History Main / ImmortalitySeeker

* ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'' features this with the original 1711 immortals who summon a devil to obtain the elixir of immortality. By the 20th century some of them [[WhoWantsToLiveForever question if it was a such a great idea]] (though they ''have'' a method to commit suicide if they decide to go with it). [[LivingForeverIsAwesome Others still think it's awesome.]]

** By ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'', [[spoiler: Frieza finally averts this trope when he hunts for the Earth Dragon Balls following his true resurrection at the end of ''Super'' as reward for fighting for Universe 7 at the Tournament of Power. His time in his IronicHell soured him on the idea of being unable to die, in the event of [[ImmortalityHurts a crippling injury or worse that he'd wish for death to escape from]].]]

* In ''Literature/TheExecutionerAndHerWayOfLife'', the villain of the first arc seeks to gain control of Akari's Pure Concept of Time in order to use it to gain eternal youth and immortality.
* In ''Anime/FairyTailTheMoviePhoenixPriestess'', this is the goal of the villains through attempting to summon a phoenix. One of them, Dist, has a fairly silly or tragic (depending on your point of view) reason for wanting immortality: as a child, his pet weasel died and he tried to bring him back; upon finding out that there are no spells to bring back the dead, Dist became [[MortalityPhobia terrified of dying]] and vowed that he would find a way to live forever, eventually turning him into a vile, twisted individual.
* In ''Literature/FateZero'', Norikata Emiya, the father of Kiritsugu Emiya, was a researcher who tried to create an immortality potion via time manipulation. All it did was transform the imbiber into a Dead Apostle.

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency'': Straizo is revealed to be a variant of this. Specifically, he has gerontophobia -- a fear of aging. He became a Ripple Master in part because training in the Ripple slows the aging process considerably. Indeed, when Straizo shows up in ''Battle Tendency'' he looks decades younger than a 75 year old man ought to look. But even that's not enough for him. So he gives up his humanity (literal and metaphorical) to become an immortal vampire like Dio Brando (he even admits he was inspired by Dio), which restores his youthful appearance. However, Straizo differs from a regular ImmortalitySeeker in that he's not afraid of actually dying -- he just doesn't want to die an old man. Hence, when Straizo is defeated by Joseph Joestar, he uses the Ripple to blow himself up glad that he was able to die looking young.
* ''Webcomic/{{Magician}}'': This is what most of those chasing the immortal wizard Edermask in the hopes of getting him to divulge the secret to immortality are. Ironically Edermask's goal is to find out this secret too.

* ''Literature/Overlord2012'': Khajit's original motivation for studying magic was resurrecting his dead mother. But when he learned there simply wasn't enough time in a human life to learn all the spells required, he strove to become a lich instead (the one other character we see able to resurrect the dead is a vampire). Unfortunately for him, this involved killing a great deal of people, and earned Ainz' attention.

** ''ComicBook/SevenSoldiers'': Bulleteer gained her unbreakable skin as a result of her scientist husband trying to preserve his own body in a metallic compound. Ironically, the compound ended up killing him.

* ''Fanfic/ADiplomaticVisit'': In the second story, ''Diplomat at Large'', [[spoiler: chapter 10 reveals this was the ''real'' reason why Sunset Shimmer wanted to become an alicorn -- she wanted to become immortal so she could spend all eternity by Celestia's side.]]

* ''Fanfic/TheNuptialverse'': In ''Families'', Olive Branch turns out to be one, [[spoiler: with his whole conspiracy being one big plot to blackmail the Princesses into making him immortal]]. However, he's [[SmugSnake not nearly as clever as he thinks]], and his plans fall apart.
* ''Fanfic/PagesOfHarmony'': In Chapter 10, while attempting to gain the Element of Kindness through ColdBloodedTorture, [[spoiler: Twilight Sparkle]] is revealed to be this so that true Harmony can be achieved.

