History Main / ButterflyOfDeathandRebirth

!!As a DeathTrope, all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.

** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'', a butterfly appears at the end of Paz's side story. It's a figment of Snake's imagination, just as she was; she really died at the end of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidGroundZeroes'' nine years ago. He then gets tapes of her personal recordings, the last of which explains it's time to move on.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', when Vriska and Aradia are resurrected and ascend to the [[PhysicalGod god tiers]], they are each granted a large pair of butterfly wings. Fitting, since [[AllTrollsAreDifferent her species]] begins their life cycles as larvae and sleeps in cocoons.

* ''Cool Devices'': In one episode of this hentai show, these appeared. The {{Moe}} girls got brutally raped by a bunch of {{Scary Black M|an}}en, then [[HumanSacrifice sacrificed]]. But it's all okay, because at the end their spirits turn into butterflies. Or something.

** ''Anime/TurnAGundam'''s Moonlight Butterfly means a literal change in the world, destroying all the technology on the Earth two thousand years before the beginning of the series, thus forcing a reconstruction of the civilization, and after the series' finale, imprisoning the BigBad and protagonist's {{Humongous Mecha}}s in a cocoon, signing the end of the war.
** ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'': Butterflies appear in the second season 2 OP, although they range in color, and a separate one appears for each of the four different female characters (Marina, Feldt, Louise and Anew) featured. It's possible that the symbolism isn't death here, but rather a drastic change set for them all. The {{four|IsDeath}}th woman dies.

** Used for double significance in the Sasuke Retrieval Arc. After Choji defeats Jirobo, allowing Naruto, Kiba and the rest of the retrieval team to continue on, he staggers to a tree and sags against it in a very moving DisneyDeath scene. Right after he collapses, a blue butterfly passes Shikamaru, who looks dismayed. Doubly significant in that Choji's name means 'butterfly', and that is the form that his [[DeadlyUpgrade supposedly fatal final attack]] takes: glowing butterfly wings of chakra.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': The first witch that appears seems to have a motif partially based around butterflies, as seen on her minions, in her barrier, on her Grief Seed, and on the witch herself. In addition once she's defeated there is a quick shot of a butterfly in a web afterwards. FridgeBrilliance / [[FridgeHorror Horror]] kicks in when you realize it may or may not be {{Foreshadowing}} that witches start out as a normal girl who gets contracted by Kyubey, followed by reaching the DespairEventHorizon.

** Sailor Heavy Metal Papillon (Butterfly) was a manga only servant of the final BigBad in the ''Manga/SailorMoon'' series, who turned the souls of all the Crystals that Galaxia captured literally into butterflies.
** The original version of [[FrillyUpgrade Super Sailor Moon]] came with a butterfly motif. It gets revealed later that she has the power of rebirth, to match Sailor Saturn's power of destruction.

* ''Manga/SaintSeiya'': Hades's spies are butterflies and appear during the Hades arc whenever Saga, Shura and Camus are about to reveal their true motives (not to kill Athena, merely to see her again) as a grim reminder of their fate. One scene uses both this and the death version of CherryBlossoms. There's also the Spectre Papillon, who starts off as a revolting caterpillar-like thing and then evolves into a pretty (scary) butterfly-boy with glowing butterfly minions.

** [[DeadAllAlong Yuuko]] has butterflies on her clothes and many of her possessions, and is often depicted wearing a kimono with butterfly wings attached to the obi. An old fortune teller friend of hers mentions that the butterfly is Yuuko's particular symbol.
** ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'': After a certain dramatic moment, the concurrent ''Manga/XxxHolic'' chapter featured Watanuki dreaming of her death - then, when he wakes up, a butterfly appears over his clenched hand, and vanishes into thin air. Naturally, when he goes to look for Yuuko, she's gone, having moved on as payment to fight Fei Wong Reed's GambitRoulette.

* ''[[Fanfic/TheRainsverse When It Rains]]'': When Chroma banishes Queen Chrysalis near the beginning, the Queen is able to split off and preserve a tiny fragment of her essence in the form of a white butterfly. This butterfly offers guidance to Adagio at a couple of key points in the plot, and transforms back into Queen Chrysalis once Chroma is defeated.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'': During the song "You'll Be In My Heart," Kala and the baby Tarzan are surrounded by blue butterflies, one of which lands on his face and flaps its wings. Kala's baby and Tarzan's parents were killed by Sabor the leopard, so her taking in Tarzan as her son symbolizes of the life and death cycle that takes place in the jungle.

* ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010'', the Creator/TimBurton version: Absolem the blue caterpillar disappears into his cocoon in . Later, when a blue butterfly lands briefly on Alice's shoulder, she greets him with a friendly "Hello, Absolem."

* ''Film/TheAmerican'' features a butterfly several times through the movie.

* The first EP by morbidly depressing Finnish death/doom band Swallow The Sun, titled "Plague of Butterflies", contains a 34 minute long song using butterflies as a key motif in the narrative. It ends with both characters dying.

* ''Series/Millennium1996'': One episode focused on a conspiracy among mothers murdering their daughters. The incident that began the episode was a plane crash, fatal to everyone onboard, caused by one of the mothers. At the crash site there was an overly abundant amount of butterflies, said to be attracted by the chemicals in tears.

* From ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'': One character, Dr. K, has been raised in a secret government think tank named Alphabet Soup under the pretense that she suffered from a sunlight allergy. A butterfly one day appears on her keyboard while she works on the Ranger suits. She follows it as it flies away towards an opening in the wall in which the sunlight shines through. She looks at her hands and realizes that her handlers have lied to her the whole time about the sunlight allergy. She attempts escape along with her only friends Gem and Gemma by wirelessly uploading a sentient computer virus named Venjix in hopes that it would blind the security servers long enough for them to escape. However, before she can install the firewall which would contain the virus to the compound, guards take her and her friends away. In a span of three years, Venjix has destroyed every human city (except Corinth), killed almost every living thing, and destroyed almost every biome on Earth. WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, indeed.

** In a legend of Guerrera, monarch butterflies were the spirits of women that died in childbirth and warriors that were either killed or sacrificed.

** The folktale of the Butterfly Lovers. It starts out with Zhu Yingtai, the daughter of a good family wanting to go to the academy of Hangzhou. She eventually attends, [[SweetPollyOliver disguised as a man]] as only men could go. On the way, she meets a fellow student called Liang Shanbo, whom she ends up being dormmates with, studying together and becoming 'sworn brothers'. Even though people around them gossip about her, Liang Shanbo doesn't notice them due to his studies. After a few years, Zhu Yingtai leaves, the rumors having become too oppressive. As she arrives home, she discovers that her parents already planned for her to marry a man from another family. Meanwhile, Shanbo can't concentrate on his studies and grows ill. Knowing he'd die, he asks for her to come. When she arrives, he gives her a letter that tells her to burn incense at his future grave on her wedding day. She does so, causing a lighting bolt to part the gravestone. Yingtai dives into the created hole without hesitation. The only thing that's left, are two butterflies fluttering away from the grave.

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'': Hu Tao is an undertaker who gives the dead their last rites to send them onto the afterlife and is associated with flaming butterflies.

* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice'': In Khura'inism it is believed that butterflies ferry the souls of the departed to the Twilight Realm. Butterfly imagery is ubiquitous in its religious artwork. A flock of spectral butterflies even appears from the Pool of Souls right after a "Not Guilty" verdict in lieu of the usual confetti.

* ''VideoGame/TouhouYouyoumuPerfectCherryBlossom'': Weaponized by [[CuteGhostGirl Yuyuko]] [[{{Necromancer}} Saigyouji]], the ghost princess of Hakugyokurou. She uses a lot of butterfly-themed attacks and butterfly-shaped projectiles. She also tends an evil youkai cherry tree to provide the cherry blossom death imagery as well. Her last-ditch Spell Card "Resurrection Butterfly" [[note]]literally "Anti-Soul Butterfly", it is a term that stands for returning someone's soul to their dead body, in order to revive the dead person. There is a book of stories, ''Senjuushou'', which tells a strange story that Saigyou was so lonely that he wanted a friend, used the art of "Hangon" to gather bodies for the purpose of get them together, and created human.[[/note]] is a spell used for resurrecting the body under the CherryBlossom.

* ''Webcomic/CharbyTheVampirate'': The Rose sisters awareness of this symbolism becomes a major issue for Jozk. When he asks them to take his soul before expiring and promptly looses the ability to speak or move when his soul gem falls out of his chest Rosewood finds a nearby butterfly which Rosa immediately accepts as his soul instead. Rosebud actually guesses the correct item for containing his soul but gets shot down as trying to loot his corpse. An actual looter nearby overhears and quickly grabs his gem as soon as the girls have their backs turned.

* ''Westernanimation/MightyMax'': In one episode, Max teams up with a new band of heroes, [[WeHardlyKnewYe all of whom are dead by the end of the episode.]] One of them, the Hindu monkey god Hanuman, muses that perhaps he'll come back as a butterfly. A butterfly appears in the last shot of the episode, [[ArtisticLicenseBiology even though, considering how long it takes a butterfly to become an adult, he should still be in caterpillar form.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': A butterfly emblem is a key symbol of the BigBad, Hawk Moth. He uses butterflies charged with his powers to transform distraught civilians in Paris into superpowered villains, who frequently [[ThatManIsDead denounce their former selves]]. His powers are intended to empower people into superheroes, but he's twisted that ability to his own ends, the restoration of his wife from an endless sleep.

* [[http://www.freep.com/article/20110526/NEWS07/110526051/Suicide-kits-rekindle-debate-assisted-suicide-?odyssey=tab This Detroit Free Press article]] notes the use of butterfly stickers on suicide kits.

* ''Manga/NijigaharaHolograph'' by Creator/InioAsano: Used to great effect. Cabbage butterflies appear throughout the story, both on their own and to some of the characters, sometimes glowing. Swarms of them pour out of the Nijigahara channel, and other such channels at various points, and sometimes cover characters who are in severe physical or emotional trauma. By the end, their numbers have increased to the point of causing significant public alarm.

* ''VideoGame/AfterLifeTheSacredKaleidoscope'': An ExaggeratedTrope. Every purified Vengeful Spirit turns into a butterfly, hence why the game is rife with butterfly patterns. From this stage on, they will eventually be reincarnated. This is also a nice HandWave as to why the Vengeful Spirits you defeat in-game have a BloodlessCarnage.

* ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'':

* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'': Heavily featured in all of the games, with the High Persona Philemon having a butterfly mask in ''[[VideoGame/Persona1 1]]'' and [[VideoGame/Persona2 2]], and blue butterflies abound in ''[[VideoGame/Persona3 3]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/Persona4 4]]'' (according to WordOfGod, the current form of Philemon). Observe also [[RobotGirl Aigis and Metis's]] Butterfly masks.

* ''VideoGame/SniperGhostWarrior3:'' A character who was missing in action returns, and declares himself to have been resurrected. Butterflies appear in the background.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'': At the end of the game, after the entire universe collapses in on itself and then resets, a butterfly is resting on Mario's cap.
* ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario's'': Tippi counts despite not having been a real butterfly. When Merlon found her in her human form (Timpani), doomed by Blumiere's father to wander all the dimensions forever, she was almost dead. To save her life, Merlon transformed her into the butterfly-shaped Pixl we all know, love, and miss after she disappears at the end.

** A VERY {{squick}}y example is the Octava Espada Szayelaporro Granz. His release form is similar to a giant butterfly with wings that look like blood drops leading down from the wings among other creepy additions. His ultimate ability that makes him perfect in his eyes is his Gabriel ability. This let's him impregnate another person (done to a female [[MisterSeahorse but he implies he could do it to the guys too]]), absorb their energy and nutrients, and then become reborn from their now empty husk of a body.

* ''FanFic/BloodRayneChroniclesOfBlood'': As revealed in ''Origins'' chapter 2, it was the sight of a butterfly that helped Eliza regain her sanity after [[RapeLeadsToInsanity Kagan's rape drove her insane]].

* ''[[FanFic/TheRainsverse When It Rains]]'': When Chroma banishes Queen Chrysalis near the beginning, the Queen is able to split off and preserve a tiny fragment of her essence in the form of a white butterfly. This butterfly offers guidance to Adagio at a couple of key points in the plot, and transforms back into Queen Chrysalis once Chroma is defeated.

* ''The Seventh Doctor'': In this Doctor Who TV Movie, Creator/SylvesterMcCoy, dies on the operating table to the strains of Madame Butterfly to later regenerate into Creator/PaulMcGann's Eighth Doctor.

* Creator/RyuunosukeAkiyama's ''[[https://web.archive.org/web/20160421094604/https://ryuunosukeakiyama.com/2016/04/20/requiem/Requiem.]]''

* ''Videogame/AliceMadnessReturns'': More for their connection to dreams than life and death, with Wonderland being one big dream... thing. The Caterpillar turns into a butterfly during one of the levels, and Alice's 'dodge' manoeuvre transforms her into a flock of butterflies. She also turns into butterflies whenever she dies.
* ''After L!fe'': An ExaggeratedTrope. Every purified Vengeful Spirit turns into a butterfly, hence why the game is rife with butterfly patterns. From this stage on, they will eventually be reincarnated. This is also a nice HandWave as to why the Vengeful Spirits you defeat in-game have a BloodlessCarnage.

* ''Videogame/BioShock2'': The Big Bad of the game loves to use butterflies as a metaphor for the effects of ADAM upon the population of Rapture. Additionally, living and dead blue butterflies are seen in a few places throughout the game. But it really comes together during the Little Sister sequence when it's revealed that the Little Sisters perceive the flies swarming around the bodies of dead "angels" as butterflies.

* [[VideoGame/ESPRaDe ESP]] [[VideoGame/{{Espgaluda}} series]]: Every single final boss in the series, as well as the player characters from the Galuda games.
* ''[[Videogame/FatalFrame Fatal Frame 2]]'': The twin killed in Crimson Sacrifice ritual becomes "united" with the other one through the butterfly-shaped reddened mark left on the Remaining's throat from where the other twin has choked him or her to death. The butterflies themselves linger on as spirits and are seen throughout the game.
* ''Videogame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' has some butterflies at one of the artworks. It ''might'' mean that the dream world of Ivalice was born, but then dies at the end of the game.

