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And what better way is there to hide your identity and throw off suspicion than by taking on the form of a perky prepubescent girl who looks like she's barely out of elementary school?
[[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]] is an extreme version of [[
For ways in which works show off that a character is [[Really 700 Years Old]], see [[Exposition of Immortality]].
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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Tobi from ''[[Naruto]]'', kind of. {{spoiler|before we find out that he isn't Madara and possibly the sage of six paths and things just got very complicated.}}
* This trope takes its name from the tongue-in-cheek fan logic to explain the
** Pretty much Tenchi's whole family aside from him. His sister who looks to be in her mid to late
** Also from ''[[Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki]]'', supergenius [[Mad Scientist]] Washuu (who's actually either several thousand or several ''billion'' years old, depending on perspective) can change her appearance at will, and most often looks like a very precocious red-haired twelve-year-old girl.
*** Going back to Sasami; who fused with a being sister to Washu! (Ie; ''beginning of time''-years old), and Tokimi. Heck, Tenchi himself, considering he created the beings that created the universe (Sasami, Washu and Tokimi) which makes him pre-''beginning of time''-years old.
** In the spinoff ''Tenchi Muyo: GXP'', Neju turns out to be more than two thousand years old. And she plays to the lolicon fetish, teasing Seina (and indirectly all the other girls), such as calling Seina onii-chan. In her case, she's doing it deliberately, partly because she's feeling her years. But she's also being naughty because she's had to be a proper court lady for a couple of millennia, and now she's out of the harness and feeling frisky.
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** Don't forget Helena from the anime. She appears to be a prepubescent girl somewhere between twelve and fourteen years old, apparently because she was turned into a vampire at a very young age, and has been around for a very, ''very'' long time. Just how long is never determined, but it's implied that she is one of the oldest vampires ever seen in the series.
* In ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', Ayanami Rei has a 14-year-old body, but the soul of an entity that is ''billions'' of years old. So does Kaworu.
* ''[[Inuyasha]]'': [[Youkai]] have lifespans that are vastly in excess of human lifespans. Even child characters such as [[Kitsune|Shippou]] have been around for decades despite their biological youth. Teen characters such as Sesshoumaru have been around for centuries. Even a [[Half-Human Hybrid]] has an unnaturally long lifespan. The [[Canon]] never gives Inuyasha's age, but a flashback to his mother shows she wore the clothes of a Heian noblewoman, and that era died out 500 years before the story's setting ([[Filler|the anime gives him an age of 200]]). [[Big Bad|Naraku]] [[Half-Human Hybrid|himself]] has been around for decades at least.
* Yuko Ichihara from ''[[xxxHoLic]]'' and ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'' never mentioned her exact age, but she was on a first name basis with Clow Reed, several hundred years ago. {{spoiler|Clow accidentally [[Reality Warper|warped reality]] so that the universe would ignore her death. Once this is undone, 99% of people's memories are edited so that it is as if she died when she died as far as everyone but close friends are concerned.}}
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* [[Rip Van Winkle|Rip Van Wink]] a character in early issues of [[The Beano]] had as his main gimmick that he had been asleep for 700 years which easily makes him 700 years old at least.
== [[Fan Works]] ==▼
▲== Fan Works ==
* Princess Jody from ''[http://fav.me/d4a27sp Super Milestone Wars]'' looks ten but she's actually over 1000 years old.
* ''[[Bag Enders]]'' features the [[The Lord of the Rings|Fellowship of the Ring]] living in early-2000s England. Technically all the characters fall under this heading, being Really Six Thousand Years Old, but the hobbits in particular are constantly mistaken for children. This gives them problems when being carded in pubs, but allows them to get away with childrens' fares on trains and infiltrate the Boy Scouts.
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* In ''[[Noir Ange]]'', a ''[[Soul Eater]]'' fanfic, Zelda Kitsune is this literally, but she looks like a 17-year old girl. There's also Yuuki and Yuuka, and all of the other Witches count as well.
▲== [[Film]]s ==
* Dorian Gray, in the film version of ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film)|The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]''. His exact age isn't given, but curmudgeonly old Allan Quartermain (played by Sean Connery) mentions that as a boy, he saw Gray giving a lecture at Eton College. In the original novel, Gray is never said to be immortal or invulnerable, he just retains his youthful appearance.
* In ''[[7 Faces of Dr. Lao]]'', the eponymous doctor is technically an example of this trope, in that he looks rather old, but not nearly his true age of seven thousand, three hundred and twenty-two.
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* Sam, the [[Creepy Child]] in ''[[Trick 'r Treat]]''.
* The title doctor in ''[[The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus]]''.
* In the ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' films, like the books, many characters are [[Older Than They Look]], but the elves are all hundreds or thousands of years old. Elrond, for example, is featured in the opening prologue, which happens three thousand years before the story proper starts. When he appears again later on, he looks exactly the same.
** Galadriel, as explained in the books, is a lot older; she's the only elf remaining in Middle-Earth who is mentioned before the first rising of the Sun, over 6000 years ago. She's played by Cate Blanchett who was in her early 30's at the time of filming.
** Legolas is the youngest elf to have a significant role in the books, and one ambiguous remark implies that he's more than 500 years old.
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'''Snails:''' Twenty-three. Yeah, I know I'm a little young for you, but what if I get my hands on an aging potion, huh? I'll sacrifice a couple of years for you.
'''Norda:''' I'm two hundred and thirty-four. }}
* In ''[[The Santa Clause (film series)|The Santa Clause]]'', all the elves are played by children, one of whom informs Scott that she has "pointy shoes that are older than you". Judy, one of the head elves, looks to be about ten years old. When she mentions that it took her 1,200 years to perfect her cocoa recipe, Scott Calvin/Santa Claus tells her, "You know I must say, you look pretty good for your age," to which she hilariously responds, "Thanks... but I'm seeing someone in
* Although [[WALL-E]] is seven hundred years old, he is actually still working even after the day humanity left Earth.
** Somewhat justified in that he's seen replacing damaged parts using components from other robots of the same model, of which there are hundred or thousands lying around. It's likely he's replaced every part of himself many times over, save for his motherboard, RAM and long-term memory (and even then, was it ever clarified how hot-pluggable these robots are?).
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* Two minor examples occur in ''[[The Tin Drum]]'' with further discussion therein. The main character, Oskar, willingly stops aging, resulting in an adult male in the body of a toddler. Towards the end of the film, he meets a dwarf who appears to be an adult but he reveals that he's really close to one hundred years old. Like Oscar, he decided to stop aging and mentions that there are others like him. They mention that they could essentially become immortal if they wanted, invoking this trope.
