History Main / EnigmaticEmpoweringEntity

* In ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'', [[PlayerCharacter Corvo]] is empowered by an entity that may be some manner of EldritchAbomination known as "The Outsider". This entity often empowers certain individuals just to see what they do with the power. That he is seen as an agent of chaos because of the mayhem that often erupts from such empowered individuals is probably more telling of humans than of the Outsider.

One of her most common incarnations is The Lady of the Lake, originally from the King Arthur mythos -- thus making this PublicDomainCharacter an Administrivia/InternalSubtrope of this trope. Characters such as the FairyGodmother, SantaClaus, and even {{God}} sometimes also fill this role. A person empowered this way may be TouchedByVorlons. A CapturedSuperEntity is if this wasn't consensual on the entity's part.

* The Bees of ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'', who [[SuperEmpowering imbue the players with magical powers]] at the start of the game by symbiotically bonding with them. For good measure, players at first have no idea why they've been chosen or what they're expected to do with their new powers, though it's eventually revealed that the Bees are actually biomechanical MagiTek creations of [[BigGood Gaia]], the [[DeusEstMachina Immaculate Machine]], and Bee-imbued operatives are meant to serve as the magical equivalent of white blood cells. Plus, once you've gotten into the habit of collecting the lore entries they transmit, they end up revealing a lot more than the player's employers among the Big Three.

One of her most common incarnations is The Lady of the Lake, originally from the King Arthur mythos -- thus making this PublicDomainCharacter an Administrivia/InternalSubtrope of this trope. Characters such as the FairyGodmother, SantaClaus, and even {{God}} sometimes (but far from always) also fill this role. A person empowered this way may be TouchedByVorlons. A CapturedSuperEntity is if this wasn't consensual on the entity's part.

One of her most common incarnations is The Lady of the Lake, originally from the King Arthur mythos -- thus making this PublicDomainCharacter an Administrivia/InternalSubtrope of this trope. Characters such as the FairyGodmother, SantaClaus, and even {{God}} sometimes (but far from always) also fill this role. A person empowered this way may be TouchedByVorlons.

* The Witch of Envy from ''LightNovel/ReZero'' gives Subaru his Return by Death, the single most enigmatic ability in the series as well as the most powerful, as it allows the main character to keep trying after his death in a world of demigods.

->''"The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. ''That'' is why I am your king."''

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' the Lady of the Lake appears in Central Park and helps King Arthur regain excalibur

* [[Literature/BabaYaga Flemeth]], the [[AmbiguouslyEvil (in)famous]] [[RetiredMonster "Witch of]] [[VoluntaryShapeshifter the Wilds"]] from the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' series.

* Ananke serves this role to [[Comicbook/TheWickedAndTheDivine the pantheon]], seeking them out and awakening them as reincarnated gods. [[ManipulativeBastard Now, as to whether she's actually helping them is an entirely different story...]]

Ananke serves this role to [[Comicbook/TheWickedAndTheDivine the pantheon]], seeking them out and awakening them as reincarnated gods. [[ManipulativeBastard Now, as to whether she's actually helping them is an entirely different story...]]

* Azura of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', so much. She's a MysteriousWaif whom [[PlayerCharacter The Player]] meets by a lake, empowers them with a dragonstone that lets them shapeshift, [[UndyingLoyalty always provides emotional support and advice for them]], and is the one to inform everyone about [[spoiler:the mystical kingdom of Valla]]. Her epitaph is even "Lady of the Lake".

* In ''Literature/TheBible'', this role is fulfilled by {{God}} as he shows himself to Moses in a burning bush.

* The 'red goddess' Scáthach who grants ComicBook/RedSonja her fighting skills in the MarvelComics version of her origin.

* Azura of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', so much. She's a MysteriousWaif whom [[CanonName Corrin]] meets by a lake, empowers Corrin (who is by default male) with the dragonstone that lets him shapeshift, [[UndyingLoyalty always provides emotional support and advice for Corrin]], and is the one to inform everyone about the mystical kingdom of Valla. Her epitaph is even "Lady of the Lake".

* C.C. from ''CodeGeass'' gives TheProtagonist the eponymous Geass power. With the show's running theme of Arthurian myth and legend, she can easily be seen as a stand-in for the Lady of the Lake. In fact, a popular EpilepticTree suggested that she '''was''' the Lady, until it was {{Jossed}} in the second season.