* ''Videogame/LifeIsStrange'': Used throughout the game. Most notably in the first chapter, in which you see a blue butterfly right before Chloe is shot in the bathroom (death), but you are then able to rewind time to save her (rebirth). In the "Sacrifice Chloe" ending, the same butterfly perches on her coffin during her funeral, possibly implying reincarnation.

* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'': Heavily featured in all of the games, with the High Persona Philemon having a butterfly mask in ''[[VideoGame/{{Persona 1}} 1]]'' and [[VideoGame/{{Persona 2}} 2]], and blue butterflies abound in ''[[VideoGame/{{Persona 3}} 3]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/{{Persona 4}} 4]]'' (according to WordOfGod, the current form of Philemon). Observe also [[RobotGirl Aigis and Metis's]] Butterfly masks.

* ''[[Videogame/RomancingSaGa Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song]]'': One of the quests is appropriately called 'Creepy Butterfly', and involves a young wife being tormented by a strange butterfly visiting every night. Turns out it's the spirit of her father, who she thought abandoned her family after her mother grew deathly ill. He actually died searching for a cure; learning this helps her let go of her grudge, and allows him to move on.

* ''Videogame/SuperMarioGalaxy'': At the end of the game, after the entire universe collapses in on itself and then resets, a butterfly is resting on Mario's cap.
* ''Videogame/SuperPaperMario's'': Tippi counts despite not having been a real butterfly. When Merlon found her in her human form (Timpani), doomed by Blumiere's father to wander all the dimensions forever, she was almost dead. To save her life, Merlon transformed her into the butterfly-shaped Pixl we all know, love, and miss after she disappears at the end.

* ''[[Videogame/TraumaCenter Trauma Team]]'' has Monarch Butterflies showing up occasionally, in particular after a massive virus outbreak starts. Later on is discovered that these butterflies are directly related to the outbreak, working as carriers of the virus.

* ''WebComic/{{Badirfilay}}'' is all about death and rebirth. The title transliterated in Spanish is the English word butterfly.

* ''Manga/BloodOnTheTracks'': Butterflies are prominently shown flying around for several panels just before [[spoiler:Seiko pushes Seichi's cousin off the cliff]].

* In ''Film/TheFall'' the butterfly Darwin has sought for years heralds only tragedy. [[spoiler:His monkey partner, Wallace, gets shot when trying to obtain it.]]

* Subverted in ''Literature/MakingMoney'', when Cosmo Lavish uses a caterpillar becoming a butterfly as an analogy for him [[spoiler:becoming Lord Vetinari]]. His sister Pucci gleefully tells him that a more accurate way of thinking about it is that the caterpillar ''dies'' and the butterfly grows out of its corpse.

* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekPicardS1E10EtInArcadiaEgoPart2 Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2]]", a synth butterfly is fluttering around Rios, Seven of Nine, Raffi and Elnor when they are reacting to [[spoiler:Picard]]'s death. While [[spoiler:Picard]]'s consciousness waits to be transferred and then revived within an android golem, a virtual butterfly appears in [[spoiler:Data]]'s hand, and it flies away when he explains why he wants his life to be finite.
-->'''[[spoiler:Data]]:''' A butterfly that lives forever... is really not a butterfly at all.
* In ''Series/ZyudenSentaiKyoryuger'', the BigBad Deboss arrived on Earth in a form suited to [[PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs kill the dinosaurs]]: a mutant creature resembling a T-rex. When he evolves into a form suited to killing off humanity, he turns into a humanoid figure with a butterfly motif, complete with one on his face resembling an enormous mustache. Additionally, his final form is given the title "Chouzetsushin", which takes the Japanese word for "transcendence" and replaces the first kanji with the one for "butterfly"; fansubbers Over-Time rendered this in English as "Lepidominant Lord", while Website/ThatOtherWiki uses the much more on-the-nose "Transcendenterfly God".

* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'': [[TheCorruption The Scarlet Rot]] is heavily associated with butterflies. Butterflies are often found fluttering about the [[GardenOfEvil gardens of evil]] that the Rot leaves behind, followers of the Order of Rot venerate a cycle of death and rebirth while worshipping the Rot as the medium by which said cycle is carried out, and [[spoiler:Malenia, in her [[OneWingedAngel Goddess of Rot]] form]] has massive butterfly wings [[TheWormThatWalks made out of butterflies]] and sends butterflies flying with her attacks.

** Morpho Knight reappears in ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand''. Defeating it in the postgame [[spoiler:allows Kirby to wield its sword]].
* ''Videogame/LifeIsStrange'': Used throughout the game. Most notably in the first chapter, in which you see a blue butterfly right before Chloe is shot in the bathroom (death), but you are then able to rewind time to save her (rebirth). [[spoiler:In the "Sacrifice Chloe" ending, the same butterfly perches on her coffin during her funeral, possibly implying reincarnation.]]

** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'', a butterfly appears at the end of [[spoiler:Paz's]] side story. [[spoiler:It's a figment of Snake's imagination, just as she was; she really died at the end of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidGroundZeroes'' nine years ago. He then gets tapes of her personal recordings, the last of which explains it's time to move on.]]
*** Another, subtler ''Phantom Pain'' example: Quiet, a mute female sniper, has a marking resembling a butterfly appear across her face whenever she taps into her superhuman powers. The death and rebirth part? [[spoiler:Thanks to the life-threatening burns and injuries she incurred as an XOF assassin in the prologue, XOF made her undergo parasite treatment to save her, thus she's effectively reborn as Quiet. Said parasites allow her to "breathe" through her skin, take in nutrients via photosynthesis, and grant her the aforementioned superhuman powers.]] Quiet can also reward the player the Butterfly emblem and codename by utilizing her skillset while having her tag along on missions.

** In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', a glowing blue butterfly appears each time the protagonist is about to die in the story, urging him to overcome his impending doom. This includes when he's about to be executed in Kamoshida's Palace and when he's brought into the interrogation room [[spoiler:where the conspiracy intends to assassinate him.]] Similarly, glowing butterflies surround a fallen character when you use revive items or magic on them.
* ''VisualNovel/PsychedelicaOfTheBlackButterfly'': They are explicitly linked to the afterlife, as the title implies, and the mansion is full with butterfly imagery. Interestingly, they are either white or black - [[spoiler:white ones are guides, meant as a signpost for wayward souls. Their presence indicates a safe place. The black ones do the polar opposite as they will lead to doom]]. This is exemplified when [[spoiler:'Yamato' turns, and even when he is partially restored, black butterflies are still attached to half of his body]]. These butterflies are both [[spoiler:no real living insects, but rather particles originating from souls taken form]].

