History Main / AbstractApotheosis

* From ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' there's the Fallen Child [[spoiler:a.k.a. [[HelloInsertNameHere Chara]]... Due to the PostModern nature of the game, [[ExperiencePoints EXP]] and [[CharacterLevel LV]] are actual in-universe recognized things, so when the Fallen Child at the end of the [[KillEmAll Genocide Route]] identifies themselves as that feeling you get when your stats increase, it becomes a very meta example since this both means that it's ''them'', not the PlayerCharacter, that has been getting stronger throughout the game, and also that Chara is an aspect of [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou video gamers themselves]]

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' is the former TropeNamer and gave us the Alternative Title: Becoming Hope. Explanation is a spoiler for all the series: [[spoiler:Madoka's wish turns her into a Goddess, and then a witch (a creature that radiates despair) - but she uses her immense power to ''destroy'' said witch and lives on as the abstract concept of hope, existing beyond time and space. Her influence allows all the magical girls who have ever existed to fight without despair and die without regret.]] (And [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion the third movie]] reveals that [[spoiler:[[InvertedTrope the abstract can be made concrete again]], if you have the proper trap. This happens ''twice''.]])
** [[spoiler:Kyubey likewise confirms that Madoka has become an intangible concept.]]
** If ''Rebellion'''s events are any indication, [[spoiler:Homura]] is on the fast track to becoming love. [[spoiler:Her wholehearted devotion to Madoka, coupled with the karmic repercussions of turning back time so often (which heightens both girls' magical potential) enables her to survive the shattering of her Soul Gem. She becomes not a witch, or a magical girl, but ''something'' capable of rewriting the universe]].
*** [[spoiler:Homura states (at least in the dub) that she's actually become the embodiment of evil.]]

* ''Anime/PrincessTutu'': The eponymous MagicalGirl is (presumably) a manifestation of [[spoiler:the Prince's feeling of Hope]], and Duck herself becomes, at the very least, a symbol of it by the end.

* ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' has a surprise example in [[spoiler:Zamasu, after his defeat tries to take a page from Giygas book and AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence as "Justice and Order" itself, becoming an EldritchAbomination that corrupts Trunks's timeline]]. Doubles as SurpriseCreepy and SuddenDownerEnding.

* In ''ComicBook/TheInfinityGauntlet'', Thanos was defeated when he [[spoiler:abandoned his body and [=became/replaced=] Eternity at the head of the Cosmic Beings... and failed to realize that the Gauntlet itself, which sustained his new existence, was still on his lifeless body's hand and within easy reach of vengeful relatives.]]

-->'''[[spoiler:Morpheus]]:''' I am hope.

** A more straightforward example occurs at the end of [[spoiler:The Kindly Ones, when Morpheus dies and Daniel becomes the new Dream.]]

* In the backstory for the DC Universe's [[Franchise/GreenLantern Emotional Spectrum]], this is apparently the origin of the Lantern entities. The first creature to experience a given emotion (for example, a bug in fear of a predator, or an enraged bull) became a kind of AnthropomorphicPersonification of that emotion.
* After New 52, the [[ComicBook/DoctorFate Lords of Order]] have been retconned. Prior to, the Lords of Order and Chaos were primordial beings of the universe that represented Order and Chaos in the cosmos. Now the "Lords of Order" is a title for the earliest humans who were scholars that became the first wizards and sought to impose order on a chaotic universe through their new-found magic. Their obsession with order would lead them to achieve a lesser form of apotheosis, making them generally less powerful than the Olympian gods and whatnot. There doesn't appear to be a corresponding "Lords of Chaos" so far.

