Bookish Musings: How Different Would Humans Be if We were Immortal Like Paranormal Creatures?

 
 

I say “we” as though I am one of you. Muahahahaha!

Just kidding.

Or am I…?

Anyway, that was a long title, but I didn’t know any other way to accurately portray what this discussion will be about. Actually I’m still not sure that’s accurate, but close enough.

You see, I read LOTS of paranormal and urban fantasy, so I end reading about creatures with immortality or extended lifespans quite often. And sometimes, well, certain things seem odd or their behaviors or voices just don’t seem fitting considering they’re hundreds or thousands of years old. But then, maybe if we were immortal and still in young bodies no matter how old we got, we would act differently.

I’ve been thinking about this more and more lately, and I know it’s not a strictly bookish topic, but I needed to talk it out and get all your thoughts on it. Plus it seems like an especially fun topic to speculate on. So let’s discuss!


Ok, I’m going to split this up into the two main things I’ve noticed/been pondering. So here we go.

Old Immortals Dating Young Humans

Boy is this ever a common trope. Especially with vampires, but also with other creatures. And you know what? It always kind of weirds me out a little bit. It’s become such an accepted thing for a 2000-year-old immortal vampire to date an 18-year-old girl that no one really bats an eyelash at it. And it’s almost like ages in the hundreds or thousands are so beyond our realm of understanding that we can’t even fathom it and therefore just accept it. But what about when the immortal is actually just 75 years old (in the body of a 20-year-old, of course) and dating an 18-year-old? It suddenly seems weird now, doesn’t it?

Or maybe we just have too difficult of a time separating looks from age. When a character looks 30, it’s like I just kind of think of him as being 30. I know that he’s actually 500, but my brain just can’t mesh the two pieces of information together properly.

And there’s also the question of, why would an immortal that old and mature even want to date someone so young? I mean, no matter how mature some people are at 18, they’re still not as mature as they will be at 25, and 30, and so on. I get it that the paranormal dude doesn’t want to date an 80-year-old whose going to die, and even dating a 40-year-old could have its problems if he looked super young, but, as I said, even 25 or 30 is more mature than 18, more life experience, at a different point in life, etc.

So this whole dating thing is just weird all around, yeah?

But then I started looking at it from a different angle. (Sorry, I know we’re all word people, but I’m about to do math.) For the sake of simplicity, let’s say 100 years is the average human lifespan. If a 20-year-old dates a 30-year-old, that’s a 10 year age difference which is 10% in relation to the lifespan. But if our average lifespan were 1000 years, 10 years would only be 1%. And 50 years would only be 5%. Which would be the equivalent of a 5-year age difference to our actual lifespan, and 5 years really isn’t that much. So if we actually did live for thousands of years, having 50-100 years in age difference probably wouldn’t be all that big of a deal. And you know how age differences become less of a big deal as we get older? Well maybe it’s the same for immortals, just in a way bigger scope. And really, what are they gonna do, make a cut-off age? “I refuse to date anyone over 500 years in age difference, so I can’t date her because that’s a 507 year age difference”? What’s even the point? So I can kind of see why age might not really matter to immortals.

Immortals Acting and Sounding Young

Another thing I’ve noticed is that the immortal creatures in books often sound like they are mentally the same age as their body. Even if they’re 2000 but in the body of a 30-year-old, they often act/sound/seem like they’re actually 30, for example. I don’t mean they go out and party and act like college kids, simply that their thoughts, their voice, doesn’t seem like it’s coming from someone who’s lived 2000 years.

Maybe this is again just my brain being unable to reconcile the difference between the looks and the age, so it pegs him at 30 and thus can’t see him any differently. Or maybe it’s just bad writing. Or maybe, again, the idea of living that long is so impossible for us to fathom that no one could possibly know how to write it.