** At the beginning of ''A Shadow...'', right as [[spoiler:Charlie Nash is BackFromTheDead]], he has a nightmare featuring a sheep turning into [[spoiler:Necalli]] and attacking him, only to be staved off by a blue butterfly glowing in a blue-white light.
** [[BookEnds At the end]] of ''A Shadow Falls'', another blue butterfly is seen floating around as [[spoiler:Kolin/Helen confides with her boss [[VideoGame/StreetFighterIII Gill]], who claims that despite Bison not being destroyed the way they wanted, the time has come for their group (none other than Main/TheIlluminati) to destroy and then recreate the world in order to restore its balance.]]
** During [[spoiler:Kolin]]'s Story Mode, [[spoiler:as she's saved from [[SnowMeansDeath a snowy death]] by Gill and she accepts his offer to join the Illuminati, a butterfly begins to hatch from a chrysalis on a dead flower.]] The character's profile states that [[spoiler:she]] loves butterflies, probably as a reminder of this life-turning moment.

* ''Videogame/SuperPaperMario's'': Tippi counts despite not having been a real butterfly. [[spoiler:When Merlon found her in her human form (Timpani), doomed by Blumiere's father to wander all the dimensions forever, she was almost dead. To save her life, Merlon transformed her into the butterfly-shaped Pixl we all know, love, and miss after she disappears at the end.]]
* ''VideoGame/TouhouYouyoumuPerfectCherryBlossom'': Weaponized by [[CuteGhostGirl Yuyuko]] [[{{Necromancer}} Saigyouji]], the ghost princess of Hakugyokurou. She uses a lot of butterfly-themed attacks and butterfly-shaped projectiles. She also tends an evil youkai cherry tree to provide the cherry blossom death imagery as well. [[spoiler:Her last ditch Spell Card "Resurrection Butterfly" [[note]]literally "Anti-Soul Butterfly", it is a term that stands for returning someone's soul to their dead body, in order to revive the dead person. There is a book of stories, ''Senjuushou'', which tells a strange story that Saigyou was so lonely that he wanted a friend, used the art of "Hangon" to gather bodies for the purpose of get them together, and created human.[[/note]] is a spell used for resurrecting the body under the CherryBlossom.]]

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'':
** Used for double significance in the Sasuke Retrieval Arc. After Choji defeats Jirobo, allowing Naruto, Kiba and the rest of the retrieval team to continue on, he staggers to a tree and sags against it in a very moving DisneyDeath scene. Right after he collapses, a blue butterfly passes Shikamaru, who looks dismayed. Doubly significant in that Choji's name means 'butterfly', and that is the form that his [[DeadlyUpgrade supposedly fatal final attack]] takes: glowing butterfly wings of chakra.
** In ''Shippuuden'', Choji achieves this form without pills, and it enables him to defeat his undead sensei. It also symbolises Choji's growth as a person; indeed, the Akimichi clan's oath, which clan members take as a coming-of-age ceremony, uses the symbol of a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis and taking flight.
* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'':
** Sailor Heavy Metal Papillon (Butterfly) was a manga only servant of the final BigBad in the ''Manga/SailorMoon'' series, who turned the souls of all the Crystals that Galaxia captured literally into butterflies.
** The original version of [[FrillyUpgrade Super Sailor Moon]] came with a butterfly motif. It gets revealed later that she has the power of rebirth, to match Sailor Saturn's power of destruction.
** ''[[Anime/SailorMoon Sailor Stars]]'' apparently uses butterflies as a symbol of the Light of Hope ([=ChibiChibi=]).
* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', specially-bred, ghostly (i.e., only seen by spirits and supernaturally-sensitive people) black butterflies (Called ''Jigoku-chou'', or "Hell Butterflies", for extra cheeriness) are necessary as guides for those wanting to cross from Soul Society to the Living World, and vice versa. Otherwise, they'll be forced to pass through the [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace Dangai, or "Forbidding World"]], where death is (un)surprisingly easy.
** They're also used to carry messages within Soul Society, as well, which makes this trope a bit more mundane in ''Bleach''.
*** Although the people of Soul Society ''are'' dead (given that it's the afterlife)...
*** ... And as the latest arc proves, '''they can be killed again.'''

* Heavily seen in the first opening and ending of ''Anime/HigurashiWhenTheyCry''. That one of the butterflies is dead is a sign of how dark the series is. Similarly, in ''Anime/{{Umineko|WhenTheyCry}}'', the Golden Witch Beatrice is said to appear in the form of glowing, gold butterflies.
* In the opening of ''Manga/MajinTanteiNougamiNeuro'', Sai crushes a blue butterfly in his hand. He's a murderer who is constantly regenerating at the loss of his memories.
* ''Music/{{Tsukiuta}}'''s January AnthropomorphicPersonification idol [[MeaningfulName Hajime]] (and his DistaffCounterpart Yuki) have a butterfly as their icon. It fits well enough as a symbol for the New Year, but in TheMultiverse, Hajime's other forms are all, essentially gods of life itself. From his Origins incarnation known as the Lord of Beginnings, the oldest being in the universe and a god so powerful he has entire worlds nestled in the feathers of his wings, to the simpler ''Theatre/TsukinoHyakkiYakou'' SpiritWorld where Hajime is Kurotenko, a divine fox spirit so powerful that sometimes he can't even speak or any sound he makes would shake the entire world. [[AGodIAmNot Deny it as he may,]] in several places Shun (who is fully aware of his power even as an idol in the main setting) has implied that Hajime is just as powerful in the main setting as in any of the alternate worlds...
* ''Manga/XxxHolic'':
** [[DeadAllAlong Yuuko]] has butterflies on her clothes and many of her possessions, and is often depicted wearing a kimono with butterfly wings attached to the obi. An old fortune teller friend of hers mentions that the butterfly is Yuuko's particular symbol.
** After a certain dramatic moment in ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'', the concurrent ''Manga/XxxHolic'' chapter featured Watanuki dreaming of her death - then, when he wakes up, a butterfly appears over his clenched hand, and vanishes into thin air. Naturally, when he goes to look for Yuuko, she's gone, having moved on as payment to fight Fei Wong Reed's GambitRoulette.
* Keeping this in mind while you're watching any version of ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena''. It may help your sanity.
* In ''Anime/CowboyBebopKnockinOnHeavensDoor'', anyone afflicted with the synthetic virus begins to hallucinate swarms of golden butterflies shortly before death. The main villain is a man who can't remember a time when he ''couldn't'' see the golden butterflies, and he's thus convinced he's in some sort of limbo or purgatory that he needs to escape.
%% Needs context * These appear in ''Anime/GaReiZero''. They're ''evil''.
* At the end of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'', Yukio Oikawa's dying wish is to transform his body into a mass of butterflies which spread across the Digital World to protect it and restore its weakened barrier after his FamilyUnfriendlyDeath. ''Anime/DigimonAdventure''[='s=] AnimeThemeSong is titled "[[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Butter-Fly]]", though its lyrics barely involve this trope; however, it does play over ''02'''s {{distant|Finale}} WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue, during which Oikawa's butterflies do show up.

