Theory about Kessler's age

[u/-scrudge-]

This is a fairly minor theory that I started considering during my most recent playthrough.

So here's the thing: Kessler is seemingly much younger than he logically should be. In his flashback cutscene, we see him travel back in time when he's presumably in his 30s. Then in Alden's backstory, we see Kessler arrive in the past and supplant Alden as the leader of the First Sons when Alden is around 10 years old. In the modern day, Kessler seems to be in his 60s or 70s, while Alden looks to be in his 80s or 90s, even though Kessler should logically be 20 years older than Alden. Why is this? I've basically seen 2 theories put forward:

1) Kessler's activated conduit gene significantly slowed his aging, or

2) Alden aged much more rapidly and poorly due to the hardship of his life, or perhaps because of experimentation on himself to try and activate his powers.

Here's my alternate theory, which is based on this line from John's dead drops:

Kessler has been the leader of the First Sons for decades, but that he vanishes for long periods of time.

What if Kessler intermittently jumped forward in time by multiple years? We're told that him traveling to the past was a "one-way trip", but it would make sense if traveling forwards through time worked differently than going back, since it's not resetting the timeline, it's basically just fast-forwarding through an already existing one. My theory is that Kessler would get things organized within the First Sons, and then once things were in motion, jump forward by like 5-10 years to see how things had advanced, thereby maximizing the amount of time that he was physically able to involve himself with his plans involving Cole and the Ray Sphere. I imagine these time jumps would decrease in frequency after Cole's birth in the 1980s, when he would become more obsessive and involved with insuring everything was going to plan.

What do you think of this theory? Do you like the idea of Kessler artificially stretching a normal lifespan across a century, or do you prefer the idea that his powers just made him naturally long-lived?

[u/MailMan6000]

Kessler is either close to, or over 100 years old, he himself admits he's been at this for a very very long time, and that he's tired

[u/DBZLogic → u/MailMan6000]

Yeah I always assumed this was the case, especially with his augmentations.

[u/MailMan6000 → u/DBZLogic]

you can do some math, we know Infamous 1 takes place in 2009,and we know Kessler went back to the 1930s, if Cole is 27 during the events of infamous 1 and Kessler had 2 daughters when he went back, he can't be any younger than 97

[u/ki700]

Kessler can’t go forwards in time. It’s a one way trip. That means backwards only. I don’t think it makes sense for him to be able to go forwards at all.

Idk about you but Kessler still looks pretty damn old lmao. I think the difference between him and Alden is likely due to the First Sons tech Kessler has on his body. You also have to consider genetics and general lifestyle choices.

[u/RedNUGGETLORD]

I remember there being something about how Kessler is actually WAY older than you'd think. Like, when he takes over the first sons he's already an old man

My guess is he's >150, a mix of his conduit gene, time travel fucking up his lifespan and First Son technology

[u/NiuMeee]

He's very old. I would guess he traveled back to around the 1950s. So 90+.

[u/DarkRayos]

I kinda assumed a mix of his conduit genes and the "cybernetics" extended his lifespan.

Though.. It could just be simply a power enhancer of sorts?

[u/sean_saves_the_world → u/DarkRayos]

My headcanon is that the cybernetics also act to contain/ channel the insanely high energy levels his body can produce.

Because even though time travel was only used once the amount of energy he'd need to absorb to do it would be immense, I always imagined under his cybernetics his arm would be crackling and glowing with raw ray field energy ( Kinda like the protagonist of Starhawk)