History Main / ImmortalsFearDeath

* In ''[[Literature/ZeusIsDead Zeus Is Dead: A Monstrously Inconvenient Adventure]]'', the fact that ''some''one figured out a way to ''kill'' Zeus freaks out the entire rest of the pantheon to the point where even talking about the murder becomes taboo.

** AvertedTrope when it comes to Fujiwara no Mokou who is a DeathSeeker. Unfortunately for her, her immortality is also several orders of magnitudes above that of the Lunarians, (to the extent that they consider it just as bad as mortality,) being less of the "[[TheAgeless won't ever grow old or sick]]" variety and more of the "[[CompleteImmortality won't ever die, ever, to any at all method, no matter what]]" variety.

* ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'': while Puss is not fully immortal, due to having 9 lives, he had never contemplated his mortality and acquired a reputation for "[[ArcWords laughing in the face of death]]". When Puss realizes that he has foolishly wasted 8 lives already and is confronted by a mysterious [[SavageWolf lupine]] BountyHunter [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter who has his number in combat]], Puss becomes [[JustForPun deathly]] terrified as he realizes that the Reaper is getting too close for comfort - [[spoiler:'''literally''', since the wolf is actually [[TheGrimReaper Death itself]], having finally grown sick and tired of his shenanigans]].

* An interesting variation in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': At first [[spoiler:[[GooGooGodlike The Collector]]]] acts completely nonchalant about others showing worry that he might kill them in his "games", claiming that "Toys break all the time, you just repair them". But later, when [[spoiler: Luz performs an HeroicSacrifice to shield him from Belos' attack]], he tries to bring her back with a snap of his fingers, to no effect. At this point it dawns of him what dying actually means and he completely breaks down in fear that any other of his friends could die.

* An interesting variation in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': At first [[spoiler:The Collector]] acts completely nonchalant about others showing worry that he might kill them in his "games", claiming that "Toys break all the time, you just repair them". But later, when [[spoiler: Luz performs an HeroicSacrifice to shield him from Belos' attack]], he tries to bring her back with a snap of his fingers, to no effect. At this point it dawns of him what dying actually means and he completely breaks down in fear that any other of his friends could die.

* BjgBad Odin in ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok'' is characterized as a ControlFreak desperate to learn everything there is possible to know and subjugate anyone who'd oppose him on this path from an abject fear of death. He explains to Atreus that, while mortal souls have afterlives to go to, no one knows where the souls of gods go, and he has a VillainousBreakdown in the climax at being denied what he believes to be definitive answers.

* Implied with [[spoiler:Davey Jones]] in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd''. After giving his CatchPhrase "Do you fear death?", Jack retorts "Do ''you''?" [[spoiler:when he's about to stab his heart]].

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Immortals don't die so much as periodically reset, reverting back to a base version of themselves. But all their accumulated power and experiences do die in the process. Pandora was terrified of this, because it meant [[spoiler: she'd forget her husband, a mortal knight killed by bandits, and their son, for whom she vowed to make the world a better place.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': Said by Bruce Wayne to Ra's Al-Gul, a man who uses the [[FountainOfYouth Lazarus Pits]] to stave off death. "You don't cheat death, you whimper in fear of it." He then went even further, as [[spoiler:Ra's [[FamilialBodySnatcher took Talia's body]], killing her mentally in the process, presumably because his own body finally gave out.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', [[BigBad Bill Cipher]], a being who has been stated to have lived for at least a ''trillion'' years, [[VillainousBreakdown completely and utterly breaks down]] when [[spoiler:the heroes finally find a way to kill him, reduced to [[VillainsWantMercy begging for his life and offering them anything in return for letting him go]]. [[ApocalypseHow Considering the shit he pulled on them]], they don't [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu buy it]]]].

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': [[spoiler:[[BigBad Yhwach's]] greatest fear is eventually revealed to be his own death. All his horrific actions, from [[YourSoulIsMine absorbing the souls of people]] to his attempt to [[MergedReality merge all worlds]] and [[PrimordialChaos return them to their original state]], a stagnant existence where the concept of death would no longer exist, were performed for the sole purpose of avoiding his own death.]]

