# Looking for mythical/fictional characters raised from mortality to immortality **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 16, 2008, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862 "2008-09-16T17:40:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/21 "2008-09-16T20:07:08Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > And what’s really fucked up there is that Zeus did it on purpose. Yes, Eos didn’t specifically ASK for endless youth, but she certainly meant to imply it. Zeus was just being an asshole. Eh, happened to the Cumaean Sibyl, too. Asked for a year of life for every grain of sand she held, but Apollo allowed her body to wither away until she lived in a bottle. A human body just ain’t designed to last a thousand years. “For once I saw with my own eyes the Cumean Sibyl hanging in a jar, and when the boys asked the Sibyl, ‘what do you want?’ she answered ‘I want to die’.” ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/22 "2008-09-16T20:17:30Z")
Vandal Savage, the Immortal Man and the Resurrection Man in DC Comics, and Mister Immortal in Marvel Comics. Also in Marvel, I think there’s some group of 12 mutants who will never die, but I don’t recall the specifics, though I think one was Cannonball. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/23 "2008-09-16T20:21:48Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Zeus was just being an asshole. That tiger didn’t go crazy. That tiger went _tiger_! ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/24 "2008-09-16T20:33:30Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Eh, happened to the Cumaean Sibyl, too. Asked for a year of life for every grain of sand she held, but Apollo allowed her body to wither away until she lived in a bottle. A human body just ain’t designed to last a thousand years. > > “For once I saw with my own eyes the Cumean Sibyl hanging in a jar, and when the boys asked the Sibyl, ‘what do you want?’ she answered ‘I want to die’.” Nah. Ganymede & Herakles & Psyche made the transition all right. Zeus & his boy were just treating humans as wanton boys treat flies. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/25 "2008-09-16T20:38:27Z")
Spoilers for the Malazan Book of the Fallen(through _Toll the Hounds_) Emperor Kellanved of the Malazan Empire ascended and became Shadowthrone, Ruler of High House Shadow Dancer, Kellanved’s closest advisor, ascended and became Cotillion, Assassin of High House Shadow and Patron of Assassins Dassem Ultor, former Mortal Sword of the Empire, ascended and became Dessembrae, Lord of Tears Ganoes Paran ascended and became the Master of the Deck of Dragons There’s probably some that I forgot. Many of the characters in the Malazan series are gods. I may have missed the mark a bit, though, as gods in the series are not immortal. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/26 "2008-09-16T20:45:31Z")
[Imhotep](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imhotep) was born a mortal man. He became the architect for the Pharoah Djoser. He invented the pyramid. After he died, he was worshipped as a god by the Egyptians. There were a lot in Taoist legend, most famously [the Monkey King.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_King) [The Wandering Jew.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wandering_jew) [Casca Longinius.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casca_Rufio_Longinius) In Norse mythology, [Bragi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bragi), the god of poetry, was wedded to Idunn, keeper of the Apples of Youth. In some versions of the tale, he may have been born mortal. Why, yes, I want to live forever. Why do you ask? ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/27 "2008-09-16T20:50:02Z")
From pop culture there’s the obvious answer of Connor MacLeod, from “Highlander”. From Mythology the best known immortal characters I can think of are the Wandering Jew (Dude taunts Jesus while he’s on the cross, gets cursed to walk the Earth till the end of days) and the Flying Dutchman. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/28 "2008-09-16T21:02:26Z")
The villains in the Demi Moore movie _The Seventh Sign_, and the Heath Ledger TV series _Roar_, were both mortal men cursed with immortality. And both were pretty blatant ripoffs of Casca Longinius (who, admittedly was himself a ripoff of the Wandering Jew). Depending on your definition of “immortal”, the major characters in Roger Zelazny’s novel _Lord of Light_ might count. There have been a couple of movies titled _The Fountain_, about people who discovered the Fountain of Youth. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/29 "2008-09-16T21:21:48Z")
There is a minor recurring character from Neil Gaiman’s _Sandman_ comic, [Hob Gadling](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hob_Gadling), who was noticed by Death and Dream during one of their nights out and about. He was offered the opportunity to live until he got tired of living. And every 100 years Dream goes and meets him, ostensibly to see if he still wants to keep living. ---
