What is the best way to properly "express" the concept of immortality? What would be a general feel after years, centuries of being alive? The few that come to mind would be the boredom, seeing those you love age and die around you and the feelings that would bring, a sense of apathy which would be express through reckless behavior, and those are the only ones I can think of atm. Any other, specifically negative ones? I plan on constructing a narrative concerning an ambitious character who makes a deal with a manipulative deity, granting the mortal immortality. I understand the biggest negative would be the price the protag would have to pay nearing the end of his deal (which would throw him into an endless void of nightmarish, distorted creations beyond human understanding), but I require a few more that would be more prevalent. Pic unrelated btw, and thanks for the help.
>>8304103
I think extreme apathy after being jaded by decades/centuries of extreme hedonism and extreme torture. There could be a wise/zen aspect to his extreme apathy as well. That kind of feeling you get after you've beaten/done everything in a free roam video game like GTA Vice City or San Andreas and there's like nothing to do, something extreme like stealing a fucking tank from a military base and terrorizing the city is underwhelming for you (in the videogame). I guess that's the general mood in the game.
You have to consider aspects such as aging. Will the immortal man continue to age for eternity and be a husk of a vegetable in a couple of centuries while still techincally being alive? Or will he stop aging all together and be in the prime of his life for all eternity?
A truly immortal man would with time transcend humanity and enter godhood.
>>8304103
Tuck Everlasting (it's middle grade fiction, deal with it) does a good job with this.
>>8304103
>I plan on constructing a narrative concerning an ambitious character who makes a deal with a manipulative deity, granting the mortal immortality.
Aha... a Faustian bargain, if you will. Anon is so original.
I think Borges's "The Immortal" in The Aleph would be an interesting read for you.