Life Energy: Difference between revisions

Line 10:

In the west, stealing Life Energy tends to be less common than giving Life Energy. Infusing someone with Life Energy (or sometimes [[Pure Energy|Generic Energy]]) can be used to revive those who are critically injured, or to grant temporary superpowers. Watch out for [[Phlebotinum Overload]], however.

It's connected to [[Our Souls Are Different|souls]], [[Hermetic Magic]], [[Ki Attacks]], [[Psychic Powers]] and other superpowers; see also [[Mana]]. In [[Role Playing Game]] terms, it's the combination of Hit Points, Magic Points, and Experience. Transferring it may cause physical changes that are [[Liquid Assets]]. Occasionally, part of an [[Equivalent Exchange]] to power an [[Artifact of Doom]] or [[Evil Weapon]].

It's connected to [[Our Souls Are Different|souls]], [[Hermetic Magic]], [[Ki Attacks]], [[Psychic Powers]] and other superpowers; see also [[Mana]]. In [[Role-Playing Game]] terms, it's the combination of Hit Points, Magic Points, and Experience. Transferring it may cause physical changes that are [[Liquid Assets]]. Occasionally, part of an [[Equivalent Exchange]] to power an [[Artifact of Doom]] or [[Evil Weapon]].

It should be noted that somehow many spacecrafts' [[Everything Sensor|Everything Detectors]] can scan for it, and yet somehow only pick up humans or things like humans. Bugs, rats and the vast trees of [[Stargate City|Canada-in-the-Pegasus-Galaxy]] do not make the grade, so obviously life signs automatically imply sentience (or at least really-bigness).

Line 34:

* The premise of ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' implies that life energy is essentially the same as spirit energy but is the necessary portion reserved to keep the body running. It seems to be a fair amount, to the point that a person drained of spirit energy can still throw a large enough energy attack to win a battle, provided that they're okay with being dead afterwards. All but one of the four major characters are guilty of this at one point or another, and the main character employs it as a reliable backup strategy.

** Seeing that he's half-demon and can pretty much reincarnate at will, this tactic is pretty cheap.

* Michel of ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]'' steals it from powerful beings. This usually means absorbing them into himself (as he tried to do with Seira), but he left Kaito alive to blackmail Lucia with. Near the end, {{spoiler|his [[Villainous Breakdown]] propels him to kill his own followers to take their energy, even when they ''haven't'' [[You Have Failed Me|provoked it]].}}

* Michel of ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]'' steals it from powerful beings. This usually means absorbing them into himself (as he tried to do with Seira), but he left Kaito alive to blackmail Lucia with. Near the end, {{spoiler|his [[Villainous Breakdown]] propels him to kill his own followers to take their energy, even when they ''haven't'' [[You Have Failed Me...|provoked it]].}}

* Chakra in ''[[Naruto]]'' is a combination of a person's physical and spiritual energy. While it can be used to power jutsus and enhance the body, it is also required to keep the body functioning. If you use up enough that your body has less than the minimum needed for the body, you suffer from chakra exhaustion. If you use up absolutely ''all'' of it you die.

** Natural energy found in the world acts as a third component of chakra if a person is able to learn how to use it. It's present wherever there's life and greatly enhances the body, but drawing too much will overwhelm the user's own chakra and [[Taken for Granite|transform them into stone]].

Line 41:

* ''[[Bleach]]'' features vampire-like creatures called Bount, which drain the lifeforce out of their victims as opposed to blood.

* ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' features Aura (described by Mei Ling as "life force") which is normaly used by Lucario's and, to a lesser extent, Riolu's (oh, and there's the occasional human with Aura abilities). Needless to say, an awful lot of cool powers come with it. How about unlimited vision when you've got your eyes closed, so you'll technically never go blind? Or a cool ball of energy that you can summon out of nowhere?

* Life Energy is a major theme in many ''[[Gundam]]'' works. Various Gundams in later UC stories have Gundams powered by various bits of [[Magitek]] in all but name that run on their pilot's life energy. Used much more blatantly in the less serious ''[[G Gundam]]''. ''[[Gundam Wing]]'' uses it less, but it does feature killer robots who can sense the life energy of their targets, even through metal, [[Infrared X Ray Camera]]-style.

* Life Energy is a major theme in many ''[[Gundam]]'' works. Various Gundams in later UC stories have Gundams powered by various bits of [[Magitek]] in all but name that run on their pilot's life energy. Used much more blatantly in the less serious ''[[G Gundam]]''. ''[[Gundam Wing]]'' uses it less, but it does feature killer robots who can sense the life energy of their targets, even through metal, [[Infrared X-Ray Camera]]-style.

* The plot of ''[[Prétear]]'' pretty much revolves around Life Energy (Leafe). In the manga version, this gets downright cruel: the Knights can only use their [[Elemental Powers]] at the expense of their own Leafe; as a result, whenever Himeno is performing attacks as the Pretear, she drains the Life Energy from whichever Knight she is currently merged with. The Pretear can also ''create'' Leafe, though. Needless to say, the [[Monster of the Week|monsters]] and the [[Big Bad]] of the series really like ''stealing'' Leafe...

* In ''[[Saint Seiya]]'', the key to the Saints' power is their cosmos. Whoever can burn his cosmo to the higher level wins, no matter how injured or weakened they are.