* Wolverine in the [[X-Men (film)|''X-Men'' movies]] as in [[X-Men (Comic Book)|the comics]] is mentioned by Jean Grey to likely be older than Prof. Xavier due to his [[Healing Factor]].
** In ''[[X-Men Origins: Wolverine]]'', they're even more explicit. Logan and Sabretooth were born in the ''first'' half of the 19th century, and fought alongside one another in [[The American Civil War]].
* Andre [[Significant Anagram|Linoge]], from ''[[Storm of the Century]]''. It's never made clear how long he's been around, but it's implied to have been at least since Biblical times. Toyed with in that, though he is old and still has at least another century to live -- stating to the town that he will still be alive when the youngest among them has grown old and died -- even others of his kind consider him to be nearing death. Which makes sense -- if you've been around for at least 1000 years, another 100 is going to seem like just a few months.
* All of the vampires and Lycans in the ''[[Underworld (film)|Underworld]]'' series are centuries old. The main character, Selene, is explicitly stated to be roughly 600. None of the others have their ages stated even in ballpark figures, though it's obvious that most, if not all, of the other named vampires and Lycans are at least older than Selene.
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* Miriam and John in ''[[The Hunger]]'', since they're both vampires. She turned him, and the trouble in the movie starts when his years begin to catch up with him, as eventually and invariably happens to all her companions...
* In ''[[Darby O'Gill and the Little People]]'' we are told that King Brian is around 5,000 years old.
* ''[[Star Wars]]'':
** Hutts are a very long-lived species; Jabba was stated to be over 600 years old at [[Return of the Jedi| the time of his death.]] However, there are stories of Hutts who lived to be as old as 1,700 years. Although, their rate of maturity is slower; Hutt society does not consider one of their own to be an adult until they reach 200 years old. And fun fact, a Hutt's body [[Bizarre Alien Biology| never stops growing]] over its long lifespan, meaning that as large and obese as Jabba was, there have been Hutts much, ''much'' larger...
** Yoda's unnamed species is also very long lived. He was about 900 years old when he died of old age in ''[[Return of the Jedi]]''.
== [[Literature]] ==
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* Also, in ''Strata'' by [[Terry Pratchett]], the heroine is not only several hundred years old, but also wealthy enough to buy herself a practically endless amount of extended life (while still physically appearing as a well-preserved 30-something).
** Aside from the hair. That's always the first thing to go, apparently.
* [[J. R. R.
** At one point Legolas reflects that he has lived longer than the country of Rohan has existed.
** Tom Bombadil and Goldberry are as old as the world itself (at least ol' Tom is) and don't look much older than the elves.
{{quote|'''Tom Bombadil:''' Eldest, that's what I am. Mark my words my friends: [[Third Person Person|Tom]] was here before the river and the trees: Tom remembers the first raindrop and the first acorn. He made paths before the Big People, and saw the little People arriving....When the Elves passed westward, Tom was already, before the seas were bent. He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless - before the Dark Lord came from Outside.}}
** Fangorn/Treebeard probably is the only creature still living in
{{quote|''Ere iron was found or tree was hewn,''
''When young was mountain under moon;''
''Ere ring was made, or wrought was woe,''
''It walked the forests long ago.'' }}
** And Gollum is over 500, having had his lifespan greatly increased by the One Ring. Of course he doesn't look young, or even his original ''species''. And [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|he went mad]] and [[Gonk|ugly]] from the Ring's powers.
** Elrond himself was a child during the War of Wrath against Morgoth and counted almost 3500 years when he fought alongside King Elendil (his distant grand-nephew approximately
*** Elros, his brother who decided to live as a human, lived for 600 years as well and was, together with the remaining folk of the Edain, the founder of the long-living line of the Númenórians.
*** His daughter Arwen, born about 250 years after the War of the Last Alliance, eventually marries the Númenórian Aragorn—who is 2,690 years her junior.
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* In [[Elizabeth Moon]]'s ''[[Familias Regnant]]'' series, one of the major plot drivers is "rejuv", which reverses aging and brings you back to a biological 25 or 30 years old. You then age normally, but can do it again when you start feeling old. This causes no end of problems, including having successful parents continue to run companies instead of turning them over to the next generation, having the military be loaded with senior sergeants and admirals instead of having them retire to make way for the next generation, etc. This means that the current generation of people will never take over responsibility, since their 30 year old parents are doing fine. Further, this is scaring the heck out of neighboring groups who fear the resultant population explosion of perpetual 30 year olds, with the attendant pressure to take over the planets of the neighboring groups.
* In [[Larry Niven]]'s ''[[Known Space]]'' stories, every human in the universe above the age of 40 takes a longevity drug called Boosterspice as a matter of course. This has affected humanity's attitudes and prejudices to the point that when hero Louis Wu (himself 250 years old in the body of a 20 year old) meets a human being who hasn't taken Boosterspice (and thus is "suffering" from wrinkles, gray hair, a missing tooth or two, and the scars one normally finds on a person of 40+ ), he thinks the other man is a member of a human-like alien species.
** Jerome Corbell, the hero of
* In the ''[[Night Huntress]]'' books, vampires do not age after being turned. So, Bones is around 200 years old and looks like he is in his mid-twenties, and Mencheres is nearly ''four thousand'' and looks like he isn't much older than Bones.
* In ''[[Discworld]]'', we have the Abbot of the History Monks, who through the process of advanced reincarnation wound up in the body of a young baby—with most of his knowledge intact. Hard to say precisely how old he is, if he's gone around a few times like that. Of course, the History Monks play with time anyway, so...
** On the other hand, Lu-Tze the Sweeper never bothered with reincarnation and is still quite spry for someone over 800 years old.
*** Most history monks don't bother with reincarnation. It's the ''Abbot'' who can't get the hang of "circular aging"
** The High Priest Dios in ''[[
▲*** Most history monks don't bother with reincarnation. It's the ''Abbot'' who can't get the hang of "circular aging"...
* Dead Boy from the [[Nightside]] books looks seventeen but is chronologically in his 40s or 50s.
* In the story ''Child of All Ages'', the protagonist, having lived several hundred years as a permanent child, is quite happy to continue life. Even if she is stuck as a child. She does bemoan the fact that modern society makes it pretty hard to be independent as a child, but she still can't wait to see what life brings next.
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** Don't forget Cernunnos, [[Up to Eleven|who's even older than Hekate.]]
* Zoe Nightshade from ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]''. In fact, any of the Hunters who have been members for a long time. Artemis herself prefers to appear as a 12-year-old girl when she's traveling with them. And then there are the rest of the gods and mythological characters...
