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{{trope}}{{Needs Image}}
{{quote|''"You can spend the rest of your life with me... but I can't spend the rest of mine with you. I have to live on. Alone."''
|'''The Doctor'''|''[[Doctor Who]]''}}
[[We Are
For the [[Half
If the immortal is a vampire, they have an obvious way around this. Although this has a tendency to [[I Hate You, Vampire Dad|piss off the would be mortal]], or it turns them evil, as opposed to the [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampire]] the original was.
Can raise [[Fridge Logic]] issues in an [[Anyone Can Die]] franchise with a high body count, given how few characters in such series even get the chance to live out a full lifespan.
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Anime is known for its often accepting treatment of the subject, due to the Japanese concept of ''mono no aware''; roughly, the beauty of transient things.
[[I Hate You, Vampire Dad]] may be the result. [[May
{{examples
▲== Anime and Manga ==
* One of the main plot elements of ''[[Crest of the Stars]]''. There is greater focus on this in the manga.
* Frequently suspected to be a [[Elephant in
** Keiichi is ''very'' aware that he is destined to be with Belldandy for the rest of ''his'' life, not ''hers''. Interestingly, he asked ''Peorth'' about this (in one of the later Manga arcs); he couldn't bear to ask Bell. [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|She fondly answered that they never forget the people that they have met over the ages and cherish them all]].
** In the original Japanese, it was implied that it was Keiichi's innate acceptance and understanding of their relative differences that was part of the attraction he presented to Belldandy and the other goddesses.
*** One interesting [[Fanfic]] attempt to resolve this issue postulated that Keiichi's (initial) wish put him into a special cycle of reincarnation, and that in every one of his lives he gets to be with Belldandy and the other players; the story even included a scene where demon antagonist Mara/Marller learns of Keiichi's latest incarnation and muses that it will be good to see the rest of the old gang once again. Other fanfics instead solve the problem by having Keichi [[Ascend to
**** Another massive crossover fanfic involved a supervillain trying to neutralize the goddesses by killing
** However, it should be noted that goddesses are portrayed as aging (to some extent, we see them as young children in flashbacks), getting sick, getting injured, and will '''die''' if their demon doublet is killed.
** Well, they are higher-dimensional entities whose job is to make sure that all of 11-dimensional reality continues to function properly, so that's just the bodies that they have assumed on Earth. It is also only Skuld that seems to age, so it may stop at will beyond 20-24 or so. As for the doublet system it is either just the
* This is actually part of the conflict in ''[[Mamotte Shugogetten]]''
* The ending to ''[[Yami to Boushi
* Unusually, ''[[Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou]]'' deals with this in a fairly straightforward way: despite her obvious affection for Takehiro, Alpha avoids becoming romantically involved with him because she knows she will outlive all of her human friends. She encourages Makki to pursue him, and eventually settles down with Kokone.
* The trope was touched on in a side-story manga in the ''[[
* Played with: Sara and Lottie in ''[[Soukou no Strain]]'': both become Reasoners to see [[Big Brother Attraction|their brothers]] again, because relativistic effects (
* One vampire in ''[[
* Any romance with the Edels in ''[[Elemental Gelade]]'' falls into this. Aside from a single-episode plot, this is mostly ignored.
* Played with in ''[[Durarara
* Averted and played with in ''[[Mnemosyne]]'' - the main character is an office lady in her early- to mid
* ''[[
* Played straight in ''[[Brigadoon Marin and Melan]]'', where the young [[Barrier Maiden]] was sent to earth for her safety. She's taken in by a kind Japanese family, but her sense of time is much different from theirs, and she barely ages at all before the couple die. She also marries their grandson, and she explains that she would die before him and that she, technically, wasn't human. He doesn't care and they get married anyway. Again, she seems as if she's in her twenties by the time he's lying on her death bed in at least his seventies.
** At least in the manga. In the anime, the situation was somewhat different (and in ways, a lot more confusing).
* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (
* In ''[[
** In the final light novel {{spoiler|she marries him.}}
* Parodied with [[The Ditz|Isaac and Miria]] in ''[[Baccano
* A huge concern for the fans of ''[[Kyo Kara Maoh
** Given that Yuuri is the demon king, not only in name but in occasional Alter Ego bouts of spectacular magic, it's really not clear that he has a normal human life span.
* In ''[[
** In the manga it's stated that everyone in Crystal Tokyo becomes extremely long-lived.
* In ''[[Immortal Rain]]'', Rain and Machika have this problem.
* Evangeline McDowell's [[Stalker
* A common problem in ''[[Natsume Yuujinchou]]'' when a youkai and a human fall in love.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
** The story introduces us to three [[Half
* In ''[[
* Although his age isn't specified, [[Bleach|Isshin Kurosaki]] is a former Captain-level Shinigami. Masaki was an ordinary human, as far as we know, and still very much alive (until her death at the hands of the Hollow Grand Fisher). Think about it for a second.
** Not exactly. if she had a ''normal'' death, instead of being killed by a Hollow, it's entirely possible she would have gone to the soul society.
*** And since he {{spoiler|purified Grand Fisher}} she's probably somewhere in the Rukongai right now.
* ''[[
* Hana, the 14-year-old girl (for most of the story) of ''[[Hana to Akuma]]'' is in love with Vivi, a [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|demon]] who will live centuries longer than her. Naturally, he is constantly tormented; he hates celebrating her birthday because it means she's closer to death, and frequently counts down her remaining years in panic. When he comes to return her romantic affection, he tries to leave to let her live a normal life. {{spoiler|It's futile, though, as he can't keep away and she's more than happy to continue their relationship. They marry, and she dies at an old age, having spent their life together. It's a [[Bittersweet Ending]] though, as she left him two children who have lifespans as long as his.}}
* ''[[Ojamajo Doremi]]'': During the ''Mo~tto!'' season, it is revealed that this is the reason the Witch Queen from two reigns ago goes crazy and creates all kinds of troubles, such as cursing Hana-Chan and creating the Smiling Moon rule,<ref>
* ''[[Tayutama]]'' the main character expects this trope to happen to himself with his wife Mashiro {{spoiler|only for the opposite to happen when her body is weakened too much and she's forced to sleep a century or two to regenerate effectively having her 'die' while he's young}}. The odd ending probably recreates the trope straight but isn't explored.
* ''[[Pita
* ''[[Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms]]'' looks at this trope through the lens of a different kind of love, when very-long-lived Maquia resolves to raise the orphaned infant Erial. The movie proceeds to show us how suddenly becoming Erial's mother and knowing that she will outlive him changes Maquia.
==
* In ''[[Top Ten]]'', a satirical [[Deconstruction]] of the superhero comic, a minor background action outside a courthouse turns this on its head. Two men feud over "The Immortal Woman", because they were extremely shallow, and wanted to have a trophy wife who would remain supermodel-perfect for their entire lives, and thus not need to be dumped and replaced after a few years.
* In [[The DCU]] comic ''[[Infinity, Inc.]]'', a subplot of the "Stream of Ruthlessness" story arc involved Earth-2's [[Wonder Woman]] seeking a means to restore the youth of an aging Steve Trevor, whom she had married after World War II.
* Similarly, in the late 1980s comic book mini-series ''[[Squadron Supreme]]'', Power Princess (a pastiche of Wonder Woman) is shown caring for her septugenarian husband, whom she married in the 1940s when she first left Utopia Isle.
* Joe Kelly repeated this in a JLA comic where [[Wonder Woman]] is shown taking care of an elderly and dying Bruce Wayne in a dream sequence.
* ''[[The Sandman]]'' included the character of Hob Gadling, who was made immortal. In one of his stories, he states, while weeping next to the grave of one of his latest companions to die, "I thought we'd have longer. It never gets easier, people you love not being there any more."