* An example (or six) is demonstrated in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfiction [[http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/07/story-light-never-goes-out.html 'The Light Never Goes Out']]. After a couple of decades[[note]] not to mention after half the mane cast had gotten married and started families[[/note]] it becomes clear what bonding to concepts such as laughter, honesty, loyalty, generosity, kindness, and magic would actually ''do'' to mortal ponies. Now it is the bicentennial of Luna's return....
* ''Anime/DragonballZ'' fanfiction ''FanFic/HonorTrip'' does this to Goku, not surprisingly. He personifies hope & relinquishes his soul to Future Trunks.
* In the ''FanFic/PonyPOVSeries'', while the [[TarotMotifs Major Arcana]] Alicorns (like Celestia and Luna) are born/created as [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Concepts]], the Minor Arcana are all ponies who were born mortal, but eventually gained enough power and came to personify an idea so well that [[DeityOfHumanOrigin they ascended]]. [[spoiler:The Magician Alicorn ([[BadFuture Dark World]] Twilight) and the Draconequus of Cruelty (Dark World Fluttercruel) are also examples, with the former being the ''only'' Major Arcana born mortal, and the latter being the only known example of a mortal becoming a Draconequus.]]
* ''Fanfic/ThousandShinji'': At the climax of the story, the main characters became [[spoiler:''[[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} the New Chaos Gods]]'']]. So that [[spoiler:Shinji became the God of Deceit, Change and Hope; Asuka, Goddess of War, Wrath and Valour; Rei, Godess of Demise and Joy; and Misato, Goddess of Pleasure and Perfection.]]
* The Abstracts in ''FanFic/FaithAndDoubt'' and its sequel can be this. The Abstracts Honesty, Kindness and Doubt ([[spoiler:later revealed to be Faith]]) were Earth Ponies who ascended during Discord's reign to become the very embodiments of their abstracts.
* The ''Fanfic/OversaturatedWorld'' has Sunset Shimmer becoming the human world's manifestation of Harmony.

* ''TabletopGame/UnknownArmies'' [[spoiler:This is the point of cosmic bumfight. You want to have a seat in the Invisible Clergy so you will be immortalized as a concept in the world that is to be reborn. And yes, you can do it [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Madoka-style]].]]. [[ArcWords You Did It.]]

* Inverted in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'': the Warp (formerly known as the Realm of Souls) is an alternate dimension that changes based on emotions felt by sentients. The four Chaos gods were formed from it, being the embodiments of despair and/or love (Nurgle, around the Black Death[[note]]although he's hinted to have been present but unconscious for longer in the form of Nergal, a Mesopotamian god ruling over pestilence, among others[[/note]]), rage (Khorne, around the Crusades), hope (Tzeentch, around the Renaissance) and desire (Slaanesh, sometime in the 30th millenium after centuries of SpaceElf hedonism).

* ''{{VideoGame/Destiny}}'': Savathûn, the Witch-Queen, [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Hive]] god of cunning, and subject of much WildMassGuessing, seeks to become immortal and omnipresent by transforming herself into the very concept of 'WildMassGuessing about Savathûn', so that she will exist anywhere "every false prediction, misguided theory, fearful rumor, and ominous supposition" suggests she exists, and [[AsLongAsThereIsEvil live for as long as people continue to make them.]] Her brother Oryx had the less convoluted goal of becoming "synonymous with death", but he got killed before that could happen.

* ''{{VideoGame/Destiny}}'': Savathûn, the Witch-Queen, [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Hive]] god of cunning, and subject of much WildMassGuessing, seeks to become immortal and omnipresent by transforming herself into the very concept of 'WildMassGuessing about Savathûn', so that she will exist anywhere "every false prediction, misguided theory, fearful rumor, and ominous supposition" suggests she exists, and [[AsLongAsThereIsEvil live for as long as people continue to make them.]] Her brother Oryx had the less convoluted goal of becoming "the concept of death", but he got killed before that could happen.

ever.]]

* From ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' there's the Fallen Child [[spoiler:a.k.a. [[HelloInsertNameHere Chara]]... Due to the PostModern nature of the game, [[ExperiencePoints EXP]] and [[CharacterLevel LV]] are actual in-universe recognized things, so when the Fallen Child at the end of the [[KillEmAll Genocide Route]] identifies themselves as that feeling you get when your stats increase, it becomes a very meta example since this both means that it's ''them'', not the PlayerCharacter, that has been getting stronger throughout the game, and also that Chara is an aspect of [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou video gamers themselves]] and possibly even the embodiment of all playable RPG characters ever.]]

->''"You see, hidden within the unconscious is an insatiable desire for conflict. So you're not fighting ''me'', so much as you are the human condition."''

* In the backstory of ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' the Avenger of the Third Grail War was originally a normal villager with no special powers until his village turned him into TheScapegoat for their own sins. As a result his soul came to represent the "wish" for there to exist a source for "[[GodOfEvil All of the World's Evil]]". [[spoiler:When his soul entered the Grail, that wish was granted, transforming the Grail's contents into an endless flood of curses and potentially transforming Avenger into a PhysicalGod]].

