History Main / TheAgeless

Compare LongLived, ReallySevenHundredYearsOld. Contrast LifeDrinker, which involves stealing lifeforce from victims to maintain immortality, rather than the non-aging being an innate trait to begin with.

* Literature/UnnamedMemory: All witches have stopped aging at the time they became witches. Tinasha became one at the age of 13 and only aged up a couple times to heal near fatal injuries, making her 430 years old but physically 19 during the main story. It is later made clear that witches ''can'' resume their aging if they decide to, however. [[spoiler:Which is what Tinasha opts to do when she marries Oscar, so that she can die of old age by his side.]]

It should be noted that what we call "dying from old age" is actually an accumulation of small illnesses and damages to the body, which result in the immune system either getting weaker or overwhelmed until it gets defeated. The Ageless is thus someone who is simply immune to these low-scale sickness though [[FridgeLogic it raises questions as to where the immunity starts and where it stops]].

* While some creatures, such as Dragons and [[ADungeonIsYou Living Dungeons]], are innately ageless-immortals, there are many pathways that any sapient mortal can attempt to achieve agelessness. None of these paths are easy and the afterlife is both verified to exist and generally pleasant for most people, so there is less incentive to pursue immortality than you might think.

*** Which would have been coherent with the rule for Ainurs, as Morgoth is said to have created the dragons by giving these kinds of new bodies (unwinged, then at the very end of the War of Great Wrath, the winged ones, Ancalagon being the first-born and all-time biggest one of all dragons) to malevolent Maiar. Unlike Orcs or Balrogs, Dragons don't seem to have been created from something pre-existing. This inevitably arise the question of where the spirit of a dragon dead from old age would settle, as nowhere it has ever even been suggested Sauron would have been able to rise new dragons, be it from scratch or simply by giving the remaining ones replacement bodies. Given he lost the ability to generate a flesh body for himself when Numenor was swallowed by the Ocean millenia before the War of the Ring, he probably can't do it for other beings either.

** All lizardmen (except skinks) are ageless and will only grow larger and StrongerWithAge. The skink character Tehenahuin is also immortal, apparently a side-effect of being TheChosenOne of Sotek.

* ''[[https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/72301/1-lifesteal/ 1% Lifesteal]]'': It takes a while before Freddy starts to notice any visible effects of his power. Once he reaches a point where it's clearing up old acne scars and resculpting him, however, he realises that the slow start was caused by it fixing ''everything'' wrong with his body, including all the micro-damage associated with ageing. So long as he keeps causing enough "harm" to things around him, he can remain in prime health indefinitely.

* The Immortals of Creator/TamoraPierce's ''Literature/TortallUniverse'' books, which include creatures from centaurs to dragons. First seen in ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin wait for it]]) ''Literature/TheImmortals'' quartet.

* ''Webcomic/YokokasQuest'': Spirits don't age in the conventional sense -- they don't even have an age listed on their bio pages.

* The controlling entities in Iar Elterrus' ''9 Swords'' {{Multiverse}} are each split into Will, Power and Knowledge. While Knowledge incarnates as one of the eponymous Swords and is [[CompleteImmortality indestructible and immortal]], Power incarnates as an ageless dragon. In contrast, Will incarnates as a mortal human, which means that every coming of the entity has the same Power and Knowledge driven by a new Will.

** Ian and Barbara Chesterton, the ''original'' companions, were stated in the show's spinoff ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' to have been the subject of rumours that they haven’t aged between the 1960s and the 2010s.

* The Flutter Ponies in ''Fanfic/TheElementsOfHarmonyAndTheSaviorOfWorlds'', meaning that after the [[spoiler: [[YearInsideHourOutside 1500 years that have passed for Equestria compared to 20 for Earth]]]], those friends of Megan's are still around. The same is true of the Princess Ponies, but in their case it's because of the Heart of Ponyland [[ImmortalityInducer sustaining them]]. Apparently so do the Bushwoolies that serve as their honor guards[[spoiler:, and Katrina and Rep.]]
* In ''Fanfic/{{Enlightenments}}'', Wander aged up to about how old he was in ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'' after Dormin slipped him through the seal as a baby, then got stuck there physically. It's because he has a chunk of Dormin's soul still inside him that they can't reclaim, which is why he also has ResurrectiveImmortality.
* In ''Fanfic/EternalMLP'' , unicorns stop aging after a certain period. Galaxy is eons old but doesn't look older than thirty.

* Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor in ''Fanfic/HarmonysWarriors'', who both appear the same age in ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger Captain Equestria]]'' (which is set in the 1940s), ''[[Film/XMenFirstClass X-Questrians: First Class]]'' (set in the 1970s) and all the present day stories. Apparently, this is due to [[Main/SuperSerum a serum]] Twilight had created.

* In ''Fanfic/NeitherABirdNorAPlaneItsDeku'', K.E.L.E.X. informs Izuku that he'll likely be around for millenia due to his Kryptonian biology. But it's downplayed because he'll still grow to adulthood first.

