Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Jackson:''' I'm energy now.

'''O'Neill:''' ''(sarcastically)'' How's that working out for you?

 

The character ascends to a higher state of being, [[A God Am I|even becoming a god.]]

 

{{examples}}

 

* In ''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]'', Lain disappears from the Earth after deleting her memory from everybody's minds. Also, Eiri Masami.

* The Ancient One, [[Doctor Strange]]'s mentor, became one with the universe after his death, though he was still available for an occasional consultation.

 

* ''[[Shinji and Warhammer40K]]'': If it doesn't follow the ''exact'' path of the [[God-Emperor|God-Emperor of Mankind]], this is almost certainly going to be the conclusion of [[Messianic Archetype|the life]] of [[Elseworld|this universe's]] Shinji Ikari. As well as possibly [[Yandere|Rei]]; and [[Tsundere|Asuka]].

* In ''[[Night of the Seance]]'' {{spoiler| [[ABBA|Agnetha]]}} does this, but she [https://m.wattpad.com/234962998?m=1 returns to take control] a random person in order to speak with the living, often whoever is close to death or [[Driven to Suicide]].

 

== Film ==

 

{{quote|'''Mo'at''': The Great Mother may choose to save all that she is, in this body.

'''Jake''': Is that possible?

* The ending of ''[[Repo Man]]''.

* The villainess at the end of the ''[[Casper]]'' movie is defeated in this manner; she is killed and becomes a ghost so that she can fly through a treasure vault with ease and grab the loot. Unfortunately for her, by grabbing the loot she has completely fulfilled all her life goals, giving her no reason to linger as a ghost any longer. She is taken away to the afterlife against her will and the treasure is left behind.

** This is strongly hinted in the regular cut as well (or was it one of the earlier movies?) when a character explains Davy Jones' backstory.

* ''[[The Nines]]''—technically more of a re-ascension, since the main character was a sort of god to begin with until he got addicted to playing various human characters in the world he made.

* Obi-Wan in ''[[Star Wars]] IV'', which comes packed with the famous line that fits this trope to perfection...

** Ditto for Qui-Gon, Yoda and Anakin.

* Commander Decker has a sexy ascension with Ilia in ''[[Star Trek: The Motion Picture]]''.

* ''[[Powder (film)|Powder]]'', anyone?

* In ''[[The Matrix Reloaded]]'', this apparently happens to Agent Smith after his...experience in the first movie. He then uses his power to copy himself and replace everyone inside the Matrix, including a Zion rebel inside it at the time.

** An alternate interpretation is that this is an aversion; Neo making him go all explodey is no different than when an Agent is rarely shot; they just take a new host. Because this particular defeat proves the current batch of Agents outdated, Smith simply goes back to the Machines to be replaced, except he feels an un-programmed urge to refuse this and stays in the Matrix instead. Copying onto Bane and leaving to the real world is certainly still an ascension, though.

* Apparently this happened to Valeria after her death in ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]''. She comes back briefly in a form reminiscent of a Valkyrie to aid Conan in the battle against Rexor, much like Belit did in the classic Conan story "[[Queen of the Black Coast]]."

 

== Literature ==

*** At one point it is mentioned that Minds created without emotions and passions similar to those of biological beings universally Sublimate almost immediately.

*** In Buddhist theology, a being who has reached the point of being able to attain nirvana but refuses to do so until all sentient beings may do so is called a bodhisattva; they are technically inferior in insight to the being who does not make such a vow and goes on, but venerated in Buddhist cultures for their compassion...the Culture Minds are essentially bodhisattvas.

* Sublimation is what every race in [[David Brin]]'s ''[[Uplift]]'' universe is supposed to strive for.

* [[Roger Zelazny]]'s ''[[Lord of Light]]'' plays weird with this one. The protagonist's ''enemies'' send him to a place of eternal bliss, because they can't figure out any other way to get rid of him. The book starts with his friends pulling him out, against his will.

* In [[Gabriel Garcia Marquez]]' ''[[One Hundred Years of Solitude]]'', Remedios the Beauty quite unexpectedly ascends to heaven one day, taking the best linen with her. It's a weird book that way.

* ''[[Childhood's End]]'', the famous (and depressing) 1953 science fiction novel by [[Arthur C. Clarke|Sir Arthur C. Clarke]], uses this. Alien Overlords come to Earth, gifting Mankind with incredible technological advances, and creating true world peace. But ultimately, it is revealed that they're a servitor race of a higher entity, and their reason for coming is to prepare Mankind to its final fate: The current generation of humans will be the last one and with them human civilization will cease to exist, as all their children born from that moment on are no longer human and will mind-meld and ascend into a higher form of consciousness that transcends material bodies. Ultimately, that is the fate of all sentient races, except those that are "stuck" and cannot ascend (like the Overlords), doomed to die out or linger on until the stars burn out. All technological or social progress becomes meaningless ([[Writer on Board|according to the author]]) in view of this, and most of the adults of the final generation linger on for a bit before committing suicide.

