# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Quint\_Essence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/54ee81/32.png) [@Quint\_Essence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint_Essence)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/41 "2004-03-16T19:29:46Z")
the Hardy boys remained in their teens from 1927-1960. Thats gotta be worth something? ---
**Author:** ![Quint\_Essence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/54ee81/32.png) [@Quint\_Essence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint_Essence)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/42 "2004-03-16T19:32:41Z")
Whoa!. I just discovered Franklin W Dixon, the “author” of the Hardy Boys mysteries, never existed! I am stunned! ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/43 "2004-03-16T19:44:28Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Gandalf, first published in 1937 in _The Hobbit: or There and Back Again_, and last published in _The Silmarillion_ in 1977 … 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. Then I think you’d have to disqualify _The Silmarillion_, which was cobbled together from various notes and unfinished works, substantially revised and expanded upon by Christopher Tolkien. > [@](#): > > “It seems to me now, many years later, to have been an excessive tampering with my father’s actual thought and intention: thus raising the question, whether the attempt to make a ‘unified’ Silmarillion should have been embarked on.” – Christopher Tolkien [http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#SilmChanges](http://tolkien.slimy.com/faq/External.html#SilmChanges) ---
**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, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/44 "2004-03-16T20:04:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by LordVor > > > [@](#): > > > > Originally Posted by 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. > > 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. Even sticking to human characters, Heinlein’s W.W. Smith (aka Lazarus Long) was over 2000 years and counting at his latest appearance. Even he is younger than the lesser-known Hanno of Tyre (from Poul Anderson’s _Boat of a Million Years_), who was born around 500 BCE and survives (with little sign of aging) well into our future – all in one book! ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/45 "2004-03-16T23:15:07Z")
Cafe Society is for everything relating to fiction, not just non-factual stuff. Accordingly, I’ll move this thread over there. bibliophage moderator GQ ---
**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/46 "2004-03-16T23:21:16Z")
If you’re going the SF route, it gets really ridiculous. There are probably several characters who are as old or older than the universe. Some have god as a character, he’s got some years on him. What about Jack Chalkers godlike character from The Well World books, I think he made it through several cycles of the universe. Fred Pohl’s world at the end of time had characters that lasted well into the heat death of the universe. Or characters trapped in time loops that just keep going… No, let’s stick to the OP. It ain’t the character, it’s the writer writing about the character. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/47 "2004-03-16T23:23:37Z")
Nothing exceptional, but various notable entries are: Dave Bowman/Frank Poole, by Arthur C. Clarke, (1968-96) 28 years (various interesting arguments) George Smiley, by John le Carre (1961-91) 30 years Biggles, by W.E.Johns (1932-68) 36 years Adam Dalgleish, by D.P. James (1962-2003) 41 years. Of course, three of these are still running. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/48 "2004-03-17T00:12:48Z")
> [@chiefgnome](#): > > Similarly there are two widely spaced appearances of Father Callahan in Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot (1975) and Wolves of Calla (2003) a span of 28 years. Roland in his Dark Tower books has a span of 25 years (1978-2003) The first Dark Tower book was published in [1982.](http://www.stephenking.com/pages/works/Dark_Tower_I/) ---
**Author:** ![slipster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@slipster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slipster)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/49 "2004-03-17T02:52:01Z")
Lee Falk is said to have written the adventures of The Phantom for a span of 54 years, from 1936 until 1990. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/50 "2004-03-17T02:53:04Z")
Might be worth considering Jim Qwilleran, Koko and Yum Yum. Lilian Jackson Braun wrote the first book back in 1966. Since she’s still writing away that’s 38 years and counting. I imagine she’ll continue till she dies. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/51 "2004-03-17T03:06:14Z")
> [@CandidGamera](#): > > 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. He did publish a bunch of poems back them, many related to Middle Earth. Although I think the only people he mentioned by name are some of the framing characters from “The Book of Lost Tales.” ---
