Virtual Ghost: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

The [[Sci Fi]] version of the [[Spirit Advisor]].

 

 

[[Unwanted Revival|They may not be thrilled by this]], but as they're dead, they don't get any say in the matter.

Usually overlaps with [[Intangible Man]]. If [[Cyberspace]] is involved, they will be corporeal in that plane.

 

 

 

 

 

{{examples}}

* In ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', when the Sailor Senshi are transported to the lunar ruins of the Moon Kingdom they are greeted by the virtual ghost of Queen Serenity, Sailor Moon's mother from her previous life.

* Bunches of examples from ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]''.

** Motoko from the movie wonders if she is a virtual ghost, and if her personality and memories are, in fact, [[Fake Memories|programmed]], due to the small amount of brain matter she is left with.

** {{spoiler|Motoko Aramaki and the rest of the "children" of Motoko and the Puppetmaster were not born with biological bodies, and yet have a "ghost".}}

* Noah (and Gozaburo) Kaiba in the [[Overtook the Manga|anime-only]] Virtual Nightmare [[Arc]] of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]!''

* The final fate of {{spoiler|1=Harry MacDougall}} in ''[[Outlaw Star]]'', after {{spoiler|he died and fulfilled the series' quota for [[Made of Plasticine]]}}.

* [[Deconstructed Trope]] in ''[[Dennou Coil]]'', where several virtual ghosts appear that are {{spoiler|fleeting remnants of consciousnesses of eyeglass-users who got ''too'' integrated into the network and died. [[Nightmare Fuel|They're barely sentient and appear as tormented, shadowy beings]].}}

* {{spoiler|Tieria Erde}} in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' [[The Movie]].

** George Glenn in ''[[Gundam SEED Astray]]'' is a semi-example. [[Brain In a Jar|Though he's still technically alive]], he can only interact with the outside world through a hologram.

* ''[[Zegapain]]'' is about this trope and giant robots.

 

 

* The ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'''s Bishop had a sister named Shard who was essentially this.

* The [[Crazy Prepared|Batman-like]] version of The Black Terror featured in ''[[Tom Strong]]'' and its spinoff ''Terra Obscura'' had created one of these before his death. Once activated, Terror 2000 manifests as a hologram projected from a swarm of floating golf ball-sized machines.

 

== Films -- Live Action ==

* Subverted in the film version of ''[[I, Robot (film)|I Robot]]''. A dead scientist leaves behind a 2D holographic recording of himself to guide the main character, but this is a more realistic hologram than most, in that it is a simple computer program rather than a copy of the dead man's personality. Its most commonly-used statement is "I'm sorry, my responses are limited; you must ask the right question." Sonny himself describes the hologram simply as part of a "[[Trail of Bread Crumbs]]".

* Jobe becomes one of these at the end of ''[[Lawnmower Man]]'', after consciously putting himself into the network and leaving his body behind.

* ''[[Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow]]''. A [[Nikola Tesla|Tesla]] coil-projected image of [[Mad Scientist]] Dr Totenkopf warns off the protagonists, but it turns out he's been [[Dead All Along|dead for over twenty years]], leaving his robots to carry out his scheme. The actor playing Dr. Totenkopf is one of these, too: the legendary [[Laurence Olivier|Sir Laurence Olivier]]. Like his character, Olivier had been dead for a while (15 years at the time of filming) and appears via computer manipulated stock footage.

* A future human society in [[Stephen Baxter]]'s ''[[Manifold Space]]'' makes use of "limited-sentience projections" as messengers. Initially Nemoto appears several times via more ordinary holographic telepresence, making for an unexpected [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]] moment when another character asks the projection what exactly it is; Virtual Nemoto explains and then looks horrified before dissolving into light.

* The fairly transhumanist novel ''Newton's Wake'' has virtual ghosts as self-aware beings who happen to be susceptible to the same kinds of access restrictions and file system commands as regular bunches of data. Some characters treat owning and utilizing virtual ghosts as slavery. Others test the defenses of computer systems by throwing copies of ghosts at them.

* Calvin Sylveste in Alastair Reynolds' ''[[Revelation Space]]'' (and also, to some extent {{spoiler|Sun Stealer and the Mademoiselle}}).

** This being [[Crapsack World|Richard Morgan]], a major practical consequence of cortical stack technology is [[Fate Worse Than Death|bypassing the pesky "death" part of torturing someone to death]].

** Subverted in that if you destroy the stack that person is [[Killed Off for Real|referred to by the characters as real death]].

* ''[[Super Force]]'' featured a low-resolution image of Patrick McNee as the digital recreation of a dead scientist.

