History Main / LivingRelic

** Several characters serve as living remnants of pre-nuclear war America. Besides a number of pre-war [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Ghouls]], prominent examples include President Eden, Mr. House, [=ZAX=] and [=SKYNET=], the Think Tank, and Professor Calvert, all of whom are either sentient computers or [[BrainInAJar Brains in a Jar]] of one sort or another.
** The ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' DLC ''Mothership Zeta'' has various {{human popsicle}}s captured by the aliens over the centuries, including an Anchorage Reclamation medic, a WildWest cowboy and a samurai from FeudalJapan.

* From ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'', all Awakened Beings still alive from the first few generations of the Organization, especially the men. The first generation of warriors were mostly male, but male warriors had the tendency to lose control and awaken quickly, so further generations of warriors eventually became female only.[[note]]Some male Awakened Beings were not from the first generations; the organization kidnapped and transformed ordinary men into warriors since they awakened quickly and thus made good secret weapons.[[note]]

Their role in a story is likely that of [[MrExposition giving exposition]] to heroes who are anywhere between months to thousands of years LateToTheTragedy. After they finish expositing, they might ask to be killed. Or join the adventuring party. Really, it's a toss up.

* From ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'', all Awakened Beings still alive from the first few generations of the Organization, especially the men. The first generation of warriors were mostly male, but male warriors had the tendency to lose control and awaken quickly, so further generations of warriors eventually became female only.
** Some male Awakened Beings were not from the first generations; the organization kidnapped and transformed ordinary men into warriors since they awakened quickly and thus made good secret weapons.
* ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion End of Evangelion]]'' reveals in the penultimate scene that this was Unit 01's true purpose: since humans can't exist anywhere but [[PhysicalGod Evas]] can, [[SealedGoodInACan Yui]] reached the logical conclusion of uploading her soul into [[SuperPrototype Unit 01]] and become an everlasting monument. That she was used to fight Angels in the meantime is just a perk.
* [[spoiler:Hohenheim]] in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''.

* Coo from ''Anime/SummerDaysWithCoo'' is a {{Kappa}} who spent 200 years as a fossil underground before being revived in modern day Japan. He believes himself to be the LastOfHisKind, and that all other Kappas were killed off the way his father was. [[spoiler: By the end of the film, it's not clear if he's right about being the only Kappa left, but he plans to continue his search for them.]]
* In ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', Lordgenome intended to turn Viral into one after making him immortal, so he would become a storyteller of the Beastmen's final victory against humanity. A victory that never came.

* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'': Knuckles is referred to as this by a pangolin archaeologist who's studying the ruins on the Floating Island after the book's third reboot. She seemed to get along fairly well with him, enough that he trusts her to run the island's defenses in his absence. Sadly the book was canceled before she got much depth of character.

* ''Anime/InuYashaTheMovieFireOnTheMysticIsland'' shows six [[HalfHumanHybrid half-demon children]] from the legendary Horai Island. This island is mentioned in ancient myths and legends, and was a home for humans and benevolent [[{{Youkai}} demons]], who lived together in peace and harmony, and had many half-demons as children. The island had existed for hundreds or even thousands of years until four particularly powerful and evil demons conquered them and killed almost all their inhabitants. But the six children can be rescued by Inuyasha and his friends, and then live in a secret place on the mainland.

* As mentioned above the [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger film]] [[Film/CaptainAmerica1990 versions]] of Captain America were frozen during the second world war and revived several decades later. For the 90's movie version, it was about sixty years. For the recent film version, it was seventy... ouch.

* This was done in ''Film/TheFountain'', where a man who obtains some sort of immortality is the last man in existence and floats about in space all alone.
* A case can be made for Franchise/{{Godzilla}} himself, along with Rodan, Anguirus and a number of other Kaiju, as many were alive during prehistoric times, left in suspended animation through means unknown, and then heavily altered by radiation in many cases. Rodan is a straight example of this minus the radioactive mutation. Godzilla is both a living relic and a man made monster due to his mutation via the H-Bomb. If one considers King Ghidorah to have been around for a good few millennia, as hinted in his first appearance, he counts as well.
* The elves in ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy.'' They were dying out as a long-forgotten race, prompting Prince Nuada to try to destroy humanity once and for all.
* In the 2016 live-action remake of ''Film/{{The Jungle Book|2016}}'', King Louie's species was changed from orangutan to Gigantopithecus, a pre-historic species of primate that was native to India. He is the last of his kind, hence why he is contemporary with the human Mogli.

