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The Ferry Man: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{cleanup|Many of the examples here confuse The Ferry Man with some form of [[Psychopomp]] - these examples need to be moved to the correct sub-page of that super-trope.}}
[[File:dont pay the ferryman.jpg|frame|Venice ain't what it used to be.]]
An old archetype,
The most classic depiction is [[Psychopomp|Charon of the River Styx]], who aided souls across said river if he was paid, as there was a worse price to pay if you tried to swim through the waters. And like Charon, the archetype's representative need not be good or even evil; the character need not also be a (male) keeper of a ferry; practically anything that can transport something/someone from one place to another is considered acceptable, including flight, teleportation, or even "dream walking".
In some cases the Ferryman is the neutral counterpart to
The Ferry Man has some overlap with [[Psychopomp]] (a character who takes somebody from the land of the living to the land of the dead). However, the Ferry Man can also be a normal human who plys his trade on perfectly mundane bodies of water.
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Botan of ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' <ref>along with the other ferry girls</ref> is the Japanese equivalent of the Ferryman,{{verify}} which is why she wields a paddle as a weapon.
* Oddly enough Truthkun of [[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]] (only in the manga and second anime). He is neutral, requires a toll, is oddly personal, knows more than he's saying, and is connected to death.
==
* In ''The Grievous Journey of Ichabod Azrael (and the Dead Left in His Wake)'', the ferryman appears as a grizzled old prospector type who carries each soul down the river towards judgement.▼
* Charon is the [[Ur Example]].▼
* In the series ''All Star Superman'', Lex Luthor is aided from his escape from prison by his niece Nasthalthia, who acts a ferryman by rowing Lex and Clark Kent to safety.▼
* Although there is also the lesser known [[wikipedia:Phlegyas|Phlegyas]]▼
== [[Literature]] ==
* There's a character in ''[[The Amber Spyglass]]'' who is basically Charon, though he's not named. He (unwillingly) ferries Lyra and Will to the land of the dead.
* The Ferryman plays a very important symbolic role in Herman Hesse's ''Siddartha'', where he enables Siddartha to pass between various phases in his life.
* In ''[[An Elegy for the Still-living]]'' Acheron himself shows up...as the name of an ocean, which then proceeds to play this trope straight.
* In ''[[The Friendship Song]]'', the ferryman appears as Harper and Rawnie's school principal, demanding gold or something worth gold.
* In ''[[Warrior Cats]]'', this role is shared by all of StarClan. They pick one of their warriors to guide a cat who is dying to them, usually one who was important in the dying cat's life. The only cat this didn't happen for is {{spoiler|Ashfur}}.
== [[Music]] ==
* "Don't Pay the Ferryman", [[Chris de Burgh]]'s first hit single in the UK, is about not paying "the hooded old man at the rudder" until after he's completed his service, no matter what happens during the journey.
== [[Oral Tradition]], Folklore, Myths and Legends ==
▲* Charon is the [[Ur Example]].
== [[Video Games]] ==
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* Charon himself appears in [[God of War (series)|God of War]]: Chains of Olympus. {{spoiler|You kill him.}}
==
* ''[[Animaniacs]]'' has Charon appear to help the Warner Brothers (and Sister) escape from Hell. [[Crowning Moment of Funny|And then he sings with them.]] No, really.▼
▲* In ''The Grievous Journey of Ichabod Azrael (and the Dead Left in His Wake)'', the ferryman appears as a grizzled old prospector type who carries each soul down the river towards judgement.
▲* In the series ''All Star Superman'', Lex Luthor is aided from his escape from prison by his niece Nasthalthia, who acts a ferryman by rowing Lex and Clark Kent to safety.
==
* [http://caricatura.ru/black/korsun/1612/ Charon, the new version].
▲* [[Animaniacs]] has Charon appear to help the Warner Brothers (and Sister) escape from Hell. [[Crowning Moment of Funny|And then he sings with them.]] No, really.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Archetypal Character]]
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