* ''[[VR Troopers]]'' had the same thing.

** Centuries after his death no less.

* Jor-El in ''[[Smallville]]'' is probably one of these, though admittedly, it is not quite explicit exactly ''what'' he is.

* Dr Carroll in ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' is the mind of a dead scientist programmed into a floating laptop computer. He appears in human form in [[Prequel|Perfect Dark Zero]].

* This is [[Mega Man Battle Network|Megaman.EXE]]'s origin in the video games. Interestingly, not present in the anime version of ''[[Mega Man NT Warrior]]''.

*** In fact, the end of ''X5'' suggests {{spoiler|that Light's hologram is capable of existing outside the capsules. In fact, the capsules in the game show that the hologram knows who Zero is (there are various explanations for this), but also who Alia is, which would be impossible for the original, living Dr. Light. In addition, he actually tells Zero early in the game that he has no knowledge of Zero's systems, so he can't upgrade him, but then states later, in a hidden capsule, that he's done some research and can now upgrade Zero. A very capable Virtual Ghost, indeed.}}

** ''[[Mega Man X]]'' himself takes a page out of his creator Dr. Light's book. X is now an [[Energy Being]] to serve as Zero's [[Obi Wan]] when ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'' rolls around.

** It is possible for a "smart" AI to hang on for a little longer than seven years, if it has a purpose to do so. Juliana, the AI of the Rubble asteroid base in ''[[The Cole Protocol]]'', only shows small signs of rampancy despite being older than 7. However, after the end of her purpose, she volunteers to make a [[Heroic Sacrifice]].

** Forerunner AI {{spoiler|343 Guilty Spark}} is based off the mind of {{spoiler|a prehistoric human named Chakas}}.

* The VI located on ''[[Mass Effect]] 1'''s planet Ilos contains the last untouched record of [[Precursors|the Protheans]] to {{spoiler|send a message to future civilizations warning them of the [[Eldritch Abomination|Reaper]] threat.}} While the VI is not a ghost ''per se'', it has access to a vast amount of personal data and information about the Protheans that is unlike anywhere in the extant Galaxy, and claims its personality is loosely based on the project director's. To say that the dialogue that occurs between Shepard and the VI is [[Incredibly Lame Pun|haunting]] would be an understatement.

** The Quarians played this trope straight as a way to preserve their ancestors memories and knowledge, but stopped after the Geth rebellion put the fear of true AI into them.

* Jefferson Clay in the Independence War series became one of these in his final battle. Created without consent, he is understandably upset about his situation and acts as the ship's resident [[Deadpan Snarker]].

* {{spoiler|Prometheus}} is this in both ''[[The Conduit]]'' and ''[[Conduit 2]]''.

* Lumi in ''[[Child of Eden]]''.

* Ma3a in ''[[Tron|Tron 2.0]]'' straddles the lines of this, [[Brain Uploading]], and [[Interface with a Familiar Face]]. {{spoiler|Dr. Lora Baines-Bradley was killed by being partially digitized with her laser. Whether by accident or design, the part of her left in cyberspace was compiled with the AI project she and Alan were working on, creating Ma3a.}}

 

 

== Web Comics ==

* Deconstructed with remarkable speed and efficiency in ''[[Freefall]]'' strips [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00380.htm #380] through [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00383.htm #383].

* Similarly deconstructed in '''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'', [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20010319.html here] and [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20010320.html here].

* ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'' offers an interesting take on this: {{spoiler|Church is killed early in the series and "comes back" as a ghost. However, in ''Reconstruction'' he finds that he is an AI based on a (living) person's mind.}} The newest series, ''Recreation'', seems to be about {{spoiler|bring Church back to "life" with the remnants of his digital memories, themselves manifested as an AI.}}

** {{spoiler|Tex}} may be a more straight version of this trope.

 

== Western Animation ==

** He did this ''twice''. First to mess with whoever tried to shut down Mainframe's core manually, second time as a distraction. He was more or less intangible both times.

* In the ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' episode "Lost Soul", Robert Vance does this to himself so that he can advise his company from beyond the grave.

* Quite literally on ''[[Futurama]]''. When Bender commits suicide in one episode his programming is uploaded into the cloud and he acts like a "normal" ghost who can't be seen by anyone except the robot devil and can possess machines.

* Proffessor Honneycut from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had his body destroyed when he was struck by lightning, incedentally he was helping his robot assistant Sal get untangled from some fallen wires and had his mind uploaded to Sal's body.{{spoiler|It is later revealed that he uploaded himself to the internet shortly before his heroic sacrifice and comes back later to further aid the turtles}}.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Applied Phlebotinum]]