Edward: I can't... I can't go back, Theo. How could they do it? They say it's "humane", "merciful"... Do you know what it's like to wake up one day and discover you're a monster, a murderer?
Theo: Listen to me, Edward. We can work this out.
Edward: No, it's too late. What if... What if I had died, never knowing what I had been? How can I confess my sins to God if I don't even know what they are? The mind forgets, but the stain remains with the soul. The blood of innocent people is still on my hands. My memories are the creation of somebody else, and my soul is the soul of a killer, and everything that I have done has been a lie.
Theo: That's not true, Edward! You've helped people, cared for people.
Edward: It's not enough. Who knows what other crimes I may have committed that they never found out about? That I don't remember? I am a murderer, Theo. The sins of my former life must be atoned for. There must be justice. I know that now.
Theo: Edward... Edward! If you ask God to forgive your sins, He knows what they are, even if you've forgotten. Leave it in His hands.
Theo: Listen to me, Edward. We can work this out.
Edward: No, it's too late. What if... What if I had died, never knowing what I had been? How can I confess my sins to God if I don't even know what they are? The mind forgets, but the stain remains with the soul. The blood of innocent people is still on my hands. My memories are the creation of somebody else, and my soul is the soul of a killer, and everything that I have done has been a lie.
Theo: That's not true, Edward! You've helped people, cared for people.
Edward: It's not enough. Who knows what other crimes I may have committed that they never found out about? That I don't remember? I am a murderer, Theo. The sins of my former life must be atoned for. There must be justice. I know that now.
Theo: Edward... Edward! If you ask God to forgive your sins, He knows what they are, even if you've forgotten. Leave it in His hands.
"Even if I change, it feels like dying. Everything I am dies. Some new man goes sauntering away. And I'm dead."
— The Tenth Doctor, Doctor Who, "The End of Time"
Jerry: As Immortals experience life, our memories become clearer, our intelligence increases, and our power grows. We reach a point where we're more virtually clairvoyant with each passing year. We gradually become more bored, more powerful, and less sane, which is kind of a bad combo. Wait long enough, and we're likely to destroy ourselves and take a bunch of innocent beings with us. To avoid such a faux pas, we reset. Who I am now, my basic nature mixed with two hundred plus years of experiences, will die. I will be replaced by my basic nature with most of my memories lost, and will pretty much be restarting from scratch. In order for my new self to know his lefts from his rights and keep important knowledge from dying with me, I need to die properly. [...] A proper Immortal death is a process, one I had already started and cannot stop short of dying improperly. You girls arrived close to the last minute. I need to finish undoing the magic of this cave, collect my final knowledge to pass on, and end this life.
Grace: Oh... But you'll remember us in the next life, right? You'll make sure of that?
Jerry: I will know of you, but I won't remember you.
Susan: You... you won't?
Jerry: I will know that on the last day of my previous life, I met three interesting, wonderful girls and made an important promise to them. Knowing my basic nature, I will do my best to keep that promise. All of this knowledge, however, will be as though I read it from a book. The actual memories will be gone.
Sarah: That's... wow.
Jerry: I haven't been referring to it as "death" just because I'm a drama queen, you know.
Grace: Oh... But you'll remember us in the next life, right? You'll make sure of that?
Jerry: I will know of you, but I won't remember you.
Susan: You... you won't?
Jerry: I will know that on the last day of my previous life, I met three interesting, wonderful girls and made an important promise to them. Knowing my basic nature, I will do my best to keep that promise. All of this knowledge, however, will be as though I read it from a book. The actual memories will be gone.
Sarah: That's... wow.
Jerry: I haven't been referring to it as "death" just because I'm a drama queen, you know.
Her memories were her own, damn it. They were her life. Taking away someone's memory was murder. The Fiona Smythe who had left this message for her was no less dead just because there was still a Fiona Smythe to listen to it.
"Death can be achieved in one of two ways. I don't mean the rather tedious death that our bodies force us to endure every life; not at all. I mean a death that remains, a death that matters. The first death is the Forgetting. The Forgetting can be chemical, or surgical, or electrical, and is used to achieve a complete wipe of the mind. Not name, nor place of birth, not the first boy you ever kissed will remain after the Forgetting, and for us, what is this if not a true death? A clean slate, a chance to be pure and innocent again."
— Virginia, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
