Line #48 Main/ImmortalityPromiscuity


1	%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1633291754052814300
2	%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
3	%%
4	[[quoteright:300:[[Literature/TimeEnoughForLove https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/time_enough_for_love_book_cover_4.png]]]]
5	[[caption-width-right:300:With the medicinal advancements of the future, being over 200 years old is no longer an excuse.]]
6	%%
7	%% Caption selected per above IP thread. Please do not replace or remove without discussion in the Caption Repair thread:
8	%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1404492079030138900
9	%%
10	->''"It's not my fault, okay? I'm immortal. After a thousand years you've pretty much fucked everyone."''
11	-->-- '''Elowyn the Elf''', ''Website/CollegeHumor'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HYeEFFdQKU My Elf Girlfriend: Sex Talk]]
12
13	[[{{Immortality}} Immortal characters]] have a lot they could do with the potentially infinite time on their hands. Maybe try to live a normal life, or maybe shape the world as a whole, but they can really get around, and some get around [[ReallyGetsAround in a much more carnal sense]]. Apparently being unable to die ups your libido, as these immortals tend to have a lot more partners in one lifespan than most, with countless other lifespans to spare. Because the MayflyDecemberRomance will almost certainly end in tragedy, the immortal wants to have quick flings to avoid heartbreak. Perhaps they already got around, it's just that immortality gives them much more advantage.
14
15	If the ImmortalProcreationClause is in effect, that may encourage them to have a lot of sex without worrying about children (aside from when STDImmunity is subverted), or they may just be irresponsible and potentially father/mother hundreds of kids over hundreds-thousands of years... undoubtedly leading to a TangledFamilyTree and them being a LivingDistantAncestor. If LamarckWasRight, then they might end up founding a SocietyOfImmortals made of descendants.
16
17	While VampiresAreSexGods is about the vampire's sex appeal, the immortality that comes with might lead to a VampiresHarem.
18
19	Compare DeathlessAndDebauched. If an immortal is focused on a romantic or platonic relationship, it's a case of MayflyDecemberRomance and MayflyDecemberFriendship. Compare ImmortalityBisexuality, where eternal life encourages the immortal to swing both ways. It may result in the character being a LivingDistantAncestor to many people. It may also be why LivingForeverIsAwesome, or the opposite, WhoWantsToLiveForever.
20
21	----
22	!!Examples
23	[[foldercontrol]]
24
25	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
26	* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'': Dio Brando becomes a vampire in [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]], and later emerges in [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]] not having aged a day in the passing century [[GrandTheftMe with Jonathan Joestar's body]]. He is shown to have slept with countless women, later parts revealing that he's fathered four kids by different mothers, ''at least''.
27	* All immortals in ''Anime/{{Mnemosyne}}'' are shown to be very promiscuous. The issue of the ImmortalProcreationClause is never directly addressed (mostly because normally, only women can become immortal in this setting, and they prefer each [[YuriGenre other's company]] to mortals), but it ''is'' [[ImpliedTrope implied]], insofar as [[spoiler:in the only case when an immortal gives birth in the series, the baby's father is a ''male'' immortal, who is said to be a unique aberration]].
28	[[/folder]]
29
30	[[folder:Comic Books]]
31	* Creator/DCComics:
32	** ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': [[Characters/BatmanRasAlGhul Ra's al Ghul]] is ''literally'' ReallySevenHundredYearsOld, thanks to the Lazarus Pits. In that time, he's had lots of kids from lots of different women, though regards none of them worthy of being his heir, save for perhaps [[Characters/BatmanTaliaAlGhul Talia]].
33	** [[Characters/DCComicsVandalSavage Vandal Savage]] is a ContemporaryCaveman [[TimeAbyss 50,000 years old]], and has a ''lot'' of descendants in part due to sleeping around a lot. [[JuliusBeethovenDaVinci One of his claimed identities]] is UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, who's thought to have fathered at least a thousand children. This is beneficial for Vandal since his immortality is boosted and/or sustained [[GuineaPigFamily by harvesting his descendants' organs]], so he's in no worry of losing his immortality.
34	* ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'': Orlando is a [[GenderBender gender-flipping]] 3000-year-old who's been around [[BeenThereShapedHistory and played a part in history]]. He's also TheHedonist, who's hit it off with [[ReallyGetsAround absolutely everyone]] and knocked boots with a number of famous figures.
