Fact vs fiction: Aging in sci-fi and fantasy
By WiC Staff
Headmaster Dumbledore — (Harry Potter) — 116 years old
Perhaps one of the most popular and well-known characters on our list, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, was 115 years old when he died at the hand of Severus Snape in the penultimate installment of J.K. Rowling’s epic novel franchise. (If this is a spoiler, where have you been the last 20+ years?)
While Rowling once said in an interview that Dumbledore was around 150 years old, it states on her official site that he was born in 1881 and died in 1997 — this would make him roughly 116 years old. For the purposes of this article, we’re assuming the latter age is correct.
Reaching Dumbledore’s age isn’t outside the realm of possibility. The oldest verified person, a supercentenarian, in the world was a French woman called Jeanne Calment, who lived to be 122 years old at the time of her death.
A study was conducted among supercentenarians and found they “markedly delay and even escape clinical expression of vascular disease toward the end of their exceptionally long lives. A surprisingly substantial proportion of these individuals were still functionally independent or required minimal assistance.”
Supercentenarians are thought to be able to live so long because of these factors: genetics, luck and mental outlook. Supercentenarians typically have relatives and parents who were also long-lived for their time.
While lifestyle choices do play some role, there seems to be a consensus that supercentenarians are protected to some degree because of hereditary factors. Jeanne Calment, for example, smoked until she was 117.
Another supercentenarian, Ralph Tarrant, also smoked. His daughter also confessed to him not keeping the best dietary habits. Reportedly, “He grew up on bacon fried in lard.”
However, this is not to suggest that it’s ever okay to smoke if you believe you have inherited good genetics. We should all avoid smoking. Supercentenarians represent a completely unique and microscopic proportion of society. The sad truth is that most of us won’t make it past 100, let alone the 110 threshold.
The key to living a fuller, longer life is to simply maintain a healthy lifestyle consistently throughout your life and do your best to avoid illness.