** Dream's frequent though illegal romances are all of this form, since Dream as one of the Endless is as old as the universe (10 billion years for Neil Gaiman's purposes) and so even goddesses and really old witches will be outlived. Though he probably usually manages to destroy the relationship before old age becomes an issue. His brother Destruction has a similar relationship, with a goddess who only lived for a few thousand years.
* In the ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' online comic book, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080319042042/http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/novels/downloads/Heroes_novel_066.pdf one issue] shows the many wives of Adam Monroe (and also spoils the end of
** The twist is {{spoiler|it's revealed that he is currently married, and expects his wife to be able to rescue him from his [[Buried Alive|current predicament.]]}} Sadly this twist was ignored, as {{spoiler|Hiro ended up rescuing him.}}
* [[The DCU]] [[Elseworlds]] comic ''[[Kingdom Come]]'' shows a still-youthful [[Superman]] long after Lois Lane's death, and eventually {{spoiler|builds up a romance between him and the explicitly-immortal [[Wonder Woman]]}}.
** He's still more or less in his prime, but his hair has begun to grey at the temples. And it's not like Lois died of old age, she was
* This is an issue in ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'', in which the immortal Dr. Manhattan is fully aware of the fact that his girlfriend will continue to grow old and he will not. His first girlfriend, Janey Slater, is also aware of this, and it eventually causes the end of their relationship when he leaves her for the much younger Laurie. Of course, Dr. Manhattan [[Time Dissonance|knowing beforehand]] that this would happen doesn't help things.
* Lampshaded by [[Doctor Doom]] when he confronted {{spoiler|Asgardian goddess Kelda}} who wanted to avenge the death of her beloved,
{{quote|
* ''[[Elf Quest]]'' just plain ''tears this up''. The elves, magical immortal creatures, are the
** Heavily deconstructed during the second half of the main quest: another 10.000 years pass, during with most of the mortal elves decide to go into magical hibernation. One family of elves (who happen to look most like the "classical" elf of Western mythology) decide not to, and try to live a peaceful and
** And then Winnowill, the series' main villain, discovers that her healing powers allow her to make mortal elves immortal. Against their will. And teaches Leetah, the hero's lifemate, that her own healing powers would allow her to do the same. After being kidnapped 10,000 years into the future, and believing (with good reason) that all of their friends are dead, Skywise (the hero's best friend) asks Leetah to make him immortal... only to find out several ''hours'' later that everyone they know is still alive.
** At one point in the comic, Leetah is briefly - ''very'' briefly - tempted to "cleanse" Cutter in his sleep. She utterly hates herself for even thinking about it.
** Aside from the main characters, there are many, ''many'' mortal/immortal pairings in ''[[Elf Quest]]'', and even three cases of humans being adopted by elves.
* [[
▲== Fan Fiction ==
* Though the original creators never alluded to it due to the crackishness of the pairing, shippers of Yuffie/Vincent from ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' have done this trope straight into the ground.
** Same with Vincent/Tifa...rare as it is.
* In the ''[[Transformers Film Series]]'' fandom, it's been touched upon multiple times concerning the Sam/Bumblebee pairing.
** Rarer, but was still touched upon, in the [[Transformers Animated|SarixBumblebee]] pairing. {{spoiler|Of course, after the revelation that she was a techno-organic, this pretty much vanished in
* Touched on in the animated video for the ''[[Touhou]]'' remix [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnUdsjat_tA "Alice -> Dere"] between the [[Youkai]] Alice and the [[Cute Witch|human]] Marisa.
** Indeed, this trope seems to be the general source of angst in Alice x Marisa pairings (the famous "Marisa Stole the Precious Thing" remix by [[IOSYS]], who did the one above as well, contains the line "You and I are of a different kind"). Which is all good and well, until [[Fridge Logic]] sets in and you realize that, under [[Retcon|current canon]], Alice USED to be human but became youkai via magical research, and Marisa has access to Alice's notes/materials/Alice herself, AND Marisa has been
** The topic is likely to come up in any of the human/youkai pairings. Even in the case of a certain immortal human, who will outlive the Youkai.
*** By far the most common is Sakuya, even without involving romance, as she is the only human in the relatively large Koumakan [[Cast Herd]], meaning her expected lifespan is considerably less than their's. However, there is also speculation that Sakuya is a Lunarian, who are incredibly long-lived (Eirin and the Watatsuki sisters are at least several
** Another ''[[Touhou]]'' remix that uses this heavily (in a very beautiful waltz) is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bgJ8o3tx74 "The song of a Broken Youkai who loved a human."] I wonder what it could possibly be about...
* A lot of the more...mature fanfic written for ''[[Star Trek:
** There are a couple of not exactly canon ''[[
** It's also a misogynistic disappointment as a mystery.
* Since Jareth and Sarah are the [[Fan
* There is a lot of ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' fanfiction that deals with this concept, since only the manga says normal humans become long-lived in the future and even if they do live a long time, they still don't live as long as the
* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' fics sometimes play with it too, usually focused on the relationship between national personifications and their most beloved historical figures. France/Joan of Arc is probably the most common, given the later's five-second appearance in the show; but lots of famous rulers or national heroes get represented. There was even [[Tear Jerker|heartrending fanvid]] montage of a bunch of them floating around for a while.
* ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]]'' fanfiction dealing with [[Batman]] and [[Wonder Woman]] is often about this and Diana dealing with Bruce's inevitable death.
* The "Tragedy of Long Life" pool on [[Danbooru]] is dedicated to this trope.
* This is a very common trope for shipping fanfics concerning the Princesses in ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic]]''. Being the only two immortals (Alicorns) revealed so far, a common qualm about them getting into a relationship is usually along these lines, unless it is a Yuri pairing of either of them with Twilight Sparkle, who has enough magic to presumably make herself immortal if she wanted to, or with [[Sibling Incest|each other]], a pairing known as [[Just for Pun|Princest]].
** Due to it being unclear how long a dragon's lifespan is, there's speculation a Spike/Rarity relationship might wind up becoming this.
* In ''[[Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda]]'', two out of the three women on the main cast were an avatar of a star (it only became apparent rather late in the series, but she was believed to be older and immortal much earlier), and a just about immortal android. This made the trope common enough.
* Generally (surprisingly) not brought up in ''[[Bleach]]''
* Milo and Kida in ''[[Atlantis:
▲* Milo and Kida in ''[[Atlantis the Lost Empire (Disney)|Atlantis the Lost Empire]]''. The former is twenty-something, the latter over 8000 years old.
** One hopes that either she's aware she doesn't get to keep him, or donning the crystal and becoming a resident allows him to achieve the same life expectancy.
* A creative (and [[Tear Jerker|soul-destroying]]) non-romantic variation on the theme appeared in ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]] 2'': Jessie, as an unchanging toy, "outlived" Emily's childhood.
** And continued in ''Toy Story 3'' where Andy has grown up and no longer needs his toys.
* This is the reason given in Bluth's ''[[The Secret of NIMH]]'' as to why Jonathan Brisby never told his wife anything about NIMH; the intelligence-boosters also slowed their aging. From a mouse's perspective, Jonathan was near-immortal, and he couldn't bear to tell her that he would watch her age and die while he stayed young.
* ''[[
* Reflected in the song "[[Who Wants to Live Forever?]]" by Queen which was, appropriately, written for the soundtrack of ''[[
** A
== Films -- Live-Action ==▼
▲* ''[[The Hunger (Film)|The Hunger]]''. Ancient, immortal vampire Miriam turns her mortal lovers into vampires, who then live with her for a couple of hundred years. They then wither and age rapidly to a near paralytic state, and she files them away in coffins in her attic. She does show some regret over this.
▲* Reflected in the song "[[Who Wants to Live Forever]]" by Queen which was, appropriately, written for the soundtrack of ''[[Highlander (Film)|Highlander]]''.