35	* ''Creator/MarvelComics'':
36	** ComicBook/TheEternals are a superhuman race that possess virtual immortality. Of them, Sersi, has famously screwed around a ''lot'', Legba was called "a sybarite" by freaking ''Caligula'', and Eros a.k.a. Starfox is a carefree and fun-loving womanizer who's a LivingAphrodisiac, contrasting with his nihilistic brother [[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Thanos]]. Thanos used to get around in his youth, though, to find some sort of satisfaction in love rather than simply trying to get his rocks off.
37	*** Thanos is something of an {{inver\|tedTrope}}sion of this trope, in that, unlike Eros, he only has eyes for one person: Mistress Death, the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification literal embodiment]] of [[TheGrimReaper death itself]]. His grand schemes to [[OmnicidalManiac wipe out all life in the universe]] are expressly stated to be attempts to win her over, though Death herself has always stated that she can never be with him (he may be a Titan and nearly omniscient, but she's a fundamental force of existence -- it just wouldn't work out).
38	** ''ComicBook/XMen'': ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} may not literally be immortal, but with a potent HealingFactor [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld and looking like he's 30 despite being a super-centenarian]] he might as well be. He's also hit it off with dozens of women over the decades [[KavorkaMan despite being a grumpy, short, and hairy Canadian]]. One of his villains manages to gather a bunch of illegitimate children of his to emotionally break him by tricking Logan to [[OffingTheOffspring off his offspring]].
39	* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', we have Desire, one of the [[BigScrewedUpFamily seven Endless]]. A [[OtherworldlyAndSexuallyAmbiguous deliberately androgynous figure]] who can [[GenderBender change their gender at will]], Desire can, will, and has gone to town with countless beings of all races over the millennia. Of course, given that Desire is literally sexual longing taken form -- it's explicitly stated that the Endless aren't the {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of their named trait, but instead ''are'' those traits -- it's arguably their very nature to be this way.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Fan Works]]
43	* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'':
44	** Thor, who's 1500 years old, got around so much in the past that he was dubbed the God of Fertility. [[ImmortalProcreationClause Asgardians don't breed easily]] and after "the Hela incident", he took care to get magical contraception. However, it's revealed in the sequel that when he was about 500 years old, he misjudged when it ran out. This led to a daughter, Torunn, who unfortunately didn't inherit the lifespan. By the time he found out about her, she was dead, which he's implied to have taken very hard (though they did meet up later because she ended up as a Valkyrie and Thor is absolutely crazy enough to visit the underworld while still alive). Harry, Thor's second child, speculates that this is why Thor was so spectacularly Not Pleased after getting his memories back.
45	** The Greek gods are typically promiscuous, though less active on Earth, meaning fewer offspring. This did not stop [[ReallyGetsAround Hercules]] from fathering a daughter on Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, whom she named [[ComicBook/WonderWoman Diana]].
46	** Fandral, meanwhile, is an EthicalSlut and about Thor's age.
47	** The Lady Knight, Fandral's teacher, is even more of an EthicalSlut and probably considerably older than either Thor or Fandral - while her involuntary time-hopping makes it a little ambiguous, she's TheAgeless and she was raising and training heroes when Hercules was young. And by 'even more of an EthicalSlut', we mean that according to her professional partner/sometime employee [[spoiler: Buri]], she seems to have made it her mission "to shag her way across time and space." If they're attractive, interesting, and interested, she'll go for them. Her little black book includes Leonardo da Vinci, Merlin, [[ImmortalityBisexuality Morgana]], and "a quorum" of the Knights of the Round Table. Among many, ''many'' others. She's even gone ''multiversal'' (apparently, time-travel and multiversal travel are "much of a muchness, really"), and breaks Hal Jordan's brain by casually responding to his sarcastic remark that, no, she didn't hop to the ''Star Wars'' universe and sleep with Han Solo... she hopped to ''a'' variant on that universe and slept with [[spoiler: Han ''and'' Leia]]. Simultaneously. She is extremely proud of this. It's also worth noting that she speaks fondly of all of them, cherished her time with them, and preserves their memories - and given that she has a RippleEffectProofMemory, this is sometimes all there is left of them.
48	* Averted in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2917960/1/Yu-Gi-Oh-Tilting-the-Balance Yu-Gi-Oh: Tilting The Balance]]''. Lucifer Allumette, an immortal spirit of fire, is 550 years old... but he's a serial ''monogamist''. He's had seven wives (and twenty-seven children, with descendants to the point he may be the ancestor of a significant fraction of France), but he was utterly faithful to each one and mourned their passing the way any mortal would. As he points out, [[MayflyDecemberRomance he knows what he's getting into each time]], but he's a servant of Dreams, and that includes dreams of love.
