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Serpent of Immortality

 Serpent of Immortality
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 Serpent of Immortality
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Serpent of Immortality
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Snakes are often associated with immortality, rejuvenation, rebirth and youth.
One reason is that in the days before humans had time to study the life cycles of animals, it was believed that when a snake shed its skin it actually got younger and could potentially live forever. When a snake sheds its skin it appears to be ill and when it finishes shedding its skin, it looks rejuvenated and reincarnated. This is part of why a snake is on the rod of Asclepius, which represents medicine (as well as the caduceus, which it is often confused with). Snake venom may also be used to restore, heal, or grant immortality, in fiction and even real life.
Another reason why snakes are thought to represent immortality is because of the Ouroboros, a snake symbol that forms a circle by eating its own tail. Circles and spirals were used as symbols for eternal life. Sometimes, the snake will have two knots to resemble the infinity symbol.
See also Resurrective Immortality, Born-Again Immortality, and Ouroboros.
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Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid: The main characters are seeking a flower, the Blood Orchid, which contains chemicals that can prolong life when eaten. However, the anacondas in the area have been feeding on animals that fed on the flower, and as reptiles don't stop growing, the jungle is now packed with very large, very old snakes that have gathered for the mating season.
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Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): It's confirmed that Ghidorah was born billions of years ago, and it can never permanently die so long as a viable piece of its DNA remains for it to regenerate practically From a Single Cell. As for Ghidorah's Artificial Hybrid "offspring", Monster X; it has a serpentine quality to it, and it's indicated in Chapter 14 that it'll live at least for thousands of years, possibly even forever, if not killed.
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 Abraxas (Hrodvitnon) (Fanfic)
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Serpent of Immortality
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In Trials & Trebuchets, Neska has been able to survive since before the fall of the ancient Sheoran empire thanks to her being an Ascendant priestess of Meaphidae allowing her to grow both humanoid and giant snake bodies in urns as back-ups to inhabit if her current body dies, and is even able to inhabit multiple bodies at once.
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 Serpent of Immortality / int_2372359
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Serpent of Immortality
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Queen Salmissra from The Belgariad also invokes this trope. The patron god of Nyissa is a snake god who favored a mortal priestess a long time ago but neglected to prolong her life. After her death, each reigning queen is chosen based on how closely they resemble Salmissra and kept artificially young through drugs, and replaced when they grow too old for this to work. In effect, this means that it appears to uninformed outsiders Nyissa, favored by the serpent god Issa, has its monarch blessed with immortality and eternal youth. Unfortunately, the realization that she is not immortal drives one Salmissranote two if you count the prequels into rather immoral actions under the promise of immortality until Polgara transforms her into an immortal snake.
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Serpent of Immortality
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Dark Souls: Serpents are closely tied to the idea of immortality, and Dark Souls lore states that serpents are "incomplete dragons", the Everlasting Dragons having been the only truly immortal beings in the verse. They are also symbols of greed, so the general symbolism of a snake in Dark Souls is something that covets immortality, but cannot quite attain it. The Primordial Serpents are also extremely old, supposedly having existed prior to the Age of Fire, if their name is any indication. The Japanese dialogue in the third game suggests, however, that at least one of the Primordial Serpents, Kaathe, is dead by that time, meaning they are not truly immortal either.
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Serpent of Immortality
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Naruto's original prime villain, Orochimaru, had a decidedly serpentine motif (he's named after a mythical character who is in turn named after a hydra-like monster), with matching snakelike face, and the ability to summon giant snakes. His "true form" is even a massive serpent made up of smaller snakes. He got these attributes in his search for a technique to bestow immortality. The degree of similarity with Voldemort is staggering, and both are examples of this trope meeting Reptiles Are Abhorrent.
Also, Kabuto who absorbs Orochimaru's powers, looks even more serpentine and does a technique that resurrects and controls dead shinobi to fight for him as undead zombies. So there you go.
He likens himself as surpassing the serpent into a dragon.
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Harry Potter:
The closer to immortality Voldemort got, the more snake-like he seemed. Also, Voldemort took a piece of his soul and made his pet snake Nagini a Horcrux, probably making her immortal.
In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the basilisk that lives beneath the school has an incredibly long lifespan. It was first stored under the school around a thousand years earlier.
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Serpent of Immortality
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Elden Ring: Invoked by Rykard, who is a serpentine abomination, and after you beat him, mocks you for thinking he's gone for good. Still doesn't seem to have done him much good, as his head is completely unresponsive, and Tanith tries to eat it to become a Willing Channeler.
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Monks that specialize in healing their allies in World of Warcraft have a heavy serpent motif — they fight in a specialized Serpent Stance, lay down Serpent Statues that duplicate healing, etc.
