#he isn't burdened to being 100% himself and we love a confident king

[dewdropsonparchment]

I've got a hot take.

Alright I'd say hot take is kind of a stretch, if anything it'd be more like lukewarm black tea with too much sugar in it but... hear me out... about Sam's age.

Ever since I started playing I've always thought Sam was a teensy bit older than given credit for. He appears youthful, has hobbies that could be seen as teenage hobbies, and the fact he still lives at his mom's house could also push him in that direction of appearing more immature than he is... but considering the economy state in the world of Stardew, his responsibilities towards his family (so watching out for Vincent and kind of having been pushed into this position of being the man of the house in his dad's absence), and his rebellious views on authority in general which transcribe in him being unapologetically whatever the hell he wants to be or doing whatever the hell he wants to do, I feel it's more than fair to believe he could be older than he seem despite his situation. I know the bracket is usually 21-23, but for me he'd easily be pushing 25-26. It's not to say that he can't be a bit immature or lacking in experience regarding life in general, but seeing as Sam is very outgoing and isn't scared of working for it, he could have work/life/relationship experience that we've never learned about. I know plenty of adults in his situation and with similar interests that are well past 25, so it's pretty natural for me to imagine him older than he is said to be.

And for the little fun headcanon on the topic, I know Seb is said to be older than Sam but I absolutely love imagining Sam to be like one year older than Seb and getting pissy everytime somebody assumes otherwise (which everybody does). He'd definitely use it against Seb for any argument "Hey I'm the adult here!", until he messes shit up and Seb is now the one holding it against him "Hey 'thought you were the adult around here".