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:: ''The fertility of a species is inversely proportional to its lifespan. Thus, as a species approaches immortality, their birth rate approaches zero.''
On its surface, being [[Immortality|immortal]] is a pretty sweet gig. You have a lot of time on your hands and usually you never have to suffer the [[Blessed
Now, the wise group of sages known as [[Queen]] once asked us, "[[Who Wants to Live Forever?]]" and here's one reason why: in many works of fiction featuring immortality, not only do they [[Mayfly-December Romance|outlive their mortal lovers]], but the immortals in question also are sterile or infertile: they cannot have children, since children are considered the [[Lamarck Was Right|"normal" way]] for mortal humans to [[Legacy Immortality|ensure their legacy]].
In many cases, this is an example of [[Cursed
Immortals may have methods of making mortals immortal (vampire bite, [[Applied Phlebotinum]], or the like) and they may come to view those that they bring over into immortality [[Parental Substitute|as their own children]], teaching them the lessons and how to thrive as an immortal. This, however, is not the same as having natural children.
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In a strictly biological sense this trope is fairly logical. Without death, an immortal population would constantly grow and eventually crowd themselves out. As such, childbirth isn't really a necessity for such a species, since the members rarely need replacement. The above formula can (loosely) apply to any given species. Not to mention the little fact that females only have a limited amount of eggs in their ovaries, so [[Fridge Logic|one can presume]] that even if they're blessed with eternal youth, in the end there is no escaping menopause.
This trope includes extremely long-lived characters and species with low birth rates, as they fit on the sliding scale properly. The most common example of this is elves; Tolkienesque elves generally have Type II [[Immortality]] and can have children; their population is mitigated by a low birth rate (a typical elf couple can live together for several thousand years and produce only one or two children in all that time), the occasional violent death, and the tendency for older elves to [[Put
Related to [[Creative Sterility]]; this is a focus on sexual reproduction. Can result in a [[Dying Race]].
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* Specifically the reason for the Royals killing each other off in ''[[Princess Resurrection]]''. Since a fully mature Royal becomes a Phoenix who literally ''cannot die'', [[There Can Be Only One]] to become one.
* The [[Filler Villain|Bounts]] from ''[[Bleach]]'''s Bount arc were a group of immortal, [[Our Vampires Are Different|soul sucking]] humans who could summon [[Bond Creatures]], but they were incapable of reproduction. The one Bount that did have the ability to reproduce was killed by her own people as part of some elaborate ritual to [[It Makes Sense in Context|summon an army of flying, soul-sucking insects]].
* In ''[[Dance in
* Huey Laforet in ''[[Baccano
* The Juraians in ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'' have vast lifespans (one prominent member of the royal family is over 5,000 years old; she looks 35-40, tops), but their birth rates seem to be quite low. The Juraian emperor, for example, has been married to two women (at the same time) for over 700 years, and only had 3 children between them. His mother-in-law (the above-mentioned 5,000 year old Juraian) has only one biological daughter; while she's raised several other children, they were all adopted.
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== Film ==
* In ''[[
* ''[[The Man From Earth]]'' fathered many children during his looooong life, but since he is forced to leave his families after a few years, nothing is known about their immortality, apart from one, and he is most certainly mortal.
* In ''[[In Time]]'' people can reproduce freely, but to stay alive past the age of 25 you must work to obtain time, which also functions as currency.
* In the ''[[Underworld (
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== Literature ==
* The Tucks from Natalie Babbitt's ''[[Tuck Everlasting]]'' cannot change; they don't age, they don't die. Mrs. Tuck was past childbearing age when she drank from the spring, so it isn't an issue for the elder Tucks. However, the eldest Tuck son got married in the years after they drank from the spring and before they realized its effects; he had children, but his wife eventually thought he'd made a [[Deal
* Brought up in one of Joanne Bertin's ''The Last Dragonlord''. Dragonlords, the people who [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|shapeshift]] between [[Our Dragons Are Different|dragons]] and humans, have exceedingly long lifespans; as of the first book, the youngest is [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|really six hundred years old]], still looks the same, and is still called "little one." They cannot have children with ordinary humans, and while that does not apply between Dragonlords, they voluntarily do not have children, since when they do reproduce their offspring are very nearly always human. The same Dragonlords who enjoy their human friends and grieve and let go when they age and die have a lot more trouble with it when it's their own children.
* In [[
* In [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s [[Urban Fantasy|Urban Fantasies]] and [[Historical Fantasy|Historical Fantasies]], the immortal [[Our Elves Are Better|sidhe]] can reproduce, but it happens extremely infrequently. As a result, children are treasured by both the Unseighlie and Seighlie Sidhe, although only the Seighlie expand this love to human children and try to save them from unpleasant fates.
