No Immortal Inertia: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

An extension of [[No Ontological Inertia]] and [[This Was His True Form]]. When an immortal and eternally youthful character has his (or her) immortality taken away, [[Rapid Aging|his years have a tendency to catch up with him]], with tragic and often grisly results.

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* The ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' episode "Sympathy for the Devil" had an immortal child named Wen whose circadian rhythms were disrupted due to the gate explosion that makes up part of the series [[Backstory]], resulting in him not aging like he should. {{spoiler|The vast energy of the explosion was enclosed into the gem of a ring that his latest victim, Giraffe, threatened to use to "return time to him." Spike crafts the gem into a bullet and then puts it through Wen's skull during their final battle. Wen rapidly ages to death before Spike's very eyes}}.

* Tsubaki from ''[[Inuyasha]]'' had this happen when all of her yōkai were killed and her jewel shard was taken back by Naraku. In the manga, she just began to look her true age (about the same age as Kikyo if Kikyo hadn't died); in the anime, she turned into dust.

* Averted (and, to an extent, '''inverted''') in ''[[Code Geass]]''. When V.V. loses his Code, he just dies, though that's almost certainly from the injuries sustained in a [[Humongous Mecha]] battle earlier that episode. When C.C.'s Code is temporarily sealed, she mentally regresses to the last point in her life where she was mortal - which was when she was 10 years old and living in the Dark Ages. Dialog in a later episode implies that this has happened to her before.

* {{spoiler|Hohenheim}} in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' shows the marks from transmutation all over his skin when he loses all the philosopher's stones in his body. Then he ages to what is not exactly his true age, but old age nonetheless and dies by the end of the day... ish. Traveling to {{spoiler|Trisha's grave}} probably took a little while.

** Similarly, once {{spoiler|Furher Bradley's}} Philosopher's stone runs out, he ages rapidly.

* Tsunade of ''[[Naruto]]'' has something that looks a bit like this. She's in her 50s (at least) but wears an illusion to make her appear much younger. She also focuses most of her chakra on the seal on her forehead as a reserve which she can draw on in battle to give her perfect regeneration - at the cost of increased aging. At the end of the battle she is too tired to be able to maintain her illusion, which ''looks'' like massive rapid aging - but there's no way to tell just how bad the extra aging she took was, since we don't know how old she really looked under the illusion beforehand.

 

== Comic Books ==

* The 1945 Marvel Family #1 (the first team-up of all the Marvels) featured the origin story of Black Adam. He originally gained his powers from the wizard Shazam 5,000 years ago. After he gained his superpowers he decided to conquer the world and Shazam sent him into outer space 5,000 light years away. Black Adam spent the next 5,000 years traveling back to Earth at the speed of light, arriving in modern times. The Marvels tricked him into saying the word "Shazam", which changed him back into his non-powered form. Unfortunately for him his accumulated age caught up to him and he suffered from [[Rapid Aging]], turning into a skeleton.

 

* In the ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' fanfic ''Does Fate Allow a Second Chance?'', {{spoiler|Vincent}} is [[Older Than They Look|older than he looks]] and is on a quest to become mortal. {{spoiler|At the end, he succeeds, but his apparent age does not change, making this an [[Averted Trope|aversion]].}}

 

== Film ==

** This may also be because said person was clutching the hair as it lost its power.

* There is a German gay porn movie named ''Boytropolis'', which depicts a community of guys living in the jungle, minding their own business, and keeping themselves young and handsome by drinking a potion made out of plants. If they're deprived of it, they ''melt''.

* Zordon starts aging "at an accelerated rate" when Ivan Ooze breaks him out of his time-warp capsule in ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (film)|Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]''. Later in the film, the immortal [[Ms. Fanservice|Dulcea]] tells the Rangers that she too will rapidly age if she leaves her domain on the planet Phaedos.