▲** A [[Mayfly December Romance]] is almost inevitable for the immortals in the film series, as they will naturally outlive any human love interests, and immortal-to-immortal romance is problematic too, as they are all engaged in a deadly battle royale with one another that won't end until only one is left.
* Ray and Mary of ''[[Hancock]]'' also have to deal with the Mortal/Immortal issue. Although at first after the reveal it seems like it might be a dealbreaker for Ray and the issue is never explicitly resolved onscreen, they are seen at the end together and jokingly reviewing the truth about famous historical figures.
* This trope is one of the central points of ''[[Bicentennial Man]]'', in which the main character is a robot who wants to [[Pinocchio Syndrome|become human]].
* ''[[
** With Leelo being the December here. (Being at least a multiple of 4000 years old...)
* ''Life in a Day'', starring Michael A. Goorjian and Chandra West.
* To extremes in ''[[The Man From Earth]]''. Main character John Oldman appears to be 35, but is actually a Cro-Magnon caveman who has lived through 14 000 years. This naturally causes difficulty in his romantic relationships, as he has to abandon each woman after a few years so that people don't catch on to his immortality. References are made to various women he has loved, including one of the films main characters, Sandra, a historian in her 30's. {{spoiler|Another one turns out to have been the mother of one of the other main characters. It is implied that John knew this all along.}}
** His children are completely mortal though, so there's no worry about them.
* {{spoiler|The main character and narrator}} of ''[[The Green Mile]]'' turns out to suffer from this.
* ''[[
* Jack Bonner and Kitty {{spoiler|who is an alien}} in ''[[Cocoon]]''.
* In ''[[We Are the Night]]'', vampiress Charlotte acts pretty dissociated from her Sire Louise. Turns out the reason for that is that {{spoiler|Louise sired Charlotte despite the latter being happily married to a man she loved and having a child with him}}. Later in the movie we see {{spoiler|Charlotte visiting her daughter in the hospital. While Charlotte is still youthful, her daughter dies of age right in front of her eyes.}}
** Also somewhat counts for {{spoiler|Louise}}, since the vampiress who sired her died and left her restless and heartbroken.
* In the second ''[[Night
** Double aversion: {{spoiler|Amelia knows. She simply doesn't care, as long as she can spend her last hours of life the best she can. And that includes
* Two examples from ''[[Queen of the Damned]]'':
** Jesse and Lestat. The first is a human woman in her twenties, the second a vampire several hundred years old.
** Lestat and Akasha. Both of them are vampires, but Akasha is ''thousands'' of years older than Lestat.
* In ''[[
* One of the better-known cases is the romance between Aragorn and the elf maiden Arwen Undómiel in Tolkien's ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. It was a relatively minor subplot in the novel (their full story is in the
▲== Literature ==
▲* One of the better-known cases is the romance between Aragorn and the elf maiden Arwen Undómiel in Tolkien's ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. It was a relatively minor subplot in the novel (their full story is in the LotR's Appendices), but became a much larger part of the later films.
** Giving numbers: he is 88, she is 2798 years old.
** When they first fell in love, he was a ''teenager'' and she was still over 2700 years old.
** To be more specific, Arwen is descended from a line of mixed heritage involving humans, elves, and even a [[Our Angels Are Different|Maia]]. Her paternal grandparents were granted the choice of whether they would live as elves or as humans, and the opportunity to choose was passed on to each of their descendants. In the Middle-earth setting this means that she can choose to either be a mortal or an immortal. The main source of angst in this choice, however, is that the two races do not share the same afterlife. Elves, even if killed, travel to the Undying Lands in the west and are usually resurrected, eventually. Humans, upon death, disappear from this world and their fate is unknown. Thus her choice is to be forever sundered from Aragorn, or forever sundered from her family. Like all resolutions in Tolkien's works, either choice is bittersweet at best.
*** And let's not forget that Aragorn is also descended from that same line! The first King of Numenor having been Elros... Elrond's brother! There's dozens and dozens of generations in between; which is itself another example of this very trope. Leads to an interesting question too: apparently if the parents decide to be elfy, their children can still pick, but if they decide to be human, they can't... might have to do with when they decide in relation to when they have kids, I suppose...
** At least in [[The Film of the Book|The Films of the Book]], Elrond tells Arwen that even as a mortal, she will far outlive Aragorn (keep in mind that Aragorn himself, as a Dunedan, lives 210 years) and live alone after Aragorn's death for a very long time.
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*** Though, strictly by the word of the book, it's not clear how long this is- in fact, by the timelines it may have been mere months. (Arguably, Arwen entered a state of severe depression and starved herself to death, though such mundane explanations are hazardous when dealing with elves. Tolkien certainly ''believed'' in 'death by broken heart' even in real life, since his mother's death- while his mother died from diabetes (hard to treat in those days), he always believed that her grief at becoming estranged from her family shortened her life.)
** This trope surfaced often in Tolkien's work. From ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', we have Beren and Lúthien and Idril and Tuor.
*** Mixed couples overall are very rare (known are five and a half, and only three got together permanently). There is one male elf/female human [[Star
** Also in the History of Middle Earth, this trope played beautifully in the marriage of Aldarion and Erendis on Númenor, lost home of the Dúnedain. Númenoreans had a typical lifespan of 100 to 200 years, but those of the royal house lived two to three times as long. Aldarion was the 6th king of Númenor; Erendis his wife was not from the royal house. Aldarion's long lifespan and his tendency to make multi-year voyages while Erendis continued to age rapidly drove a wedge in their relationship. Their problems in turn embittered their daughter, the future queen Tar-Ancalimë. This proved to be the first small step in the eventual downfall of Númenor.
** Note that ''all'' of the mixed couples in the ''LotR'' Verse are human/elf, despite the fact that both hobbits and dwarves are usually on good terms with their immediate human neighbors and with one another. As both these species have longer lifespans than humans, and dwarves live far longer than hobbits as well, this trope may be part of what's discouraging interracial relationships among the three ''mortal'' races.
*** Although I still suspect that the description of the Men of Bree ("brown-haired, broad, and rather short"), and the prevalence of atypically "botanical" surnames among the Bree-Hobbits, can be taken as a deliberate implication that there has at least in the past been interfertility between the Bree-land's "Big Folk" and "Little Folk".
** Potentially also (from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'') Faramir and Éowyn, since he had some Númenorean blood and, despite being thirteen years older than her to begin with, could have outlived her by decades. We aren't given a date of death for Éowyn, but Faramir lived well into his second century and it's extremely unlikely Éowyn lived nearly that long.
* In ''[[Tuck Everlasting]]'', 17-year old Jesse Tuck tells Winny to drink magic water to gain [[Immortality]] when she reaches his age. {{spoiler|She gives the water to a toad, ages normally, lives a happy life and dies.}}
** Jesse's older brother Miles was once married. When she realized that she aged while he stayed twenty-two, she accused him of selling his soul to the Devil.
* While it's not really romantic (unless you get into
* Becomes a problem for both Cindy and Frederick in ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]''. Mosquatlons can live to be 800 years old, whereas Whiteouts have about an average human lifespan. Cindy's boyfriends all seem to have suicidal tendencies, making her time with them even shorter. Frederick and Joli are generally on the down-low about their relationship; and have come to merely accept the fact that Frederick will go from looking 27 to looking no older than 40 at the same time that Joli turns 70. The fact that Joli is 16 and Frederick somewhere between 215 and 250 is explicitly pointed out by Cindy as being a bit creepy; [[Hypocritical Humor|even though she's got a lover who's about 26, while she's 300 and looks about 35]].
* [[Philip Pullman]]'s ''[[His Dark Materials]]'' features the witches, who live for roughly a thousand years, and so are continually having their lovers, husbands, and mortal sons dying on them (their daughters are always witches). One of them describes this as being very painful, and suggests that they eventually die when they can't take losing anyone else.