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
52	* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'': [[GeniusLoci Ego]] is a millions-of-years-old Celestial that's able to manifest a RemoteBody to interact with other worlds. He invokes his first purpose [[BoldlyComing to mate with whatever race he comes across]] and sired thousands of children, with Star-Lord's mother being the only one he ever loved. This isn't just to get his rocks off; [[spoiler:it's revealed that he needed to sire someone else with Celestial genes to complete his AssimilationPlot of the rest of the universe. Peter was the first one to meet his standards, and the rest [[OffingTheOffspring he killed]] and buried enough bones to fill a cave.]]
53	* ''Film/{{Spring}}'': Louise has to get pregnant every twenty years to remain immortal, and thus has slept with many men across her 2,000 years of life.
54	* In ''Film/VanHelsing'', while Van Helsing and Anna are exploring Dracula's castle, they come across a cave which is filled with thousands of wombs containing the unborn fetuses of Dracula and his three brides. While Anna expresses shock at how many there are, Van Helsing points out it is only logical when you have an immortal vampire with three vampire wives and several centuries with which to procreate.
55	* ''Film/WithAKissIDie'': Juliet is implied to have had sex with many people across the centuries (as she became a vampire in the 1300s) which may have included famous inventor Leonardo Da Vinci.
56	[[/folder]]
57
58	[[folder:Literature]]
59	* ''Literature/TheCampHalfBloodSeries'':
60	** The Greek gods are as promiscuous as ever even in the modern day. Their flings with mortals result in the hundreds of demigods that populate Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter. The narrative even implies that many famous figures in history -- such as Music/TheBeatles, UsefulNotes/AmeliaEarhart, and Creator/WilliamShakespeare -- are Greek demigods. The children of the "Big Three" gods -- Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades -- were so powerful that they swore on the River Styx to not bear any more children due to their role in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Of course, Zeus and Poseidon just couldn't keep it to themselves and sired children anyways, resulting in Thalia, Jason, Tyson, and Percy.
61	** As Apollo put it in ''[[Literature/TheTrialsOfApollo The Tyrant's Tomb]]'', "I had spoken of love to women before. And men. And gods. And nymphs. And the occasional attractive statue before I realized it was a statue."
62	** ''Literature/MagnusChaseAndTheGodsOfAsgard'': The Norse gods are also prone to flings with mortals. Many of these Norse demigods, such as Magnus, end up joining Hotel Vahalla after their deaths as einherjar. Like their Greek counterparts, several figures in history and folklore, such as John Henry, derive their talents from their godly parent.
63	* ''Literature/ChroniclesOfAmber'': King Oberon of Amber, who fathered about 15 legitimate children out of 4 marriages but also had numerous affairs and about 50 illegitimate children. His son Corwin also cannot say "no" to a willing woman.
64	* ''Literature/TheKingkillerChronicle'': The two [[TheFairFolk Fae]] characters, for whom ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty, are depicted in this manner:
65	** Bast is [[FaunsAndSatyrs faunlike]], at least 150 years old, and dedicated to living according to his own desires. While he and Kvothe are holed up in Newarre, this largely means trying his luck with almost every adult woman in town, [[TheCasanova and succeeding most of the time]].
66	** The TimeAbyss WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Felurian passes the centuries by taking mortal lovers. She's [[SexGoddess so skilled at sex]] that her lovers invariably either go OutWithABang (via heart attacks) or literally go insane with desire for her after she tires of them - [[BlueAndOrangeMorality not out of any malice, but due to her odd nature]]. Kvothe is the exception, although he only escaped her via trickery.
67	* ''Literature/TheLockedTomb'': The Emperor and his Lyctors are immortal beings (topping out at 10,000 years at the beginning of the series -- [[ImmortalUnlessKilled the survivors, anyways]]), and to cope with the stress and loneliness of ages, everyone has hooked up with everyone else at least once in a deeply dysfunctional LoveDodecahedron. Even the Emperor, who they revere as a living God, was involved. Only one of them stayed out of it.
68	* ''Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray'': The ever-youthful Dorian is said to have "ruined" many women, and is ''heavily'' implied to have had male lovers as well.
69	* Creator/RobertHeinlein's Lazarus Long character, prominent in novels like ''Literature/MethuselahsChildren'' and ''Literature/TimeEnoughForLove'' lives for millennia and by the 40th century is a common ancestor to a majority of the long-lived Howards, largely due to DarwinistDesire. He does tend to marry most of his lovers but is also polyamorous.
