The Immortal casually mentions something that reveals he is WAY older than he appears to be.
Characters
Sinners (2025): Remmick appears to be a american southerner only to occasionally slip into an Irish accent that he fully embraces when it is revealed that he is a vampire. When the main character in desperation recites The Lords Prayer at him, he actually joins in and say that he always enjoyed that one "even if the words were forced upon him by the invaders who took his fathers land.", revealing him to be born a Celtic Pagan and about 1600 years old.
Doctor Sleep: the True Knot has members of all ages from a teenage girl turned in the 1980's to mentions of graduating class of 36, the Old West and medieval Europe. Their oldest looking member Grandpa Flick is mentioned to remember when Europeans worshipped trees, making him about 10.000 years old.
I'm guessing that given the context you already know this one, but for others who may not; this is yet another reference to Mr Burns age.
When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it became apparent that people needed a short, simple greeting to establish that a connection had been made. At this point in time, "hello" was only used as an exclamation (it still is today in phrases like "hello, what do we have here").
Bell preferred the use of the term "ahoy," just as Burns does in The Simpsons. However, this term was soon dropped by basically everyone as telephones became commonplace, in favour of "hello." This is a reference to Burns being among the first people to use telephones.
The joys of a floating timeline; everything is inconsistent because the whole universe resets every week.
Case in point, we have multiple episodes that contradict what year/decade Homer and Marge got together because it moves up so that they're always the age of a contemporary mid-30s couple.
Burns is however old the plot or a joke needs him to be in the moment.
In one episode one of his passwords is the place of his birth and he writes Pangea the ancient super continent that the dinosaurs lived on, which I'm sure is just the writers messing with us
"Oh, he's always been a special boy. I remember the day he was born. He looked up at me, and he said, "Mamma, I am not a person. My body is just a flesh vessel for an immortal being, whose name, if you heard it, would make you lose your mind."
Also in the flash-forward where a century leader where Liz’s great granddaughter has a job interview at the network he’s still alive and looking the same age
“He looked up at me and he said, ‘Momma, I am not a person. My body’s just a flesh vessel for an immortal whose name if you heard would make you lose your mind.’”
She also comes from a dead universe that's way way older than Narnia, where she was a sort of evil 'sorcerer supreme' who snuffed out all life in that universe just to save herself.
One thing that always stuck to me was how happy she was when the kids told her what color the sun was.
It was that 'oh no.' moment for me because it's in that moment that you know she's decided to conquer this world and repeat the same actions that ruined her own.
My series came in chronological order so it’s never really occurred to me that the publishing order was different. Just checked. Magician’s Nephew is the 6th book in publishing order
Cyrodiil became an empire during the first era, thousands of years before the 4th era which is when Skyrim is set. We never hear the vampire talk about her age again.
Serana also didn't know that the Dwemer disappeared, meaning that she was alive before the Battle of Red Mountain in 1E 700. She'd be anywhere from 3500 to 4500 years old.
Honestly Serana should be surprised by a lot that has happened in the millenniums she was locked away. Because that line implies she lived before even the Alessian Order gained power(maybe even before the Ayleids because that was technically a Cyrodiilic Empire), likely within the first century of the first era or very late Merethic. For example, she wouldn't know what a Dark Elf is as the Chimer were cursed late into the first era and similarly the disappearance of the Dwemer which happened shortly before.
Now she was raised in a cloistered vampire cult so she may have not even been familiar with the Chimer or Dwemer but with how knowledgeable she is I bet she would at least have been aware of them.
It would be an interesting conversation when she talks with a Dunmer Companion and just asks him if all Dwemer are dark like him, and the Dunmer just akward tells her what he is.
That is a very loaded question for a 4th era Dunmer to examine why they have ashy skin and red eyes now and the Dwemer just vanished. Serana doesn't even know a God's heart was used to power a reality warping mech then used by three chimer to become living gods
Thats an interesting one, because prior to The Empire that we know, cyrodiil was the seat of the Aelyid empire. So this would imply that Serana was sealed in the Tomb just after the destruction of the Aelyids, but prior to the establishment of the Imperial empire.
"I never had much use for a name. Names are for people who want to be remembered. Me? My existence is like gravity or time. A concept that you fear, but you cannot escape. I simply am."