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*** I don't see the problem there, for if they both live thousands of years a few mere decades are a trivial matter.
**** I don't think she was considering it in that way, or in the long run (I mean, at the end of Inheritance {{spoiler|she basically says that actually, she'd be fine with them hooking up at that point}} ), she was more commenting on relative emotional maturity, as proved by the comparative making of fairths that Eragon performs; the first one being in Eldest {{spoiler|wherein he makes a very idealised portrait of her based primarily on his own daydreams}} and the second being in Inheritance {{spoiler|where he draws on everything he actually knows about her, including her true name and creates a real image of her exactly as she really is, showing that he's grown up}}.
**** He's ''fifteen''.
** Eragon has actually used the trope as the reason why he can't get romantically involved with humans. The trope doesn't even apply to the Arya situation because the two never knew each other UNTIL he was a Dragon Rider (and therefore immortal).
** Not that it seemed to stop Eragon's mother and {{spoiler|Morzan}}. Well, as was later revealed, Eragon's mother and {{spoiler|Brom}}. They're both {{spoiler|ex-Dragon Riders anyway, which means they were really, really old even before Eragon was born. And it's mentioned that Brom looked it too, what with the waist-length white beard and everything.}} All a bit [[
* Ended {{spoiler|rather badly}} in [[David Eddings]]' ''[[Belgariad]]''. Polgara {{spoiler|fell in love with a Wacite Arend, her Champion, when she was nine-hundred-odd years old and he was... oh, about thirty. When the Asturians attacked Vo Wacune, her father hustled her out of the city, leaving Ontrose to die in the fighting. She hasn't forgiven Belgarath yet, even though he ''did'' raise a valid point about him dying a couple millennia before she would anyway, and she carries a torch for him still, despite her marriage to Durnik.}}
* This trope is touched upon in the [[Robert A. Heinlein]] novel ''[[Time Enough for Love]]'', which has as a main character an essentially immortal man, Lazarus Long (born Woodrow Wilson Smith, around the turn of the 20th century). Specifically, the story involving Dora.
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* This subject causes much angsting in the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' novels, in which Tanis Half-Elven loves both an elf who would long outlive him and a human who would die while he was still young.
** {{spoiler|In case people want to know, he chose the elf, who outlives him due to a more mundane reason.}}
* The ''[[
** And X(A/N)th, being [[A God Am I|literally omnipotent]], can do anything he damn well pleases, including extending a human's life indefinitely.
* One of [[Clive Barker]]'s ''[[
* Bella of
*** {{spoiler|Incidentally, this issue is also covered with her mortal ex, Jacob. He can be immortal as long as he transforms. He falls for Bella's daughter Nessie, who will age to physically seventeen in seven years and then stop.}}
* In the ''[[Star Trek: New Frontier]]'' [[Expanded Universe]] series, Selar (a Vulcan with a lifespan of about 250 years) mates with a Hermat (with a 40-year lifespan...and both sets of genitals). Selar carries a child to term...and it turns out he has the lifespan of an Ocampa (10 years, if he's lucky.) In the most recent novel of the series, ''Treason'', this gets fixed, though ironically (for multiple reasons) {{spoiler|Selar dies before this happens.}} It's not a happy book.
** A ''[[Star Trek:
** In the [[Star Trek:
* The long-lived Tiste Andii, Korlat, and the already fairly old Human, {{spoiler|Whiskeyjack}}, in ''[[Malazan Book of the Fallen]]''. In fact, it's stated that Tiste Andii tend to have relationships with shorter-lived races, finding 200 years of marriage to their own kind wearisome and a bit pointless.
* ''[[Stardust (
** In the movie they got around this handily by playing on the "heart of a star" thing, i.e. one who has the heart of a star will live forever. In the films they claim that Yvvaine had "given" her heart to Tristan/Tristran, and therefor they will both live happily forever after.
* ''[[The Hero and The Crown]]'' has an interesting variant. Luthe is a super master mage and at least 100 generations old, probably older. Aerin is 20 years old but magically powerful, and capable of being "not quite mortal" herself. {{spoiler|They have a [[May
* [[Anne Bishop]]'s ''[[Black Jewels]]'' Trilogy has the pairing of Daemon and Jaenelle. Daemon was about 1700 years old when Jaenelle was born. This is a source of much frustration when {{spoiler|Daemon first meets her and she's only twelve.}} Balanced a bit by Jaenelle being {{spoiler|[[The Chosen One]] and therefore closely tied into the world's magic and wisdom}} and Daemon's race being long lived so that he's the equivalent of about 30 years old. But {{spoiler|they don't actually hook up till she's in her 20's since Daemon is most definitely not a [[Lolicon]]. That and he's wandering around [[Heroic BSOD|out of his mind]] because he thinks he killed her.}}
** Also Jaenelle is 100% human, so she'll live maybe sixty/seventy more years after The Queen of Darkness and Daemon could conceivably live to be twice or more his original stated age of 1700 years.
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** And then there is Saetan and his several lovers, including Casandra, who was mortal and would have died if she hadn't become a Guardian, Hecatah, who {{spoiler|was very dead indeed as we knew her}} and Sylvia, {{spoiler|from whom he withdrew specifically because she was going to die someday/he couldn't give her the life she deserved}}.
* Subverted in ''[[The Redemption of Althalus]]'', where the goddess Dweia and human protagonist Althalus fall in love, but the problems are resolved early on when Dweia reveals her ability to control time, letting her and Althalus to stay together as long as time itself exists.
* In Susanna Clarke's ''Tom Brightwind or How the Fairy Bridge Was Built at Thoresby'' (set in the ''[[Jonathan Strange
* Norman Spinrad's short story ''Deathwatch'' examines a future in which humanity develops a mutation that prevents aging... but not everyone has it. Warning: this story has been known to cause blurry vision in even the most stoic readers.
* In the ''[[Mercy Thompson]]'' universe, [[Our Werewolves Are Different|werewolves]] are immune to old age and disease and can live for centuries {{spoiler|or millennia. Bran and Samuel are at least 1300 years old...}} barring injury and insanity. The werewolf Samuel Cornick has had three human wives, each of whom died of old age. Another, unnamed werewolf in ''Cry Wolf'' is shown kissing his elderly wife who was initially mistaken for his grandmother. {{spoiler|In ''Hunting Grounds'', Arthur chooses to have his wife assassinated by vampires rather than suffer seeing her die of old age.}}
* Several times in the ''[[
* Subverted and reversed in [[Glen Cook]]'s ''Dread Empire'' series. Varthlokkur is an [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|immortal]] wizard who is able to use his magic to find the woman he will love. He waits millennia for her to be born, getting married once or twice for fun along the way. {{spoiler|His son from one of these marriages ends up winning her heart first. It's okay, though; Varthlokkur can ensure that she lives forever and his son doesn't.}}
* In Conn Iggulden's ''Emperor'' series, Caesar has a love affair with Servilia, his best friend's mother. Problematic since he needs a son and she is too old to get pregnant.
