Children typically acquire their first word around 1 year old, and experience what is sometimes called a “language explosion” from about 2 to 4 years.
But at the time of his engagement to Ida, Hilarion is fully 2 years old, and has “not yet learned to speak.”
People who know the show better than I do…is there any other textual evidence that might tempt us to place Hilarion on the autism spectrum?
IDK, but his memory of of the occasion also seems to indicate he was having pretty complex abstract thoughts at the time even though he couldn’t talk. Then there’s Psyche, who as a child kept wanting to tell adults at dinner parties who first determined longitude.
Mooncustafer 