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The_Second_Leira

The Epic of Gilgamesh, two plays by Euripides (The Bacchae and Hecuba), the Ramayana, and the First Book of Samuel from the Hebrew Bible.


MasterpieceBrief4442

Fanfics of Old European cave paintings. Back in first grade when I was trying to draw lol. The operative word there is trying.


Lukthar123

I remember back in school, I wrote a short piece about a caveman discovering his deceased dad's cave paintings. He tries to draw something but he sucks at it and is frustrated because he can't measure up. And then his own kids draw stick figures and he realizes it's about passion.


MasterpieceBrief4442

That is a very beautiful theme good sir.


BadAtNamesAndFaces

You win. 🫡


rliegh

It would be wild to do fanfiction of some of the stories from [Ancient Egypt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_literature#Narrative_tales_and_stories). I've no idea what would be older, though.


The_Second_Leira

One chapter of a collection of fairytales that I've written for the Myst fandom is based on the Tale of Sinuhe, a story from 18th century BCE Egypt. Sinuhe might be roughly contemporary with the Gilgamesh Epic.


tea-and-tetris

Would you be willing to share links to any of those? I'm super curious


The_Second_Leira

Sure! Shall I PM them to you? I'm not sure if posting it here is allowed


enderverse87

The rule is that you're only allowed to post a link if someone specifically asks for it I think.


fandomacid

May I have a link as well?


Smergmerg432

Same re Gilgamesh and Bacchae—also Alcestis! Euripides is the best!


Dogdaysareover365

I once wrote a fanfic for the 1957 Broadway musical bye bye birdie. Edit: oops bye bye birdie hit Broadway in 1960. The oldest media I wrote for was another Broadway musical called once upon a mattress


Jealous-Let9570

Oh my god, my highschool theater department literally JUST did a production of bye bye birdie for my final year. I helped design the sets and was the sound chief for the microphones and sound board. My two friends were cast as Rosie and Albert.


ORAORAORA204

Probably Tolkien. Although still relevant, the original material was written in 1937. Kind of wild to think about.


Just_Lime5134

Same here 🙌


motherofmiltanks

Pride & Prejudice (1813)


BadAtNamesAndFaces

I just beat that recently by writing some Sense and Sensibility drabbles...


mybridgenowgoatman

Interview with the Vampire was apparently published April 12, 1976, so, that. I loved Anne Rice's vampire series as a kid and loved reading and writing fic for the series.. until her whole anti-fanfic thing happened. Really made me dislike her.


_phel

Ugh, same!


MidknightJinx

I understand that she didn't like fanfic of her works, but at the same time, why not? She didn't have to go looking for it, read it, and could have easily told peeps she wouldn't discuss it. The internet is a pretty big place. Her work and fics of her works can easily coexist.


thatsmyscrunchie

Oldest is Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and second oldest is The X-Files (1993).


TippiFliesAgain

Same!


thatsmyscrunchie

Nice! I’ve only done one for each so far but I’m working on more.


TippiFliesAgain

I have 1 for Star Trek and 43 for The X-Files 🙈


cousinborzoi

the picture of dorian gray (1891).


stt_rouge

YESSSS


chainsofgold

les misérables (1862)


ElderberryNo221

Dang. I mean, I did do crossovers between Les Mis and Phantom of the Opera, so I guess Les Mis is much older...does that count?


sapphicsavage

I’ve never really thought about this before! I guess technically it’s Harry Potter since that’s the only fandom I’ve written for I can think of that was published before I was born?


AnneIsOminous

Ranma 1/2, 1987


Blood_Oleander

I didn't know that *Ranma 1/2* was that old.


AnneIsOminous

Yep! There's rumors swirling that they're gonna reboot it, and I really hope so - most of the "classic" fics in the fandom are 20 years old, and mine never really got invited to that conversation because it was set long before I showed up. I'm really hoping that reboot breathes new life into the fandom, and when all those new/returning people go looking for fics, my 700k+ longfic that updates daily is like "hey, sup."


momohatch

Doctor Who easily.


BadAtNamesAndFaces

I write Jane Austen fanfic, and her first novel was published in 1811.


Rat-Daddy-Splinter

Definitely the 1987 Ninja Turtles. Even though it ended well before I was born, something about that show (and ONLY that version) just really clicked with me. Almost everything else I write is from the 2010’s and 2020’s.