* ''[[http://thejboy88.deviantart.com/gallery/42768477/MLP-Shadows Shadows]]'': This is revealed to have been Sombra's StartOfDarkness. After watching his father [[spoiler: Starswirl the Bearded]] grow old and die, Sombra became terrified of death and obsessed with becoming an alicorn to prevent his own. This caused him to drive away his friends and eventually cross the MoralEventHorizon.

* ''WesternAnimation/TadTheLostExplorer'': The Odysseus Corporation led by the intimidating Kopponen and [[spoiler: Max Mordon]] seek the Idol of Paititi to gain immortality. The latter villain actually succeeds in obtaining the idol. Unfortunately for him, however, it turns out the statue only grants immortality to those who hold it by [[spoiler: [[BlessedWithSuck turning them into mummies]]! Thus, Mordon is transformed into a living mummy and sent to the Mummy prison for his evil actions]].

** Captain Jack Sparrow. First it was [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl cursed Aztec gold]] (not worth losing all sensation), then [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd replacing Davy Jones]] (gave it up to [[spoiler: save Will's life]]), and then the Fountain of Youth... at the end of ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides On Stranger Tides]]'', [[spoiler: Jack decides he'd rather be ''remembered'' forever than exist that long, presumably realizing the high costs of immortality at this point]].
** Blackbeard from ''On Stranger Tides'', who is willing to sacrifice his own daughter to obtain immortality. [[spoiler:And this isn't even really immortality, just a temporary reprieve from death. He'd have to keep sacrificing other lives later on to renew it. Jack puts an end to this by switching the chalices so that Blackbeard is instead sacrificed to extend his daughter's life.]]

* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfAncientDarkness'': In ''Ghost Hunter'',, the EvilPlan of [[BigBad Eostra]] the Eagle Owl Mage is to steal for herself [[TheChosenOne Torak's]] power as a [[BodySurf spirit walker]] and use it to live forever by using bodies one after another.
* ''Literature/ColdfireTrilogy'': Gerald Tarrant and the [[EvilOverlord Undying Prince]] both seek to live forever, though they use very different methods -- Tarrant is an EmotionEater, while the Prince practices GrandTheftMe [[spoiler: though he keeps his original body in a vegitative state in a tank -- he needs it as an anchor even if he's not using it anymore]].

* Literature/{{Discworld}}:

--->[[AC:Dark in here, isn't it?]]]

* ''Literature/TheFourteenthGoldfish'': Melvin's field of research is in the regenerative properties of certain life forms. It ultimately leads him to use an extract from a newly-discovered species of jellyfish to make a serum that reverts his body from 75 years old to 13 years old.
* ''Literature/FutureHistory'': This is the goal of the Howard Foundation. Founded by a rich man who found himself dying of old age in his forties, it embarked on a program of human eugenics (before genes were even understood) by the very simple method of paying people with long-lived ancestors to marry and have children. Hundreds of years later, this eminently practical program produces humans with more than double the typical lifespan. Forced to flee Earth on an experimental spaceship due to public jealousy, the Howards return decades later to discover that, in their absence, humans have invented treatments that can prolong life enormously. Multiply this by the Howards' inbred longevity and you have a recipe for near-immortality. The longest-lived human, Lazarus Long, is nearly 2,500 years old by ''Literature/TimeEnoughForLove'' and shows no signs of stopping. (The funny thing is... under the plan, Lazarus is something of a sport. He was already alive when the Foundation started, and didn't have enough ''provable'' credentials -- as in, long-lived immediate family members (with documentation) -- to join as is, but still lived to 140 before he underwent rejuvenation for the first time. People still want to sleep with him, though.)

* Creator/JRRTolkien:
** ''Literature/OnFairyStories'' discusses this theme in fairytales as the ultimate escape -- the escape from the greatest limitation in human life -- with an interesting PerspectiveFlip:
--->"And lastly there is the oldest and deepest desire, the Great Escape: the Escape from Death. Fairy-stories provide many examples and modes of this... Fairy-stories are made by men not by fairies. The Human-stories of the elves are doubtless full of the [[WhoWantsToLiveForever Escape from Deathlessness]]".
** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', the Numenorian king Ar-Pharazon's invasion of the Undying Lands is motivated in part by his desire take the secret of everlasting life from the Valar.
* Creator/LarryNiven: In "Cautionary Tales", a human looking for a way to live forever goes to the center of the galaxy and runs into an alien looking for the same thing. Tales of living forever are in all cultures, but only humans have [[WhoWantsToLiveForever "cautionary tales"]]. The alien has been looking for ''far'' longer than the human...

