#also incredibly nitpicky but like. werent the grey wardens named for their grey griffons? something like that?

[crypticcanidae]

i have a question abt the griffons in veilguard.

how old are they supposed to be? or i suppose more accurately, how do dragon age's griffons. well. age?

assan's clutch was recovered in 9:42, and presumably hatched that year. veilguard seems to take place in 9:52, which would make assan at most 10 years old. adult griffons, according to the wiki, are usually 12 feet nose to tail and weigh over a thousand pounds. assan, and the other griffons, are nowhere near that size.

so as far as i can tell (this is based off of information from a few conservation sites, if you know lions or eagles and ive massively fucked up here please feel free to correct me):

lion cubs begin approaching adult size by 12 months old, and reach full adulthood around 3-5 years old. they seem to range from about 4 to 10 feet long.

eagles reach adulthood and begin breeding at around 5 years. i struggled to find specific fledging ages, but most species seem to have been on their own for at least a few years before reaching breeding age.

eagles and lions seem like fair comparisons, since they're the component animals of griffons, and they're solitary and pack hunters, respectively - given that we don't know much abt griffon social behaviour, i can't really speculate as to whether they would leave the nest and fend for themselves within a year or two, or be able to rely on the support of a group, but it doesn't look like either option would massively alter how quickly they would develop. so i feel pretty safe assuming both a. griffons probably reach full adulthood by around five years old, maybe a few years longer given that they're pretty big animals, and b. even if not fully grown, griffons would be large enough to hunt for and defend themselves within a year or two - and probably close to adult size.

effectively, it makes no sense to me that assan and the other griffons, after 10 years, are still only about the size of large dogs? if they were a second generation, or were only hatched around 9:50, then okay, sure, but since they're from the clutch valya found, and there's no mention of adult griffons anywhere. yeah. i don't get it.

so yknow. if i missed something rly obvious in veilguard, or anyone has. any kind of explanation really. please tell me?