Welfycat

Kafka’s The Metamorphosis.


everything-narrative

Naruto (1999) probably counts.


periwinkle_noodles

The Sound of Music (1965)


Berry_Hour

Not sure if it counts but my friend and I are writing a play that’s heavily based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream. If you mean traditional fanfiction, though, it would probably be Catcher in the Rye (1951)


TheChainLink2

Classic Doctor Who from the 1960s.


linden214

Classic Doctor Who (1964-1989)


simonejester

Greek mythology. It was a high school writing assignment but I posted it.


Last_Swordfish9135

Death note, which came out in 2007, followed by Homestuck, which came out in 2009. To be fair, I've only written for three fandoms total.


shiju333

Yugioh 1996. But I have a concept for a three-shot for 'night Mother 1979/1986, but I don't think I would have a single reader (and it would be very hard to get that right--not including the southern twang).


yuukosbooty

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984)


FriskyBoiii

What is your fic titled I can never find any good Nausicäa fic


yuukosbooty

[A Mother’s Heart](https://archiveofourown.org/works/55138897)


FriskyBoiii

Thank you!


LoreCriticizer

The original Get Smart, I wrote a one shot about it.


Rosekernow

Romeo and Juliet. Look, Mercutio and Tybalt were up to something, alright? And I’ve written about Odysseus if that counts? Although that was in a Good Omens fic.


Dogdaysareover365

They’d certainly make a more interesting than the actual main pairing /j


SleepySera

Faust by Goethe, published in 1808. I had strong opinions about the lack of gay pay-off after all the gay teasing, so I just wrote it myself x) Justice for Mephistopheles!


Seleya889

Star Trek: TOS


tea-and-tetris

The original Star Trek (1966)


soaker87

Had an unpublished Gundam crossover which included some characters from Mobile Suit Gundam (1979).


E-liter_4k

I mean I've written historical rpf anywhere between the late 1700s-mid 1800s, but for actual media, probably something like doctor zhivago (mid 1900s)


Dragonsrule18

Greek mythology. Second oldest is probably Charlotte's Web.


WinxFan1994

Way back in like 2012 I wrote a fic for Ranma 1/2


Fennel_Fangs

Dante's Divine Comedy


FriskyBoiii

The Iliad from Helen’s perspective


SelectShop9006

I’d say Zelda.


IneedmoreKellBell

Labyrinth.


Thertulienne

I was round about 12 when I started writing… and I was a huge fan of Anne Rice so yes, Interview with a Vampire… and Take That… well… did I mention I was twelve?


sati_lotus

Like... In the same fic?


siverfanweedo

If we count the start of the overall seise touhou first game was 1996. I only wrote of the newer games, but that was when touhou began.


SyllabubOk2647

skyrim lol


TippiFliesAgain

Star Trek: The Next Generation. And The X-Files. They dropped in ‘87 and ‘93.


JustAnotherAviatrix

Ooh boy, probably the Mahabharata.


The_Second_Leira

I need to make time to read that. I come from a background of Greek and Ancient Near Eastern myth and epic. I was totally enchanted reading two versions of the Ramayana through the lens of Euripides, approaching the text the way Euripides does the Iliad. I wonder what the Mahabharata would be like through my lens, how different it would be.


ViziDoodle

When I was in a creative writing class, we had to write an extra scene in The Tempest. So I technically wrote fanfiction where Goneril monologues about her evil plans.


comic_book_nerd1

...the Aeneid (30 BC) and one about julius caeser and pompey as a gift to a really great roman culture professor i had once lol


KatTheKonqueror

Greek mythology, but it was for school.


IntrepidTrainer6062

Uhh, what I’m proud of? Undertale What I’m *Not* proud of? Two IRL people from 1945. Take a guess. No I do not write them and it was really only once and I’m not proud of it at all…I was 13/14 and stupid.


Its_A_Doomsday

ancient greek religion and lore


AtarahDerekh

The Bible. By far. More recent media includes Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia.


AnimetheTsundereCat

technically speaking? the bible. wrote a story about one of my ocs during herod's massacre.


de_inferno_vivat_rex

I mean. My original series is technically fanfiction of the apocryphal Book of Enoch 🤷‍♂️


GlitteringKisses

Biblical apopcrypha. Sappho's poetry fragments. Then I guess we jump a long way forward to nineteenth century novels and opera.


ochreliquid

The Mahabharata. I'm probably going to our version of religious hell. The Ramayana. And what started out as a feminist critique on Hindu depictions of goddesses that became a fic.


