History Main / AgeWithoutYouth

** In Angel we have a vampire named Russel Winters who still has human features and the ability to shift to a vamp face, but his vamp face is more monstrous than other vampirea implying he may be old but not as old as the Master or Kakistos. Season 5 also gives a vampire called the Prince of Lies who's a rare LooksLikeOrlok vamp, apparently very old and without the ability to change his face but again much different from the other old vampires.

The TropeMaker is possibly the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek myths]] of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tithonus Tithonus,]] whose lover and abductor, the dawn goddess Eos, asked Zeus for immortality for him. Because of a curse Aphrodite laid upon Eos, she forgot to ask Zeus to also simultaneously bless the man with eternal youth. As a result of [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor Eos' thoughtlessness]], poor Tithonus eventually ended up an immobile old man, squeaking endlessly, [[AFateWorseThanDeath but still living forever]], making this OlderThanFeudalism. (Zeus eventually took pity on him, though, and let the living fossil find a fulfilling career [[ChirpingCrickets as the first cricket.]]) There is also the myth of Sibyl, a mortal prophetess, wished to the gods for immortality, and was granted this. However, she forgot to wish for eternal youth, and thus, did not receive it. Eventually, she withered down to tiny size, and was placed in a tree by children, who would ask her what she wished for. She would answer, "I wish to die".

** It's said that only some of the Struldbrugs are lucky enough to become senile - others retain their mental faculties as their bodies decay around them, so they are aware of their bodies degrading with each passing year and eventually becoming too weak to interact with the world.

** Played with in ''Warden's Keep''. Due to Avernus's heavy experimentation with BloodMagic, he managed to slow down both his aging and the progression of the Darkspawn Taint within him, allowing him to stretch out the typical Grey Warden lifespan of 30 years, to over ''300'' years! However, by the time the Warden meets him, he's become a bald old man who's Calling is rapidly approaching.

* A classic horror comic had a peddler offer a ring that gifted Immortality to whoever bought it to a baron, who quick bought it but failed to let the peddler finish explaining it was part of a set. Cut to a century later, when he's an aged and decrepit man living in his broken-down mansion when the peddler, still youthful, returns and offers to buy the ring (as it cannot be given away or lost). Grateful to be free of his curse of immortality he quickly accepts and instantly is reduced to a skeleton, having missed the peddler's explanation (in response to asking how the peddler was still young and alive) that the rings were a set, one offering eternal youth while the other offered eternal life.

* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' mostly averts this... except in one case: the Oberloch bloodline. Each [[PrestigeClass bloodline]] has a flaw that comes with activating it. For the Oberlochs, that flaw is, despite being [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]], ''they still age''. Physical Attributes go down for every 50 years the vampire's been alive, to the point that elders of the line are basically shriveled old crones who only get pull because the Oberlochs believe ''very'' strongly in family values. Though I'm sure the fact that they get [[CompellingVoice Dominate]] has some influence...

* Both played straight and averted in ''Literature/TheElenium''. Otha, the Emperor of Zemoch, is 1,900 years old and is described as looking like a slug due to his age and him not taking care of himself. Sephrenia, however, is stated to be at least several hundred years old, if not older (she teasingly mentions visiting a city more than 1,500 years ago), but looks to be in her mid-to-late 20s at most.

* ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'' has Master Tengen, who has the cursed technique of immortality. He's described by one character as a "tree". When the cast finally meets him, he's apparently aged so much that he doesn't even appear to be human, and states that anyone who has lived as long as him would look this way.

* This is the fate of [[spoiler:Porky Minch]] in ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', after traveling through the time stream so many times that he has rendered himself unable to die by any means.

* Flemeth from the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' series obtained immortality by merging herself with a powerful demon. However, while her spirit is immortal, her body still ages, and will eventually rot beyond use. She gets around this by [[spoiler: kidnapping baby girls with magical talents, raising them as her own daughters, and then [[BodySnatcher stealing their bodies]] when they reach maturity. At least, that's what Morrigan told the Warden... ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' reveals that it's not quite so simple as that.]]

** [[MadScientist Dr. Stanislaus Braun]] from ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' is in a similar situation. He was already in his sixties when the Great War started. Having the past two centuries hooked to a life support system, he's so frail that he can't even stand up, so he occupies his time by torturing the residents of Vault 112 in virtual reality.

