History Main / DeagedInDeath

* ''WesternAnimation/BromwellHigh'': When Ikbal is giving a speech about a near-death experience he had in one episode, he describes seeing his mom. He says that when he saw her, she was young again, "and is not have moustache anymore".

* Played to the letter in the finale of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' Although Sam is shown dying as an old man after a long life in the /DeadlyDistantFinale, he appears in heaven as the age he was the last time Dean saw him (obviously the actor's age).

The most common Watsonian reason for this is for characters who heavily outlived their loved ones, be it significant others or their children. While the soul of the loved ones usually defaults to their last appearance before their deaths, the souls of the recently deceased revert to the age they were when they were last with their loved ones in life. In this case, it's a visual shorthand to show that the family is now TogetherInDeath.

* The ''Franchise/StarWars'' series usually averts this, with the Force ghosts of various characters (Obi-wan, Yoda, Luke, and Leia, for example) looking the same age they were when they died. However ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' had a an example in Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader specifically--which was then turned into a completely straight example via OrwellianRetcon. In the 1983 cut of the film, Anakin's Force ghost looks the same age as the unmasked Darth Vader (both were played by Sebastian Shaw) but his spirit lacks the extensive burns and scars of his physical body (from injuries he'd received decades ago). For the 2004 DVD cut of the film (and all subsequent releases), Anakin's Force ghost instead looks like he did just before his fall to the Dark Side, 20 years prior (and he's portrayed by Creator/HaydenChristensen, Anakin's actor from the prequel films). See the page image above for comparisons.

* ''VideoGame/MrHoppsPlayhouse3'': Esther died as an elderly woman due to Mr. Hopp [[SanitySlippage causing her mental state to deteriorate]]. It is revealed that Esther was eternally damned in the underworld, and has gone back to her youthful [[VagueAge 9-to-11-year-old]] self that was seen in [[VideoGame/MrHoppsPlayhouse2 the second game]].

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vader_old_and_new.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Your spirit, before and after de-aging.]]

* The ''Franchise/StarWars'' series usually averts this, with the Force ghosts of various characters (Obi-wan, Yoda, Luke, and Leia, for example) looking the same age they were when they died. However ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' had a downplayed example in Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader specifically--which was then turned into a completely straight example via OrwellianRetcon. In the 1983 cut of the film, Anakin's Force ghost looks the same age as the unmasked Darth Vader (both were played by Sebastian Shaw) but his spirit lacks the extensive burns and scars of his physical body (from injuries he'd received decades ago). For the 2004 DVD cut of the film (and all subsequent releases), Anakin's Force ghost instead looks like he did just before his fall to the Dark Side, 20 years prior (and he's portrayed by Creator/HaydenChristensen, Anakin's actor from the prequel films). See the page image above for comparisons.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': Zig-zagged in the LawfulGood[[invoked]] {{Heaven}}, where spirits appear as [[ResidualSelfImage their ideal version of themselves]]. Roy's mother looks like the [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0494.html 19-year-old looker]] she was in her youth, but his father is the same GrumpyOldMan he always was at heart.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': In ''Literature/GhostStory'', the first spirit Dresden encounters is Ron Carmichael, who died about a decade before during the events of ''Literature/FoolMoon''. Dresden doesn't even recognize him until he uses his CatchPhrase, because his spirit self is about 20 years younger, 40 pounds lighter, and lacking the receding hairline and poor hygiene of his living self. It's implied this is pretty standard and most spirits have a degree of control over how their appearance manifests.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Spirits look like how the person sees themselves, which is ''normally'' how they appeared in life, but there are exceptions. ''Literature/{{Mort}}'' includes a very elderly witch, whose spirit is an attractive woman in her 20s, which she says is who she always was inside.

* ''Literature/{{Mort}}'': Death's apprentice Mort is sent to reap the soul of a very old Witch, who knows he's coming. He meets a hunched-up old lady in her 90s who can barely walk unaided. After he frees her soul from her body, he watches as she spins the years away until she appears as she did in her late teens; before crossing over, she points out that not having a body anymore, she can present herself as of any age she chooses.

