# Immortal Characters in Fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 24, 2005, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726 "2005-02-24T17:07:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/21 "2005-02-24T19:40:59Z")
There was an alien in the Hitchhiker Tril…err…series, that was immortal and just went around insulting everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/22 "2005-02-24T20:04:18Z")
Was anybody else surprised by how few posts it took to go from the OP’s “best fleshed out immortal” to mentioning _any_ immortal characters even if they’re drek? ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/23 "2005-02-24T20:18:05Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > Was anybody else surprised by how few posts it took to go from the OP’s “best fleshed out immortal” to mentioning _any_ immortal characters even if they’re drek? Considering that opinions can vary on what constitutes “Well fleshed out” one can say the divergence began with the OP. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/24 "2005-02-24T20:25:28Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Say what? I quit reading the ones about the son. Did he kill them off? They all died in the original set of books. Eric was killed fighting the forces of Chaos, Dierdre was killed during Corwin’s fight with Brand, Bleys died at Corwin’s side during that battle, Brand was killed, and Oberon bites it while trying to rewrite the Pattern. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/25 "2005-02-24T20:27:11Z")
Count Saint Germain, from a series of novels by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (based on a historical character). And Exapno, don’t feel you need to keep posting in this thread on our account. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/26 "2005-02-24T20:30:19Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Say what? I quit reading the ones about the son. Did he kill them off? I don’t think Oberon died. In fact, I specifically recall at the end of the second series Merlin rescues Oberon from beneath his mother’s house after he realizes his mother and cousin are trying to control him, and figures out where his father is being kept. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/27 "2005-02-24T20:36:03Z")
> [@Maureen](#): > > I don’t think Oberon died. Yeah, he bought the farm trying recreate the pattern. But I don’t recall the others being killed save for the guy who blinded Eric. Was that Brand? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/28 "2005-02-24T20:37:33Z")
I never finished the second series, but didn’t Corwin see Oberon’s funeral procession into the Courts of Chaos at the end of the first series? Or was that Dworkin’s funeral? ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/29 "2005-02-24T20:37:50Z")
Oh. As for my favorites: Maureen Johnson Long (obviously) Azrafael in the Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett novel _Good Omens_ ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/30 "2005-02-24T20:44:33Z")
> [@Maureen](#): > > I don’t think Oberon died. I think you’re confusing Oberon, Eric’s father with Eric, Merlin’s father. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/31 "2005-02-24T20:48:47Z")
**Sil** , you’re right, that was Oberon’s. Dworkin was driving the lead of the funeral procession. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/32 "2005-02-24T20:57:26Z")
Randal Flagg, the Walkin’ Dude, from many of Steven King’s works. What happened to him in the final Dark Tower book didn’t really happen. I keep repeating that to myself. I know it didn’t happen, because it was just too friggin’ lame. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/33 "2005-02-24T20:59:33Z")
> [@Maureen](#): > > Oh. As for my favorites: > Maureen Johnson Long (obviously) > Azrafael in the Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett novel _Good Omens_ Again, it’s odd how few female immortals there are (particularly if you exclude vampires). Maureen’s one of the few who comes to mind at all. I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact of how long their gestation period would be or the oddity of a woman giving birth to 90 children over the millennia or whatever. My favorite comment about Azirophale and Crowley is that “being enemies for 6000 years is essentially the same as being close friends”. (My favorite about Azirophale has to do with an analogy about monkeys and nitrous oxide.) ---
**Author:** ![FlightlessBird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/cdc98d/32.png) [@FlightlessBird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlightlessBird)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/34 "2005-02-24T20:59:48Z")
**Tracy Lord** and **Maureen** said it best with Crowley and Aziraphale. Funny, fleshed out immortal characters. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/35 "2005-02-24T21:01:02Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Who are some of the best fleshed out immortal (or at least supernaturally longlived) characters in fiction? I’m not that well read in fantasy and sci fi, but my favorites that I have read include: > > Utnapishtim (the flood survivor in Gilgamesh) > > Hob Gadling (from “The Sandman” comics- b. in the 14th century and still going strong) > > Lazarus Long (if a judge wanted to position a statue of his [notebooks](http://www.bobgod.com/writer/lazaruslong.html) in a courthouse or Supreme Court Building or embroidered on his robe I’d have relatively little problem with it) > > Duncan MacLeod (of the Highlander TV series- the movies, not so much) > > Your picks? (And surely there are some immortal women out there) Perry Rhodan 😛 ---
**Author:** ![EastCoastPearl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/aeb1de/32.png) [@EastCoastPearl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EastCoastPearl)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/36 "2005-02-24T21:06:45Z")
The one that always stuck in my mind was Alobar from Tom Robbins’ “Jitterbug Perfume” ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/37 "2005-02-24T21:07:45Z")
Eric died at the end of The Guns of Avalon, I believe. Oberon died repairing the rent pattern in The Courts of Chaos. And Corwin, who was a son of Oberon and brother of Eric, was Merlin’s father. If I remember correctly, Merlin never did find Corwin in his pentology. I sure wish Zelazny had written the rest of Corwin’s story for us. Back to the OP, how about Flagg from several of Stephen King’s books? The only one I ever read with him in it was The Eyes of the Dragon, but I know he shows up a lot. Was he immortal, or just interdimensional? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/38 "2005-02-24T21:10:08Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > You have to mention Roger Zelazny here, since he specialized in immortal characters, right from his first book, _This Immortal_. And Zelazny could do better characterization in one short story than Heinlein managed in his whole career combined. > > Yeah, yeah, I know. You’re all Heinlein worshipers. I don’t care. I’m not. (insert pukey smiley here). I’d also like to push over Heinlein from this pedestal he seems to be on. And I think Flagg was both, **Saltire**. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/39 "2005-02-24T21:15:04Z")
Surely **Indiana Jones and his Dad** are, judging from the last film. And I disregard those scrofulous nitpickers who say it doesn’t count because they left the Cave. I think the guy who said **Tarzan** is right. It’s been years since I read the books, but I think he had multiple opportunities, and that Philip Jose Farmer talks about these in **Tarzan Alive!** In any case, **John Carter (Warlod of Mars)** evidently is. Read the first chapter of **A Princess of Mars**. And the princess from Benoit’s **L’Atlantide**. And H. Rider Haggard’s **Ayesha(“She”)**. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/40 "2005-02-24T21:18:53Z")
It must have taken me over 10 minutes to write that last post, because I swear **ArrMatey!**'s post wasn’t there when I started it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726.md?page=3)