* The German pulp [[Sci Fi]] series ''[[Perry Rhodan]]'', started in 1961 as weekly issues and still ongoing, introduced the concept of [[Psychic Powers]] that allowed out-of-body travel and ascended entities called "super-intelligences" early on, within the first 50 issues. Later, during the early 1980s, this was expanded into a whole cosmic framework for the series. Sufficiently mentally advanced space-faring races would be fostered by super-intelligences until their individual consciousnesses would either be absorbed into an existing entity or ascend and merge to form a new one. More advanced entities strove to merge with whole galactic clusters and form White Holes, thereby recycling burned-out suns and cosmic matter, until they were ready to transcended the space-time continuum of the multiverse and join the ranks of the real Cosmic Players, the near omniscient forces of [[Order Versus Chaos|Order and Chaos]] called Kosmokrats and Chaotarchs.

* In ''[[Star Trek: New Frontier]]'', Mark McHenry eventually becomes a godlike being and leaves the ''Excalibur'' to prevent others of his race from abusing their abilities.

* In the ''[[Young Wizards]]'' series by [[Diane Duane]], this concept gets used as a moral quandary in one book: is it worth releasing the ultimate [[Sealed Evil in a Can]] to reopen the possibility - just the possibility - of this future for a race which cut themselves off from it (and is just fine with that decision, thank you very much, and actually does seem tremendously ''better off'' the way things are)?

* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' [[Spin-Off]] ''[[Faction Paradox]]'' features the Celestis, a group of Time Lor—err, Great House members who foresee a massive War against an unstoppable Enemy. Terrified of being removed from history if they lose the War, the decide to do it first, erasing their corporeal bodies, but leaving their ''meaning'' behind, existing as [[Memetic Mutation|memes]] in [[Another Dimension]] made of pure concept. Subverts the trope since the Celestis are still the same petty, bitchy, backstabby, ''fearful'' [[Jerkass|JerkAsses]] that they were as mortals. ''[[Universe Concordance|The Book Of The War]]'' puts it best: "Everything can't be all right in a society where everyone's either a god, a slave, or an assassin."

** They, additionally, are remade into [[Reality Warper]]s who can only mantain their existences in the physical universe if someone believes in them and continuously thinks about them in order to serve as their anchors to reality. They, naturally, with their [[Magnificent Bastard|natural]] [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulation]] [[Complete Monster|skills]] entered the business of [[Deal with the Devil|wish-granting]]. They will give you whatever you can wish in the physical universe, within certain limits, at the cost of [[Fate Worse Than Death|imprisoning what amounts to your immortal soul and chaining it in their dungeons to, yes, continuously think about them until they are the only thing in your mind. Forever and ever.]]

* Happens to most of the main characters in ''[[Journey to the West]]'' after Xuanzang retrieves the scriptures.

* In ''[[Animorphs]]'', the Ellimist, [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens|near-godlike already]], effectively does this after being sucked into a black hole. Unfortunately for... well, everything, [[Evil Counterpart|Crayak]] eventually does the same.

** In ''[[Blood Music]]'', a nanomachine civilization becomes so advanced that their sheer presence starts warping reality through some sort of observer effect, forcing it to transcend from the physical world.

* In the [[Isaac Asimov]] short story "The Last Question", this happens to all of humanity and then to the rest of the universe.

* Caitlín is offered this in ''[[Poul Anderson|The Avatar]]''. In fact, it's what the [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] who had engineered all of her [[Reincarnation|several incarnations]] had meant for her to do all along. [[Screw Destiny|However, it's subverted; she declines the offer]].

** With the notable exception of the firstlifes, who created the galaxy-devouring Void.

* ''[[The Malazan Book of the Fallen]]'' does this to every other character. They can literally 'ascend' through unknown means. The most likely way seem to simply be by being awesome.

* An electronic version of this: after the AI Wintermute merges with [[Neuromancer]], becoming a virtual entity beyond living comprehension.

* At the end of ''[[Who Cut the Cheese?]]'' by Mason Brown, Cover is removed from the maze. The frame story characters speculate on what happens next to Cover.

 

 

* In the series finale of ''[[Lost]]'' the entire main cast is dead. They gather in a church in Los Angeles in a sort of Purgatory and are led by Christian Shephard into a bright light that is implied to be heaven.

* ''[[Beggars And Choosers]]'': This was Brad's [[Ass Pull|quick explanation]] for the disappearance of Parker's ashes.

* This to happens to Reapers from ''[[Dead Like Me]]'' (they get "promoted") when they collect their quota of souls.

** It is heavily implied that this is Anders's fate too, hence the "I'll see you on the other side". It also means the two characters ended up [[Together in Death]].

* The [[What Could Have Been|"Coda"]] written for ''[[Andromeda]]'' by Robert Hewitt Wolfe, its original showrunner, who was fired after "Ouroborous", states that Beka would have ended the threat of the Abyss by merging with it and doing this.

 

== Music ==

 

* Happens to Dargor at the end of [[Rhapsody of Fire]]'s Dark Secret Saga.