Immortality: Is it right for you?

Immortality in the Narrative

Only a few weeks ago, I wrote my first discussion on balance and credibility within the narrative. As my readers may have guess, the following discussions have sought, and will seek, to delve deeper into various aspects of the narrative that can lead to imbalance. This week is no different, and will probe into the pros and cons of immortality within the fictional narrative.

Types of Immortality

It is best, right off the bat, to define what we are actually talking about when we say 'immortality', as like anything good, it comes in many delicious flavours. My experience as both reader and writer has made it clear that despite the dictionary definition of immortality as 'endless life', fiction has a tendency to put multiple spins on the idea. To this end of definition, I have compiled a short and certainly non-exhaustive list of 'types of immortality' as they may appear in fiction.

Long Lived: Not technically immortality, this does really still fall under the umbrella term. Readers are probably most accustomed to seeing Elves, or similar races, in many different authors' works, being long lived. Other individuals also gain this trait, such as Martin Longbow in Raymond E. Feist's works. This definition comes with the caveat that, besides the extended life span which does still most certainly come to an end, they are in no other way immortal. Martin Longbow, does however, gain this long life by dint of spending a great deal of time within the elven realm, and thus has been affected by the magics of the elves. I am sure most readers can least off a dozen or so examples of long lived characters in fiction that belong to this category.

Undying: Very similar to Long Lived, the only really difference between this form and the aforementioned form, is that an Undying immortal cannot die from natural causes. That is to say, if no harm befalls them, they can live forever. Certainly this form of immortality appears a little more rarely that Long Lived, as it can have potential complications for the narrative, as an intelligent, insightful Undying immortal could have all the answers for problems too frequently, and thus sabotage the logic of some narratives.

Invincible: I have opted to have Invincible and Invulnerable as two separate forms of immortality, for the sake of differentiation. I define invincible characters as being immortal, but with a number of caveats, including: a normal life span, the ability to be harmed, and some physical limitation upon their immortality. A perfect example of this are the comic characters Asterix & Obelix. These characters are mortals, with ordinary life spans, and an ability to be injured, but gain their invincibility via the potation of a magical potion that provides them with a limited period of power.

Invulnerable: Invulnerable characters are much like invincible ones, but with significantly fewer limitations. This form of immortal generally has no dependency on outside sources, but are inherently invulnerable, while still being bound by some sort of limited life span. Whether their invulnerability takes the form of being unable to be harmed (a problematic situation for the narrative at best) or can regenerate in some way after being injured, is at the discretion of the author. Invulnerable characters can be extremely interesting to say the least, when written well. Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy is an excellent exemplar of this style of character done well, though the character in question could also arguably fall into the next category as well.

True Immortals: True Immortals are a blend of Undying and Invulnerable, and as such are the dictionary definition of immortal. These characters do appear in fiction, and if written well, can be absolutely fantastic assets in the narrative. If written poorly however...

Balancing Immortals

Naturally each of these has its own pros and cons, and as such, need to be treated differently within the narrative. Again I bow my head to the excellent way in which Brent Weeks engaged the problem of immortality, and executed its depiction in his Night Angel trilogy. If my praise of Weeks seems sycophantic I apologise, but his narrative serves as an excellent example of this topic, and rarely have I encountered such a well balanced system that also serves to drive the narrative.

As you might expect, balancing immortality within the narrative is very important as - here I go again - a poorly written or ill planned depiction of immortality can detract from the strength of the narrative or serve to break the suspension of disbelief. To this matter then, we must look. There are (of course) a number of ways in which immortality may be balanced, and indeed some forms of immortality are intrinsically self-balancing. I have plotted out some methods of balancing immortality below, all of which I expect you will find rather familiar.

The Price: I put it first, because it is the most common, and in my opinion, the most efficacious. Johnny is immortal, but there is a price to pay. This might not seem very original, but it works. Feist did it, Weeks did it, Sanderson did it. Most authors and writers, myself included, have at one point or another used the idea of immortality coming at a price. Sometimes the price may be one to be paid later (Feist's character Pug), or may be paid at indeterminate intervals (Weeks' characters Durzo and Kylar). The Price style of balance creates a plot in and of itself, and often a powerful one at that. To those of us prone to introspection, another obvious price for immortality is present as well: the immortal would have to watch everyone they know and love die, and have that cycle repeat endlessly. While depressing and emotional, I would make the case that unless you intend to write a very long series focusing on one character, this particular form of The Price may not be particularly poignant.

No Eternal Youth: Immortality loses its appeal when you get told that you can live forever, but you will continue to age. This could serve as a potent plot device, but also is a tad predictable, and I daresay more common when writing power hungry and vain villains.

No Free Will: A character cannot die from any wound, or the ravages of time. However, nor can he determine his own path. Perhaps the granter of immortality holds the leash, or perhaps kings war over the amulet that controls this undying tool. A very interesting idea...might keep that one for myself.

The Sleeper: A little bit Davy Jones perhaps. The character is immortal, but is absent for prolonged periods. Perhaps once he of she returns to the 'mortal' realms, they can only stay a week, or a month, before vanishing for another century. Could smell a bit of deus ex machina. 

What about me?

As I said, I have written an immortal character. This character is almost a True Immortal, but has a number of conditions applied to his immortality. Firstly, he never chose to become immortal, and thus loathes the gift in many ways. Secondly, while he can recover from grievous injuries, the recovery time is dependent on the severity of his wounds, thus preventing him from becoming the ultimate killing machine. Thirdly, he becomes cynical as he travels through life, and begins to hate his own kind as he seems the endlessly repeat the same mistakes, regardless of what he does. Beyond that, I will say nothing as he is a key character in a number of my upcoming works.

I will end the discussion there for today, though I would be happy to return to it in even more depth if I was asked to.

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Until next time,

NNB CLARKE

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