Deathless and Debauched

"Don't you see how lucky you are? You can do things to your body that no one else would dare. You can die of happiness and come back to die again!"

— Akinleye, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

When it comes to immortals, regardless of whether they achieved their undying condition through biological agelessness, an advanced Healing Factor, resurrection, reincarnation, vampirism, a time loop, or even some kind of Artificial Afterlife, it's all too common for them to demonstrate a love of the finer things in life. Taken to its logical conclusion, some immortal characters are defined almost entirely by their monomaniacal obsession with the pursuit of pleasure.

Whether they simply live in obscene luxury, gorge themselves on expensive cuisine, regularly get drunk or high on whatever's within reach, or follow a lifestyle involving Immortality Promiscuity, these characters just can't resist their own self-indulgent urges, and those of them who don't have some kind of quest to divert them from their desires can be found doing nothing else but indulging themselves. In any case, expect Hookers and Blow to get involved at some point.

Often a sign that Living Forever Is Awesome, but it can also be used as a means of showing how meaningless eternal life has become, or a sign of how rich and powerful the immortal has become. Depending on the work, it may even be a signifier of moral decline, exhibited only by immortal anti-heroes and outright villains.

It's also very common for this to be portrayed in a very glamorous, decadent fashion, often taking place in the cleanest and most luxurious surroundings, and even the uglier or more violent versions will often be glamorized in some way. Depictions of immortal hedonists who live in squalor, contract STIs, or visibly suffer the less attractive symptoms of addiction are comparatively rare — though a few do exist.

See also Vampires Are Sex Gods. Not to be confused with Immortality Immorality, which is about immortality being immoral in and of itself (possibly because it is obtained and/or maintained by unethical means).

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Casshern Sins: After coming back wrong from Casshern's assassination attempt, Luna becomes an immortal disgusted with death (and how the Ruin is destroying everything) and converts many people and robots into her loyal subjects by giving them the means to have eternal life. Casshern, who has spent the whole series wandering the post-apocalyptic wasteland looking for her and has seen both the best and absolute worst of all beings trying to survive, finally learns that life is meaningless unless you work to do something worthwhile out of it, and thus threatens Luna's cult: either spend your lives improving the wasteland, or he will come back and kill them all. And he, not them, is the one with the true Complete Immortality, so he definitely is not doing an empty threat. And with that, he leaves to continue wandering the wasteland.
• Fullmetal Alchemist:
  • Downplayed. Greed is a homunculus, an artificial human capable of regeneration, and is around two hundred years old. He's the only one of the homunculi no longer in Father's service, instead being driven by his own insatiable greed. In Greed's debut, he's seen lounging around with women on either side and is also rather vain, refusing to use his Ultimate Shield to protect his face because he finds it unattractive.
  • Envy is a homunculus around a hundred and seventy-five years old. They are a massive sadist and extremely self-indulgent about it, immediately pouncing on any opportunities to cause suffering for their own entertainment. Envy also prefers to use their shapeshifting powers to appear 'young and cute', becoming easily enraged if called ugly.
• Mnemosyne features a basic premise of Yggdrasil periodically releasing Time Spores across the world. Any woman who is touched by a time spore turns completely immortal, including From a Single Cell regeneration. Males turn into mindless monsters called Angels who only exist for the next few hours to mate with immortals and devour their flesh. Those who are biologically intersex become mentally deranged immortals. Big Bad Apos spends his immortality fulfilling his twisted desires. There's a few scenes shown of him playing chess with an immortal woman who is bound and gagged, blindfolded, and has numerous swords and knives piercing through her body and left there so the wounds don't heal. Apos keeps numerous immortals in various states of torture just to pass the time.