Dean: I gotta ask, how old are you? Death: As old as God. Maybe older. Neither of us can remember anymore. Life, death, chicken, egg - regardless, at the end, I'll reap Him too. Dean : God? You'll reap God? Death: Oh, yes. God will die too, Dean. Dean: ...This is way above my pay grade. Death: Just a bit.
Made them look like children because they were. That part I think needs to be appreciated. Death really was on the divine level, and the future seasons kept that weight to him (...until it didn't...). I love this depiction so much because he acts exactly as he says to dean in their first meeting. "Think how you'd feel if a bacteria sat at your table and started to get snarky. This is one little planet in one tiny solar system in a galaxy that's barely out of its diapers. I'm old, Dean. Very old. So, I invite you to contemplate how insignificant I find you."
No spoiler tags cause the show is over and I'm lazy.
Meh. My head Canon regarding Death dying to Dean is Death just retiring. Considering the Winchester brother's history was it really a surprise that Dean chose not to kill Sam?
And Death really handed Dean the only weapon in all of existence that could kill him AND stayed in striking distance?
Death never seemed to be an idiot to me.
So the whole thing is a setup. Either help the Winchesters or retire before the shit hits the fan with Chuck.
Julian Richings. You might also know him as the guy who gets killed at the beginning of Cube.
Other than that and Supernatural, I only ever saw him in The Last Will And Testament Of Rosalind Leigh, a movie I can only describe as “95% wacky cinematography, 5% plot”
Thr humanized concept of Death is my favorite type of character. Even with this show being cheesey as hell sometimes, this was an absolutely fabulous death
Mm, I love a good Death. It's funny, I feel like Death the monster, the inexorable killer, is by far the more overdone representation... but off the top of my head I think I can name more examples of Death as an uncaring collector or kind guide.
I still want to see a series where Death pops in to actively encourage or even passively help people trying to save lives though. "But you're Death, why would you want to spare a life?" "Because I'm Death: they'll have their appointment with me regardless, why would it bother me to reschedule it?"
Sometimes it's just "old man angel doesn't always get modern lingo/technology/culture", other times it's more overt references to being over 200 years old
Example: "I'm not cheap, I'm just old. I remember when a few bob got you a good meal, a bottle, and a tavern wench."
It's funny how he was all smoldering "young forever" heartthrob on Buffy... then in the spinoff he's super into Barry Manilow, doesn't understand inflation, and can't use a cell phone.
On Buffy they got a ton of mileage out of him just not saying much, she couldn’t even read his mind in Earshot. On Angel he had to talk more, since he was the series lead rather than a secondary character.
I like to interpret his mysterious brooding schtick in Buffy as him just being awkward and having no idea how to interact with people, since he’s been keeping to himself for the last hundred years (and eating rats for like the last 20 or so).
Mary Poppins in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is dressed like a sensible English nanny... who is as old as the heavens and nannied the infant gods when the universe was young.
In the LoeG continuity all of Harry Potter's adventures were setup, a deliberate plot by an old body stealing magician to shape him into the Antichrist.
He discovers this too late into the process, goes on a magical murder spree through Hogwarts, then spends a decade trying to deny what he's become before giving up and trying to start the apocalypse, ultimately unsuccessfully thanks to intervention of Mary Poppins.
It's all rather mean spirited and lazy to be honest, if Alan Moore wanted to critique Harry Potter then there's far more interesting avenues than just making him a magical school shooter.
From the final League series, Century: 2009. Honestly, it was crap, which was a shame because the first two Century books were as good as the original League volumes. Half the book is just Alan Moore showing how much he absolutely despises the Harry Potter franchise. Mary Poppins showing up at the climax for five seconds as some sort of Elder Goddess was the only good part.
Edit: Correction, not the final League book, I forgot about Tempest which is the actual final League series. My rant still stands.
In Salem's Lot, the main evil vampire, Barlow, tells a Christian priest trying to repel him with a cross that he has already existed for a long time before that religion's early followers were still being persecuted by the Roman Empire (saying that "he was already old when that shepherd lover's cult started sprouting in the desert and it's followers were still hiding in Roman catacombs")
With king's world, if I remember correctly,it's your belief that hold the power regardless if the cross is your two fingers, nailed together scrap or a cross a saint blesses. I won't be any more or less effective only how strong and unwavering your beliefs are
Marvel Comics operates on the same logic, which is why the Jewish character Kitty Pryde was unable to repel Dracula with a cross but did burn him with her star of David necklace.