* In ''Film/TheManFromEarth'', John has lived for 14,000 years. He has long since learned to keep moving and adapting to the changing cultures, keeping his lifespan a secret, but he carries memories that stretch back before human civilization

* ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'' has Aughra, who is almost as old as the planet.

* Belgarath and most of the other surviving Disciples of Aldur in ''Literature/TheBelgariad.'' The only ones other than the Gods who were personally present at the Cracking of the World.
** Even more so Althalus in ''Literature/TheRedemptionOfAlthalus''. A similar backstory to Belgarath (young vagabond/thief taken in by a god and trained in magic for centuries), but where Belgarath is often involved with the world and seems to be more in touch with society than most of those living in it, Althalus was totally isolated and large parts of the later stages of the book involve him coming to grips with all the changes. It doesn't help that where the world of the Belgariad is in MedievalStasis, Althalus' world has advanced from late bronze age to late medieval or even early UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance while he's been out of it.

* In Creator/RobinJarvis' ''Literature/DeptfordMice'' trilogy, the Starwife reveals that she is the last of the black squirrels. They were known as the wisest and noblest of all the squirrel races, but were long ago separated by war and envy.
-->"I have searched and searched but all traces of the black squirrels are gone. I think I am the last - our line shall end with me, and the dynasty of the Starwives also. I fear the silver acorn will not be worn by any when I have passed on."
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series:

* Invoked in the ''Franchise/{{Doctor Who|ExpandedUniverse}}'' novel ''The Last Dodo''. The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Museum of the Last Ones]] is a museum devoted to maintaining the very last specimen of every species in the universe before it goes extinct, keeping them alive in stasis so that technically, the species still exists. Then the [[LastofHisKind Doctor]] arrives. [[OhCrap Do the math]].

* Oreg of the ''Literature/{{Hurog}}'' novels has been [[MadeASlave enslaved]] for thousands of years, and while he's been perfectly able to track the changes over time of the castle he's [[GeniusLoci bound to]], once he leaves its walls he confuses several people by referring in the present tense to an order that fell centuries previously. [[spoiler: As it turns out, he's also a quarter-blood dragon and possibly TheLastOfHisKind as well.]]

* Karla from ''Literature/RecordOfLodossWar'' is this. She hails from Kastuul, an ancient kingdom of sorcery which is implied to have once been the capital of Lodoss itself. A powerful sorceress in her own right, she survived the destruction of the magic city by infusing a mystic circlet with her soul, retaining all her memories and powers as the circlet possesses the bodies of numerous hosts over the subsequent 500 years.
* In the Creator/JackLondon short story "A Relic of the Pliocene", a hunter around the turn of the 20th century hunts down a surviving woolly mammoth in a remote part of Alaska, in revenge for it killing his sled dog and breaking his gun.
* In the ''Literature/RevelationSpaceSeries'' set in the [=28th=] century, John Armstrong Brannigan is a relic from the past. Born at the turn of the millennium, he was one of the first men on Mars. He has survived the centuries through [[HumanPopsicle cryosleep]], TimeDilation, and [[CyborgHelmsman extensive cybernetic augmentation]]. His starship still contains relics from his youth, including [[FutureImperfect a forgotten]] old NASA helmet. The only character that even approaches him in age is Nevil Clavain, born two hundred years later.

* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' Super Edition ''Firestar's Quest'', Firestar and Sandstorm are on a mission to rebuild [=SkyClan=], which left the forest and subsequently split up years ago. They find Sky, the only remaining [=SkyClan=] descendant who has any knowledge of the Clan. His grandmother was born into the Clan, and he was named after the lost Clan and taught its traditions, and still tries to cling to them, despite younger area cats believing him crazy. He is able to teach them about [=SkyClan=]'s life in the gorge.

* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' there is the half-demon Whistler. He is even something special among the half-demons, because his non-demonic parent was not a human, but a kind of angel. He was also born in the [[TheTimeOfMyths Primordium Age]], and was already thousands of years old at the time of the action.

** In the seventh season of the series, there is an ancient breed of vampires, named Turok-Han. They were probably the first vampires that were created, and play with this trope.
* The Doctor in ''Series/DoctorWho'' (from 2005 onwards, anyway), the last Time Lord (except when The Master makes his semi annual return from eternal death) with one massive case of SurvivorsGuilt. Understandable, as he was the one to push the metaphorical button that ended the time war and destroyed Gallifrey.
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E2TheHandOfFear The Hand of Fear]]", Eldrad was exiled and executed millions of years ago. After his resurrection, he forces the Doctor to transport him to his home world. The Doctor so; taking him to the planet Kastria in the present day. Once there, Eldrad discovers that all life on the planet dies out millennia ago.

* In ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'' the Rangers themselves are living relics. There are also a few episodes revolving around a pair of living dinosaur eggs that the heroes have to preserve.
* In the series ''Series/{{Primeval}}'' always prehistoric animals come into modernity. Each of them is a living relic, at least for the time when it is in the modern age.
** This, of course, is not the case for animals which coming from the future, such as the bat-like future predators.
* Most everyone in ''Series/RedDwarf''. Lister being the HumanPopsicle, and Cat - the last member of a surviving population, sort of...
** Some of Rimmer and Lister's personal possessions from "Marooned" (The Complete Works of Shakespeare, hand-carved wooden models of Napoleon and his army, etc.) may count as well. [[spoiler: Most of Rimmer's get thrown into the fire by the end of the episode.]]
* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': Ruk the android was the lone sentient survivor of his long-dead race when Dr. Corby crash-lands on his planet in the ep. "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"
** Apollo in "Who Mourns for Adonais?" is the last of the Greek gods.
** The three "Gamesters of Triskelion" are the only remnants of their kind.
* In ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' a backup copy of The Doctor becomes this to the two species of a planet centuries after ''Voyager'''s presence inadvertently triggered a long-gestating war. The Doctor contradicts the incomplete and revisionist vision of the incident which painted Voyager and him as monsters, [[HistoryRepeats bringing long-brewing racial tensions to a boil]].

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* Aughra in ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'' is the only surviving witness to the breaking of the Crystal and the creation of the Mystics/Uru and Skeksis. This is stated more explicitly in the novelization than the film.
[[/folder]]

** Similarly, in the TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness, the original mummies (pre-''TabletopGame/MummyTheResurrection'') are relics of Pharaonic Egypt.

** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]''[='s=] ''Dawnguard'' [=DLC=], you can meet the last [[spoiler:two Snow Elves who avoided the fate that befell the rest of their race]]. Unfortunately, one of them has become a vampire, and controls those of his race who ''did'' suffer the aforementioned horrible fate.
* In ''VideoGame/EndlessOcean Blue World'', you can find 3 extinct creatures, including one distinctively called "Living Fossil", but most notably, a plesiosaur.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series has several characters that serve as living remnants of pre-nuclear war America. Besides a number of pre-war [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Ghouls]], prominent examples include President Eden, Mr. House, [=ZAX=] and [=SKYNET=], the Think Tank, and Professor Calvert, all of whom are either sentient computers or [[BrainInAJar Brains in a Jar]] of one sort or another.
** The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' DLC ''Mothership Zeta'' has various {{human popsicle}}s captured by the aliens over the centuries, including an Anchorage Reclamation medic, a WildWest cowboy and a samurai from FeudalJapan.
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' The Protagonist, as one of the only survivors of Vault 111 by way of HumanPopsicle, is a living relic, even lampshaded by Piper.