Line 64:

== Literature ==

* [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' series uses a fairly [[Magic A Is Magic A|well-developed magic system]] that is based almost entirely around this concept. All living beings generate Life Energy, which drains away from them [[Background Magic Field|into the ambient environment]], eventually collecting into [[Ley Line]]s. Where two or more Ley Lines meet, you have a [[Place of Power|Node]], which is a massively powerful energy source that only [[Power Levels|Adepts]] can hope to use without burning themselves out. The ultimate destination of this energy is the nether plane, from which it then reenters the world through living beings. Mages are people who have the innate capability to store additional magical energy within themselves, see this energy, and instinctively manipulate it. It's also possible to manipulate it without mage talent via rituals or [[Blood Magic]]. A person wholly drained of life energy, whether from [[Blood Magic]] or [[Cast ~~From~~ Hit Points|spellcasting beyond their capacity]], will lapse into a coma and die. Accordingly, it can also be used to [[Liquid Assets|heal people]], although this is most efficiently performed by those with the [[Healing Hands|specific talent]] for it.

* [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s ''[[Heralds of Valdemar]]'' series uses a fairly [[Magic A Is Magic A|well-developed magic system]] that is based almost entirely around this concept. All living beings generate Life Energy, which drains away from them [[Background Magic Field|into the ambient environment]], eventually collecting into [[Ley Line]]s. Where two or more Ley Lines meet, you have a [[Place of Power|Node]], which is a massively powerful energy source that only [[Power Levels|Adepts]] can hope to use without burning themselves out. The ultimate destination of this energy is the nether plane, from which it then reenters the world through living beings. Mages are people who have the innate capability to store additional magical energy within themselves, see this energy, and instinctively manipulate it. It's also possible to manipulate it without mage talent via rituals or [[Blood Magic]]. A person wholly drained of life energy, whether from [[Blood Magic]] or [[Cast from Hit Points|spellcasting beyond their capacity]], will lapse into a coma and die. Accordingly, it can also be used to [[Liquid Assets|heal people]], although this is most efficiently performed by those with the [[Healing Hands|specific talent]] for it.

** Lackey's ''Children of the Night'' has '[[Our Vampires Are Different|psi-vamps]]' who drain energy from others. In this case the energy is [[Emotion Eater|tied to emotions]]—they drain excitement at first, and later hate and fear. Also, a completely drained victim is usually not physically dead, but is [[The Stoic|emotionally/mentally burned out]] (described as a mindless hulk, with no chance of recovery).

* The ''[[Night Watch]]'' series of novels has the "Others", a group of superpowered and supernatural humans forced to choose between good and evil when they first gain knowledge of their gift, can get energy from taking the emotions of normal humans and store it for later use. Some are actual vampires, and do need blood in addition to any life energy they get, albeit not necessarily human blood. {{spoiler|The good Others take happiness and joy, leaving those they take power from depressed and likely to kill themselves, while the evil Others take fear and depression away, leaving their victims happier and feeling more capable of dealing with problems. Although when it's not a simple one time feeding they establish a cycle where the Others create the emotions they feed off in their actions. So a famous Pioneer Camp is used as a rest resort, the Light feed during the days while helping the kids have fun, while the dark ones feed of the same kids fears at night.}}

Line 79:

== Live Action TV ==

* In the [[Korean Drama]] ''[[My Girlfriend Is a Nine Tailed Fox]]'' the titular multi-tailed fox (who has taken form as a beautiful human woman) gives a mortally injured man an "energy bead" to keep him alive.

* In the [[Korean Drama]] ''[[My Girlfriend Is a Nine-Tailed Fox]]'' the titular multi-tailed fox (who has taken form as a beautiful human woman) gives a mortally injured man an "energy bead" to keep him alive.

* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' has Captain Sheridan die but then get resurrected with an infusion of life energy. He was told, however, that regardless of medical procedures, his body would just "stop" after a period of time. Another plot involved an alien artifact that transferred life energy (it was used for capital punishment {{spoiler|and occasionally for medical purposes too}}).

* In ''[[Doctor Who]],'' the Fendahl consumed the full spectrum of Life Energy, causing rapid decay of the corpses it left.

Line 94:

== Tabletop Games ==

* ''[[~~Dungeons and Dragons|~~Dungeons & Dragons]]'' has many creatures that can [[Level Drain|drain life energy levels]], such as many undead, succubus demons and so on. Class Levels being certainly the most hardly-earned feature of a PC, such creatures are greatly feared—especially in 1st and 2nd edition, where such drains were permanent with no saving throw. Later editions have somewhat nerfed this power, to the regret of any [[Killer Game Master|serious GM]].

* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' has many creatures that can [[Level Drain|drain life energy levels]], such as many undead, succubus demons and so on. Class Levels being certainly the most hardly-earned feature of a PC, such creatures are greatly feared—especially in 1st and 2nd edition, where such drains were permanent with no saving throw. Later editions have somewhat nerfed this power, to the regret of any [[Killer Game Master|serious GM]].

** ''[[Spelljammer]]'' also included lifejammers—a spelljamming helm was a chair which allowed one to pilot a vessel into space by draining spell energy; a lifejamming helm ... well, you can figure it out from there. Lifejammers were particularly popular among evil beings such as neogi and undead, who were fond of subjecting their slaves and captives to this.

* ''[[GURPS]] Aliens''. The Gloworms feed on Life Energy by touching other living creatures. They can feed on animals but prefer sentient victims.

Line 142:

[[Category:Tropes of the Soul]]

[[Category:Magic and Powers]]

[[Category:~~Life Energy~~]]

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]