* ''Series/{{Ahsoka}}'' has the same example as ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', mentioned above, with Anakin's ghost resembling Creator/HaydenChristiansen rather than Sebastian Shaw. When Ahsoka first sees him like this, she even lampshades it.

* ''Film/SomewhereInTime'': When Richard dies he it met by an Elise played by Jane Seymour, not the 80-year old woman he met as a student (who recognized him, gave him a watch, and started the whole shebang).

* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] in Creator/MarkTwain's short story ''Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven''. The titular Captain mentions to his angelic companion that he expected everyone in Heaven to be young and spry. Said companion explains that people in Heaven can be [[DualAgeModes any age they want to be]], and they usually opt to restore their youth ''at first,'' but they almost never do so for long, as they're no longer comfortable in a younger body. Most settle at the age they're most used to; either the age they were when they died, or if they were particularly sickly or [[ScatterbrainedSenior senile]] in their final years, the last age where they were most sound. Even [[DeathOfAChild those who die young]] tend to opt into a more mature age as they continue to learn and develop.

* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] in Creator/MarkTwain's short story ''Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven''. The titular Captain mentions to his angelic companion that he expected everyone in Heaven to be young and spry. Said companion explains that [[DualAgeModes any age they want to be]], and people usually opt to restore their youth ''at first,'' but they almost never do so for long, as they're no longer comfortable in a younger body. Most settle at the age they're most used to; either the age they were when they died, or if they were particularly sickly or [[ScatterbrainedSenior senile]] in their final years, the last age where they were most sound. Even [[DeathOfAChild children and babies who die young]] tend to opt into a more mature age as they continue to learn and develop.

[[folder:Franchises]]
* ''Franchise/FateSeries'': Heroic spirits, famous figures from history and legend, can be summoned as familiars called Servants. They almost always take the form they had during their "prime", generally whenever their most famous accomplishments occurred. For instance, if someone had some epic adventure in their 20s and then settled down 'till they died in their 80s, they'd be summoned in their 20s.
* The ''Franchise/StarWars'' series usually averts this, with the Force ghosts of various characters (Obi-wan, Yoda, Luke, and Leia, for example) looking the same age they were when they died. However ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' had a downplayed example in Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader specifically--which was then turned into a completely straight example via OrwellianRetcon. In the 1983 cut of the film, Anakin's Force ghost looks the same age as the unmasked Darth Vader (both were played by Sebastian Shaw) but his spirit lacks the extensive burns and scars of his physical body (from injuries he'd received decades ago). For the 2004 DVD cut of the film (and all subsequent releases), Anakin's Force ghost instead looks like he did just before his fall to the Dark Side, 20 years prior (and he's portrayed by Creator/HaydenChristensen, Anakin's actor from the prequel films). See the page image above for comparisons.
[[/folder]]

When characters are seen at different parts of their lives, there usually is one age considered the "default" appearance of the character. This is usually the appearance they have for most of the story, and it usually is them as a young adult or an older teenager, both of which can be played by actors in their twenties to thirties. Stories will usually flash around their lives, usually with childhood flashbacks and perhaps a DistantEpilogue where they're now elderly. This leaves a little bit of a conundrum for when the writers decide to have the elderly character die but wish for the character to come back as a spiritual entity. By most stories' logic, they'd have to use the elderly form of the character since that was how the character looked in death. But even though the elder version is the same character, it's not the same familiar character the audience grew to know and love. So instead of manifesting as an elderly soul, they instead manifest as they did when the audience really got to know them. The writers choose to give the audience the familiar younger form of the character.

** Despite having died of old age, [[spoiler:Leon Belmont]] looks like he's in his early twenties, which is when he experienced his most life-changing event.
** In the reboot ''A Game of Cat and Cat'', the appearance of ghosts reflects their mental state. The above-mentioned [[spoiler:Leon]] once again died of old age and appears to be in his twenties, but when talking about his family his appearance shifts to that of an old man.

