Fertile Feet: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

There are a lot of ways to tell the White Hats from the Black Hats, but one pretty good [[A Worldwide Punomenon|rule of (green) thumb]] is that anyone who can bring flowers into existence just by stepping on soil is ''probably'' not evil. This person is not just a [[Friend to All Living Things]] but a potent force for good who is very likely [[The Messiah]], a [[Physical God]], or a credible runner up. At the very least they have a [[Green Thumb]], and in extreme cases are so powerful and so Good that their aura bleeds out into the world as [[World-Healing Wave|a source of healing and growth.]]

 

Not related to the giant Aurgelmir in [[Norse Mythology]], whose feet [[Squick|mated with one another]] and gave him the son Thrudgelmir, the first of the frost giants.

{{examples}}

* [[Hayao Miyazaki]]'s [[Princess Mononoke]] had this trope with the Forest Spirit, who gave and took life. Where-ever he stepped, plant life shot out of the ground, only to regress and presumably die when his foot left the ground.

* In ''[[Pokémon 3]]: Spell of the Unown'', the illusory Entei makes crystals grow where he steps down on the ground. The plot of the movie involves the Pokémon Unown causing similar crystals to grow, and since they created Entei, it serves to connect the two together. It becomes obvious that the Unown can only affect reality within an area defined by the crystal growth. Hence Entei isn't making crystals grow wherever he steps, the Unown are making crystals grow so Entei can step on them.

* Belldandy does this in the "Fighting Wings" duology of the ''[[Ah! My Goddess]]'' anime. Lind grows a flower in the palm of her hand, showing that even [[Badass]] [[An Axe to Grind|halberd-wielding]] [[Valkyries]] have a softer side.

 

* Shalla Bal in one ''[[Marvel Comics|Silver Surfer]]'' story. She is able to return life to their homeworld after the Surfer infuses her with some of his cosmic power.

* In ''[[Hellboy (comics)|Hellboy]]:'' "The Nature of the Beast", there's a legend that the monk who first killed the St. Leonard Worm was injured fighting the dragon, and lilies grew from the places in the valley where his blood fell. Then when Hellboy fights the Worm, lilies grow from where ''his'' blood falls. This is significant because Hellboy is a half demon and the prophesied [[The Antichrist|Antichrist]] equivalent of the setting, however he is so staunchly good he is (up to now) an [[Anti-Anti-Christ]].

* In an early issue of ''[[The Books of Magic]]'', the protagonist has just defeated the Manticore, the secret plague that's been turning the Fairy world into a desert, but has been badly wounded in the process. His blood is chock-full of magic, though, so even as he's bleeding out stumbling around, his blood droplets restore plant life to the world.

 

* Shishigami, in ''[[Princess Mononoke]]''. It should be noted that the Shishigami doesn't give just life but both life and death—and the plants that spring up from its footsteps immediately die and rot away. It seems to make plants go through their life cycle faster. {{spoiler|But when the Shishigami is decapitated, his headless and still-moving body turns into a [[Walking Wasteland]].}}

* The Spring Sprite in the "Firebird Suite" segment of ''[[Fantasia]] 2000'', most likely inspired by ''[[Princess Mononoke]]''.

* Crysta by the end of ''[[Fern Gully]].''

* It happens in ''[[Kirikou and The Sorceress]]'' {{spoiler|when [[Kid Hero|Kirikou]] pulls out [[Hot Witch|Karaba]]'s magical thorn from her back, automatically, [[Heel Face Turn|making her good]] and reverting her [[Walking Wasteland]] so the plants and flowers grow back prettier than before. Truly eyeful!}}

* The [[Animated Adaptation]] of ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia|The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe]]'' has Aslan do this after resurrecting from the Stone Table.

* In the ''[[Barbie]]'' adaption of ''The Nutcracker'', Clara walks through a snowy landscape and wherever her feet step, the snow and ice melts and little purple flowers bloom in the melted footprints. She doesn't notice.

* The Nature Elemental from ''[[Hellboy (film)|Hellboy II: The Golden Army]]'' subverts this trope, since it's a [[Designated Villain]] (but also [[Last of His Kind|last of its kind]]).

