History Main / ImmortalAssassin

You've just run into the ImmortalAssassin.

* The Gholam of Robert Jordan's ''Literature/WheelOfTime'' is basically an AntiMagic T-1000 designed to assassinate magic users--so terrifying that only a handful were ever made. Only [[spoiler:AntiMagic artifacts like Mat's medallion]] (and probably starvation) can possibly do any damage, and that's not really a practical solution.

* Jack and Subject Delta from the ''Franchise/BioShock'' series: functionally immortal because the game's equivalent of save points - the Vita-Chambers - are coded to their specific DNA. No one else in Rapture can use them, [[spoiler: except Jack's father, of course.]]

* The focus of the ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'' story ''[[http://www.talesfromthevault.com/relentless/ Relentless]]'', though the killer is a [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demon]] (or even EldritchAbomination) known as the ''Reikoku'', sent to perform an assassination, rather than a normal assassin who happens to be immortal. Its weaknesses: it takes a day to come back to life, and if a single person can kill it three times, it will be banished back to its home dimension. Unfortunately, each time it comes back to life, it will have developed an impenetrable defense against any attacks used against it the previous time, plus it will have developed brand new attacks, including tailor-made FlawExploitation attacks. It might [[ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime seem like a good idea]] to destroy its corpse, but that just brings it back to life instantly. Oh, and if any of your friends attack it in order to help you, they get added to its hit list. And three ''total'' kills amongst you and all your friends aren't enough to finish it, it has to be three kills by the same person. Have fun!

* Wolverine, before he changed occupations and became a full-time [[ComicBook/XMen X-Man]].

* In ''{{Mnemosyne}}'', an assassin keeps trying to kill Rin, and keeps coming back, no matter how many times she herself gets shot, stabbed, and blown up. Fortunately, Rin herself is immortal too.

* The television show ''{{Lexx}}'' has an immortal assassin, Kai, as one of its main characters. He literally is unkillable and one of the subplots is him finding a way to die.
* ''{{Warehouse13}}'' features Marcus Diamond, TheDragon to Season 3's BigBad. Technically he can't be killed because [[spoiler: he was already mortally wounded a long time ago, and he's using an artifact that rewound time for his body to just before his death. He's literally living on borrowed time.]]

* Most {{Terminator}}s are specifically designed to be unkillable killers; the only way to make [[MadeOfIron the T-800]] in ''Terminator 2'' seem vulnerable was to create an even deadlier Terminator: [[MadeOfAir the T-1000]].

* The Talons from ''Comicbook/NightOfTheOwls'' probably qualify, since some of them are from at least the 1800s and their healing factor seems to protect them from most methods of killing them.

* The Saint of Killers from ''ComicBook{{Preacher}}''.

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* The Saint of Killers from ''{{Preacher}}''.

* Wolverine, before he changed occupations and became a full-time [[{{X-Men}} X-Man]].
** And his OppositeSexClone, Comicbook/{{X 23}}, who was trained since birth to be this...until she too went rogue. Unlike her progenitor, however, Laura didn't ''choose'' to be an assassin; she was bred specifically for the task.

* The Talons from NightOfTHeOwls probably qualify, since some of them are from at least the 1800s and their healing factor seems to protect them from most methods of killing them.

** And his OppositeSexClone, Comicbook/{{X 23}}, who was trained since birth to be this...until she too went rogue.

** And his OppositeSexClone, X-23, who was trained since birth to be this...until she too went rogue. Frankly, given that she and Wolverine were trained by the same people, they should have seen it coming.

Someone's put the hit out on you. But no matter, you're armed and dangerous yourself, and when the hitman catches up with you, [[AssassinOutclassin you get the drop on him, and simply put two in his chest]]. Problem solved, crisis averted.

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* The Gholam of Robert Jordan's ''WheelOfTime'' is basically an AntiMagic T-1000 designed to assassinate magic users--so terrifying that only a handful were ever made. Only [[spoiler:AntiMagic artifacts like Mat's medallion]] (and probably starvation) can possibly do any damage, and that's not really a practical solution.

* The Mercenary from ''TheBartimaeusTrilogy'', while not ''strictly'' immortal, is incredibly resilient. Through his huge HealingFactor and [[AntiMagic resilience to magic]], he survived a long fall from a cliff, survived being smashed under a huge rock and survived magic that could ''destroy'' demons, let alone humans. Unlike most examples, he is not the main villain. [[spoiler: Although even he can die to a lot of very powerful, concentrated magic.]]
* Messers. Croup & Vandemar from [[NeilGaiman Neil Gaiman's]] ''{{Neverwhere}}'' are a pair of [[HumanoidAbomination Humanoid Abominations]] who stalk after Door, one of the main protagonists of the book under orders of an unknown employer. They react to injuries with amusement or annoyance, they [[VillainTeleportation teleport seemingly at whim]], and may even possess limited time travel abilities, and they [[IAmAHumanitarian eat human flesh]]. Their true nature is never explained.
-->'''Mr. Croup:''' If we are injured, do we not bleed?
-->'''Mr. Vandemar:''' ...No.

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* Kakuzu of ''{{Naruto}}'' isn't quite immortal, but needs to be killed five times in one battle[[note]]or at least before he can restock by killing more people[[/note]] before he actually dies. He's also one of the oldest living characters; he was exiled from Taki for failing to kill the First Hokage, however many years ago that was.
** His partner Hidan, on the other hand, is pretty much defined by this trope.

* ''{{Deadlands}}'' give us Jasper Stone, who works for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse themselves and [[HeroKiller shoots down]] dangerous heroes. He was statless for a long time, for the explicit purpose of [[LordBritishPostulate not being killed by the party]].

* Raziel from the ''LegacyOfKain'' series. Killed and resurrected twice already before the events of ''SoulReaver'', by the time the player meets him he is a soul-devouring revenant animated by an EldritchAbomination for the sole purpose of bringing down Kain and his empire. His physical body is essentially a half-rotted corpse, without skin, internal organs, or even a lower jaw. And if this body takes too much damage, he simply shifts to the spectral plane until he builds up enough life energy to return. And since time stops on the material plain when this happens, from anyone else's perspective he just pops out of existence and then immediately back in again at full strength. The Elder God specifically says he is "beyond death." He can't be killed because there is simply nothing left of him that's killable.

* The player character from TheElderScrollsVSkyrim can seem like this, having two methods (a perk and a mask) to automatically heal from near death.

* The player character from Skyrim can seem like this, having two methods (a perk and a mask) to automatically heal from near death.

* Kakuzu of ''{{Naruto}}'' isn't quite immortal, but needs to be killed five times in one battle[[hottip:*:or at least before he can restock by killing more people]] before he actually dies. He's also one of the oldest living characters; he was exiled from Taki for failing to kill the First Hokage, however many years ago that was.

* The Night Angel from ''TheNightAngelTrilogy'' by Brent Weeks. He/she/it is literally immortal assassin although the immortality comes at a terrible prize: [[spoiler: For every time he dies, a person of importance to him dies in his stead]]. Cue a whole lot of immortal angst and be done with it.

* The eponymous bad guy from ''TheHorriblySlowMurdererWithTheExtremelyInefficientWeapon''.

* Jack and Subject Delta from the ''VideoGame/BioShock'' series: functionally immortal because the game's equivalent of save points - the Vita-Chambers - are coded to their specific DNA. No one else in Rapture can use them, [[spoiler: except Jack's father, of course.]]