History Main / FirePurifies

* A non-supernatural example comes up in ''Literature/TheDayOfTheTriffids''. It's only one of several ways you can kill them, with varying degrees of efficiency, but fire is the one thing the titular [[WhenTreesAttack ambulatory, predatory and possibly quasi-intelligent plants]] will actively retreat from; they won't notice bullets even as they're getting shot to bits because they don't seem to have pain-receptors, but they definitely feel heat.

This may be a reason why FireKeepsItDead, the trope for where burning a body prevents it from coming back to life. Supertrope to BurnTheUndead, which is where the purifying powers of fire cause the undead to be vulnerable to destruction by fire.

* Zoroastrians regard fire as a symbol of purity.

* ''VideoGame/FreddyFazbearsPizzeriaSimulator'' serves as a GrandFinale of the ''Franchise/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' franchise. In its true ending, earned by salvaging all four of the scrapped animatronics, you listen to a message from [[spoiler:the Cassette Guy who hired you directed to both yourself and the animatronics]]. As he speaks of finally ending the nightmare once and for all, images are shown of [[spoiler:Scrap Baby, Molten Freddy, and Springtrap burning, with particular malice directed from the Cassette Guy to Springtrap]]. The obvious intent is to destroy everything beyond hope of recovery and finally put all the lost souls involved to rest.

[[folder:Film]]

* Fire is pretty much the surefire way of dealing with Film/{{The|Thing1982}} [[Film/TheThing2011 Thing]], being a biological horror that needs to have every cell destroyed [[FromASingleCell so it doesn't come back]].

* Fire is used to purify remains in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. Salting and burning the bones of a person or burning any other earthly remains (hair, fingernail, teeth, etc) is often the only way to put a vengeful spirit to rest.

[[folder:Religion]]

--> '''John the Baptist''': I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.

* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' [[LightEmUp White]] is usually the color of purity, but [[PlayingWithFire Red]] occasionally gets a cleansing motif, such as [[http://magiccards.info/cma/en/78.html Cleansing Beam]] or [[http://magiccards.info/mbs/en/59.html Burn the Impure]].

[[folder: Video Games]]

* In {{Sunrise}}, many of the flenser gangs have degenerated even further than they have in previous books. Three of the last surviving members of one particular gang are found in an abandoned JC Penny in a filthy den full of rotting human remains. At least one or two are afflicted with debilitating illnesses, and the one flenser still healthy enough to put up a fight is still little more than a mindless, drooling animal. After killing them all, Alex and the rest of his group decide that nothing short of burning the entire building down will suffice to clean the filth away.

* In {{Sunrise}}, many of the flenser gangs have degenerated even further than they have in previous books. Three of the last surviving members of one particular gang are found in an abandoned JC Penny in a filthy den full of rotting human remains. At least one or two are afflicted with debilitating illnesses, and the one flenser still healthy enough to put up a fight is still little more than a mindless, drooling animal.

-->“The flames of hell are the fires which burn away impurities.”

* Fire is pretty much the surefire way of dealing with Film/{{The|Thing1982}} Film/{{Th|eThing2011}}ing, being a biological horror that needs to have every cell destroyed [[FromASingleCell so it doesn't come back]].

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'': Among the Imperial forces, flamers are usually seen as a good metaphor for purifying the GodEmperor's enemies. [[JoanOfArchetype Sisters of Battle]] take it even further, with most squads wielding flamers or wearing hats that are on fire. Not to mention [[ApocalypseHow virus bombing]] (which basically converts a large proportion of the planet's surface into fuel and strikes a match).

* Long before there was any scientific germ theory to explain disease, humans had learned that fire made rotting corpses and things that had been in contact with sick people and animals harmless. If cleaning infectous things with water didn't work, fire would do the job as a last resort, which makes fire the ultimate form of purification in cultures all over the world.

* Fire is pretty much the surefire way of dealing with [[Film/TheThing1982 The]] [[Film/TheThing2011 Thing]], being a biological horror that needs to have every cell destroyed [[FromASingleCell so it doesn't come back]].

->''Flame purifies all.''

* Invoked by name by Firesong in the last ''[[HeraldsOfValdemar Mage Winds]]'' novel, as he finally destroys Ma'ar's soul by incinerating its refuge in the Void.