Stars Are Souls

A very common belief in some primitive cultures that has somehow crept into modern media: that when someone dies, their spirit rises into the sky and becomes a star. Quite popular for its romantic imagery of stars and as an easy answer for "where people go after they die". As usual when such ideas are imported into the popular culture, a certain amount of mutation and misunderstanding takes place, and variations such as "souls are stars from the start, just not yet in the sky" are commonly seen.

Related somewhat to Fluffy Cloud Heaven imagery as a description of the afterlife, only in this case the location "in the sky" is expressed somewhat more literally, but often with fewer direct religious complications.

Interestingly, some cultures also believe that falling stars are souls from the sky coming to earth.

Anime and Manga

 * The final scene of Sailor Moon has Usagi placing her hand over her heart and saying a star was just born (her daughter conceived).
 * Darker than Black has Earth bubbled in the new sky, where stars correspond to living Contractors, reflect their use of powers and movement (though it's not precise or quite real-time), and "fall" when the respective Contractor dies. Thus the observatories have great practical importance and are on quick-dial of local security services. In that people in power like to at very least be notified when a notoriously unhinged Person of Mass Destruction arrives into their country, and of course try to control the situation much more than this.

Film -- Animated

 * In The Lion King, Simba says he was taught that the stars are the spirits of the old kings, which gets a confirmation when he later receives a starry vision of his father. Timon, on the other hand, claims that stars are fireflies that got stuck in the sky. That also got confirmed...by The Princess and the Frog.
 * In The Princess and the Frog, when Ray dies, he becomes a star like Evangeline, who may or may not also be an example of this.

Film -- Live Action
"Draco: To the stars Bowen. To the stars."
 * In Dragonheart, good dragons who die become a star in the Draco constellation. This happens to Draco when he dies.


 * Done to Hercules at the end of the 1983 film starring Lou Ferrigno.
 * In Stardust when Tristan and Yvaine die they become Twin Stars.

Literature

 * In one Percy Jackson and The Olympians novel, the goddess Artemis's Lancer is killed. She is honored with a whole constellation.
 * This explanation is given in Redwall.
 * In Warrior Cats, when a Clan cat dies they go to Starclan.

Music
"Who in their lifetime is good on Earth will become an angel after death (...) Once the clouds have gone to sleep You can see us in God's keep ''We are afraid and alone."
 * Rammstein's song "Engel" ("Angel") is about this.

Myth and Legend

 * Orion was made into a constellation after being killed by Apollo's scorpion (also a constellation).
 * Heaven is sometimes depicted this way.

Video Games

 * Happens to Raphael Raven in Yoshi's Island.

Western Animation

 * Bionicle: subverted, Spirit Stars appear before a Toa is created or when a Toa completes a certain task.
 * One Looney Tunes short ended with Wile E. Coyote accidentally blasting himself off into space and exploding, creating a constellation of himself in the process.