# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/41 "2005-02-24T21:20:03Z")
I’d vote for Nathan Brazil in Chalker’s _Well World_ series(es). He wasn’t just someone who showed up now and then - he had a lot of angst and tribulations to overcome, and in the end became happy again, if only for a little while. I won’t put Mavra Chang in that, because she was fairly new at the immortality thing. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/42 "2005-02-24T21:21:33Z")
In David Eddings’ Belgariad series, you have Belgarath, Polgara, Beldin, etc. From Walter Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz there is Lazar, who is still around after thousands of years. Zev Steinhardt ---
**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, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/43 "2005-02-24T21:23:24Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > 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’d have thought so to, but when Lucas (cough WHORE cough SELLOUT cough) did the Indiana Jones TV series he pictured him as still alive at the time (early 1990s) and very very old (and one-eyed). It made me wonder “did you forget something?”. Jorge Luis Borges (or, as a somewhat misinformed student once referred to him when asking me a reference question, “the lesbian Georgia Borgia guy from Oprah” [long story]) wrote a short story about an immortal. The main thing I remember liking about it was that the character (who was about 1900 years old in the 1930s) could remember fighting at the Battle of Stamford Bridge but couldn’t remember which side he was on or why as his memory was basically full up to capacity. ---
**Author:** ![SlyFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SlyFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlyFrog)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/44 "2005-02-24T21:28:02Z")
> [@Saltire](#): > > 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. My vague memory (I’ve only read the second series once, and a long time ago) was that he did find Corwin in the end, but it was very anti-climatic and pointless (although you could say it was written that way intentionally, as it was Merlin’s coming of age series and not Corwin’s story anymore). Everything else is as I remember it as well. From an earlier post, however, I am damn near certain that Bleys did not die. He did go over the edge, but Corwin threw him Corwin’s trumps to save him. As said, Bleys (I believe) survived, and my fuzzy memory is that he may not have even need Corwin’s trumps to do it (I think he was part of the Brand group who had gained some ability to “teleport” without trump in limited ways). ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/45 "2005-02-24T21:33:00Z")
> [@zev\_steinhardt](#): > > In David Eddings’ Belgariad series, you have Belgarath, Polgara, Beldin, etc. > > From Walter Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz there is Lazar, who is still around after thousands of years. > > Zev Steinhardt :smack: Ignore my previous post, please. Somehow I missed the “best fleshed out” portion of the OP. :smack: :smack: Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/46 "2005-02-24T21:35:46Z")
Comic books have a ton of immortal characters. Marvel has Apocalypse, Captain America, and Rogue. Also Wolverine, Sabretooth and anyone else with a healing power is basically immortal. In the DC universe Superman probably is immortal, too. Also “Q” from Star Trek is immortal, as well as all the others in the continuom. ---
**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, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/47 "2005-02-24T21:51:20Z")
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro has used immortal women as lead characters. She has three books in the Atta Olivia Clemens series, which is an offshoot of the St. Germain series. And there is also the lesser known _In the Face of Death_, featuring a different immortal vampire lead, Madeleine de Montalia. This book couldn’t get published, for some reason, until it came out as an e-book last year. My wife is a huge St. Germain fan, so for her birthday a few years back I gave her a signed manuscript copy of the still unpublished book. When you’ve been married as long as we have, you have to get creative every once in a while. ---
**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/48 "2005-02-24T22:56:25Z")
There’s the healer, from the LaNague Chronicles, by F. Paul Wilson. He certainly has personality. In fact, he has two. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/49 "2005-02-24T23:28:00Z")
If you’re looking for females, four out of the seven Endless are female. My personal favorite is Death, but they are all definite individuals. How can anyone not like Death? She’s so perky, yet so sensible. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/50 "2005-02-24T23:42:38Z")