Or maybe, if we all had bodies that looked young and were healthy no matter how old we got, we really would stay “young,” for lack of a better word, in our minds. Yes, we would mature and learn and grow, but we’d be better able to adapt than we could if our bodies and brains were struggling with age. And maybe our appearances and our health affect us on a subconscious level, like we feel that we’re supposed to start acting different at a certain age. But inside our heads, do we ever actual stop feeling young? And if we kept our young bodies forever, then wouldn’t it make sense that in some ways we’d still think and act young?

My General Thoughts

Whew! *wipes sweat off brow* *that was a lie, I’m actually freezing right now* That post ended up being rather long and philosophical, but now you all have a small taste of what it’s like inside my head πŸ˜‰ Anyway, I actually do think we might act and live very differently if we had longer lifespans, so maybe the paranormal creature stuff makes more sense than I originally thought it did. It sure is interesting and a little mind-bending to think about though. And I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

 
 
 
 

Talk to me!

Do you find the "old immortal dating young human" trope weird?
Do you feel like immortal characters come across sounding younger than they really are?
Do you agree or disagree that these things make more sense when you think about them from a different perspective?
In what ways do you think humans would be different if we had immortality or longer lifespans?

 
 
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Your Thoughts

 

48 thoughts on “Bookish Musings: How Different Would Humans Be if We were Immortal Like Paranormal Creatures?

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    1. Ashley G.

      I agree, if we were immortal, I think we’d be more reckless. Doing things like going skydiving wouldn’t sound as scary. I think the longer we’d live the more reckless we’d become, because we would more than likely also get more restless.

    2. Kristen Burns

      I did get rather philosophical with my discussion this week, haha. I’m glad you liked it! And you’re probably right, we would be a lot more reckless, I hadn’t thought of that!

  1. verushka

    This is very much indeed a philosophical discussion! for me, I think I tend to avoid thinking about the numbers in a way — if the characters match in temperaments, then I’m sold.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Haha, I couldn’t help myself! That’s a good way of looking at it though. It does get weird if you think about the numbers too much, but if they match in temperament and make a good match otherwise, that makes sense πŸ™‚

  2. Kate @ Mom's Radius

    Yes! I am listening to A Court of Thorns & Roses right now, and it is kind of weirding me out that this 500 year old immortal has fallen in love with a 19 year old human. It’s just kind of wrong. Even if he looks young, and is young in the grand scheme of his lifespan (a teenager himself so to speak). It’s odd. Is it usually men falling for young women? Because maybe it’s about their bodies and the sex appeal?? πŸ™‚

    1. Kristen Burns

      Lol it’s just in so many paranormal and urban books that I can’t escape it! Though I haven’t read A Court of Thorns & Roses specifically. I did consider the sex appeal possibility, so it definitely could be that!

  3. S. J. Pajonas

    You know what, I ask myself this same question when I see some 70-year-old dude marry a young woman in her 20s. I really feel that it’s 1) sex appeal and 2) to make THEM feel younger. I’m sure the same could be said of immortals, right? Most of us, I’m guessing, find the whole age-gap thing gross, but there’s always going to be this cougar trope that never goes away. This is just the paranormal way of capitalizing on it.

    1. Kristen Burns

      I did consider the sex appeal thing, but I hadn’t though about making themselves feel younger. That’s a good theory, especially since immortals are probably just bored after living so long.

  4. Greg

    Good point about the immortals falling for young women. It is a little weird actually (how did that even get started?). I think you’re right if the woman was in her 20’s (or even 30’s) it might seem a little less… creepy. But then maybe they’re targeting teen girls somewhat as readers so… that’s why? The cynical answer always win lol. But the really interesting part for me here is- how WOULD someone think if they were 1000 years old or more? I don’t think we can even imagine what that would be like, to have THAT much experience. Would it get old (ha ha)? Would it be awesome?