* Creator/AlfredLordTennyson wrote a poem called [[http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174656 "Tithonus,"]] where he asks for his "gift" to be taken away. It's said: "The Gods themselves cannot recall their gifts."

* In Creator/LawrenceWattEvans's ''Literature/{{Ethshar}}'' novel ''Literature/TheMisenchantedSword'', the protagonist comes into possession of an (over-)enchanted sword. Part of the enchantment ensures he will not die of any cause until he has slain one hundred men with the sword; however, it has no protection against disfigurement, maiming, or aging. Fifty years later as he begins to suffer from cataracts, he realizes the last thing he wants is to endure an eternity in an aging, blind body. To avoid this fate, he goes adventuring to finish up his kill count, which is harder than he'd like due to his age.
* The Norwegian folktale "The True Grandfather", about a traveler who has to find the true grandfather of the house so he can stay the night. The true grandfather is [[spoiler: a little shriveled up mouse-sized man, who sleeps in a hunting horn.]]
** Two versions explain why. In one version, the old men are actually secondary world beings, who don't die, and punish the guest when he forgets to thank them for their hospitality. In the other version, death is caught in a barrel, and then nobody dies in that area - they just age for an incredible stretch of time, until the barrel rots, and death escapes to do his job.

* Creator/CSForester placed this at the heart of a short horror story, ''The Nightmare''. He began with the myth of the Wandering Jew, who cursed Jesus on his calvary and in return was told he would not die until Christ returned in glory. Thus the Wandering Jew is still there in the 1940's in Europe, and is rounded up and sent to a Nazi death camp. Where he experiences the full horror of Belsen and Auschwitz - as well as being identified for what he is by Doctor Mengele, who sees the potential for offering immortality to the Nazi leadership. And creating unkillable soldiers for the SS. The Wandering Jew is then subjected to agonising "experiments" for several years. Being immortal does not diminish the capacity to feel physical pain.
* In ''Literature/ThievesLikeUs'', [[spoiler:the protagonists find the ancient leader of a cult. He has lived in a trance-like state and pretty much looks like a living mummy, causing Jonas to comment in disgust about how being in such a state is "not living." When the BigBad tries to hold the cult leader's nose closed for CPR, it just comes off "like a piece of soggy bread." Ick.]]

* Aginor, one of [[QuirkyMinibossSquad the Forsaken]] from ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' had this happen; bound inside [[GodOfEvil the Dark One's]] prison, but only on the edges of it, he was kept alive for ''three thousand years'' by his master's power but not stopped from aging. When finally freed, he looks more like a desiccated corpse than a living man. His comrade Balthamel also appears to have had this problem, but hid his features behind a leather mask from shame and horror, so what form the decay took with him is never made clear. The other Forsaken, deeper within the prison, were held in complete stasis and did not visibly age during their imprisonment.
** Aginor merely looked like an impossibly old man. Balthamel was trapped the closest to the surface of the bore and had been ground down almost to a skeletal zombie that couldn't even speak any more as his lower jaw had rotted off completely which he covered in a creepy leather mask.
* In ''Literature/TheGodsOfPegana'' by Creator/LordDunsany, the prophet Yun-Ilara spends his youth [[SmiteMeOhMightySmiter challenging and cursing]] [[GrimReaper Mung]], who in retaliation refuses to take him, even after he has grown old and withered to nothing but bone. By that point, he's ''incessantly'' begging for death.

* Both played straight and averted in ''Literature/TheElenium''. Otha, the Emperor of Zemoch, is 1,900 years old and is described as looking like a slug due to his age and him not taking care of himself. Sephrenia, however, is stated to be at least several hundred years old, if not older (she teasingly mentions visiting a city more than 1,500 years ago), but looks to be in her mid-to-late 20s at most.
* [[spoiler:Jonathan Tulvey]] in ''Literature/TheBookOfLostThings''.
* Bobby Cross in ''Literature/GhostRoads'' gets this from a DealWithTheDevil. The youth he has to work out for himself...[[ImmortalityImmorality and he does]].
* Witches and Wizards in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series have a mild form of this. It isn't unusual for them to live to be 100, but they age at the same rate as everyone else. This results in disproportionate number of magic users being elderly. Windle Poons, a wizard who reached 130, was infirm from age for half his life.
* ''Literature/ImmortalsAfterDark'': Supporting character Elianna, born of an (non-aging) immortal and a human, is an apparently rare case of this. She seems to take it gracefully, though.
* In ''Literature/KushielsLegacy'', this is the fate of [[spoiler:Hyacinthe]] after he takes on the curse of [[spoiler:the Master of the Straits]]. Whereas the latter is TheAgeless -- and over 800 years old at the time -- the former is doomed to live until the curse is passed on to someone else. [[spoiler:Only after Phedre breaks the curse does he admit how ''terrified'' he was by the threat of an eternity alone, crippled by age, and utterly insane.]]
* [[EvilSorcerer Avshar]] is ''Literature/{{Videssos}}'' is ReallySevenHundredYearsOld and never stopped aging during that time; by the present of the novels, he's aged into a [[OurLichesAreDifferent lich]]-like creature explicitly compared to a walking corpse. Of course, thanks to his magic he still has the strength and vigor of a man in his prime and usually hides his true, skull-like visage behind a mask or veil, revealing it only when he wants to strike terror.

