Anthropomorphic Personification: Difference between revisions

{{trope|wppage=Anthropomorphism}}

{{quote|''"You are utterly the stupidest, most self-centered, appallingest excuse for an [[Department of Redundancy Department|anthropomorphic personification]] in this or any other plane!"''

 

{{quote|''"[[He Who Fights Monsters]] should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you."''

|Friedrich Nietzsche}}

 

 

* Good - May be one of either the [[Dungeon Master]], often kept off-stage; a [[Crystal Dragon Jesus]] who is [[Sealed Good in a Can]]; or sometimes a [[God of Good]].

* Life/Nature - [[Mother Nature]]

* Time - Father Time

 

 

Other less fundamental concepts can have an Anthropomorphic Personification, such as fear and panic, as can [[Nations as People|nations]] and [[Genius Loci|geographical features]].

 

This trope is [[Older Than Dirt]], and maybe even as old as religion itself.

Expect mortals in these settings to be [[Pals with Jesus]] or [[Enemies with Death]]. Killing or [[Tailor-Made Prison|imprisoning]] one of these concepts to discover [[The Problem with Fighting Death]], it's not a good idea to mess with the beings embodying the [[Magical Underpinnings of Reality]]. Sometimes [[You Kill It, You Bought It|if you kill one of these entities you end up replacing them]].

 

 

== Fairy Tales ==

 

== Fan Works ==

So it is with the Sailor Senshi; one cannot be in their presence and ever hope to deny it. Sailor Mars ''is'' Fire, burning passion and intensity. Sailor Venus is shining Light. Sailor Mercury is Water in all its forms. Sailor Jupiter is the Storm and the Lightning. Sailor Uranus is the power of Heaven brought to Earth. Sailor Neptune is the inexorable force of the Sea.

And Sailor Moon -- Sailor Moon is Love.}}

 

== Film ==

* Death in ''[[Meet Joe Black]]'' is one of the endless examples in which it takes human form.

** Actually, he takes the appearance of a man who recently died. We never see what Death actually looks like.

== Literature ==

* Ender Wiggin from [[Ender's Game]] is (arguably) this for the human race: empathetic and yet capable of doing terrible things in the name of survival.

** [[Press Your Luck|And don't forget]] [[Born Lucky|the]] [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Lady]].

** ''Discworld'' largely plays this trope straight—Death ''is'' an Anthropomorphic Personification, born of the theory that 'belief shapes form'; Death isn't a skeleton because of tradition, but because that's what people believe Death looks like.

*** However, in ''Pyramids'', a pharaoh is disappointed that Death doesn't appear as a giant scarab, as per Djelibeibian beliefs. Death wearily explains that he long since gave up trying to match everyone's personal expectations, and settled on the one form that was most common.

* In ''[[Lord of Light]]'' by [[Roger Zelazny]], ''becoming'' an anthropomorphic personification is how one becomes a god:

{{quote|Godhood is more than a name. It is a condition of being.... Being a god is the quality of being able to be yourself to such an extent that your passions correspond with the forces of the universe, so that those who look upon you know this without hearing your name spoken.... One rules through one's ruling passion. Those who look upon gods then say, without even knowing their names, "He is Fire. She is Dance. He is Destruction. She is Love."}}

 

* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the Fourth Doctor dealt with the White Guardian, Anthropomorphic Personification of order, and the Black Guardian, Anthropomorphic Personification of chaos. Seemingly, the White Guardian functioned as the [[Dungeon Master]], guiding the Doctor and his companions on a quest to get the Key to Time, while the Black Guardian tried to trick and corrupt them. However at the end the Doctor realized the Black Guardian had been impersonating the White Guardian all along.

* An embodiment of Death appeared in the ''[[Torchwood]]'' episode "Dead Man Walking".

* ''[[Dead Like Me]]'' is about a [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] of [[The Grim Reaper|Grim Reapers]].

* We do not talk about the [[Coupling|Melty Man]].

* In ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', the Four Horsemen (in addition to their rather unpleasant traditional duties) happen to wear the keys to Lucifer's prison as jewelry. It's implied that, except for Death (who claims to be possibly older than God himself and says he will eventually reap Him) their power actually resides in the rings, opening up the possibility that their roles might conceivably be passed along to someone else.

* Carrying on from the above, [[DC Comics]] has an Anthropomorphic Personification [[Captain Patriotic]], Uncle Sam, the Spirit of America. According to his backstory, Uncle Sam has previously been known as Minuteman during [[The American Revolution]], then became Brother Jonathan between then and [[The American Civil War]], was split into Billy Yank and Johnny Reb during that war, and became Uncle Sam afterwards. [[Dork Age|He was also briefly the space-helmeted Patriot, but we don't talk about that]]. Interestingly, the reason America has an Anthropomorphic Personification but most other countries don't is actually explained- he isn't a natural phenomenon, but, rather, the Founding Fathers specifically created him with a magic ritual to help with the Revolutionary War.

 

* [[Horsemen of the Apocalypse|The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse]] in the [[The Bible|Book of Revelations]] are often treated this way. If a series has a Death, the rest will probably show up in at least one episode.

* [[Japanese Mythology]] is utterly ''ripe'' with these, along with a number of other Asian cultures.