    I think the “would we always think young” question is even more interesting. In some ways I think you might be right- people always say “I don’t feel old.” So maybe we would keep a youthful perspective, relatively. It’s hard to know though since as you said, none of us can write it from experience. πŸ™‚

    I don’t really know how we would be different if we were immortal. With no fear of death would we have belief systems? The rush of trying to fit everything you want to do into your lifespan would be gone- would immortality be as terrifying as death is to us now? After all how do you fill up forever? Or would it be awesome to never have to face death? How would it affect relationships? People might end up together for a lifetime, but thousands of years (or more?). Would that work? Fascinating to think about…

    1. Kristen Burns

      I don’t know why I didn’t think of that? But it probably is in large part just a marketing thing. They want teens to read the books, so they gotta make the girls teens. YA books aren’t about 30-year-olds dating immortals lol.

      Exactly, I feel like everyone always says their minds still feel young. But yeah, since humans don’t live to be hundreds or thousands of years old with healthy bodies, no one actually know what that’d be like.

      Well, at least with paranormal creatures it’s still possible for them to die if they’re killed, they just don’t die of old age. So I think there’d still be a fear of death, though it might be a more remote thing. But you’re right about immortality being terrifying. I mean, I can’t even fathom the idea of living FOREVER. That actually is terrifying to me lol. And that’s also a good point. As much as I want to believe in neverending love… people might feel like 1000 years is long enough and get tired of each other.

  5. Laura

    This is such an interesting topic! I definitely find the several hundred year old being dating an 18 year old pretty weird, but often I forget for whole sections of the book and then when reminded it just makes it all seem a bit icky!
    I guess I’ve always explained away the way some of these old characters act the age they look as them being physically stuck at that age, but you would still think their true age would show more!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! I do the same, I find it weird, but I just kind of forget for a while because they still look and seem young, until I get reminded again.

      I guess I have read some fairly good portrayals of older immortal characters, but yeah, a lot of them do kind of seem to act the age they look, or maybe that’s just us projecting onto them? It’s so confusing lol.

  6. Ashley G.

    I like what you said about the lifespan ratio. If you lived longer like a thousand years, then only being 200 years old means, in our shorter lifespan terms, you’d be like a teenager anyway. But at the same time, I think while a person that old would still feel and think like their younger selves, they would have so much more life experience than an actual 18 year old. You know? I mean if I had been born 200 years ago, I would’ve been born in the 1800s. I would’ve seen EVERYTHING that went on during the majority of the 1800s, the 1900s, up until now. Think about the huge cultural, technological, etc. changes that I would’ve experienced and witnessed. I would still be young, but at the same time I would probably have a more mature perspective of the world as a whole than if I was just 18. I would have went from sending letters by Pony Express to now where we can text, email, Facebook, etc. I would have had to morph with the different eras and different language changes over time (and having so much experience with forced change makes a person very mature). I’m not sure if someone who had gone through something like that would want to be with an 18 year old of today? There’s such a huge experience gap. They’d probably feel more like they’re in a mentor sort of role, right? BUT I’m throwing huge speculations now. . . but if on the other hand EVERYONE lived longer collectively, I don’t think we would have seen such drastic changes over the span of 200 years (aka from 1800 up until today). I don’t think the world’s timeline would have gone through so many eras or changes. Or maybe it would’ve. *shrugs* But I think the different generations of people helps generate new ideas and new thought processes and changes in cultural aspects, etc. etc.

    Anyhow! That’s obviously a LOT of unknown variables. So who knows? XD But I love this post! I like the speculation you’re bring up here. It’s some very interesting thoughts.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Hmm, I never even thought about all the things the immortals would have seen and the ways they’d have lived in the past, like from the 1800s and whatnot. That’s a good point. But I guess if they don’t want to date other immortals, their options are limited. Even if they dated a 40-year-old, she still wouldn’t understand what the 1800s was like and would have grown up with electricity and all that. So maybe it’s kind of like they might as well go for the hot, young 18-year-olds lol. But that’s also a good point that things might change slower if we all lived longer and waited longer to have kids because, as you said, new generations do bring new ideas. That is an interesting thing to think about.

