Methuselah Syndrome: Difference between revisions
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* A side-effect of practicing sorcery in the ''[[Belgariad]]'' is indefinitely-increased lifespan. Except for the characters who become sorcerers during course of the main story, every magic-user in the books is at least one thousand years old.
* Roland, in ''[[The Dark Tower]]'', although that's mostly because the collapse of his world has made the nature of time's passage murky at best.
* In the world of ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', it's established that wizards just plain live longer than normals, with
* In ''[[Sewer, Gas & Electric|Sewer Gas and Electric]]'', Kite is a one-armed [[Sweet Polly Oliver]] Civil War veteran, and is over 170 years old. No special reason; she's just a tough ol' broad who never got around to dying.
* The original ''[[Redwall]]'' book actually ''had'' a very old character named Methuselah, who was killed about midway into the book. Also, it's noted that badgers, especially Badger Lords, can live four times longer than the other species - most of Mossflower's creatures measure time in "seasons", so evidently Mossflower's badgers age at the same rate as real-life humans.
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== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* Cinderella in ''[[The Tenth Kingdom]]'' is a highly amusing parody of this trope. As one of the Five Women Who Changed History (and the only one still living), she is over 200 years old, yet looks only middle-aged and still quite beautiful due to 'magic surgery.' However, this does not extend beyond the
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* A few characters in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' are in their 100s, and this isn't viewed as anything especially unusual by the cast. The co-creators [[Hand Wave
** Fire Lord Sozin died in his sleep at the age of 102. Then again, he is the ruler of the Fire Nation and could afford a long lifespan, plus it's mentioned that he may have used the power of the comet named after him to extend his lifespan. Bumi is 112 and still physically active. Supposedly, Guru Pathik is 150, though [[All There in the Manual|this is never actually mentioned in the show.]]
** Kyoshi was 230, the longest-lived avatar; she may have looked the same in all appearances, but she ''did'' wear pretty heavy makeup. If we assume there is no interregnum or regency in the Fire Nation, Sozin must have died only 29 years before the series starts (in a flashback to 6 years ago at Azulon's funeral, it is stated he reigned for 23 years, 23+6=29), which would make him 152! and the longest-lived non-avatar mentioned. [http://theavatarportal.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=2033 See all the nerdy details here].
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** Though this may also be a [[A Worldwide Punomenon|clerical error]]. At the time years weren't being kept track of quite as meticulously as later centuries. This is also why we don't actually know the real date of Jesus's birth, as it was counted backwards at this time period by people with incomplete archives.
** According to Tradition, John the Apostle lived to be 109. Again, the Tradition component is with regard to his birth year; he is known to have died in 115 AD. During his life, there were rumors that he would never die, but instead live to see the return of Jesus, and he was the only Apostle to die of natural causes.
* Some monarchs are known to also be this, such as Queen Victoria for the UK and Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary. Coincidentally, his descendant Otto von Habsburg, had he ruled, would have given ''both'' of them a run for their money: born before [[World War One]], he died in 2011; if he had actually taken the throne in 1922 (when his father historically died, but after the abolition of the monarchy in Austria) and lived as long as he did (i.e. to 2011), he would have had an 89-year
* Jack Nicholson and Michael Caine are the only two actors who have been nominated for Oscars in [[The Sixties]], [[The Seventies]], [[The Eighties]], [[The Nineties]], ''and'' the [[Turn of the Millennium]]. We're still waiting to see if this will extend to [[The New Tens]].
* Dick Clark has often been cited in various media as immortal, including in a song written for/about him by Benny Mardones.
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