** Sometimes before that event, [[spoiler:Jeska]] sacrificed her Planeswalker essence to [[WorldHealingWave mend the rift throughout the multiverse]]. As a side effect, her essence imposed a new cosmic rule to the way Planeswalker sparks work: there are now more of them, but they are very weak compared to the oldskool 'walkers. [[CounterpartComparison Curiously, she had to shatter the embodiment of her evil self to give her mercy to the world, much like the Madoka example above.]]

* After New 52, the Lords of Order have been retconned. Prior to, the Lords of Order and Chaos were primordial beings of the universe that represented Order and Chaos in the cosmos. Now the "Lords of Order" is a title for the earliest humans who were scholars that became the first wizards and sought to impose order on a chaotic universe through their new-found magic. Their obsession with order would lead them to achieve a lesser form of apotheosis, making them generally less powerful than the Olympian gods and whatnot. There doesn't appear to be a corresponding "Lords of Chaos" so far.

-->--'''Professor Moriarty''', ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows''

* In ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' Ares wanted Kratos to become [[spoiler:death itself by becoming the ultimate warrior]]. To accomplish this, Ares tried to remove his humanity by tricking Kratos into [[spoiler:killing his family]]. Unfortunately for Ares, all this did was [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge piss Kratos off]].
** In ''3'' it's hinted that [[spoiler:Athena]] has become something higher that a god, following the explanation of [[spoiler:why the gods became evil between ''1'' and ''2'']] it can be guessed that [[spoiler:Athena has become Greed itself]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', [[spoiler:the Main Character sacrifices [=his/her=] life to become the Great Seal, the final barrier between Nyx, Death itself, and Erebus, the AnthropomorphicPersonification of humanity's self-destructive unconscious desires, thus becoming the ultimate representation of hope in [[TheVerse the ''Persona'' universe]], and visualized as a massive golden gate with the protagonist's soul keeping it closed. Ryoji is the literal embodiment of death, and serves as the game's final boss and the first person you meet in game.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' has a metaphorical example: [[spoiler:Goddess Izanami wants to test mankind's potential, so she gives three people power and names them embodiments of a concept - Hope, Despair, and Emptiness - with the intention of acting based on which representative has the most success]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' has the heroes attempting to invoke the trope, by making their [[PhantomThief Phantom Thieves]] group a symbol of hope and encouragement for anyone trampled upon by societal corruption, rather than a couple of high school kids. [[spoiler:In the FinalBattle, the heroes transform this belief into a massive GuardianEntity, that in turn destroys the LawfulEvil EldritchAbomination BigBad attempting to "free" humanity of TheEvilsOfFreeWill.]]

* In ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'' the movie ''All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker'', it is hinted that at one point all Kamen Rider would become this kind of existence.

** This is further explored in the ''[[Series/KamenRiderOOO Let's Go Kamen Riders]]'' movie.

*** [[spoiler: Homura states (at least in the dub) that she's actually become the embodiment of evil.]]

* ''Anime/PrincessTutu'': The eponymous MagicalGirl is (presumably) a manifestation of [[spoiler: the Prince's feeling of Hope]], and Duck herself becomes, at the very least, a symbol of it by the end.

** The series also contains a possible inversion. [[spoiler: Destruction abandons his duties and everything carries on as normal. He suggests that the others could do so as well, the concepts don't need anthropomorphic personifications to keep existing.]]

* In chapter 78 of ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', it is revealed that [[spoiler: Lily Potter merged with the Phoenix Force a.k.a. Destruction of the Endless, to become the White Phoenix of the Crown, Her dominant aspect.]]
** Additionally, in chapter 72, [[spoiler: Luna Lovegood, having just died]], becomes [[spoiler: the new Delirium after the old one wandered off one day.]]

* In the ''FanFic/PonyPOVSeries'', while the [[TarotMotifs Major Arcana]] Alicorns (like Celestia and Luna) are born/created as [[AnthropomorphicPersonification Concepts]], the Minor Arcana are all ponies who were born mortal, but eventually gained enough power and came to personify an idea so well that [[DeityOfHumanOrigin they ascended]]. [[spoiler: The Magician Alicorn ([[BadFuture Dark World]] Twilight) and the Draconequus of Cruelty (Dark World Fluttercruel) are also examples, with the former being the ''only'' Major Arcana born mortal, and the latter being the only known example of a mortal becoming a Draconequus.]]