Comic Books

• Two members of The Eternals are known for this.
  • The first is Sersi, the Hard-Drinking Party Girl and The Tease of the Eternal race, having lived for over a thousand years enjoying life and finding pleasure in any way she can. According to Sprite (before he changed sex), he was the only straight male Eternal that Sersi hasn't slept with, and that's because Sprite has the body of a child.
  • Second is Eros (Starfox), the brother of Thanos, a Casanova with Living Aphrodisiac powers, and the willingness to sleep with anyone and nearly anything. Unfortunately his powers have led to some Questionable Consent, one time involving a married woman, and She-Hulk.
• This is Lord Calvin Burnham's ultimate goal in the Hellblazer arc "Roots Of Coincidence": having hit upon a soul cage as the ideal means of avoiding being Dragged Off to Hell after death, Burnham has the Evil Sorcerer Mako transform the blank interior into a luxurious palace and furnish it with as many houris as the depraved aristocrat needs to stay amused for eternity. Even more revoltingly, the harem is specifically made to suffer for every minute they aren't pleasuring Burnham... and it includes children. Constantine magically hijacks this process, erasing the sex slaves and imprisoning Mako inside the soul cage — leaving Burnham trapped alone with an extremely pissed-off war mage when he finally passes on.
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen:
  • The gender-bending Orlando was born in 1260 BC and has spent most of the time since gaining immortality pursuing excitement and pleasure. When not participating in whatever conflict excites them the most, they indulge heavily in carnal pursuits, racking up a huge tally of male and female lovers over the millennia... and when not busy shagging their way through history, they still find the time to indulge in alcohol and clubbing.
  • In the finale of Century: 1969, Allan Quatermain is found to have sunken into a particularly depressing version of this. Prior to gaining immortality, Allan grappled with an opium addiction for many years, and the disappearance of Mina Harker has resulted in a disastrous relapse. Now having escalated to heroin, the once-mighty hunter has become so dependent on the needle that even Orlando gave up on him after catching their former friend trying to sell Durandal for drug money. When he next appears in Century: 2009, Allan has been reduced to a homeless Addled Addict. The result isn't glamorized and definitely doesn't look fun in the slightest.
• Cassidy of Preacher. A cheerfully depraved Irish vampire, he has no overriding goal apart from getting drunk, high, or laid; for good measure, since he's effectively invincible in the face of everything other than direct sunlight, it's no trouble to indulge as much as he likes. Unfortunately, as time goes on, it becomes clear that Cassidy is also extremely selfish and fully prepared to do some very unpleasant things in pursuit of his hedonistic desires, including prostitution or even Domestic Abuse.

Fan Works

• Chrysalis in Equestria Girls: Friendship Souls used to feast on human sacrifices five hundred years before events of the story, not because it was convenient but because she'd found it funny. Her favorite pastime activities are massive orgies, instigating and watching senseless slaughter, and playing catch with her trueborn daughter.
• Discussed in Thanks Kyubey when Sayaka is debating whether to make the Magical Girl contract to heal Kyousuke's arm, knowing that she'd be turned into an undead zombie. The funny part is that it's Madoka who points this out.
  Madoka: But if you become a magical girl, you can handle rough play and you won't ever get old, right? Isn't that the ideal wife?
  Sayaka (indignant): Kyousuke isn't that kind of guy!

Films — Live-Action

• Blade (1998): Zig-zagged between the older and younger vampire generations. The elders seem mostly concerned with business and keeping up the Masquerade. The young vamps prefer loud nightclubs (with full-on blood showers), sensuous dancing, and openly slaughtering and draining victims... which makes them a very easy target for the Daywalker to dispatch.
• John Milton of The Devil's Advocate is an increasingly obvious case of Devil in Disguise, and is seriously enjoying his immortality on Earth. Despite being the senior partner of a highly prestigious law firm, a good deal of his time is spent having fun: when he's not lounging around in his luxurious office, he's taking Kevin Lomax on a search for a chicken that can play tick-tack-toe, attending parties without bothering to network with the other lawyers, spectating at boxing matches, dancing with a flamenco band, and enjoying a night out at a fancy restaurant (where he can be seen getting a blowjob). He's also enjoyed numerous long-term sexual trysts over the decades and fathered many illegitimate children as a result, though he doesn't reveal that Kevin was one of said children until the very end. However, it's eventually revealed that Milton is capable of being in multiple places at once, so dividing time between working, indulging himself, raping Kevin's wife, and corrupting Kevin is all too easy.
• In Groundhog Day, once Phil grasps the nature of the time loop he's been trapped in, he goes drunk-driving, binge-eats, seduces local women, and chain-smokes.
  "I don't even have to floss!"
• Late in Infinite, we're introduced to a minor Infinite by the name of Artisan, who's chosen to spend his multiple lifetimes on hedonism; quite apart from living in the luxurious back rooms of a casino, being attended to by beautiful women, and reportedly hosting parties, he also has a taste for drugs. After patching up Evan's bullet wound, Artisan proceeds to get high on the leftover morphine while woozily rocking out on a bass guitar - much to Evan's annoyance.
• In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Dorian Gray is both ageless and indestructible thanks to his portrait and is free to devote himself to an exclusively sybaritic lifestyle: he wears nothing but tailored suits, lives in a decadent mansion, shares a nightcap of highly expensive Amontillado sherry with Mina, and according to the novelization, most of the books in his library are obscenely pornographic. In fact, the only reason why he joins the League at all is that the thrill of violence offered a welcome change to his usual routine. It's actually because M is holding his portrait hostage. As soon as his work's done, he intends to head right back to London, claiming to be "in the mood for vice."