* Salamander/Ebañy in Katherine Kerr's ''[[Deverry]]'' series is a half-elf whose wife dies and is reincarnated in a new body. (Reincarnation is a big part of the ''Deverry'' books.) When he finds her again, she is a teenager, and he's about 100. He sees no particular reason not to marry her again - as he points out to his doubting friends, there aren't that many half-elfs around, and this way they might actually live to grow old together. {{spoiler|they don't.}}
** Also Dallandra and Aderyn, she is an elf, he is human. Made worse by {{spoiler|her spending time in the Land of the Guardians, where time runs slower}}, then a partial subversion when {{spoiler|Evandar gives Aderyn an elven life span. Unfortunately he forgets to give him elven youth to go with it.}}
* In Dan Simmon's ''[[Hyperion]]'', Merin and Siri from the sub-story, "The Consul's Tale", are engaged in a
* In the ''[[Night Huntress]]'' series, this occurs between Bones, the two-hundred-twenty-year-old vampire, and Cat, the twenty-year-old half-vampire. {{spoiler|Later Bones reveals that between her half-vampire blood and the occasional drinking of vampire blood, Cat can live for as long as he can, making this a [[May
* In ''[[The Apocalypse Troll]]'' by [[David Weber]], Ludmilla Leonovna is effectively immortal thanks to the [[Healing Factor]] her [[The Symbiote|symbiote]] grants her. So when she falls in love with a normal man, she's very aware of the fact that she'll outlive him. {{spoiler|Then when he's mortally injured in a fight with the [[Big Bad]], the only option is a risky [[Emergency Transformation]] via blood transfusion, injecting some of her symbiote-laden blood into him. This kills 99.99% of the people it's done to, so she wouldn't try it except for the fact that he'll be dead in five minutes if she does nothing.}}
** In other series by [[David Weber]], we see this pop up
** Also comes into play, though not in a romantic sense, in the ''[[
* Part of the tension between Harry Dresden and Karrin Murphy in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' stems from this, as she is a vanilla mortal and he is a [[Wizards Live Longer|wizard who will live for several centuries.]] Murphy even cites this in ''Proven Guilty'' as one of the issues in her relationship with him.
* One of the eponymous AI tanks in the ''[[Bolo (literature)|Bolo]]'' [[Shared Universe|universe]] bitterly reflects upon this when she realises that her commander has been treating her as a human woman, not a multi-thousand-ton, fusion-powered, functionally immortal battle tank{{spoiler|, and that she loves him back. She gives no hint of this angst to him and keeps it strictly platonic.}}
* In Octavia Butler's ''[[Patternist|Wild Seed]]'', protagonist Anywanyu had many husbands throughout her unnaturally long life, both she and her lovers seemed at terms with this.
* In ''[[Myst]]: The Book of Ti'ana'', Atrus (not the one from the game, but his grandfather) starts to become romantically involved with Anna. His father Kahlis reminds him that the extended D'ni lifespan will mean that he will outlive her by centuries. However, {{spoiler|Anna eventually outlives him due to a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]}}.
* Played straight and subverted in [[Cordwainer Smith]]'s ''The Queen of the Afternoon''. Laird, who is basically immortal due to rejuvenation treatments, marries a woman who is unable to be rejuvenated.
* ''[[Black Dagger Brotherhood]]'': Both Mary and Jane were humans hooking up with vampires, so Mary {{spoiler|became immortal to make up for being barren}} and Jane {{spoiler|became a ghost}}.
* In Cassandra Clare's ''[[Mortal Instruments]]'' series, {{spoiler|Alec Lightwood is eighteen, while Magnus Bane is 800 years old. The fact the Magnus is an immortal warlock while Alec is human becomes a plot point in the fourth book of the series.}}
* ''[[The Adoration of Jenna Fox]]'' has {{spoiler|Jenna, who is immortal because she is an [[Artificial Human]], marrying Ethan and having his child before he dies. Jenna says she'll end her life when their daughter reaches a certain age, so she doesn't have to watch her die.}}
* In ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'', this trope is why Aes Sedai rarely marry: they know that they will far outlive their husbands, and probably their children.
* In John Green's new book ''[[The Fault in Our Stars]]'', Hazel, the sixteen-year-old protagonist, diagnosed with terminal cancer, has an uncertain number of years to left to live, but probably not many. Then she meets and falls in love with a seventeen-year-old Augustus, who is well into remission and will likely live a normal number of years. {{spoiler|However, Augustus' cancer
* In Holly Black's [[Modern Faerie Tales
** For the first bit of Tithe we assume there will be some of this between Roiben and Kaye, which is solved when {{spoiler|Kaye conveniently turns out to be a pixie changeling}}.
* Nicholas Sparks' ''[[A Walk to Remember]]'' features a young man who marries his high school sweetheart when she's dying of cancer, leaving her dead at the age of nineteen mere months after their wedding while he lives a normal lifespan.
* The Doctor in ''[[
{{quote|
▲* The Doctor in ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' tends to avoid becoming too close to his companions, due to what he calls "the curse of the Time Lords" - a companion could spend their whole life with him, but he couldn't spend his whole life with them (see quote), being "immortal, barring accidents". An episode of the new series, "School Reunion", explored this issue in detail by focusing on aging ex-companion Sarah Jane Smith, while another, "The Girl in the Fireplace", gave the Doctor a poignant [[Mayfly December Romance]] with Madame de Pompadour.
▲{{quote| '''The Doctor:''' I don't age. I regenerate. But humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone that you ..<br />
▲'''Rose:''' What, Doctor?<br />
'''The Doctor:''' You can spend the rest of your life with me... but I can't spend the rest of mine with you. I have to live on. Alone. That's the curse of the Time Lords. }}
** The Third Doctor's relationship with Jo Grant had shades of this. Their relationship was never quite romantic (unless you consider being tied up together romantic), but he did seem awfully disappointed when she ran off and married a man she described as a younger version of him.
** Worse still, [[The Sarah Jane Adventures
** Subverted in "Flesh and Stone", when the Doctor raises this trope as a defence to Amy's romantic overtures: "Aw, you are sweet, Doctor, but I really wasn't suggesting anything quite so long term."
* Played to the very end on ''[[
** A bit of irony is that it may in fact have been Sheridan that out "lived" Delenn as [[No Body Left Behind|his body was never found]], [[Ascend to
*** Valen's body was never found, either, even though he was entirely mortal. The batting record for members of the One being ascended to a higher plane are therefore 2 out of 3. Draw your own conclusions about Delenn's ultimate disposition.
*** Lorien mentions this trope in a conversation with Susan Ivanova. He is the First One, and the last of his kind. He says that being immortal is to leave behind everything you care for, and that love is transitory. According to him, only short-lived species can imagine that love is eternal. He
* Due to the great difference between Vulcan and human lifespans on ''[[
** Actually, it was hinted at in ''Journey to Babel'', when McCoy was surprised that Sarek was retiring after the mission -- "after all, you're only a hundred and two."
** The same issue comes up with Klingon/human relationships. Again, we've never seen this addressed, but that's probably because humans who marry Klingons (especially Worf) don't usually get to die of old age.
*** Worf's more prominent (and only non-Klingon...er...Half-Klingon) marriage [[Bizarre Alien Biology|was to a joined Trill]], which confuses, and, depending on one's interpretation of the joined Trill/Symbiont relationship, laughs in the face of the whole matter. (None of the major Daxes have had any problem with long-term couplings with persons who aren't joined Trill.)
* On ''[[Star Trek
{{quote|
'''Odo''': The fact that your relationship failed doesn't mean mine will.
'''Laas''': True. If you're very lucky, you'll get to watch her grow old and die. }}
* ''[[Star Trek
** Explored also in the episode where Kes is traveling backwards in time, so we see an alternate future where Kes is married to Tom Paris while his friend Harry Kim is married to Kes's daughter.
* An early first season episode of ''[[
* in ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', Buffy's relationship with Angel was a mortal/immortal case. This didn't bother them much, until the [[Big Bad]] and then Buffy's mom brought it up just in time for the season finale. Angel ended up leaving Buffy for her own good... and the age issue in human/vampire relationships was apparently forgotten by all concerned at that point. (It certainly didn't figure in either Buffy/Spike or Angel/Cordelia.) Of course, the only reason they came up for that reason of Angel leaving Buffy was because they had to somehow get him out of Sunnydale for [[Angel
** It's fairly clear Buffy never intended anything other than a sexual relationship with Spike, and highly doubtful Spike would have thought of the issue at all. And Angel, by the time he started getting tentatively involved with Cordelia, was planning to become human again anyway.
