History Main / CrossMeltingAura

* In ''Film/{{Dracula|1979}}'', Jonathan Harker tries to ward off the Count with a wooden cross, but he just smiles and grabs it, making it burst in flames.

* ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'':
** Alucard is far and away more powerful than any other vampire in the series, and none of the usual vampiric weaknesses do anything to him. Whether its holy blades, having his heart pierced, or his head removed, he just comes right back from it like it was nothing. At one point he calmly takes a plane over a body of water in broad daylight, just to show off how powerful he is (by contrast, Seras, a neophyte vampire who hasn't completely turned yet, must make the journey housed inside her coffin the whole way).
-->'''Integra''': You cut his head off? ''Is that all?'' [...] Cut off his head, pierce his heart? He is nothing like any vampire you've ever known!
** In the animated ''Anime/{{Hellsing}}'', this is how Alucard defeats Incognito: he uses his cross-melting aura to make a long silver stake to impale Incognito on: first through the chest and heart, then vertically all the way through.

* In the animated ''Anime/{{Hellsing}}'', this is how Alucard defeats Incognito: he uses his cross-melting aura to make a long silver stake to impale Incognito on: first through the chest and heart, then vertically all the way through.

Of course, such destruction is ''never'' subtle and is catered to the holy item. Holy statues will [[TearsFromAStone weep tears]] of [[TearsOfBlood blood]], prayer slips will have their holy runes drip off, and the PlaceOfProtection will [[WalkingWasteland sour and die]]. And crosses, as seen in the accompanying image, catch flame and burn to ash.

* In ''Film/HellraiserIIIHellOnEarth'', Pinhead liquified the cross held at him by a priest, seriously burning him, while giving an ironic quote: "Thou shall not bow down before any graven image." But he doesn't stop there: Pinhead's very presence is such blasphemy that the church itself starts tearing itself apart: the walls crack, the stained glass windows pop one after the other as he walks down the aisle, the candles erupt in huge columns of flame and the whole room is lit up a hellish red. Before long, the sanctuary looks less like a house of The Lord and more like a Satanic cathedral. Again: [[HolyShitQuotent Pinhead accomplishes this by simply swanning down the aisle over to the pulpit]].

* In ''Film/HellraiserIIIHellOnEarth'', Pinhead liquified the cross held at him by a priest, seriously burning him, while giving an ironic quote.
-->'''Pinhead:''' Thou shall not bow down before any graven image.

For the OccultDetective, TheHunter, and TheMenInBlack in charge of policing the supernatural threats that step out of line, a thorough knowledge of how OurMonstersAreDifferent is vital. They need to know all the {{Weaksauce Weakness}}es, the various {{Kryptonite Factor}}s, and develop DepletedPhlebotinumShells in order to properly [[FlawExploitation exploit the weaknessess]] of their prey. This is what helps level the playing field and save the lives of countless heroes as the forces of darkness [[WeakenedByTheLight run from the light]] [[HissBeforeFleeing hissing]] and burning.

[[caption-width-right:350:Dracula helps [[IncrediblyLamePun lighten]] the cross Van Helsing bears.]]

--->'''Pinhead:''' Thou shall not bow down before any graven image.

--->(''Jerry is [[WeakenedByTheLight cringing and staggering backward]] from the cross Charley is brandishing at him'')\\

(''Jerry grabs the cross as soon as Charley's in reaching distance, invoking the trope'')\\
(''cross catches fire and crumbles'')\\

* In ''Film/{{Dracula 1979}}'', Jonathan Harker tries to ward off the Count with a wooden cross, but he just smiles and grabs it, making it burst in flames.

* Played with the sun itself by Tolkien. Throughout ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'' we've been told that the forces of Sauron like Orcs, Trolls and Nazgûl are afraid of the sun, and sunlight weakens or outright destroys them. And in the third book, we see Sauron's army on the march to Minas Tirith. Cue the sun fading and the day becoming dark as night.
** The pall of darkness is later blown away by a wind out of the west (wind being commanded by Manwë, holiest of the Valar), which also just happens to give Aragorn's stolen boats the extra boost of speed required to provide effective reinforcements to Gondor.

--->''''Pinhead:''' Thou shall not bow down before any graven image.

--->''Pinhead: Thou shall not bow down before any graven image.''

* In ''Film/HellraiserIIIHellOnEarth'', Pinhead liquified the cross held at him by a priest, seriously burning him.

* In ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIIRomancingTheThrone'', the silver cross given to you by the monk will protect you from Dracula. But in the AGDInteractive FanRemake, if you try the cross on his equivalent (the AffablyEvil Count Caldaur), he'll ''kiss it'' and sarcastically say "God bless Kolyma". (This may have a little something to do with the fact that [[spoiler:the monk is evil in this version]]...)

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''
** Subverted in the third book, ''Grave Peril''. While attending a vampire ball, a Red Court vampire (less vulnerable to faith than the undead Black Court) laughs at [[ThePaladin Michael's]] cross and grabs it mockingly, saying that it was immune to such things. The vampire then immediately bursts into white flame.
** Of course it can be played straight depending on the person. In the Dresdenverse holy symbols only work if the person who is using it to protect himself actually has faith in what the symbol stands for. So a cross held by someone who has no faith is only holding a useless trinket. In Michael's case, he is literally a holy warrior chosen by God.
** When Harry needs to use something, he uses the pentacle given to him by his mother. To him, it represents his faith in magic guided by human will.
** All faeries are burned horribly by the touch of [[ColdIron iron]]. All faeries except Mother Winter. ''She'' has iron ''teeth.''

