History Main / ElixirOfLife

* In ''Webcomic/TheDragonDoctors'' the FountainOfYouth was reverse-engineered to mass-produce rejuvenation potions, with a safety installed so that the furthest back one can be de-aged is to babyhood (the original fountain having no living thing within miles because of this loophole). The potion, detached from the Fountain, is not ''referred'' to as Elixir of Life but otherwise fits this trope to a T.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Disenchantment}}'': The Elixir of Life is used as an important MacGuffin. {{Princess|Protagonist}} Bean's father, King Zog, is one of several humans who wants to obtain the Elixir, which is said to be derived from [[BloodMagic the blood of an elf]]; he allows Bean's friend Elfo to live in the castle, in exchange for him being used as a guinea pig for magical experiments. Zog's plan is to [[spoiler:use the Elixir to [[BackFromTheDead resurrect]] his [[TakenForGranite petrified]] first wife Dagmar, which eventually succeeds]].

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* ''WesternAnimation/{{Disenchantment}}'': The Elixir of Life is used as an important MacGuffin. {{Princess|Protagonist}} Bean's father, King Zog, is one of several humans who wants to obtain the Elixir, which is said to be derived from [[BloodMagic the blood of an elf]]; he allows Bean's friend Elfo to live in the castle, in exchange for him being used as a guinea pig for magical experiments. Zog's plan is to [[spoiler:use the Elixir to [[BackFromTheDead resurrect]] his [[TakenForGranite petrified]] first wife Dagmar, which eventually succeeds]].

* In ''VideoGame/Rayman2: The Great Escape'', Rayman meets a sick-looking Clark at the Menhir Hills. Clark explains to Rayman that he must have swallowed something bad for him, and he needs a life potion, hidden near the entrance of the Marshes of Awakening, in a place called The Cave of Bad Dreams. Jano, the guardian of the Cave of Bad Dreams, won't let you in if you don't know its name. After defeating Jano, Rayman returns to the Menhir Hills with the elixir, and Clark is back to his normal self.

** Eirin Yagokoro came up with the Hourai elixir, which induces complete ResurrectiveImmortality in the drinker after three sips (the first prevents aging, the second prevents disease), and was banished to Earth from the Moon along with Kaguya. [[TheTaleOfTheBambooCutter When Kaguya left the Earth]], she left the elixir behind and he Emperor ordered it destroyed, but Mokou (whose father had been humiliated by Kaguya's ImpossibleTask) stole it and drank it herself.

* "Literature/TheBirthmark": Aylmer admits that such a potion would be possible, although he believes that it would be an imbalance in nature for it to be used.

* The "spilling from the FountainOfYouth" variety is the macguffin in the ''ComicBook/SpirouAndFantasio'' story ''The Man Who Did Not Want to Die''. The titular Man is an old adventurer called Tanzafio who found the Fountain of Youth and brought back copious amounts of its waters (the Elixir) in large bottles. Decades later what remained of his supplies is actually lost and he has to return to the Fountain in time before ever-fastening RapidAging gets him...

* The eponymous tale by Creator/TheBrothersGrimm shows Elixir of Life as the only cure for a dying king, said in legend to flow from a magical fountain in a far-away palace. The king sends his three sons to get elixir for him.

* Creator/HonoreDeBalzac's short story ''[[Literature/LElixirDeLongueVie L'Elixir de Longue Vie]]'' tells the story of how the father of Literature/DonJuan [[note]](yes, ''that'' Don Juan; the connection seems gratuitous and has puzzled many critics)[[/note]] obtained a phial of Elixir of Long Life that, if rubbed over his freshly-dead body, could restore him to life. The dying man tells Don Juan to use it on him without specifying how. Juan starts to fulfill his dead father's last request but never for a moment believes it will work. When Juan Senior's head starts to twitch, Don Juan is so terrified that he drops the phial, leaving half of his father's body a corpse. Weirdness ensues.

