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My Grandson, Myself: Difference between revisions
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'''Oz''': How 'bout exact same guy like exact same guy. |''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', "Enemies"}}
You're immortal, or just extremely long lived, and you want to stay in one place for a long time without people noticing that you don't age. So what do you do? You reintroduce yourself as your own son, then grandson, etc. This handily gets around the problem of having to explain how you could have served in WWII and still only be 25 years old.
Bonus points if you keep the same name - so John Smith becomes John Smith Jr, becomes John Smith III, etc. Bonus [[Idiot Ball|idiocy-points]] if you've ever allowed someone to paint your portrait or take your photograph while pursuing this strategy, as it ''will'' be discovered and expose your deception in future decades.
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* [[Hawkman]] started doing this after the Golden Age Hawkman from the 1940's was retconned into being the same character as the currently active Hawkman.
* In ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'', Mina Harker and Allan Quartermain drink from the [[Fountain of Youth]], restoring both to their late-20's selves. Mina lives on as herself and is noted to be "remarkably well-preserved," while Allan invokes this trope and poses as "Allan Quartermain Jr."
* Many of the Destines from ''[[ClanDestine]]'' have done this. In the first volume, Kay has to establish her new [[Body Surf|host body]] as the daughter of the same name as her old one- somewhat complicated by the fact that she hadn't planned on the switch and therefore never mentioned having a daughter. The sequel miniseries establishes that Walter has also been repeatedly posing as his own son (under the same name), and a villain discovers that the family has a suspicious pattern of births and deaths in out of the way locales with conveniently poor documentation.
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== Literature ==
* ''[[Ethshar|The Misenchanted Sword]]'' by [[Lawrence Watt
* {{spoiler|The all-mighty High Priest Dios}} in the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''Pyramids'' is an interesting case of this: not only has he been {{spoiler|the high priest and chief adviser to the pharaohs of Djelibeybi for over seven thousand years by abusing a pyramid's age-reversing effects}}, he has ''[[Stable Time Loop|always]]'' been that way (or at least for untold tens of thousands of years) as a result of {{spoiler|being brought back to the moment of Djelibeybi's founding [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|with all of his religious knowledge but no memory of his past, leading him to repeat the experience over and over]]}}. As far as we know, he never actually ''pretends'' to be his own descendant - people just assume.
** It's more a matter of people trying very hard not to think about it too much, as being fed to crocodiles often offends.
* Lazarus Long mentions doing this in [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Time Enough for Love]]''. Since he effectively doesn't age, he uses makeup to make himself slowly look older over time. After he's been in an area for long enough, he comes back without the makeup as his "son."
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== Tabletop [[RPGs]] ==
* ''[[GURPS]]'' 4e has this among Baron Janos Telkozep, an iconic vampire character.
* King Kaius III in the ''[[Eberron]]'' campaign setting is really his great-grandfather (and secret vampire) King Kaius I. Kaius II (and the real Kaius III) were really themselves, and it's strongly hinted that the latter [[Man in the Iron Mask|has been locked up somewhere]].
* Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun the Elder in the [[Forgotten Realms]] campaign setting, who took on the identity of his actual grandson Khelben "Ravencloak" Arunsun the Younger.
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== Videogames ==
* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]: Oblivion'', {{spoiler|Springheel Jak}} does this as {{spoiler|Earl Jakben of Imbel}}.
* In [[Shadow of Destiny]], it is implied that {{spoiler|the main character, Eike, has been this, though without his knowledge}}.
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