* Played straight in ''VideoGame/MassEffect1''. Late in the game, Shepherd encounters Vigil, a Prothean VI(dumb AI) that was tasked with control of the Conduit. It was the last voice of the Protheans and had waited 50,000 years to give one final warning.

** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', the "From Ashes" DLC lets you thaw out Javik, the last surviving member of the Prothean race, as a party member.
*** The "Leviathan" DLC has you encounter the [[SpaceWhale Leviathans]], enormous creatures who are ''millions'' of years old and are responsible for the creation of the being that created Harbinger, the first Reaper.

* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'': [[spoiler:The great dragon Nolalothcaragascint (usually shortened to Nolaloth) was bribed by Illefarn to destroy the [[BigBad King of Shadows]]. The King struck him down after a great battle. Illefarn transmuted his heart into crystal and bound his soul to it. Nolaloth has since been consulted by people seeking to defeat the King once and for all, first the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Githyanki]], then Ammon Jerro, and finally the [[PlayerCharacter Knight-Captain]]. It is the KC that Nolaloth finally asks to kill him by destroying his heart, a task complicated by the fact that the valley left by the mountain-sized dragon's crash is now populated by a pair of young black dragons.]]

* Sola vi Ryuvia from ''VisualNovel/{{Sunrider}}'' was a warrior princess of the Holy Ryuvian Empire who was supposed to sacrifice her life to win a battle two thousand years before the present day. Somehow it didn't take. When she's found and brought out of stasis, she learns that [[VestigialEmpire the empire she nearly died to protect has long since crumbled]] and no one even remembers her or the battles she fought in, let alone whether they were important in the long run.
* Samus in ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' is this to the Chozo, an alien bird-like race that are mostly extinct.[[note]]VideoGame/MetroidDread shows two Chozo that are alive and it's implied there may be more out there in the galaxy, but the race as a whole are mostly gone and whatever Chozo that are alive are too old to reproduce.[[/note]] Although Samus is human, she was raised by the Chozo when her parents were killed by the space pirates. Samus's skills, ability to speak the Chozo language, and her adept use of Chozo technology (mainly from her Power Suit) basically makes her a living relic to a race she's not a native towards.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In ''Webcomic/TheDragonDoctors'', Rina became one after being rescued from the trap Derek put her in.
* Vog and his village from ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' are the last survivors of their species and culture, and the creators of carbosilicate amorphs. Each surviving individual is orders of magnitude older than the human species.

* The Scarecrow and the Heart of Tarkon from ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers'' were sentient weapons crafted for a long-forgotten war. Once the Scarecrow wakes up, he looks for a way back to Tarkon to continue the feud. This trope also factored into "Ghost Station" where the titular KillSat and its remorseful AI are the only things up from an alien civilization that presumably blew itself to bits.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': "Gold Stars" heavily implies that [[spoiler: [[Characters/AdventureTimeTheLich The Lich]]]] is the only surviving member of a group of monsters that predated ''non''existence.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' has two for the price of one: [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderAvatarAang Aang]] is the last Airbender, and his sky bison Appa is the last of his species, who were the original Airbenders. Aang's even referred to as a "Living relic" by Professor Zei in "The Library". [[spoiler:By the events of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', they both no longer hold this status; Aang has a son and three grandchildren, all of whom inherit Airbending, and it turns out that there is a hidden colony of sky bisons, meaning Appa isn't actually the last of his species.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' episode "Operation: C.A.K.E.D.-F.I.V.E.", Numbuh 19th Century is the last surviving KND operative to have been at the Alamode, not to mention the fact that he is in all likelihood the only person from the 1800s to still be alive ''and'' physically a child, to boot. This is because he was [[HumanPopsicle frozen in time]] and thawed out in the present day.
* [[Characters/FuturamaPhilipJFry Phillip J. Fry]], one of the protagonists of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' is called a living fossil during a newscast. Ironically, after a few episodes, he adapts to and fits into future society better than some contemporaries. His ex-girlfriend who gets thawed out in a later episode fits the trope better, as she mostly screams in panic at anything unfamiliar.