Literature

• Michael Moorcock's series The Dancers at the End of Time is set on Earth around the time of the heat death of the universe, when humanity has achieved both immortality and effective individual omnipotence. As a result, the immortal humans of this period are bored out of their minds and constantly compete with each other in extravagance and debauchery, to the point that when the protagonist of the first novella decides to commit to a monogamous relationship for the rest of his (eternal) life, everyone applauds him for his originality.
• In The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, the Kalachakra have been blessed with Born-Again Immortality by means of a "Groundhog Day" Loop; because most of them would rather not change history for fear of accidentally erasing future immortals, they prefer to spend their lifetimes pursuing pleasure in any way they desire. Harry himself spent a hundred and twelve years on virtually nothing but wine, women, and song, while his friend and occasional lover Akinleye (AKA the queen of a good time) is known for experimenting with both her sexuality and with drugs, even introducing Harry to heroin. Deconstructed; Akinleye's hedonism eventually drives her to a depressive period during which she gets AIDS, prompting her to request the Forgetting from Harry so that she can be given a clean slate in her next life.
• In The Picture of Dorian Gray, it's left ambiguous as to whether or not the eponymous Villain Protagonist is truly immortal or if his enchanted portrait merely prevents him from showing any outward sign of old age (though many adaptations pick the former, along with other expansions on his powers). However, he shows a consistent desire for vice, taking on many lovers, wearing sumptuous clothes and jewellery, even developing a hunger for opium towards the end.
• The crux of Repeat is Brad Cohen finding himself trapped in a "Groundhog Day" Loop that starts in the womb and ends with the night before his 40th birthday. Getting bored after two or three cycles, he uses his knowledge of the future to fund a lifestyle of mindless hedonism: in the resulting FBI investigation, he admits to having been "fucking about three women and about one man a week for the last twenty years," with ridiculous quantities of drugs thrown in for good measure. He even brags of doing things like having liquid psilocybin injected into his penis or jamming tennis balls into his anus while masturbating into a handful of cocaine.
• The vampires in The United States of Monsters universe are debauched sex-addicted bon vivants who get a drug-like rush from drinking blood. This is particularly noticeable in Straight Outta Fangton where we find out about the wealthy among them's harems and vast palaces. We also discover that this is only the Old Ones as the Youngbloods don't have enough money to live so decadently, averting Vampires Are Rich.