* [[Norse Mythology]]: Thor is thunder personified. Lightning striking the ground is Thor throwing his hammer. Similarly, Logi is the personification of fire, and has an enormous appetite because fire consumes everything it touches. Likewise, Aegir, the sea-god, is the son of Frosti, an ice giant and frost personification, and the father of Snær, a personification of snow.

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* Let's not forget Scythe from the ''[[Fable (video game series)|Fable]]'' series, a personification of Will (the raw form of magic) and ai to Theresa for some odd reason.

* In ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (video game)|Knights of the Old Republic]] II'', Darth Nihilus is a [[Humanoid Abomination]] that personifies Hunger. He feeds on the life force of those he faces, and his entire goal is to [[Omnicidal Maniac|devour all life in the universe]] to satiate his endless hunger.

* It is revealed in the ''[[Darksiders]]'' series that War and his horsemen brothers Death, Strife, and Fury, aside from being the harbingers of the apocalypse, once belonged to a race of beings that were APs of their names.

* In ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'', {{spoiler|Black Battler and Eva-Beatrice}} are those to the ''theories'' about their respective characters being the culprits.

* Parsee from ''[[Touhou Project]]'' has essentially [[Abstract Apotheosis|become]] the Anthropomorphic Personification of [[Green-Eyed Monster|jealousy]].

* ''[[Kantai Collection]]'', also known as ''Kancolle'' features various [[World War II]] ships, especially those of the Imperial Japanese Navy, as anthropomorphic girls.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* ''[[Dominic Deegan|Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire]]'': The "Storm of Souls" arc centers around a match between two champions who become the personifications of Chaos and Balance.

* The "Holiday Wars" arc of ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' is about Bun-Bun murdering his way through a long list of Anthropomorphic Personifications of various holidays - starting with Easter and Groundhog Day, working his way up through Halloween and Thanksgiving, before facing off against his archnemesis, Christmas (in the form of [[Santa Claus]], of course).

* ''[http://www.sacredpie.com Sacred Pie]'' features the personifications of Order and Chaos. Order wears white and Chaos wears black, but don't let the colors fool you; neither of them are what you might call "good".

* ''[http://indepos.comicgenesis.com/ Indefensible Positions]'' features Robert E. Lee as the avatar of Chaos and Ulysses S. Grant as Order, the existence of other avatars is speculated on but never confirmed. {{spoiler|However Lee suggested that Debbie may be a minor avatar of bliss}}

* ''[[Jack (webcomic)|Jack]]'' uses anthropomorphic personifications of the [[Seven Deadly Sins]] (including the titular character, who is not only [[The Grim Reaper]], but the personification of the sin of Wrath), based on what the characters did while they were alive. Being a [[Furry Comic]], in this case they not only can they be "confused with [[Funny Animal]]s", they ''are'' [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Funny Animals]].

* ''[[Scandinavia and The World]]'' is a webcomic about the Scandinavian and Nordic lands(Not necessarily the countries, as certain islands are considered cast members despite never being independent nations) As well as their interactions with other countries.

* ''[[A Beginner's Guide to the End of the Universe]]'' personifies humanity as—who else? -- [[The Everyman]].

* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', every universe is {{spoiler|a giant frog that the Dersite agents call Bilius Slick.}} {{spoiler|And the [[Big Bad]] Jack Noir is the physical manifestation of the cancer that's plauging the kids' universe.}}

* ''[[Taylor's Polynomials|Taylors Polynomials]]'' personifies mathematical equations, including polynomial and trigonometric functions.

* ''[[Katawa Shoujo]]'' picture booru, [https://web.archive.org/web/20180701003112/http://shimmie.katawa-shoujo.com/ Shimmie], has Timewarp-tan, a [[Moe Anthropomorphism]] of a function that moves game backgrounds. Yeah.

* One of the more peculiar consequence of [[Gamergate]] has been the emergence of these among gamers and others invested in GG. [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/vivian-james Among the most notable] being [[Vivian James]], who tends to be affectionately seen as this to modern gaming, in addition to her connections with both [[4chan]] and [[8chan]].

* Also from [[The Imageboard That Must Not Be Named]] are personifications of various religious groups and organizations. Among the most (in)famous being Ebola-chan, [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/isis-chan ISIS-chan] (who represents ISIS and Islamic terrorism in general) and [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/christ-chan Christ-chan] (personifying Christianity in general and a modern version of Ecclesia below).

 

** And Technus for technology, Skulker for the hunt, and the Box Ghost for... boxes.

* The Avatar in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' is the spirit of the planet the series takes place on born into human form. There are other [[Anthropomorphic Personifications]]; most notably, The Ocean Spirit and The Moon Spirit (Sokka's ex-girlfriend).

* ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars]]'': Season three had a three-part arc involving characters known only by their titles, the Father, the Daughter, and the Son, they are the anthropomorphic personification of, respectively; {{spoiler|The balance of the force, the Light side, and the Dark side}}.

 

== Real Life ==

* Britannia, the anthropomorphic personification of the peoples of Great Britain, and the once and future British Empire.

* Political cartoons love playing on relationships between national personifications. In early Canada, where political cartoons were the best way to spread propaganda, the personification of the Lady Canada had a [[My Beloved Smother]] in Britain, and [[Abhorrent Admirer]] in America, and a [[Disappeared Dad]] in France, who often played [[Meddling Parents]] with Britain. The provinces were often seen as her bickering children.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Cosmic Entity]]

[[Category:Religion Tropes]]

[[Category:God Tropes]]

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