** The initial age problem was enhanced by Buffy being a high school teen; Buffy/Spike and Angel/Cordelia had slightly more adult girls. Buffy provides another variant: given probable Slayer life expectancy (a few years, cut short by violence) even an ordinary human romance could be Mayfly December, at least on average.
*** Also, given the fact that Angel was fighting side-by-side with Buffy, his survival chances weren't much higher. It would have been entirely plausible for him to die in battle, leaving Buffy alive.
** It should also be noted that by the time Angel starts getting involved with Cordelia {{spoiler|she's part demon, and a damn powerful one at that. So, it's a high probability that she was as immortal as he was at that point}}.
*** It should
** Played with for Anya/Xander. They never had a
* Their potential difference in lifespan has been a source of angst to [[Superman]] and Lois Lane in various incarnations. In particular, an episode of ''[[Lois and Clark]]'' focused on it, with Clark admitting he had no idea how fast he would
* Partly averted in ''[[New Amsterdam (2008 TV series)|New Amsterdam]]'', where the premise is that the main character will be immortal ''until'' he finds and weds his true love. Only partly averted, because any relationship with someone ''other'' than his true love would fall into this trope, including platonic relationships such as his ''67'' children. He has mentioned being careful to avoid siring more children specifically because of not wanting to watch them grow old and die before him.
* It hasn't been addressed in the actual show yet, but [[Word of God]] states that Chuck from '' [[Pushing Daisies
* All of Jack's relationships in ''[[
** According to a photograph seen briefly at the end of "Something Borrowed" {{spoiler|Jack has had at least one spouse he has outlived.}}
** In "Small Worlds", we see Estelle, an old woman who tells Gwen about how she was in love with Jack's father decades before; turns out it was Jack, and the affection is still obviously there on his end despite his being, physically, several decades younger. His reaction to {{spoiler|her death}} at the end of the episode was heartbreaking.
** ''Children of Earth'': "Day One" introduces us to Alice {{spoiler|Jack's daughter who looks about the same age as him as she hasn't inherited his immortality.}}
** It's been addressed now, in the radio play ''The Dead Line''.
{{quote|
*** Also addressed in a conversation in ''Children of Earth'', Day Three. And then, of course, {{spoiler|Ianto dies}}.
* In the last two episodes of the first series of ''[[Being Human (
* On ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', Sylar seems to believe that this inevitability is grounds enough upon which he can begin to build a relationship of some sorts with Claire. Despite the fact that, at present, she's not even eighteen where ''he's'' roughly
* ''[[Battlestar Galactica
* As with the film series, all Immortal/mortal relationships in the ''[[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander]]'' TV series are this. It's spotlighted in the season one episode "Studies in Light", in which Duncan encounters a mortal woman who was his lover fifty years ago.
== Machinima ==
* The film "May Flowers" made with ''[[The Movies]]'' features a romance between a normal human man and a woman (the titular character) who is an ancient species, timeless but not ageless. Over the course of a year she ages an entire lifetime and dies at midnight every New Year's Eve only to be reborn as a baby seconds later. May finds husbands to take care of her during this time but does not stay married to them for more than 50 years.
== [[Music]] ==
* This was the theme of the music video for [[Paula Cole
▲== Music ==
* The song "Puff The Magic Dragon" describes a Mayfly
▲* This was the theme of the music video for [[Paula Cole|Paula Cole's]] big hit "I Don't Want to Wait," an immortal woman who had lovers in several time periods who each died.
** As with the ''Toy Story'' examples above, the issue is that he and all his adventures
▲* The song "Puff The Magic Dragon" describes a Mayfly December friendship between the dragon and his best friend in its final verse. It breaks the dragon's heart ([[Tear Jerker|as well as its listeners']]).
* Sonata Arctica's song
▲** As with the ''Toy Story'' examples above, the issue is that he and all his adventures 'make way for other toys'.
▲* Sonata Arctica's song 'Under Your Tree' describes this kind of frendship,originaly it was written because Tony Kakko's (main vocalist) dog,who he raised since he was a pup,died,and the day he was born he planted a tree.Now many years later the only thing was left is the tree and the memories.
* Josh Ritter's song "The Curse" depicts a relationship between a mummy who is blessed/cursed with immortality and the archaeologist who enters his tomb and "awakens" him. {{spoiler|1=She dies toward the end of the song. The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxWxiuJRApU music video] is one hell of a [[Tear Jerker]].}}
* Free Parking's "My Girlfriend is a Robot" pretty much [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXCa6eGot0M sums up this dilemma in four minutes].
* Half-subverted in ''[[Dungeons
** Actually actively averted in the ''Elves of Alfheim'' supplement for the ''[[Mystara]]'' campaign setting. Elven romantic relationships are not expected to be "for life" and it is rare that an elven couple doesn't drift apart
* This actually a very integral part of ''[[
** Keeping ghouls (humans with vampire blood in their system) doesn't help, either. They don't age, but they tend to go insane
** And if you try to go all the way and try to make your special someone a vampire like you
* ''[[Warhammer
==
▲* Half-subverted in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and Dragons]]''. While half-elves tend to have somewhat downbeat childhoods, their parents can apparently have quite happy lives together. The human is attracted to the elf's grace, the elf to the human's energy. It's implied that the human gets a partner who doesn't age for the duration of their relationship, and the elf gets a satisfying if short-lived (for an elf) tryst without any worries about bad breakups (assuming their human partner dies of old age). Other half-races, though, either play it straight, tending to come about because of [[Mayfly December Romance|Mayfly December Romances]] (half-dragons--even an elf will be in their grave for millennia by the time a dragon lover dies), or in the few exceptions avert it entirely. In the case of half-orcs, it's reversed, since orcs have far shorter lifespans than humans, and are more likely to die by violence.
▲** Actually actively averted in the ''Elves of Alfheim'' supplement for the Mystara campaign. Elven romantic relationships are not expected to be "for life" and it is rare that an elven couple doesn't drift apart anyway after at most a century. Elves with human spouses don't like when they die, of course, but don't see this trope as a big problem.
▲* This actually a very integral part of ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade (Tabletop Game)|Vampire: The Masquerade]]''. Part of what causes vampires to slowly turn more and more inhuman in attitude is the fact that any human relations a vampire has will eventually die. This either slowly drives them mad from despair or they simply stop bothering with considering humans anything more than toys or lunch. Vampires who try to fight this dissolution of humanity tend to be pretty unhappy.
▲** Keeping ghouls (humans with vampire blood in their system) doesn't help either. They don't age, but they tend to go insane over decades or centuries for the same reason that vampires do (although slightly faster).
▲** And if you try to go all the way and try to make your special someone a vampire like you...well, it's a crapshoot at best, but [[I Hate You Vampire Dad]] is very prone to rearing its ugly head.
▲* ''[[Warhammer (Tabletop Game)|Warhammer]]'' has one. Specifically, the Vampire Count Vlad von Carstein and his beloved wife Isabella. Of course, because [[Darker and Edgier|this is Warhammer]] there is precious little angst over this as they are both bloodthirsty [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]] of the old school, even before Isabella became a vampire.