** The Pillars Of Equestria are an even more extreme example. Unlike the princesses who at least have some experience being long-lived relics, these fellas are just a group of regular ponies who were sealed in limbo for thousands of years and ultimately released. There's a few scenes of them wandering modern Equestria and marveling at how everything has changed, and an episode where Rockhoof struggles so hard to fit in he even considers being sealed away again.
* The Xyber 9 from ''WesternAnimation/Xyber9NewDawn.''

* Species that are "functionally extinct," such as the poor Baiji, or Yangtze river dolphin. Their population has sunk so low, and sometimes so hard to find, that they cannot perpetuate themselves. Often, as with the Baiji, their habitant is hardly even recognizable anymore.
** In the 1970's, after being decimated by whaling, (especially in the Antarctic), some thought that the blue whale had reached this state. Fortunately, there were more left alive than people thought, and their numbers are increasing.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' has two for the price of one: [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderAvatarAang Aang]] is the last Airbender, and his sky bison Appa is the last of his species, who were the original Airbenders. Aang's even referred to as a "Living relic" by Professor Zei in "The Library".

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Born when humans could wield magic and walk with gods, [[BigGood Professor Ozpin]] and [[BigBad Salem]] are its only survivors and [[ForeverWar are warring]] over the fate of a modern world that lacks both gods and magic. Salem was [[BarredFromTheAfterlife cursed]] with CompleteImmortality, operates in the shadows as an AncientEvil, and seeks the world's destruction. Ozpin was [[BlessedWithSuck granted]] a form of ResurrectiveImmortality; designed to prevent him from carrying out his [[TheChosenOne divine mission]] alone, his [[FusionDance soul merges]] with a new [[BodySurf already-living host]] each time his body dies. While Salem lives apart from humanity, Ozpin lives among them, sometimes [[BeenThereShapedHistory shaping history directly]] and sometimes [[HeroicBSOD hiding away from the world]] in despair.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': "Gold Stars" heavily implies that [[spoiler:The Lich]] is the only surviving member of a group of monsters that predated ''non''existence.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' has two for the price of one: [[KidHero Aang]] is the last Airbender, and his sky bison Appa is the last of his species, who were the original Airbenders. Aang's even referred to as a "Living relic" by Professor Zei in "The Library".

* Phillip J. Fry, one of the protagonists of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' is called a living fossil during a newscast. Ironically, after a few episodes, he adapts to and fits into future society better than some contemporaries. His ex-girlfriend who gets thawed out in a later episode fits the trope better, as she mostly screams in panic at anything unfamiliar.

** The two princesses, Celestia and Luna. They're both well over 1000 years old and [[PhysicalGod physical goddesses to boot]]. Celestia at least fits in quite well, while poor Luna is the FishOutOfTemporalWater. Having been sealed away for a good millennium, she still thinks '''[[FloweryElizabethanEnglish BELLOWING AT THE PONIES IN YE OLDE ENGLISH]]''' is the norm during her DayInTheLimeLight episode.

* ''Fanfic/{{Naming}}: As a result of having spent a millennium in a magically-induced coma, everybody whom Zelda used to know is long dead, the form of Hylian she speaks is only preserved in thousand-year-old sagas, and her clothes are so old that they're given to scholars to study.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic ''Fanfic/DivineJealousyAndTheVoiceOfReason'', Discord's Voice of Reason (aka [[spoiler: G1 Wind Whistler]] was born over 6000 years ago. She's seen Pony civilization rise and fall and rise and fall and rise again, and is the last survivor of the original Ponies of Paradise Estate.
* In the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' fanfic ''FanFic/DominusMundiTheKingOfKings'', it has been stated that the Eternal Queen is the last truly "living" remnant of the Atlantean Empire. However, she also predates its fall by millennia, and it isn't known how exactly she managed to escape death at the hands of [[GodEmperor Cloteias III]], the Divine Sovereign of Atlantis.
* In ''Fanfic/TheWeaverOption'', [[spoiler:Lelith Hesperax]] is revealed to be the last surviving Aeldari to have fought in the War in Heaven millions of years ago.