* In ''[[Pan's Labyrinth]]'', after Ofelia {{spoiler|dies after refusing to harm her half-brother}}, the dead tree whose parasitic frog she removed has a single, beautiful flower bloom on it where she briefly touched it. This is appropriate considering her actions {{spoiler|allowed her reentry into the fairy kingdom, "redeeming" her soul from base humanity and making her something close to a saint}}. Director commentary runs to the effect of "Even if all the effect she had on the world was the blooming of a single flower on a dead tree, then her life had meaning."

* Anneke in the Russo-Finnish production ''[[The Day the Earth Froze]]'' briefly caused flowers to bloom in her wake when Lemmenkainen and Ilmarinen rescued her from the witch Louhi. Louhi and her imps then went on a frenzy of stomping the flowers, because ([[For the Evulz|being evil and all]]) she hated anything beautiful.

** When this movie was given the ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' treatment, Joel looked at the witch during this scene and pondered, "Geez, I wonder what her Myers-Briggs test was like."

 

== Literature ==

* ''[[Discworld]]''

** Lúthien Tinúviel in ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' does this. [[Troperiffic|And how]].

** In ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', King Theoden's ''horse'' does this to its grave. The horse was buried where he was killed, and grass grew lushly over the grave. (In contrast to the Nazgul [[Giant Flyer]]'s death-spot, which [[Walking Wasteland|remained forever barren]].) Also happens with other burial sites, with those of evil beings staying barren.

* Flowers are said to have sprung up in the wake of Blessed Elua in Jacqueline Carey's ''[[Kushiel's Legacy]]'' books.

* Hannah, protagonist of Meredith Ann Pierce's ''Treasure at the Heart of the Tanglewood'', grows plants appropriate to the season—which usually seem to end up being useful—''in her hair''. She also, as it turns out, brings the seasons with her when she travels, including flowers in spring, grains in summer and falling leaves in autumn. {{spoiler|[[Sarcasm Mode|Surprisingly enough]], she turns out to be [[Living MacGuffin|the]] [[MacGuffin Girl]] whom both the [[Big Good]] and the primary antagonist were after.}}

* Easter/Eostre of the Dawn does this in ''[[American Gods]]'', on her way to {{spoiler|bring Shadow back from the land of the dead.}}

* In [[Ian McDonald]]'s ''Desolation Road'', there's a green evolved human from the future. Grass grows in the desert in his footsteps.

** At the beginning of ''Towers of Midnight'', Rand descends from Dragonmount after resolving his internal conflict and makes an entire orchard of [[How Do You Like Them Apples?|apples]], which had been shriveled by the Dark One's touch, bloom instantly. Later, he makes bitter tea turn fresh just by entering the same room. It gets to the point in the book where virtually everyone can tell when Rand is near, simply because the sun starts shining, and everything starts blooming like there's no tomorrow (though this is purposely excluded in a capital city ruled by one of his lovers).

** All of this is because of the prophecy stating that [[Fisher King|the Land is one with the Dragon]]. The spoilage of previous books is because of him moving towards the darkness.

* In Zilpha Keatley Snyder's novel ''The Changeling'', Martha and Ivy invent a fantasy kingdom of Tree People with [[Amazing Technicolor Population|pale green skin]] and [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|dark green hair]] in which flowers grow naturally. (The Tree People later developed into Snyder's [[Green-Sky Trilogy]] and, eventually, the "Below the Root" video game.)

* Clive Barker's ''[[Weaveworld]]'' has two examples of this. The first plays the trope straight, with a temple so chock-full of magic that any disturbances (such as walking through it) sprouts a lush undergrowth. The second is an inversion, with a Garden of Eden-like setting covered in flora, which withers away and turns to sand when someone walks through it.

* Briar Moss uses this in Tamora Pierce's ''[[Circle of Magic|Street Magic]]'' invokes this when he has a [[Tranquil Fury|very rational and very controlled]] [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]. Briar has [[Green Thumb]] in asskicking, so when he has enough, he uncorks his power and seeds and plant-based material come to live and sprout in his wake. In broad daylight. Most mages make an effort to fit into normal society, so seeing one obviously not making the effort was a great way to encourage people to get out of his way.

* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Prospero's Daughter|Prospero Regained]]'', the Water of Life has this effect on its environs. Even in Hell.

 

== Music Videos ==

* Ditto for the video of Linkin Park's "In the End", where Mike Shinoda leaves a trail of growing grass.