▲== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Lunar]]: Eternal Blue'' You find that {{spoiler|The goddess Althena averts this by ''giving up'' her immortality and living out the rest of her life as Luna. A straighter, and more platonic example is Nall, who ''did'' in fact outlive his friends, and Ruby, who has to come to grips with the fact that she will do the same.}}
** Presumably this will be an issue for Lucia and Hiro as well.
* Inverted with ''[[Fire Emblem]]'''s quasi-canon couple Eliwood and Ninian. You'd think being a {{spoiler|1000-year-old half-dragon would mean Ninian would outlive Eliwood, but in fact abandoning the dragon homeworld makes her die within the next twenty years.}}
** Which leads into the relationship between Eliwood's son, Roy and possible bride Sophia {{spoiler|who, like Ninian, is half-human, half-dragon. However, there is no mention of any changes to her lifespan, possibly because she doesn't come from another dimension like Ninian does. If you also accept that Ninian is Roy's mom, then you have the interesting case of a quarter-dragon and a half-dragon.}} It should be noted that the support conversations between {{spoiler|half-dragon}} Sophia and {{spoiler|full dragon}} Fa also directly discuss this trope, albeit from the friendship angle.
** In the same series, there's also Sothe and Micaiah. It can be assumed that Micaiah, being Branded, will live much longer than Sothe. This is the reason why the two weren't together during Path of Radiance, but the topic isn't addressed much in Radiant Dawn.
*** [[Ho Yay|Ike and Soren]] have the same problem. Remember that {{spoiler|Soren's grandfather}} was one of only two living people to have personally met the goddess.
** A point that's brought up by both Nono and Tiki in ''[[Fire Emblem: Awakening]]'' if they form a relationship with Richt and the player's character respectively, as both of them are are [[Our Dragons Are Different|Manaketes]] and capable of living for thousands of years. Nono questions Richt about whether he really wants to marry her when she'd be looking youthful as ever even when he's an old man, while Tiki states that she's aware that she'll have to part with the player long before her life ends, but promises she'll remember him forever.
* In ''[[Mass Effect]]'', the prolonged lifespan of the asari has colored their relationships with most of the other species, along with their [[Bizarre Alien Biology|ability to mate with anything]]. Liara explains that asari who enter into physical and emotional relationships with members of other species do so fully aware that they will outlive their partners, and take a "long view" of the relationship.
** The children from such a relationship are always asari. In fact, most asari are the products of such relationships, as there is a [[Fantastic Racism|stigma]] attached to being a "pureblood".
** This isn't so bad if the partner is a human or turian, who live, on average, to the age of 150; with krogan, who have a similar lifespan to asari, it's not even an issue. Salarians, meanwhile, are lucky if they reach 40 - because asari are so long-lived, salarian parents won't even see their children reach adulthood. [[Tear Jerker|This is perfectly illustrated by a elderly 35 year old salarian and his 60 year old teenage asari stepdaughter]] in the second game.
** One asari mentions this as a reason she's hesitant to get it on with a krogan. Krogan have at least as long of a lifespan - there's mention of one having "
** In one particular mission you have to get a fish for a Krogan at the Citadel. In the shop, you can hear a Turian and Asari talking about getting a fish, and the Turian said that maybe they shouldn't get a fish because they only live for a few years. This is pretty much what happens.
{{quote|
'''Turian''': Oh, this is the lifespan talk, isn't it! We're not having the lifespan talk!
'''Asari''': We have to talk about it some time! }}
** Another possible example is the relationship between Commander Shepard and Thane Krios. One of the first things that Thane tells Shepard is that he is dying of a deadly disease and has only months to live. The fact that Shepard/the player can choose to pursue this relationship anyway, fully aware of this, puts it in this category.
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*** {{spoiler|Liara can comment on this in ''Lair of the Shadow Broker'', comparing Shepard's relationship with Thane with a typical asari/non-asari relationship, and encouraging her to treasure whatever time they have together.}}
** Liara herself is an example of this. She is very young for an asari, but even so, Shepard will most likely only be around for around the same time as she has lived thus far. This is the asari equivalent of getting married at 20 and one partner dying at 40, while the other lives to be 150, or more like comparing the lifespan of a dog to a human.
*** In [[Downloadable Content|Lair of the Shadow Broker]], she'll even mention she's only just about to turn a 109 (and typically, asari can live up to a 1000 years). Won't stop a faithful Shepard from proposing a [[Babies Ever After]] ending.
* The main relationship in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4'' is a platonic Mayfly-December love between two best friends, one a normal man approaching middle age, and one a clone with [[Plot
* Played straight, averted, AND subverted in ''[[Lost Odyssey]]'': Kaim {{spoiler|has had dozens of wives and hundreds of children before marrying another immortal and is at the end of the game quite ready to spent the next 1000 years with her}}, Seth {{spoiler|has also had numerous husbands/lovers and at least one of her children is still alive}}, Ming {{spoiler|has no problem with the idea of marrying a man she can outlive by hundreds of centuries}}. The immortals' {{spoiler|children have ordinary lifespans,
* In the ''[[Myst]]'' series, Katran has, it appears, a normal life span. However, her husband Atrus is one quarter D'ni, {{spoiler|and so he was still alive at 250.}} They were close in age.
** This is kind of subverted in another background novel, ''The Book of Ti'Ana''- the lifespan discrepancy between the human Anna and the D'ni Aitrus is one of the reasons their marriage is opposed, yet the couple themselves are less bothered by the issue. However, {{spoiler|thanks to the efforts of the villains, she ends up outliving him}}.
* [[Fridge Logic]] implies this with the [[Official Couple]] of ''[[Tsukihime]]''. {{spoiler|Shiki actually has a greatly reduced lifespan compared to normal humans. On the other hand, his girlfriend, Arcueid, is a deathless [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampire]].}}
** {{spoiler|Don't forget that Shiki's lifespan is measured in "hasn't he keeled over yet"! Any romance with him is likely to end.}}
** {{spoiler|Actually to be fair, Shiki has at least a couple of years left, as there is an epilogue that takes place years after ''Tsukihime'' and is presumably based on the [[Official Couple]]. Also, [[Future Badass]] and all.}}
* Though not a romantic relationship, this is strongly hinted at in ''[[
** Also, you have the option to pair off [[Idiot Hero|Lloyd]] with the {{spoiler|half-elf}} Raine, or the {{spoiler|28-year-old but physically 12 and just started physically aging again about halfway through the game}} Presea, both of whom will outlive him.
** Has everybody suddenly forgotten Kratos? He's {{spoiler|a 4000-year-old angel who doesn't age}}, and his wife was
** In the sequel, {{spoiler|Emil is revealed to [[Tomato in
** Did you forgot that Lloyd's {{spoiler|father is Kratos, which makes Lloyd a [[Half
*** {{spoiler|Angels were made immortal by their cruxis crystals, Lloyd lacks one, and will most likely live a normal human lifespan. Kratos was still practically human, having lived 4000 years from his cruxis crystal, and only able to use magic because of the sacred stone (Which took lots of blood sweat and tears on Mithos's part to figure it out.)}}
** Also prominent in ''[[
* Again, not a romance but touched on in ''[[Touhou]]''. Sakuya explicitly refuses to become immortal and serve Remilia forever when given the opportunity, although promises to serve her until death.
** Yukari's friendship with Yuyuko was almost this, with Yukari being absurdly old even back then and Yuyuko being human. However, after Yukari [[Reality Warper|fooled around with Yuyuko's border of life]] they have continued their friendship for almost a
** Mokou will outlive everyone but her rival Kaguya, including Keine, one of her extremely few close friends, resulting in her basically living as a hermit to avoid relationships. Kaguya herself isn't bothered by this though, both being far more self-centered and living with Eirin, who is ancient even by Gensoukyou standards.
** There is much fanmade material on the subject:
*** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4p1kkuM2Hg The Song of a Broken Youkai who Loved a Human]
*** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8H1_PGrH5Y An Alice x Reimu video set to "Thank You, My Twilight" by The Pillows.]
*** Many doujin, such as ''GERANIUM'' by Can't_Fix_the_Helmet, which features an aged Marisa and Kourin.
* In many ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' games, your character has the option to marry the Harvest Goddess, and occasionally, other supernatural figures. (In ''More Friends of Mineral Town,'' you can marry a Kappa, and in ''DS,'' you can marry a princess who's [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]].) While the Harvest Goddess is generally a fairly distant wife (she mostly lives in her designated spring), she's still happy to see you when you come around.