There is a saying that "Behind every great man there's a great woman", and this trope often follows this theme: The receiver tends to be a man, usually a mortal [[{{muggles}} muggle]], while the Enigmatic Empowering Entity tends to be female -- often a divine/supernatural female of mysterious origin and identity.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* The Lady of the Lake appears in ''Series/{{Merlin}}'' as Freya, a young Druid girl who dies in the same episode she first appears, only to return as a spirit the following season and deliever Excalibur into Merlin's hands.

* Subverted and parodied in ''ArmedAndDangerous''. The Lady of the Pond exists in the universe, but when the heroes seek her out for her MacGuffin she takes so long to appear that [[TheLancer Jonesy]] starts skipping rocks in her pond out of boredom. His rock ends up beaning her by accident and gives her amnesia.

* Warhammer's Bretonnians borrow heavily from Arthurian legend, alongside pretty much every other source of medieval chivalric archetypes going. As such their chief deity is The Lady of the Lake, whose favour they often pray for before battle (and it actually works, protecting them from ignoble enemy missile fire!) and whose magic Grail is the object of frequent Grail Quests for knights seeking the highest ranks of knighthood. The Lady's chief priestess is the mysterious sorceress Morgiana the Fey, who may or may not be a Wood Elf masquerading for her own people's benefit.

* In ''{{Spamalot}}'', The Lady Of The Lake is one of the main characters of the musical. She is also a Cher impersonator.

* ''Valis'': A rather weird example. In Creator/PhilipKDick's novel, an alien godlike being takes over the hero's mind and transmits to him messianic messages. Sadly, one of them wasn't, [[BeamMeUpScotty "Stop doing all that speed, Dick!"]]

* Parodied in ''WorldOfWarcraft'': In Northrend, there's a lady in ''every'' lake. And yes, her job is to distribute swords.
* A very dark twist on this is in ''AlanWake'': The Dark Presence ''is'' [[spoiler: Cauldron Lake]], and takes on the form of [[spoiler: an old hag in a burial shroud.]]

* Sephrenia, in the ''{{Elenium}}'' trilogy by Creator/DavidEddings, turns out to be one of these. A side story (presented as a prologue to one of the three novels) gives the entwined history of the royal house of Elenia and the house of Sparhawk. Both the Elenian monarch and the current generation of Sparhawk wear a special diamond ring, which this story reveals was given to their ancestors by Sephrenia, who most likely was acting on the orders of the delightfully meddlesome Child-Goddess Aphrael. Notably, this revelation is provided for the reader only -- not to the characters.

* This is what ultimately composes [[spoiler:Cosmos']] ThanatosGambit in ''DissidiaFinalFantasy''; [[spoiler:by siphoning out what remained of her power into the [[MineralMacGuffin crystals]] that her warriors had been collecting for their Destiny Odyssey storylines, she weakened herself enough for Chaos to take her down, but empowered her warriors enough to defeat him, too, and finally break the cycle... Unfortunately, it didn't quite work.]]

** A more straightforward SufficientlyAdvancedAlien example is the Librarian, a Forerunner whose long-term plans for humanity's ascension are still ongoing still her having died 100,000 years ago; among other things, she put inheritable genetic instructions into prehistoric humanity, with her machinations being partly responsible for the very existence of the Master Chief and Cortana. In ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'', [[spoiler:one of her "essences" gives Chief immunity to the Composer, while another gives Dr. Halsey the Janus Key (which contains the real-time location of all Forerunner tech in the galaxy)]].

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** Dr. Halsey could technically count, as she was the one who started the SPARTAN-II project, making the test subjects super-soldiers, though most did not survive the process. It is also unique in that the way she gives you "powers" is done mostly through drugs and machines rather then magic.
** A more straightforward SufficientlyAdvancedAlien example is the Librarian, a Forerunner whose long-term plans for humanity's ascension are still ongoing still her having died 100,000 years ago; among other things, she put inheritable genetic instructions into prehistoric humanity, with her machinations being partly responsible for the very existence of the Master Chief and Cortana. In ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'', [[spoiler:one of her "essences" gives Chief immunity to the Composer, while another gives Dr. Halsey the Janus Key (which contains the real-time location of all Forerunner tech in the galaxy)]].