History Main / HolyWater

* In ''VideoGame/NetHack'', holy water is one of the most crucial items for its function in blessing and uncursing objects and equipment - something nearly every successful character will need to use extensively during the game. [[SubvertedTrope Unholy water]] sees some applications as well: sometimes you need to ''un-bless'' things. Priests start the game with four vials of it, and other classes may create it by [[spoiler:among other ways, diluting other potions into water, then dropping them on a co-aligned altar and praying]].

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS4E18TheFatherTheSonAndTheHolyFonz The Father, the Son and the Holy Fonz]]", Peter's father Francis tries to get Stewie baptized, but is refused by the church's stuff because their supply of holy water is tainted (due to a priest who didn't wash his hands). Francis decides to preform the baptism himself, insisting there's no such thing as tainted holy water, which results in Stewie becoming sick.
** In a humorous early gag, a New Yorker in church insults Peter's favorite football team. Peter calls it blasphemy and throws a bottle of holy water at him, and he collapses, screaming that it burns. Cut to a scientist in a lab opening a package.
-->'''Scientist''': Holy water? Where's that acid I ordered?

* ''ComicBook/RequiemVampireKnight'': Holy items is in great demand on Resurrection because just about everyone is evil and fighting everyone else, making it a great weapon (for instance, a seraphim in a cage is considered the equivalent of an antimatter bomb). The Discordians (evil Reptilians with a Renaissance-England aesthetic) have a monopoly on holy water thanks to a pipeline that brings it in straight from the Vatican. Unfortunately, its powers have greatly diminished due to a number of LightIsNotGood-type scandals, most of it involving the PedophilePriest.
* ''{{ComicBook/Hellblazer}}'': An early arc has one of Constantine's friends die, his soul forfeit to the First of the Fallen. Said friend had made a DealWithTheDevil to amass a collection of fine wines, and found a spring in Ireland blessed by Saint Patrick himself, which he used to magic to transform into the best beer Constantine ever tasted. As the First shows up to collect, John offers a toast... and once the Firt has drunk, upsets the pentacle, reverting the beer to holy water in the First's stomach before dropping him in the spring.

** Certain Islamic traditions proscribe the drinking of healing water, generally either mixed with dust from sacred locations, blessed by an imam or both, to cure sicknesses of the body and of the soul.

* ''Literature/{{Fey}}'': Holy water dissolves Fey. Even a cloth that's been stored close to some holy water turns out to be a slow killer. The twist is that [[spoiler:holy water is only deadly to fey because a human who was desperate for a weapon threw some at an attacking fey, and inadvertently used a forgotten magic to transform it into a weapon that would only work against them]].

* ''Series/GoodOmens'': Holy water is presented as the opposite substance to {{Hellfire}}; whereas Hellfire is associated with Hell and will destroy angels, holy water is aligned with Heaven and will dissolve any demon that comes in contact with it.

While blessed or sacred water features in many real-life religions, its uses tend to be fairly sedate -- typically, it's used in blessings, consecrations or self-purification, generally by using it to anoint someone or something or by drinking or bathing in it. This, however, isn't often quite dramatic enough for action-heavy works, and very difficult to meaningfully implement in games focused chiefly around combat. Consequently, Holy Water tends to have its traditional power to ward off evil expanded into having it literally [[HolyBurnsEvil burn evil beings like acid]], acting less like a sacrament and more like, in essence, a very exotic gun.

Creatures generally taken to be pure evil and unnatural, especially [[OurDemonsAreDifferent demons]], [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]] and TheUndead in general, are the most likely to be depicted as vulnerable to Holy Water. Depending on the work, however, any evil or simply crooked person may have reason to fear blessed waters.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz", Peter's father Francis tries to get Stewie baptized, but is refused by the church's stuff because their supply of holy water is tainted (due to a priest who didn't wash his hands). Francis decides to preform the baptism himself, insisting there's no such thing as tainted holy water, which results in Stewie becoming sick.

