"Old men and old women, each with staff in hand because of old age, shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem."
Entries about older people and about aging. See Youngsters for the opposite and Adult Tropes for the younger predecessor. See also the Mentor Index.
Tropes:
- Absurdly Elderly Mother: Mothers are too old to have children.
- Age Without Youth: An immortal character who continues aging, to the point they are completely withered.
- Alter Kocker: A senior with a Yiddish accent.
- Ancient Evil: A character, concept or thing that's old and evil.
- Ancient Keeper: An elderly, slightly creepy Mr. Exposition that is some sort of keeper.
- Bleak Abyss Retirement Home: Retirement homes are seen as gloomy.
- Character Aged with the Actor: When the actor grows old, so does the character.
- *Crack!* "Oh, My Back!": An old or middle-aged character's joints crack.
- Cool Old Guy: An old man who's seen as cool.
- Cool Old Lady: An old woman who's seen as cool.
- Covering Up Your Gray: Older people dyeing their gray hair to try and look younger.
- Curse of The Ancients: Elderly people use old exclamations instead of swear words or newer exclamations.
- December–December Romance: Two old people start dating.
- Dented Iron: Somebody is Made of Iron, mostly, but sustains a few injuries.
- Dirty Old Man: An old man who's sexually attracted to younger women.
- Dirty Old Woman: A perverted elderly woman.
- Doting Grandparent: Elder who has a close relationship with their grandchildren.
- Eccentric Mentor: A character (usually an old man) who's wise and a bit of a Cloudcuckoolander.
- Elder Abuse: Somebody abuses an old person.
- Elder Employee: Someone older, usually an elderly person, takes a job usually reserved for a younger person.
- Elderly Blue-Haired Lady: An old woman tries to dye her hair but her hair turns the wrong colour.
- Elderly Future Fantasy: Characters have a fantasy or dream of the future where they're elderly.
- Elderly Immortal: An immortal or long-lived character who appears elderly.
- Evil Old Folks: An elderly villain, who looks their apparent age.
- False Teeth Tomfoolery: Old people goofing about with dentures.
- Father Neptune: A feisty old (usually male) sailor.
- Feeling Their Age: An elderly action hero is starting to weaken or thinks they are.
- First Gray Hair: Someone angsts about getting old when they see their first grey hair.
- The Fog of Ages: An immortal character becomes forgetful because their brain is running out of memory space.
- Former Teen Rebel: An older character who is stodgy or polite now was rebellious and/or impolite as a teen.
- Fun-Hating Confiscating Adult: An adult (usually elderly) who children hate because (s)he doesn't want them to play.
- Games of the Elderly: Stereotypical old-people board games like bingo and gin rummy.
- Glasses of Aging: Glasses as a shorthand that they've gotten old.
- Grandparent Favoritism: When a grandparent adores their grandchild or grandchildren more than their own children.
- Granny Classic: A stereotypical old woman who usually has grandchildren.
- Gruesome Grandparent: An abusive and/or antagonistic grandparent.
- Grow Old with Me: An old couple who have been together since they were young.
- Grumpy Old Man: An old person with a negative attitude.
- Handbag of Hurt: Somebody (usually an elder) uses a bag as a weapon.
- Helping Granny Cross the Street: Somebody helps an old lady across the street when they want to be helpful/appear noble.
- Hippie Parents: A (sometimes elderly) hippie couple with at least one child.
- Inflation Negation: An old person complains about how things were cheaper in their youth.
- I Was Quite a Looker: A senior who was seen as attractive in their youth.
- Late Coming Out: A character comes out of the closet later in life.
- Likes Older Men: Somebody wants to date men who are at least a few years older than them.
- Likes Older Women: Somebody wants to date an older woman.
- Little Old Lady Investigates: An old, female detective.
- Long-Lived: Something or someone that lives for a very long time.
- Maiden Aunt: An unmarried, elderly, female relative.
- Methuselah Syndrome: Fantasy characters who live a long time despite medical science not having progressed.
- Miniature Senior Citizens: Short seniors.
- Nazi Grandpa: An elderly man who used to be a Nazi.
- Needlework Is for Old People: Knitting, sewing, spinning, embroidery, etc. is associated with seniors.
- Never Mess with Granny: An old woman is good at fighting.
- Nostalgia Filter: Somebody believes that things from their childhood are better than similar things from now.
- The Old Convict: An elderly character in prison.
- Old People are Nonsexual: The belief that elders don't participate in sexual acts, and are gross or funny if they do.
- Older and Wiser: A character comes back in a sequel, having grown old and gotten wiser and they help the younger characters.
- Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: The hero is old or borderline old, while the villain is relatively young.
- Older Is Better: Older things are always superior to newer things.
- Old Master: An old person who is very good at action-y things, most often due to decades of experience.
- Old Retainer: A servant, usually elderly, who's very loyal to the person or people they work for and have worked for for a long time.
- Older Sidekick: The Sidekick is older than The Hero.
- Old Soldier: An elderly veteran.
- Old Superhero: An old (usually retired) superhero.
- Old Windbag: An old character who goes on and on about themselves, which annoys other characters.
- Older Than They Look: Somebody looks younger than they really are. This can include Really 700 Years Old or Time Abyss.
- The Patriarch: A tough old man who sees himself as an authority in his family.
- Perilous Old Fool: Sub-Trope of Old Soldier. An elderly soldier who thinks they can be active but they're way too weak.
- Racist Grandma: A bigoted old woman who's put in as a joke.
- Rambling Old Man Monologue: An old person who likes to tell long, rambling speeches.
- Rapid Aging: Growing old way faster than normal.
- Really 700 Years Old: S/he looks like a teenager or even a child, but they're actually a Time Abyss.
- Reluctant Retiree: An elderly character who is perfectly capable but gets forced to retire against their will anyway.
- Retired Badass: An old person who used to be an action type.
- The Scrooge: An old, greedy, rich character.
- Scatterbrained Senior: An absent-minded senior.
- Scratchy-Voiced Senior: An old person who talks as though they have a never-ending sore throat.
- Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: A rude elder who thinks they are allowed to be rude because they're old.
- Senior Creep: A scary old person.
- Senior Sleep-Cycle: An elderly Sleepyhead.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: An old man with PTSD or something similar.
- Silver Fox: An old person is presented as sexy.
- Stern Nun: A stern, usually elderly, nun.
- Stern Old Judge: A venerable judge who doesn't tolerate any nonsense.
- Stronger with Age: Somebody gets stronger as they get older.
- Technologically Blind Elders: An old person who has no idea how to use a piece of technology.
- Vague Age: A character's age is left ambiguous.
- The Vietnam Vet: When the Shell-Shocked Veteran is from the Vietnam war.
- Wasteland Elder: An elderly leader (usually male) of a small, rundown community.
- When Elders Attack: An elder attacks someone or something with an object.
- When I Was Your Age...: An elderly character complains that something was a different way from now when they were the age of the younger characters, and they preferred it that way.
- While You Were in Diapers: An older character boasts that they did something cool while a younger character was too young to do anything that cool.
- White-Dwarf Starlet: A female ex-celebrity senior who thinks she's still famous.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Immortality is a bad thing.
- Wise Old Folk Façade: The seemingly helpful elder is secretly villainous.
- Wise Old Turtle: Turtles depicted as very old and very long-lived.
- Wizard Classic: A stereotypical wizard, often visibly old.
- World of No Grandparents: None of the characters have grandparents.