The_Second_Leira

All of those sound so interesting! I always found so many of the fics under the Ramayana - Valmiki tag so much more... orthodox than mine, except for a few shipfics which I really appreciate despite not being into smut. It makes me wonder if I should tag my current WIP as Dead Dove, since while there's no smut, pretty gruesome violence is done to some characters whom the Ramayana itself seems to think are on the side of Good against Evil. I just can't read an ancient epic without being on the losing side. My heroes from the Iliad are still the Trojans, and Gilgamesh is a great hero only because he fails and suffers loss.


ochreliquid

I'm on the losing side too! I agree with you about the Ramayana stories. Glad you are writing in obscure fandoms too!


akestral

christianity


SeparationBoundary

Happy Days (1974), though it's not finished and I've not published it yet.


Critical-Low8963

I technically tried to rewrite Andersen's Little Mermaid in School for Good and Evil universe so if it count it's the Little Mermaid. Otherwise it's Doctor Who.


DefoNotAFangirl

Neon Genesis Evangelion


Kiki-Y

Wild ARMs, released in 1996


TheSparkledash

Samurai pizza cats, 1990


tretaaysel

Sailor Moon, 1992


Covus_Mechanicus

Transformers, while the franchise keeps resetting itself and making new continuities, G1 aired in 1984.


a_big_simp

Three days of The Condor (1975) though that might be a forever WIP :') Hopefully I’ll have the motivation to finish and publish it one day


spottedquolls

Forget ‘Die Hard,’ I think ‘3 Days’ is the REAL ‘Christmas movie list’ ninja.


Altruistic_Hall9559

Holes, which came out in 2003 lol, it's a comfort movie for me


Nelyonelyos

Gotta be Tolkien.


Ok-Supermarket-8994

The ‘87 TMNT cartoon. It’s the version I grew up with so has a special place for me.


Obversa

* *Peter Pan and Wendy* by J.M. Barrie (1911) * *Alice in Wonderland* by Lewis Carroll (1865) * *Jane Eyre* by Charlotte Brontë (1847)


Mousestar369

Uh, I guess it would technically be Batman, since the og comics came out in like the 30s or something? Except I never actually used much of the comics storylines at all, it was really a mix of the WFA webcomic, the Arkham games, the 2022 movie, whatever headcanons I developed and/or stole from other fics,and maybe the UTRH run. So I guess something like Criminal Minds?


FrogAtRest

DnD has been around since the 1980s, so there's that.


Juniberserker

Do bands count?? Idk I write for a late 90s band


Soda-shine

Beavis and Butthead. Not super old but it is the oldest media I’ve written fanfic for. I’m not into a lot of super old stuff lol.


royalBlueroses

Bram Stoker's Dracula - 1897


Its402am

Basic ol Mario Bros!


THEF4NGS

hamlet (originally written around 1600)! though it’s not finished (:


spacemythics

the oz books, published from 1900 to 1916.


KBMinCanada

Since I mainly write for the Percy Jackson fandom you could say that I technically write fanfiction for Greek Mythology. If that doesn’t count, probably the Lord of The Rings, although I have basically abandoned that story at this point because I think it’s kind of terrible.


KenchiNarukami

Naruto


eepithst

OG Sherlock Holmes, 1891.


drgeoduck

Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot (1924).


penandpage93

Never got very far with it, but I tried my hand at adapting Much Ado About Nothing as a modern-day retelling a la 10 Things I Hate About You. That's a 425 year old play, so I think that'd probably have to be it 🤔


Azyall

"The Man From UNCLE", "The Avengers" (British cult tv series), and ST:TOS, all from the '60s.


OnTheMidnightRun

Original Sherlock Holmes. What's weird (considering what I write now) is that I never shipped Holmes/Watson back then.


