History Main / HolyWater

* ''Film/{{Constantine}}'': Holy water burns the skin of half-demons and makes them much more vulnerable to attack.

* ''Film/VanHelsing'': The titular character dips his automatic crossbow drum into the holy water at a church to make the bolts more effective when firing at vampires.

* ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac:'' Holy Water is a passive item that causes a bottle of water to spawn behind Isaac and follow him around like a familiar. Taking damage will break the bottle and create a puddle of water that harms non-flying enemies.

** 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 varies with the edition, but the damage inflicted isn't very high unless large quantities are used, and holy water is expensive. Thus it is less useful as a weapon than as a quick mean of identifying undead or fiends that could be masquerading as ordinary, living people.

** The first layer of The Seven Heavens of Mount Celestia is surrounded by an ocean of holy water. Since it's impossible to enter the plane without first going through the first layer, it makes for an effective defense against fiends.

* Holy water is very potent in ''Literature/FightingFantasy'' gamebooks. It frequently does a die's worth of Stamina damage to the undead and demons, which can be well over a quarter, half or even ''all'' of the monster's Stamina points, depending on what you're splashing with the water.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'': ''Holy Water'' be crafted by Alchemists out of ''Dravanian Mistletoe'' and ''Dravanian Spring Water''. It's main use is for crafting gear for jobs that are around level 52. There's also ''Hallowed Water'', a variant that's used for crafting level 56 gear. They're both only used within the ''Heavensward'' expansion, which revolves around the theocratic city-state of Ishgard.

* ''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. In both cases, it inflicts FinalDeath rather than "mere" [[FightingAShadow discorporation]].

** Certain Islamic traditions prescribe 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. Water from the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamzam_Well Zamzam Well]] in the Great Mosque of Mecca is especially sacred.

* ''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.
* ''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.

* ''VideoGame/BoardGameOnline'': One of the items that can be purchased at the Church is a vial 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.

* ''Fanfic/ProfessorLaytonVsPhoenixWrightTheFrigidMelody'': The water of Faragran is said to have some kind of supernatural energy, and Jack Hill comments that vegetables grown using the water are larger than usually vegetables.

* ''Literature/FeetOfClay'': Vimes claims the Watch made anti-vampire candles by soaking the wicks in holy water and letting the water evaporate, leaving only holiness. [[spoiler:He's bluffing.]]

* ''Literature/GoodOmens'': Holy water, the real-life blessed-by-a-Christian-priest kind, is extremely dangerous to demons. Crowley handles a bucket of holy water like it's nuclear waste, and later uses it to [[spoiler:kill his supervisor Ligur in a BucketBoobyTrap]].

Contrast {{Hellfire}}, Holy Water's opposite number in both elemental and sacred terms, and SacredFlames, which is just opposite in elemental terms. See also KillItWithWater and HealItWithWater, both of which may overlap with uses of Holy Water.

Contrast {{Hellfire}}, Holy Water's opposite number in both elemental and sacred terms. See also KillItWithWater and HealItWithWater, both of which may overlap with uses of Holy Water.

* In ''VideoGame/BoardGameOnline'', one of the items that can be purchased at the Church is a vial 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.

On other occasions, Holy Water may retain more of its real-life associations and be used for things such as protecting places and characters against future or magical harm or to provide other blessings. In videogames, this may come in the form of it providing stat boosts.

* ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'': In the very first scene, we see Artemis blackmailing a [[TheFairFolk fairy healer]] into giving him her copy of The Book of the People by poisoning her bottle of wine with holy water and offering an antidote in exchange for the book.

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'': Throughout the series holy water is a consumable item that acts as EncounterRepellent against monsters weaker than the party; in games with RandomEncounters it prevents them from occurring, in games with PreexistingEncounters it prevents them from spawning or makes them avoid contact at lower levels than without using it. In some games it can also be used in battle to deal a minuscule amount of damage to a single monster.

** 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 perform the baptism himself, insisting there's no such thing as tainted holy water, which results in Stewie becoming sick.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Castlevania|2017}}'': Water blessed by a priest is a potent weapon against demons and vampires alike, which it burns and dissolves. However, it requires someone with true faith and God's favor to do so -- something the CorruptChurch has long since lost. Trevor is able to get a parish priest to bless some water to use against the demonic invaders of Gresit, while in "[[Recap/Castlevania2017S2E6TheRiver The River]]" [[spoiler:Carmilla has the Bishop's reanimated corpse bless the entire river the castle appeared in the middle of; this causes the demon-tainted corpse to burn away to nothing, but also sets a deadly trap for the vampiric army that gets thrown in the drink by a collapsing bridge]].

[[folder:Mythology & Religion]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017 '': Water blessed by a priest is a potent weapon against demons and vampires alike, which it burns and dissolves. However, it requires someone with true faith and God's favor to do so -- something the CorruptChurch has long since lost. Trevor is able to get a parish priest to bless some water to use against the demonic invaders of Gresit, while in "[[Recap/Castlevania2017S2E6TheRiver The River]]" [[spoiler:Carmilla has the Bishop's reanimated corpse bless the entire river the castle appeared in the middle of; this causes the demon-tainted corpse to burn away to nothing, but also sets a deadly trap for the vampiric army that gets thrown in the drink by a collapsing bridge]].

--->'''Scientist''': Holy water? Where's that acid I ordered?

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Blessed water has a role in numerous Abrahamic faiths, although its use in Christianity is the most widespread and notorious in Western culture.
** 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.
** The Book of Numbers describes how women accused of infidelity would be made to drink a special mixture of water and dust. If they were guilty, this would make them miscarry any future pregnancy; if they were innocent, nothing would happen.
** Certain Islamic traditions prescribe 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.
* In Ancient Greece, holy water was called ''chernips'', created by extinguishing a torch from a shrine in a basin of regular water, and used to bless places and people.
* Buddhist traditions often make use of blessed water for a variety of purposes.
** Mahayana Buddhists create blessed water by reciting sutras over it, and usually either drink it or use it to bless homes.
** Theravada Buddhists bless water through certain specific ceremonies, and afterwards keep it around the home. Oil can also be blessed in this manner.
* In Hinduism, holy water generally comes from already holy sources, most notably the Ganges River, and is ritually bathed in for self-purification.
* Wicca uses blessed water in several ceremonies, and adherents typically create it by stirring blessed salt into a ritually purified bowl.
[[/folder]]

* ''Discworld/FeetOfClay'': Vimes claims the Watch made anti-vampire candles by soaking the wicks in holy water and letting the water evaporate, leaving only holiness. [[spoiler:He's bluffing.]]

** In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS4E5TheClevelandLorettaQuagmire The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire]]", Stewie watches an episode of Series/{{Bewitched}} where Darrin has enough of Endora messing with him and angrily splashes her with holy water.

** In "The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire", Stewie watches an episode of Series/{{Bewitched}} where Darrin has enough of Endora messing with him and angrily splashes her with holy water.

** 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.