Basic Trope: A person is made immortal ... And really enjoys it.
- Straight: Alice is made immortal, and considers it the best thing that ever happened to her.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice throws a never-ending party specifically to show off how awesome she thinks being immortal is.
- Alice's immortality leaves her trapped in an inescapable And I Must Scream situation, but she still considers it a great thing.
- Downplayed: Alice admits an immortal life isn't always fine and dandy, but feels that overall she's better off for it.
- Justified:
- Alice is an optimistic person and why shouldn't she be? She's got literally all the time in the world and all the wonders and adventures it contains to look forward to. There's no Age Without Youth, and there is a community of similarly happy immortal people who won't die on you.
- Alice has a diminished or nonexistent ability to empathize with others and doesn't think of outliving everyone around her as a downside.
- Alice values living, plain and simple. One can do a lot of things while alive. She certainly cannot do these things upon death.
- Alice believes that there is nothing after death.
- Inverted: Who Wants to Live Forever?
- Subverted: Alice enjoys her immortality initially. But after a few centuries, boredom begins to kick in. Eventually, she's angsting continuously about Who Wants to Live Forever?
- Double Subverted: After a few more centuries, she's bored of angsting and finds something less depressing and more fulfilling to do. She really is just that cheerful about it.
- Parodied:
- Alice is her universe's Butt-Monkey du jour. In the face of countless indignities which never can never kill her, she continues to be endlessly happy and optimistic.
- Alice is a Genki Girl thrill seeker who regularly does incredibly stupid and dangerous stunts just because she can.
- Zig-Zagged: Alice swings between living up her immortality and endless Wangsting about how much it sucks.
- Averted:
- Alice treats living forever like she treats living temporarily: time that has to be given purpose and meaning, not good or bad in and of itself.
- Living Forever is No Big Deal.
- Enforced: The writer finds wangsty immortals to be boring and hackneyed; "Really, in centuries of history they wouldn't find anything worth living for?"
- Lampshaded:
- "Wow, Alice, becoming immortal certainly perked you up."
- "Time heals all wounds, and I've literally got all the time in the world."
- Invoked: Alice is deliberately chosen to be made immortal because the being that grants this boon knows that her innate sense of optimism and good cheer would enable her to cope with it easier than someone else.
- Exploited: A depressed character is given Immortality, which cures their depression as they have nothing to worry about anymore!
- Defied: Alice fears becoming a giggling immortal with no concept of life, death, or time, so she purposely experiences everything life throws at her, good and bad, without flinching.
- Discussed: "Immortality really is the best anti-depressant imaginable."
- Conversed: "I don't like to think what she'll be like after she sees her great-grandchildren die. Not because it'll make her sad or callous, but because she'll be happy again in no time at all." "But that doesn't mean she doesn't still cherish their memories, just that she's eventually able to move on like any of us — what's she supposed to do, spent eternity wallowing in angst over the memories over people who died hundreds or thousands of years beforehand? Would they want her to live like that?"
- Implied: When Alice becomes immortal and is first being shown the extent of immortality on Earth, Bob notes that there are some people who enjoy it a lot.
- Deconstructed:
- 1.) Alice's good cheer is a Stepford Smiler cover she uses to keep her sane; otherwise, the horror of living forever would drive her mad as she witnesses the death of every person, plant, and animal she ever loved and liked, and is left lonely despite the the number of people she meets.
- 2.) Alice is constantly forced to find new and creative ways to keep her spirits up and find ways to avoid boredom.
- 3.) Alice is constantly skipping town and having to avoid any meaningful relationships to avoid the awakward "I'm immortal" conversations, forcing her to only engage in wild flings and abandoning her family and friends.
- 4.) Alice only finds immortality fun because she's a narcissistic sociopath. She already considered other people to be utterly replaceable tools, so she cuts them loose when they get too old and worn. She does not understand what all that fuss about them is. Also, because her own pleasure was her only priority, she amuses herself in her ability to escape consequences by Faking the Dead or simply outliving people. She has neither family nor friends, but mooks and sycophants instead, who are easily interchangeable.
- 5.) Immortals Fear Death.
- Reconstructed:
- 1.) Alice's immortality brings dark patches, but on the whole she still manages to roll with the punches and for the most part enjoy her life. Sure, she misses the dearly departed, but that's true of everyone, including mortals. Some days she feels the grief more heavily, but that's just part of the grieving process. The number of friends she's said goodbye too doesn't invalidate the still living friends she has now. It just makes her appreciate her time with them more.
- 2.) Before she was immortal, Alice enjoyed certain hobbies. One thousand years later, she still enjoys those hobbies, just in different genres or with different technology or different people. She keeps them in rotation by taking breaks. Sometimes she tries something new and adds it to the rotation if she likes it enough. Her mortal friends tease her for being a Disco Dan.
- 3.) Alice's family and friends are also immortal; they live with her and travel with her. Her neighbors envy the close relationship forged by their shared eternity.
- 3.) Whenever someone asks why she hasn't aged in decades, Alice tells the truth, "I'm immortal", and asker just smiles and nods. She's known locally as "that old lady whose been here forever", and is considered to be an urban legend by those who haven't met her.
- 4.) Alice only finds immortality fun because she's an All-Loving Hero, and finds fulfillment in her ability to help and inspire others to enjoy life. Alternatively, she's The Cape and works in emergency services (firefighters, coastguard, peace corps, police, etc.) because she can go into the most dangerous of situations and survive every time. By the time she's 500, she's saved enough lives to fill a moderate-sized country.
- 5.) Because Immortals Fear Death, Alice believes she is just as mortal as everyone else, just with a "better immune system", so to speak.
- Played for Drama: Alice's attitude quickly changed once the downsides start kicking in. She eventually becomes confused and depressed when she finally realizes the mistake she has made. "Time heals all wounds," she tells herself. Over the years, she learns how to deal with the downsides, and the immortality blues become just a part of the learning curve.
- Played for Laughs: Alice spends her immortality on TV Tropes.
Back to Living Forever Is Awesome.