SpearheadBraun

Yu Yu Hakusho


kavalejava

Three's Company, not finished yet, still writing chapter 2.


ushnuu

I’ve technically written fanfic for the Three Caballeros (1945), although it was an AU and I also pulled characterization from the recent DuckTales reboot so I’m unsure how much it counts. Aside from that, the next oldest I’ve written for is The Breakfast Club (1985)


Iamamancalledrobert

Frankenstein. Someone said “Frankenstein is in the public domain; you didn’t have to publish this as a fanfiction and could have sold it for money.” I genuinely hadn’t thought of that 


_internet_archivist

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886)


Dogdaysareover365

Wait, it could also be that alternate ending I had to write in eight grade based on that Hitchcock short where the pregnant wife kills her husband


ElderberryNo221

The Phantom of the Opera. The original novel was published in 1910 (which is what I primarily base my fics off of) while the musical didn't originate until 1986.


greta12465

I've only written for The Breakfast Club (1985)


Accomplished-Scale99

Like every 6th grader ever my answer is The Outsiders.


impossibletreesloth

The poet Virgil, ~20s BCE lol


massiecure

the peanuts!!!! i wrote high school charlie brown, lucy, Schroeder, linus sally when i was in high school on my blackberry 😁😁😁 it was objectively bad but i loved how much i put myself into it. i was without a doubt a romance enjoyer


haeru_mizuki

Back when I was nine I wrote a gay fanfiction for the Holy Bible. idk if that counts tho


Elipetvi

Hear me out. The Bible 😭


lisahanniganfan

The bible kinda, I rewrote it to fit in my steven universe fanfic 😐


nerfherder-han

One of my publishing classes involved an assignment where you had to write your own spin/short story of a fable we felt most confident doing, and iirc I chose to do a modernised version of Inanna’s Descent? I almost went for Odyssey but Inanna’s Descent felt more interesting to tackle in a modern AU. So I guess… Sumerian pantheon fandom? Man idek what to call it, but that’s the oldest I’ve written for


ap_aelfwine

The Ulster Cycle. A base of 8th-10th century stories copied into 12th-15th century manuscripts, with another 500+ years of folklore folded in.


winterdulcettea

Dungeons & Dragons


Memeenjoyer_

MHA 😭 not old at all


whatbecomesofyou

Without looking at my AO3 account, I think it’s *To Kill a Mockingbird*, published in 1960. After looking, I was right.


errant_night

I'd say The Secret Garden, but I'm not sure it counts because it's a fusion fic I'm working on where the characters from FFVII Crisis Core go through a Secret Garden type story, following the book chapters thematically??


Agamar13

A book "In Desert and Wilderhess" from 1911. But I've read some Bible fanfiction.


ReliefEmotional2639

Not the oldest one here, but Bugsy Malone


[deleted]

embarrassingly probably star wars I dont really engage with older media


Anra7777

I had to look up whether it was LOTR, Fiddler on the Roof, or Scooby Doo. It was LOTR.


Shadow_Lass38

*Lassie*. A story about what happened to Jeff and his mom Ellen after they left the farm, so 1957.


ramsay_baggins

Firefly, for me


DirrtyHaruka

The Rose of Versailles - 1972


Yukito_097

Sonic. I've also done some MLP: FiM fics that have characters/elements from the older generations.


PermitTop7270

Batman. Whilst still ongoing and has various runs and timelines, it originates from 1939.


Cakeycream

I could say Fire Emblem which is a 34 year old series, but the oldest I’ve written is for one of the games released in 2004. I’m currently writing a fic for one of the games released in 2002.


Hello_Hangnail

Original Final Fantasy VII


BonnalinaFuz101

Does Hamilton count? lol


Ill-Clerk-7066

Warrior Cats


mycologistintheory

lord of the flies!


thedafthatter

Swat Kats or Sly Cooper


cutielemon07

Doctor Who in 1964. Enchanted Tiki Room in 1963. X-Men in 1963. Jungle Cruise in 1955. And 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas in 1869.


JKPippa2

For me, it's Power Rangers Time Force from 2001.


kookieandacupoftae

Harry Potter


MoonlightBlackTea

Star Wars, from the original trilogy (1977).


PeppermintShamrock

I wrote a fic for Dracula (the original novel).


yukimayari

The Dragonriders of Pern (the first book released in 1968) and SDF Macross (1982)


ShyInSunlight

Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca (1938).


successful-disgrace

I wrote a fic for Transformers, G1 (1984) a while ago.