**Author:** ![CloudCar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@CloudCar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CloudCar)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/52 "2004-03-17T04:05:24Z")
Though he didn’t write the novelizations George Lucas has been writing about Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader for quite some time now. He didn’t write the screenplays for Empire or Jedi but he did write the screenplay for A New Hope in 1977. Episode III will be released in 2005 for which he is writing the screenplay making for a total of 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 17, 2004, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/53 "2004-03-17T04:09:34Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The first Dark Tower book was published in [1982.](http://www.stephenking.com/pages/works/Dark_Tower_I/) True, but the first story in the sequence, “The Gunslinger,” was published in _The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction_ in October, 1978. Adding short stories to the mix gives some interesting results. For example, Christopher Anvil’s Colonization series began with “Revolt!” in the April 1958 _Astounding_, and he put out the novel _Interstellar Patrol_ in 2003. I don’t know whether the same characters are in both, however. Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea series started with the short story “The Rule of Names” in the April 1964 _Fantastic_ and the latest novel, _The Telling_, came out in 2001. And if you don’t know: [SCI FI Greenlights ‘Earthsea’ for Production in New Zealand](http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040107/nyw179_1.html). To be presented on the Sci-Fi Channel in December. ---
**Author:** ![LivingInThePast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19b73/32.png) [@LivingInThePast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LivingInThePast)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/54 "2004-03-17T04:16:32Z")
> [@Quint Essence](#): > > Whoa!. I just discovered Franklin W Dixon, the “author” of the Hardy Boys mysteries, never existed! > I am stunned! Really!?! Huh. Then that means his daughter never existed, either? (I remember reading an afterword or a dust cover or something that said Mr. Dixon had died but his daughter and a whole stable of ghost writers were continuing the Hardy Boys’ tradition.) Live ‘n’ learn. 😕 ---
**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 17, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/55 "2004-03-17T04:53:27Z")
You’re not all that wrong: [http://www.hardyboy.com/~bayport/author.html](http://www.hardyboy.com/~bayport/author.html) [quote] Edward Stratemeyer died in 1930 and his daughters, Edna Squier and Harriet Adams, took over the Syndicate and continued the outlines. [quote] ---
**Author:** ![Gamaliel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@Gamaliel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gamaliel)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/56 "2004-03-17T07:03:50Z")
Stan Lee co-created Spider-Man in 1962 and wrote the comic book for a decade or more, and the comic strip until sometime in the 1990s I believe. Dave Sim just published issue 300 of Cerebus, so he’s spent 1977 to 2004 with that aardvark. Chris Claremont spent 17 years writing the X-Men, and I guess he could be considered the original writer since it was a whole new team. (Though he was a co-writer or assistant with Len Wein on the earliest issues.) When I clicked on this thread, I thought it was about the longest lived characters, like Methusalah or Lazaraus Long. The winner in that department is no doubt DC comics villian Vandal Savage, who was born a caveman and died in the year 85271 AD. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/57 "2004-03-17T08:08:11Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > True, but the first story in the sequence, “The Gunslinger,” was published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in October, 1978. Curses! Foiled again! ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/58 "2004-03-17T08:23:54Z")
Actually, Stan Lee still writes the daily Spider-Man strip, which puts him at 42 years and counting. Robert B. Parker published the first Spenser book in 1973, and the latest one this month, a run of 31 years so far. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/59 "2004-03-19T15:41:18Z")
**Ed McBain** published his first 87 precient book “Cop Killer” in 1956 and is still writing them–a total of 48 years, with no end in sight. That in itself would be amazing, but McBain also writes the Matthew Hope mysteries, and lots of other good books under his own name and his alter ego **Evan Hunter** (including “Blackboard Jungle” and the screenplay for “The Birds”). McBain started a series of “Alphabet Titles” in the 1960’s with Ax, Bread, Calypso, Doll…long before Sue Grafton. The Matthew Hope mysteries have titles based on children’s poems and stories–Cinderella, The House that Jack Built, Puss in Boots, and Glady the Cross-Eyed Bear. McBain/Hunter is both quality and quantity. ---
**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 19, 2004, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587/60 "2004-03-19T21:31:55Z")
> [@](#): > > Ed McBain published his first 87 precient book “Cop Killer” in 1956 and is still writing them–a total of 48 years, with no end in sight. That in itself would be amazing, but McBain also writes the Matthew Hope mysteries, and lots of other good books under his own name and his alter ego Evan Hunter Just to clear up a point, Ed McBain is the pseudonym. The author’s real name is Evan Hunter (or at least it has been since he had it legally changed from Salvatore Lombino in 1952). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-longest-lived-fictional-character/234587.md?page=4)