Immortal Procreation Clause: Difference between revisions

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 With Suck|effects of injury or old age]].

 

 

 

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.

* 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 The Vampire Bund]]'' we discover that the "True Blooded" vampires can, in addition to [[The Virus|turning those they feed on]] into theoretically weaker ones, {{spoiler|reproduce sexually. Problem is that females can give birth once and they apparently reach adulthood very slowly. Bigger problem is that [[Complete Monster|Dukes Ivanovic, Li, and Rozenmann]] apparently killed off the other 97 dukes [[Stupid Evil|and their families]] ''then'' slaughtered the whole Royal House of Tepes [[Last of His Kind|save for the young Princess Mina]] (who is under obligation to produce a True Blooded heir).}}

* 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.

 

* Most elves of ''[[Elf Quest]]'' can only breed after a "recognition" (which is basically the instincts of two elves deciding the two are genetically very compatible, and forcing them to conceive a child). One of the stories set before the Original Quest mentions that the tribe's [[Healing Hands|Healer]] tried, and was in one case successful, to break that limitation, because there were worries the tribe was too small. And later on {{spoiler|Leetah managed to induce Recognition for Nightfall and Redlance.}}

** One tribe of elves had no children for ''millennia'', partly because of stagnation (they were hiding from the world in a "fortress" and would not outgrow it).

 

 

* Used in [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''Strata'', in which the universal currency is a life-extension treatment. One of the main characters, who is several centuries old, wonders what life would have been like had she been a "short-lifer" and thus able to have children.

* In Mickey Zucker Reichert's ''The Renshai Trilogy'' and its sequel ''The Renshai Chronicles'', it's remarked that the Norse Gods are ''almost'' completely infertile, and that many of them had a human parent. In the second trilogy, the life cycle of Elves becomes an important plot point: a new elven child can only be born if one of the currently existing elves dies (freeing their soul for [[Reincarnation]]), so the Elven population can never grow beyond its current numbers. Furthermore, the elf needs to have died of natural causes - any violent death ''permanently'' reduces the maximum elven population.

* There is a cultural mandate against reproduction by immortals in ''Jitterbug Perfume'' by [[Tom Robbins]].

* Averted in [[JRR Tolkien (Creator)|JRR Tolkien]]'s legendarium, as Elves live forever but are perfectly capable of having children. They simply don't choose to do so very often; by the time of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', Elves are near the end of a very long-term emigration, sailing away from Middle-Earth when they've grown weary of it, so overpopulation isn't a problem. In the stories set in the earliest time periods, though, there are frequently several generations of a single family living and ruling together, making a mental picture far more difficult than the two-generation Hugo Weaving/Liv Tyler pair in the films! There is also the implication that having children can be very spiritually draining for Elves, restricting them from having too many. One Elf was so diminished by giving birth that she essentially lost the will to live. The endless lives of Elves also means that after a relatively short time, sex becomes boring to them. In his notes at one point Tolkien indicated that elves do not have children after a certain age. (So, menopause?) Also that Feanor had the most children that any elf ever had, whereas seven children would be, if anything, low for most fertile human couples if they both lived through the women's child-bearing years in most eras.

* Sort of the case in the universe of the novels ''[[American Gods (Literature)|American Gods]]'' and ''[[Anansi Boys (Literature)|Anansi Boys]]'' with two notable exceptions. In the former, Wednesday (Odin) tells Shadow that people like him generally "shoot blanks" {{spoiler|Shadow is Wednesday's son with a human woman, but rather than being a completely new god or simply human, he is an incarnation of the God Baldr}}. We are also informed in ''[[American Gods (Literature)|American Gods]]'' that Mr. Nancy (Anansi) has a son, Charlie, who is the protagonist of ''[[Anansi Boys (Literature)|Anansi Boys]]'' and is seemingly completely normal. {{spoiler|His brother, Spider, who was split from him, is basically a god, although the protagonist turns out to have [[Reality Warper]] powers}}. Charlie ends up having children, who seem to be human {{spoiler|while Spider appears to be infertile}}.

** Possibly on purpose, considering that the mother-in-law lives within spitting distance of them.

* 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.

* 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.

* Averted in [[The Dresden Files]] as well. Wizards are ''mostly'' immortal (they can be killed, but left to their own devices and otherwise unmolested, they'll go on for centuries), and they can reproduce. Molly Carpenter and {{spoiler|Maggie Dresden}} are wizard children.

* Georgie Kincaid, succubus, is unable to bear children since she became a succubus.

* Captain Jack Harkness, from ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]'', is another aversion. He's immortal, but can have children. The children, again, are not immortal, thereby preserving the intent of the Clause.

** The fourth series, ''[[Torchwood Miracle Day (TV)|Miracle Day]]'', is set to involve a thorough subversion of this trope; humanity mysteriously becomes immortal and one of the immediate problems is an impending overpopulation crisis.

** One notable exception exists, but {{spoiler|did not survive to term}}

** {{spoiler|Inverted with the all-Cylon Thirteenth Tribe. The ancestors of the Final Five could reproduce, so they abandoned their resurrection technology.}}

* The krogan in ''[[Mass Effect]]'' were infected with a virus that devastates their birthday (1 out of 1000 is live, the rest are stillborn) in order to prevent them from taking over to galaxy on sheer numbers due to a combination of being one of the longest-lived species in the universe and being able to breed like rabbits, which is necessary on the harsh environment of their home world but not so much on the colony worlds they were given as a reward for their help in the [[Bug War|Rachni War]]. And even with the high mortality rate, they're still capable of maintaining a population equilibrium if not for the species wide fatalism that followed the Genophage (kind of hard to keep you chin up when your allies annihilate a fundamental aspect of your biology and society).

** The asari, who live for one thousand years, don't seem to have a problem with this trope though. They happily breed all they want to.

*** Most of the time the asari don't choose to procreate before they pass their 300th birthday and become Matrons, and generally don't have that many children in their whole lifetime; nearly 1000-year old Matriarch Benezia only has one daughter, for example. Aethyta, who's as old, is implied to have had a good number, but then [[Fridge Brilliance|her father was a krogan]].

*** This may have something to do with the fact that the asari do not reach adulthood until they are 80, 40 years of which are the equivalent of being a human teenager.

* Elves in ''[[Tales of MU]]'' are true immortals in terms of lifespan, and generally quite sexually potent as part of their being [[Our Elves Are Better|better than everybody]]. They keep their birth rate low by doing things that don't produce children.

* The alien race known as the Silent Ones in [[Orions Arm]] use a treatment that completely halts aging but severely stunts the development of their larvae, so they keep small groups of mortals to replace the few immortals that die. However most Terragen (human-derived and/or created) sophonts are effectively immortal and decidedly ''not'' infertile, the population being in the quadrillions about 10500 years in the future.

** 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).

** 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]}}.

* 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 ''[[Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic)|Schlock Mercenary]]'' have, individually, [[Time Abyss|survived millions of years]] and watched the evolution of intelligent life forms, but are indifferent to the gradual extinction of their species.