Holy Burns Evil: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

In video games with [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors]], if Holy and Darkness are elements, this trope will always work, and occasionally the inverse will be true as well.

Compare to [[Kill It with Fire]] and [[Weakened by the Light]]. A subtrope of [[Good Hurts Evil]]. See also [[Protective Charm]]. Most examples that are played for laughs are also [[Faux Horrific]].

{{examples}}

* Alucard from ''[[Hellsing]]'' has holy silver crosses melted down to make his vampire-destroying bullets. And then there's that one time where he can't be bothered to wait for the melted silver to be cast into bullets...

** Alucard himself is affected by stuff of this nature (most notably Anderson's blessed blades), but is so ridiculously powerful that he can generally shrug it off.

* In ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'', [[Our Demons Are Different|demons]] are weak to holy water. The [[Depleted Phlebotinum Shells|bullets]] in [[Church Militant|Rosette's]] guns "use holy water instead of an explosive charge," and in the anime Chrono burns his hand once when he attempts to use it against a demonic enemy.

* The protagonist of ''[[My Balls]]'' encounters a [[Horny Devils|succubus]] posing as a nurse, and tries to scare her off with a cross improvised from a scalpel and his own erect penis. It doesn't work. (Incidentally, does this count as [[Crossing the Line Twice]]?)

 

== Comic Books ==

** Marvel also has it only work if it is a symbol of a god worshiped in the time the vampire was alive. The first vampire Varnae cant be hurt by crosses, for example, because the crucifixion didn't happen until he was over 16,000 years old.

** Marvel also has it that vampires can actually successfully use holy symbols against other vampires (who better than a vampire to know in the power of faith). Dracula himself once drove off a group of vampires hunting him with a large cross, and only suffered minor burns while flying for hours in bat form carrying it to chase them off. This might be a case of 'God was nice' as Dracula had to immediately drop the cross near morning once the threat was over and he was no longer accidentally protecting a young human female and realized he was holding a cross. Obvious this is an extremely rare deal.

* In ''[[Hellblazer]]'', John Constantine makes brilliant use of this by sharing a drink with the Devil - and then disrupting a spell that keeps the liquid from reverting to holy water. He then glasses the Devil in the face with a broken bottle and kicks him into a ''well'' full of the stuff.

* In ''[[I Am Legend]]'', the "vampires" are only hurt by holy symbols if it was symbolic of the religion they followed in their previous life. For example, a former friend of Robert's is undeterred by a cross, yet recoils when presented with a Torah.

 

== Film ==

* In ''[[Fright Night]]'', one gets the feeling Peter Vincent, once he believes, would have the same effect on the vampire without ''need'' of a cross.

* In ''[[The Exorcist]]'', the priest throws (what he claims to be) holy water at Regan, who is under the control of a demon, who screams out this trope's former name.

* ''[[Constantine]]''. Holy water burns the skin of half-demons and makes them much more vulnerable to attack.

* In [[Bill Cosby]]'s [[So Bad It's Good]] movie ''[[Leonard Part Six]]'', exposure to ''meat'' burns the [[Big Bad]]'s vegetarian minions.

* In the first ''[[Harry Potter]]'' book, Harry defeats {{spoiler|Quirrel hosting Voldemort}} by holding {{spoiler|his hand to his face. Quirrel's face burns off because of [[The Power of Love]] from Harry's mother.}}

* Inverted in ''[[Van Helsing]]'': the titular character pulls out a cross in front of Dracula, the count grabs it and it burns up in his hand. It burns him, but he also [[Too Kinky to Torture|gets off]] on it.

* Subverted in ''[[The Devil's Advocate]]'' when the [[Big Bad]] sort of exposes himself by immersing a finger in a church water basin (along with an [[Aside Glance]]). The water boils but the Devil is rather more amused than hurt.

* [[Playing with a Trope|Played with]] in [[The Dead Matter]]. Vellich has this reaction to holy symbols through and through, particularly when {{spoiler|he dies by shoving a cross down his throat}}, but the drug the "new" vampires are taking allows them to be immune to both faith symbols and sunlight.

* In ''[[Santo En Atacan Las Brujas]]'', the mere sight of a large cross wielded by the heroic [[Masked Luchador]] [[El Santo]] is sufficient to cause all the titular witches to burst into flames. Earlier in the film, Santo is able to make some of the witches' wrestling minions flee by simply standing with his own body in the shape of a cross in front of a light source.

