Exposition of Immortality: Difference between revisions
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Is [[The Hero]] of your [[Fantasy]] tale [[Really 700 Years Old]] or your [[Big Bad]] is a [[Time Abyss]]? Perhaps [[Mr. Exposition]] gained most of his knowledge by being [[Older Than They Look]]? They are? Great. Now, how best to go about showing the audience that they are? |
Is [[The Hero]] of your [[Fantasy]] tale [[Really 700 Years Old]] or your [[Big Bad]] is a [[Time Abyss]]? Perhaps [[Mr. Exposition]] gained most of his knowledge by being [[Older Than They Look]]? They are? Great. Now, how best to go about showing the audience that they are? |
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'''Exposition of Immortality''' is a [[Narrative Device]] common in [[Speculative Fiction]], [[Fantasy Literature]] and modern media derived from those sources. Increasingly popular as more and more TV shows, Films and authors craft works in which immortal, long-lived or unaging characters like elves, vampires and superheroes with a powerful [[Healing Factor]] occur, '''Exposition of Immortality''' is a trope that is itself [[Older Than They Look]]. It's about the methods that a work uses to show that a character is really, really old and it generally occurs in the following ways: |
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* '''Incriminating Evidence.''' Bob has maintained a series of identities down the ages, all with the same face and eventually, someone finds photos and / or paintings of him from hundreds of years ago. '''Or:''' Alice has a company of which she is CEO. And someone finds the documentation that shows she's been CEO since the company was originally founded. During the Renaissance. |
* '''Incriminating Evidence.''' Bob has maintained a series of identities down the ages, all with the same face and eventually, someone finds photos and / or paintings of him from hundreds of years ago. '''Or:''' Alice has a company of which she is CEO. And someone finds the documentation that shows she's been CEO since the company was originally founded. During the Renaissance. |
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If a work has a character who falls into one of the immortality tropes you can be 99% certain that, at some point, their age is going to come up in conversation or otherwise be brought to the attention of the audience in (at least) one of those ways or a variation thereon. |
If a work has a character who falls into one of the immortality tropes you can be 99% certain that, at some point, their age is going to come up in conversation or otherwise be brought to the attention of the audience in (at least) one of those ways or a variation thereon. |
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'''Exposition of Immortality''' is '''not''' the same as [[Time Travel]]. Characters who end up with memories of past times or encounters with historical figures solely due to temporal tourism did not live through that period of history, and thus, aren't demonstrating their extreme longevity at all. Such characters may, however, be encountered by people who know them in the future via [[Time Travel]]. '''Exposition of Immortality''' ''only'' applies to characters who're unusually long-lived or actually immortal. Naturally old characters reminiscing does not invoke this trope. |
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Closely related to [[Really 700 Years Old]], [[Time Abyss]] and [[Older Than They Look]]. Often involves [[Dreaming of Times Gone By]], [[The Time of Myths]] and settings with a [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink]]. |
Closely related to [[Really 700 Years Old]], [[Time Abyss]] and [[Older Than They Look]]. Often involves [[Dreaming of Times Gone By]], [[The Time of Myths]] and settings with a [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink]]. |
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'''Exposition of Immortality''' will often lead to two sub-tropes being invoked: Exposure Of Immortality and Evidence Of Immortality. |
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{{quote|Exposure Of Immortality: When an immortal is outed by themselves or other parties.}} |
{{quote|Exposure Of Immortality: When an immortal is outed by themselves or other parties.}} |
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* Evidence Of Immortality: Exposition that shows a character to be immortal or otherwise older than they appear to be [[Captain Obvious|can happen in any of the forms listed in]] |
* Evidence Of Immortality: Exposition that shows a character to be immortal or otherwise older than they appear to be [[Captain Obvious|can happen in any of the forms listed in]] '''Exposition of Immortality'''. However; memories, conversations and flashback sequences don't tend to hold up too well as evidence. Photos, paintings, objets d'art and a series of documents showing that you and the last ten generations of your 'ancestors' have the same handwriting are much more damning proof of your unnatural longevity. |
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{{quote|Evidence Of Immortality: When documentary and / or objective evidence is presented to expose an immortal character (or when they do so themselves).}} |
{{quote|Evidence Of Immortality: When documentary and / or objective evidence is presented to expose an immortal character (or when they do so themselves).}} |
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** ''[[Drachenfels]]'' has this a couple of times, between Genevieve and the eponymous villain. Drachenfels himself has his immense age pointed early on; the adventurers reminding themselves that he was around when Sigmar Heldenhammer was still alive, a least two thousand years ago and coming across the remains of his infamous [[And I Must Scream|Poison Feast]] in which an ancestor of Oswald's was a victim. |
** ''[[Drachenfels]]'' has this a couple of times, between Genevieve and the eponymous villain. Drachenfels himself has his immense age pointed early on; the adventurers reminding themselves that he was around when Sigmar Heldenhammer was still alive, a least two thousand years ago and coming across the remains of his infamous [[And I Must Scream|Poison Feast]] in which an ancestor of Oswald's was a victim. |
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* [[Robert Rankin]]'s ''Armageddon Trilogy'' features a version of [[Elvis Presley]] who evaded his own death and is [[Sharing a Body|bonded to a genetically-engineered sprout with TimeTravel powers]] who grants him near-immortality. Elvis looks the same and [[Paper-Thin Disguise|conceals his identity]] with several new names like '''T'''heodore '''H'''enry '''E'''dward King and [[Punny Name|Noah Never]] (it's a play on the Elvis song ''No, I Never''). |
* [[Robert Rankin]]'s ''Armageddon Trilogy'' features a version of [[Elvis Presley]] who evaded his own death and is [[Sharing a Body|bonded to a genetically-engineered sprout with TimeTravel powers]] who grants him near-immortality. Elvis looks the same and [[Paper-Thin Disguise|conceals his identity]] with several new names like '''T'''heodore '''H'''enry '''E'''dward King and [[Punny Name|Noah Never]] (it's a play on the Elvis song ''No, I Never''). |
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* [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' has more than a few instances of immortal characters and Elrond in particular evokes |
* [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' has more than a few instances of immortal characters and Elrond in particular evokes Exposition of Immortality as he pointedly reminds Boromir of ''who'' told Isildur what ''should'' have been done with the One Ring, 3000 years ago. |
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* In ''St. Austin Friars'' a short story in [[Robert Westall]]'s anthology ''[[Break of Dark]]'', William Henry Drogo invites the Reverend to dinner and tells him several detailed stories about the past of Muncaster, as if he witness them directly. When challenged he simply states: ''"I am one hundred and ninety-two years old."'' |
* In ''St. Austin Friars'' a short story in [[Robert Westall]]'s anthology ''[[Break of Dark]]'', William Henry Drogo invites the Reverend to dinner and tells him several detailed stories about the past of Muncaster, as if he witness them directly. When challenged he simply states: ''"I am one hundred and ninety-two years old."'' |
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