*
* Many of [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s reoccurring characters are members of the Howard Families, and blessed with natural longevity on the order of a couple hundred years, but none more so than Lazarus Long. By his last appearance Lazarus is several ''thousand'' years old, though he appears to be in his thirties due to both being a Howard and future medicine. At one point someone tells him he cannot die when he seems to be mortally wounded. The reader is left to decide whether that is the plea of a distraught spouse or a prescient statement.
** Long claims he met [[Shared Universe|another Heinlein character]], a doctor who had invented a machine that could predict when you'd die, and not only got no answer, but a refund of the cost of the reading. It is implied but not made explicit that Lazarus would live forever; the doctor's machine might also have indicated Lazarus' death during ''World War I'' thanks to [[Time Travel]].
* The White and the Voices of [[Trudi Canavan
* In [[Neal Stephenson]]'s ''[[Anathem]]'', {{spoiler|Fraa Jad}} offhandedly makes it known that he is at least several hundred - and possibly several thousand - years old.
** Another Stephenson example: Enoch Root, who appears in both the ''Baroque Cycle'' and ''[[Cryptonomicon]]'', despite the combined storyline spanning about 300 or 400 years.
* In ''[[Sewer Gas and Electric]]'', Kite is a former [[Sweet Polly Oliver]] veteran of the American Civil War ... and is still alive, and fairly healthy, in the early 21st century. No magic, super-science, or non-human blood involved: she's just a statistical outlier for lifespan. Most people assume she's in her nineties, and nuts.
* In [[Perry Rhodan]] most of the main cast is a bit older than they look. Perry Rhodan was born in 1936 and now it is 5050. He stopped aging when he was 39. Atlan da Gonozal was born 8044 bc, but he did sleep about 10,000 years while waiting for the earthlings to invent
* The Canes, a whole race of werewolves in ''[[Codex Alera]]'' may fit in these trope. They can live up to 1000 years and still have the appearance/strength associated with youth.
* In the ''[[Mortal Instruments]]'' series Magnus Bane is said to look like he stopped aging at age 19, but is thought to be over 300 years old. in the book City Of Glass it is revealed when he is having an argument with Alec Lightwood that he is in fact MUCH older than previously thought.
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'''Alec''': You're ''seven hundred years old?''
'''Magnus''': Well, eight hundred. But I don't look it. Anyway, you're missing the point. }}
* In ''[[Harry Potter]]'', witches and wizards can live quite a while past their first century: Dumbledore is 116 years old and still [[Badass]] enough to take on [[Big Bad|Lord Voldemort]], and during Harry's fifth-year examinations there's a witch who's lived long enough to give ''Dumbledore'' his exams (exact age isn't stated, but she would presumably be about 150).
** And of course there's Nicholas Flamel. Though never seen, he is stated to be over 600 years old. (Although this is specifically because he can make the Philosopher's Stone, unlike most people).
* In [[L. Frank Baum]]'s ''Queen Zixi of Ix''—Queen Zixi of Ix. Except that she can see her real age in her reflection.
* In [[David Weber]]'s ''[[Empire From the Ashes]]'', the Imperial military uses cybernetic enhancements which have a side effect of increasing the recipient's lifespan to an average of 600 or so years. {{spoiler|Horus and the original crew of the ''Dahak'' are chronologically over 50,000 years old, counting time spent in stasis.}}
* The wizard Nevyn of the ''[[Deverry]]'' novels swore an oath in his youth that he would not rest until he had set right the mistakes that resulted in the deaths of three of his friends. The gods made him keep his oath, he lived to be about 450. This actually turns out to be good for his official profession: He makes and sells medicine for a living, and a doctor who appears to be roughly seventy (in a society where fifty is old) and is still in perfect health would presumably be very good at maintaining his (and by extension, his customer's) health.
* The ''[[Galactic Milieu]]'' had technology that allowed people to rejuvenate to a younger age. Thanks to a certain gene complex, most members of the Remillard family rejuvenated automatically, leaving most of them looking like twenty or thirty somethings indefinitely. Rogi (The oldest member of the family {{spoiler|not counting Mark as Atoning Unifex}}) still looked like he was in his early fifties at 150.
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* In [[Octavia Butler]]'s ''Fledgling'', Shori is a 53 year old vampire (or Ina, as they call themselves) in the body of a 10 year old, because Ina age slower than humans. This leads to some squick, due to the [[Hemo-Erotic]] tendencies of the Ina, which means that Shori's 23-year-old human symbiont is having sex with a 10-year-old.
* In ''[[The Excalibur Alternative]]'' the alien captors infuse the English with technology to make them age slower. Granted, they also used "sleep" to help.
* In Kevin Hearne's ''[[Iron Druid Chronicles]]'' the druid Atticus O'Sullivan tells people that he is twenty one. People naturally assume that he means years rather than centuries. He uses a magical potion to maintain a youthful appearance but he predates Christianity. The vampire Leif is around a thousand years old and the local
* The witches in ''[[His Dark Materials]]''. Serafina Pekkala appears to be a young woman, but is at least three hundred years old.
* The wandering storyteller Norna-Gest of the Old Norse "[[The Tale of Norna Gest|Tale of Norna Gest]]" reveals himself as a three-hundred years old immortal.
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{{quote|''"I remember a hundred years ago as if it were the last minute. A thousand, two thousand, ten thousand years ago."''|'''Elder Seth''', ''Comeback Tour''}}
* Just about everyone in Pentexore in ''[[A Dirge for Prester John]]'' by way of the [[Fountain of Youth]].
* A less extreme case can be found in the title character of [[Harlan Ellison]]'s 1977 short story [[w:Jeffty Is Five|"Jeffty Is Five"]]. When the narrator meets Jeffty, they are both five years old. Decades later, the narrator is a grown man, but Jeffty is still a five year old boy in every possible way -- with a twist.
* Sosra in [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s ''The Ring of Thoth'' is 3,500 years old and looks in danger of becoming a [[Time Abyss]], thanks to a life-extending drug he developed.
▲== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[The Munsters]]'': Grandpa Munster was 597 years old when the series premiered in 1964; daughter Lily was 137 while Herman Munster was 152 years old. By comparison, Marilyn was in her 20s and Eddie was 10 during the series' first season.
* ''[[I Dream of Jeannie]]'': Although she looks like a 30-year-old babelicious blonde, Jeannie is at least 2,000 years old (her age coming thanks to being trapped in a bottle by the Blue Djinn in retaliation for rejecting his marriage proposal). Jeannie is, in fact, one of the few examples of this trope where an actual date of birth is known: April 1st, 64 BC. The date was decided by a contest run by NBC ("Guess Jeannie's Birthday") and revealed in a four-part story arc.