 

== Literature ==

* The [[Big Bad]]... [[Eldritch Abomination|thing]]... in ''Summer of Night'' by [[Dan Simmons]] is hurt by holy water. Its servants dismiss this as a habit picked up during its time in the Vatican, leaving open the question of whether Christianity or God really has anything to do with it.

 

** Bibles also burn vampires, as shown in a flashback in [[Angel]].

*** Bibles and other holy books are often decorated with images of crosses.

{{quote|'''Dr. Cox''': I'd make you swear on [[The Bible]], but I know how contact with holy stuff makes your skin sizzle.}}

* Parodied on ''[[Will and Grace|Will & Grace]]'', when Will expresses surprise that Karen Walker can wear a nun's habit without her skin burning

* [[Forever Knight]] vampires are vulnerable to holy objects from any faith, not just crosses and Christian articles. LaCroix's daughter Divia is affected by the Egyptian sun disk in one episode.Nick has a bit of a tolerance to holy items, but it was still interesting when he had to testify in court and put his hand on a Bible. The cross burned into his palm.

* [[Being Human (UK)]] seems to use this with the proviso that you must have faith in the symbols being used. George and the chaplain drive off a pack of vampires; the former using his Star of David and the latter quoting scripture from the Bible.

 

== Professional Wrestling ==

 

* [[Sarah Silverman]] has a joke about religious harmony where she says that her Catholic boyfriend doesn't care that she's Jewish; in fact, he gave her his St. Christopher medal. "He says if it doesn't burn through my skin it will protect me."

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** Further, evil undead aren't so much destroyed by holy areas as they are weakened by it, certain divine spell caster classes may even consecrate or hallow areas at a cost putting them at a distinct advantage against undead. Certain undead 'are' however harmed more deeply by spells that simulate sunlight and in real sunlight such undead, specifically vampires, are destroyed quite quickly.

* ''[[Exalted]]'' codifies this with the 'Holy' and 'Creature of Darkness' mechanics. Put simply, anything that is such a threat to Creation that the Unconquered Sun hates it, it gets put on a list. Some powers (designated 'holy') then have additional effects when used against those on the list. These are political designations, though... some things are condemned simply because their energy signatures are close to truly evil things without being evil themselves, and there are no moral strictures about whom one can wield Holy power against, nor how.

** Becomes almost hilarious when you get to the Solar charms that allow you to put specific things on the list yourself. Conjures up images of a Solar with a sharpie waiting for the Unconquered Sun to go on a bathroom break to scribble on someone's name.

 

== Video Games ==

* ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]] IV'' has Holy Water [http://www.heroesofmightandmagic.com/heroes4/artifacts_potion.shtml as an item]. It can be used either to buff the hero drinking it with the spells "Bless" and "Death Ward" or to injure [[The Undead]]. Humorously, an Undead Hero can drink it and get the bonuses with no ill effects.

* Holy Water has been a standard item throughout the ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' series... blasts all Mooks nearby when used, and takes a good chunk out of any boss's health-meter. Handy on the lower difficulty-levels, a vital resource on the higher ones. Many of the games have had 'No Holy Water Run' as a [[Self-Imposed Challenge]].

* ''[[Elder Scrolls]]: Daggerfall'' let you set your character to take damage from sunlight or holy places. You could also acquire these aversions by becoming a vampire. The sequels of Morrowind and Oblivion continued the vampire aversion to sunlight, but dropped the aversion to holy places.

 

* The storyline from ''[[Casey and Andy]]'' where Satan squares off against the [[Enemy Mime]]... and he's packing a squirt-gun. As it turns out, it was filled with holy water blessed by a dying pope on Easter Sunday directly over the holy sarcophagus of St. Peter.

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'': Ahh! I'm [http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/980508 burning with goodness again!]

'''Dust Puppy:''' Erwin, it's just Vanilla Coke.

'''Evilphish:''' '''[[Web Comics/Funny|IT BURNS! IT BURNS!]]''' }}

 

== Web Original ==

* The online story ''[[Tales of MU]]''. Half-demon Mackenzie is harmed by holy stuff...and people have recently threatened her with holy water.

 

== Western Animation ==

'''New Yorker''': Ahh! Ahh! It burns! Ah, Jeez! [cutaway to a scientist in his laboratory, opening a package]

'''Scientist''': Holy water? Where's that acid I ordered? }}

** Don't forget the time that Homer takes a baptism for his kids to keep them from becoming Flandereses. It doesn't seem to do any lasting damage, but the sound effect and Homer's demonic growl fit pretty well.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]