** There's also various incarnations of the Witch Princess in several games, who's [[Exactly What It Says
* "Old Man" Andrew, a supporting character from ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'' had this as a part of his backstory. He was a Reploid, she was a human, when she started aging he at one point had himself converted to look old, guess the mind must've followed suit because all he does nowadays is be by himself reminiscing.
* Avoided in the backstory of ''[[Suikoden]] 3'', where it is revealed that {{spoiler|the Flame Champion}} gave up {{spoiler|the True Fire Rune,}} the source of his immortality, to be with his lover {{spoiler|Sana}}. Played straight with {{spoiler|Jimba}}, whose {{spoiler|half of the True Water Rune}} grants him immortality, and is revealed to be the father of {{spoiler|Chris Lightfellow.}}
** Nash and the vampiress Sierra. They do have the option of turning him into a vampire and who knows, maybe they already did. At the very least, he has stated that he wouldn't mind spending an [[Eternal Love|eternity]] as vampire with her.
* Played straight in ''[[Avalon Code]]'', where {{spoiler|[[Our Elves Are Better|Mayor Georg]] married a human woman (who was, in fact, the ''granddaughter'' of his first love)}}. If the male player character chooses Georg's daughter Sylphy as a love interest, it can be assumed this trope would apply to their relationship as well, albeit not in-game.
* In ''[[Embric of
{{quote|
* ''[[
* In ''[[Katawa Shoujo]]'', Hisao expects to die young from his heart condition, while none of his potential girlfriends have conditions that limit their lifespan.
* In ''[[Xenoblade Chronicles]]'', the High Entia live about five times longer then the [[Humans
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In the semi-revisionist fantasy
▲* In the semi-revisionist fantasy webcomic ''[[Errant Story]]'', it was fashionable for some time in the past for the immortal elves to take on human lovers, so that they can experience the mourning, sad joy of seeing their lover grow old and die (especially since relationships between two immortal ''elves'' inevitably resulted in the two getting bored with each other over the decades or centuries); apparently this was their culture's take on ''mono no aware''. Elves, in this story, have a lot in common linguistically and culturally with Japan.
* Vampire sorcerer Pat in ''[[Sorcery 101]]'' had one such marriage in his (un)life, since he submitted to being turned to keep his wife from being killed, and has since been avoiding his only real friend because of the situation. He's in the midst of searching out the spellbooks of an ancient sorcerer who he is convinced found a magical cure for vampirism. Danny, his student (and the main character of the comic), is likely to end up in a similar situation eventually because he has a blood bond with another vampire, Seth, meaning he's stuck at his current age, health, and body shape until Seth dies. Given that Seth has lived 2000 years so far and is [[Badass|too much of a bastard to stop]], Danny's got a long life ahead of him.
* In ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'', Elves grow to full maturity in approximately 20 years--- then die shortly afterwords. One of the main characters is Sam, a fourteen-year-old
** In addition Raconnans are supposed to have a lifespan of 250 years, and the author once stated that [[May
* Spoofed in ''[http://pika-la-cynique.deviantart.com/ Girls Next Door]'', when a [[Twilight (
{{quote|
* In ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]],'' {{spoiler|Voluptua}} gives this as one of several reasons she cannot pursue a relationship with {{spoiler|Bob}}, yet also the reason she is reluctant to leave Earth's solar system. "If I turn my head for a moment... he'll age to dust before I can look back." Shown [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100223.html here.]
* In the
* In ''[[Eerie Cuties]]'' when Layla's relationship with her werecat boyfriend was revitalized, her mother tried a vampire version of "[[The Talk]]" to both spare her some pain and get [[Arranged Marriage]] back on the rails:
{{quote|'''Layla''': Tough! Me and Kade are in it for the long run!
'''Maria''': The ''long'' long run? Your aging will slow down soon. He'll be in his 40s before you turn "19".}}
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' with Higgs/Zeetha, especially after it was hinted that he may well be a Jäger general, and as such a few centuries old.
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' with Kathryn Flinders and… Karl Tagon. Yes, father of good old Captain Tagon. They met when Toughs were rescuing him and Kevyn-2, and she happened to be a driver, so [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2010-11-14 she was with her original looks and shooting mafia thugs, while he was a head in a jar]. Nothing special, beyond a mild compliment/leery comment for the sake of appearances. Then after more misadventures (and some cosmetic surgery) she [//www.schlockmercenary.com/2011-12-12 decided to travel with them], just for one trip. Then enlisted. Then she accidentally referred to Karl by his first name a few times. And one fine day Murtaugh bluntly told Karl exactly what is going on and why Kathryn invariably volunteers to work with him. Of course, that was after the indefinite life extension treatment became available.
== [[Web Original]] ==
* Discussed in a couple ''[[Cracked
** [http://www.cracked.com/article_17185_7-awesome-super-powers-ruined-by-science_p2.html "7 Awesome Super Powers (Ruined by Science)", #1 Immortality].
** The example from ''[[
* [[Played for Laughs]] in ''[[Mudy Quest]]'', where Darkmoon (a drow) and Totenkopf (a gobbo) are 923 and 11, respectively. They are of comparable appearance, however; she ages slow (or is immortal), while he ages fast.
▲== Western Animation ==
* Completely ignored in ''[[Transformers]]'', where romantic relationships between Transformers and human females are an uncommon but not completely rare occurrence. However, since [[Status Quo Is God]], the relationships are never shown again after the initial episode and one might assume they've broken up again.
* ''[[Gargoyles]]'', when Goliath and Elisa finally hook up. Gargoyles age at half the rate humans do, so Goliath still has about
** {{spoiler|[[Word of God]] reveals Goliath will sacrifice his life for a great cause... so maybe not, after all.}}
* Toyed with by the fandom in ''[[My Little Pony
Before adding an example here, please consider whether it belongs on the [[May-December Romance]] page instead.
* George Francis, a black man who, at 112 years old, was the oldest man in the U.S. until his death in
▲== Real Life ==
* Johannes Heesters, Dutch stage and film actor,
▲* George Francis, a black man who, at 112 years old, was the oldest man in the U.S. until his death in Dec '08. He was born in 1896, a mere 30 odd years after slavery ended... and he lived to see both world wars, the civil rights movement, and the election of Barack Obama. He saw the beginnings of the telephone, automobile, airplane, computer, televison, internet, space-shuttles, cell-phones, and all the other things we see as mundane. Even in old age, he maintained his lifelong interest in politics, voting for Obama in 2008. His family called him the man of three centuries. He was survived by 4 children, 18 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren, and 16 great-great-grandchildren. His oldest son, Anthony Francis, is 81. And his wife, Josephine Johnson Francis, you might ask? She died of cancer in 1964, half her husband's lifetime ago. This whole scenario may seem too farfetched to be true, yet it is... a true [[Mayfly December Romance]].
** Well, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130423230607/http://open.salon.com/blog/lost_in_berlin/2011/12/24/a_legend_leaves_the_stage_johannes_heesters_1903-2011 he doesn't have to worry anymore.]▼
▲* Johannes Heesters, Dutch stage and film actor, and, at 107, the oldest actor still working, once mentioned that the only thing he was afraid of was that his wife (who is 43 years younger) might die before him.
▲** Well, [http://open.salon.com/blog/lost_in_berlin/2011/12/24/a_legend_leaves_the_stage_johannes_heesters_1903-2011 he doesn't have to worry anymore.]
* Any [[Real Life]] romance in which one of the participants is terminally ill, and both are aware of this fact, sadly contains elements of this trope.
* So do humans' relationships with most species of pet, for that matter.
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[[Category:Love Tropes]]
[[Category:This Index Will Live Forever]]
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