      Thanks! You’ve brought up some great new points for me to ponder that I hadn’t previously thought about πŸ™‚

  7. jessy1619@aol.com

    I sorta agree that it is weird. But think about it, who else they are going to date? I don’t think there has been a book where immortals seek to date other immortals.

  8. Literary Feline

    I try not to think too much about the age differences to be honest. Haha. It bothers me less when the two are consenting adults. When the girl (or boy) is not yet adult age, well, then it gets icky for me. I don’t see what a 500 year old vampire would see in a 16 year old girl–other than maybe for the sex appeal and ability to mold and manipulate a young mind.

    In terms of acting younger, part of me wonders if it isn’t all about adapting to the times to fit in so he or she stands out less. It’s a good question though.

    I’m afraid my faith in humanity is not all that good. I agree with what others have suggested about immortality or a longer life span making humans reckless and/or amoral. I often wonder what it would be like to be immortal. How often can I reinvent myself before I get bored? How frustrated would I get with society for never changing–or making the same mistakes over and over and over again? I do wish we had longer life spans, at least. At least if we were healthy and in our right minds.

    1. Kristen Burns

      I agree, it does bother me less when the human is at least 18 or even in their 20s. It doesn’t seem like that big of a difference, but people do a lot of maturing in those teenage years. Even the most mature 16-year-olds are still not as mature as they will be when they’re an adult. I had considered sex appeal, but manipulating a young mind is a possibility, albeit a somewhat sinister one, haha.

      I definitely think immortals do have to adapt in order to survive, so that’s a good point, that maybe that does contribute to why they sound younger.

      I also agree that I think it’d get boring to live forever. So that would be a problem and probably have some sort of effect on our behavior, though being able to live a little big longer in healthy bodies and minds would be nice!

  9. Lola

    It is weird when you think about it. I also have no clue how immortals or very old people would really act, how does that change how you see the world or how you act. It’s almost impossible to visualize how those people would act. I guess I can sorta see the slow fall in love where they spend time with someone and slowly fall in love, but it does makes me wonder why someone that old or immortal would want to interact with normal humans at all. I mean if they would be dating, their own species probably would be the first place to look. Or maybe when you are that old age becomes irrelevant eventually. And if you really love another I think age might not matter, but it’s still a bit weird if you think of the big age differences. .I guess that’s what i like about shifters, they might age a bit slower, but never get as old as vampires.

    I recently read a vampire book and now that i think about it, the main character seemed pretty normal, while in fact she was like 100 years old, but you never really realize that. She does refer to being a vampire, but rarely to being old. I think this is mainly because the idea of living so long would be almost impossible to fantom. Although many vampire books do show the differences between older and younger vampires for example.

    And there are trend, like how older people are generally more happy or more stubborn. But then is that because they know they won’t live as long anymore or because they lived so many years already? Or because they feel old because their bodies age? And if you were immortal would you stay stuck with the believes of the time you grew up in or would you grow very stubborn eventually?

    And even while at the moment I don’t feel much older, I do know that what happened in those years shaped how I experience life and how I think and what i know. I do think that as I age my personality changes, while I might not am aware of being much older. I do think your physical appearance probably influences part of how you feel, but there are also things that would still change when you grow so much older. The idea of a 200 year old vampire acting like a teenager just seems weird, as once you get out of your teenage years I don’t think you ever can completely go back to that state of mind. It sure is an interesting topic! And I do wonder what kind of character would make me think hey this is a believable immortal when I read about them. And I am not sure actually.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Exactly, living for thousands of years is so beyond our ability to comprehend that how can anyone even accurately write that? And yes, why are there no books about immortals dating others of their own species?! That would make the most sense. I mean, for one thing, humans die rather quickly in comparison. That alone should be a good reason to seek out other immortals. But it does make sense that age might just become irrelevant if you lived for that long.

