Board Thread:The B&B/@comment-5235636-20160409122030/@comment-1674153-20160411023831

My opinion on immortality is that, from a fiction viewpoint, it's very hard to make a character have it and not be incredibly broken in the world they live in. And I mean that in a few ways.

For one, immortality is a very over-powered power. Nothing can kill an immortal, which lowers any possible stakes that they may experience. They'll either be impervious to pain or they'll heal. Or they'll suffer the same pain constantly as their body never changes (which I admit is interesting but terribly boring if the character is just constantly living through physical agony with no change in condition). In a Warehouse where things can and will kill the people who go in, what is so interesting about a character that won't die?

For two, though physical risk is not the only method of inflicting pain on a character, emotional damages to an immortal character can only go on for so long before they become apathetic to the frivolity of day-to-day emotional growth. Wolverine and Dr. Manhattan are immortal creatures, and though they suffer from emotional pain, they aren't that old in the grand scheme of time. Dr. Manhattan was well on his way to becoming super clinical; if you gave him the history of the Warehouse, he'd basically be reduced to the robotic Hal.

And then you can have to consider the meta rules of the world of the Warehouse. Where everything has a downside, an equal and opposite reaction to negate the potential for people using these artifacts for good without consequence. If that's the tone of the magic/science in this show, what is the downside to immortality? Incredible boredom, I suppose, but the aging process is stopped, the healing process is strengthened, there has to be a sacrifice for this.

And within universe, consider the huge liability it would be to the safety of the Warehouse to have anyone be immortal. The Warehouse affiliates run the risk of the immortal taking control of the whole thing, overthrowing delicate security infrastructure, using artifacts where downsides are lethal to anyone save him or her if ever the moment struck them.

Immortality is not an impossible power to write a character with - Warehouse 13 gives Jinks this ability, after all. But the reason why immortal characters are compelling is not because of their immortality - it's them suffering because of it, whether or not they know they suffer. And you will be hard pressed to find the story of an immortal who stays an immortal AND a hero, who is still in anguish after a thousand years, or find one where the ending is not of the "ride off into the sunset" brand of ambiguity. Most immortals end up becoming bad guys as the years go on.

My point is; immortal characters who are heroes are only as interesting as to the length in which they've been impervious to aging.