* ''Literature/TheLongEarth'': In ''The Long Mars'', the mysterious billionaire Douglas Black is revealed to be one. As extra time is something his fortune can't buy him (yet), he installs himself on an expedition across the parallel Earths in search of a "fountain of youth". While eccentric and reclusive, he's never shown to do anything worse than irritate his captain in pursuit of his goal. [[spoiler: He settles on an Earth with higher oxygen and slightly lower gravity; he himself admits he has no idea if it will help, but it's worth a shot.]]

* In ''Franchise/{{Mistborn}}'', the [[EvilOverlord Lord Ruler]] not only desired immortality, but he ''found'' it. And ultimately, [[spoiler: he gets killed when the device he's using to keep himself immortal gets ripped out of his body.]]

* In ''Literature/TheSecretHistory'', Julian argues that this is what every human secretly wants, and it becomes a recurring theme throughout the book. [[spoiler: Too bad Bunny ends up murdered, Charles tries to kill Henry, Henry kills himself, and Francis attempts suicide.]]

** Literature/DarthBane attempts to gain immortality by [[spoiler: continuously transferring his soul from body to body as they became old and frail.]]

* ''Series/SleepyHollow'': [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Malcolm Dreyfuss]], the BigBad of Season 4, spends half the season trying to piece together the PhilosophersStone, so that he can use it to become immortal, as a means of LoopholeAbuse to escape his DealWithTheDevil (if he never dies, his soul isn't forfeit to Hell). [[spoiler: He eventually succeeds, and [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity driven mad]], moves up to plans to TakeOverTheWorld.]]
* A fatal {{Deconstruction}} happens in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' season one episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E15TooShortASeason Too Short a Season]]". Admiral Jameson discovers an elixir that allows him to regain his youth and plans to use it with his wife to be able to live out the years of their lives they missed out on when he was in Starfleet. However, the elixir is said to run this risk of killing those who drink it and, when given the chance to defuse a HostageSituation, he decides to down the doses right away. It de-ages him, all right, but not only does it go too fast, nearly derailing the process, it does ultimately kill him.

* ''VideoGame/BendyAndTheInkMachine'': Joey Drew's speech heavily implies that he's interested in finding some way to live forever during Chapter 3, [[spoiler: even when taking into account that most of that speech is a lie]].
--> '''Joey:''' Why with enough belief, you can even cheat death itself. Now that... is a beautiful, and positively silly thought.

* In ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'', Baizhu is a highly-accomplished doctor rumored to be pursuing a means to become immortal. This is initially framed as a suspicious element of his character, though his character side-quest reveals the more complex nature of his quest. [[spoiler: His snake companion, Changsheng, is actually an ancient god dependent on a moral host to survive. For centuries, healers and doctors have entered into a mystical contract with her, becoming her host in exchange for access to her healing arts. These powers are CastFromLifespan, allowing a doctor to heal their patients at the cost of their own health and longevity. Baizhu has concluded that immortality is the solution to their problem, maintaining Changsheng's life while also granting him an endless lifespan to give to his patients]].

* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' it is revealed that [[spoiler: Mithos Yggdrasill and his companions found a way to stop individuals' biological clocks, essentially locking their bodies in the age they please. At the end of the game, it is revealed that he intended to convert all living beings in his universe to this state in order to reduce discrimination brought about by humans against half-elves for their human-like appearance and their naturally long life cycles.]]

* The Getting into Character storyline in ''Webcomic/{{Pixieverse}}'' involves [[spoiler: Lilly]] kidnapping people across worlds and experimenting on them, attempting to turn them into TheAgeless. This is not for her own benefit but to [[spoiler: allow her harem to share in her centuries-long life. She had found a way to make herself the ageless long ago but can't mass produce it.]]