** Butterflies appear in the second season 2 OP for ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'', although they range in color, and a separate one appears for each of the four different female characters (Marina, Feldt, Louise and Anew) featured. It's possible that the symbolism isn't death here, but rather a drastic change set for them all. The {{four|IsDeath}}th woman dies.
* ''Anime/ThisUglyYetBeautifulWorld'' is packed with crimson butterflies that are the souls of beings that have died and have yet to be reborn.
* Hotarubi from ''Manga/{{Basilisk}}'' summons butterflies among the insects and reptiles she uses to attack her enemies. When she dies and her lifeless ''and'' mutilated corpse falls off a cliff, a bunch of butterflies appear in the sky.
* ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'': Ashitaka spots a footprint that attracts butterflies. It belongs to the Great Forest Spirit, who has power over life and death.
* Episode 8 of ''Mr. Stain on Junk Alley'': A baby dies, and a glowing blue butterfly crawls out of its mouth. The child's soul-butterfly gets killed by a cop. Mr. Stain, later on in the episode, revives the baby by sticking his hand down his throat, retrieving his own butterfly inside, and using his ''own'' butterfly to revive the child.
* In ''[[Anime/HellGirl Hell Girl: The Cauldron of Three]]'', the deceased Enma Ai's spirit takes the form of a blue butterfly.

* In ''Manga/DGrayMan'', Tyki Mikk uses black butterflies as weapons that are capable of removing an opponent's internal organs without causing them any other injury.
* The solar eclipse in ''Anime/UmiMonogatari'' is accompanied by the appearance of thousands of eerie blue butterflies which represent Urin's corruption and rebirth into Sedna's host, complete with growing wings after hatching from a cocoon.

* In one of the episodes of the hentai show ''Cool Devices'', these appeared. The {{Moe}} girls got brutally raped by a bunch of {{Scary Black M|an}}en, then [[HumanSacrifice sacrificed]]. But it's all okay, because at the end their spirits turn into butterflies. Or something.
* In ''Manga/HunterXHunter'', there is a type of butterfly that is attracted to fresh blood. In one of the Hunter Exams, Gon tracks these butterflies, which lead him to [[MonsterClown Hisoka]], which is his target.
* One chapter of ''Manga/PetshopOfHorrors'' elevates this into mindfuck: Leon (a cop) accidentally shoots a childhood friend (Harry) who turns out to have become a criminal over time. Count D allows him to experience Harry's life for himself, trapping him inside an illusion given by a magical butterfly. Just as Leon experiences being shot to death, D crushes the butterfly, giving Leon his normal life back.
* In ''Manga/{{Pretear}}'', the BigBad Takako attacks with purple butterflies. They can be used as spies, too.
* Purple butterflies similar to those seen in ''Pretear'' appear in ''VideoGame/HarukanaruTokiNoNakaDe'' as a manifestation of Ran's Dark Dragon powers. These can be used for attack purposes or for defilement, and on one occasion in the manga/anime Ran uses these to place a curse on Akane.
* In ''Manga/SaintSeiya'', Hades' spies are butterflies and appear during the Hades arc whenever Saga, Shura and Camus are about to reveal their true motives (not to kill Athena, merely to see her again) as a grim reminder of their fate. One scene uses both this and the death version of CherryBlossoms. There's also the Spectre Papillon, who starts off as a revolting caterpillar-like thing and then evolves into a pretty (scary) butterfly-boy with glowing butterfly minions.
* In ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean'', Jolyne's death is accompanied by the appearance of butterflies. Appropriate to the trope, she and the others (except Emporio) who were killed during the final battle are revived in the newly-restored universe.
* In ''Manga/IrisZero'', Hijiri has an [[MagicalEye Iris]] that allows him to see black butterflies that gather around people who are supposed to die in the near future.
* Before his apparent death in ''Manga/BlackButler'', Lau tells the story of a Chinese boy (reflecting himself) who dreamt he was a butterfly
** Which doubles as a GeniusBonus; the story is word for word based on the philosophical musing of Zhuangzi.
** In one of the ending songs, there's a constant blue butterfly flying around screen.
* The first witch that appears in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' seems to have a motif partially based around butterflies, as seen on her minions, in her barrier, on her Grief Seed, and on the witch herself. In addition once she's defeated there is a quick shot of a butterfly in a web afterwards. FridgeBrilliance / [[FridgeHorror Horror]] kicks in when you realize it may or may not be {{Foreshadowing}} that witches start out as a normal girl who gets contracted by Kyubey, followed by reaching the DespairEventHorizon.
* ''{{Manga/Loveless}}'' plays this for all the symbolism it can get, especially with Soubi, complete with Ritsu-sensei musing on how "humans are able to be reborn".
* In ''Manga/UndertakerRiddle'', the people's souls take the form of butterflies.
* ''Manga/MagiLabyrinthOfMagic'': The rukh, which are the souls of those who have died. They're described by characters who can see them as looking like birds, but they're drawn to look more like butterflies.
* In ''Manga/TowaKamoShirenai'', some of the demonic entities that attack Kosumo and Hitsuji take the shapes of butterflies. In fact, Kosumo first saw Hitsuji when he killed one of these devil 'flies and scolded him for doing so, not knowing their real role.
* Used to great effect in the Creator/InioAsano manga ''Manga/NijigaharaHolograph''. Cabbage butterflies appear throughout the story, both on their own and to some of the characters, sometimes glowing. Swarms of them pour out of the Nijigahara channel, and other such channels at various points, and sometimes cover characters who are in severe physical or emotional trauma. By the end, their numbers have increased to the point of causing significant public alarm.
* ''Anime/MegaloBox'': A blue butterfly is the AnimalMotif of ShellShockedVeteran Aragaki. He encountered (or hallucinated) one shortly before an IED blew off his legs and half his face, and had it tattooed onto his chest as a result. Joe ends up seeing the same butterfly the first time Aragaki lays him out in the ring.
* In ''Manga/BloodOnTheTracks'', butterflies are prominently shown flying around for several panels just before [[spoiler:Seiko pushes Seichi's cousin off the cliff]].
* This is a prominent theme in the "The Black Butterfly Of Death Murder Case" (aka "The Undying Butterfly Murder Case") arc of ''Manga/TheKindaichiCaseFiles'', where the entire murder case arc is set inside the mansion of a wealthy butterfly collection fanatic.
* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'':
** Shadow Mei, possessing Suzu's body, has the ability to heal and create life, but ThePowerOfHate [[HarmfulHealing makes it destroy it instead]]. The HolyHalo generated in the meantime inspires a self-comparison to butterflies.
--->''I will flutter like a butterfly and [[KillAllHumans bring an end to the human world]].''
** When Suzu is fighting a corrupted Une, [[SpiritAdvisor Kanade]] says their origami can purify her if it's folded into a butterfly. It's destroyed before she can try it, forcing Suzu to BeatTheCurseOutOfHer.

* When Chroma banishes Queen Chrysalis near the beginning of ''[[FanFic/TheRainsverse When It Rains]]'', the Queen is able to split off and preserve a tiny fragment of her essence in the form of a white butterfly. This butterfly offers guidance to Adagio at a couple of key points in the plot, and transforms back into Queen Chrysalis once Chroma is defeated.

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride'', the undead Emily dissolves into a cloud of blue butterflies, signifying her [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence peaceful transition to the afterlife]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'' during the song "You'll Be In My Heart" Kala and the baby Tarzan are surrounded by blue butterflies, one of which lands on his face and flaps its wings. Kala's baby has just been killed and she has taken in Tarzan as her son, making it a symbol of the life and death cycle that takes place in the jungle.