70	* ''Literature/TheVampireChronicles'': Lestat has had a lot of lovers over the course of his vampiric life, but Louis seems to be the one he considers to be his true love. {{Polyamory}} appears to be the norm for most vampires, or at least not unheard of.
71	* This is apparently inevitable with vampires in ''Literature/StraightOuttaFangton'' by Creator/CTPhipps as Old Ones inevitably keep harems [[ImmortalityBisexuality of men and women]] as well as regularly sleeping together in blood orgies. This notably is offputting to many Young Bloods who consider it to be immoral depending on their cultural backgrounds. Given the Bite is inherently sexual, though, most eventually lose such hangups.
72	[[/folder]]
73
74	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
75	* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Jack Harkness was already promiscuous while mortal [[FreeLoveFuture as expected from someone from the 51st century]], but being given CompleteImmortality has, if anything, increased it. ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' reveals he even sired a daughter during TheSlowPath from 1869 onwards.
76	* Became a thing in ''{{Series/Highlander}}'' after the death of Duncan’s long-term lover Tessa early in season 2. Pretty much every time there was a female guest star, Duncan would end up in bed with her before the episode ended.
77	* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': Lestat de Lioncourt is a proponent in "[[Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E3IsMyVeryNatureThatOfADevil Is My Very Nature That of a Devil]]". He wants EternalLove with Louis de Pointe du Lac, and argues that an open relationship is a practical way to help them stay interested in each other over the long-term. The irony is that they've been together for just over six years [[note]]their relationship began in late 1910, and the closure notice Louis gets later in the episode is dated Mar. 1, 1917[[/note]] when this starts.
78	* ''Series/SheHulkAttorneyAtLaw:'' One of the clients taken on by the firm is the so-called Mr. Immortal who is, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin immortal]]. He's lived a long time and as such, has had multiple engagements with multiple women and ''at least'' one man. Unfortunately, living forever means he gets bored easily so his go-to exit strategy involves jumping off a high place to fake his death, just to walk away without a scratch. Unfortunately again, in the modern world with cameras recording practically everything and social media spreading it like wildfire, these stunts are no longer effective and Mr. Immortal's past hook-ups haul him into legal proceedings in order to take their pound of flesh, as it were.
79	* ''Series/PennyDreadful'': Dorian Grey is wealthy, decadent, and a centuries-old (his exact age is never revealed but he talks about witnessing the riots in Constantinople and implies he's millennia older) immortal. He likewise regularly sleeps with both men and women, to the point that he's starting to grow bored of orgies and always on the lookout for new excitements, such as him photographing himself whilst sleeping with a prostitute.
80	* ''Series/WhatWeDoInTheShadows2019'': All three immortal vampires (Nandor, Laszlo, and Nadja) really, really get around. Married couple Laszlo and Nadja are extremely proud of it and have zero issues with it.
81	[[/folder]]
82
83	[[folder:Mythology And Religion]]
84	* ''Myth/ClassicalMythology'':
85	** In general, the Greek gods were virtually immortal, and many spent those centuries seducing mortals and gods alike. [[TopGod Zeus]] was the most prolific womanizer, having sired or served as the ancestor for most Greek heroes [[DoubleStandardRapeDivineOnMortal whether the mother likes it or not]].
86	** Eos, Goddess of Dawn was also famous for her unquenchable libido. With one of her favorite pastimes being kidnapping young men and keeping them as lovers regardless of [[DoubleStandardRapeDivineOnMortal if they were unwilling or already married]], only freeing them when their protests and longing for homes and wives started grating on her nerves. Unlike Zeus she actually has a reason; Aphrodite cursed her with an ExtremeLibido.
87	* This trope is PlayedForDrama in ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' with the character of Calypso. An oceanic nymph who dwells on the island of Ogygia, Calypso has largely been shunned by both other immortal beings and humanity. She longs to make Odysseus her immortal husband and keeps him with her for seven years (though [[YearInsideHourOutside he thinks it's only been seven days]]), but the other gods refuse to allow it. Calypso [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech calls out]] the DoubleStandard of ''male'' divinities getting to take as many lovers as they want while goddesses aren't given the same luxury, but is eventually forced to relent and let Odysseus go.
