History Main / WizardsLiveLonger

* Azusa from ''LightNovel/IveBeenKillingSlimesForThreeHundredYearsAndMaxedOutMyLevel'' died and asked for CompleteImmortality when reincarnated in her next life. In response, the angel made her a witch whose body recirculates {{Mana}} and stops her aging. The woman at the guild reception says that some powerful witches can fine tune their mana circulation to prolong their lives but is shocked that Azusa has immortality at [[RPGMechanicsVerse level 1]].

This is a JustifiedTrope in Taoism, since '''not''' practicing the dark arts would help one live longer. The energy from ''qi'' and the five elements is believed to be flowing through your body and supporting it. Practicing the dark arts would likely decay your body faster.

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has 'wanded' [[Literature/HarryPotter (Harry Potter style)]] witches and wizards, who mature in their late teens/early 20s, and live for up to about 200 years, and 'wandless' [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles (Harry Dresden style)]] style practitioners, whose magical abilities mature when they're about a century old, and live for up to 400 years. This is explained as a trade-off between a greater degree of fine control and a greater connection to the magic of the natural world. The difference is compared to being right and left-handed, but while there ''is'' a degree of overlap (most obvious with some wanded practitioners having a talent for some wandless magic), and there ''is'' a way to become 'magically ambidextrous', it's not known whether this has any effect on lifespan, as in the latter case, the inventors of the art died in their early 30s, and their daughter, who mastered it, is in her 20s.
** The Sorcerer Supreme and their anointed successor also learns how to master both kinds of magic, but they have their ageing process frozen, and even if they didn't, they usually die long before it has any major effect. Doctor Strange, the current incumbent [[spoiler: (until chapter 27 of the sequel, when he abdicates the title and spends the next 7 chapters pretending to be dead for reasons of his own)]], is the exception to the rule, having held the position since 1645. He's even more of an exception than is usually realised, as [[spoiler: he was, in fact, born around 500 AD, and was raised and taught alongside Merlin in Camelot. After Camelot fell, he was altered by the Time Stone, and became TheAgeless and a TimeMaster without equal, resulting in a lot of time travelling that has pushed the best estimates of his age to somewhere around ''500,000 years old''.]]

** Obi-Wan, however, ages rather horribly, going from looking like he's in his late 20s or early 30s (at the age of 38) to an old man (at 57) in a timespan of just 20-odd years. This was partly because he's living in a harsh desert and because he is depressed and not taking care of himself.

** It's stated that sorcerers live as long as they "need to," although notably even after the plot has been completely resolved, they show no sign of starting to die off. (For reference, the oldest sorcerer is over seven thousand years old at this point, and isn't much younger than human civilization.) Sorcerers' shape-shifting powers work by forcing the body to adopt the form visualised by the sorcerer, so if they visualise un-aged organs they will have un-aged organs. They cannot practically heal acute injuries because of the energy required, but one sorcerer ages and de-ages himself as required for disguise and another undoes the effect of years of dissipation.

** Hagrid is well into his 60s by the time the books take place, though he doesn't look it. Having both wizard and giant ancestry gives him an extended lifespan even by ordinary wizard standards.

* In the ''Literature/IronDruidChronicles'' Druids have insanely strong regenerative powers when their bare skin touches earth. They are still subject to old age but they can heal any injuries or diseases which makes them long lived. The contrast between their lifespans and those of ordinary people must have been even greater 21 centuries ago when the Druids were wiped out by the Romans. Atticus has managed to become immortal by combining his druidic regeneration powers with a special rejuvenation potion that subverts the aging process.
* Appears to happen at least occasionally in ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell''. The legendary Raven King ruled for 300 years without appearing to age, and footnotes mention that even the daughter of a charlatan magician who deliberately cultivated the uncertain magical nature of her father's house by deliberately letting it go to ruin managed to reach a respectable 149 years of age.

** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] with the "[[GodInHumanForm wizards]]", who are explained to be divine beings on the level of low-ranking [[Literature/TheBible Biblical]] angels.

* True in Nick Perumov's books set in the ''Consistent'' multiverse. Local mages of various worlds, who may be powerful for their home settings but aren't as significant in the multiverse as whole, have lesser longevity: the archmage Seges of ''Literature/DiamondSwordWoodenSword'' is fairly within human age limits, something around 80, however she's a stunning beauty and not an old crone. The world-travelling mages, such as Clara Hummel and Ignacius Cooper, more powerful than local hicks, have greater longevity still; Clara is several centuries old, Ignacius even older. The WitchSpecies known as the True Mages, the most powerful of the lot, are TheAgeless.

* In ''Dragon Wing'', the first book of ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'', Hugh the Hand remarks to King Stephen's court wizard how young he looks. He responds "wars and kingship age a man; magic does not." Further reinforced by the Sartan and Patryns, both WitchSpecies who can live for centuries.

* The [[WitchSpecies warlocks]] in ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'' are the [[HalfHumanHybrid common children of humans and demons]]. At some point in their lives, which varies from warlock to warlock, [[TheAgeless they do not age anymore]].