* In the Creator/PeterJackson-directed ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' movies, a white butterfly or moth appears to Gandalf twice, apparently as a messenger from the giant eagles. In both instances, the heroes are hopelessly surrounded (evidently about to die) and eagles are going to swoop down and rescue them (returning them to life). The moth used in the scene at Orthanc was real; to make that scene work, they had to get a bunch of chrysalises from a giant moth species and incubate them for weeks.
* Absolem the blue caterpillar disappears into his cocoon in Creator/TimBurton's ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010''. Later, when a blue butterfly lands briefly on Alice's shoulder, she greets him with a friendly "Hello, Absolem."
* When the four girls who form the central coven in ''Film/TheCraft'' perform a ritual together for the first time, they find themselves surrounded by dark blue butterflies as an indication that the deity they worship approves of their actions.
* The girlfriend of Film/PatchAdams has a fondness for butterflies and says that she hopes to be reincarnated as one. Later, after her death, Patch is elevated from his depression by the appearance of a butterfly on his shirt, as though her wish has come true.
* The German language romantic tragedy ''Film/LoveInThoughts'' features a scene in which, while Gunther is dicking around with his pretty, pretty gun, as per usual, a butterfly lands on the barrel and distracts him with its pretty, pretty wings.
* ''Film/TheAmerican'' features a butterfly several times through the movie.
* In the final scene of ''Film/AllQuietOnTheWesternFront1930'', Paul is shot and killed while reaching for a butterfly.
* Mothra, grand {{kaiju}} of the Pacific and eternal frenemy of Franchise/{{Godzilla}}, is literally one of these. Almost every appearance of Mothra will have it die, only to have its GenerationXerox offspring take over for it.
* ''Film/TheMatrix'': Neo's speech at the end was going to refer to the Matrix as a chrysalis, but [[ExecutiveMeddling the execs]] weren't sure if enough viewers would know what a chrysalis is. [[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pupa&mobileaction=view_normal_site#Chrysalis (It's this, by the way.)]]
* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'': A variation as TheGrimReaper tries to ''take'' a black butterfly from the Baron's mouth, symbolizing his life force. Or maybe it's a [[MacabreMothMotif moth]]...
* In the Doctor Who TV Movie The Seventh Doctor, Creator/SylvesterMcCoy, dies on the operating table to the strains of Madame Butterfly to later regenerate into Creator/PaulMcGann's Eighth Doctor.

* Creator/MercedesLackey and James Mallory's ''Literature/TheObsidianTrilogy'' has, as one of the signs that the heroes are getting close to an evil place, swaths of dead foreign butterflies. Other signs include flocks of starlings flying endless, unnaturally precise flower-loops and familiar flowers with strange black petals.
* An alien butterfly is used as an analogy for what Vergere is doing to Jacen in the Literature/NewJediOrder book ''Traitor''.
* The cover art for the novel ''Luna'', having (presumably) Liam/Luna on the cover with butterfly wings. Representing Liam's transformation into Luna throughout the book.
* In Tim O'Brien's short story, "The Man I Killed" (in the book ''Literature/TheThingsTheyCarried''), a butterfly crawls up the dead boy's face and flies away.

* In Creator/MichaelFlynn's ''Literature/SpiralArm'' novel ''On The Razor's Edge'', used as a metaphor: Mearana's fight with a Shadow has the observation that Shadows do not die easily, but harpers can die as easily as butterflies.
* Creator/RyuunosukeAkiyama's ''[[https://web.archive.org/web/20160421094604/https://ryuunosukeakiyama.com/2016/04/20/requiem/Requiem.]]''
* Subverted in ''Literature/MakingMoney'', when Cosmo Lavish uses a caterpillar becoming a butterfly as an analogy for him [[spoiler:becoming Lord Vetinari]]. His sister Pucci gleefully tells him that a more accurate way of thinking about it is that the caterpillar ''dies'' and the butterfly grows out of its corpse.

* A butterfly makes an enigmatic cameo near the beginning of a ''Series/{{Lexx}}'' season finale. Shortly afterwards, an alien character's cocoon-like sleep pod is destroyed, severely limiting her life expectancy, but her spirit lives after death in the Dream Zone.

* A blood-red butterfly appears every time someone is murdered in ''Mujeres Asesinas 2'', a Mexican Drama and PsychologicalThriller series.
* Monarch butterflies play a huge role in ''Series/{{Kings}}'', symbolizing the recognition of a king. Specifically, they herald the rise of David and the fall of his predecessor.
* An episode of ''Series/Millennium1996'' focused on a conspiracy among mothers murdering their daughters. The incident that began the episode was a plane crash, fatal to everyone onboard, caused by one of the mothers. At the crash site there was an overly abundant amount of butterflies, said to be attracted by the chemicals in tears.

* A group of children dressed like butterflies show up at the beginning of the ''Series/PushingDaisies'' episode "[[Recap/PushingDaisiesS2E2CircusCircus Circus Circus]]", an episode heavily focused on new beginnings.

* On ''Series/TheFades'', butterflies are heavily associated with the Angelics' [[HealingHands powers of healing]] -- people who have been successfully healed are shown puking out a butterfly, and Paul's resurrection in the fourth episode produces an entire swarm of butterflies. In addition, Fades are shown becoming Reborns by breaking out of sticky cocoons, like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.
* In [[Recap/BabylonFiveS02E02Revelations the second episode of the second season]] of ''Series/BabylonFive'', one of the security guards is trying to get the traitor who shot Security Chief Garibaldi to come out of the barracks by saying Ambassador Delenn, who had just come out of the chrysalis as a half human/Minbari, now sported wings, just like a butterfly.
* In ''Series/ZyudenSentaiKyoryuger'', the BigBad Deboss arrived on Earth in a form suited to [[PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs kill the dinosaurs]]: a mutant creature resembling a T-rex. When he evolves into a form suited to killing off humanity, he turns into a humanoid figure with a butterfly motif, complete with one on his face resembling an enormous mustache. Additionally, his final form is given the title "Chouzetsushin", which takes the Japanese word for "transcendence" and replaces the first kanji with the one for "butterfly"; fansubbers Over-Time rendered this in English as "Lepidominant Lord", while Website/ThatOtherWiki uses the much more on-the-nose "Transcendenterfly God".
* ''Series/KamenRider555'' uses this in a more general way. The MonstersOfTheWeek are Orphnochs, beings who are born when some humans die. The Smart Brain corporation, which secretly supports the Orphnochs, has a mascot named Smart Lady who's heavily associated with blue and black butterflies[[note]]To the point where many fans theorize that she's the Butterfly Orphnoch, though the series never definitively says whether she's Orphnoch or human[[/note]]. This has resulted in these butterflies becoming a symbol for ''555'' as a whole, appearing on its backdrop in ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'' and again in the direct-to-DVD movie ''Kamen Rider #4'' when Shocker's Great Leader transforms into Faiz.