* Liches in ''LightNovel/AkashicRecordsOfBastardMagicInstructor'' have this form of immortality. One lich, [[spoiler:Henrietta]], hates and envies Celica for her immortality (which does come with agelessness).
* The Literature/LeftBehind book ''Kingdom Come'' has both that and OlderThanTheyLook going on, as in the Millennial Kingdom all "naturals" (those who have not received glorified bodies like Jesus) simply age at a decreased rate throughout the time period, with 100-year-olds looking no older than being in their early twenties before that time period. Eventually, age catches up with even the longest-living naturals, who are all believers in Jesus Christ, though at the end of the Millennium, all naturals who are believers are reverted to the prime of their adult youth as they are all given glorified bodies.
* The Wellsians in the ''[[Website/TheCrewOfTheCopperColoredCupids Copper-Colored Cupids]]'' short story ''The Resurrection of the Wellsians'' are able to stay alive in a state of hibernation for over a century, but are little more than mummies by the end of this (until [[MadScientist Mandragora]] uses [[AlchemyIsMagic alchemy]] to revive them).
* ''Literature/ExperimentalFilm'': Ever since Sidlo drew [[EldritchAbomination Lady Midday]]'s attention as a boy, she's been keeping him alive. He's over a hundred years old now and unable to die even though he wants to. He even quotes "Tithonus." Just looking at him makes Lois want to sign a DNR form on the spot.

[[quoteright:325:[[Comicbook/BuffyTheVampireSlayer https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/olddrac.jpg]] ]]

So someone wishes to be [[{{Immortality}} immortal]]--well, he'd better [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor be careful what he wishes for]]. Whereas some characters may be [[OlderThanTheyLook older than they look]] and actually [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld several hundred years old]], other characters look ''exactly'' how old they are... they simply keep [[BlessedWithSuck aging without dying]]. The most simple definition of "immortality" is "unending life." There's nothing about ''youth'' in there.

* In ''Anime/TheTwelveKingdoms'', those who become rulers or sennin (immortals) remain at the age they were at when their change in status took place. (Which means that some sennin are children and others are elderly, etc..) The elderly-looking sennins presumably have the same resistance to illness and injury that the other types of sennins have, and none of those we see in the series appear to be suffering (unless they've been deprived of food for a long while, as sennins can't starve, but can still lose body fat and feel hunger.)

* Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin's short story "The Island of the Immortals", in ''Literature/ChangingPlanes'', features an island where such [[{{Immortality}} immortals]] occasionally appear; though they may age quite slowly, they do not remain young forever. Worse, even the most grievous injuries cannot kill them [[spoiler: and eventually the sheer weight of suffering turns them into (very large) diamonds]].
* Jonathan Swift, ''Literature/GulliversTravels'': One of the kingdoms Gulliver encounters on his third voyage has the Struldbrugs, [[{{Immortality}} immortals]] who just get more senile and decrepit as they age.

* In ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'', The Oracle of Delphi is cursed with this trope by a [[JerkassGods Jerkass God]]. [[spoiler:She is later allowed to die when Apollo points Rachel Elizabeth Dare to replace her as Oracle.]]

* Space Vampires is the book that ''Film/{{Lifeforce}}'' above is based upon with similar results for those who don't feed soon enough.

* ''Series/{{Merlin 2008}}'': It happens to Merlin in the final episode.