* On ''Series/{{Bewitched}}'', witches and warlocks have extremely long lifespans, possibly thousands of years. However, they are technically a [[WitchSpecies distinct species]] from regular humans, even though they can [[HalfHumanHybrid interbreed]].

** Throughout the series, the [[OurElvesAreDifferent Altmer (High Elves)]] are stated to be the [[WitchSpecies most magically inclined]] race in Tamriel and are also the most naturally LongLived out of the already long-lived Mer races. Living for several centuries is fairly average for them, while extreme examples have [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld lived for thousands of years]].

* In Creator/RichardKnaak's ''Literature/{{Dragonrealm}}'' series:

* Happens in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''. Barring fatal accidents (or less commonly "accidents"), most mages live well past their nineties, even despite their horrible BigEater habits -- though it's AgeWithoutYouth and [[BlessedWithSuck feels even longer]]. Windle Poons dies at 130 years of age and spent half his life infirm.

* ''Film/HarryPotter'';
** A ''Daily Prophet'' article in ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' says that a wizard called "Barry Wee Willie Winkle" is celebrating his 755th birthday.

* The [[spoiler:Thousanders]] in ''Literature/{{Anathem}}'' are implied to be able to [[spoiler:hold their long lives steady despite [[spoiler:living near piles of radioactive nuclear waste]] via scientific {{Biomanipulation}} and [[FormulaicMagic manipulating worldtracks]] so advanced as to approach MagicFromTechnology]].

* The [[spoiler:Thousanders]] in ''Literature/{{Anathem}}'' are implied to be able to [[spoiler:hold their long lives steady via [[FormulaicMagic manipulating worldtracks]]]] despite [[spoiler:living near piles of radioactive nuclear waste]].

* [[TheNecromancer Necromancers]] in ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' stop aging as soon as they cast the spell that turns them into necromancers. The transformation also makes them {{Perpetual Motion Monster}}s who don't need food, water, or sleep, but prevents them from developing their Attributes any further.

** Abyssals and Alchemicals: functionally immortal, as they are essentially {{Undead}} and {{Golem}}s, respectively.

* Subverted in the ''Franchise/EvilliousChronicles''--the sorceress Elluka Clockworker is immortal in the sense that she can't age (she's still able to be killed, though). However, she isn't immortal because she's a witch. It was a side effect of her fiancee trying to bring her back to life after her jealous sister-in-law murdered her. It becomes even more confusing when it's revealed that [[spoiler:Elluka was never ''actually'' brought back to life; she's actually an amnesiac goddess named Levia inhabiting her body]].

* In Creator/RichardKnaak's ''Legend of the Dragonrealm'' series:

* In ''Literature/TheKaneChronicles'' is Iskandar. He lived in a time when the Romans conquered ancient Egypt and became 2000 years old. The books also show Desjardins, a magician over 200 years old. Apparently this is not uncommon for magicians and witches.

** Armando Dippet, Dumbledore's predecessor, was in his 300s when he died, according to Word of God.

* A ''Daily Prophet'' article in ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' says that the world's oldest known wizard is celebrating his 755th birthday.

* The Druids in Terry Brooks' ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'' series discovered a magical technique called the Druid-sleep that allowed them to live much longer than normal men, with the price that they had to spend much of that time inert, in a suspended state between life and death. The plot of the first book, ''Literature/{{The Sword of Shannara|Trilogy}}'', was touched off by the efforts of one Druid, Brona, to find a better way of extending their lifespans; he [[spoiler:failed]]. Simultaneously inverted, as Allanon reveals to Wil at the end of the second book, ''[[Literature/TheSwordOfShannaraTrilogy Elfstones of Shannara]]'', that all the magic he used in the war against the demons had physically aged him many years in the space of a few weeks, with his previously entirely black hair having turned all white.

* In ''Comicbook/{{Fables}}'', wizards can live longer ''if'' they learn and use the right spells. Frau Totenkinder, true to her name, [[spoiler: powers her immortality with [[PoweredByAForsakenChild child]] [[BloodMagic sacrifice]]. She sets things up in the mundane world so that every abortion that occurs all across the world feeds into her power, so she's set for a long, ''long'' time]].

* ''FanFic/AvatarLegendOfTheGuardian'': The Guardian is noted to be incredibly LongLived. [[spoiler:The real]] Min is over a hundred years old, having known Avatar Roku and Fire Lord Sozin personally.

* In TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}:

* In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Fire Emblem 7]]'' the only 2 heroes from the Scouring that are left alive, nigh a millennium later, are the spell casters.

* Magicians in ''Franchise/{{Touhou}}'' stop aging when they master the "Shachū no Mahō" (roughly "Abandon-the-Worms Magic"). This has the side effect of turning them into {{youkai}}.

* Magicians in ''Franchise/{{Touhou}}'' stop aging when they master the "Shachō no Mahō" (roughly "Abandon-the-Worms Magic"). This has the side effect of turning them into {{youkai}}.

** WordofGod also states that Harry's paternal grandparents, Fleamont and Euphemia Potter, were elderly even by wizarding standards when they had James in 1960.