Living Forever Is Awesome: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

[[Who Wants to Live Forever?]] [[Immortality Seeker|You do?]] Well, [[Immortality]] is no picnic: living to see all your childhood friends and great grandchildren die, having to [[The Drifter|drift from place to place]] or be chased out of town as a witch, and have to crawl across the Sahara for three weeks without food or water with a broken leg because you ''[[Perpetual Motion Monster|can't die]]''.

 

{{examples}}

* Firo Prochainezo from ''[[Baccano!]]'' literally sums up his thoughts about being "[[Cursed with Awesome|cursed]]" with immortality as, "WOOHOO!" and even manages to talk his [[Seen It All|200-year-old, world-weary mentor]] into trying to enjoy it again. Seventy-two years later, he's ''still'' using [[Pulling Themselves Together|the fact that he can bleed in reverse]] as a [[Self-Mutilation Demonstration|party trick]]. Isaac and Miria freaked out a little bit when they figured it out ''seventy years later'', but adjusted quickly and had a great time, for example, being [[Durarara!!|Dollars]].

* {{spoiler|Tenzen Yakushiji}} from ''[[Basilisk]]'' has a parasite living inside his body that grants him immortality {{spoiler|(though he's not completely immortal)}} and is shown to greatly enjoy it, even going so far as to gloat about it towards opponents who thought they killed him.

* Brought up by Kurt Godel in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''. While everyone else is busy being all depressed about how someone immortal will outlive everyone they know, the idea simply thrills him instead. No need to worry about assassination, the ability to maintain an iron grip on the world for as long as you like... However, he was in the minority opinion on that one. On the other hand, Evangeline sure seems pleased with her immortality, though it's implied that when she was younger that wasn't the case. If anything, [[Not Growing Up Sucks|she probably wishes she could still be immortal, only with a body that was ten years older.]]

* All of the robots that want to eat [[Casshern Sins|Cashern]] are this trope. They're pissed because they were enjoying immortality and now they can't because of the Ruin.

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

*** It doesn't help much that the Gliders' society is completely stagnant. They stopped having kids a long time ago, as elven fertility is notoriously low even in tribes that ''don't'' have a death rate of zero; they all live inside a mountain they've shaped to their own liking, which keeps them both protected and completely isolated; and the best source of entertainment they have is a giant stone egg that details their history. [[Go Mad From the Isolation]] indeed.

* Hob Gadling in ''[[The Sandman]]''. Morpheus makes a deal with Hob: he doesn't die, but they meet every hundred years in the same tavern. The first hundred years, Hob tells Morpheus he got married and had a son. Second time, he's poor, his son's dead, he can't remember his wife's (also dead) name or face, he generally looks the picture of misery, the kind of guy the Pope would gladly [[Mercy Kill]]. Morpheus asks if Hob wants to die... to which Hob smiles and says "Of course not". And centuries later, when Death comes to see Hob to {{spoiler|tell him Dream is dead}} and asks if he wants to die, he ''still'' says no.

* The Eternal Flame from Troy Hickman's ''[[Common Grounds]]'' was the man to whom Prometheus gave fire to. It gave him power over fire and immortality. He becomes a superhero and is still able to enjoy his immortal life.

* All of the [[Bizarre Baby Boom|Century Babies]] in [[Warren Ellis]]' ''[[Wildstorm]]'' universe, including Elijah Snow from ''[[Planetary]]'' and Jenny Sparks from ''[[Stormwatch]]'' and ''[[The Authority]]'', greatly enjoy their agelessness. {{spoiler|In Jenny's case she didn't turn out to be as ageless as expected, since as [[Anthropomorphic Personification|the spirit of the 20th century]] she's not allowed to out-live it.}}

* [[Vandal Savage]] occasionally has [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|bouts of weariness concerning his existence]], but for the most part he really gets a kick out of being an evil immortal bastard. He's got an entire world he hasn't conquered yet and enemies that are still alive after all. Most telling is that Vandal could end his immortality {{spoiler|by refraining from eating his descendants' flesh and organs}} but he doesn't.

 

* A fanfiction from ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'', ''I, Eternity'' follows a vampire who runs through first [[Who Wants to Live Forever?]] and then gradually comes around to this as time passes.