* In ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'', Anabel has an encounter with the original Raikou, the one who was revived by Ho-Oh centuries ago. Apparently, a side effect of its resurrection made it unable to die of old age. The same is presumably true for the original Suicune and Entei.
* In the ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'', anyone who becomes the MacguffinGuardian of the Rainbows of Light and Darkness becomes this trope, starting with the Moochick and Spike's most ancient ancestor Heathspike. The Moochick eventually passed guardianship to the Paradise Ponies while Heathspike died in battle, sadly resulting in Darkness falling into Tirek's hands. The Paradise Ponies only died when they willingly left and gave up their role or [[spoiler:Discord destroyed the Element of Trust and deactivated the Rainbow of Light]], though they aged naturally after that. Even the Shards of the Rainbow of Light can offer a lengthened lifespan to those who can access their power, but it seems being an ageless immortal is reserved for the actual guardian.
* In ''Fanfic/RanmaSaotomeChiMaster'', Ranma's guru no longer ages, thanks to her ability to convert her chi and shen into ching.

* [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier Ghouls]] and [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Super]] [[ProudWarriorRace Mutants]] in the ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'' series. The former can still suffer from mental degeneration, which results in them becoming [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombie-like]] "feral" Ghouls. Some Ghouls even remark that their supposed [[WhoWantsToLiveForever "immortality"]] is more like this, as they still age (albeit very slowly). Some of the latter are mentally unstable. The Nightkin of the first generation are because of their prolonged Stealth Boy use. And the second generation is because of their post-War mutation(s) to the radiation, and the Forced Evolutionary Virus' reaction to this. The Super Mutants found in the Capital Wasteland and Commonwealth in fact become {{Stronger With Age}}, but [[SanitySlippage at the cost of their sanity]].

** On a related note, ''Fallout 4'' also fleshes out more of the in-series lore concerning [[MadScientist the Institute's]] [[ArtificialHumans Synths]]. Being androids, it's explained that Synths cannot age any more or less than the age that they're designed to resemble. However, some other information in-universe implies that Synths ''do'' age, but at such a slow rate compared to ordinary people that it's ultimately negligible.

** [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Dragons]] in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' are this, being [[DragonsAreDivine divine]] [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Aedric entities]] with ResurrectiveImmortality (unless their [[YourSoulIsMine soul is absorbed]] by another dragon or [[TheChosenOne a Dragonborn]]). In most cases, dragons even get StrongerWithAge. [[spoiler:Paarthurnax]] in particular has been waiting on top of the Throat of the World for [[BigBad Alduin]]'s return since the Dragon War many thousands of years ago. The most powerful weapon that can be used against them is a [[MakeMeWannaShout Thu'um]] shout which [[spoiler:forces dragons to briefly know what it's like to be Mortal, Finite, and Temporary]]. In gameplay it robs them of the powers unique to dragonkind: flight and the use of the Thu'um.
* [[OurGhoulsAreCreepier Ghouls]] and [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Super]] [[ProudWarriorRace Mutants]] in the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series. The former can still suffer from mental degeneration, which results in them becoming [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombie-like]] "feral" Ghouls. Some Ghouls even remark that their supposed [[WhoWantsToLiveForever "immortality"]] is more like this, as they still age (albeit very slowly). Some of the latter are mentally unstable. The Nightkin of the first generation are because of their prolonged Stealth Boy use. And the second generation is because of their post-War mutation(s) to the radiation, and the Forced Evolutionary Virus' reaction to this. The Super Mutants found in the Capital Wasteland and Commonwealth in fact become {{Stronger With Age}}, but [[SanitySlippage at the cost of their sanity]].
** Comes up as a huge plot point in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}''. [[spoiler:Kellogg, the man who kidnapped your son]] is able to maintain his youth due to extensive cybernetic augmentation. Perceptive players [[{{Foreshadowing}} may be able to notice]] [[spoiler:when trawling through his memories that he was a ten year old boy when the NCR was formed in 2189, meaning by the events of ''4'' he would have been over a century old]]. The whole point is [[spoiler:to show just how the Sole Survivor's perception of the flow of time has been altered by being a HumanPopsicle - by the time they finally meet their son Shaun, their baby boy is a sixty-year-old man with terminal cancer.]]

* The robots in ''VideoGame/{{Stray}}'' do not age conventionally nor can die of old age due to being able to replace the body parts that wear out. However, they ''can'' suffer such gruesome fates as being EatenAlive by Zurks or getting forcibly rewired until [[DeathOfPersonality their original personality is lost]].

** Ian and Barbara Chesterton, the ''original'' companions, were stated in the show's spinoff ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' to have not aged between the 1960s and the 2010s.

** The El-Aurians, introduced in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', can be killed, but they age very slowly otherwise. Guinan has the same physical appearance (barring time-appropriate clothing and hairdo) between the 19th and 24th century. They are revealed to be able to choose whether they physically age or not in ''Series/StarTrekPicard''[[note]]The {{Doylist}} reason was to justify Guinan having aged along with [[Creator/WhoopiGoldberg her actress]][[/note]].

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': Walter Jameson from the episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E24LongLiveWalterJameson Long Live Walter Jameson]]" was granted this form of immortality in Ancient Greece by an alchemist. He says that he came close to death many times over the centuries due to injuries and disease, "but never close enough". [[spoiler: At the end of the episode when he is shot, he begins to age rapidly as he dies until he is nothing but a pile of dust.]]
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "Welcome to Winfield", the people of Winfield stopped aging in the late 19th Century after TheGrimReaper Chin Du Long grew to like them and arranged to spare them from death.