** Zigzagged with Dr. Archie "Moonlight" Graham, who died an old man, but appears as a ghost as both a young man (when his baseball career almost took off, getting the chance at bat he never had in life) and an old man (when he [[spoiler: gives up being a ballplayer and becomes a doctor again to save Karin from choking]]).
** [[spoiler: Discussed when the Field of Dreams catcher is revealed to be Ray's father John as a young man. Ray, shocked at his appearance, mentions how, "I only saw him later, when he was worn down by life."]]

* ''Film/TowerOfTerror'': After elderly Abby Gregory reconciles with the ghost of her sister Sally, who died as a child sixty years before, this allows Abby to rejoin her sister as a child, as she was in 1939, in the afterlife of the Tip-Top Club party they never reached when they were alive. Whether the reconciliation allowed Abby to pass on or she was DeadAllAlong remains an AmbiguousSituation.

* ''Franchise/FateSeries'': Heroic spirits, famous figures from history and legend, can be summoned as familiars called Servants. They almost always take the form they had during their "prime", generally whenever their most famous accomplishments occurred. For instance, if someone had some epic adventure in their twenties and then settled down till they died in their eighties, they'd be summoned in their twenties.
* The ''Franchise/StarWars'' series usually averts this, with the Force ghosts of various characters (Obi-wan, Yoda, Luke, and Leia, for example) looking the same age they were when they died. However ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' had a downplayed example in Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader specifically--which was then turned into a completely straight example via OrwellianRetcon. In the 1983 cut of the film, Anakin's Force ghost looks the same age as the unmasked Darth Vader (both were played by Sebastian Shaw) but his spirit lacks the extensive burns and scars of his physical body (from injuries he'd received decades ago). For the 2004 DVD cut of the film (and all subsequent releases), Anakin's Force ghost instead looks like he did just before his fall to the Dark Side, twenty years prior (and he's portrayed by Creator/HaydenChristensen, Anakin's actor from the prequel films). See the page image above for comparisons.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Spirits look like how the person sees themselves, which is ''normally'' how they appeared in life, but there are exceptions. ''Literature/{{Mort}}'' includes a very elderly witch, whose spirit is an attractive woman in her twenties, which she says is who she always was inside.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': In ''Literature/GhostStory'', the first spirit Dresden encounters is Ron Carmichael, who died about a decade before during the events of ''Literature/FoolMoon''. Dresden doesn't even recognize him until he uses his CatchPhrase, because his spirit self is about twenty years younger, 40 pounds lighter, and lacking the receding hairline and poor hygiene of his living self. It's implied this is pretty standard and most spirits have a degree of control over how their appearance manifests.
* In ''Literature/{{Elsewhere}}'', people age backwards in the afterlife; upon reaching infancy they are reincarnated. The protagonist Liz - who dies when she's fifteen - meets her grandmother in the afterlife, who died before she was born and now looks young enough to pass as Liz's mother.

* ''Literature/{{Mort}}'': Death's apprentice Mort is sent to reap the soul of a very old Witch, who knows he's coming. He meets a hunched-up old lady in her nineties who can barely walk unaided. After he frees her soul from her body, he watches as she spins the years away until she appears as she did in her late teens; before crossing over, she points out that not having a body anymore, she can present herself as of any age she chooses.
* ''Literature/MyPosthumousAdventures'': Everyone in Heaven looks like people in their thirties, including those who died at an older age. The critics actually disliked the notion, stating that the author overly emphasises the physical aspect of age while talking of ''spirits''.

** The finale reveals in the Good Place, [[spoiler:humans can look different from how they died, with Doug choosing to appear as he did in his twenties despite dying an elderly man. Chidi notes that, given his new BigEater habits, this was probably a good choice]].
* ''Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse'': Some of the ghosts in the titular Hill House do this. Child and young adult ghosts remain the same age, but two elderly characters revert to their younger selves as ghosts. [[spoiler: Mrs. Dudley is one of them, as she reverts to the age she was when she lost her daughter Abigail, and it's implied her husband will follow suit when his time comes. Hugh Crane does the same thing, reverting to the age he was when his wife Olivia succumbed to the influence of the House and died.]]

