This is an essay that’s been begging me to write it for weeks, ever since I got into River/Jayne fandom. How old is Jayne?

Most writers use Adam Baldwin’s age, which, when filming Firefly, was forty, and during Serenity, 43. Therefore, he’s usually portrayed as ‘mid-forties’ or somewhere in that range. However, I think he is younger than that, somewhere in his early- to mid-thirties.

I have several reasons for this theory. First, actors ages rarely correspond with characters’ ages. For example, Summer Glau was born in 1981, making her 24 when Serenity was released (and probably 23 when it was filmed) yet River is identified as 17. Almost all teen movies and shows star actors in their twenties: One Tree Hill, The OC, and hell, Patrick Swayze was 35 when he filmed Dirty Dancing. So, actor’s ages are largely useless when determining a character’s age.

Second, Jayne is a mercenary. He is in a very, very dangerous line of work. In the show and the movie, we’ve seen him shot, stabbed, and beat up more times than I can count. It seems unlikely that any mercenary would survive much past forty, let alone one as headstrong and brash as Jayne.

From what we know of his situation immediately previous to coming aboard Serenity, Jayne was being taken advantage of. I think a man who had been a mercenary for fifteen to twenty years at this point would know the going rate (we have no reason not to believe Mal and Zoë were lying about that in Out of Gas). However, if he’d only been working for a few years, it’s much more likely he wouldn’t know that.

Then of course, there’s his emotional maturity. As naughtyvix put it, he has the emotional maturity of a blueberry scone. While I know there are men in their forties who still act like Jayne, especially unmarried ones in analogous occupations, they are much more rare than similar men in their thirties.

Lastly, there’s the issue of Jayne’s family. In ‘The Message,’ Jayne’s mother mentions Mattie, who is identified as Jayne’s younger brother in the shooting script. It’s implied, at least in my mind, that Mattie still lives with their parents, or at least near them. Most kids move out around age 18, so it’s likely Mattie is in his teens. While I do know one family in which there is a twenty-five year age gap between the oldest and youngest child, it’s not a common occurrence, even in very large families. A gap of 10-15 years is much more common, as it would be if Jayne were early/mid-thirties, and Mattie were in his late teens or early twenties. (Of course, if this is the scenario, Jayne probably has at least one sibling in between he and Mattie, probably several.)

I’d like to present an alternate timeline that I think much better captures Jayne’s age than the common early/mid-forties scenario. When he was 18-21, he left home, looking for something new/work/whatever. Or maybe he didn’t leave home, but took a common job at home: farming, mining, manufacturing, etc. He probably took a few small, legitimate jobs, but found they didn’t pay well enough to both support him, and send money home (which we see he does in ‘The Message’). This probably takes a couple of years. So, he turns to a life of crime around age 23-24, probably working independently or with a partner. This includes Stitch from ‘Jaynestown,’ so it would last up until at least five years before he joined Serenity. Maybe that was his last job before joining up as a merc; maybe he realized he just didn’t have the head for planning, so he joined a gang. Let’s say he’s 27 when he does so: old enough to admit his own failings as a criminal mastermind, and probably scarier looking than any 23-year-old could be. He’s got experience, he’s bigger and he’s meaner than when he left home. The crew of Serenity picks him up a few years later, making him about 30 or 31. Assuming he’s been with Serenity a year or two (most sites put it at one year, as per ‘Our Mrs. Reynolds’ and making sure that ‘Jaynestown’ is five years after leaving Stitch) he’s squarely in his early/mid-thirties during both the series and the movie.

Discuss! ^_^

Crossposted all over: meinterrupted, rayne_shippers, rayne_fanon, ff_fanfic, manthycalljayne. I'm linking back to my journal to keep all the discussion in one place, and so people can debate with each other as well. If anyone wants to link this to other Jayne communities, feel free.

ETA: vandonovan has posted the most well-put and thought out rebuttal so far here. I, unfortunetly, do not have time to reply to his/her comment, because I'm driving home, but you should all read it. There are several good points there that I hadn't thought of.