Disappears Into Light: Difference between revisions

 

For a less dramatic way of disposing of the dead, see [[No Body Left Behind]]. For the version of this trope that implies a much worse fate, see [[Deadly Fireworks Display]]. Not to be confused with [[Suicide by Sunlight]], where vampires end their unlives by walking into the dawn.

 

 

* The [[Trope Namer]] is ''[[GaoGaiGar]]'', where the [[Super Robot]] uses the [[Drop the Hammer|Goldion Hammer]] to reduce the [[Monster of the Week]] into wisps of light with a cry of "Hikari ni Nare". The trope's name is just one of many possible translations.

** In kind of an odd subversion of the trope, however, the use of the Goldion Hammer is almost always ''non-lethal'': the "Hammer Hell and Heaven" maneuver that starts the attack rips the core containing the human host of the monster (or the cockpit containing the pilot of the enemy mecha, as the first episode of ''FINAL'' showed) out of its body so that they can be returned to normal safely (or arrested {{spoiler|or rather, shot in the face with a bazooka}}).

* In ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'', {{spoiler|[[Artificial Human|Ryoko Asakura]] fades away like this when she is deleted by Yuki Nagato.}}

** Except in ''[[Mai-Otome]]'', {{spoiler|Erstin dies [[Killed Off for Real|normally]].}}

* ''[[Bleach]]''. This happens to Bounts when they die, and Hollows (at least during the first season) when they are purified to go into Soul Society.

* Happened in ''[[Saint Seiya]]'' to Gemini, Shura and Camus, as Hades claimed their bodies

** Also happened {{spoiler|to Alicia Testarossa in Fate's Book-of-Darkness-created [[Lotus Eater Machine]], [[Tear Jerker|fading away in Fate's arms while telling her she loved her and wished she could've been her sister in reality]].}}

* Similarly, this happens to {{spoiler|Sakuya Kumashiro}} in ''[[Tenchi Muyo!|Tenchi in Tokyo]]''.

 

== Comic Books ==

* The corpse of [[Reality Warping]] [[X-Men (Comic Book)|mutant]] Absolom Mercator disappeared from its casket and apparently turned into butterflies.

 

== Film ==

* At the end of ''[[Corpse Bride]]'', Emily is able to move on from being betrayed, and to let Victor be with Victoria instead of trying to take him from her. She fades into blue butterflies, which fly away.

** Arthur Spiderwick makes a similar departure in ''The Spiderwick Chronicles'', although it's dandelion-seed fluff that he's swept away as, and he's being carried off to a fairy realm rather than dying.

* Happens at the end of ''[[Cube]]''.

 

* Astrid in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' special "Voyage of the Damned''.

** And Idris in The Doctor's Wife

* In ''[[Kamen Rider Dragon Knight]],'' being 'vented' looks like this. It's taken from the effect seen in ''[[Kamen Rider Ryuki]]'' when someone or something dissolves in the mirror world. This effect is also used in ''[[Kamen Rider Double]]'' a few times (despite no mirror world thing. [[Fleeting Demographic Rule]] applies to special effects.)

*** In most ''any'' [[Toku]] show, any non-human character who doesn't explode goes out this way instead.

** As Jamie so eloquently puts it during the sum-up of that scene,

{{quote|So our goal was to fuse metal and pancake the car. Did we achieve that? ... ''What car?''}}

 

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' and ''[[Final Fantasy X-2|X-2]]'', dead humans that receive the Sending ritual do this, as do defeated monsters and defeated Aeons. The lights themselves even have a name—pyreflies.

** Interestingly, Cactuars also do this, even though they're not fiends in the traditional sense, and chocobos which aren't fiends at all! However, you're not really supposed to kill the latter.

* Dark Samus dies like this at least twice during ''[[Metroid]] Prime 2''. Of course, being blasted into specks of light is apparently only a momentary setback for her.

** {{spoiler|Adverted in the sequel when Dark Samus explodes rather violently, curing Samus' tumor. ''[[It Makes Sense in Context]]''.}}

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword|The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword]]'': The old woman {{spoiler|also known as Impa}} dies in this way at the end. Her role was fulfilled after {{spoiler|the defeat of Demise, both in the past and in the present}}, and had lived for thousands of years already, justifying the trope.

* How all the Demi-gods that rely on mantra in ''[[Asura's Wrath]]'' die. {{spoiler|Including Asura himself.}}

 

== Web Original ==

* Subverted in ''[[Today I Die]]'', where the Disappear signifies a return to life.

 

== Western Animation ==

* In the newest ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (film)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]] [[The Movie|movie]]'', this happens to one of the supporting characters in the end.

** Partially [[Played for Laughs]] when Michelangelo accidentally inhales some of the floating particles and starts coughing.

* Happens in ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'' with a [[But Now I Must Go]] moment, though said character disappeared into flower petals instead.

* When {{spoiler|Brushogun}} dies in ''[[Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo]]'' this happens. Although this one can be justified in that magic was the only thing keeping him alive in the first place.

* In the fourth season of ''[[Winx Club]]'' {{spoiler|Nabu's body did not disappear after he sacrificed himself, (although it did glow and float a few inches off the ground for some reason) but Layla later uses her magic to turn his body into flowers.}}

* Bunny in [[The Powerpuff Girls]].

[[Category:Our Ghosts Are Different]]

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:Example as a Thesis]]