Immortality in Fiction - Other Versions

Other Versions

Many methods of immortality are sought by Voldemort in the Harry Potter series, including horcruxes, unicorn blood, the deathly hallows, and the Philosopher's Stone. Albus Dumbledore, the mentor of Harry Potter, considers natural death to be a "great adventure," and immortality is associated with evil.

The Immortals of Highlander: The Series possess immortality granted by an unknown energy (called the Quickening), which is triggered by the trauma of a violent death. Once immortal, they can still be injured, but heal very quickly. Although there are discrepancies between the film and the series, the generally accepted canon is that they can die but will be healed and resurrected unless they are beheaded. If beheaded, usually by another Immortal during combat, the victor receives the loser's 'Quickening' or knowledge and power. Immortals can sense other Immortals by the 'buzz' they receive when near another Quickening. No Immortal will desecrate holy ground by battling on it. All Immortals are sterile. Their origins are mysterious, although it is indicated many of them are foundlings. The legend they follow says that when only a few remain standing, they will fight at "The Gathering" for something known only as "The Prize", which is the knowledge and power of every Immortal. It is unknown what power this will have on the very last Immortal, but the ending of the first movie suggests that The Prize is both an empathic link with all humanity and a restoration of the Immortal's mortality and fertility - the Immortal will be able to grow old, die of natural causes, and bear or conceive a child.

In Tom Robbins' book Jitterbug Perfume, the characters of Alobar and Kudra explore the realms of immortality through their will to attain eternal life.

In Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, Darth Sion has a unique force power called Pain, which keeps him alive forever but never allows any of his wounds to heal. The Exile convinced him to turn away from the Force which finally allowed him to die.

In Mother 3, the leader of the mysterious Pig Mask Army is revealed as Porky Minch, an antagonist from Earthbound. Porky has abused a machine that lets him travel through time, causing his body to age but his mind to remain in a pre-teen state. Porky, now immortal, is thousands of years old, and has lost all concept of his own age. After the main characters defeat him, Porky retreats into his "Absolutely Safe Capsule", designed to keep all exterior things out. Unfortunately, it also imprisons him, motionless, forever, as he can never escape.

In Douglas Adams' novel Life, the Universe and Everything the character Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged had the misfortune of being immortal due to "a strange accident involving an irrational particle accelerator, a liquid lunch and a pair of rubber bands". After becoming immortal, he did everything one can do in life, several times, becoming terribly bored of everything due to him lacking the instinctive knowledge of other immortal beings that allowed them to cope with their immortality. He then made a plan that, despite being rather foolish, would at least keep him busy: he was going to insult, personally, all the living beings in the universe, in alphabetical order.

The Phantom is a comic character who appears to be immortal, fighting pirates and evil across centuries. However it is just a dynasty of heroes who pass the mask and suit of the Phantom along generations. Their secret is known just to their aides and wives.

In Andromeda, the character Trance Gemini is the avatar of the original Vedran sun, and as such, has special powers. She and her "sisters" can live as long as stars do: for billions of years. It's unknown whether Trance has physical immortality, or if she was even ever alive; it is alluded to on some occasions that she is dead and alive at the same time.

The character Oro in the Street Fighter metaverse is explicitly said to be immortal. M. Bison constantly claims to be immortal, but that is contradicted by Capcom's statement that he is dead and in Hell. There are also strong hints that Akuma and Twelve are immortal.

Vampires are immortal and practically impossible to kill, save for sunlight, fire, or decapitation.

The nameless protagonist of the video game Planescape: Torment has a kind of limited immortality: he will die if injured enough, but he will always wake up again shortly afterward, albeit with some or all of his memories missing. This has led to a situation where, over thousands of years, different versions of the protagonist have existed, some good, some evil, and some absolutely insane. The goal of the game is to regain one's mortality and finally die permanently—a rather unconventional ending for a video game.

Several characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog series are immortal including Shadow the Hedgehog, Chaos and Black Doom. The most frequently recurring character, Shadow, is an artificial life form created aboard the Space Colony ARK that is explicitly declared 'immortal'. He was forced to witness the murder of Maria Robotnik, his best (and possibly only) friend, which creates a chasm between the other characters and himself and so has played antagonistic roles at times. However, neither Black Doom or Shadow are invincible. It is implied that Shadow destroyed Black Doom in Shadow the Hedgehog (which would make Black Doom Biologically Immortal), and Shadow himself was almost killed in Sonic Adventure 2; it is implied that he would have died if he wasn't rescued by Dr Eggman. It is possible that Shadow, being Black Dooms biological son, had inherited his Biological Immortallity. It is also possible that due to the purpose behind his creation, he is immune to illness.

Poul Anderson's The Boat of a Million Years concerns several otherwise ordinary people who stop aging at maturity. The book follows their struggles through the millennia, through the late 20th century and beyond.

In the series of novels written by David Eddings, "The Belgariad" and "The Mallorean", the eight gods and their disciples, notably Belgarath and Polgara, are immortal.

In the role-playing game Exalted, there exist objects known as Hearthstones of Immortality. While exceedingly rare, the bearer of one will not only become immortal, but if they were already old when they obtained the stone, they will no longer suffer the ill-effects of old age (senility, failing senses, etc.). In addition, there also exists an Age-Staving Cordial. While expensive, weekly doses of the cordial can increase the imbiber's lifespan by 25%.

In the animated TV series Adventure Time, The Ice King, previously known as Simon Petrikov is proven to be at least 1.000 years old, being a survivor of the Mushroom War. He gained his longevity from an ancient crown artifact he bought somewhere in Scandinavia. The crown itself is also his source of ice power, but also causes him to be seemingly insane.