* An ExaggeratedTrope in ''After L!fe''. Every purified Vengeful Spirit turns into a butterfly, hence why the game is rife with butterfly patterns. From this stage on, they will eventually be reincarnated. This is also a nice HandWave as to why the Vengeful Spirits you defeat in-game have a BloodlessCarnage.
* Similarly, they are explicitly linked to the afterlife in ''VisualNovel/PsychedelicaOfTheBlackButterfly'' as its title implied, and the mansion is full with butterfly imagery. Interestingly, they are either white or black - [[spoiler:white ones are guides, meant as a signpost for wayward souls. Their presence indicates a safe place. The black ones do the polar opposite as they will lead to doom]]. This is exemplified when [[spoiler:'Yamato' turns, and even when he is partially restored, black butterflies are still attached to half of his body]]. These butterflies are both [[spoiler:no real living insects, but rather particles originating from souls taken form]].
* A butterfly is resting on Mario's cap at the end of ''Videogame/SuperMarioGalaxy''. Given how the entire universe collapses in on itself and then resets this is intentional symbolism.
** On that note, ''Videogame/SuperPaperMario's'' Tippi counts despite not having been a real butterfly. [[spoiler:When Merlon found her in her human form (Timpani), doomed by Blumiere's father to wander all the dimensions forever, she was almost dead. To save her life, Merlon transformed her into the butterfly-shaped Pixl we all know, love and miss after she disappears at the end.]]

* Butterflies play a big part symbolically in ''Videogame/SilentHill2'', as rebirth is one of the game's main themes.
* Heavily featured in the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' games, with the High Persona Philemon having a butterfly mask in ''[[VideoGame/{{Persona 1}} 1]]'' and [[VideoGame/{{Persona 2}} 2]], and blue butterflies abound in ''[[VideoGame/{{Persona 3}} 3]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/{{Persona 4}} 4]]'' (according to WordOfGod, the current form of Philemon). Observe also [[RobotGirl Aigis and Metis's]] Butterfly masks.
** The blue butterflies also serve as save points in ''Persona 4'', which fits the death and rebirth symbolism considering how often you'll die and have to reload.
** There's a blue butterfly fluttering around when ''Persona 3'''s main character dies.
** There is also the black butterfly representing Philemon's foil and nemesis, Nyarlathotep.
** In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', a glowing blue butterfly appears each time the protagonist is about to die in the story, urging him to overcome his impending doom. This includes when he's about to be executed in Kamoshida's Palace and when he's brought into the interrogation room [[spoiler:where the conspiracy intends to assassinate him.]] Similarly, glowing butterflies surround a fallen character when you use revive items or magic on them.
* Playing on the Celtic side in ''[[Myth/ArthurianLegend Arthur's Knights]] - Tales of Chivalry'', while in Avalon, Branwen's squire has to find which of the many reincarnated souls-turned-butterflies was Branwen's wife in order to restore the man from his KarmicTransformation, an in-game guide said that Butterflies were thought to contain the souls of the dead. Making this a rare Western example of his trope.
* Weaponised by [[CuteGhostGirl Yuyuko]] [[{{Necromancer}} Saigyouji]], the ghost princess of Hakugyokurou from ''VideoGame/TouhouYouyoumuPerfectCherryBlossom''. She uses a lot of butterfly-themed attacks and butterfly-shaped projectiles. She also tends an evil youkai cherry tree to provide the cherry blossom death imagery as well. [[spoiler:Her last ditch Spell Card "Resurrection Butterfly" [[note]]literally "Anti-Soul Butterfly", it is a term that stands for returning someone's soul to their dead body, in order to revive the dead person. There is a book of stories, ''Senjuushou'', which tells a strange story that Saigyou was so lonely that he wanted a friend, used the art of "Hangon" to gather bodies for the purpose of get them together, and created human.[[/note]] is a spell used for resurrecting the body under the CherryBlossom.]]

* One of the quests in ''[[Videogame/RomancingSaGa Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song]]'' is appropriately called 'Creepy Butterfly', and involves a young wife being tormented by a strange butterfly visiting every night. Turns out it's the spirit of her father, who she thought abandoned her family after her mother grew deathly ill. He actually died searching for a cure; learning this helps her let go of her grudge, and allows him to move on.
* Used excellently in ''Videogame/BioShock2''. The Big Bad of the game loves to use butterflies as a metaphor for the effects of ADAM upon the population of Rapture. Additionally, living and dead blue butterflies are seen in a few places throughout the game. But it really comes together during the Little Sister sequence when it's revealed that the Little Sisters perceive the flies swarming around the bodies of dead "angels" as butterflies.
* They come up frequently in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'', down to the names of the various AI weapons corresponding to the stages of metamorphosis in butterfly growth.

** Another ''Phantom Pain'' example, although a more subtle one: Quiet, a mute female sniper, has a marking resembling a butterfly appear across her face whenever she taps into her superhuman powers. The death and rebirth part? [[spoiler:Thanks to the life-threatening burns and injuries she incurred as an XOF assassin in the prologue, XOF made her undergo parasite treatment to save her, thus she's effectively reborn as Quiet. Said parasites allow her to "breathe" through her skin, take in nutrients via photosynthesis, and grant her the aforementioned superhuman powers.]] Quiet can also reward the player the Butterfly emblem and codename by utilizing her skillset while having her tag along on missions.
* Evaccaneer DOOM, TrueFinalBoss of ''VideoGame/{{Ketsui}}'', has a set of energy wings that seem designed to evoke butterfly imagery. In this case, it's the '''death''' aspect being referenced more than rebirth, as DOOM is [[HarderThanHard going to kill you a lot no matter how good you are]].
** Also from CAVE, every single final boss from the [[VideoGame/ESPRaDe ESP]] [[VideoGame/{{Espgaluda}} series]], as well as the player characters from the Galuda games.

