History Main / LivingLegend

* Literature/CiaphasCain, Hero of the Imperium! Much to his regret.

Sometimes the Living Legend's reputation is non-specific and he's ShroudedInMyth. Sometimes it's very specific and everyone calls him [[NeverLiveItDown "The Butcher of X"]].

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

** Kang, Kor and Koloth, who were all introduced in Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries, are living legends in ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'', at least until the episodes that feature their deaths.

** Auron is sort of an example since he is considered a legendary guardian. "Sort of", since [[spoiler:he isn't technically "living".]]

** This is discussed in ''Videogame/FalloutNewVegas'' in the Lonesome Road DLC in regards to Legate Lanius. According to Ulysses, Lanius' greatest weapon is his personal legacy as an indomitable warlord feared both by the NCR and the Legion, with Caesar going out of his way to make him more mysterious (thus justifying [[MultipleChoiceBackstory the conflicting details of his past]]). However, this also means that Lanius is deeply afraid of defeat since a single loss will damage his reputation, meaning that by sowing doubt within his mind [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath he can be convinced to retreat]].

* ''Franchise/MassEffect:'' Commander Shepard starts the game as somewhat famous, enough to warrant the Council having taken interest in them for several years for possible Spectre candidacy, as well as earn themselves a rather over-eager LoonyFan. Depending on your [[MultipleChoicePast choices at the start of the game]], Shepard can also be hailed as "[[YouShallNotPass The Hero of Elysium]]" or feared as "[[TheButcher The Butcher of Torfan]]". By the end of the first game, s/he is ridiculously famous after saving the galaxy. In the second game, it's mentioned that during the two year interim while they were being resurrected by Cerberus, most worlds erected memorial gardens dedicated to them and with the Colonist background, their image now adorns the colonial seal of their homeworld, while a BrokenBase has formed over those who feel joy and betrayed by their return from the dead. In the third game, when the Reapers do return and Shepard's warnings are vindicated, s/he becomes a inspiration and symbol of hope to humanity and all of the other species involved in the war effort. The epilogue of the third game has it revealed that [[spoiler: Shepard is remembered and venerated far into the future as "The Shepard", although the precise details of their legend [[ShroudedInMyth have been lost to time]]]].

* ''Franchise/MassEffect:'' Commander Shepard starts the game as somewhat famous, enough to warrant the Council having taken interest in them for several years for possible Spectre candidacy, as well as earn themselves a rather over-eager LoonyFan. Depending on your [[MultipleChoicePast choices at the start of the game]], Shepard can also be hailed as "[[YouShallNotPass The Hero of Elysium]]" or feared as "[[TheButcher The Butcher of Torfan]]". By the end of the first game, s/he is ridiculously famous after saving the galaxy. In the second game, it's mentioned that during the two year interim while they were being resurrected by Cerberus, most worlds erected memorial gardens dedicated to them and with the Colonist background, their image now adorns the colonial seal of their homeworld, while a BrokenBase has formed over those who feel joy and betrayed by their return from the dead. The epilogue of the third game has it revealed that [[spoiler: Shepard is remembered and venerated far into the future as "The Shepard", although the precise details of their legend [[ShroudedInMyth have been lost to time]]]].

* Some very old actors and actresses from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood (or famous actors and actresses of other countries) such as Creator/KirkDouglas and Creator/OliviaDeHavilland. Both reached age 102 in 2018.

* ''Film/JohnWick'' is an assassin so [[TheDreaded dreaded]] among the criminal underworld, TheDon acts as if his son pissing John off is practically a death sentence. Because it ''is''.

* Athos from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe'' is specifically referred to as a Living Legend in-game.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': Harry Dresden, who is considered to be TheDreaded by his enemies, has done everything from killing a faerie queen (beings that are beyond any mortal wizard in power) to [[RaisingtheSteaks raising a T-Rex]]. This is all before he is 40, and he is considered one of the top 30 most powerful wizards on the planet. Bear in mind Dresdenverse wizards don't really come into their full power until they're 100 years old at least.

