#Not putting this in the actual tag but I'll still loosely tag it for blacklist reasons

[solradguy]

Hey is it true that Sol and Ky meet when the latter was 15 (according to the guilty gear Bible) or is it false? I saw someone mention that in regards of a post talking about their gay-looking moments, and it worries me if true. I hope this didn't sound rude or anything.

Oh yeah I saw that comment but I was too lazy to dig into it lol But since you've asked I'm kinda curious now.

So, first, let's see what the wiki's got to say:

Ok so he's at least an adult in all of the games we see him in.

Ky's birth year, in typical Japanese media fashion, is only an estimate based on fan calculations. The dates of stuff around this estimate are pretty tight though; I'd only +/- his birth year by maybe one year at most.

He was born November 20, in about the year 2157 (year is via unofficial sources). The timeline on the wiki says he joined the Holy Order in 2167, making him about 10 years old? Sol joins the Order in 2172 (Ky would indeed have been in the 14-16 age range this year). The timeline included in GG Strive also uses the 2167 date for Ky joining the Order and 2172 for Sol. It does NOT include any sort of birth year for Ky.

HOWEVER, why tf does the wiki say his age in Missing Link is 23 when the math in the timeline makes him about maaaaayyybe 18 at best? Well, the wiki doesn't source shit so let's whip out the books.

BACKSTORY: At only 16 years old, Ky, a young prodigy swordsman, was appointed leader of the Sacred Order of Holy Knights and given the treasured sword Thunderseal. [translation by me]

This is from the GG Bible and they put his age in Arabic numerals. Zero doubt that he was 16 at least in this book. There's an info section on his page in this book too but it only has his birth month/day (Nov. 20). There's a timeline in this book but it says pretty much what the wiki's timeline does. Sol takes Fireseal in 2173, then defeats Justice later, etc.

Now, I know Lightning the Argent, the light novel focused on his time in the International Police Force, happens after Ky leaves the Holy Order/the Order is disbanded and takes place in 2181. Here's a translation of the book synopsis off Bookwalker:

The year is 2180 A.D. The struggle between mankind and the Gear bioweapons ends in victory for mankind, and all Gears are supposed to have ceased functioning. However, that relief is shattered when a plaintive song echoes through the city.… Ky flies to London to hear the bells ringing, warning of the appearance of the Gears for the first time in five years. Before him appears his former friend and an evil shadow! [my translation]

The "former friend" is Sol and the book events happen 1 year after this synopsis. LtA released in January, 2001, 3 years after Missing Link, and it's possible Daisuke retconned some years. The Strive timeline also says that the events of Missing Link take place in 2175. The summary for Missing Link in its manual says it takes place in 2180, making Ky more in the 22-24 range in ML if we go by the unofficial 2157 birth year, and still about in that range if we use him being 16 in 2167 when he joins the Order too.

It seems the timeline for this period of Ky's life get a little fuzzy after about GGX so here's what else I could dig up:

The Drafting Artworks book uses the same Ky background summary as the GG Bible: He was 16 when he joined the Holy Order. This book came out March 2001.

The GGX manual also lists him joining at 16. July, 2000 publish date.

With the Strive timeline saying Ky joins the Order in 2167 and Sol in 2172, 5 years later, even if Ky was 16 when he joined he would at least be 21-ish by the time Sol meets him.

In summary, you could pretty easily argue that Ky is at least in the 18-21 range when both him and Sol are in the Holy Order together, if you go by the more recent timelines. The numbers are hilariously inconsistent throughout the series' history though. It's dubious enough that it's not something I'm comfortable joking about personally but, like, I don't think it's worth the energy getting mad at someone if they do joke about it either.

Also, I hope this is easy to follow because, man, every time I found a number I found another set of data that completely went against whatever else I found lmfao