[[folder:Myths and Religion]]

* ''VideoGame/MrHoppsPlayhouse3'': Esther died as an elderly woman due to Mr. Hopp [[SanitySlippage causing her mental state to deteriorate]]. It is revealed that Esther was eternally damned in the underworld, and has gone back to her youthful [[VagueAge nine-to-eleven-year-old]] self that was seen in [[VideoGame/MrHoppsPlayhouse2 the second game]].

* [[https://1drv.ms/v/s!AsPfAMGeG4wfiv12eCtMzbnQu-j1lA?e=NcOSHJ This]] ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}'' {{continuation}} [=TikTok=] features Dolores and Mariano's possible future kids. Andrés is the oldest at eighteen, and Sophia[[note]]Which should be spelled as Sofia or Sofía since it's the Colombian variant[[/note]] is the youngest at six, and she [[ISeeDeadPeople is a medium]]. A commenter noticed the FridgeHorror that Abuela Alma might be dead by this point and this being the reason for her powers. The [=TikToker=] responded to the commented with a [[https://1drv.ms/v/s!AsPfAMGeG4wfiv13zHrWTHjn72tkCw?e=3mY0ph follow-up]] revealing that Abuela passed away at age 94 before Sophia received her Gift, and Sophia wished to ease everyone's pain. Her gift ceremony with Mirabel leading ends with Sophia seeing Alma and Pedro, with Alma adopting the younger appearance she had when she was last with Pedro.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': The episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS18E18TheBoysOfBummer The Boys of Bummer]]" has a DistantEpilogue taking place sixty years after the events of the episode in which Bart and Milhouse are 70-year-old men in the Springfield Retirement Castle. Homer and Marge's ghosts appear to comment on the scene, looking no older than they do in the show's main timeline.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': "The Boys of Bummer" has a DistantEpilogue taking place sixty years after the events of the episode in which Bart and Milhouse are 70-year-old men in the Springfield Retirement Castle. Homer and Marge's ghosts appear to comment on the scene, looking no older than they do in the show's main timeline.

!!Examples: [[foldercontrol]]

* The ''Franchise/StarWars'' series usually averts this, with the Force ghosts of various characters (Obi-wan, Yoda, Luke, and Leia, for example) looking the same age they were when they died. However ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' had a downplayed example in Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader specifically--which was then turned into a completely straight example via OrwellianRetcon. In the 1983 cut of the film, Anakin's Force ghost looks the same age as the unmasked Darth Vader (both were played by Sebastian Shaw) but his spirit lacks the extensive burns and scars of his physical body (from injuries he'd received decades ago). For the 2004 DVD cut of the film (and all subsequent releases), Anakin's Force ghost instead looks like he did just before his fall to the Dark Side, twenty years prior (and he's portrayed by Hayden Christensen, Anakin's actor from the prequel films). See the page image above for comparisons.

* Zig-Zagged in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLegendOfKorra''. Aang's spirit appears to Korra as a grown man, likely in his mid to late 30s or early 40s. However, later in the series, when Aang's spirit appears to Tenzin, he is much older, looking as though he is in his late middle ages, right around the age he would have been when he died.

->'''Scotsman:''' I be back, and in me prime no less!

But sometimes, this doesn't happen. Sometimes, a character as a soul doesn't look like they did when they died. They look younger, maybe even to their childhood. Why is that? Many times, there is no explanation for this, at least a {{Watsonian}} one. However, there is a a perfectly reasonable {{Doylist}} reason for this: recognition.