88	[[/folder]]
89
90	[[folder:Video Games]]
91	* Mentioned in the background of ''VideoGame/{{Dofus}}'': the Twelve Gods have left around plenty of demigod children on various quantities (for example Ecaflip, the cat god of luck and chance, had 49 semidivine children). The things become muddled however as all "races" are more in the mold of classes, so a demigod of a certain class isn't by necessity a direct son of the same god as his class. The only big no-no is relationship between gods themselves, as they could result in something with the powers of both divine parents ''combined'' and threaten the balance, as happened with Cornu Mollu, child of Iop and Sadida's alter-ego Lacrima. The third season of ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'' returns on this argument when [[spoiler: Dally, the latest form of Iop, is assaulted by a MindRape in which his current family angrily reminds him of all the abandoned women and children he had in the past before them, calling him hypocrite for being so bent on saving his current family.]]
92	* In ''VideoGame/ParadiseKiller'', this trope justifies the OptionalSexualEncounter[=s=]. It's not that TheHero's relationship with the characters actually changes (the plot requires a certain status quo to be kept, after all), but that they're all immortal members of an EldritchAbomination-worshiping cult who've known each other for ages. In a culture like that, a little FriendsWithBenefits action isn't a big deal. (Though ''marriages'' are as monogamous as on Earth.)
93	* Much like their mythic counterparts, gods in ''VideoGame/{{Hades}}'' tend towards {{polyamory}}, and Zagreus himself only has a passing knowledge of monogamy as a thing mortals do. Ironically, the one (and, according to Achilles, ''only'') god that is monogamous is Zagreus's own father, Hades. [[HatesTheirParent Zagreus immediately dismisses monogamy as a life choice upon learning this]].
94	* Averted in ''VideoGame/LostOdyssey''. The [[CompleteImmortality unaging and immortal]] Kaim is noted in the [[RecollectionSidequest Thousand Years of Dreams]] to have had "tens of wives and hundreds of children". But he loved each from the bottom of his heart, was nothing but faithful to every family while they were around, and [[TearJerker every death hurt just as much]].
95	* ''VideoGame/OctopathTravelerII'': There exists a being who is immortal but [[DeathSeeker wants to die]] and [[ICannotSelfTerminate can't do the deed himself]] who goes by the name of Claude. His solution to this problem is to father as many children with as many women as he can and enslave these children in a cutthroat family of thieves called the Blacksnakes, pitting them against each other so that the strongest would make their way to him and try to kill him. Unfortunately, most of the ones who make it to him are women, whom he can charm and then sleep with (and the game does not shy away from the [[VillainousIncest implications]]), creating even more progeny and starting the cycle all over again. [[spoiler:One of the eight main characters, Throné, was conceived this way, and Claude is her final foe.]]
96	[[/folder]]
97
98	[[folder:Web Video]]
99	* [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] in the ''Website/CollegeHumor'' "My Elf Girlfriend" videos: a human in an InterspeciesRomance has to come to terms with the fact that his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HYeEFFdQKU girlfriend]] has 2000 years more sexual history than him, including with her entire social circle in the first millennium.
100	-->'''Ryan''': ''Orcs?!'' Elowyn, ''orcs?!''\
101	'''Elowyn''': Everyone has a [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys bad-boy phase]] in their 1200s!
102	* The Emperor in ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'' has had an unspecified number of lovers through the millennia, but he rarely checked up on them afterwards. He was surprised to discover that [[ManOfSteelWomanOfKleenex they survived the experience]] and even more surprised that [[spoiler:he had biological children]].
103	[[/folder]]
104
105	[[folder:Western Animation]]
106	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': Yivo is an immortal EldritchAbomination [[TimeAbyss who was already a trillion years old]] when the universe began, eventually being able to contact it after a RealityBreakingParadox tears a wound in reality connecting to [[OtherworldlyAndSexuallyAmbiguous shkler]] universe. The first thing shklee does is use shkler tentacles to mate with every sentient organic in the universe (except Leela) and for a time has a polygamist relationship with the 20 quadrillion inhabitants.
107	* Played straight in the "Odie-sey" episode of ''WesternAnimation/ClassOfTheTitans''. The immortal nymph Calypso helps the heroes and her new beloved Odie escape her island with a boat in her possession since she is forbidden from leaving the island. When asked how she got a boat, she reveals she ReallyGetsAround and got the boat from one of her now-deceased ex-boyfriends, consisting of various men who wash up on her island every hundred years or so that she takes as lovers.
108	-->'''Calypso:''' What can I say? The immortal life can be a lonely one.
109	[[/folder]]

Context Main / ImmortalityPromiscuity