Let me just say how sorry I am. You are obviously a very busy man and having to read and reply questions must be a pain in the butt. I am sorry for increasing the pain but the questions I am going to ask have been on my mind for the LONGEST time.

1. How old was Ptolemy when he died?
2. When Bartimaeus is in Ptolemy's form, how old is the form of Ptolemy?

The reason why I ask is because while reading the series I kind of imagined that whenever Bartimaeus turns into Ptolemy, the form ages a little with each book. I later found out that this was probably not the case. To sum it up, did Ptolemy's form ever age when Bartimaeus used it, or did the age kind of vary, or did he just stick with how old Ptolemy was when he died? Thank you for gracing me with your presence should you ever reply.

Soooo... I think that from reading the books, that Prolemy was around sixteen or seventeen when he died- (tragic, yet needed to set up Nathaniels horrible death...)- and I do believe that Barimaeus took the form of Ptolemy when he first summoned him. (Maybe at the age fourteen?).

Hello to you both and thanks for your original question. Sorry for taking such eons to reply.

By my reckoning he's about 14 when he dies, and Bart first gets to know him when he's 12. I think he probably recreates Ptolemy as he was shortly before he was weakened by his prolonged visit to the Other Place - i.e. 14. It's a bit like fixing him in amber: he keeps Ptolemy frozen in time as he was when he knew and loved him. It's a KIND of immortality, in a way...