History Main / AgeLift

* Contemporary material for ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'' had Aquata (the one in blue) as the oldest of Triton's daughters, presumably because she's the first to be [[ThemeTuneRollCall named]] in the "Daughters of Triton" song. ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIIArielsBeginning'' changes the birthing order of everyone except Ariel. Aquata is now the third oldest while Attina (the one in orange with the crown headdress) is the heir.

* In the comics, [[ComicBook/{{Robin}} Damian Wayne]]'s age is somewhat nebulous and depends on who is writing him, but he's usually depicted as a middle schooler at the absolute oldest.[[note]]''ComicBook/{{Robin 2021}}'' explicitly gives his age as 14, for instance.[[/note]] In ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'', he's a grown adult and has taken on the ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} mantle. Even in ''VideoGame/{{Injustice 2}}'''s flashback to Damian's time as Robin ten years earlier, he's still clearly older than 13.

* ''Literature/TheLostYearsOfMerlin'' include a version of [[MerlinAndNimue Merlin's romance with Nimue]]...except here, they meet when Merlin is thirteen and she's a few years ''older'' than him. Interestingly, the fourth book (which involves TimeTravel) indicates that she'll [[ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty still look like a young woman]] when Merlin's an old man, which might explain why the legends got things wrong.]]

An Age Lift is when the age of a character is modified for the sake of an adaptation. A young child is aged into a teenager, or an elderly individual is downscaled to just a middle-aged one. Often the exact age is not that important to the character so long as retains some relative qualities, if you're still living at home the difference between teen and pre-teen doesn't matter much. Among the exact reasons, this can simply be a case of the creators avoiding issues of a less than wholesome relationship or wanting to give two characters more of a connection by making them contemporaries (not necessarily a friendly one; it can be used to emphasise a {{Foil}}). Or maybe the original age of the characters doesn't fit their target audience, and thus hoping for a YoungerAndHipper or HotterAndSexier vibe.

* As suggested by him looking up porn and drinking alcohol, ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'' is in his late teens or early adu comics]]. In the game, he is established as no older than 12 years old

** The Tim Drake version of Comicbook/{{Robin}} is older than his comics counterpart, being closer in age to Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon [[spoiler: and in the GoldenEnding of ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', ends up marrying Barbara]] instead of a teenager. The tie-in comics also reveal that Tim has a job as a schoolteacher in his civilian life, suggesting he’s likely in his early-to-mid-20s in this continuity.

* In the comics, [[ComicBook/{{Robin}} Damian Wayne]]'s age is somewhat nebulous and depends on who is writing him, but he's usually depicted as a middle schooler at the absolute oldest.[[note]]''ComicBook/{{Robin 2021}}'' explicitly gives his age as 14, for instance.[[/note]] In ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'', he's a grown adult and has taken on the Comicbook/{{Nightwing}} mantle. Even in ''VideoGame/{{Injustice 2}}'''s flashback to Damian's time as Robin ten years earlier, he's still clearly older than 13.

* ''WebAnimation/DCSuperheroGirls'', where dozens of 20-something and 30-something characters are aged down into high schoolers. It isn't terribly consistent with who gets de-aged though, as Franchise/{{Batman}} and Franchise/{{Superman}} are adults yet Franchise/WonderWoman, [[Franchise/TheFlash Barry Allen]], and [[Franchise/GreenLantern Hal Jordan]] are teenagers.

* All the characters from '''Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio'' (save for Gepetto) are either aged up or down in ''VideoGame/LiesOfP''. Of particular note are P, Sophia and Eugenie whose literary counterparts were young children (P and Eugenie) and a grown adult (Sophia). In the game, P and Sophia are young adults while Eugenie is a grown woman.

* As suggested by him looking up porn and drinking alcohol, ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'' is in his late teens or early adulthood in [[Webcomic/{{Omoriboy}} the original comics]]. In the game, he is established as no older than 12 years old.
* All the characters from ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinoxxhio'' (sans Gepetto) are aged up in ''VideoGame/LiesOfP'' 's interpretations of them. Of note are P and Eugenie whose literary counterparts were children whereas in the game, they're young adults.

** ''AgeLift/ASongOfIceAndFire'' (''Series/GameOfThrones'' and ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'')

In the process of adapting a work, many things don't translate very well into a different medium. An Age Lift is when the age of the character in question is changed or glossed over for the sake of the story. The idea is that the discrepancy between character and actor is much smaller, and in some cases, the exact age is not that important to the character. In some cases, this can simply be a case of the creators avoiding the embarrassing issue of a less than wholesome relationship, or wanting to give two characters more of a connection (not necessarily a friendly one; it can be used to emphasise a {{Foil}}) by making them contemporaries. Or maybe the creators just think the original age of the characters doesn't fit their target audience.

In live action, it can be a PragmaticAdaptation to take into account factors such as child labour laws and how demanding a role may be for a younger actor. It is also likely to occur if something happens to the character within the source material which makes keeping them at their original age problematic even with DawsonCasting, but, because the event in question is essential to the plot, leaving it out isn't an option either. The two most common forms of this appear to be aging pre-teen characters to teenagers so twenty-somethings can feasibly play them and aging thirty-something parents by about a decade to counter the potential ValuesDissonance relating to young parents.

* In ''The Adventures of Captain Vrungel'' by Andrey Nekrasov, Captain Vrungel, retired, narrates the main story to his student from the naval school, but the story takes place when he is younger. In the animated adaptation, the story itself begins when Captain Vrungel is already long-retired and teaching at the naval school.

-->-- '''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic''', in his review of the 2000 version of ''Film/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas''

* ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkinB3Remixed'': While [[VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin Girlfriend]] is canonically 19~20, Shaya is [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld 100 years old]].