Stronger with Age: Difference between revisions

* The undead in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' universe grow stronger the older the remains that went into their reanimation are. This culminates with Harry using a Tyrannosaurus' skeleton to turn into a zombie.

** ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' also plays with this trope concerning [[Our Vampires Are Different|Black Court Vampires]]. On the one hand, it is noted that since Mavra is such an old vampire she is likely to be mobile and capable of defending herself during the day where younger vamps would be forced to sleep. But then they toy with it by pointing out that the reason Black Court vamps in general are such major [[Badass]] types is because of basic survival of the fittest since ''Dracula'' was published. To get to be that old, they have to have been Badass to begin with, or they'd have been killed (again) years ago.

* Dragons in ''[[The Inheritance Cycle]]'' never stop growing, some were as big as mountains.

* The vampires in [[Anne Rice]]'s ''[[The Vampire Chronicles]]'' books get stronger as they age. Even after doing nothing but sleeping for hundreds of years, they wake up stronger than they were before. Drinking the blood of an older, more powerful vampire can also add to their power.

* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' has this happen to many creatures. Vampires, dragons, liches and others tend to grow more powerful as they age. Pictured above are red dragons. For the record, the second largest one is an "adult". The top one is an ancient.

** The "Draconomicon" sourcebook partially subverts it by introducing a bit of mostly-fluff about most dragons progressively weakening and becoming senile after a few millenia; however, this is relatively easy to remedy for any dragon with the motivation to do so.

** The ''[[Ravenloft]]'' setting is especially keen on doing this with [[The Undead]], being a [[Gothic Horror]] setting. Vampires, liches and mummies especially get age categories similar to those of dragons.

* ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' and ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' contains plenty of examples, and though many are due to the "more experience" version many others fit this trope. [[Our Orcs Are Different|Orcs/Orks]], for example, grow [[Large and In Charge|larger, tougher and meaner]] with age, the oldest being hulking monstrosities even by their standards. A more minor example, [[Space Marine|SpaceMarines]] seem to grow in size along with rank and age. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100405221652/http://philipsibbering.com/WH40KRP/40K_9_Marine_1_Morphology.shtml It is theorized they practically never stop growing], though it will lessen.

* The potential for power of ''[[Exalted]]'' is tied directly to age, with [[cap]]s placed on their highest potential [[Power Level|Essence]] based on how long they've lived (although there are a few magics that can break this). The highest levels of power are only available to Exalted who are more than a thousand years old.

* One scenario in ''[[Betrayal at House on the Hill]]'' reveals the house to be alive and capable of draining the inhabitants' life, making them age rapidly. (With the exception of the Traitor, who [[Immortality Immorality|brings victims to the house in return for eternal youth]].) Character stats start dropping rapidly once a certain age is reached, but the youngest characters actually get a stat boost for a while as they become grownups.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* In ''[[Guilty Gear]]'', [[Cultured Badass|Sla]][[Memetic Badass|yer]] is a [[Our Vampires Are Different|Nightwalker]] who is several hundred years old, the original founder of the assassin's guild, and one of the most powerful characters in the series. It's heavily implied that he's holding back on the whole cast; even if you utterly [[Curb Stomp Battle|destroy]] him in a fight, he'll just lie on the floor with his head in his hand, casually chilling out.

** Also, [[Chef of Iron|Jam]] [[Genki Girl|Kuradoberi]], who is told after fighting Slayer that given enough time, she'll end up surpassing him.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==