What is the deal with the body size growth? (timeskip spoilers)

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

One little thing of this game confuses me: The body size growths of the characters make no sense to me. 

There are characters who brought about to grow 10-15 cm in like one or two years like Bernadette and Lysithea. Also there are characters at the age of 17 like Ingrid who do not grow, but then there is Caspar who does grow for some reason. 

 

Is this somewhere explained? 

Because this does not make sense at all and I am going so far to say it is again the human laws.

 

The funny result is that Edelgard is the shortest character of the Black Eagles. And other interesting fact is that three of the four shortest characters (Edelgard, Hilda, Annette) carry the favor the heaviest weapon type, the axe. 

[Rose482]

Well, some girls just stop growing around Ingrid's age. I would know becasue I'm pretty sure I haven't grown any taller in the last like....7 years? (I'm in my early 20's)

And as for Caspar, well...I guess puberty hit him hard.

 

[Etrurian emperor]

I guess some people just ended up as very late bloomers.

Caspar is the easiest example as he had to go a looooong time before hitting that growth spurt. 

[Espurrhoodie]

Everyone had a growth spurt?

I wish I could get one.

[Stroud]

I would have found it cooler if Edelgard would be taller.. But can't have it all eh xD. What gripes me more is that the Older characters have no change. they could have different clothes or Hairstyles..

Edited September 1, 2019 by Stroud

[Specta]

I'm not sure what is again human law? Some people grow taller in their late teens, some people do not grow at all. There is no real set rule for it so there's no real explanation needed, that's just how human growth works

[Dark Holy Elf]

If it's based on our world then very few woman grow significantly taller after age 16 (maybe a few cm at most, even that's rare), so it's actually Bernadetta and Lysithea who are the big surprises, not Ingrid.

For the men it would be most realistic if they grew 2-6 cm or so (with the younger ones growing more and the oldest ones like Hubert and Sylvain not growing at all), though as I recall the game tends to either have the characters not grow at all or have them grow 8+.

3 hours ago, Lysithea said:

The funny result is that Edelgard is the shortest character of the Black Eagles. And other interesting fact is that three of the four shortest characters (Edelgard, Hilda, Annette) carry the favor the heaviest weapon type, the axe. 

All have crests and we know that Edelgard's, at least, grants her incredible strength (I assumed that plotwise, most of the "physical" crests do, but to my knowledge the game doesn't elaborate for certain).

[Humanoid]

They're probably trying to push the Napoleon angle a bit too. 😛 (Never mind that Napoleon was pretty much average height for the time, much as Edelgard probably is)

That said, in terms of personal preference, the taller the better for me. Shame the women top out at Catherine's 175cm, not a whole lot of diversity in that regard.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

1 hour ago, Dark Holy Elf said:

If it's based on our world then very few woman grow significantly taller after age 16 (maybe a few cm at most, even that's rare), so it's actually Bernadetta and Lysithea who are the big surprises, not Ingrid.

That is the exactly the contradiction which confuses me. Growing that much within a short time for being relatively short is odd. 

1 hour ago, Specta said:

I'm not sure what is again human law? Some people grow taller in their late teens, some people do not grow at all. There is no real set rule for it so there's no real explanation needed, that's just how human growth works

I mean yeah, but, in the case of Bernadetta and Lysithea it feels very unnatural to me. Being 16 and relative short (~ 150 cm) and growing like 10% of the body size in 1-2 years seems really odd. If the person was 180 cm or taller,  I would see that significant growth of ~ 15 cm within a year. 

[Specta]

 

 

 

 

2

10 minutes ago, Lysithea said:

I mean yeah, but, in the case of Bernadetta and Lysithea it feels very unnatural to me. Being 16 and relative short (~ 150 cm) and growing like 10% of the body size in 1-2 years seems really odd. If the person was 180 cm or taller,  I would see that significant growth of ~ 15 cm within a year. 

The timeskip is five years, to be fair

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

I assumed the growth would have been stopped at 17 or 18. 

[Specta]

11 minutes ago, Lysithea said:

I assumed the growth would have been stopped at 17 or 18. 

Not necessarily. Men often grow a little into their early 20s, women sometimes do as well. I picked up another roughly two inches over the course of ages 18-24

Edited September 1, 2019 by Specta

[Loki Laufeyson]

3 hours ago, Specta said:

I'm not sure what is again human law? Some people grow taller in their late teens, some people do not grow at all. There is no real set rule for it so there's no real explanation needed, that's just how human growth works

This. People are different in how they grow. I havent grown in height since i was 17. (That was literally over 20 years ago) Some folx like Bern and Edelgard are just petite. While others just kinda fill out (Hilda, Linhardt, Ashe, Petra, Ignatz). Some just mature in their appearance ( Dorothea, Claude, Dedue, Marianne, Lysithea, Ingrid, Sylvain, Felix, Raphael, Hubert). Then you get Whoa Growth Spurt/Radical change (Caspar, Dimitri, Annette, Ferdinand, and Lorenz to an extent) And then theres Mercedes whos already a full adult, so the only thing that really changed in 5 years is how she wears her hair. 

[B.Leu]

4 hours ago, Specta said:

Not necessarily. Men often grow a little into their early 20s, women sometimes do as well. I picked up another roughly two inches over the course of ages 18-24

25 year old 'man' here. I confirm, that happened to me. I'll have to check if it still does.