      I do think a lot of older people tend to be stubborn, but as you said, I think it’s because they can still get by without changing their ways. If you were going to live for thousands of years though, you’d have to adapt and change your ways in order to survive. So I think that contributes to why immortal creatures sound younger than they are.

      Oh, it would definitely be weird for a 200-year-old to act like a teenager. I think they would mature and all that, but in some ways I think it would make sense that they’d still seem young. I guess, how different can a character’s voice really sound once they reach a certain age, you know? It’s not like they’d be complaining about aches and pains of old age, so it kinda makes sense their inner voice might sound like a 30-year-old or something, just maybe with more wisdom or something.

  10. sjhigbee

    Alistair Reynolds in his Revelation Space series depicts humans who have lived really long so they are no long fully human very effectively. One of the side-effects is that their memories fail and they become increasingly self absorbed and crushingly bored with everything around them.

    1. Kristen Burns

      I have read about some paranormal creatures just being bored after living so long, but I’ve read about immortal humans, and I think it’d be interesting to see the difference. Because sometimes paranormal creatures become self absorbed in the sense that they don’t see human life as being worth much, but I wonder how an immortal human would feel since they are still human. I’ll have to look up that series πŸ™‚

  11. Carrie

    You are my hero for this post! I’ve wondered about why we fantasize or write about dating or marrying (or any other type of relationship verb) immortals. I’ve wondered if the authors who write about vampires, for example, secretly believe that it is okay (maybe it is, but it weirds me out too) to be in love with someone so much older than you. It’s even creepier since most of the vampires I’ve read about are in YA literature. It’s made me question why I liked vampire novels. Why don’t immortals date other immortals, except for the cases where they have bad relationship histories with each other?

    On the subject of the way the immortals talk, I generally appreciate it more when the ancient immortal sounds more ancient or at least has a larger vocabulary. My favorite authors who do a better job with this are Anne Rice and Charlaine Harris. The only reason I can think of for writing ancient immortals with modern ways of speaking is that if the immortal is trying to blend in and change with the times, it would make some sense to speak like those around them.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Hahaha yay I’m someone’s hero! πŸ˜€ I’ve pretty much always loved vampire novels and don’t plan to stop just because the age thing is weird lol, but I’ve noticed that I seem to especially like the ones that have baby vamps, ones who were just turned and are thus still in their 20s or 30s. I doubt the authors are really trying to make a statement about age difference though. I think it’s more that it’s just become the standard and also that the powerful vamps are the older ones, so if they want the vamp to be powerful or the leader or something, he’s got to be old. They’re also interesting in a different way than young ones since they’ve lived through so much and experienced so many things. But that is a really good question, why don’t the immortals just date each other? That would make the most sense! And you’re right, it seems the only ones I can think of is when they mention some past relationship that didn’t work.

      It’s been so long since I’ve read Anne Rice that I can’t remember how they sounded. But yeah, it does make sense to change in order to adapt and fit in with the times.

  12. Mareli Thalwitzer

    In South Africa we have this cool saying “Eish” you can use that for everything and anything, but it is most effective if you don’t know what to say. I don’t know much about immortals. But I do know that older men who marries 18 year olds seem to live longer and appear happier…. Really. My husband’s grandfather married a girl 27 years younger than him and they were very happy for 25 years. A friend of mine who’s dad is 75 is marrying a 42 year old lady next month. He looks better than ever…. But if I were an older man – there is no way I would like to spend so much time with an 18 year old…..

    That maturity issue – gosh I don’t know (eish). You get that in all ages…. I know 40 year olds who behave worst than 18 year olds and 20 year olds who are wise beyond their years. I think if you are 200/300 years old you should at least have travelled the whole world and visited all the best libraries and just imagine how many books you could have read already!! SOOOOO if your 200 year old vampire likes to read and knows all the good books and even some of the authors, I’ll date him. But then again, I’m not 18 years old, so he won’t be interested….

