History Main / OlderIsBetter

** Even relatively modern instruments are affected by this. Look at electric guitars for instance; the Gibson Les Paul Standard (which was produced from 1958-1961) costs on average over $300,000 apiece. Practically any article dealing with these guitars comes to the conclusion that they are some of the best instruments ever created, and contain an undefinable x-factor that bests the virtually identical reissues that also cost a small fortune.

The idea, especially in Fantasy settings, that older things generally are better. The swords left behind by the old civilization are better than those made by their modern decendants. Same goes for armor, magic, or whatever. Anything that can be described as "ancient" is better than it's modern counterpart, like if people are regressing rather than inventing new technologies and improving on old ideas. In fact, this technology is so superior that it continues to outperform modern one [[RagnarokProofing despite spending a dozen centuries half buried in dirt in a cave]]. This can be explained by a setting with MedievalStasis: if technology is not advancing, then older items made by legendary craftsmen will be better than modern gear made by run-of-the-mill craftsmen. Sometimes this can also be explained by the source of the items being a {{Precursor}} race or Civilization, with the "modern" civilization having simply not caught up to them yet.

The idea, especially in Fantasy settings, that older things generally are better. The swords left behind by the old civilization are better than those made by their modern decendants. Same goes for armor, magic, or whatever. Anything that can be described as "ancient" is better than it's modern counterpart, like if people are uregressing rather than inventing new technologies and improving on old ideas. In fact, this technology is so superior that it continues to outperform modern one [[RagnarokProofing despite spending a dozen centuries half buried in dirt in a cave]]. This can be explained by a setting with MedievalStasis: if technology is not advancing, then older items made by legendary craftsmen will be better than modern gear made by run-of-the-mill craftsmen. Sometimes this can also be explained by the source of the items being a {{Precursor}} race or Civilization, with the "modern" civilization having simply not caught up to them yet.

The idea, especially in Fantasy settings, that older things generally are better. The swords left behind by the old civilization are better than those made by their modern decendants. Same goes for armor, magic, or whatever. Anything that can be described as "ancient" is better than it's modern counterpart, like if people are regressing rather than inventing new technologies and improving on old ideas. In fact, this technology is so superior that it continues to outperform modern one [[RagnarokProofing despite spending a dozen centuries half buried in dirt in a cave]]. This can be explained by a setting with MedievalStasis: if technology is not advancing, then older items made by legendary craftsmen will be better than modern gear made by run-of-the-mill craftsmen. Sometimes this can also be explained by the source of the items being a {{Precursor}} race or Civilization, with the "modern" civilization having simply not caught up to them yet.

* The sound produced by violins and similarly-shaped instruments takes on a noticeably different timbre if they were constructed a very long time ago; the aging of the wood changes the dampening profile of the resonating chamber. This is one reason Stradivarius violins are so sought-after: Not only was Antonio Stradivari a highly skilled craftsman, but his violins are now over three centuries old.

* AncestralWeapon (sometimes)

* In ''DiabloII'' (and clones) all of the items with more obscure ancient names are for some reason better. A falchion is better than a stock broadsword, even though broadswords proved to be the most effective weapon through Darwinian means. Its why they are still around, because they work and the old stuff doesn't.

->'''Kathrena:''' "Flintlocke, I don't know if this quest you found for the ''ultimate goblin engineered weapon'' is legitimate. It's written in crayon."
->'''Flintlocke:''' "''ANCIENT'' crayon!"

* AncestralWeapon

** Mumm-Ra himself might be an example of this trope. Part of his BadAss-ness stems from the fact that he's a thousand years old.

* In ''{{Yu-Gi-Oh}}'', the older the magic, the better. This is especially seen in the Waking the Dragons arc. Got 500 year old magic? Too bad, my magic is ''1,000'' years old.

Do not confuse with the RealLife nostalgia due to [[{{ptitle8170np5c6iu6}} They Don't Make Them Like They Used To]].

* ''LordOfTheRings'': Ancient Elven and Numenorian weapons are better than modern day Gondorian and Elven ones. The Silmarils were made by one of the most ancient elves, Feanor, and nothing created since rivals their beauty. Likewise, the modern-day dwarves of the Misty Mountain haven't managed to match the weapons and armour that were made by their ancestors, whose techniques were lost when Smaug killed them.

* ''LordOfTheRings'': Ancient Elven and numenorian weapons are better than modern day Gondorian and Elven ones. The Silmarils were made by one of the most ancient elves, Faenor, and nothing created since rivals their beauty.
* ''HarryPotter'': The Elder Wand[[hottip:*:Elder being the wood it is made from, not a reference to it's age.]] is the best wand, and despite wandcraft having ostensibly advanced since it's creation, several centuries ago, no wand made since can match it. Same for [[spoiler:Harry's invisibility cloak]] which is both older and superior to all of it's kind, even those made more recently. So superior are they that this gave birth to legends of these items being made by Death itself, and not by wizards like they were truly made.

* {{Runescape}} has a lot of equipment originating from thousands of years past the current year of the game and these are some of the best equipment available...usually.

!!!Examples:

* A standard trope in ''DungeonsAndDragons''. If something is described as "Ancient", there is a 90% chance its better than it's modern equivalent.
* ''TheElderScrolls'' roll on this. Ancient Dwemer and Elven armors are better than modern day armors, despite being made (ostensibly) from the same kind of materials. Only armors made of specifically rarer material, such as Glass, Ebony or Daedric Ebony, are better.
* ''LordOfTheRings'': Ancient Elven and numenorian weapons are better than modern day Gondorian and Elven ones. The Silmarils were made by one of the most ancient elves, Faenor, and nothing created since rivals their beauty.
* ''HarryPotter'': The Elder Wand[[hottip:*:Elder being the wood it is made from, not a reference to it's age.]] is the best wand, and despite wandcraft having ostensibly advanced since it's creation, several centuries ago, no wand made since can match it. Same for [[spoiler:Harry's invisibility cloak]] which is both older and superior to all of it's kind, even those made more recently. So superior are they that this gave birth to legends of these items being made by Death itself, and not by wizards like they were truly made.
** Interesting, because HarryPotter seems to generally avert the trope: Magic evolves like science does. New discoveries are made. This is evident with Broomsticks: newer broomsticks are better for example: The Nimbus 2001 is better than the Nimbus 2000, who are both outdone by the more modern Firebolt.
* Played with in [[http://pc.gamespy.com/articles/583/583805p1.html this Flintlocke cartoon]]:
->'''Kathrena:''' "Flintlocke, I don't know if this quest you found for the ''ultimate goblin engineered weapon'' is legitimate. It's written in crayon."
->'''Flintlocke:''' "''ANCIENT'' crayon!"

* Obviously very prominent in ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' - not only They Don't Make Them Like They Used To - ancient magic weapons and eldar artifacts benefit from 'ancientness' as much as human technology.
* A major element in the ''BattleTech'' and ''MechWarrior'' universe. Most of the galaxy's technological and industrial base ended up getting smashed in a lengthy series of civil war, losing them the ability to produce their highly advanced technology. Thus, newer mechs tend to be less capable in combat when paired up against similar mechs that were built hundreds of years earlier. Of course, if you HAVE such an old (but powerful) mech, you try to make sure it gets the best of maintenance so it will continue to be the best.