** For the elves in the ''Obsidian'' trilogy, children are also very rare and precious.
* Vampires from Meyers' ''[[Twilight (
** The same for wolves (though they're really only immortal so long as they shape shift). While there's only been one female wolf, she appears to have become menopausal after she became a wolf. The males can all still have children, a fact which is publicly known because of imprinting. [[Unfortunate Implications|Um...yeah.]]
* A similar situation holds for the werewolves in Patricia Briggs's ''Mercy Thomas'' novels. The werewolves don't age (and if they were old when they were turned, they'll revert to looking adult, but permanently young and fit). Male werewolves can have children with ordinary women, but they'll be born mortal, and there's a high risk of miscarriage. Female werewolves can get pregnant, but inevitably miscarry when they change, which they must do at full moon. The only exception is Charles, the son of the Marrok, who is the offspring of two werewolves and was born one; his Native American mother used magic to hold off the change, but the effort depleted her strength and she died in childbirth. It's often a plot point that older werewolves often become unstable because they have outlived too many partners and children - in the Briggs 'verse it's dangerous to try to become a werewolf, as you have to be savaged to the point of death and not many survive the process, so they can't automatically turn their wives and children.
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** {{spoiler|There's a [[Half-Human Hybrid|way around]] that limitation.}}
* There is a cultural mandate against reproduction by immortals in ''Jitterbug Perfume'' by [[Tom Robbins]].
* Averted in [[
** The ''[[Cracked
** Also averted with hobbits, who often have large families despite living longer than humans.
** But played straight with Ents, who live nearly forever but are all male and thus can't reproduce. Presumably wherever the Entwives are they have the opposite problem.
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* Completely ignored in [[Robert A. Heinlein|Robert A. Heinlein's]] ''[[Time Enough for Love]].'' Many near-immortals live throughout the galaxy and reproduce like bunny rabbits, even if they're 20 centuries old. Their children may also be effectively immortal, depending on what genes they picked up and whether they have access to a rejuvenation clinic. They solve the overpopulation problem by continually colonizing new planets. Justified as reproduction was the entire ''point'' of the Howard Families. They were an experiment in human longevity that worked spectacularly well.
** It is worth noting that Tellus Secundus, the planet where the story begins, has an unusually high population of near-immortal "Howards" and in consequence has instigated population controls. The planet's chief executive mentions to Lazarus Long that he'll grant an exception to any woman Lazarus feels like having a child with. Lazarus himself is a special case as, being over two thousand years old and born at the start of the Howard experiment, he can claim over 80 percent of the galactic population and over 99 percent of Howards as his descendants to some degree or another.
* Sort of the case in the universe of the novels ''[[
** Possibly on purpose, considering that the mother-in-law lives within spitting distance of them.
* Played straight ''so hard'' it hurts in ''[[Fragment]]''. When the protagonists discover the {{spoiler|mandatory sentient species that seems to be a part of any [[Lost World]] or Alien planet, they discover that they are immortal ''because'' they don't have any babies in a combination of [[Cliché Storm]] and [[You Fail Biology Forever]].}}
* In ''Three of Heart, One of Blood'', the Legacies are incapable of breeding, though the [[Unusual Euphemism|systems]] still work. This is a fact that [[Really Gets Around|Doryn]] uses and exploits. A lot.
* In the sci-fi ''The Declaration'' by Gemma Malloy, immortality has been made possible. Unfortunately, nobody who "opts-in" is allowed to have children because of this. Any children, or "surpluses," born to people who opt in are sent to [[Orphanage of Fear|group homes]] and taught that they are worthless beings that do not deserve to exist.
* Fairies in ''[[
* Witches in Phillip Pullman's [[His Dark Materials]] trilogy live roughly a thousand years. They take human men for lovers and bear children; if the children are girls, they're witches and if boys, human and short-lived. Presumably, they don't have children especially often. One character suggests that a witch dies when her heart is so broken from watching her lovers and sons grow old and die that she can't go on.
* Straightforwardly stated in C.S. Friedman's ''[[
** The Marra, as well, are subject to this. Energy beings who are not able to die but can also not create new Marra (or, if they can, they have [[The Fog of Ages|forgotten how]])
* ''[[The Culture]]'' generally discourages having more than a few children but no one stops those who wants dozens. Given that they have unlimited resources it's not really a problem.
