What to consider when making an immortal character?

Discussion in 'Character Development' started by ewearne, Jun 15, 2016.

  1. Auger

    Auger Member

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    Consider the philosophy of mortality and existentialism. Is immortality a curse or a blessing? Is it an active or passive form of immortality? Does your immortal character get bored of life? Does your character desire power? control? omnipotence?

    Perhaps you should read some mythology for inspiration.
    For example :
    My sci-fi WIP features an alternate interpretation of Zeus and the entirety of ancient mythology in which the various deities are precursor humans who try to become god through politics, technology, and worship. A war between all the precursors results in the destruction of the exoplanet referenced throughout various cultures as "heaven". In the 23rd century, the human race discovers heaven and reawakens Zeus from cryogenic sleep while excavating ancient technology. Zeus uses this opportunity as a second chance to fulfill his literal god complex.
     
  2. Moth

    Moth Active Member

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    And here I was about to ask if the immortal character poops. Apples and oranges, I guess.

    But back to my question. Does your immortal poop? If so they must eat, right? If they don't, do they get hungry - do they starve? If they were to starve for a few years, would they lose their mind and go insane? From one question, you get a chain and from that chain you work out how your character's immortality works. Does the immortal remember what they did a year ago? Do they remember everything they've ever done, or are there limits to their memory? If there are limits, how much memory are they able to hold before they start forgetting their past?

    Once you've got the mechanics and rules of your particular blend of immortality down, everything else will fall into place I'd imagine.
     
  3. Auger

    Auger Member

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    Adding onto that, would they go insane from not being able to remember their past? If they record their past but are unable to remember, is that forgotten past still part of their identity? What about the existential implications of reincarnation-based immortality? You can get pretty deep into this stuff.
     
  4. Buttered Toast

    Buttered Toast Active Member

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    I didn't know that, must have missed Q's growing up episodes lol
    To be honest, I like him when he was immature and teasing Picard so I don't know if I want to see him any other way :D
    But as always the temptation will eventually make me lol
     
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  5. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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  6. FireWater

    FireWater Senior Member

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    I admit I haven't read all the other responses, so this may have been said before, but just in case:
    What are the stakes for the immortal character?
    For a regular character, there's always a sense of risk during dangerous scenes, due to the fear of death. Even in situations where the reader knows the MC obviously won't die, the character would still have that tension.
    But if there's no fear of death, what *is* there to be afraid of?
    There should be some kind of Achilles Heel-esque weakness where, even if they can't be dead, they could meet another horrible fate i.e. indefinite imprisonment or something.
    Also, in situations that would normally involve bodily death, how do they recuperate? Let's say they get run over by a semi-truck, turn into mushy slimy roadkill, and then get eaten by various possums and birds. How would they get restored? Not saying it can't happen (I have an immortal character too), but you've got to know what the logistics would be.
     
  7. Metal_Arrow

    Metal_Arrow New Member

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    I have a few Immortals in the book I am writing. This is one of the techniques I used to develope their personality and background.

    Note: Just becuase I gave them an extinsive background, many of them I rarely even mentioned or even referred to. I hust wrote it to better write my charater.

    The first thing I studied was the personalities of the Greek Gods vs the personalities of their Roman equilavent. Now I know that the changes in their demenor were brought from the difference in the Greek and Roman culture, but I still enjoyed it as a reference of how someone who is hundreds to thousands of years old can change.

    Prehaps the greatest flop in attitude to look at is Ares and Mars.
    Ares was a blood thirsty god of war who killed without mercy.
    Mars, a god of war and agiculture was shown to be older, wise, and precise.

    If written as the same God it would represent that Ares lost his lust for death and battle, for whatever reason, and became the god of agiculture. Basically trying to find an inner peace within himself from his past failures and growing out of his adolescence. He became a better immortal from in and eventual his draw to war cam back but what he learned and who he became from his time as the god of Agiculter did not leave him and he matured to the 2nd most importan God in Rome.

    Another interesting change were that of Athena, Greeks main war Goddess and Minerva, her Roman equilavent.

    Both the Goddess of Wisdom but eventually the War Goddess calmed and became more involved with art over war as her brother, Mars, was now a capible body and mind in battle.

    This is one of the ways I shaped my immortals. I used ancient gods to get a creative direction on writing them.

    Nikolai Sandanaki is one of the princable immortals. I write his as a werewolf. (Werewolves and Vampires are in my book but it is fantasy and they arn't the main focus)

    Anyways:

    Nikolai was born an Immortal 10,000 years ago. He is the 3rd oldest of his race

    -This is important because I not only establish his age but also the fact that he is not only born an immotal but also an elder.

    He is the Warror Alpha. So I use both Athena's and Ares' history to shape him.

    As a war immoral, he has went through the earily years of blood lust. Though after 10,000 years all things change. He is calmer and more grounded, much like Mars. Though his age has brought him wisdom and he acts more like Athena now. (A general) he has quriks of an immortal.