* ''[[Bewitched]]'': Samantha is at least 400 years old, although she appears to be no older than 30. Her parents are over a thousand, although her father does admit that his grandfather - who was named Adam - is not [[The Bible|''the'' Adam.]] Given that they refer to ordinary humans as "mortals", it's likely that their [[Witch Species]] is naturally immortal.
* In ''[[Power Rangers]]'', count on any alien, even [[Human Aliens]], to number their ages in at least four digits. This is especially true for any mysterious children you run into. {{spoiler|They tend to be the spirits of ancient [[Humongous Mecha]].}}
* [[Sabrina the Teenage Witch (TV series)|Sabrina the Teenage Witch]] seems to age incredibly slowly. Hilda and Zelda claim to be somewhere in the 500-700 age range, but both actresses were in their mid-30's.
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{{quote|'''Jake Sisko:''' She is so cute.
'''Benjamin Sisko:''' She is also about 300 years too old for you. }}
* ''[[Star Trek]]'':
** Guinan of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' is at least 500 years old. At one point, Data's transported to the 19th century, where he spots Guinan having a conversation with [[Mark Twain]] at a dinner party. He assumes she was somehow sent back in time as well, only to quickly learn that this is actually her 19th century self. In the episode "Rascals", set in 2369, she says her father is 700.
** Tolian Soran, a member of the same race as Guinan and infamously the man to kill James T Kirk, was described as being "over 200 years old" by Dr Crusher (although interestingly he looked older than Guinan).
** At the end of the famous episode of ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' "Arena" (the one with the [[People in Rubber Suits|Rubber Suit]] monster Gorn), the Metrons are revealed to be [[Human Aliens]].
{{quote|'''Kirk:''' You're a Metron?
'''Metrone:''' Does my appearance surprise you, Captain?
'''Kirk:''' You seem more like a boy.
'''Metrone:''' I am approximately 1,500 [[Two of Your Earth Minutes|of your Earth years]] old. }}
{{quote|'''Janice Rand:''' Miri... she really loved you, you know?
'''Capt. Kirk:''' Yes.
'''Janice:'''...
'''Capt. Kirk:''' I never get involved with older women, Yeoman. }}
:* The Borg Queen is at least 800 years old, as archives from nonhuman races claim she was ruling the Borg during the Renaissance Period of Earth's history, but the ''[[Star Trek: Destiny]]'' novels suggest she may be in the [[Time Abyss]] category. Given how she often survives near-certain death via [[Body Surf]] into prepared clones, it may not be ''possible'' for her to die.
* Hinted on ''[[30 Rock]]'' with Kenneth multiple times. One episode had a flash-forward to his tombstone, with a branch covering most of his date of birth. It ''looks like'' the date is 17--.
{{quote|'''Kenneth:''' I've had that bird for over sixty years!}}
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'''Sheridan''': You're one of the first ones.
'''Lorien''': No -- not one of the first ones. I ''am'' the first one. }}
** Even ordinary humans in ''B5'' may be a mild example of this trope, as the average human lifespan in the show's era is ~100 years. Presumably the healthier ones would live decades longer than that.
* The Doctor in ''[[Doctor Who]]'' currently looks to be in his mid-twenties (or even younger), but is over a thousand. Stated onscreen as 1103 as of 2011, though [[Fanon]] maintains that it's been well into the quadruple digits long before that, with his age ''decreased'' from 953 to 900 in 2005. It's often assumed he's lying about his age. [[Steven Moffat]] [[Word of God|has said]] that the Doctor doesn't ''actually'' know his true age.
** To quote the Fourth Doctor in the 1976 story "The Stones of Blood" - "I've known hundreds of people who've lived for hundreds of years!"
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** ''[[Kamen Rider OOO]]'' has the five Greeed (Ankh, Kazari, Uva, Mezool and Gamel) all of whom are over 800 years old. Their human forms all look early to mid-20s, except for Mezool, who resembles a pre-teen girl. Later, {{spoiler|the "lost" Ankh adopts the human form of a small child.}}
* On ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'', {{spoiler|Galen Tyrol, Sam Anders, Tory Foster, Saul Tigh, and Ellen Tigh}} are really two thousand years old, though this is because of travelling on a relativistic ship. Even without that, they are [[Older Than They Look]], because their ship finished its journey at a time when Bill Adama was a teenager.
* Some of the vampires in ''[[Being Human (UK)|Being Human]]'' fit this; Mitchell is over a century old, but looks mid-20s. His sire, Herrick, is even older, but looks middle-aged. Hal is considered one of the Old Ones and is over 500 years old but looks to be in his 30s.
* ''[[The League of Gentlemen]]'' strongly implies this in the case of Papa Lazarou, who shows up in a flashback set about 30 years earlier, and he looks exactly the same.
* There was an episode of ''[[Smallville]]'' where a seemingly middle-aged mechanic turns out to be Dax-Ur, a Kryptonian who moved to Earth around the beginning of the 20th century.
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* The vampires on ''[[True Blood]]'' but most notably, Russell who is supposed to be 3000 years old, but only looks like he's in his mid-forties and Godric, who at 2000, looked about 18.
** The maenad Maryann is ancient, supposedly predating ancient Greece, which would put her at over 4000. She, however, looks to be in her forties, and looked the same over a decade before entering the series.
* H.G Wells in ''[[Warehouse 13]]
* ''[[Alphas]]'' has Stanton Parish, an Alpha whose history has been traced as far back as the US Civil War. It has not been revealed yet how old he really is.
* On ''[[Supernatural]]'' many of the supernatural beings who appear human can be quiet old
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* [[Insane Clown Posse|Violent J]] in "I Want My Shit".
== [[Oral Tradition|Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends]] ==
* In [[The Bible]], before the great flood, men lived to be over 900 years old, the oldest being, of course, Noah's grandfather Methuselah.
** According to some midrashim, Cain died in the Flood aged 1656, making him the longest-lived human.
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* Changeling folklore often includes the changeling (who looks like a baby or small child) revealing that it's actually several hundred years old or 'as old as Wester Wood'.
* Pick a deity. Any deity. Unless special circumstances require it they will ''always'' appear in a form that is at least recognisably human, if not necessarily young, despite ages being anywhere from centuries to as old as the universe, or ''even older''.