* Averted in Wen Spencer's "Tinker" series. The Oni are immortal and breed like mice. Famines are common in the Oni's overpopulated world. The Elves on the other hand are just as fertile as humans but don't feel the need to have as many children since they are immortal. The population of Elfland has dropped by 50% over the last two thousand years due to war, accidental death, and suicide.
* Unicorns in ''[[The Last Unicorn (
* In Aleksandr Zarevin's ''Lonely Gods of the Universe'', the [[Human Aliens]] from the planet Oll arrive to Earth [[Ancient Astronauts|in distant past]], escaping from a power-hungry official. They plant some seeds they bring with them to grow food, and the seeds of a salad plant known as ambrosia grow practically overnight. After eating a salad made from ambrosia, they suddenly fall ill and wake up young and immortal. Somehow, an alien plant has acquired entirely new properties on Earth. They make a few locals immortal as well and establish themselves as gods on the island. While the females who become immortal are incapable of conceiving a child, this is absolutely not the case for any immortal male who sleeps with a human woman. That is, in fact, the cause of the many hair colors modern humans have. The original humans all had dark hair, while the Olympians (yes, [[Greek Mythology|those Olympians]]; they also call their island [[Atlantis]] after Atl, their home country on Oll) are all redheads. Immortality can only be achieved through consuming a sufficient quantity of ambrosia, which withered and died soon after blooming.
* In [[Larry Niven|Niven]]/[[Jerry Pournelle|Pournelle]]'s ''[[The Mote in
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's [[
* The Elves of Katherine Kerr's [[Deverry]] series usually live around 500 years, looking young until the last year or two of this, but have very few children during this time.
* In [[The Witcher]] cycle the Elves breed much slower than humans, because their women ovulate once in a couple of years (or even tens of years). Not to mention that after a hundred or so years, the sex gets boring. It's also mentioned they're only fertile at young age, but as later in the books a girl is bred with an elf over 500, it's probably only the women.
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*** [[Fridge Logic|So much for free will.]]
* In [[Isaac Asimov]]'s story ''The Last Question'', one person states that their supercomputer has solved a lot of problems, but all the solutions were virtually undone when it solved the problem of aging and death.
* The [[Our Dragons Are Different|Kantri]] of [[
== Live Action Television ==
* In ''[[Stargate SG
** The Goa'uld, as a parasitic race, is only very rarely capable of sexual reproduction, and the resulting child is very dangerous; thus the practice is proscribed. The normal life cycle of Goa'uld includes the spawning of new parasites by extremely rare slug-like queens, with Jaffa specially prepared to incubate the larvae; this almost always happens off-screen.
*** More specifically, procreation between two Goa'uld ''hosts'' is forbidden. Such a child, known as a Harcesis, would be born with all the genetic memories of the Goa'uld. Exactly why this would be a bad thing for the Goa'uld is never spelled out [[Fridge Brilliance|but it's probably to prevent Goa'uld secrets from falling into the hands of enemies like the Tokra or the Asgard]].
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* Averted in ''[[New Amsterdam]]'', where it has been established that John Amsterdam has had several children, who, unlike him, are mortal. One of these children, Omar, looks older than John himself, and knows about John's immortality.
** One episode shows that John keeps records of his descendants, so he can keep track of them and [[Incest Is Relative|avoid dating female descendants]].
* Captain Jack Harkness, from ''[[
** The fourth series, ''[[Torchwood: Miracle Day
* The Cylons from ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'' are immortal due to their resurrection technology. They are also near-universally infertile, with only a single [[Half-Human Hybrid|half-human]] child born to the entire race.
** One notable exception exists, but {{spoiler|did not survive to term}}
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== Tabletop Games ==
* Most of the various immortal races in the [[
** The original mummies were sterile too. However, their successors, the mummies of ''[[Mummy:
** It carries over into the [[New World of Darkness
* In ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'', the lifespan of elves has decreased somewhat over the various editions (from a maximum of two thousand years for grey elves in 1st edition to a handful of centuries now); perhaps this is appropriate, considering that they've become more and more common in their game worlds, suggesting higher levels of procreation. Okay, fine, they're still supposed to be majestic, long-lived, and rare, but [[Rule of Cool]] sometimes dictates otherwise.
** They say now that Elves do reproduce, but it's a long pregnancy, and that they need to wait 5 years to get pregnant again. But, of course, [[Your Mileage May Vary]].