    1. Kristen Burns

      Lol that’s right, you’re not a big urban fantasy fan. That’s interesting though, what you’ve noticed about older men marrying younger. Of course, 27 years age difference is not quite the same as 2000 though, haha.

      That’s so true, there are plenty of adults out there who never mature and teenagers who are far more mature than most adults. And yeah, I’d totally take a 200-year-old, well-read vampire πŸ˜‰ I’m not *that* far past 18, maybe I still have a chance, haha.

  13. tonyalee

    I always wondered why there aren’t more insane immortals.. What are the odds, that living 500+ years that you would be totally normal upstairs?? I mean, really. The age thing always has me thinking, too. but I could never pinpoint WHY other than, it’s weird. But alas.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Ooh that’s a good point! You would think they’d go insane after so long since life would get boring, people they love would die, etc. Now I really want to read about more insane immortals lol. Though I feel like that’s sometimes what the villains are. There should be more insane protagonist/love interest immortals.

  14. Lekeisha

    I love this discussion. Okay, I have no problems with old immortals dating young ones. I also think that older immortals talking like they are younger is strange. I mean, I think they change with the times and adapt to whatever era they are living in and what age they are portraying. I don’t know, it’s difficult to know what these authors think about when they create their characters. If humans were immortal, they’d behave the same as they are now, only more ruthless. What if we lived in a world like The Others by Anne Bishop? Surely the humans would think they were at the top of the food chain. All they’d need is *cough, Trump* to stroke their egos. LOL!

      1. Kristen Burns

        I agree, it does make sense that the immortals change and adapt with the times. I haven’t read The Others, but yeah, humans already think we’re at the top of the food chain, so that’s a good point. How much worse would it be if we were immortal?!

  15. Got My Book

    I do find it weird, but have learned to just go with the flow. I have more of a problem with the whole fact that some of them have lived for hundreds of years or more and still haven’t developed any maturity, let alone wisdom. All I know is that I would absolutely hate to be stuck here for eternity (I agree with Diggory Kirk in The Magician’s Nephew in that I would rather just live a normal amount of time and then move on.)

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    1. Kristen Burns

      Same here, I just go with the flow since it’s impossible to avoid if I want to read urban fantasy. But yeah, if they don’t have any wisdom or maturity after hundreds of years, that’s just aggravating. I agree though, I wouldn’t want to be immortal. I feel like living forever would just become boring and maddening.

  16. Michelle @ FaerieFits

    Ok, *takes deep breath* — LOTS to say on this one.

    Part the First:
    Age gaps have honestly never really bothered me, in real life or in fiction. I kind of figure if a relationship works for you, that’s great, it’s your own business. One of my good friends actually really did date someone who was in their 70s or 80s, and I thought that was weird but was like, hey, if you’re happy, I’m happy. And she was, so … *shrugs*.

    BUT.

    I can’t help but think that if I were the immortal one and had been around for hundreds or thousands of years, I feel like I would look at most 18 year olds and just want to flick them away like an annoying little bug. Or an annoying chihuahua that just wants to hump your leg (we actually called one of my coworkers “the chihuahua” because that’s what he made us think of since he was ALWAYS just THERE). I feel like I’d be all like “bitch, just grow up and leave me alone.” But maybe that’s just me being anti-social. And annoyed by teenagers being stupid (not by all teenagers, just the stupid ones who genuinely think they can do anything).

    Part the Second:
    This used to bug the CRAP out of me. I’d hate reading from the POV of a supposedly thousand-year-old vamp who sounded like a modern twenty-something. And I’ve always written it off as bad writing more than anything else.