* [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080414-oldest-tree.html This tree] in Sweden may look like a mere sapling, but the above-ground portion is just the latest offshoot of a root system that has been growing continuously since the end of the last Ice Age.▼
** While not ''quite'' that extreme, Olive trees are well known for that. While the tree itself might die, the root system will live on and produce several trees. Root systems being thousands of years old are not rare, especially in parts of the Middle East.▼
** That's nothing compared to "Pando", a clonal colony of Quaking Aspen in Utah has a root system that is estimated to be about 80,000 years old. There might even be other, less well-studied Quaking Aspen-systems in the area that are ''one million'' years old.▼
** For that matter, there are several such instances of very long-lived plant-based organisms.▼
** Not to mention fungal mycelia, which are typically as old as the forests they grow under.▼
* The ''Turritopsis nutricula'' is, theoretically, biologically immortal. After sexual maturity and reproducing, the creature reverts to a polyp (younger) stage. The cells and biology of the creature change completely as opposed simply mimicking the younger stage. The process of developing sexual maturity, reproduction, and returning to polyp stage than repeats.▼
* There is evidence that [[wikipedia:Hydra (genus)|hydras]] may age very slowly or not at all, making them potential candidates for being biologically immortal.▼
* Sea turtles never age. They can die only by violent death or by an illness not caused or hastened by old age.▼
** Not the case. They do not age ''outwardly'' past maturity, still making them candidates for this trope. The more long-lived ones last about 80 years.▼
** Even more true of some tortoises — the Galapagos variety can supposedly live to 200 or more!▼
*** One of the three giant tortoises taken from the Galapagos Islands by Charles Darwin, named Harriet, was 176 years old when she died in 2006.▼
**** Most turtles and tortoises can live to be 80 to 100 years old this includes small land turtles and tortises which are kept as pets. However, because of the way people treat these creatures most die of either abuse, malnutrition, or neglect within one year. Statistics given by a member of the Colorado Reptile Humane Society board.▼
* Females of many species of spiders, at least those who do not die of debilitation after laying eggs, continue to grow and molt throughout their entire lives. They generally die from predation, duels with rivals of their own species, or molting problems that can affect older individuals (who, like the turtles, do not differ visually from their younger selves). Female tarantulas can live to be 30 while continuing to mate with males who seldom reach 2.▼
* In the Bristle Cone Pine page info in the Wikipedia entry, there is also a link to the ''Arctica islandica'', an ordinary-looking mollusk actually found to be 405 to 410 years old. This made it the longest solitary animal on record which forms accretionary skeletons.▼
* And then there's the [[wikipedia:Taxus baccata|Yew]], a major contender in the Oldest Living Thing stakes. In Britain, many parish churches have yews in the grounds and there are many folk explanations, the most common being that they were planted to provide the close-grained, flexible timber required to make longbows for the English army. However, given how painfully slowly yew trees grow this is clearly nonsense. The trees weren't planted in the churchyard, the church and churchyard were planted in the yew groves that were already very old and sacred to the kind of guys who built Stonehenge.▼
* Many trees, left to themselves, will age and eventually die but if humans intervene by [[wikipedia:Coppice|coppicing]], as they have for millennia for the production of charcoal, fencing poles and other trappings of industry and agriculture, there seems to be no limit to how long they can survive. Coppicing keeps the tree eternally youthful.▼
* Given that there are different branches of medical science that are separately working on coming up with ways to someday make it possible to maintain a youthful appearance for years as well as have longer life expectancies, it is be safe to say that medical science is ultimately working toward making ''some'' form of [[Really 700 Years Old]] possible for humans.▼
* Most people don't think of humans as particularly notable for their age, but while the average lifespan of a human is fairly normal in the mammal world, their record age (122 years old, if not more) is the longest of any mammal. It's possible one woman once lived to 160, but this may be a case of being confused with his grandmother, who she was named after.▼
* A koi by the name of Hanako was determined to be over 215 years old through studies of her scales, which grow rings like tree trunks. She died in 1970. By comparison, koi are usually said to not live beyond 50. Sort of gives new meaning to the koi's reputed longevity, huh?▼
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* In third edition ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', a 110-year-old elf is said to be equivalent to a 15-year-old human. However, the sourcebooks have disagreed on whether this is their physical age, or simply the age where they reach full emotional maturity and are considered adults by their culture. In the fourth edition, elves and eladrin reach adulthood in the same time as humans, but stay in their prime for as long as 200–300 years. In third edition, elves do not die of old age, but [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|but travel to a realm called Arvandar]] when they reach anywhere from 700 to 1,000 years old.
** Dwarves tend to be long-lived, and can live to be over 700 years old if they're lucky. Their close cousins the gnomes can live a few centuries too, but not as much, except forest gnomes, who have been known to live a very long time, some as old as 800 years.
** Giants tend to be very long-lived in some sources. Stone giants live the longest, up to 800 years. Storm giants can live to be 600, while cloud giants can average 400. Other giants aren't so lucky, but can still live anywhere from two to three centuries.
** Edition 3.5 also has two races that are technically immortal and don't have a maximum age; Elan reach venerable age at 1000 (an elf's venerable age is 350...) and don't have a maximum age, while the Killoren only reach 'old' age at around 500 and don't have a venerable age category or a maximum age.
*** Elan, as a created race, are made to be effectively immortal. The first creator of the Ectopic Adept prestige class (From ''Complete Psionic'') supposedly is still wandering the planes, after a few thousand years.
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** There are a number of people in the [[Forgotten Realms]] setting who are much order than they look. The Seven Sisters are more than 700 years old but appear to be in their thirties. Elminster Aumar and Halaster Blackcloak are more than a thousand years old but appear to be just old men.
** In the 2nd Edition ''Birthright'' setting, one of the inheritable blood abilities (drops of divine power left in the mortal world) is Long Life, allowing someone to live up to five times, twenty times or ''one hundred times'' longer. One seemingly middle-aged character is widely rumoured to have gained his long life at the very battle where the Old Gods died!
** Draconians in the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' setting; given their [[Proud Warrior Race]] nature, nobody knows what their natural lifespan is (no Draconian has ever been known to die of old age) but some have lived as long as 1,000 years,
* Slaanesh from ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' is easily older than 10,000 years old, but whenever s/he chooses to reveal itself to a mortal will take a form that person considers the most attractive. The Emperor himself looks like a human male in his thirties or something, but is actually some fifty thousand years old (more precisely, he ''looked'' like that before being put on life support for the last ten thousand years. What he looks like now is anyone's guess...). Space Marines in general have a life expectancy closer to a thousand years, but certainly don't look like that, while their Chaos equivalents can live practically forever—and even if they kinda look like shit, [[The Corruption|it has nothing to do with their age]].
** Also in the ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' universe, there's the Apex Twins, a pair of [[Creepy Twins|psychic twins]] who are [[Person of Mass Destruction|alpha-level psykers]]. They have the appearance of two 6-year-old girls and project an aura of incredible cuteness and harmlessness, inspiring anyone nearby to protect them, even if they were originally supposed to be killing them. Their true age is unknown, but it is known to be measured in millennia.