* In ''Videogame/AliceMadnessReturns'', though more specifically for their connection to dreams (Wonderland being one big dream... thing) than life and death. The Caterpillar turns into a butterfly during one of the levels, and Alice's 'dodge' manoeuvre transforms her into a flock of butterflies. She also turns into butterflies whenever she dies.
%%* Features heavily into ''VideoGame/MansionOfHiddenSouls''.
* Otani Yoshitsugu in ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara: Samurai Heroes'' is associated with butterflies. His helmet looks like one, [[TheNicknamer Oichi's]] nickname for him is "Swamp Butterfly", and if you use him enemy {{mooks}} will occasionally go insane and start raving about the butterflies coming for their souls.
* Used throughout ''Videogame/LifeIsStrange''. Most notably in the first chapter, in which you see a blue butterfly right before Chloe is shot in the bathroom (death), but you are then able to rewind time to save her (rebirth). [[spoiler:In the "Sacrifice Chloe" ending, the same butterfly perches on her coffin during her funeral, possibly implying reincarnation.]]
* Butterflies are seen more than once in the cinematic scenes of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'', specially the General Story Mode known as ''A Shadow Falls'':
** At the beginning of ''A Shadow...'', right as [[spoiler:Charlie Nash is BackFromTheDead]], he has a nightmare featuring a sheep turning into [[spoiler:Necalli]] and attacking him, only to be staved off by a blue butterfly glowing in a blue-white light.
** [[BookEnds At the end]] of ''A Shadow falls'', another blue butterfly is seen floating around as [[spoiler:Kolin/Helen confides with her boss [[VideoGame/StreetFighterIII Gill]], who claims that despite Bison not being destroyed the way they wanted, the time has come for their group (none other than Main/TheIlluminati) to destroy and then recreate the world in order to restore its balance.]]
** During [[spoiler:Kolin]]'s Story Mode, [[spoiler:as she's saved from [[SnowMeansDeath a snowy death]] by Gill and she accepts his offer to join the Illuminati, a butterfly begins to hatch from a chrysalis on a dead flower.]] The character's profile states that [[spoiler:she]] loves butterflies, probably as a reminder of this life-turning moment.
* Humans who travel to the VideoGame/MansionOfHiddenSouls and choose to stay there are metamorphosed into butterflies, which one of the characters explicitly refers to as "the shape of souls".
* ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'':
** ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'' introduces Morpho Knight, the [[BossSubtitles Reborn Butterfly]], as a BaitAndSwitchBoss at the end of the "Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go!" mode. It is first formed when a red and orange butterfly[[note]]Which had previously appeared in the intros and endings of most Kirby games starting from ''[[VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand Return to Dream Land]]''[[/note]] absorbs Galacta Knight, [[WorldsStrongestMan the "Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy"]]. Its Japanese pause screen descriptions refer to it as a knight from Hades and, as revealed in a support guide published by Famitsu, several of its attacks are named after Sukhavati[[note]]A pure land in Mahayana Buddhism that is considered a favorable destination for the deceased[[/note]].
** Morpho Knight reappears in ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand''. Defeating it in the postgame [[spoiler:allows Kirby to wield its sword]].
* ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'': A dream sequence… [[MindScrew thing]] in Chapter 6 features a terminally ill little girl who transforms into a butterfly as she dies.
* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'': Hu Tao is an undertaker who gives the dead their last rites to send them onto the afterlife and is associated with flaming butterflies.
* ''VideoGame/{{Hades}}'', [[BilingualBonus making use of an ancient Greek pun]], often depicts disincorporated souls as a flurry of butterflies. [[TheGrimReaper Thanatos]] likewise has a subtle butterfly motif and gifts Zagreus one of the creatures as a keepsake.
* ''VideoGame/SniperGhostWarrior3:'' A character who was missing in action returns, and declares himself to have been resurrected. Butterflies appear in the background.
* ''[[VideoGame/MagicalVacation Magical Starsign]]'': The final boss is Shadra, a giant dark-aligned butterfly that as grub has been eaten the sun from the inside out. It's supposed to create a new sun after it finishes devouring the old one, though there are implications that this won't actually be the case. The party killing it causes the sun's light to intensify, solving the robot apocalypse problem and saving everyone in the solar system in the process.
* In ''VideoGame/EldenRing'', [[TheCorruption the Scarlet Rot]] is heavily associated with butterflies. Butterflies are often found fluttering about the [[GardenOfEvil gardens of evil]] that the Rot leaves behind, followers of the Order of Rot venerate a cycle of death and rebirth while worshipping the Rot as the medium by which said cycle is carried out, and [[spoiler:Malenia, in her [[OneWingedAngel Goddess of Rot]] form]] has massive butterfly wings [[TheWormThatWalks made out of butterflies]] and sends butterflies flying with her attacks.
* While a MacabreMothMotif dominates the aspect of Moth in ''VideoGame/CultistSimulator'', the positive sides of the aspect invoke the death and rebirth aspects of lepidopterans. Moth is associated with change, growth, and transformation, [[BlueAndOrangeMorality for better or worse]].

* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' the [[InstantAIJustAddWater newly sentient]] Roofus the Robot wanders off pursuing a butterfly. He later [[StayWithTheAliens finds his destiny]] when he meets a ''giant'' butterfly, Princess Voluptua's [[VoluntaryShapeshifting true form]].
* Used subtly in ''Webcomic/HannaIsNotABoysName'' when Zombie, an undead character, is discussing his previous life with Hanna. He catches a moth in his hands and watches it for a moment, then lets it go.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', when Vriska and Aradia are resurrected and ascend to the [[PhysicalGod god tiers]], they are each granted a large pair of butterfly wings. Fitting, since [[AllTrollsAreDifferent her species]] begins their life cycles as larvae and sleeps in cocoons.
** The Dancestors arc reveals that all God Tier trolls (save for Blood players) have butterfly wings.
* The Rose sisters awareness of this symbolism becomes a major issue for Jozk in ''Webcomic/CharbyTheVampirate''. When he asks them to take his soul before expiring and promptly looses the ability to speak or move when his soul gem falls out of his chest Rosewood finds a nearby butterfly which Rosa immediately accepts as his soul instead. Rosebud actually guesses the correct item for containing his soul but gets shot down as trying to loot his corpse. An actual looter nearby overhears and quickly grabs his gem as soon as the girls have their backs turned.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Concession}}'', a deep purple butterfly seems to be one of Miranda's spiritual forms.

* In one episode of ''Westernanimation/MightyMax'', Max teams up with a new band of heroes, [[WeHardlyKnewYe all of whom are dead by the end of the episode.]] One of them, the Hindu monkey god Hanuman, muses that perhaps he'll come back as a butterfly. A butterfly appears in the last shot of the episode, [[ArtisticLicenseBiology even though, considering how long it takes a butterfly to become an adult, he should still be in caterpillar form.]]

* Butterflies are very much a negative motif in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''. They represent bad thoughts and insecurities, white butterflies being the manifestation of said things when meditation happens, and have to be driven away. A notably heinous villain, Aquamarine, also has a strong lepidopteran motif. Ironically butterfly motifs are associated with stagnation; representing the negative emotions keeping people from moving on and Aquamarine being one of the few people who [[RedemptionRejection rejected redemption]] in the course of the show.
* A butterfly emblem is a key symbol of the BigBad, Hawk Moth, in ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug''. He uses butterflies charged with his powers to transform distraught civilians in Paris into superpowered villains, who frequently [[ThatManIsDead denounce their former selves]]. His powers are intended to empower people into superheroes, but he's twisted that ability to his own ends, the restoration of his wife from an endless sleep.

* In the final scene of ''Literature/AllQuietOnTheWesternFront'', Paul is shot and killed while reaching for a butterfly.

* In the first episode of the second season of ''Series/BabylonFive'', one of the security guards is trying to get the traitor who shot Security Chief Garibaldi to come out of the barracks by saying Ambassador Delenn, who had just come out of the chrysalis as a half human/Minbari, now sported wings, just like a butterfly.

* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'': In "Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2", a synth butterfly is fluttering around Rios, Seven of Nine, Raffi and Elnor when they are reacting to [[spoiler:Picard's]] death. While [[spoiler:Picard's]] consciousness waits to be transferred and then revived within an android golem, a virtual butterfly appears in [[spoiler:Data's]] hand, and it flies away when he explains why he wants his life to be finite.
-->[[spoiler:'''Data''']]: A butterfly that lives forever... is really not a butterfly at all.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Butterflies are very much a negative motif in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''. They represent bad thoughts and insecurities, white butterflies being the manifestation of said things when meditation happens, and have to be driven away. A notably heinous villain, Aquamarine, also has a strong lepidopteran motif.
%%* A butterfly emblem is a key part of the trailer for ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', and seems to be associated with the BigBad.