Loser
I agree that that description needs a trim. The first thing I would do is cut down the first long paragraph a bit. I imagine that the stuff about Dr. Manhattan can be taken out as well.
I think the third and forth full paragraphs can just be cut outright (i.e. the stuff about planet hopping). I think they might actually be grounds for a separate subtrope.
In other words, living forever is why you must scream.
Any characters who initially jump for joy at the prospect of living forever will find within a few centuries' time that immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be. Their quest will become a search to find a way to return to a normal, mortal life. Sometimes they'll even allow themselves to be killed outright by supernatural means to be able to rejoin the natural life cycle at last. Sometimes the ones who can be killed but not age are rather picky; they won't commit direct suicide, they just want to be able to grow old and eventually die of organ failure. If this would happen in Real Life you would probably slowly forget everything (your brain can only hold so much information before it starts losing older bits) so maybe it wouldn't be so bad. (Real-life senile dementia sort of says otherwise, but this is fantasy we're talking about). About the only "advantage" of living forever is having the time to read all of TV Tropes.
I would go ahead with these changes to the trope description, but I would like some feedback because I am not so sure about them.
The stuff about the trope namer seems to me like it should belong in the examples rather than in the trope description too.
edited 25th May '11 10:30:33 AM by LouieW
"irhgT nm0w tehre might b ea lotof th1nmgs i dont udarstannd, ubt oim ujst goinjg to keepfollowing this pazth i belieove iN !!!!!1 d
I agree. The planet hopping needs to go. Personally I say that everything other than
1. Lonelyness
2. Boredom
3. MAYBE Age Without Youth
is a tangent and needs to go. The 'I Must Scream' stuff should go to that page or be incorporated into Lonelyness.
What do you think about the 'elves and gods' not having a problem with this trope? Should it stay here or go to Living Forever Is Awesome?
Eh, the part about elves and gods should stay. It's not Living Forever Is Awesome, its just an aversion of Who Wants to Live Forever?. Immortality is their natural state, so they don't find anything weird about it, any more than we would angst over living past age five.
Other than that, I agree with your points. Oh, though Age Without Youth doesn't seem necessary.
That's what I thought. Age Without Youth is only maginally connected to this trope. The main ideas are being lonely and being bored.
So who wants to do the trim? I volunteer.
I cut out a page, and there's still a lot. What do you think?
""...Put your hand down. This is not a vote.
Sure, you might like the idea that you get to live forever and see what the world's like hundreds of years from now, but what's eternal life compared to the anguish of seeing your loved ones die, one by one, as you stay fixed in time? (Better hope you have no children already and the Immortal Procreation Clause applies.) Any friends you make will only become grave resters eventually, and you must steel your heart against love because, for you, love is fleeting. Perhaps you'll never have a permanent home because you have to keep on moving from location to new location every few years before your neighbors get suspicious that there's something just not right about you. In sort, any kind of companionship from mortals will only last (from your perspective) an instant. Being immortal is lonely, and that's just the start.
There are only so many places to go and life-defying antics you can perform and tropes you can browse before life settles into a monotony. Eventually you'll even see your civilization (maybe even species) die out and make you a Living Relic. And then there's the fact that the memories of things that the world will never see again, one of the few rewards of immortality, may also one day vanish from your mind by sheer dint of memory capacity. Senility will be a blessing because you won't remember that you've done the same thing ten million times.
Speaking of which, do you have Age Without Youth? How about a Healing Factor? No, then not only will you be lonely and bored but subject to all the problems that come with old age. With all these problems its no wonder that many immortals angst about their condition, or go crazy. It's not all hopeless, however. In some cases, you actually are better off with living forever. You may be bored, but at least something is going on.
Elves, Gods or naturally immortal species usually avert this trope because its normal for them, just as being mortal is normal for humans. A community of immortal people solves both lonelyness and boredom. they've had a lot of time to work out cultural mores and general psychological structures necessary to deal with the relatively unchanging social landscape. Though some might still invoke this trope eventually. They'll probably have trouble with procreation though. When done Anviliciously, this can seem like sour grapes on the part of the very much mortal writers. May be used as a Fantastic Aesop. May be due to being Enemies With Death because of The Problem With Fighting Death.
Older Than Dirt, going back at least as far as the Greek myth about Prometheus's punishment. Compare Blessed with Suck.as well as And I Must Scream. Contrast Living Forever Is Awesome for those who like it, and So You Want To Live Forever for those who seek it, and Eternal Love where immorals fall in love. ""
edited 11th Jul '11 6:18:10 PM by ChaoticNovelist
We have the analysis tab for a lot of that now. We can dump most of it over there.
Sounds good to me. Let's do it.....where's the analysis tap?
Thanks. I'll put the Lonelyness and Boredom on the main page and eveything else on the analysis page.
Done. I have the previous article on file and it's in the history so adjustments can be made as neccesary.
Holy wall o' text, Batman! This trope is seriously over-described. But what should stay, and what should go?
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.