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* Most of the [[Exalted]] age extremely slowly beyond a certain point, which normally results in [[Immortality Begins At Twenty]] and the occasional [[Badass Grandpa]]. However, Abyssal Exalted stop aging at all, regardless of what age they were when they exalted. One of the Deathlords (the Dowager) is specifically mentioned as having a(n apparently) 10-year-old girl as a Deathknight servant. Her name is Shoat of the Mire and she's a Dusk caste, which means she will [[Little Miss Badass|kick your ass.]]
** Of course, let us not forget the slightly older-looking, more well-known Raksi and, since Second Edition, Mnemon. Whether because you were scarred by the formless chaos your people fled to at the fall of [[Atlantis]] or because you screwed up at wizarding school and they had to build another one, ending up a sixteen year old-looking redheaded hottie for the rest of your unnaturally long life ain't so bad an outcome. Of course, it wouldn't be [[Grey and Gray Morality|meaningful]] if it didn't also make you a cannibal or (one of) [[The Chosen One]](s).
== [[Theatre]] ==
* The title character of [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s ''Iolanthe'' is a fairy who looks like a 17-year-old girl. In the backstory, she married a mortal and had a son, Strephon; in the play, his age is 25. This causes problems for Strephon when he is seen in Iolanthe's company, since no one will believe that's she's his mum.
* The opera singer Emilia Marty, in Karel Čapek's play (and Leoš Janáček's opera) ''The Makropulos Affair'', is really 300 years old. She gets more than a bit tired of life, however.
== [[Video Games]] ==
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** Of course, your character can be a hundred-plus-year-old elf too.
** Soraevora Aeravand, a sun elf you can recruit as a cohort in ''Storm of Zehir'', is a mild subversion in that she's so old she's actually starting to look her age.
* In ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'', nearly everyone who isn't originally from Earthrealm or, possibly, Seido (Orderrealm), is actually several centuries old. This includes Princess Kitana, Sindel,
** Shang Tsung is actually from Earthrealm. He just uses his ability to steal souls to stay young, with some extra help from Shao Kahn in the second game.
* Mir and Shurelia in ''[[Ar tonelico]]'' are, respectively, 380 years old and an unspecified advanced number of years old (it's mentioned in [[All There in the Manual|canon materials]] that Shurelia lies about her age). {{spoiler|However, when their true forms are revealed, they both turn out to be among the youngest-looking characters in the game. Mir also [[Heel Face Turn|returns in the second game as a love interest]], not really looking any older.}} The game also features Misha, who is {{spoiler|[[Older Than They Look|Older Than She Looks]] due to a magical-strength-sapping incident.}}
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** Considering her parents met in the 14th century (It's on the lipstick tube) and her mother was executed soon after she was born, Bayonetta is closer to 650 and spent 500 of that in suspended animation. Point still stands for Jeanne, who was not in stasis and looks 30 at the oldest; and Balder, who actually is a thousand or so and appears to be a very fabulous 40.
* Alucard from [[Castlevania]] looks like a teenager or young adult in every game he appears. But he's been around from 1476 (Castlevania 3) to 2036 ([[Castlevania: Chronicles of Sorrow|Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow]])
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''
** Due to the Triforce of Power's influence, Ganondorf
** ''Ocarina of Time'' vaguely implies that Ganondorf's people, the Gerudo, may age slower than Hylians in general. The two witches, Koume and Kotake, do look like decrepit, old women, but the player probably wouldn't have guessed they were 400 years old. The rest of the Gerudo are all very beautiful women who look no older than twenties or early thirties at best, but it seems dubious to assume all of them are really that young.
** [[Fish People|Zora]] are a very long-lived race of people; in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom]]'', Dunma's father doesn't feel it is safe letting her help in his archaelogy research because she is almost still a child, as her age is "barely" over two digits (meaning slightly more than 100 years old).
* Flemeth in ''[[Dragon Age]]'' looks like she's about 70, which is even partially true, but she really is several centuries old. But she's cheating.
** {{spoiler|At the end of her youth, she abducts herself a suitable man to have a daughter which she then raises to be a witch like her to be her apprentice. When she's nearing her death, she simply steals her daughters body and is once again in her late 20s. She has pulled this trick many times in the past, but also has other means to reincarnate herself if she is slain in battle.}}
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== [[Web Comics]] ==
* [[MAG-ISA]] -- [http://mag-isa.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/119733 Claudita] is a lot older than she looks. She has been around... since the dawn of time.
* The Jägermonsters in ''[[Girl Genius]]'' look fairly young — well within the range of a human lifespan. However, they remember events of over a hundred years ago, and one of them (who looks like he's in his late 20s, ''maybe'') has an adult human great-great-grandson. ([[Buffy-Speak|Jägermonster-ness]] is caused by a potion and not passed on in genes, so even if his kids were born after he transformed they'd be fully human.) And ''The Secret Blueprints'' say that Jaegers are nearly indestructible and many of the original company are still around, so the oldest Jaegers may well be some unknown number of centuries. No Sparks ([[Mad
** To be fair, they've mentioned several previous Heterodyne family members as masters of theirs, and have bloodline loyalty, so how old a Spark could be doesn't really matter.
** No Sparks reach that age because sparks tend to be...well...[[Science-Related Memetic Disorder|stark staring mad]], and many end up meeting a horrible end as a result of either personal overconfidence (taking on an entire army with a faulty death ray) or experimental screw-ups ("There have been three explosions so far.")
** Sparks have a ''better'' option: the "Second Breakthrough"<ref>simple "Breakthrough" is awakening to one's capabilities as a [[Mad Scientist]]</ref> giving abilities of more or less a [[Physical God]] and corresponding mental enhancements, which also negate their inherent madness (but evidently not other sorts of insanity). Her Undying Majesty Albia of England is the only one who advertises this status and her location, but there are more of them, and used to be ''much'' more. Can be done step by step, but still not much safer than Jägerdraught, in that some ''[[Superpower Meltdown|explode]]'' on the first attempt. Curiously, the water of Dyne (which is a known ingredient of Jägerdraught and used to induce at least temporary "godlike" state in those of Heterodyne bloodline) is implied to be an artifact of yet another [[God-Emperor|Ancient God-Queen]].
* Most of the cast of ''[[Charby the Vampirate]]'' look like children but are [https://web.archive.org/web/20121019103933/http://www.drunkduck.com/Charby_the_Vampirate/4784486/ hundreds of years old] or at least [[Older Than They Look]] with few exceptions. Of course this sort of complicated when it comes to love even if some of the cast were not already [https://web.archive.org/web/20121019103928/http://www.drunkduck.com/Charby_the_Vampirate/4890641/ kind of messed up].