* The Abstracts in ''FanFic/FaithAndDoubt'' and its sequel can be this. The Abstracts Honesty, Kindness and Doubt ([[spoiler: later revealed to be Faith]]) were Earth Ponies who ascended during Discord's reign to become the very embodiments of their abstracts.

* In the Brazilian book ''[[http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Batalha_do_Apocalipse The Battle of the Apocalypse]]'', God [[spoiler: becomes the spark of free will and evolution within all human souls]].

* Hazama in ''Videogame/{{BlazBlue}}'' is really [[spoiler: Terumi, the BigBad of the series. Who died roughly 100 years before after failing to doublecross his [[EnemyMine "companions"]] and seems to have become a being of pure hate (and the poster child for AsLongAsThereIsEvil). He basically feeds on his own KickTheDog moments.]]
* In ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' Ares wanted Kratos to become [[spoiler:death itself by becoming the ultimate warrior]]. To accomplish this, Ares tried to remove his humanity by tricking Kratos into [[spoiler: killing his family]]. Unfortunately for Ares, all this did was [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge piss Kratos off]].
** In ''3'' it's hinted that [[spoiler: Athena]] has become something higher that a god, following the explanation of [[spoiler: why the gods became evil between ''1'' and ''2'']] it can be guessed that [[spoiler: Athena has become Greed itself]]

* From ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' there's the Fallen Child [[spoiler: a.k.a. [[HelloInsertNameHere Chara]]... Due to the PostModern nature of the game, [[ExperiencePoints EXP]] and [[CharacterLevel LV]] are actual in-universe recognized things, so when the Fallen Child at the end of the [[KillEmAll Genocide Route]] identifies themselves as that feeling you get when your stats increase, it becomes a very meta example since this both means that it's ''them'', not the PlayerCharacter, that has been getting stronger throughout the game, and also that Chara is an aspect of [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou video gamers themselves]] and possibly even the embodiment of all playable RPG characters ever.]]

[[folder: Web Original]]

* In the ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'' the ultimate antagonist of the series, [[spoiler:The Hunger]] is revealed to be a extremely twisted vertion of this trope, as it is the result of an [[spoiler: ''entire multiverse'', down to its inanimate parts and objects revolting against the concept of existing out of sheer, enraged, nihilism at the futility of existence and endlessness of time, proceeding to devour other multiverses in an attempt to out-size the concept of space and demand whatever or whoever its out there for an explanation and to force it to change. Case in point, the core and creator of The Hunger, John, explains that a more proper name for it would be ''The Dissatisfaction'']]

[[/folder]]

* Inverted in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'': the Warp is an alternate dimension that changes based on emotions felt by sentients. The four Chaos gods were formed from it, being the embodiments of despair and/or love (Nurgle, around the Black Death), rage (Khorne, around the Crusades), hope (Tzeentch, around the Renaissance) and desire (Slaanesh, sometime in the 30th millenium).

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' has the heroes attempting to invoke the trope, by making the Phantom Thieves a symbol of hope and encouragement for anyone trampled upon by societal corruption, rather than a couple of high school kids. [[spoiler:In the FinalBattle, the heroes transform this belief into a massive GuardianEntity, that in turn destroys the LawfulEvil EldritchAbomination BigBad attempting to "free" humanity of TheEvilsOfFreeWill.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', [[spoiler:the Main Character sacrifices [=his/her=] life to become the Great Seal, the final barrier between Nyx, Death itself, and Erebus, the AnthropomorphicPersonification of humanity's self-destructive unconscious desires, thus becoming the ultimate representation of hope in [[TheVerse the ''Persona'' universe]], and visualized as a massive golden gate with the protagonist's soul keeping it closed]].
** [[spoiler: Ryoji is the literal embodiment of death, and serves as the game's final boss and the first person you meet in game.]]
** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' has a metaphorical example: [[spoiler:Goddess Izanami wants to test mankind's potential, so she gives three people power and names them embodiments of a concept - Hope, Despair, and Emptiness - with the intention of acting based on which representative has the most success]].

* WonderWoman became the goddess of truth for a while, but gave it up. She seems to be an avatar for it even in mortal form, however; for example, some stories says her Lasso of Truth simply channels her inborn powers, and her very presence makes it difficult for people to lie.
* In the backstory for the DC Universe's [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Emotional Spectrum]], this is apparently the origin of the Lantern entities. The first creature to experience a given emotion (for example, a bug in fear of a predator, or an enraged bull) became a kind of AnthropomorphicPersonification of that emotion.