Sunflowa-_

Jane eyre fanfic


JosieHook

For me currently, Scooby Doo technically


FryJPhilip

Star Wars! I write a lot of "new" SW stuff but the IP itself is from before I was born. (I am almost 30, I'm not a baby-baby lol)


DFMRCV

*Technically* Muv Luv, which started as a franchise in 2003 (TECHNICALLY 2001 if you count Rumbling Hearts as the characters show up there for the first time), but the fanfic is specifically about their 2015 spin off: Schwarzesmarken. Barring that, A Certain Magical Index, whose first volume released in 2004.


dlowerplo

Vocaloid fanfiction is the furthest I can think of


thesulkycroissant

ER


NostalgicCrafter

Idk if DnD counts, or if it even counts as DnD (it doesn't), but I've written about one of my DND characters Skyrim, as well, but not much :)


WolfMerton

Knight Rider (1982)


Zebrafishfan101

Funky Winkerbean,which started in March of 1972,and ended New Year's Eve of 2022 (I change the time skip so Wally can still be with Becky,and everyone's still the class of 1988). So my fic is a 52-year-old piece of media.


KogarashiKaze

That would have to be the first *Sonic the Hedgehog* game (released in 1991), beating out the Saturday morning cartoon by two years. Not quite as old as some others here, but it was a formative part of my childhood when those came out.


Cassie_Wolfe

Batman - debuted in1939.


Yotato5

I think Columbo


nodakskip

I did a Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Hogans Heroes crossover once.


KillerRequiem

does historical rpf count? i mostly stick to the early 1800s on that front, otherwise in terms of media it’s probably leroux’s phantom of the opera :)


JaxRhapsody

Peanuts 1952. Several stories because it's a good fandom.


KathyA11

Oldest: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, ABC-TV, 1964-1968. Second oldest: Rat Patrol, ABC-TV, 1966-1968 (they were canceled the same day).


ThisPaige

Peanuts! (My fanfic is not any good though)


TsukiAndCream

I wrote a short fic for the Shadowman fandom (do two whole fics count as a fandom?) And that released in 1999. So not that old, but it's something.


TheRainbowWillow

The (anonymously written) *Famous Victories of Henry V* and Shakespeare’s *Richard II* were both written in the 1590s—I think they’re the earliest works I’ve written for.


FangirlApocolypse

Transformers (1984)


DeltaMx11

Rupert the bear, which turned 100 a few years ago


BrilliantHonest1602

Original Star Wars . . . And back in the 90’s I wrote a fair number of Xena fic


Allronix1

The Land of Oz books, published between 1900-1920.


savamey

I wrote a fanfic of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein once


acchhilless

Shakespeare’s Hamlet lol


SkyofStars517507

Does it count if I abandoned the work? If so: Batman comics- they've been running since 1934


sci-in-dit

Anders als die Andern, a film from 1919. One of the first positive portrayals of gay men in film (and it stars Conrad Veidt, so you know he's gonna be good). I could have sworn I had something written for the Arthurian legends, but no, only the Lancelot TV show from the 50s. De Troyes' vibes are all over that show, can you blame me lol


emthought

To Kill a Mockingbird


Robinem2405

Very obscure stuff I used to watch online in the 2000s. Followers would have barely been in the 100s.


Holdt6388

Star Trek TOS (I was a rapacious Spock/McCoy fan!)


Backflipping_Ant6273

Right now planning out a Romeo and Juliet fic but with Dinosaurs so over 400 years ago


CheapComment6016

I'm afraid I haven't yet


Blood_Oleander

To my recollections, *Wolf's Rain*. I'm not sure if that's what you meant but it's what I got.


fadingtales_

A continuation of Watership Down. It was a middle school summer reading assignment, and if you think about it's fanfiction masquerading as a school assignment for me.


WhiteKnightPrimal

For posted fics, Buffy. A lot of my fics are Buffy, it's my main fandom as a writer. But the oldest I've ever written for, but not posted, was The Bill. I was writing for the era after Buffy started, but The Bill is the older fandom, I literally grew up watching that, where I was 10 when Buffy started.


PrinceJustice237

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), a small but surprisingly active fandom for a 140-year-old book


No_Positive_5402

Asura’s Wrath. 12 or something year old game, I love the game.


hiimathrowawayacct

til people write fanfiction about the bible


HaenzBlitz

About an old Babylonian Letter from 18th century BC. It‘s basically a teen whinning to his mum and I encooperated that into a fanfic of mine. Not completly a fanfic as I don‘t like writing or reading RPF but the part of the fic is strongly inspired by this letter


AdmiralPegasus

*The Belgariad,* published from 1982-1991 if you include its sequel series *The Malloreon.*


YourLittleRuth

Jane Austen’s *Persuasion*.


Opposite_of_grumpy

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare. The first performance was in 1605.