* The demons of ''[[Heartcore]]'' can possibly live forever if they can consume Heartcore on a regular basis and not have their head or their own Heartcore destroyed, and they are good-looking. Protagonist Ame, herself, is almost 400 years old, while her father, Royce, is millenia old, and doesn't look like he's a day over 25.
* The butterfly-like Nemesites in ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' are extremely long-lived (a useful trait for a starfaring people without faster-than-light travel), but use shapeshifting technology to look like humans—typically, like young and very attractive humans.
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* The One Electronic from ''[[Rice Boy]]'' has [[Walking the Earth|roamed Overside]] for thousands of years. The number "three thousand" gets tossed around.
* In ''[[The KAMics]]'', ex-valkyries Gertrude, Brunhilda and Nikki are several thousand years old, although they appear to be in their 20s.
* In ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'', {{spoiler|Redcloak is kept from aging by the [[Artifact of Doom|Crimson Mantle]]. Unlike most examples of this trope, it's indicated that he still has the mind as well as the body of a teenager.}} Of course this isn't visually all that apparent, due to being a stick figure.
** Vaarsuvius the elf is over 100 years old, but doesn't look any older than the rest of the Order. Apparently OOTS elves take a very long time to reach adulthood, as well as aging slowly once they're there; V's children, who are in kindergarten and look the part, are stated to be 26.
* The three main characters in the furry webcomic ''[[At Arm's Length (webcomic)|At Arms Length]]'' appear to be in their late 20's, but are actually closer to three hundred years old. Ally's mother appears to to be in her late 40s/early 50s, but is actually several thousands of years old.
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* The golem girls from ''[[Wapsi Square]]'' don't look like they could be any older that mid-twenties, but they are thousands of years old {{spoiler|even before you factor in the [[Groundhog Day Loop]].}}
* In ''[[8-Bit Theater]]'', [[Word of God]] said Vilbert von [[Our Vampires Are Different|Vampire]] could be anywhere from 16 to 1600 years old. Towards the end, he says he's 700 years old (though due to his [[The Roleplayer|roleplaying]], it's hard to discern the truth of his statements).
* Liz the [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampire]] from ''[[Blip]]'' is [https://web.archive.org/web/20121018182925/http://www.blipcomic.com/232/ about 5 centuries old.] She lost count after the first two. It's hinted that Mary is even older.
* In ''[[Wooden Rose]]'', [http://www.woodenrosecomic.com/comic/chapter5/116.html Aidan is five hundred years old].
* In ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'', the "Immortals" (or "fairies", as other entities immune to ravages of time call them). They live indefinitely, but have to "reset", keeping only some memories and power to avoid madness. Pandora Raven is an
** Their offspring with humans are "[[Our Elves Are Different|Elves]]", pretty much like humans, but somewhat tougher, with great magic potential and [[Immortality Begins At Twenty|not aging past their prime]]. Such as Adrian Raven, her
* Nigel from ''[[Fey Winds]]'' also has this. He's about 150 yrs old and looks in his late 20's. you could also say it for the sylphe as she's over 200 and really doesn't look it but maybe not because she's far less human than nigel...and dead...mostly.
* The Sages in ''[[Elf Blood]]'' are the only survivors of the original Kingdom of Alfheim, the elves' homeland and were among the last generation blessed with longevity. Although they do look to be in their 70s, they are around 600 years old or so, and may have used magical means to extend their lives given that no non-sage long-lived elves have been seen.
* ''[[Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic]]'' has the [http://yafgc.net/?id=1926 case] calling for a [[Beat Panel]]. Past the first century one can't tell exactly how old those elves are...
* In ''[[American Barbarian]]'', [http://www.ambarb.com/?p=418 the scientists].
* In ''[[The Water Phoenix King]]'', several species like the Wyrds do this, but Vish inverts it, looking like a young adult but having come into existence 17 years ago.
* Elves in ''[[Ears for Elves]]'' live into their 900s, and don't look old for any part of that. Luero is only a young adult, and [https://web.archive.org/web/20150121073523/http://www.earsforelves.com/archives/390 in his prime] at 77.
== [[Web Original]] ==
* Several characters in ''[[Marvels RPG]]'' are demons, angels, aliens, or just really long lived... while looking like they are still in their prime.
* Turns out {{spoiler|[[Neurotically Yours|Foamy the squirrel]] is in fact over 400 years old and maybe even older.}}
* Valentine of ''[[Last Mage]]'' is ''very old''. In specifics, we know he was there at the founding of the United States, so he's at least 235 years old.
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
* Paradox from ''[[Ben 10:
▲== Western Animation ==
▲* Paradox from ''[[Ben 10: Alien Force|Ben 10 Alien Force]]'' looks to be in his forties but has actually existed for a hundred thousand years.
* A major chunk of the cast of ''[[Gargoyles]]'' can claim this, although most of the eponymous gargoyles were stuck in a thousand-year stone sleep. Now, Demona and Macbeth, on the other hand...
** In one episode, Goliath does mention that gargoyles age only half as fast as humans (because they don't age while they are stone). Even discounting the millennium he spent as a statue, this could make him easily old enough to be Elisa Maza's father.
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** Don't forget Chase Young, who is 1,000 years old but looks like he is in his early twenties, if that.
* Misery from ''[[Ruby Gloom]]'' looks like she's in her mid-teens, and so does most of her relatives and ancestors. However, it's been implied that some of them must be much older. During a family reunion, we are introduced to Mayhem, a relative who is old enough to remember the dinosaurs. Granted, that whole family reunion [[Or Was It a Dream?|might have been a dream]], but prior to that, she speaks of Mayhem as if she was still alive. She speaks the same way of Migraine, a relative who was aboard the Titanic. In another episode, Misery looks exactly the same in a flashback from seven years ago.
* ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force
* Kida in ''[[Atlantis: The Lost Empire]]'' is said to be old enough to forget her original written language, whatever that means.
** Milo estimates her age as somewhere around 8,500 years. She replies "yes", as though this isn't anything to be surprised about.
** One Atlantean year is
* Several characters in ''[[Wakfu]]'': the dragon Grougaloragran, [[Big Bad]] Nox, Moon the monkey, and Goultard the barbarian.
* The Nibblonians and Brainspawn from ''[[Futurama]]'' have been arch nemeses since the dawn of the Universe. The Nibblonians, and the planet-tentacle monster Yivo are even ''older'' than the Universe. It's fairly common for humans to reach 160 years of age, which, while still looking very old, appears to be far closer to 80-90.
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** {{spoiler|The Ice King was a human from before "The Mushroom War".}}
* ''[[Regular Show]]'': Following the events of "The Night Owl", Mordecai, Rigby, Muscle Man, and High-Five Ghost are {{spoiler|over 2200 years old, having been frozen with liquid nitrogen, unfrozen in the year 4224, and then time-traveled back into the past}}.