When characters are seen at different parts of their lives, there usually is one age considered the "default" appearance to the character. This is usually the appearance they have for most of the story, and it usually is them as a young adult or an older teenager, both of which can be played by actors in their twenties to thirties. Stories will usually flash around their lives, usually with childhood flashbacks and perhaps a DistantEpilogue where they're now elderly. This leaves a little bit of a conundrum for when the writers decide to have the elderly character die, but wish for the character to come back as a spiritual entity. By most stories' logic, they'd have to use the elderly form of the character since that was how the character looked in death. But even though the elder version is the same character, it's not the same familiar character the audience grew to know and love. So instead of manifesting as an elderly soul, they instead manifest as they did when the audience really got to know them. The writers choose to give the audience the familiar younger form of the character.

SubTrope of HealthyInHeaven. Not to be confused with DeathByDeaging, where deaging is what ''causes'' death, not the after-effect. Overlaps with ResidualSelfImage, since if this happens, the soul looks different than the body they had in life. This trope can also be used as a shorthand to indicate DyingAsYourself.

* ''Manga/HellTeacherNube'': Hiroshi goes into a coma after falling down and hitting his head against concrete, and finds himself stuck in the spirit world between life and afterlife. He meets and befriends a beautiful young girl, and helps protects her from the guards who would otherwise force them to the next world. After Nube helps to revive them, Hiroshi is appalled to discover that the beautiful girl is in fact a 63-year-old crone. A bemused Nube explains that this is because spirits don't age.

** In the reboot ''A Game of Cat and Cat'', the appearance of ghosts reflects their mental state. The above mentioned [[spoiler:Leon]] once again died of old age and appears to be in his twenties, but when talking about his family his appearance shifts to that of an old man.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouseMovie'': The Louds' ancestors are implied to have died of old age centuries ago. However, when they come back as ghosts, they appear how they did in the painting, with the eldest five being teens, the boy being a preteen, and the youngest five being little kids with the youngest even being a baby.

** The White Sox players appear on the Field of Dreams at the age they would have been in 1919, when they were banned from baseball in the Black Sox Scandal, while many of the players died decades later (i.e. the real Shoeless Joe Jackson died at age 64, while his ghost was played by 35-year-old Creator/RayLiotta). Other Field of Dreams players appear as they did at the height of their careers.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Spirits looks like how the person sees themselves, which is ''normally'' how they appeared in life, but there are exceptions. ''Literature/{{Mort}}'' includes a very elderly witch, whose spirit is an attractive woman in her twenties, which she says is who she always was inside.

* ''Literature/{{Mort}}'': Death's apprentice Mort is sent to reap the soul of a very old Witch, who knows he's coming. He meets a hunched-up old lady in her nineties who can barely walk unaided. After he frees her soul from her body, he watches as she spins the years away until she appears as she did in her late teens; before crossing over, she points out that not having a body any more, she can present herself as of any age she chooses.
* ''Literature/MyPosthumousAdventures'': Everyone in Heaven looks like people in their thirties, including those who died at an older age. The critics actually disliked the notion, stating that the author overly emphasises the physical aspect of age ? while talking of ''spirits''.

* ''Series/ColdCase'': In a few cases where one of the suspects/people involved in the case died before the cold case was reopened, they will appear in the episode's ending montage as they appeared in the flashbacks, not at the age they actually died. This was particularly true of "Torn", where the murder took place in 1919 and all but one of the people involved had long-since passed away. Downplayed, since those who appear are not necessarily literal ghosts.

** The finale reveals in the Good Place, [[spoiler: humans can look different from how they died, with Doug choosing to appear as he did in his twenties despite dying an elderly man. Chidi notes that, given his new BigEater habits, this was probably a good choice]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BromwellHigh'': When Ikbal is giving a speech of a near-death experience he had in one episode, he describes seeing his mom. He says that when he saw her, she was young again, "and is not have moustache anymore".
* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': In season 5, the Scotsman is now an old man leading an army consisting of [[AmazonBrigade his own daughters]]. He is killed by Aku after he orders them to retreat, but the use of celtic magic brings him back as a ghost in the form of his youth.