James is 17 years old in the fictional story told across Taylor Swift’s Folklore songs, including “august.” He is the teenage boy at the center of the triangle involving Betty and the unnamed narrator.
In “august,” the narrator remembers a brief summer romance with James. She hopes the relationship might become something lasting, but James eventually returns to Betty, his former lover. The song therefore presents the romance from the perspective of the person left behind.
James also narrates “betty,” while Betty’s perspective appears in “cardigan.” The three songs use different voices and details to make the fictional relationship feel like a fragmented memory.
The character’s age is easy to confuse with the narrator’s age, because both are presented as teenagers. The song specifically describes James as 17; it does not provide a separate exact age for the unnamed narrator.