# Who is the longest "lived" fictional character **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2004, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587 "2004-03-16T04:38:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [March 16, 2004, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/21 "2004-03-16T13:58:34Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Gandalf, first published in 1937 in _The Hobbit: or There and Back Again_, and last published in _The Silmarillion_ in 1977 (not counting the numerous subsequent publications of Tolkein material put together by Christopher Tolkein). This makes 40 years. > > Had Tom Bombadil shown up in _The Silmarillion_, he’d have an even longer reign, for he first showed up published in 1934, when “The Adventures of Tom Bombadil” was published in _The Oxford Magazine_. > > Of course, if you include the publication of _Unfinished Tales_, or _The Book of Lost Tales_, you get even longer time spans, but I don’t think it fair to include works that the author didn’t have essentially ready and was in the process of publishing when he died. True, and it’s too bad we’re going by publication dates, because Tolkien started the _Silmarillion_ during World War I. That’d give anybody in that book a good 60 year span right there. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/22 "2004-03-16T14:30:49Z")
If publication dates is the criterion, then I have a technical winner: **Ellery Queen.** (70 years) First novel: _The Roman Hat Mystery_ (1929) Last novel (detailed plot outline, published posthumously): _The Tragedy of Errors_ (1999) The last Ellery Queen novel written during the authors’ lifetime was _A Fine and Private Place_ (1971), which would not qualify old Ellery if we are talking about only nonposthumous new publications. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/23 "2004-03-16T14:38:31Z")
Oh, well … Dorothy Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey first appears in _Whose Body?_, published 1923. His last appearance is in _Thrones, Dominations_, published 1998. But it’s a cheat - _Thrones, Dominations_ was finished off by Jill Paton Walsh many years after Dorothy Sayers’ death. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/24 "2004-03-16T15:31:21Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > I believe Hari Seldon and Daneel Olivaw were last seen in _Forward the Foundattion_, published in 1993. I was under the impression that Asimov didn’t write that one, but I see I was mistaken. OK, Asimov stands at 42 years. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/25 "2004-03-16T15:37:07Z")
> [@](#): > > If publication dates is the criterion, then I have a technical winner: Ellery Queen. (70 years) > > First novel: The Roman Hat Mystery (1929) > Last novel (detailed plot outline, published posthumously): The Tragedy of Errors (1999) Well, heck, if you’re gonna do that, then **Tarzan** wins, hands down. The last Tarzan novel, based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ notes, was **Tarzan – The Lost Adventure** , published in 1997, 85 years after the first appearance of Tarzan in 1912. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/26 "2004-03-16T15:46:58Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > No contest: > > Methuselah, 969. > Mahalaleel, 962 > Jared, 962 > Noah, 950 > Adam, 930 > Seth, 912 > > And many more from that great fiction work, The Bible. Doesn’t qualify; the issue isn’t the age of the “character” but rather the passage of time from the date a work about the character was first published to the date a work about the character _by the same author_\* was last published. Read the OP before you post. > [@don't ask](#): > > Leslie Charteris’ first {i]The Saint\*, publication Meet the Tiger! was published in 1928. Capture The Saint by Burl Barer was published in 1997. Charteris had actively collaborated with other writers until 1983 to allow them to continue after he died. So either 69 or 55 years take your pick. The OP specifically limited the issue to stories published by the same author; as noted there are numerous characters who have been written about who would have lives in excess of 100 years if multiple authors were allowed. When did Leslie Charteris last author a book about The Saint? For much the same reason, we have to carefully examine situations where a book is published posthumously based on work an author has done prior to his/her death. A book like _The Silmarillion_ probably qualifies, given that it was published shortly after the author’s death, and was essentially written entirely by the author. One might still question the issue, as there was a passage of just over three years before publication. Books that consist of fleshed out outlines, or were worked up from notes, aren’t really authored by the deceased; books that are “discovered” later, or published later by family members probably don’t qualify if for no other reason than that the author presumably had decided not to publish the book in the first place. After all, if someone were to “discover” a manuscript by, say, Swift, in which Mr. Gulliver were to appear, could we really say that it qualified as longest for the passage of some 300 years? 🙂 Finally, we should for correctness’ sake note that this thread properly belongs in Cafe Society. I assume a moderator will be along shortly. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/27 "2004-03-16T16:02:45Z")
