History Main / ElixirOfLife

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "The Last Defender of Camelot", Myth/{{Merlin}} has Lancelot give him an elixir of life after he awakens from his 1,000 years of sleep so that he can regain his strength. After Merlin removes the enchantment granting Lancelot immortality, Lancelot drinks the rest of the elixir as he has learned caution in his extremely long life and suspected that Merlin might betray him.

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* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': The sun orchid elixir will restore its drinker's physical age to that of its species' young adults, allowing potentially unending life if drunk once every few decades. Because of this, and because the secret of its making is a closely kept secret and sun orchids are ''vanishingly'' rare, it's far and away the most expensive and desired product in Golarion.

Common in older folklore, the Elixir of Life is a stock element of {{Magic}} which grants renewed life to whoever drinks it. This may range from {{Panacea}} to a true ImmortalityInducer that doubles as a FountainOfYouth. Indeed, in cases where an example of said Fountain is not inherently magical, its properties come from the fact that it is Elixir of Life springing from it as opposed to water.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'': This shows up twice:

Said to be related to the PhilosophersStone in UsefulNotes/{{alchem|y}}ical lore, though this was not always its origins in myths and legends. NoImmortalInertia and/or RapidAging are likely to occur if a repeated user stops taking elixir. Subtrope of MagicPotion. Compare HealingPotion (which sometimes overlap).

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*** The most common avenue of "research" for ancient Chinese alchemists involved mercury and its ore, cinnabar. For reasons partly mystical and partly unknown, they believed that mercury was their best shot at immortality, and got many powerful people--including several emperors--to believe them. For nearly 2,000 years--from the first emperor of a united China, UsefulNotes/QinShihuangdi, in the third century BCE,[[note]]Who was, for reference, a rough contemporary of UsefulNotes/HannibalBarca, [[UsefulNotes/PunicWars Quintus Fabius, and Scipio Africanus]][[/note]] to the Yongzheng Emperor of Qing (the very last Chinese imperial dynasty) in the 18th century CE[[note]]For reference, he was a rough contemporary of [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfHanover George I]], [[UsefulNotes/LEtatCestMoi Louis XV]], and UsefulNotes/PeterTheGreat[[/note]]--the alchemists somehow managed to kill at least a dozen emperors and many others besides with the same mercury-based elixirs (and [[RoyallyScrewedUp driving them all mad as hatters]] in the process).

*** The most common avenue of "research" for ancient Chinese alchemists involved mercury and its ore, cinnabar. For reasons partly mystical and partly unknown, they believed that mercury was their best shot at immortality, and got many powerful people--including several emperors--to believe them. For nearly 2,000 years--from the first emperor of a united China, UsefulNotes/QinShihuangdi, in the third century BCE,[[note]]Who was, for reference, a rough contemporary of UsefulNotes/HannibalBarca and [[UsefulNotes/PunicWars Scipio Africanus]][[/note]] to the Yongzheng Emperor of Qing (the very last Chinese imperial dynasty) in the 18th century CE[[note]]For reference, he was a rough contemporary of [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfHanover George I]], [[UsefulNotes/LEtatCestMoi Louis XV]], and UsefulNotes/PeterTheGreat[[/note]]--the alchemists somehow managed to kill at least a dozen emperors and many others besides with the same mercury-based elixirs (and [[RoyallyScrewedUp driving them all mad as hatters]] in the process).

*** The most common avenue of "research" for ancient Chinese alchemists involved mercury and its ore, cinnabar. For reasons partly mystical and partly unknown, they believed that mercury was their best shot at immortality, and got many powerful people--including several emperors--to believe them. For nearly 2,000 years--from the first emperor of a united China, UsefulNotes/QinShihuangdi, in the third century BCE,[[note]]Who was, for reference, a rough contemporary of UsefulNotes/HannibalBarca and [[UsefulNotes/PunicWars Scipio Africanus]][[/note]] to an emperor of the very last Chinese imperial dynasty in the 18th century CE[[note]]For reference, he was a rough contemporary of [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfHanover George I]], [[UsefulNotes/LEtatCestMoi Louis XV]], and UsefulNotes/PeterTheGreat[[/note]]--the alchemists somehow managed to kill at least a dozen emperors and many others besides with the same mercury-based elixirs (and [[RoyallyScrewedUp driving them all mad as hatters]] in the process).

*** The most common avenue of "research" for ancient Chinese alchemists involved mercury and its ore, cinnabar. For reasons partly mystical and partly unknown, they believed that mercury was their best shot at immortality, and got many powerful people--including several emperors--to believe them. For nearly 2,000 years--from the first emperor of a united China, UsefulNotes/QinShihuangdi, in the third century BCE, to an emperor of the very last Chinese imperial dynasty in the 18th century CE--the alchemists somehow managed to kill at least a dozen emperors and many others besides with the same mercury-based elixirs (and [[RoyallyScrewedUp driving them all mad as hatters]] in the process).

Said to be related to the PhilosophersStone in UsefulNotes/{{alchem|y}}ical lore, though this was not always its origins in myths and legends. NoImmortalInertia and/or RapidAging are likely to occur if a repeated user stops taking elixir. Subtrope of MagicPotion.

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[[caption-width-right:350: A simplified diagram.]]

* In ''ComicBook/TheFurtherAdventuresOfIndianaJones'' #3, Indy meets an alchemist by the name of Prospero and his grandson. Prospero claims to have brewed an elixir of immortality, and to be [[Really700YearsOld 400 years old while his grandson is 200]]. By the end of the story, Indy is convinced.

* In ''Fanfic/LegacySekiroKimetsuNoYaiba'', Tamayo gives Wolf regular doses of a medicine developed by her grandfather Dogen to keep Wolf alive in his vigil over the Mortal Blade. As a result, Wolf no longer needs to eat, drink, [[TheSleepless or sleep]] to survive, nor will he age or sicken so long as he continues taking the drug. However, he falls short of CompleteImmortality in that he can still be slain, which is a comfort to him, as he shudders to think about the possibility of an unkillable Shura should he ever give into his innate urges.

*** The most common avenue of "research" for ancient Chinese alchemists involved cinnabar and mercury. For reasons partly mystical and partly unknown, they believed that mercury was their best shot at immortality, and got many powerful people--including several emperors--to believe them. For nearly 2,000 years--from the first emperor of a united China, UsefulNotes/QinShihuangdi, in the third century BCE, to an emperor of the very last Chinese imperial dynasty in the 18th century CE--the alchemists somehow managed to kill at least a dozen emperors and many others besides with the same mercury-based elixirs (and [[RoyallyScrewedUp driving them all mad as hatters]] in the process).

Said to be related to the PhilosophersStone in [[UsefulNotes/{{Alchemy}} alchemical]] lore, though this was not always its origins in myths and legends. NoImmortalInertia and/or RapidAging are likely to occur if a repeated user stops taking elixir.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In the fanfic scenario ''Literature/StarWarsGalacticFolkloreAndMythology'', an old alchemist of the Givin species is said to have developed the Elixir of Life. Unfortunately, while it reversed his physical age, it also robbed him of the wisdom that (supposedly) comes naturally with age, and he wound up getting knocked dead after stupidly starting a fight with a man twice his size.
[[/folder]]

** Drinking a Potion of Longevity reduces the drinker's age by 1-12 years. However, each time one is drunk there's a 1% cumulative chance that the effect will be reversed, causing the drinker to become their true age. If this happens to someone who's extremely old, they can die of RapidAging on the spot.
** Drinking an Elixir of Youth causes the drinker to become 2-5 years younger, with no chance of side effects.