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': [[spoiler:[[BigBad Yhwach's]] greatest fear is eventually revealed to be his own death. All his horrific actions, from [[YourSoulIsMine absorbing the souls of people]] to his attempt to [[PrimordialChaos merge all worlds and return them to their original state]], a stagnant existence where the concept of death would no longer exist, were performed for the sole purpose of avoiding his own death.]]

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnon San]] used to never worry about dying due to Ghidorah's ability to always [[FromASingleCell regenerate from leftover pieces whenever it died]]. But in Chapter 5, he becomes terrified by the idea that that might no longer apply due to him effectively turning himself into an ArtificialHybrid by fusing to Vivienne Graham, and that he could now die permanently, not least because his attempt to read Vivienne's memories of her temporary death [[CessationOfExistence didn't show anything]].

** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E17E18TheEndOfTime "The End of Time"]], Time Lord president Rassilon, who is a historical legend for creating time travel and being immortal, is faced with the extinction of his race in the time war and ends up bellowing that he refuses to die no matter what. In fact, he'll destroy the current universe and AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence before accepting death.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'': Ambassador Kosh admits to this shortly before [[spoiler: his assassination]], saying "When you've lived as long as I have, you... you kind of get used to it."

* It's implied in the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' universe that the Q fear the very thought of being mortal to the point where it's considered a major punishment for them. [[Series/StarTrekVoyager When one of them decided]] he wanted to die, they imprisoned him in a comet rather than see what would happen. The ExpandedUniverse reveals that they also fear that death brings either utter ceasing of existence for them, or that [[AlwaysABiggerFish there's something more powerful than them waiting in the afterlife.]]

* In the ''Literature/ParaImperium'' series the Federation of Parahuman Species discourages memetic deviation by removing the anti-aging NanoMachines of those who adopt ideologies deemed "problematic" and then exiling them.

* ''FanFic/TheImmortalGame'': According to [[BigBad Titan]] and [[EvilMatriarch Terra]], the first rule of immortality is that immortals eventually die; it seems this was their way of teaching Celestia and Luna to stay on their toes (er, hooves) and never let their guards down. [[spoiler: And it's eventually proven true when Twilight [[BroughtDownToNormal strips Titan of his power]] and kills him.]]

* In ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', Gravemoss is a 1500 year old AxCrazy {{Necromancer}} whose ultimate goal is to [[OmnicidalManiac kill everyone and everything]]. However, the prospect of his own death absolutely terrifies him, and as such he [[DirtyCoward always runs]] from any fight where he doesn't automatically have an advantage.
* In ''Fanfic/Digimon02TheStoryWeNeverTold'', their reaction probably wasn’t helped by the fact that they were in their emotionally immature In-Training forms, but Upamon and Demiveemon basically break down and cry when [[spoiler:they learn that not only will Ken not come back in the human equivalent of ‘Primary Village’ after his death, but that all of their human partners and friends will eventually die and leave them for good no matter what the Digimon do to protect them]].
* In ''Fanfic/AvengerOfSteel'', while Thor isn't afraid of death in the sense that he's afraid of dying, considering that he's from a warrior culture that glorifies death in battle, he's notably shaken when he learns that Superman’s adopted human father died of a ‘heart attack’, as it marks the first time Thor realised just how fragile mortals could be to die if they simply don’t eat the right kind of food.
* In the ''Series/Lucifer2016'' fic "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/36162718/ The Devil and His Urchin]]", as with Thor above, Lucifer is less afraid of dying himself as he is at the thought of his new family being separated from him by death. This is particularly relevant for Lucifer as Trixie is his daughter in this version of events; operating on the assumption that Trixie is mortal (although [[spoiler:she has manifested wings]]), Lucifer is resolved to ensure that she will never go to Hell, but this means she will go to Heaven and he will never be able to see her again himself.