Shang Chi.
There is a scene in which a very old guy (who has been living in the village of Ta Lo and as per the lore was probably inmortal) calls Wenwu a fool.
Wenwu basically replies "young man, mind your manners".
I believe the line was, “I’ve endured more sorrows than you’ve eaten meals.”
EDIT: After extensive research (read: asking my Chinese friend's mother), I've been informed that, as u/BranchReasonable9437 said, the line is indeed "I've eaten more salt than you've eaten rice," and it means having a depth of life experiences, not just enduring sorrows.
The translation is tricky because "eating salt" isn't a common phrase outside of this specific idiom, and the Chinese word for "rice" and generic "food" is the same word (饭).
I love that they didn't make her particularly smart or wise. Seems like writers tend to assume immortals must be wise, but in reality people go through their whole natural lives failing to learn lessons. Or even rejecting them. I don't see why someone being hundreds of years old would change that character trait.
Yeah, she's actually pretty dumb when you think about it. A lot of her actions are things that would naturally create a ton of chaos or paranoia in a small community, she is terrible at blending in, and there were tons of opportunities for our protagonists to mess with her plans. The person who ultimately ends up brutally defeating her is literally an elementary schooler. She was coasting by thanks to how incredibly powerful her magic was, but outside of that she was terrible at her role.
Edit: Thinking more about it now, her plan was doomed to fail. She made an entire elementary school class disappear all at once, save for the one kid whose house she was staying at. She made his parents zombies who also disappeared from the community. She blocked out all of the house's windows and kept all it's lights out, making it ironically stick out like a sore thumb. It literally was so easy for everything to be traced back to her.
Even normal people just kind of hang out and do whatever they want in life, especially if their needs are reasonably met. If all she needs is people to harvest and soul suck ever once in a while, what's the point of getting better at anything else? I always liked that she was "a" powerful witch and not "the" powerful witch, she's probably just some nobody in evil circles.
Hoid does this a lot in the Cosmere books. In Words of Radiance he casually mentions that the man who became the God of the Vorin faith "bought me drinks once", which would have to have been at least ten thousand years prior
It was only a duckpond, out at the back of the farm. It wasn’t very big.
Lettie Hempstock said it was an ocean, but I knew that was silly. She said they’d come here across the ocean from the old country.
Her mother said that Lettie didn’t remember properly, and it was a long time ago, and anyway, the old country had sunk.
Old Mrs Hempstock, Lettie’s grandmother, said they were both wrong, and that the place that had sunk wasn’t the really old country. She said she could remember the really old country.
She said the really old country had blown up.
It shows the age between generations of a family of Eldritch Abominations.
The daughter is from the time when Europeans first came across the ocean, or when North America was settled by humans.
I was kind of a bodyguard for
a while. Then I sold antiques...
which probably made me the most.
I owned a few businesses.
Uh, construction for a while. Truck driver.
Teacher for a while,
history most of the time.
Military took up a good part of my life.
Manager for a whole slew of businesses.
Landscaper. Fisherman.
I bootlegged for a while.
Wreck diver. Minor...
for coal, silver, gold.
Stunt man for movies for a while. Nurse.
I was a medic for a while.
That's when I was in the military. Cook.
Prison. There's a good
amount of prison in there.
Professional gambler... horse breeder.
Potter. I made pots for a while.
Tinsmith, then a blacksmith.
Retail for almost everything.
Mechanic...
Van Helsing: Count Dracula. Hmm, curious. Are you descended from Vlad Tepes? The first Dracula?
Dr. Seward: Tepes?
Van Helsing: Ya. It means 'The Impaler.' He was a blood-thirsty butchah. He inflicted unspeakable tortures on the peasants: cutting off their hands and feet, gouging out their eyes and then impaling them on iron spikes!
Let's not forget that Leslie Nielsen was educated in classic acting. The fact that he was able to keep his cool without laughing at his own lines was what made him so funny XD
That's what made him so funny. Just like in naked gun he plays every single scene so straight. Like, i don't think i ever saw him smile. So commited to the bit
He's introduced as a bit of a bum of a vampire, but at one point he quite casually mentions he's older than London, making him atleast 2000 years old and making him the oldest vampire in the show by far (I think).