**Author:** ![Stauderhorse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Stauderhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stauderhorse)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/30 "2008-09-16T21:24:06Z")
Brad Pitt’s character in _Interview with the Vampire_. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/31 "2008-09-16T21:32:15Z")
I’m not sure I would count a vampire. But at least four characters in _Ramses the Damned_ would certainly count ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/32 "2008-09-16T23:56:33Z")
In Tanith Lee’s _Death’s Master_ there’s a city of people who are immortal due to drinking stolen water from the god’s fountain of life, and another who is immortal due to a magical fire that “burned away” all his human weaknesses, including most of his emotions and capacity for pain and pleasure. In _The Apocalypse Troll_, Ludmilla the time traveller and immortal Thuselah mixes her blood with her dying mortal lover, in a desperate attempt to infect him with the symbiont that makes her immortal. This is an act of pure desperation, because in all but less than 1% of the cases of this being tried it kills the normal human - but this once, it works. In the Wild Cards stories, Golden Boy’s wild card appears to have made him immortal. In Loise Cooper’s Time Master trilogy, Tarod’s mortal love interest is first raised from the dead and offered the chance to live forever transformed into a being of the realm of chaos with her immortal lover; she accepts. In the sequel trilogy, she is raised to the status of a Goddess of Chaos to replace the Chaos Lord killed by the Lord of Order. In _The Misenchanted Sword_, the protagonist’s sword is enchanted in such a way as to make him immortal. Not invulnerable, immune to age or disease or mutilation - just immortal. It’s called the **mis** enchanted sword for a reason. Fortunately by the end of the novel he acquires a wizard girlfriend who can give him eternal youth as well ( according to her immortality is the hard part anyway ). ---
**Author:** ![Jello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@Jello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jello)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/33 "2008-09-17T01:09:17Z")
There are a few different versions as to how Romulus died, but the most popular version is that he ascended to the heavens during a storm. The Romans worshiped him as Quirinus. I don’t know if you’re looking for real people who became gods in various national mythologies, but Julius Caesar, Augustus, Livia, Claudius, Vespasian, and Titus all managed to become deified, and Vespasian even managed to get off a witty quip about it in his last words as a mortal. ---
**Author:** ![First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4491bb/32.png) [@First\_Amongst\_Daves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/First_Amongst_Daves)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/34 "2008-09-17T06:07:15Z")
I may be mistaken, but Grant Morrison in All-Star Superman seems to have allowed Superman to become immortal. Daniel in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman becomes one of the Endless. Dorian Grey in Oscar Wilde’s classic was functionally immortal, if not for those meddling kids. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/35 "2008-09-17T06:52:52Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Lazarus died & was raised again, but there’s nothing to indicate that he was any less mortal after Jesus’ trip to Bethany. Nor do we know that he went to Heaven. Different Lazarus. [Luke 16:19-31](http://www.bartleby.com/108/42/16.html). ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/36 "2008-09-17T09:14:29Z")
Paedur the Bard in Michael Scott’s _Tales of the Bard_ series. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/37 "2008-09-17T09:48:59Z")
The Nameless One (the main/your characer) in Planescape: Torment was immortal, however it was the result of a hex (if I recall correctly) and the entire object of the game near the end is to undo said immortality, so it may not count because he actually goes from mortal, to immortal, and then back to mortal again (in various ways, i.e. destroying your soul which split off from you to become an antagonist or by willing yourself out of existence). ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/38 "2008-09-17T10:17:45Z")
**Demophon**. Oh, no, wait! - Didn’t make it. Damn. Close, though. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/39 "2008-09-17T14:50:24Z")
How about [Dave Bowman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(film)#Plot) from 2001? ---
**Author:** ![akira5822](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@akira5822](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akira5822)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862/40 "2008-09-17T16:04:21Z")
If i am not mistaken, Durnik the blacksmith(David Eddings Belgariad) was raised to godhood to perform some task that i can not remember now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-mythical-fictional-characters-raised-from-mortality-to-immortality/463862.md?page=3)