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ZigZagged a bit in ''WebComic/KillSixBillionDemons'': All the non-Human species (Angels, Devils and Servants) are naturally TheAgeless and can't die of old age, but some of them can still grow, change and in some cases visibly age even though it will never kill them. Vladok, an Ebon Devil encountered early in book 2, has an aged and haggard appearance to represent how his power has vaned with the ages. [[spoiler:Mammon, a member of a dragon-like Servant race called the Kind People, is an extreme example; he's several millennia old and will never die, but his physical health and strength is fading, he's blind, and he's long since [[TheFogOfAges gone senile]].]]

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E2TheWitchsFamiliar "The Witch's Familiar"]] revealed that Daleks, barring death in battle, accidents, or disease, do get old eventually. But, their survive-at-any-cost ideology has compelled them to take this trope UpToEleven. Though it takes an '''extremely''' long time to happen, their organic bodies gradually become so decrepit that they ''melt into slime'', [[AndIMustScream still fully conscious]], and are unceremoniously flushed down into the sewers by the younger generations.

* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' turns this UpToEleven with Bonetail. He's so old that all of his flesh has fallen off, leaving [[{{Dracolich}} nothing but]] [[MeaningfulName bones]].

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Pray that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_immortality quantum immortality]] doesn't give you this.
* Well, every human being with above average lifespan (with the possible exception of Creator/GeorgeBurns[[note]]Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide refers to Burns as a "Fountain of Youth". When Burns in his lower nineties had to play a character in his lower eighties, Burns required aging makeup.[[/note]]) is the downplayed version of this trope. The longest-lived person in recorded history, Jeanne Calment, died at the age of 122, which meant she spent a greater part of her life in old age than in youth.
[[/folder]]

* Creator/MarvelComics moved in this direction for a few characters. [[ComicBook/GhostRider Cosmic Ghost Rider]] was a rather old [[ComicBook/ThePunisher Frank Castle]] who looked late 50s or early 60s when he made the deal with Mephisto. Centuries after that he made a deal with Galactus for the Power Cosmic and then he hung with Thanos for millions of years, so now he lost muscle mass and looks like an Amish grandpa. ComicBook/IncredibleHulk is immortal but it took only a few decades (despite being in suspended animation) to get a bunch of wrinkles and watch his hair go as the ComicBook/{{Maestro}}. Jason Aaron's ComicBook/TheMightyThor will live well into the ending of the universe, when most stars have collapsed and almost every other god is dead, and he's looking older than his father.

[[caption-width-right:325:One of the things that [[StealthPun sucks]] about being a vampire.]]

** The comics make this even more confusing by revealing that the master was actually sired by an Old One, but not the Old One who was the progenitor of vampires(who also appears) meaning the Master's appearance may not have anything to do with age and casting doubt on whether he and his bloodline are even really vampires or just something similar.

** Quite a few of the Dark Eldar are thousands of years old (far beyond even the naturally long Eldar lifespan). They maintain the appearance of youth and vitality through advanced technology and glamour. Psykers and daemons can see them for what they truly are: dessicated ancient monsters.
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' (and by extension ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'') has an interesting inversion with druids. at 15th level they get the Timeless Body ability which means they stop aging (presumably at whatever age they were when they got the ability) and get the mental benefits of old age without the physical drawbacks. They still die of old age when their normal lifespan is up though.

* In the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts series's, Famous Wizard and Alchemist, Nicolas Flamel and his wife have lived for centuries, thanks to the Elixir of Life produced from the Sorcerer's Stone, but they still age like mortal beings. If they should ever stop taking the elixir, which happens when the stone is destroyed, they will eventually die from very, very old age - something they [[WhoWantsToLiveForever both heartily desire]].

*** The Master artificially ages the Doctor in order to show the Doctor's appearance if he never regenerated and really looked all of his 900 years. This results in the Doctor turning into a creature resembling the offspring of [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Gollum]] and a [[Film/HarryPotter House Elf]]. The concept art of his aging originally intended him to look [[http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Doctor-who-concept-art-doctor-who-179742_730_400.jpgrather like]] [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/StarWarsYoda Yoda]].

*** The Master artificially ages the Doctor in order to show the Doctor's appearance if he never regenerated and really looked all of his 900 years. This results in the Doctor turning into a creature resembling the offspring of [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Gollum]] and a [[Film/HarryPotter House Elf]].

* In the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts series's, Famous Wizard and Alchemist, Nicolas Flamel and his wife have lived for centuries, thanks to the Elixir of Life produced from the Sorcerer's Stone, but they still age like mortal beings. If they should ever stop taking the elixir, which happens when the stone is destroyed, they will eventually die from very, very old age.