Media and fiction
Perhaps the best-known examples of ageless beings are cartoon characters. Cartoons, for technical and commercial reasons, are intended to live in an eternal present, a timeless universe without any change. It is always the "present day", even though the series may have run for decades. This is analogous to the " status quo" or " episodic" approach to television series, for example, where at the end of every episode the characters are back more or less where they started. The Simpsons has ageless characters, with Bart, Lisa and other characters' ages not changing over the more than eighteen year history of the show. This is in contrast to the " story arc" approach more common in soap operas, where characters and the relationships between them evolve over time. With this approach, characters may age but often times discontinuously, (See Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome), or may even age backwards in instances where an actor/actress is switched out with a younger replacement.
Sometimes agelessness (as well as sexlessness) is a way to make a character less human and less definable by giving that character traits that suit many ages. For example, SpongeBob SquarePants behaves like a kid with his friend Patrick Star, wears a private school uniform, studies boating, and has a serious career at the Krusty Krab.
Superhero characters are also ageless, including Superman, Wonder Woman, X-men Wolverine and the villain Mystique: often because their powers include magical healing or cellular regeneration. Sometimes plot devices which alter the timeline affecting the superheroes, such as Crisis on Infinite Earth and the similarly named Infinite Crisis or other story ideas, such as time travel and other dimensions are used to explain a superhero's apparent agelessness. Alternatively, agelessness is sometimes present without explaination if the authors employ a Sliding timescale. Unlike many cartoon characters, superhero characters' lives change (relations with other characters, marriage, kids, etc.) while their ages remain the same through the 50-70 years of their crime-fighting lives. Many of them have been in action from World War II through the present (or even into the future). See also unageing.
Agelessness is also common of character-based newspaper comic strips. Blondie, for example, has been running since the 1930s. Although the main characters have married and their children are now teenagers, the passage of time is not at the same speed as real time, i.e. Blondie and Dagwood would now be aged in their 90s, and their son Alexander, born in 1934, would be in his early 70s. Although Dagwood's boss, Mr. Dithers, still dresses in a suit suggestive of the 1930s, Dagwood is now his webmaster.
Occasionally, long-running series of pulp novels fall into this category. For example, the main characters in The Hardy Boys have remained 17 and 18, and have been located approximately in the "present day" since 1926. The same can be said for The Nancy Drew series. Nancy has remained 18 years old for many decades (although she started out at the age of 16).
James Bond is probably the best-known realistic ageless character. Some of his allies and friends, including M, Q, Miss Moneypenny, Bill Tanner and Felix Leiter also do not age throughout both the novel and film series, which began in 1953 and 1962 respectively. Ian Fleming, the creator of Bond, was known to tinker with details of Bond's early life and change dates to ensure Bond was the appropriate age for the service (a practice refered to as retcon).
Ageless beings
Tolkien's Elves are a good example of creatures who are factually ageless. They are not subject to entropy and decay, unlike Men and the rest of the mortal world. Tolkien describes his elves as young, yet with some 'wisdom' and experience in their eyes and behaviour. Tolkien has stated that Elves do change and age - not by growing old, but by changing other features in their appearance. The strange combination of youth and overwhelming maturity makes the age of an Elf undefinable and alien by mortal standards.
The Aes Sedai of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series are described as ageless as well; a feature of their magical abilities extends life and makes their age difficult to place even with the evidence of white hair or physical frailty.
Media and fiction
Perhaps the best-known examples of ageless beings are cartoon characters. Cartoons, for technical and commercial reasons, are intended to live in an eternal present, a timeless universe without any change. It is always the "present day", even though the series may have run for decades. This is analogous to the " status quo" or " episodic" approach to television series, for example, where at the end of every episode the characters are back more or less where they started. The Simpsons has ageless characters, with Bart, Lisa and other characters' ages not changing over the more than eighteen year history of the show. This is in contrast to the " story arc" approach more common in soap operas, where characters and the relationships between them evolve over time. With this approach, characters may age but often times discontinuously, (See Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome), or may even age backwards in instances where an actor/actress is switched out with a younger replacement.
Sometimes agelessness (as well as sexlessness) is a way to make a character less human and less definable by giving that character traits that suit many ages. For example, SpongeBob SquarePants behaves like a kid with his friend Patrick Star, wears a private school uniform, studies boating, and has a serious career at the Krusty Krab.
Superhero characters are also ageless, including Superman, Wonder Woman, X-men Wolverine and the villain Mystique: often because their powers include magical healing or cellular regeneration. Sometimes plot devices which alter the timeline affecting the superheroes, such as Crisis on Infinite Earth and the similarly named Infinite Crisis or other story ideas, such as time travel and other dimensions are used to explain a superhero's apparent agelessness. Alternatively, agelessness is sometimes present without explaination if the authors employ a Sliding timescale. Unlike many cartoon characters, superhero characters' lives change (relations with other characters, marriage, kids, etc.) while their ages remain the same through the 50-70 years of their crime-fighting lives. Many of them have been in action from World War II through the present (or even into the future). See also unageing.
Agelessness is also common of character-based newspaper comic strips. Blondie, for example, has been running since the 1930s. Although the main characters have married and their children are now teenagers, the passage of time is not at the same speed as real time, i.e. Blondie and Dagwood would now be aged in their 90s, and their son Alexander, born in 1934, would be in his early 70s. Although Dagwood's boss, Mr. Dithers, still dresses in a suit suggestive of the 1930s, Dagwood is now his webmaster.
Occasionally, long-running series of pulp novels fall into this category. For example, the main characters in The Hardy Boys have remained 17 and 18, and have been located approximately in the "present day" since 1926. The same can be said for The Nancy Drew series. Nancy has remained 18 years old for many decades (although she started out at the age of 16).
James Bond is probably the best-known realistic ageless character. Some of his allies and friends, including M, Q, Miss Moneypenny, Bill Tanner and Felix Leiter also do not age throughout both the novel and film series, which began in 1953 and 1962 respectively. Ian Fleming, the creator of Bond, was known to tinker with details of Bond's early life and change dates to ensure Bond was the appropriate age for the service (a practice refered to as retcon).
Ageless beings
Tolkien's Elves are a good example of creatures who are factually ageless. They are not subject to entropy and decay, unlike Men and the rest of the mortal world. Tolkien describes his elves as young, yet with some 'wisdom' and experience in their eyes and behaviour. Tolkien has stated that Elves do change and age - not by growing old, but by changing other features in their appearance. The strange combination of youth and overwhelming maturity makes the age of an Elf undefinable and alien by mortal standards.
The Aes Sedai of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series are described as ageless as well; a feature of their magical abilities extends life and makes their age difficult to place even with the evidence of white hair or physical frailty.