reliving it up: part 3 (wsc 2025)

Cronos (Guillermo del Toro's film)

immortality through a device invented by a medieval alchemist but they develop a need for blood

Leech Woman (film)

lady keeps herself young through a secret African formula of orchid pollen and pineal juice (from murdered men's glands)

Death Becomes Her (film)

bodies require constant maintenance to stay in one piece

Cool Air (H.P Lovecraft's story)

the undead Dr Munoz can live indefinitely as long as he protects his body from decay

Wolverine from X-Men

his healing makes him recover from any injury, so Weapon X kidnapped him, peeled off his skin, and poured molten metal all over his bones

Eight World (John Varley's series)

everyone is immortal but the most common cause of death is suicide from boredom, even with instant sex-change technology

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams' series)

Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged becomes immortal after a workplace accident, looping endlessly in time with nothing to do, so he insults everyone in the universe

The Immortal (Jorge Luis Bores's story)

a city of immortals, so bored they no longer bother to move or speak.

Doctor Who

he is immortal so he doesn't date his human companions, albeit choosing pretty girls as his companions

The Age of the Pussyfoot (Frederik Pohl's novel)

Charles Forrester accumulated a quarter of a million dollars while in deep freeze, but with inflation, $250,000 isn't much money

Sandman (Neil Gaiman)

the immortal Hob Gadling has to periodically fake his death and become an heir, because people don't believe he's the same person that opened the account 200 or so years ago

Robert Heinlein's eugenically-created Howard families

hunted down by their neighbours and governments, even though they aren't even immortal, just long-lived

Lord of the Rings

elves are immortal but become emo and fade away when they lose human lovers and friends

The Gnarly Man (L. Sprague de Camp's story)

an immortal Neanderthal outlives his entire species but can't buy shirts due to his unique constitution

Flying Dutch (Tom Holt's novel)

an immortal ship who can only rest after its captain finds his true love, meaning the crew has to spend eternity together

Russia 2045

technology to develop immortality that both Steven Seagal and Putin are involved with (until they die)

Gulliver's Travels (Jonathan Swift)

some people are immortal but keep aging on an island of immortals, becoming helpless, senile and crabby, having uncontrollable bowels for 500 years

Hail and Farewell (Ray Bradbury's novel)

an immortal is stuck at 12, finding himself as an eternal foster child to lonely couples

Interview with the Vampire (Anne Rice)

Claudia, the prepubescent vampire 'daughter' turns bitter and murderous as she realizes that she's an intelligent, ambitious woman trapped permanently in the body of a little girl

RPG Vampire: The Masquerade

a clan called the Malkavians is immortal but suffer from mental disorders and insanity along with other clans.

DC Comics universe

the Lazarus Pits rejuvenate people at the cost of temporary insanity, but supervillain Ra's al Ghul resurrects himself over and over, so he's permanently crazy

The Jaunt (Stephen King's short story)

human subjects of their teleporter technology all come back insane because while teleportation takes only seconds in our time, the time inside Jaunt-space stretches forever.

Ode: Intimations of Immortality [William Wordsworth]

children see a divine light in nature, despite wanting to grow up, lose that light when they do so

Tithonus [Alfred Lord Tennyson]

Tithonus asks Eos for immortality so he can be with her forever, but continues aging so he begs her to let him die instead of rotting

The Mortal Immortal [Mary Shelley]

Winzy drinks half of an Elixir of Immortality thinking it would cure him of his love for Bertha, but they date anyways, with Bertha aging but Winzy is (half) unaging and finding out after Bertha dies that he will never love anyone the same way again

Hail and Farewell [Ray Bradbury]

a 12 year old immortal goes around getting adopted by families that can't have children, before leaving after being found out

The Island of the Immortals [Ursula K. Le Guin]

Island of the Immortals that has swarms of flies that makes people immortal, but immortals grow old and turn to sentient diamonds, so the island is very depressed and doesn't see it as immortality