* ''[[Aaahh!!! Real Monsters]]'': The monsters evidently live very, very long lives.
* ''[[The Smurfs]]'' mixes this trope with [[Vague Age]] in the case of Papa Smurf, who's 542 years old (546 in the [[The Smurfs (film)|live-action movie]]), and Grandpa Smurf, who's said to be twice Papa Smurf's age.
* ''[[My Little Pony:
** The season 2 villain Discord ruled Equestria ''before'' Celestia and Luna, making him over 1000 years old at the least.
** Subverted with Princess Cadence, Celestia's niece, who was at first believed by many fans to be the Alicorn princess from an ancient myth revealed in "Hearts and Hooves Day", but from what's shown is actually as old as she looks.
* ''[[Justice League]]'': Diana, Wonder Woman: despite her sheltered and almost childlike demeanor towards the world away from her home island, she is really over two thousand years old, and at one point, upon seeing an urn in a museum from the 6th century B.C.E., recognizes the handiwork and cites the artist's name as if she'd known the artist personally.
** Also, Barda, being one of [[The New Gods]], seems no older when she appears in ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' than she does in ''[[Justice League]]'', despite [[Superman]] being noticably older. This does coinside with the comic book version of Barda, who is stated to have been born, using Earth's calendar, in 1748 AD.
* ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]'':
** Cosmo sunk Atlantis nine times and destroyed Pompeii.
** "Cosmo, we've been married for thousands of years" - Wanda.
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** And therefore, Mama Cosma and Big Daddy, as Cosmo and Wanda's parents.
** Logically also Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda, being the same age as their fairy versions.
* In the ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' short "Hare-Way To The Stars", Marvin the Martian claimed he had been working on the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator for two millennia, meaning he's at least 2,000 years old.<ref>If he means Earth years, anyway -- a millennium is a thousand years, and the Martian year is 1.88 Earth years long. Still damn long, though.</ref>
* In one episode of ''[[Dungeons & Dragons (animation)|Dungeons & Dragons]]'' the heroes meet the Lost Children, whose are members of an entire species who are very long lived. Although the Children themselves don't fit the Trope yet (one of them is 73 years old, despite physically being a prepubescent) their guardian Alfor certainly does, being 552 years old, which the Children claim is middle-age for their kind.
* The Utrons in ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 series)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' are a race of long-lived aliens, the ones the Turtles encounter in the present day having been stranded on Earth since the days of Feudal Japan, and a virtual reality flashback shows they underwent no physical or mental signs of age since that time.
== [[Real Life]] ==
▲* [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080414-oldest-tree.html This tree] in Sweden may look like a mere sapling, but the above-ground portion is just the latest offshoot of a root system that has been growing continuously since the end of the last Ice Age.
▲** While not ''quite'' that extreme, Olive trees are well known for that. While the tree itself might die, the root system will live on and produce several trees. Root systems being thousands of years old are not rare, especially in parts of the Middle East.
▲** That's nothing compared to "Pando", a clonal colony of Quaking Aspen in Utah has a root system that is estimated to be about 80,000 years old. There might even be other, less well-studied Quaking Aspen-systems in the area that are ''one million'' years old.
▲** For that matter, there are several such instances of very long-lived plant-based organisms.
▲** Not to mention fungal mycelia, which are typically as old as the forests they grow under.
▲* The ''Turritopsis nutricula'' is, theoretically, biologically immortal. After sexual maturity and reproducing, the creature reverts to a polyp (younger) stage. The cells and biology of the creature change completely as opposed simply mimicking the younger stage. The process of developing sexual maturity, reproduction, and returning to polyp stage than repeats.
▲* There is evidence that [[wikipedia:Hydra (genus)|hydras]] may age very slowly or not at all, making them potential candidates for being biologically immortal.
▲* Sea turtles never age. They can die only by violent death or by an illness not caused or hastened by old age.
▲** Not the case. They do not age ''outwardly'' past maturity, still making them candidates for this trope. The more long-lived ones last about 80 years.
▲** Even more true of some tortoises — the Galapagos variety can supposedly live to 200 or more!
▲*** One of the three giant tortoises taken from the Galapagos Islands by Charles Darwin, named Harriet, was 176 years old when she died in 2006.
▲**** Most turtles and tortoises can live to be 80 to 100 years old this includes small land turtles and tortises which are kept as pets. However, because of the way people treat these creatures most die of either abuse, malnutrition, or neglect within one year. Statistics given by a member of the Colorado Reptile Humane Society board.
▲* Females of many species of spiders, at least those who do not die of debilitation after laying eggs, continue to grow and molt throughout their entire lives. They generally die from predation, duels with rivals of their own species, or molting problems that can affect older individuals (who, like the turtles, do not differ visually from their younger selves). Female tarantulas can live to be 30 while continuing to mate with males who seldom reach 2.
▲* In the Bristle Cone Pine page info in the Wikipedia entry, there is also a link to the ''Arctica islandica'', an ordinary-looking mollusk actually found to be 405 to 410 years old. This made it the longest solitary animal on record which forms accretionary skeletons.
▲* And then there's the [[wikipedia:Taxus baccata|Yew]], a major contender in the Oldest Living Thing stakes. In Britain, many parish churches have yews in the grounds and there are many folk explanations, the most common being that they were planted to provide the close-grained, flexible timber required to make longbows for the English army. However, given how painfully slowly yew trees grow this is clearly nonsense. The trees weren't planted in the churchyard, the church and churchyard were planted in the yew groves that were already very old and sacred to the kind of guys who built Stonehenge.
▲* Many trees, left to themselves, will age and eventually die but if humans intervene by [[wikipedia:Coppice|coppicing]], as they have for millennia for the production of charcoal, fencing poles and other trappings of industry and agriculture, there seems to be no limit to how long they can survive. Coppicing keeps the tree eternally youthful.
▲* Given that there are different branches of medical science that are separately working on coming up with ways to someday make it possible to maintain a youthful appearance for years as well as have longer life expectancies, it is be safe to say that medical science is ultimately working toward making ''some'' form of [[Really 700 Years Old]] possible for humans.
▲* Most people don't think of humans as particularly notable for their age, but while the average lifespan of a human is fairly normal in the mammal world, their record age (122 years old, if not more) is the longest of any mammal. It's possible one woman once lived to 160, but this may be a case of being confused with his grandmother, who she was named after.
▲* A koi by the name of Hanako was determined to be over 215 years old through studies of her scales, which grow rings like tree trunks. She died in 1970. By comparison, koi are usually said to not live beyond 50. Sort of gives new meaning to the koi's reputed longevity, huh?
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Youngsters]]
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