 

** Traditionally, vampires were corpses possessed by demons; it reminds them if their host is destroyed, they will return to Hell.

* There is a Yiddish folktale about two girls, a kind one and a mean one. The kind one received a blessing that caused roses to spring up where she walked, and the mean girl got a curse that made nettles spring up in her footsteps.

 

 

== Religion ==

** The Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas" has a variation where the ground gets so warm that grass grows in the middle of winter.

** It's also a pretty common motif in psalms. There is one Swedish example of God's footsteps not only bringing flowers but also overflowing with fat. [[It Makes Sense in Context|Food wasn't as plentiful back then.]]

* Also, Suvetar, the Finnish goddess of spring.

* The newborn Buddha is sometimes said to have left lotuses in his footsteps when he walked after birth.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]''

** The Flowering kith of Fairest cause flowers to spring wherever they step... though it takes months for them to do so in the real world, while in Arcadia and The Hedge it's instantaneous.

** Same thing with the Spring Court and their Mantle. At low levels, those close to them feel a gentle, fragrant breeze, but at high levels, plants tend to grow out of the sidewalk if they stick around long enough.

** There's also the Moon And Earth Blessing from the Ink Monkeys, a Lunar Charm that allow them to do the same, on a smaller scale. On the other hand, they can do it as a dramatic action, it doesn't require anywhere near as much essence much less a massive blood sacrifice, and they can do it any day of the year rather than just on the first day of the first month.

 

 

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[Black and White]]'', made by the same people who later made ''[[Fable (video game series)|Fable]]'', a very Good Creature has the same effect. Conversely, a very Evil Creature leaves smoldering footprints.

* When you're maxed out good in ''[[Fable (video game series)|Fable]]'', a halo appears over your head and flowers and butterflies also randomly show up when you stand still. As soon as you move, the effect disappears.

** Amaterasu. The faster she runs, the more lush the foliage, although it disappears just as quickly as it sprouts up. In water, Amaterasu leaves a trail of lily pads behind her; in midair, a flurry of autumn leaves. This passive ability is amplified after gaining the Growth Brush technique. The flowers in her wake are already bloomed, and at full speed, the flowers turn ''gold''.

** Amaterasu even does this in ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]'', while running up [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Super-Skrull's]] outstretched arm. With [[Viewtiful Joe]] riding her, yet!

* ''[[Bayonetta]]'', from the [[Platinum Games|same development studio]], has Bayonetta leaving behind a small trail of black plants whenever she is running in panther form.

** Alex Mercer himself gets in on the act: his health regeneration powers are so potent that {{spoiler|his stepping into the residue of the Supreme Hunter he just killed allows it to ''come back to life''}}.

* Another evil example in ''[[Thief]]''. {{spoiler|Viktoria leaves mosses at her touch until she shows her true form as a dryad, when creeping vines sprout from around her feet and grow in her wake.}}

** God also has this power.

 

== Web Comics ==

* The Hob from ''[[Dresden Codak]]''. Although apparently it's cybernetically-enhanced flowers.

* ''[[Minus]]'' The title character in [http://www.kiwisbybeat.com/minus36.html this strip], though it's not her usual state.

* ''[[MSF High]]'' has any Legion, which is actually their main ability. They are natural terraformers.

* ''[[Sinfest]]''

 

== Web Original ==

* After he becomes the Avatar of Life Magic, Lwan Eddington of ''[[Tech Infantry]]'' tends to have plants and animals spontaneously spring up around him wherever he goes. He even manages to create an entire fertile region on an asteroid-blasted Earth.

 

== Western Animation ==

* Gaia in ''[[Captain Planet]]'' left trails of flowers in her footsteps whenever she appeared in the human world.

* Van Kleiss in ''[[Generator Rex]]'' can do this, and he's the ''[[Big Bad]]''! However, it only works in the area around his castle, which is infused with nanites that he controls. He may arguably have been invoking the trope at the time to get Rex to let his guard down.

* The second season opening of ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' depicts Jimmy as being able to turn anything he touches into a happy, beautiful thing. He never has this power in the show, though.

* This happens every Friday the 13th for Misery in ''[[Ruby Gloom]]''.

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Weather and Environment]]

[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]

[[Category:These Tropes Are Made for Walking]]

[[Category:Tropes of Nature]]

[[Category:Floral Tropes]]