celtic arrival in Britain is recent enough that their language hasn't yet split up much... the Picts still control Scotland, it isn't "Scottish" (Celtic) at all, and the "Welsh" are still culturally and linguistically contiguous with most of southern Britain.

Merlin spoke...
... wait for it ...

 "British."  That's one of the (several) names given to the language spoken by the tribes of Celts who were all "Britons."  Aka "Old Brythonic" and "Common Brittonic" and several other labels.

The Welsh language fragmented from Brythonic into what became "Archaic" or "Primitive" Welsh, which then became "Old Welsh," which I think becomes the Welsh "mother tongue" about 800AD, which is AFAIK well after the Arthur/Merlin era.

[morriswalters]

Read Chapter Fourteen of Turn coat.  If Merlin Founded the Council then he did it somewhere other than Britain, at least according to Jim.