It is weird, but merely midly eyebrow weird. The only thing I find weird is is to see our Emperor Crimson still being so tiny.
And by weird, I mean funny.

[Dark Holy Elf]

1 hour ago, B.Leu said:

It is weird, but merely midly eyebrow weird. The only thing I find weird is is to see our Emperor Crimson still being so tiny.

She really isn't. She's 158 / 5'2" which is about 4 cm / 2" below average (for France and the US). Now, she'd likely be considerably further below average by the standards of athletic women who can swing an axe around (just because typically taller women self-select for activities which require more strength), but well, the crests are to blame.

Women grow less than 2 cm on average after age 15, and Edelgard is already 17 when we first meet her, so her not growing is expected (though not certain).

7 hours ago, Humanoid said:

That said, in terms of personal preference, the taller the better for me. Shame the women top out at Catherine's 175cm, not a whole lot of diversity in that regard.

Women over 175 cm are relatively uncommon (though probably a bit less uncommon among warriors, as per the above). That said it does seem like the game has way more tall men than tall women. Men are 13-14 cm taller than women on average, so the equivalent male height to Catherine is ~188. Catherine is the only woman of her height in the game (the Mittelfrank alumni are both around 170 IIRC), while there are quite a few men at 188+ (Dimitri, Raphael, Hanneman, Lorenz, Hubert) and one who is just crazy tall (Dedue).

[Specta]

I know the weightlifter Samantha Wright is like 5' 2'', so I don't think being short really means they can or cannot throw some heavy shit around

[Dandy Druid]

Height doesn't always correlate to strength. A lot of professional weightlifters tend to be on the short side. The reasons why Edel, Hilda, and Annie may be good at swinging around an axe are:

• Their body proportions allow them to lift heavier weights with much more ease. Shorter people tend to have better mechanical leverage because their limbs are shorter. If a short person and a tall person begin the same diet and exercise routine, the short person will lift more in the initial stages... usually.
• Their crests may also give them some strength. (Hilda and Annie both have an Axe-wielding crest, so maybe their bloodline has blessed them to use axes with ease. But it may be harder for them to use other weapon comparatively).
• They are anime girls. 

[Water Mage]

Remember that when the timeskip happens most of characters are still pretty much in puberty. Is it so odd that they change over the years?

In my opinion what’s really odd is that none of them have acne! They’re in high school, that’s when acne is supposed to happen and when it’s supposed terrify teenagers! How come they all have perfect faces?!

[charcoalswift]

58 minutes ago, Water Mage said:

Remember that when the timeskip happens most of characters are still pretty much in puberty. Is it so odd that they change over the years?

In my opinion what’s really odd is that none of them have acne! They’re in high school, that’s when acne is supposed to happen and when it’s supposed terrify teenagers! How come they all have perfect faces?!

Because not everyone suffers from ache and I won't want my FE characters to have any too

[Hecatia]

I found out weird that the students changed so much, but neither Manuela, Hanneman or the other fellas at the monastery show any sign of being older (except Cyril). I mean, it would be funny to see Manuela struggling with some gray hairs, but yeah, that was sorta weird for me.

6 hours ago, B.Leu said:

25 year old 'man' here. I confirm, that happened to me. I'll have to check if it still does.

I'm 23 years old and I know I got a little itty tiny bit taller since last month. I think women are the ones that get stuck before mid 20s since they develop quicker.

[charcoalswift]

Anyway to answer the topic question, it's simple. Some people grow taller due to late puberty while others just don't because they already hit puberty pre-skip

[Hauke]

2 hours ago, 1% Critical Hit said:

I found out weird that the students changed so much, but neither Manuela, Hanneman or the other fellas at the monastery show any sign of being older (except Cyril). I mean, it would be funny to see Manuela struggling with some gray hairs, but yeah, that was sorta weird for me.

I'm 23 years old and I know I got a little itty tiny bit taller since last month. I think women are the ones that get stuck before mid 20s since they develop quicker.

I mean... in RL you don't change that much aging up from 51 to 56. They are just so old that they didn't really age visually anymore.

[Garlyle]

I'm just going to leave this one here. (put into spoilers, because post timeskip designs)

Spoiler

Looks like some guys are just grown tall, and didn't grown higher fortunately. But geez Lorenz, what did they feed you with? Guys below 170 shown some growth, except for Ignatz, who got stuck alone in the short guy spot - slightly awkward.

In height the girls didn't change much. Annette had a small growth in height, the only difference we can see here is in Bernadetta and Lysithea - the others didn't change at all.

[Dark Holy Elf]

11 hours ago, Dandy Druid said:

Height doesn't always correlate to strength. A lot of professional weightlifters tend to be on the short side. The reasons why Edel, Hilda, and Annie may be good at swinging around an axe are:

Since I got a couple comments on this: to be clear, I know that it's entirely possible for someone to be short but also strong. However there is definitely a correlation between height and physical strength, in both men and women. (= tall people are stronger on average, and strong people are taller on average. Obviously some people will buck the trends)

[Vince777]

Honestly, I played the entire game without noticing Lysithea had grown taller. 

I thought she was one of the characters that changed the least.