    He is not really invested in the events of the world (i had to create a reason as to why he would really care to go out and do something in my story)

    Still he cares little about those around him that are not members of his pack.

    His age makes him more likely to teach you how to do it than him actually doing it him self. (Makes it fustrating to the other charaters)

    And when he kills something. He kills it. (A war immotal has moments when they need a little art when it comes to blood.)

    This is just an example and I go into a lot more detail with my build and development with him. Also, for immortals that are thousands of years old, in my story, they don't really have a change or develope, they are who they are for most of the book unless something personally happens to them. (Outside events rarely change their prespective because they've been through it before and if they havent, it still feels fimular.

    So study the old gods. Even in Christianity the bible shows a change in God's demenor from the Old Testament to the New Testament. These ancient religions are valuable when writing aged immortals and getting an idea of how to creativly make them.

    And the reason you want thay old personality to be written to go with the new one is because sometimes the charater may have to go back to those old feelings and habits.


    In the end it is your story and I hope this helps. Sorry for any grammar or spelling errors I wrote this on my phone and it is a headache to edit it.

    Edit: There are a lot of grammar and spelling errors. I will edit the moment I get to a computer. My phone keeps bouncing the screen as I edit the earily paragraphs.
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2016
  8. ToBeInspired

    ToBeInspired Senior Member

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    First off, despite any prior advice, it's impossible to portray an immortal character.

    Why?

    Because no one is immortal. No one has lived 200+ years. No one has gone from the Bronze Age to the Information age. No one has a millennia of wisdom and experience under their belt. The best anyone can do is guess.

    Simple equation, though. Age = more experience. It does not mean more wisdom, knowledge, or intelligence.

    Wisdom MAY occur, knowledge may be gained/retained, and intelligence is just hit or miss.

    Best bet? Quicker decision making, better analytical skills, tendency towards observation, developed patience, lack of interest, less empathy, more cynicism, and a hell of a lot of motor memory.
     
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  9. CrusherBrooks

    CrusherBrooks Member Supporter

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    Whenever anyone mentions "immortals" I think about the protagonist (and a few others) from the game Lost Odyssey. It depends on what kind of immortals you want (of course) but in this case they're true immortal (cannot be severely harmed, die by any means or kill themselves). During the main story line such a person takes on many roles in many empires throughout the centuries. The character develops an interest, pursues it with perseverance and patience uniquely possible to immortals and once completed, moves onto the next way of killing time. The result is a character which is completely apathetic due to the emotional damage accrued during life. Everyone they ever know will die, usually before they realize it (because they're immortal, they don't regularly check up). They start families, watch them develop over the centuries and generations, and then be destroyed by natural disasters. So yes, many many distinct memories, skills and apathies.
    Personally I've been considering a Tolkienesque type of semi-immortality, if you've read the Silmarillion then you might have been struck by the hordes and generations of humans that seem to flood and cycle middle earth endlessly. Imagine being surrounded by creatures that live for a year only, set in a medieval Europe. For a (80 years before expiration date) human the rapidly switching alliances, wars, politics, religions and developments will seem chaotic and pointless. I would imagine that's what average humans would appear to an immortal being.
    I hope my scattered rant helps in any way :)
    Also I imagine they'd claim "I've forgotten more than you ever learned!" quite often.
     
  10. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    I wouldn't mind having a longer healthy and youthful lifespan (along with all humans) but to be alone and immortal? Or to be immortal with just a few of your own kind around? I think that would be horrible.

    I remember that's the feeling I got when watching Interview with the Vampire. How tired and desperate they all were.

    And of course unless they form relationships with others of their own kind, immortals will always watch the people they love grow old and die. And they'll never have the luxury of thinking : thank goodness I won't live to see that.

    Maybe if you catch them at the start of their 'immortality' they might be really enjoying it. However, I can't think that these people would be anything like normal after a couple of centuries of this horrific existence.
     
  11. GuardianWynn

    GuardianWynn Contributor Contributor

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    Well, my 2 pennies is this. You can really have anything , IF you can explain it.

    I mean, bored, tired, apathetic, these words have an obvious connection to an immortal. We don't need to hear how they reached that state. But, I had an immortal character. One who had lost everyone she loved countless times, felt pain unimaginable(such as the crushing force of the event horizon trying to litterally crush her) as well as being burned alive or burried alive. Yet, through all of that she kept her optmism. She never grew bored. Oh lke anyone she had good days and bad days. She discovered a way she could kill herself but didn't. Like was sacred and precious to her and the way she thought it. "I haven't yet achieved my dream. Been at it for a billion years, but since I haven't achieved it yet, why would I be bored? I am still learning."

    So, tired bored and apathetic are like the last things I would use to describe her(okay tired may be somewhat fair,, but barely or rarely.)
     
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