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': Gray Mann's ultimate motive, in the [[AllThereInTheManual supplemental webcomics]]. Everything he has done so far has been in search of [[{{Unobtainium}} Australium]] to fuel his [[ImmortalityInducer life extender]]. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that his quest is a futile one, since there's too little Australium left. Even the administrator's more efficient life extender will only grant her a few more years. The administrator herself is not an example, since she just wants to have enough extra time to settle some old debts.]] Gray's not the only one either. [[spoiler:The Classic Team Fortress Team]] are fully aware they are growing old. [[spoiler:Classic Heavy rips out Gray's life extender so he and his team can use the Australium to extend their own lives.]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
%%* ''WebVideo/KateModern: The Last Work'': Patience's 12.
* ''WebVideo/LG15TheResistance'': In the season finale, [[spoiler:Sarah]] reveals this to be her goal.
* ''Website/SCPFoundation'', [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1113 SCP-1113 ("Lachesis' Spinner").]] Richard Piper uses SCP-1113 to stop himself from aging. Unfortunately it works less well as the user grows older and the Grim Reaper eventually catches up to him.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': A successful case of this. Thanks to their technological advancement, the discovery of the [[EnergyBeings Shadowfishes]], and the enslavement of the [[PlantAliens Moss People]], Andrias' ancestors were able to develop the necessary knowledge to transcend death through merging their disembodied minds with the Core as their new vessel. In an interesting twist to this, the collective willingly forsakes their immortal and much more durable vessel in favor of Marcy's very mortal form in order to forward its plans, possibly because they need one with greater mobility.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': Posing as a simple hotel owner, Ponce De Leon turns out to be this in "The Forbidden Fountain Of The Foreverglades." Having found the Fountain of Youth, he used it's waters to fill his pool and drain the youth of his patrons (primarily spring breakers) for himself.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': [[Characters/DCAULexLuthor Lex Luthor]] acquires this as a secondary goal in in ''Justice League Unlimited''. In "The Return", he expresses envy at the immortal Amazo's lifespan -- both because his own achievements will be forgotten in a few generations, and because Amazo will be able "to see where it's all going." At the end of the Cadmus arc, he attempts to download himself into a copy of Amazo's body made with Cadmus resources. While this turns out to have been partly due to the influence of Brainiac, he proceeds to willingly fuse with Brainiac because it's another shot at {{godhood|seeker}}.
* ''WesternAnimation/SuperSunday'': In "Bigfoot And The Muscle Machines", the ultimate goal of the antagonist Ravenscroft, a ruthless elderly millionaire, in his quest to find the Fountain of Youth. Indeed, he briefly turns into a younger man after accomplishing his goal and drinking of the Fountain's water, but his immortality is short lived as Yank ultimately rams a monster truck into the Fountain, destroying it. [[NoOntologicalInertia The effects of the Fountain wear off quickly]], and it isn't long before Ravenscroft flees, unaware he's walking into an alligator-infested swamp, presumably meeting his fate.

* When UsefulNotes/FranciscoPizarro first contacted the Inca Empire, Emperor Atahualpa became interested in the foreigners and their magical arts, among them a mysterious method who could rejuvenate people. Naturally, Atahualpa decided he wanted to know those secrets and concocted a plan to ambush the Spaniards, kill most of them and keep some as artisans. The plan blew up in his face, as Pizarro OutGambitted him and captured Atahualpa, but most egregiously it turned out there was no immortality - what Atahualpa's spies had seen was a barber doing his job.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': A successful case of this. Thanks to their technological advancement, the discovery of the [[EnergyBeings Shadowfishes]], and the enslavement of the [[PlantAliens Moss People]], Andrias' ancestors were able to develop the necessary knowledge to transcend death through merging their disembodied minds with [[Characters/AmphibiaTheCore the Core]] as their new vessel. In an interesting twist to this, the collective willingly forsakes their immortal and much more durable vessel in favor of Marcy's very mortal form in order to forward its plans, possibly because they need one with greater mobility.