** [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist The anime]] plays it straight with BigBad [[spoiler:Dante]], who is conditionally immortal, motivated by the desire to live forever, and continues to commit monstrous deeds to prolong her life through alchemy. The anime's homunculi, however, invert it: None of them are shown to fear death and most of them embrace it: [[spoiler:Greed]] chooses to kill himself out of spite towards his creator, [[spoiler:Sloth, Envy and Wrath]] are almost happy when they die, while [[spoiler:Lust]] realizes that ToBecomeHuman means to die and thus embraces her death as the final step of her apotheosis. The anime incarnation of Van Hohenheim has also stopped fearing death [[spoiler:and thus stopped {{Body Surf}}ing, intending to die with his current body. He ultimately sacrifices himself in TheMovie to aid Ed]].

* In the ''Series/Lucifer2019'' fic "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/36162718/ The Devil and His Urchin]]", as with Thor above, Lucifer is less afraid of dying himself as he is at the thought of his new family being separated from him by death. This is particularly relevant for Lucifer as Trixie is his daughter in this version of events; operating on the assumption that Trixie is mortal (although [[spoiler:she has manifested wings]]), Lucifer is resolved to ensure that she will never go to Hell, but this means she will go to Heaven and he will never be able to see her again himself.

* [[SpaceElves The Lunarians]] of ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' were originally humans who managed to identify impurity as the cause of mortality, and death as the greatest source of impurity. So, in order to escape their own natural deaths, they relocated to the untainted moon, erected a habitable pocket dimension on it, and became TheAgeless for their efforts. And everything would be fine and dandy about that if it wasn't for the fact that, due to the above mentioned way mortality works in ''Touhou'', the Lunarians' thanatophobia goes hand in hand with ''xenophobia''; they not only fear death but are also [[FantasticRacism intensely racist]] [[PureIsNotGood toward all things impure/mortal]] and have considered "[[DeadlyEuphemism purifying]]" the Earth on several occasions just to make sure none of Earth's impurity will ever reach them.

* The Brunnen-G of ''Series/{{Lexx}}'' discovered how to [[TheAgeless halt the aging process]]. Since death was no longer inevitable, most of the Brunnen-G became extremely paranoid of anything that could threaten their lives, to the point that they wouldn't even leave their homes. Ironically, the same Brunnen-G who cringed in fear of anything that might kill them felt [[WhoWantsToLiveForever nothing but relief]] when faced with inevitable death again in the form of His Divine Shadow. It was less death itself and more ''uncertainty'' that the Brunnen-G feared.

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' villain Annihilus was, for the longest time, so terrified of dying that [[OmnicidalManiac he wanted to kill everything that wasn't him]] just so nothing could kill him first. [[spoiler:Then his latest incarnation discovered an interesting quirk about the Negative Zone: death is immediately followed by resurrection. He quickly grew disenchanted with the endless cycle of death and resurrection and actually ''wanted'' to die.]]
* The immortal ComicBook/VandalSavage in the pre-New 52 continuity once had a huge breakdown when a brain tumor threatened to end his life in a matter of days. He notes that he finally understands why mortals worked so hard to delay their own deaths. A combination of the brain tumor itself messing with his ability to think and the fear of impending death drives him to enact an insane scheme to take down at least ''one'' of his hated foes with him.
* Referenced in Creator/KieronGillen's ComicBook/IronMan run. Malekith of TheFairFolk offers to briefly join forces with Tony because his life is in danger, which he outright says is a much bigger deal for ''him'' than some short-lived mortal.

[[folder:Film — Animated]]
* Mother Gothel of ''{{WesternAnimation/Tangled}}'' keeps herself forever young by the power of Rapunzel's hair, but fears aging and losing her youth.

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
* [[spoiler:Ego]] from ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'', having disregarded mortal life as irrelevant due to his millennia of existence, when it becomes ''very apparent'' that he's about to die, he's reduced to begging Peter not to let it happen.