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Serpent of Immortality
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In Homestuck, Cherubs dueling in serpent form are immortal and invulnerable to anything from outside their duel.
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Serpent of Immortality
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In The Wheel of Time, the Dragon is a person who is reincarnated once an Age to deal with the Dark One. The motif of immortality is clearly in use, especially as the Dragon emblem looks decidedly snakelike, and the series makes varied use of the Ouroboros symbol for the Wheel of Time itself.
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Invoked in-universe in The Sleeping Beauty. When Godmother Lily is undoing the "look like she's dead" spell on Rosa, one component of the ritual is a snake ring on Rosa's hand to symbolize rebirth.
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 Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms
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In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the basilisk that lives beneath the school has an incredibly long lifespan. It was first stored under the school around a thousand years earlier.
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It's revealed in the third book of The Zodiac Series that Ophiuchus was supposed to be immortal. His Talisman granted him a form of Resurrective Immortality, the intent being for him to remain among the humans even after the other Guardians were long gone. However, the Talisman only works when he has it on him. Unfortunately for him, he did not have it on him when he ended up executed for treason, as one of the other Guardians had stolen it.
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Serpent of Immortality
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Pokémon has the "Shed Skin" ability that has a chance of healing Status Effects each turn, possessed by the snake-like Pokemon Ekans, Dratini, and Seviper (among others).
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The Bible:
John 3:13: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." So the serpent symbolizes Christ, crucified and resurrected.
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Serpent of Immortality
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In Shadowrun, shamen who have Snake as their totem gain +2 dice when casting healing spells.
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Serpent of Immortality
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In The Neverending Story (both the book and movies,) this is the visual motif behind AURYN, the amulet representing the power of the immortal Childlike Empress.
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 The NeverEnding Story
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Serpent of Immortality
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Doctor Who: The Master's ashes inexplicably turn into a CGI snake during the Eighth Doctor TV movie. It sabotages the TARDIS, escapes onto Earth, and possesses a human.
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While not explicitly immortal, Kaa the python and the White Cobra are by far the oldest living creatures of The Jungle Book. The latter is so old, he predates the jungle and has outlived his own poison.
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Serpent of Immortality
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The Worm of the World's End in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant probably counts. It's apparently a gigantic serpent that forms the foundation of the world itself, and if it ever wakes up it'll be the end (probable reference to Jormungandr). Luckily there's no chance of that ever hap... oh, shit...
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In The Epic of Gilgamesh, the herb of eternal life that Gilgamesh sought to cheat death with was stolen and eaten by a snake, giving it the ability to shed its skin, thus rejuvenating itself and becoming immortal.
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BlazBlue: Hazama (or more specifically Yuuki Terumi), who is always associated with snakes, turns out to be very old. As in, nearly as old as the universe itself as the original will of the Susanooh Unit that protects the Master Unit Amaterasu.
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Serpent of Immortality
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Older Than Dirt
 Serpent of Immortality
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Rebirth and Reincarnation Tropes
 Serpent of Immortality
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Symbolism
 Serpent of Immortality
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This Index Will Live Forever
 White Snake (2019) (Animation) / int_b08b0f0e
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Serpent of Immortality
 Princess Fantasy DX 2 (Fanfic) / int_b08b0f0e
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Serpent of Immortality
 Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid / int_b08b0f0e
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Serpent of Immortality
 The NeverEnding Story (1984) / int_b08b0f0e
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Serpent of Immortality
 The NeverEnding Story / int_b08b0f0e
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Serpent of Immortality
 BlazBlue (Franchise) / int_b08b0f0e
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Serpent of Immortality
 Ace Attorney with an Actual Lawyer! (Lets Play) / int_b08b0f0e
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Serpent of Immortality
 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets / int_b08b0f0e
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Serpent of Immortality
 Labyrinths of Echo / int_b08b0f0e
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Serpent of Immortality
 Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms / int_b08b0f0e
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Serpent of Immortality
 The Belgariad / int_b08b0f0e
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Serpent of Immortality
 The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant / int_b08b0f0e
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Serpent of Immortality
 The Epic of Gilgamesh / int_b08b0f0e
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Serpent of Immortality
 The Licanius Trilogy / int_b08b0f0e
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Serpent of Immortality
 The NeverEnding Story / int_b08b0f0e
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Serpent of Immortality
 Once Upon a Time in Wonderland / int_b08b0f0e
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Serpent of Immortality
 Shadowrun (Tabletop Game) / int_b08b0f0e
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Serpent of Immortality
 The Bible / int_b08b0f0e
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Serpent of Immortality