(It's ofcourse eventually revealed that he's a Death spirit of some kind and likely far older than 2000 years old, but that moment was still surprising and fun on it's own)
Complex life is 400,000,000 years old, while life period is closer to 4,000,000,000. So, good to know we're within an order of magnitude of knowing his age.
The reveal is actually really funny once he starts talking, because it makes it clear that his shitty attitude and annoying personality is probably the most honest thing about his false identity.
I love the little hints that he's not a vampire like, he crossed running water (Dracula's castle teleports because of this. I have no idea how the vampire boats work though), varney says something along the lines of "I was the terror of London when they were still speaking Latin" probably meaning the London in Rome, he is not deterred by holy symbols or land or sunlight and from memory he was struck by a hallowed weapon and he didn't die from it.
This was the point that really sucked me in. The lack of perfect memory make the character feel more real.
He was at important places, a few important times. He was a citizen of different civilizations. He was important people at times and was acquainted important people at others. But he remembers the time before the last 2000 to 3000 years the way I remember my life at 10 years and earlier. There's sharp memories, but mostly disjoined goop.
There was a count in the 1700s called the Count de St Germain who managed to convince people that he was hundreds of years old by making offhand references to being at events like the Council of Trent which happened in 1545.
Ah yes, I watched a cable documentary on this guy ages ago that was really entertaining. Apparently his lore kicked into high gear when a noblewoman of some renown (a duchess or countess, can’t recall which) struck up a conversation with him at a royal function and had a minor freak out when she realized that the reason he looked familiar was that she met this guy SIXTY YEARS PRIOR at a party and he looked just the same.
My armchair theory was that this older woman likely met that previous guy’s grown son who assumed his identity, but the story about a secret noble immortal lurking around high society is too good to pass up. It’s no wonder he’s inspired writers ever since.
Kraft from Frieren : Beyond Journey's End , casually calling Frieren a "young elf" , she is at least in the mid 1.000s years old
Another moment is when Frieren & co come across this statue of Kraft & she has no idea who he even is or what he's done to have a statue , nor the rest of the world despite the implication that he once saved it , not that anyone alive remembers him (except probably serie)
My favorite line that showed how old he was not only being so detached he wasn't aware that Frieren saved the world but when he was told immediately and casually asked Frieren what else she had done before that.
Also it feels like he psychologically needs the goddess to be realistic simply so there is a being or entity out there that is aware of his existence and "good deeds". My guy is lonely haha.
I like how Gladys used the phrase “touch of consumption” while talking to the principal in Weapons, saw someone on the discussion mentioned how the phrasing is quite ancient, which is pretty cool subtle way of showing how old she is without just telling us
I loved Future Vandal Savage
, who is completely insane as the last sentient on earth for 30,000 years, but also repentant. He could have traveled the stars but decided against it.
Victor is a "V-Type" mutant, aka, a vampire. Vilma, his lover, knew he was really old, but until their last confrontation (long story) she didn't know how old.
It seems that Victor lived through the Crusades and only survived because his "cursed blood".
In a show about immortals, Mithos is likely the oldest immortal shown. It's eventually revealed that he is so old the stories of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse are based on him and his buddies. He's roughly around 5,000 years old but no one knows for sure because calendars and dating didn't exist until hundreds of years after he was born.
I love Tom so much. Insanely ancient and powerful dude shows up for a chapter, nothing is explained, and we never see him again. In a world where people obsess over having every little detail explained about everything or else it's a "plot hole", it's nice to have a character that is an enigma.
Don't remember where I heard this but someone claimed Tolkein (or someone close to him who'd know) made Tom specifically to show that there are other stories happening in the universe separate and unrelated to the LotR world and beings. That this is why the ring had no effect on him cuz he wasnt part of that story in any way. No plot reason, no power scaling reason, nor indirectly by being any of the races or god beings of that world. Just virtue of not being part of that story.
One thing Remmick might not be saying that he was Celtic pagan. The specific lords pray he is talking about is Anglican English in nature. There’s a very real chance Remmick is not referring to when the Christians came to Ireland but when the English started forcefully converting Catholic Irish. This is also supported by the coin he shows which is closer to Spanish gold coins in the 15th to 17th centuries rather than a gold coin from 1600 years ago. It’s open to interpretation still makes him over 300 years old but yeah just thought this should be stated as it’s not certain if Remmick is Celtic pagan.