* ''[[Undocumented Features]]'', like ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'', says that living forever is great if you are spending it with other immortals who care about you.

* ''[[Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality]]'' has Harry himself take this stance and give a long list of the things he would do with his time to Dumbledore, in answer to his [[Who Wants to Live Forever?]] position - not only for himself, but for everybody on Earth. He even dreams of the very idea of death becoming a grim story that children aren't told until they're old enough to take it.

* ''[[A Hero (fan work)|A Hero]]'': Daleks, who are [[Omnicidal Maniac|perpetually at war with everything]], consider a long life a mark of great skill.

 

== [[Film]] ==

* Casca, the eponymous mercenary of ''[[Casca the Eternal Mercenary]]'', is rather satisfied with his immortality as a whole although he has his occasional moments of regretting it when stuck in a [[Fate Worse Than Death]] like being buried alive for decades.

* ''[[Groundhog Day]]'' plays with this trope. The main character goes back and forth between enjoying and despairing over his situation. But its a bit different from standard immortality since he's living the same day over and over which obviously has different advantages and drawbacks.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* The [[Differently-Powered Individual|Others]] in ''[[Night Watch]]'' almost never have regrets about their unnaturally long lives. However, most of them try to avoid having children so as not to have to watch them grow old and die. An Other's child ''can'' become an Other, but this has about as much chance of happening as an Other born from [[Muggle]]s. The only exception are vampires and werewolves, who turn their children, but they are the lowers of the low in the Dark Other hierarchy.

 

* The Doctor in ''[[Doctor Who]]'' experiences a lot of heartbreak, but still feels that life is worth living so long as there's something left to see in the Universe. Also, the Face of Boe, to an extent.

* In ''[[Torchwood]]'', Captain Jack Harkness in general, really. Sure, he has sometimes-angst over it, but considering his average deaths per episode count, he sure is getting his money's worth out of the deal. Also, more time to go hit on people.

* In ''[http://nerdreactor.com/2011/10/15/curiosity-can-you-live-forever-starring-adam-savage/ Can You Live Forever?]'', Adam's greatest regret after his first thousand years is that his children all died before his 132nd birthday. However, he loves to show off his collection of awards and spare bodies.

 

 

* One of the songs [[Queen]] wrote for ''[[Highlander]]'', "Princes of the Universe", is about how the Immortals are cool(a contrast to the song that names [[Who Wants to Live Forever?]]):

* The song "Immortal" by [[Clutch]] makes it sound pretty awesome:

** {{spoiler|The backing lyrics for the chorus repeats the phrase "in dog years," suggesting the narrator isn't immortal--at least not literally.}}

* The Brazilian song "Eu nasci ha 10000 atras" (I was born 10000 years ago) by Raul Seixas is (obviously) about a man born 10000 years ago who talks about famous events he witnessed. He sounds very enthusiastic about his life:

 

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* The long-lived and nigh-immortal Eldar of ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' fight tooth and nail to survive. Granted, it's not so much that Living Forever Is Awesome but rather that dying is much ''much'' worse. If Eldar are ''lucky'' they will have their souls trapped in crystals for all eternity. Otherwise, they become the playthings of the Chaos god Slaanesh.

* The [[Mummy: The Resurrection|Mummies]] of the [[Old World of Darkness]] are generally of this opinion. They might live in a [[Crapsack World]] and have often difficult battles against terrifying foes but hey, they have literally all the time in the world to put things right and plenty to enjoy along the way.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* Glados's final song in the end of [[Portal 2]] has a tinge of that, though many speculate that it hides her bitter hatred at her own existence and that she just sent the closest thing she had to a friend away.

* Most of the Daedra, especially the Daedric Princes, of ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' series rather enjoy their immortality. A good example is Sanguine, who basically just lives to have fun. His quest in ''[[Skyrim]]'' could be described as an ''Elder Scrolls'' version of ''[[The Hangover]]'' or ''[[Dude, Where's My Car?]]''.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* [[The Kingfisher]]: Most of the vampires in this comic show no signs of boredom or guilt at the prospect of immortality. Dragomir vampires especially seem to enjoy eternal life.

 

 

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