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** Space Marines are largely infertile for three reasons. One, the God Emperor of Mankind did not want a race of immortal super warriors to replace mankind, but to defend it. Thus there are no female space marines and those that presumably can breed just produce regular humans. The second reason is that their extensive genetic and surgical alterations completely change much of their bodies structure. Since preserving reproductive capabilities is low on the list of priorities for the transition process, most marines likely do come out sterile. The third reason is that marines devote themselves entirely to war, they are either fighting, training to fight, or praying. Marines are only mandated 30 minutes of free time a day, and many chapters don't allow even that. Few chapters give a marine the chance to even find out if they're fertile, rendering the question of their fertility irrelevant.
** Similarly, the Eldar combine a low birth rate with a natural aversion towards any sort of extreme emotion; to the point where their population is likely below sustainability levels.
* ''[[Spycraft]]'' has a setting, 'World on Fire'. One faction is the Eternals, which are [[Exactly What It Says
* Invoked by [[Jerkass Gods|Tzeentch]] in ''[[Warhammer Fantasy]]''. The ancient race of Dragon Ogres asked the Lord of Change for a boon, to make them immortal. He did, but also rendered them sterile. Most of the still-living Dragon Ogres consider this to be Tzeench's idea of a joke.
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*** Asari under three hundred years old generally like being out in the galaxy and doing dangerous things, and they are also much easier to kill than krogan, not having multiple redundant organ systems. Therefore adventurous lifestyles are more of a check on their population than for krogan.
* True Ancestors in ''[[Tsukihime]]'' are noted in [[All There in the Manual|supplementary materials]] to have been rather on the decline. They did not even have enough children to replace the members they lost, so the birth of Arcueid itself was pretty big news even before people knew how powerful she was. Possibly tied to the fact that they were almost entirely all male.
* In [[
* Averted in ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'', with interesting results. Elves mature and reproduce at the same rate as humans, but have no upper limit to their ages. This results in massive populations; they would have taken over the world by [[Zerg Rush|sheer dint of numbers]] if it weren't for two weaknesses: they are poorly armed (having only wooden weapons and armor) and they are ''[[I'm a Humanitarian|cannibalistic maniacs]]'' who start wars over the way other species treat ''plants'', resulting in them warring with pretty much all of their neighbors. Battles with ''thousands'' of elves fighting (and losing to) less than a hundred dwarves are not uncommon.
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' has the Draenei, who live for at least tens of thousands of years (and may be immortal), and [[Word of God|very rarely have children]].
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** Although as of Chapter 83, it seems that the low birth rate of the angels was at least partially due to Yahwehh's obsession with controlling sex and sexuality and now that {{spoiler|he's been killed}} there's been a rash of pregnancies among the angels {{spoiler|including Maion}}.
* [http://writersworkshop.wikia.com/wiki/Controlling_Populations_of_Immortals Dissected (and arguably deconstructed)] by the Writerium (and its successor the Writer's Workshop).
* [http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2009/03/why-vampires-would-have-a-popu.html This blog post] hilariously suggested that romances like the one in ''[[Twilight (
== Web Comics ==
* ''[[Dan and
** In addition to Cubi, no new members of the Fae race may be born until living members willingly and deliberately die. They can have children with just about anything, but, [http://www.missmab.com/Demo/HG06.php well...]
** Destania's clan leader Cyra is in a similar boat as Fa'lina. Destania is her ''last'' surviving "child" and she can't even speak with her anymore since Destania has given up dreaming -- and Cyra mostly communicates in dreams. {{spoiler|So she's absolutely ''thrilled'' when she gets the chance to [http://missmab.com/Comics/Vol_1002.php speak with her "grandson" Dan]}}.
* The elves of ''[[Errant Story]]'' previously had an extremely low fertility rate, which is part of the reason why taking on [[Interspecies Romance|human]] [[Mayfly-December Romance|lovers]] was so popular among them; as Sarine put it, elves could "try for centuries to have an elven child with no success, or they could go fuck a human and have [[Half-Human Hybrid|the next best thing]]." In the wake of the Errant Wars, the elven fertility rate seems to have dropped from "low" to "zero," as the last elven child born is now some 1,500 years old.
* Parodied in ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'''s "Fantasy" storyline, where it's pointed out that Elven longevity also means that young Elves take ''centuries'' to grow past adolescence. As a result, the Elves invented prophylactics before they discovered how to use fire.
* The Bradicor of Ghanj-Rho in ''[[
** Our heroes end up accidentally flattening their last female during first contact and dooming them to extinction. The Bradicor react more with annoyance than anything else.
* In ''[[Jack (
** [http://www.pholph.com/strip.php?id=5&sid=3375 And now it appears that sterile immortality was intentional.]
* The fae of ''[[
|