> [@SlyFrog](#): > > My vague memory (I’ve only read the second series once, and a long time ago) was that he did find Corwin in the end, but it was very anti-climatic and pointless (although you could say it was written that way intentionally, as it was Merlin’s coming of age series and not Corwin’s story anymore). > > Everything else is as I remember it as well. > > From an earlier post, however, I am damn near certain that Bleys did not die. He did go over the edge, but Corwin threw him Corwin’s trumps to save him. As said, Bleys (I believe) survived, and my fuzzy memory is that he may not have even need Corwin’s trumps to do it (I think he was part of the Brand group who had gained some ability to “teleport” without trump in limited ways). Bleys did not die. He showed up at the final battle and has a role in the second series. Brand and Diedre are assumed, dead having fallen into a pit. But it is not certain what exaclty happens. Caine is alleged to be killed in both series. THe first he was faking it, the second it is unclrea. But we’re talking about Caine here. Eric dies, but even that’s uncertain. Fiona mentions that none of his wounds should have been fatal, and there was no autopsy. Oberon is assumed dead only because he left a death message. C’mon! Who ya kidding? ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2005, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/51 "2005-02-24T23:52:05Z")
Was Vash the Stampede immortal (unnatural causes aside) or just very long-lived? ---
**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 25, 2005, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/52 "2005-02-25T01:19:26Z")
> [@Saltire](#): > > And Corwin, who was a son of Oberon and brother of Eric, was Merlin’s father. Indeed, it was _I_ who was confused. Corwin and/or a shadow of him shows up imprisoned in the other books, though. I just firgure it all ended after _The Courts of Chaos_ 🙂 ---
**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 25, 2005, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/53 "2005-02-25T02:50:06Z")
Christian Walker, from the comic book series _Powers_, is immortal. He’s been around since cavemen days. But like the character Sampiro mentions, his memory only goes back a few centuries so he isn’t aware of his past. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/54 "2005-02-25T03:13:32Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I just firgure it all ended after _The Courts of Chaos_ 🙂 Yup, a happy ending. Corwin restored to life in Amber, Merlin ruling in the Courts of Chaos. But what about Frakir? **What about Frakir?!?!?!?!?!?!** Oh, and the immortal character in HHGTTG was **Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged**. Not being born immortal, Wowbagger (who gained immortality via a unique accident involving a rubber band, a liquid lunch, and an irrational particle accelerator) was not constitutionally equipped to deal with living forever. Hence the rather nasty hobby of insulting everyone in the universe _in alphabetical order_. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/55 "2005-02-25T03:15:15Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Again, it’s odd how few female immortals there are She. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/56 "2005-02-25T09:10:00Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > Comic books have a ton of immortal characters. > > Marvel has Apocalypse, Captain America, and Rogue. Also Wolverine, Sabretooth and anyone else with a healing power is basically immortal. > > In the DC universe Superman probably is immortal, too. There was also Jason Longpong, Cursed To Smell Forever - although he only existed as a title, along with The Incredible Stinking Man and Niff Nolan: Hypersmelly - they were all apocryphal odiferous comic heroes cited in **Judge Dredd**. ---
**Author:** ![Promethea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Promethea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Promethea)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/57 "2005-02-25T12:06:32Z")
Majestros (or Mr Majestic), from Alan Moore’s run on WildC.A.T.s was a nicely fleshed out immortal charcacter. He also did a one off Majestros issue which explored what might happen to immortals when the universe itself gradually comes to an end. Well worth a read, as is 90% of Moore’s output. ---
**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 25, 2005, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/58 "2005-02-25T13:25:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by Sampiro > Again, it’s odd how few female immortals there are > She. I already mentioned **She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed** \* (“ **Ayesha** ”) above, along with **l’Atlantide**. There are quite a few female vampires, who must qualify as immortals, going back to Sheridan le Fanu’s **Carmilla** (actually going back to implied female vampires in the much earlier **Varney** ). \*The one repeating literary reference in the Rumpole series that doesn’t seem to come from the Oxford Book of English Verse. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/59 "2005-02-25T14:46:19Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > If you’re looking for females, four out of the seven Endless are female. Three and a half. And speaking of half-female, I’m surprised I’m the first in this thread to mention **Orlando** , from the Virginia Woolf story and recent movie. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726/60 "2005-02-25T14:48:13Z")
again wit’ da vampyres (pronounced the Andrew way)- I can’t believe I’m the first to mention Count Dracula (at least 400 yo). And in Hebrew lore- Lilith. And on the other side- C.S. Lewis’s Space Traveler Edwin Ransom. He sits in the Hall of Melchizedek with Enoch, Elijah, Arthur, etc. on Perelandra (Venus). Since the Lewis estate is considering authorizing Narnia sequels, I wonder if Ransom sequels will be far behind?!?! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immortal-characters-in-fiction/291726.md?page=4)