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', the First Hokage's necklage is able to contain the Ninetails/Kyuubi inside him when he manifests up to four tails. [[OhCrap Beyond that though...]]

* In ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'', the [[LethalJokeItem Bible]] kills [[FinalBoss Mom]] and [[TrueFinalBoss It Lives/Mom's Heart]] in one hit. Trying to use it on [[spoiler:Satan]] or [[spoiler:Isaac himself in the new expansion]], on the other hand, [[RocksFallEveryoneDies will kill YOU instead]].

* In ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'', the [[LethalJokeItem Bible]] kills the FinalBoss and the TrueFinalBoss in one hit. In the expansion, attempting to use it against any of the new bosses [[RocksFallEveryoneDies backfires horribly]].

* In ''VideoGame/KingsQuestIIRomancingTheThrone'', the silver cross given to you by the monk will protect you from Dracula. But in the AGDInteractive FanRemake, if you try the cross on his equivalent (the AffablyEvil Count Caldaur), he'll ''kiss it'' and sarcastically say "God bless Daventry". (This may have a little something to do with the fact that [[spoiler:the monk is evil in this version]]...)

* ''Film/FrightNight'':
** The original has scary-movie actor turned vampire hunter Peter Vincent tries to use a cross against the vampire. The vampire takes it away from him and tosses it, noting that since Vincent [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve doesn't believe it will work, it won't]]. Charley tries it, using a much smaller cross. His greater faith actually causes Jerry to cringe away.
** The [[Film/FrightNight2011 remake]] has this occur has a crowning moment of snark when Charley tries it on Jerry:

** Of course it can be played straight depending on the person. In the Dresdenverse holy symbols only work if the person who is using it to protect himself actually has faith in what the symbol stands for. So a cross held by someone who has no faith is only holding a useless trinket. In Michael's case, he is literally a holy warrior chosen by god.

** Subverted with the vampiric Lucy as she most likely isn't powerful enough to go against crosses (being newly turned an all).

!§Examples:

[[caption-width-right:350:[-Dracula helps [[IncrediblyLamePun lighten]] the cross Van Helsing bears.-] ]]

!Examples:

* ''Film/FrightNight''

-->'''''Jerry''' is [[WeakenedByTheLight cringing and staggering backward]] from the cross Charley is brandishing at him.''\\

''(Jerry grabs the cross as soon as Charley's in reaching distance, invoking the trope)''\\
''cross catches fire and crumbles''\\

* In the ''{{Literature/Eisenhorn}}'' book ''Hereticus'', a priest mistakes [[LightIsNotGood Cherubael]] for a manifestation of the God-Emperor and runs to meet it with an Imperial aquila. While the aquila manages to keep Cherubael away at first, eventually the daemonhost manages to melt the aquila.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E3TheCurseOfFenric "The Curse of Fenric"]], the doubting priest's holy symbols are ineffective against the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Haemovores]].
** This is because the Haemovores are not actually repelled by holy symbols (like a cross), but rather the faith that their wielder has invested in them. As by this point in the story, the priest's faith is severely wavering, what power he may have had has simply seeped away...
* There are numerous examples in ''{{Supernatural}}''. Hallowed ground can repel minor demons, but not any that get named/affect the plot. Episode 4.09 I Know What you Did Last Summer features a statue of Mary bleeding from the eyes as the demon Alistair approaches.

* In ''WarhammerFantasy'', it's stated that when a priest shows a vampire his symbol, there's actually a battle of wills going on. if the priest wins, the emblem repels the vampire. if the vampire wins, well...

* May appear in ''WebComic/SluggyFreelance'', in "Vampires". Riff, being Jewish, uses a Star of David against vampires, since any holy symbol will do. (They even consider a can of beer, but not light beer.) The powerful Lysinda Circle vampire [[spoiler: Valerie]] grabs the symbol from around his neck and crushes it; she doesn't seem harmed by it at all, and while she's touching it, there's a hissing noise. It could be some version of this trope, though it might also be that it's actually burning her, but to such a small extent that she's able to ignore it.
* Appears in ''WebComic/TalesOfTheQuestor''. Magnetized iron damages most fae creatures, but the Princeling merely acts indignant that someone would dare to think that a magnetized horseshoe would hurt him.

* Both the book and film version of ''Film/TheKeep'', have a version of this although in slightly different circumstances. In both cases there is a case where one of the officers holds up a cross to ward off Molassar the vampire. [[spoiler:Who is actually not a vampire at all but a sort of EmotionEater who predates written history.]] Both times there is [[HopeSpot a brief moment where it seems to be working]], and then Molassar reaches out, grabs the cross, and effortlessly turns it into a twisted lump of metal. Rather more satisfying in the film version because it's happening to the SmugSnake SS Major instead of the noble, conflicted, MyCountryRightOrWrong Wehrmacht Captain.

** The pall of darkness is later blown away by a wind out of the west (wind being commanded by Manwë, holiest of the Valar), which also just happens to [[AwesomeYetPractical give Aragorn's stolen boats the extra boost of speed required to provide effective reinforcements to Gondor]].

* In {{Naruto}}, the First Hokage's necklage is able to contain the Ninetails/Kyuubi inside him when he manifests up to four tails. [[OhCrap Beyond that though...]]