Live-Action TV

• Altered Carbon: The use of the cortical stack technology has effectively granted everyone immortality (as long as their stack remains intact), but Methuselahs (or "Meths") are those who are rich enough that they can have cloned sleeves made from scratch and on demand and can afford to live with a continuous presence in the world for centuries. The downside is that they're prone to boredom, and their money and influence is an effective shield from legal or moral consequences, so many of them tend to become arrogant monsters who indulge in their darkest fantasies as a pastime. For example, making the poor take part in Gladiator Games or get raped or tortured to death with the promise of a new and better sleeve.
• In the Black Mirror episode "San Junipero," the eponymous town is actually a virtual reality scenario in which the terminally ill are routinely plugged into; a few of them choose to be uploaded to the Cloud after death and spend the rest of their days partying — either in the innocently nostalgic environment of Tucker's bar, or the seedy, perverted confines of the Quagmire. Kelly suggests that this is an ultimately empty existence that drives people to greater and greater extremes of hedonism in a desperate effort to feel anything; however, it's indicated that Yorkie and Kelly will enjoy a much happier eternity as a married couple, as they have something other than meaningless pleasure-seeking to live for.
• In the The Librarians 2014 episode "And The Image Of Image," Dorian Grey is a hedonist who bound his soul to a painting so he could indulge himself forever. However, the twist behind his immortality is that he can indulge in any sin and the consequences are transferred to the painting... but the consequences include the effects of the drink and drugs, so he can't actually feel anything. Over the course of the episode, Dorian ends up in the spotlight when he begins magically inflicting his sins on people around him, resulting in them suffering hangovers, alcohol poisoning, and even drug overdoses as a result of his own binging.
• Penny Dreadful: Dorian Gray is ageless and virtually indestructible. As with the original novel, he is also a hedonist and constantly on the lookout for new experiences; plus, being almost unnaturally beautiful, he has no problems with seducing both women and men. Ultimately, his decadence is a sign of his buried depression: Dorian is trapped in a hollow, empty life that gives him no joy regardless of what he experiences, hence why his apparent Karma Houdini is no victory at all.
• Preacher (2016):
  • As with the original comic, Cassidy is a hundred-year-old vampire with a taste for booze, drugs, and grotesque sexual escapades. In his first scene alone, he's encountered doing a line of cocaine and regaling a gang of human revellers with the fact that they'll have to learn how to say "ass-hamster" in Spanish before they get to Tijuana, while in Season 4, he's such an Undiscriminating Addict that he'll happily resort to huffing flame retardant in lean times.
  • One of the biggest twists of the show is that God himself is an example of this trope. As of the start of the series, he's now roaming the Earth, casually screwing numerous women and enjoying jazz performances in New Orleans. He even spent time playing a dog in a BDSM gig... and as a result, his first appearance in Season 3 features him appearing before Tulip with Glowing Eyes of Doom and Voice of the Legion — but still wearing the dog costume.
• The Land of the Immortals in Spellbinder is governed by this trope. Having been left unable to age as a result of an experimental plague cure, the inhabitants are now waited on by androids and have no need to work except on hobbies. As such, everyone in this society lives the life of pampered nobility, dressing in rich clothing, surrounding themselves in luxury, boasting to one another about their latest purchases in increasingly desperate attempts to assuage their overwhelming boredom. Indeed, the first two immortals encountered are fruitlessly trying to teach their androids to play football.
• Supernatural: Although most angels are cold, inhuman, uptight, and ruthlessly obedient rule-sticklers, angels who have turned their backs on Heaven tend to be more loosened-up. Examples that take it up to hedonistic levels include the party-loving Balthazar, and the Hugh Heffner-like Gabriel (justified in the latter's case by him posing as a Trickster, who are naturally sweet-toothed and hedonistic).

Mythology & Religion

• Dionysus of Classical Mythology, the god of alcohol, was naturally well-known for regularly getting drunk and sleeping around — even more so once he became a more popular god, after which he became known almost exclusively for drunkenness.

Tabletop Games

• Pathfinder
  • The Rakshasa were actually born from a desire for this trope: the first of their kind was so devoted to earthly pleasures that he resolved to continue it for all eternity, becoming the progenitor of a race of materialistic evil spirits blessed with Born-Again Immortality — and in a few rare and powerful cases, Complete Immortality. Gluttony is a running theme among the Rakshasa, to the point that one of the lowest rungs of their society is occupied by those who have been designated simply as food.
  • Zutha the Runelord of Gluttony was so enamoured with material pleasures that he devoted himself to enjoying them even after he died and became a lich, using powerful magic to maintain his ability to experience sensations like he could in life... although this process required large quantities of stolen life force to work.
• In Vampire: The Masquerade, most vampires can't eat, are immune to drugs, and rarely have anything that could be remotely described as a libido. However, exceptions do exist:
  • The "Head" character template. Vampires can't be affected by mundane drugs of any kind, but they can be affected by blood taken from intoxicated victims, so the Head is addicted to feeding on mortal addicts, paying them with their drug of choice in exchange for allowing him to feed on them while they're high. Indeed, he's so hopelessly addicted that it's literally the Head's only reason for existing.
  • The "Degenerate" was an absurdly depraved individual even before being Embraced; quite apart from injecting cocaine into his penis, he not only got his sister pregnant but got the resulting daughter pregnant as well. Even as a vampire, the Degenerate still exists in a meaningless whirl of parties, vice, and sex — not because he actually feels pleasure, but because the Degenerate wants to make himself the centre of attention via taboo.
  • The "Eat Food" merit allows a vampire to eat food "and even enjoy its taste", as the rulebook explicitly says. They can't digest it though, so they'll have to vomit up the meal later, which means if they eat (alone) it's only for the sake of enjoying a meal.
• Warhammer:
  • Particularly favored servants of Slaanesh (the Chaos god/dess of excess) can be granted a measure of immortality, as with all servants of Chaos... but some can rise even higher and become Daemon Princes devoted to an eternity of ever-worsening hedonism. 40K's Princes often manage to turn entire planets into Daemon Worlds devoted to their sick practices.
  • Warhammer Fantasy: Sigvald the Magnificent is one of the main mortal champions of Slaanesh, and he's been a murderous, self-centered sixteen-year-old rapist and cannibal for more than 300 years, surrounding himself with a harem of beautiful women and taking multiple wives — all of whom eventually have their skin replaced with doll ceramic to prevent the aging process from offending Sigvald.
  • Warhammer 40,000: The Dark Eldar have attained immortality by feeding on the pain and suffering of other living beings, allowing them to indulge the hedonistic desires that the other Eldar have been forced to deny. As such, their culture is a non-stop orgy of twisted amusements including (but not limited to) gladiator games, drugs, rape, torture, and increasingly monstrous forms of "art." In several cases, the most important perpetrators of these atrocities are millennia old, and one or two can even remember the fall of the Eldar.