    Then I read the Iron Druid Chronicles. If you’re not familiar, the main character is a druid who is, like, thousands of years old. He very clearly makes a conscious effort to blend in with the twenty-something (thirty-something?) crowd by talking/dressing/acting like them. He even goes out of his way to make fun of OTHER older characters who don’t “keep up.” And it’s HILARIOUS. While that doesn’t make me more forgiving of what, in my opinion, is getting the voice wrong in other books, it does help me acknowledge that there are potential good reasons for it, you know?

    1. Kristen Burns

      I mean, I’m not one to tell people what they should and shouldn’t do if it’s not hurting anyone. So yeah, if people are happy dating with huge age gaps, that’s their choice. But like you said, it just seems odd that immortally old creatures and teenagers would even get along and be happy together, especially for the immortal. Yeah, some teenagers are mature, but even so, they’re still not as mature as a 2000-year-old who’s had all that life experience. I was mature at 18, people were usually shocked when they found out my age, but even I can look back and realize how much less mature I was then compared to how am I now, less than 10 years later. So I probably wouldn’t want to date 18-year-olds if I were immortal either lol.

      Yeah, I always felt maybe it was just bad writing when the immortals sounded like 20 or 30-year-olds, but now I feel like maybe that is just how they would sound since they still have that young body and are adapting. There are potential good reasons for it.

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  19. Victoria Grace Howell

    This is a really interesting discussion. I’ve seen some books address this. Aragorn who is actually 80 but in the body of a 40 year old I believe acts his actual age. He’s way more level headed and wise than his age. In Robert Liparulo’s the 13th Tribe, he actually discusses some scientific plausibility about immortality and why a child would stay in the same mindset even though he’s thousands of years old. It’s fascinating.

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    1. Kristen Burns

      I haven’t read LOTR, but that’s great that Aragorn actually does seem to act his age. And how cool that the other book actually discusses this! You have made me super curious to read that and see what it says about why a child would stay in the same mindset. I feel like it does make some sense to stay in the mindset of whatever age your body is, at least in certain cases or to an extent.

  20. Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

    This is so interesting. I’ve often thought about the weirdness of immortals dating teenagers, but I never thought about the point you made – I guess if everyone was that much younger than you, what’s another ten years or so. I never thought of it that way!!

    1. Kristen Burns

      Don’t worry, I hadn’t thought of it that way either until one day when I started pondering it like this lol. But exactly! After living for a thousand years, ten years really isn’t all that much!

  21. Jenna- JK I'm Exploring

    The math part made me think (not because it was math) because I never thought about the percentages of ages. However, if I was immortal I definitely wouldn’t want to be dating a high schooler (no offense to anyone). Also, I always get thrown off by how they view the world. Not once have I seen an immortal that is racist or that think about their days as a knight or something.
    However, I would also like to be an optimist and think if we lived forever we’d take a lot better care of the earth. We’d be here to see the destruction we’ve been causing.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Lol I tried to use as little math possible πŸ˜› But yeah, I hadn’t thought of percentages before either until I started pondering this. But I agree that I wouldn’t want to date a high schooler if I were immortal. Hell, I wouldn’t one to date one now and I’m only in my 20s, haha.

      That’s so funny that you mentioned a knight specifically because in the second book in Terri Bruce’s Afterlife series, one of the characters was a Spanish Knight. He had been wandering through the afterlife for however many hundreds or thousands of years, but he still held onto his religious beliefs from his time and place (the book wasn’t religious, just that he had certain beliefs), and he was still pretty old-fashioned seeming. And I’ve read about some others who were kind of old-fashioned. But maybe many of them aren’t like that simply because they’ve adapted to the current times in order to fit in? Or maybe they’ve just learned and grown as a person.

      Ha, I’ll take the pessimist side and say we’d probably still destroy the planet anyway lol.

        1. Kristen Burns

          I don’t know your tastes yet, but I’ve enjoyed the series so far! And I’m going to agree, I like to think the immortals would grow as a person after tall that time πŸ™‚

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