 

== Literature ==

* The ''Secrets of the Immortal Nickolas Flamel'' series: not only are Nickolas and his wife rapidly aging without their book that has the recipe of the elixir of life (they can't rebrew it from the same process as last time because it changes every month and old recipes cause them to age faster). Also it is the standard punishment for an immortal that displeases their master Elder the have their immortality removed and quickly age to dust. {{spoiler|John Dee's master has now threatened Dee with undoing it and just before Dee dies of age making Dee immortal at that age for the rest of eternity.}}

** The alternate universe, somewhat more benevolent, version of Nicholas Flamel was used in the first ''[[Harry Potter]]'' novel. He had used the Philosopher's Stone for centuries as a part of the process of brewing an elixir of life, but after learning that Voldemort was seeking it out, he and his wife willingly turned it over to Dumbledore for safekeeping. The trope is played straight, though bent sideways; without the Stone, Flamel only has a limited supply of the elixir remaining. Just enough, Dumbledore says, to put his affairs in order and finish up last-minute business before he and his wife pass on. Though it's not explicitly stated, the tone of it is that he will eventually pass away quietly of natural causes, without any skin-sloughing ickyness. [[Fridge Logic]] tells us, however, that Voldemort's defeat several years down the line might've made him reconsider.

** Huh [[Characterization Marches On|Time doesn't seem like she'd be afraid]]

*** I hear Dungeon Dimension Denizen blood is hell to wash out of your clothes.

* Oskar Matzerath from ''[[The Tin Drum]]'' was a [[Older Than They Look|three-year old adult]] who remained a child out of his own free will. Once he had enough, he underwent the same process to reverse it. His years caught up to him immediately, although he was in his twenties at the time so it wasn't as dramatic as other examples here.

 

* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' has Adam Monroe, when he got his ability stolen by Arthur Petrelli.

** They try to explain it by the fact that, over the centuries, Adam has died and was damaged so many times, that his [[Healing Factor]] kicked into overdrive. His cells are continuously dying and recreating. So, when you remove the "recreating" part, it's clear why he suddenly crumpled into dust. It's possible that Claire will have the same problem in a few hundred years.

* In the ''[[Are You Afraid of the Dark?]]'' episode "The Tale of Many Faces", the [[Big Bad]] falls dead and turns into a skeleton when given back her original face.

 

* In ([[Our Vampires Are Different|some]]) folklore, usually what happens to vampires if you manage to actually kill them.

* In the Japanese folktale of Urashima Tarou, the title character returns home after living it up in the undersea kingdom, having been given a box to never open. Turns out a long time has passed on land and everyone he knew is now dead because there's no aging in the undersea kingdom. He decides he has nothing left to lose and opens the box, causing all of his age to catch up with him.

* This is why King Herla of ''[[The Wild Hunt]]'' can't get off his horse. He spent a few centuries at a fairy wedding party. As soon as he gets off of his horse (given to him by the fairies) and sets foot back on the earth of the mortal world, time will catch up and he'll age to death in a matter of seconds.

 

 

* ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'':

** The game makes it clear that the younger the vampire, the more... meaty the remains. Elder vampires just turn to dust when they die.

** "The Secret of Castronegro". Bernardo Diaz has lived for 300 years due to the ruby ring he wears. If it's removed from his finger, he will instantly die and his body will shrivel.

** ''The Fungi from Yuggoth''. Lang Fu's Coat of Life has allowed him to live for centuries. If it is ever removed for more than a few minutes, his body will begin an irreversible aging process that will cause his rapid death.

 

== Video Games ==

** Aegwynn is in a similar boat, using her powers as Guardian to extend her life for more than 800 years. After expending most of her magic {{spoiler|(read: having it forcibly ripped from her body by her own son)}} some thirty-odd years prior to Vanilla [[WoW]], she no longer has the power to keep herself young, and has been steadily aging as a result. Though the comics would show otherwise...

*** This is because, after her banishment, she comes back to use her remaining magic to resurrect her son (after he is decapitated by his own apprentice), who, in turn, used his powers to give his mother proper retirement. She is given a hidden house in a valley in Kalimdor, protected by multiple wards (one of which keeps her healthy) and thunder lizards. Then Jaina Proudmoore decides to settle the valley...

 

== Western Animation ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:Horror Tropes]]

[[Category:This Index Will Live Forever]]