Video Games

• Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain: The vampire Vorador lives in a ludicrously opulent mansion hidden in the depths of the Termogent Forest, surrounds himself with numerous scantily-clad brides, and drinks the blood of mortals from jeweled goblets. Even Kain — a nobleman himself — thinks that Vorador's digs are ludicrously decadent. For good measure, Vorador has very little interest in getting involved in mortal affairs, advising Kain to seek a similar life.
• Fallout 3: the pre-War scientist Dr Stanlislaus Braun has spent the last two hundred years hooked up to life support while his mind amuses itself in a colossal virtual reality simulation. Unfortunately, Braun has spent these past two centuries pursuing his sadistic idea of pleasure, gleefully enacting horrific acts of torture upon the Vault residents in the knowledge that none of them can permanently die in the simulation. Worse still, Braun has the ability to warp the virtual reality in any way he likes, allowing for even more twisted acts of hedonism: not only has he turned himself into a little girl for the novelty of the experience, but he takes great delight in altering people's bodies for cheap laughs - turning James into a dog, reducing Timmy to a garden gnome, and regressing you to about ten years old.
• Fallout 4: Emogene Cabot is every bit as immortal as the rest of her family, thanks to a serum drawn from the blood of her father, himself gifted with immortality by an alien artifact. She is also an incorrigible thrill-seeker thanks to her boredom and engages in so many escapades with lovers across the Commonwealth that her brother Jack has long since stopped caring about her absences.
• The Secret World:
  • Säid of the Kingdom; a reanimated ancient Egyptian mummy working as a businessman in the 21st century, he enjoys sugary treats, wine, cigarettes, tailored suits, and the very latest smartphones. It's even implied that he might actually have a sex life, despite his desiccation. For good measure, he spends most of his time lounging around on the Hotel Wahid's balcony rather than getting involved in the fighting occurring throughout the region — even though his status makes him practically indestructible.
  • Inbeda the Oni is presumably just as immortal as his fellow demons, having been exiled from the Hell Dimensions ever since the Edo period. As luck would have it, Inbeda greatly enjoys his exile on Earth, finding that it allows him access to luxuries he'd never be able to find in Hell -- including television. Even with Tokyo being consumed by the Filth, he's still living up at the local bathhouse, spending his days lounging by the pool in an expensive tiger-skin bathrobe, listening to hip-hop music, being attended to by scantily clad servants, and screwing a mannequin dressed up as Kirsten Geary. Plus, he will happily hit on both male and female player characters, encouraging them to strip naked and frolic in the waters. Later missions in the Tokyo story arc feature him finally getting off his ass and joining the fray... but he still refuses to go without his bathrobe and slippers.
• Jeanette Voermann of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. A Malkavian vampire of indeterminate age, Jeanette never seems to take anything seriously, devoting herself to pursuing amusement: when she's not partying on the dancefloor or playing "pranks" on her sister Therese, she's having sex with any party that consents. Men, women, mortals, vampires — she's even been carrying a relationship with Nosferatu spy Bertram Tung and will gladly flirt with a Nosferatu player character as well. For good measure, most vampires aren't interested in sex, and some in-the-know NPCs will comment on how unusual it is for Jeanette to actually have a libido — especially Therese, who reacts with rage and disgust at the very concept. The twist is that Jeanette is actually a split personality of Therese, brought to life as a response to the sexual abuse she underwent in childhood.

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