* V, from ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'', deliberately invokes this in order to bring down the Norsefire government.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Web Animation]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

** [[GentlemanAdventurer Othar Trygvassen]], '''GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER''' is well known.

** Agatha Heterodyne, Gilgamesh Wulfenbach, and Tarvek Sturmvoraus are all rapidly earning reputations.
*** By the time Agatha get to Paris, two and a half years after she first becomes famous, there is a [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20150529#.Vu8OHOKLTIU Heterodyne hat]], an [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20150601#.Vu8OMeKLTIU opera]] based on her and Gil's romance, ''[[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20150603#.Vu8OcOKLTIU "Naughty Agatha Steam Pantalettes - in seven scandalous colours!"]]'', and [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20150603#.Vu8OcOKLTIU multiple volumes]] of [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20151026#.Vu8PVeKLTIU multiple series]] of romance novels/erotica about her - of the two series mentioned, one is on Volume 12 and the other on Volume 14.

* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', the player character becomes one once he/she is revealed to be the last Dragonborn.

* To the women's gymnastics fans of the world -- and its athletes -- Oksana Alexandrovna Chusovitina is this. While it is these days not unusual for an athlete to compete for around a decade, or even longer -- see Beth Tweddle, Catalina Ponor, etc. for proof -- ''nobody'' has been around as long as "Mama Chuso". Her first international elite competition was in ''1989''. She has since gone to seven (read that again: ''seven'') Olympic Games, the first in 1992, and seems to be aiming for her ''eighth''. And her performance hasn't gone downhill whatsoever[[labelnote:*]]She has fallen in the rankings somewhat simply due to the constant increase in difficulty, but she is still doing the same skills she did in the '90s, almost as well as she did them then[[/labelnote]]; she won silver on the vault at the 2011 world championships and made the Olympic vault finals in both London and Rio. At 37 and ''41''. In a sport where women's careers have roughly the lifespan of a gnat and tend to be over by the time the gymnast hits her mid-20s, she is not just extraordinary but in fact in violation of all known laws of physics. To put this in perspective, when she made her international debut, most of her current competition had not yet been ''born''.[[note]]In Rio, the rest of the gold-medal winning Team USA called their captain Aly Raisman "Grandma Aly". Aly was all of ''22.''[[/note]] She can literally say that she's been doing this since her opponents were in diapers.

** Also in the Metal Gear Series, there is "The Boss" the Legendary Soldier that definitively won World War 2, "Big Boss" the Legendary Mercenary who ended up establishing the general political atmosphere of the Cold War Era, and Solid Snake's own title was the "Legendary Hero" for defeating countless rogue terrorist cells among others. When they were still alive, utmost respect, fear, and admiration is giving to them until they were succeeded by the next Living Legend.

* Gekiga pioneer Yoshihiro Tatsumi covered this in his autobiography "A Drifting Life": Creator/Osamu Tezuka was considered a god-like genius by his peers even before he hit age 30 or became a national icon. Nowadays Tezuka is considered the Father of Manga and is credited with creating, codifying, and laying the foundations for much, if not most, of modern Japanese comics and animation. His eventual death almost overshadowed the death of Emperor Hirohito, who died the month before him. He is strongly associated in Japanese history with the Showa period and, as the 90s were coined by recession, his death is coincident with the EndOfAnEra.

* ''Film/JohnWick'' is an assassin so [[TheDreaded dreaded]] among the criminal underworld, TheDon acts as if his son pissing John off, is practically a death sentence. Because it ''is''.

* In ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' Jack Raken is a living legend able to destroy pocket dimensions by flexing as well as willing himself back into existence

* Thorkell "The Tall" is this in ''Manga/VinlandSaga'', being renown throughout Scandinavia and the Danelaw for being the WorldsStrongestMan. The Danish army has a collective OhCrap moment when they're being told that he's decided to fight for the underdog English because VictoryIsBoring, and [[spoiler:having beaten Thorkell in a duel gives main character Thorfinn enough cred to have him saddled with the nickname "Karlsefni" (roughly translated as "Man of great skill").]]