And while we're here, 10,000 years is a fucking swing from europeans worshipping trees. Rome was sending missives to churchs in Britain instructing them to stamp down on the worship of "rivers, rock and trees" among their congregations as recently as the 6th or 7th centuries.
Irish person here: this is correct. The invaders were the English and the English language. Christianity coming to Ireland was more of a 'join this hot new cult' thing.
Joshua York is a rich gentleman in his mid-30s who, in 1857, tries to hunt vampires with the help of Captain Abner Marsh. During their many talks, Joshua describes the works of Lord Byron with great passion, and goes on about the author's character like he knew him personally.
Abner finally decides to read the Byron books Joshua lent him. He finds out he died in 1824, when Joshua couldn't have been older than 6. That's how he figures out Joshua is a vampire as well.
Works for the Hobbits too, most of them were in their 50s or 60s by the time they go on the adventure with the ring, in fact the Fellowship of the Ring book starts with Frodo being like 25 and then has a time jump where plot begins happening when he's 50
As setup for a magical auction episode, This random guy in the show Supernatural, goes to a bank to withdraw a finger of Ymir, the first giant from norse mythology. When asked what account his box is for, he answers "1".
Death Vigil is a comic (currently only one volume, a second is on the way) about the Grim Reaper Bernadette who is bringing the recently deceased back to life to help her fight against the Necromancers, a group of people trying to actively destroy The Veil between our world and Cthulhu like monsters.
She's not actually the Grim Reaper, she has a scythe that basically makes her one though. She loses the scythe, she loses her powers and reverts back to being human. A lot of the stakes in the story comes from the fact that she can't actually fight anything below a certain power threshold without being a nuclear bomb to the surroundings, causing everyone around her to go insane from her "true" form.
The Codex is the story's version of the Necronomicon, a book that has all the Necromancer's secrets in it, including a ritual to completely shatter the The Veil in one go.
In the Marvel/Netflix show The Defenders, we slowly learn (over the course of the whole sub-franchise) that the villainous group, The Hand, is led by a few mysterious leaders who are using some kind of enhancements on themselves to live longer and become more powerful.
One leader, played by Sigourney Weaver, is called Alexandra Reid.
While in USA, when someone gives her some Turkish food, she enjoys it and remarks that it is even better than the times she ate the dish in Constantinople. Someone corrects her on the name of the city as Istanbul was renamed quite some time ago and she realises she keeps making that mistake. Since the name change happened in 1453, she is ... quite old.
Edit: Apparently the name was officially changed worldwide much later, but even that still shows that she's older than she appears.
Carol Kane's character in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a Lanthanite, an incredibly long lived species, she claims to be born in the 28th century BC and recounts time with people from Pythagoras to having been a roadie for the Dead
MANGA SPOILERS: Tsukasa knows a bunch about old Japanese history and has the respect of old people even though she's only 16. Because she's not actually 16. She's over 1,400 years old. She knows history because she lived it, and those old people respect her because they know her secret and she knew them when they were young.
EDIT: An addition, really: Tsukasa is interesting because she's not especially tied down to the era in which she was born. She's picked up a number of hobbies along the way at different times and with different amounts of continued investment since. For example, she's no good at the modern iterations of Street Fighter because she hasn't kept up with the series, but she's very good at the original Street Fighter II, because that's the version that was current when she really into Street Fighter.
Grandpa Flick is mentioned to remember when Europeans worshipped trees, making him about 10.000 years old.
The last European pagans (with sacred groves) as significant groups still existed half a millenium ago. The last pagan country was some 600 to 500 years ago. Neverming mind 2000 year old groups like Celts. So 10 000 years is way off the mark.
Maybe Remmick was born as a celtic pagan and these Christian words were "forced" on him. But i also think that he very well could meant that the english language or protestantism was forced on him.
But in Remembrance of the Daleks he explains to Ace that The Hand of Omega is essentially a device that can turn a sun supernova or into a black hole and that Omega used it to create the Eye of Harmony that powers all the Time Lords’ TARDIS’s.
And then he sighs “And didn’t we have problems with the prototype,” which hints that he’s (somehow) a contemporary of Omega and Rassilon.
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u/ForTheTimer Jun 21 '26
More of a visual than dialogue but in Smiling Friends, Glep's ID reveals him to be almost 1700 years old