**Krokodil** and **Reality Chuck** : I had thought of including comic strip characters (my first list included Charlie Brown), but I think it’s best to keep the art forms separate. Although a similar list of comic characters would be interesting, too. **DSYoungEsq** : I thought of putting this in Cafe Society, but I am looking for factual answers, not a discussion of relative merits or whatnot, which is why I put it here. But I agree with most of your other points, as you will note below. **Scarlett67** : So _Tragedy of Errors_ was actually written by someone else from the outline? If so, I don’t think that would count. But you bring up a good point. Christie might have beaten Wodehouse if they had stuck to the plan to publish _The Curtain_ posthumously. A prolific author might be able to churn out books so fast that there would be a pile left at his/her death, not needing to be completed by someone else. I’m not trying to rig things for Bertie and Jeeves, but I think the essense of the accomplishment I’m looking for is in the long writing career, not in holding off publication for business reasons. After all, I could win the prize by writing two books, one published today, and the second published, in accordance with my will, 100 years from now. Not quite the point. So I’ll modify the criteria to allow for author’s death as the final date in case of posthumous works or if the date of the last wholly original work is not clear. And although we are talking mostly about formulaic genre fiction, the kind of thing a protege could learn to mimic, I really must insist on the original author requirement, no collaborators or proteges. (Which is why I’m excluding Ellery Queen, who was, I believe, a collaborative effort from early on.) So let’s run down our list so far: 58 years: Jeeves and Wooster (Wodehouse) 55 years: Hercule Poirot (Christie) 55 years: The Saint (Charteris) 53 years: Eliots (Bradbury) 46 years: Woodrow Wilson Smith (Heinlein) 43 years: Nero Wolfe (Stout) 41 years: Hari Seldon (Asimov) 40 years: Sherlock Holmes (Conan Doyle) 40 years: Gandalf (Tolkein) 39 years: Daneel Olivaw (Asimov) 35 years: Tarzan (Burroughs) 33 years: Yossarian (Heller) 28 years: Father Callahan (King) 25 years: Roland (King) 20 years: Jack Ryan (Clancy) Anyone else? ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/28 "2004-03-16T16:07:09Z")
\*Closing the italicization of earlier post that removed all the nice formatting of my post. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/29 "2004-03-16T16:09:59Z")
Hmmm. Let’s try _again_. Did it work? ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/30 "2004-03-16T16:16:57Z")
Ahhhh! We’re permanently italicized! A fate worse than death! \*! \*! \*! \*!Moderators! Save us! ---
**Author:** ![chiefgnome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@chiefgnome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiefgnome)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/31 "2004-03-16T16:25:29Z")
Private Detective fiction, especially pulp fiction, is a great source. Check out these additions to the list. I’m afraid I forgot to jot down the authors, and I think one of them was written by the same guy under two different pseudonyms , but I think I got rid of anyone who was written by multiple authors. Mike Hammer 49 years (1947-1996) Perry Mason 40 years (1933-1973) Shell Scott 37 years (1950-1987) Brock Callahan 37 years (1955-1992) Spenser 31 years (1973-2004) Bertha Cool and Donald Lam 31 years (1939-1970) Lew Archer 30 (1946-1976) Sharon McCone 27 (1977-2004) Dan Fortune 26 (1967-1993) Milo Milodragovitch 26 (1975-2001) Toby Peters 26 years (1977-2003) Matt Scudder 25 years (1976-2001) (Oh and, Nero Wolfe seems to be only 41 years - Fer-de-Lance was published in 1934) ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/32 "2004-03-16T16:30:09Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > **Scarlett67** : So _Tragedy of Errors_ was actually written by someone else from the outline? If so, I don’t think that would count. No, it is literally a detailed plot outline. Fred Dannay did most of the plotting for Ellery Queen stories, and Manfred Lee did the actual writing. This is a complete rough outline, written by Dannay, in a breezy, clipped style, not a finished novel. Lee died before he could do the writing. But it is completely original by one of the original authors. I have it in front of me. I’ll concede your exclusion on the basis of dates, but I think the exclusion of collaborators is unwarranted. Just because two writers work together (and especially in the near-exclusive manner that Dannay and Lee did) doesn’t make their characters any less “real,” IMHO. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/33 "2004-03-16T16:35:42Z")
Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey should make the list of honorable mentions. He appeared from 1970 to 1999; 29 years. While researching this, I was surprised to find that the 181 novels in the Doc Savage pulp series (mainly written by Lester Dent) were published within a span of only sixteen years (1933-1949). ---
**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:** [March 16, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/34 "2004-03-16T16:39:54Z")
Are kiddie-lit characters in play for this thread’s purpose? I’d like to offer in the top tier, although they don’t beat out Jeeves: Eddie Wilson by Carolyn Haywood. First appeared (I think) (though not as the title character) in _“B” Is For Betsy_, 1939. Last appeared in _Eddie’s Friend Boodles_, 1991. 51 years. Ramona Quimby by Beverly Clearly. First appeared (though not as the title character) in _Henry Huggins_, 1950. Most recent book (author is still alive): _Ramona’s World_, 1999. 49 years. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/35 "2004-03-16T17:20:56Z")
Inspector Maigret. First book 1929/30 , last book 1972. Because of this long time line there is always a problem with Maigret’s age . The first book says he was in his mid forties. The last book ,set in the 1970’s with talk of computers and televisions ,would mean that the poor old soul would be still in the police force aged over eighty. In fact Simenon “retired” Maigret before 1940 but then sent him back to work in 1942. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/36 "2004-03-16T17:30:01Z")
**Fritz Leiber** published _Two Sought Adventure_, featuring Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser in 1939. He continued writing about them until _Knight and Knave of Swords_ in 1988, I believe. That’s 49 years… ---
**Author:** ![chiefgnome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@chiefgnome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiefgnome)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/37 "2004-03-16T17:36:49Z")
Not quite so honourable mentions now all these forty year run characters are being found, but for what it’s worth - Ruth Rendell has been writing Inspector Wexford novels since 1964. The most recent was 2002, so thats 38 years. Also another “only in two books but a long way apart” - Kingsley Amis wrote two books with Patrick Standish as the main character, in 1960 and 1988 - so 28 years. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2004, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/38 "2004-03-16T17:50:22Z")
Ed McBain started his 87th Precinct series in 1956 and is still popping them out. That’s 48 years and counting. With any good health he should top Wodehouse. I’m positive I could name 100 mystery characters whose series have spanned 20 years. Poor Jack Ryan isn’t in the top fifteen. I’ll wager he isn’t in the top 500 overall. ---
**Author:** ![CaptainGeordie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbce88/32.png) [@CaptainGeordie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptainGeordie)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/39 "2004-03-16T18:34:00Z")
If we are including ‘school story ’ fiction, then Frank Richards (real name Charles Hamilton, 1876-1961) was , according to the Guiness Book of Records, the most prolific writer ever, having written the eqivalent of 1000 full length novels. His most famous creation was the fat schoolboy Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School, which was orginally a weekly series in the ’ Magnet’ comic published from 1908-1940, and only closed due to wartime paper shortages. Frank Richards continued to writer Bunter( and other school stories) and they were published in hard back after the war, at the rate of one or two per year until he died in 1961. Still has a great cult following in the UK ; facismile volumes of almost every issue of the Magnet were reprinted until a few years ago. There are several ‘Old Boys Book Clubs’ which read, buy, and exchange old copies of the Magnet That’s at least 53 years continous writing. ---
**Author:** ![LordVor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90ced4/32.png) [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/40 "2004-03-16T18:35:16Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > No contest: > > Methuselah, 969. > Mahalaleel, 962 > Jared, 962 > Noah, 950 > Adam, 930 > Seth, 912 > > And many more from that great fiction work, [The Bible.](http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/topics/lifespans.html) While others have pointed out that the character’s age doesn’t meet the criteria, I’d like to point out that your “no contest” is way wrong. Marvin the Robot from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series ended up being several times older than the universe itself. -lv [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587.md?page=3)