** Unicorn's Blood also functions as a dark counterpart to the Elixir of Life: drinking it can somehow stave off imminent death by malady, but it carries a curse that will make the body even weaker in the long run. Elixir of Life is said to counteract this curse, though [[ManipulativeBastard this may just have been a lie Voldemort told Quirrel to get him to go along with drinking Unicorn's Blood]].
* Creator/NathanielHawthorne's "Literature/TheBirthmark": Aylmer admits that such a potion would be possible, although he believes that it would be an imbalance in nature for it to be used.
* Creator/JulesLermina's ''[[Literature/LElixirDeVie L'Elixir de Vie]]'', a 1890 French fantasy novel, invokes the trope as a RedHerring. It is thought to be the mysterious Mr Vincent's source of immortality before the twist that he is actually a LifeDrinker who sucks out children's life force.

* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', the Sisterhood of Karn are guardians of the Elixir of Eternal Life, as seen in "The Brain of Morbius" and "Night of the Doctor".

* ''TabletopGames/{{Arduin}}'': Every midnight, the Silver Chalice of Life fills with a mead that adds one day to the drinker's life. Consequently, its owner will have unending life as long as they possess the Chalice and drink from it daily.
* ''TabletopGames/DungeonsAndDragons'': ''AD&D'' 1st/2nd Edition had two versions of this.

* ''TabletopGames/{{Pathfinder}}'': The sun orchid elixir will restore its drinker's physical age to that of its species' young adults, allowing potentially unending life if drunk once every few decades. Because of this, and because the secret of its making is a closely kept secret and sun orchids are ''vanishingly'' rare, it's far and away the most expensive and desired product in Golarion.

* Shows up twice in ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'':
** Eirin Yagokoro came up with the Hourai elixir, which induces complete ResurrectiveImmortality in the drinker after three sips (the first prevents aging, the second prevents disease), and was banished to Earth from the Moon along with Kaguya. [[TheTaleOfTheBambooCutter When Kaguya left the Earth]], she left the elixir behind and he Emperor ordered it destroyed, but Mokou (whose father had been humiliated by Kaguya's ImpossibleTask) stole it and drank it herself.
** Junko launched an invasion of the moon to get revenge on Chang'e (her son was killed by one of the suns shot down by her husband Houyi), unaware that the Lunarians had imprisoned her for drinking the Hourai elixir as well.

* An event chain in ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' allows the discovery of an elixir of life. Production capacity is not enough to significantly raise the lifespan of the entire population, so you have to choose between distributing it anyway (which raises population happiness) or restricting it to your leaders (which increases your empire's "leader lifespan" properly, so you can keep experienced leaders longer).

* The Elixir of Life is used as an important MacGuffin in ''{{WesternAnimation/Disenchantment}}''. PrincessProtagonist Bean's father, King Zog, is one of several humans who wants to obtain the Elixir, which is said to be derived from [[BloodMagic the blood of an elf]]; he allows Bean's friend Elfo to live in the castle, in exchange for him being used as a guinea pig for magical experiments. Zog's plan is to [[spoiler:use the Elixir to [[BackFromTheDead resurrect]] his [[TakenForGranite petrified]] first wife Dagmar, which eventually succeeds]].

* Advanced ''TabletopGames/DungeonsAndDragons'' 1st/2nd Edition had two versions of this.

* The Elixir of Life is used as an important MacGuffin in ''{{WesternAnimation/Disenchantment}}''. [[TheProtagonist Princess Bean]]'s father, King Zog, is one of several humans who wants to obtain the Elixir, which is said to be derived from [[BloodMagic the blood of an elf]]; he allows Bean's friend Elfo to live in the castle, in exchange for him being used as a guinea pig for magical experiments. Zog's plan is to [[spoiler:use the Elixir to [[BackFromTheDead resurrect]] his [[TakenForGranite petrified]] first wife Dagmar, which eventually succeeds]].

* In ''Film/TheManWhoCouldCheatDeath'', Georges Bonner is maintaining his eternal youth by having his parathyroid glands replaced every ten years. If the transplant is delayed for some reason, he can keep his youth by drinking an elixir made from the gland; usually harvested from unwilling victims.