* In ''Film/FromDuskToDawn'' the preacher has lost faith in God and has to get it back so he can transform ordinary water into holy water so it can be used to fight off vampires.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'': In Chapter 11, when the party is attacked by a large group of spirits, Senshi makes some holy water on the fly by creatively interpreting the items they have on hand with ''[[EmergencyMultifaithPrayer any]]'' [[EmergencyMultifaithPrayer possible religious background]] and randomly throwing them together to create "deluxe multicultural holy water". He then ties the jar of it to a rope, and ''swings the holy water at the spirits like a flail'' to dispel them. It not only works (since [[EvilIsDeathlyCold the spirits are so cold]]), the jar is frozen, turning the holy water into tasty holy sorbet.

* In "Film/FromDuskToDawn'' the preacher has lost faith in God and has to get it back so he can transform ordinary water into holy water so it can be used to fight off vampires.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

* Q: How do you make Holy Water?
* A: You boil the hell out of it.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Holy water is created when a follower of a benevolent deity infuses regular water with positive energy, and harms evil planar creatures and undead (including non-evil ones, though those are rare to begin with, because all undead are animated by negative energy). It's also used as part of the ''resurrection'' spell, and some people make use of club-like devices known as aspergilliums crafted to hold small quantities of holy water and release it at the press of a button. It also has an opposite in the form of unholy water, created when followers of evil gods infuse water with negative energy.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

** In Christianity, holy water is defined as water that has been blessed by an ordained priest during a specific ceremony.
*** While holy water ''is'' used in exorcisms or to ward off evil influences, its primary uses are a lot less dramatic -- blessed water is often used in baptisms and blessings or sprinkled during Mass. In Catholic churches it's common to keep basins of it for worshippers to dip their fingers into before crossing themselves when entering the church, and some adherents of Eastern churches drink holy water to purify themselves. That being said, it's often assigned considerable power in popular superstition -- it was common in the middle ages for people to steal holy water to use in occult ceremonies.
*** There are very specific rules concerning holy water's production, keeping and disposal. To begin with, only pure water can be blessed -- regular rain or river water cannot usually be made holy, and seawater never can. Holy water can also be extended by mixing it with regular, purified water, but only if the latter is lesser in volume than that which is already blessed. Holy water cannot be disposed of down regular plumbing, but must be poured out onto the ground, either directly or through specially made basins.

A: You boil the hell out of it.

Q: How do you make Holy Water?

* ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'': In Chapter 11, when the party is attacked by a large group of spirits, Senshi makes some holy water on the fly by creatively interpreting the items they have on hand with ''[[EmergencyMultifaithPrayer any]]'' [[EmergencyMultifaithPrayer possible religious background]] and randomly throwing them together to create "deluxe multicultural holy water". He then ties the jar of it to a rope, and ''swings the holy water at the spirits like a flail'' to dispel them. It not only works but, since [[EvilIsDeathlyCold the spirits are so cold]], the jar is frozen, turning the holy water in tasty holy sorbet.

* ''Manga/BlueExorcist'': Holy water acts like acid to demons, and so it also affects the half-demon main character. This leads to a rather amusing scene where the Exwires are soaked down with the stuff to protect them, and the person doing the soaking very purposefully avoids Rin, awkwardly explaining it as "He's allergic to holy water." Which, technically speaking, is true, but...

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': This is a recurring staple in both the original show and its spinoff ''LiveActionTV/{{Angel}}'', where it affects vampires similarly to acid. "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E12Helpless Helpless]]" shows holy water being used as Buffy's primary weapon as she is deprived of her powers and pitted against a particularly crazy vampire as a rite of passage on her eighteenth birthday. She defeats him by tricking him into taking some pills he's addicted to, washed down with holy water.

* In ''VideoGame/BoardGameOnline'', one of the items that can be purchased at the Church is a vile of Holy Water, which the player can drink to cure themselves of the various curses they can get inflicted with during the course of the game. It can also be used against enemies in certain events, like mummies, ghosts, and zombies.