* In ''Film/TheManWhoCouldCheatDeath'', Georges Bonner is maintaining his eternal youth by having his parathyroid glands replaced every ten. If the transplant is delayed for some reason, he can keep his youth by drinking an elixir made from the gland; usually harvested from unwilling victims.

* In ''Film/TheManWhoCheatDeath'', Georges Bonner is maintaining his eternal youth by having his parathyroid glands replaced every ten. If the transplant is delayed for some reason, he can keep his youth by drinking an elixir made from the gland; usually harvested from unwilling victims.

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* In ''ComicBook/TheFurtherAdventuresOfIndianaJones'' #3, Indy meets an alchemist by the name of Prospero and his grandson. Prospero claims to have brewed an elixir of immortality, and to be [[Reall700YearsOld 400 years old while his grandson is 200]]. By the end of the story, Indy is convinced.

* The "spilling from the FountainOfYouth" variety is the macguffin in the ''ComicBook/SpirouAndFantasio'' story ''The Man Who Did Not Want to Die''. The titular Man is an old adventurer called Zantafio who found the Fountain of Youth and brought back copious amounts of its waters (the Elixir) in large bottles. Decades later what remained of his supplies is actually lost and he has to return to the Fountain in time before ever-fastening RapidAging gets him...

[[caption-width-right:350: A simplified diagram.]] Common in older folklore, the Elixir of Life is a stock element of {{Magic}} which grants renewed life to whoever drinks it. This may range from {{Panacea}} to a true ImmortalityInducer that doubles as a FountainOfYouth. Indeed, in cases where an example of said Fountain is not inherently magical, its properties come from the fact that it is Elixir of Life springing from it as opposed to water.

* Creator/HonoreDeBalzac's short story ''L'Elixir de Longue Vie'' tells the story of how the father of Literature/DonJuan [[note]](yes, ''that'' Don Juan; the connection seems gratuitous and has puzzled many critics)[[/note]] obtained a phial of Elixir of Long Life that, if rubbed over his freshly-dead body, could restore him to life. The dying man tells Don Juan to use it on him without specifying how. Juan starts to fulfill his dead father's last request but never for a moment believes it will work. When Juan Senior's head starts to twitch, Don Juan is so terrified that he drops the phial, leaving half of his father's body a corpse. Weirdness ensues.
* The 1890 French fantasy novel ''L'Elixir de Vie'', by Jules Lermina, invokes the trope as a RedHerring. It is thought to be the mysterious Mr Vincent's source of immortality before the twist that he is actually a LifeDrinker who sucks out children's life force.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter''

* ''Literature/TheSecretsOfTheImmortalNicholasFlamel'' also has the Elixir be the source of the titular Flamel's immortality. In this version, it is a mystical drink whose recipe is different each month, with the new formulas being found in the self-updating ''Codex of Abraham the Mage'', a mystical tome in Flamel's possession.

** Historically, a common pursuit of Chinese alchemists during the imperial period was the attempted creation of an elixir which would grant eternal life if drunk.

Said to be related to the PhilosophersStone in [[{{Alchemy}} alchemical]] lore, though this was not always its origins in myths and legends. NoImmortalInertia and/or RapidAging are likely to occur if a repeated user stops taking elixir.

!Examples:

* A driving plot point in ''WesternAnimation/{{Disenchantment}}''--the protagonist's father, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold King Zog]], is one of several humans who wants the Elixir, which is said to be derived from [[BloodMagic the blood]] of an [[OurElvesAreDifferent elf]]; he allows [[TheConscience Elfo]] to live in the castle in exchange for him being a guinea pig for experiments. Zog's plan is to [[spoiler:use the Elixir to revive his [[TakenForGranite petrified]] first wife, which eventually succeeds]].
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** In traditional Chinese myth, a white rabbit that lives on the Moon knows the secret to creating an elixir that grants eternal life, which it produces by grading various ingredients together with a mortar and pestle.