History Main / NemeanSkinning

* ''Film/{{Serenity}}'': A particularly macabre version of this: the Reavers wear clothing made from skins -- ''human'' skins.

In RealLife this would be a complicated process. [[note]]Tanning the leather (for the curious, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanning converting a fresh animal skin into usable leather,]] especially in medieval and classical times, was an extremely long and labor-intensive process -- we're talking months of work here, involving noxious and smelly chemicals like quicklime, animal brains, urine, etc.), cutting it, and then sewing it back into a wearable suit.[[/note]] However, you're not likely to see this in an action based series because it's time consuming and not as fun to watch as the slaying of the creature. Despite all this, the trope is used [[RuleOfCool because it's just that cool]].

* In ''Film/FireAndIce'', the mysterious warrior Darkwolf wears a hood made from the pelt taken from the head of wolf.

!!Examples

* In ''Comicbook/BlackPanther'', T'Challa's ancestors are sometimes portrayed as wearing actual panther skins, rather than an outfit designed to resemble one.

* In an {{Elseworld}} mashup of ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}'' and ''Literature/TheJungleBook'', K'l'l of the wolves manages to turn Shere Khan's skin into [[http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20081013012508/marvel_dc/images/c/c6/Superman_Annual_Vol_2_6.jpg this.]]

* In Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil Rafaella, the Valiant Champion, is fond of taking trophies from defeated worthy opponents. To quite some people's disgust and anger, she makes a cape out of [[spoiler: The Captain's fur]].

* Gary Jennings' monumental novel 'Literature/{{Aztec}}'' chronicles the life of Mixtli, a man who rises in Aztec society just before the Spanish conquest. One episode cocerns Mixtli and his trading expedition fighting and killing a jaguar. The animal is skinned with the intention of having the skin tanned and preserved when they reach a town; a slave is detailed to wear the uncured skin. Unfortunately for the slave it takes several days to reach a town where the skin could be cured and tanned; Mixtli drily notes that by then, it has rotted under the Mexican sun and everybody is trying not to stand too close to the hapless slave.

* In ''Literature/ThroughWolfsEye'', Firekeeper's original outfit was made out of the hide of a deer she had killed herself. It is explicitly mentioned that the leather of her outfit is of low quality, as she was literally RaisedByWolves and knew nothing of practical tanning. The garment design itself is also of low quality (She basically just cut a hole in the middle of the crudely tanned hide and stuck her head through it, then cut off a thin strip to use as a belt), as she also knew nothing of practical tailoring.

* ''Film/TheEdge'' Anthony Hopkin's character and Alec Baldwin's killed a bear in the Alaska wild and in the next shot were walking around in nice warm bear skin coats.

* ''ComicBook/{{Hawkman}}'' foe Thrill-Killer was originally a hunter known for killing a Kasta Bird, which can paralyze with a single strike, with his bare hands. Since then he has taken to wearing it's skin as a fearsome cloak.

** Black Panther foe Man-Ape actual wears the skin of the sacred white gorilla, with the gorilla's head forming a hood.

* ComicBook/{{Hawkman}} foe Thrill-Killer was originally a hunter known for killing a Kasta Bird, which can paralyze with a single strike, with his bare hands. Since then he has taken to wearing it's skin as a fearsome cloak.

* In ''Comicbook/BlackPanther'', T'Challa's ancestors are sometimes portrayed as wearing actual panther skins, rather than an outfit designed to resemble one.

* In ''TabletopGame/MyriadSong'' [[SiliconBasedLife Towser]] pelts can be made into some of the best armor in the game. It's also illegal because Towsers are sapient.
* A very common foe in ''TabletopGame/{{Scion}}''. "Nemean" is a term that refers to any animal that is supernaturally huge, powerful, and evil, usually somehow related to the titans. A nemean lion can be the size of an elephant. A nemean elephant can be the size of a house. All of them generally look like gigantic versions of the common animals, but sometimes they have some monstrous features. The skin of a nemean animal is nigh impenetrable, and many heroes have made coats, cloaks, or jackets from nemean beast skin that are the best non-Relic armor available in the setting (and often enough, they become Relics). On a sidenote, once you become so powerful that a lion the size of an elephant is your version of a common mook, don't worry: there are also ''Typhonian'' animals, that are big enough to provide a serious challenge to ''gods''. A typhonian lion can be the size of a tall building, its hide is even tougher, and if you skin it, is even better a prize...

* The ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' episode "The Bounty" depicts a case of this backfiring on the wearer, EvilPoacher BountyHunter Rongruffle the Huntress. When she encounters another example of the alien species that provided her with her skull and pelt, it's none too pleased.

* The ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' episode "The Bounty" depicts a case of this backfiring on the wearer, VillainousPoacher BountyHunter Rongruffle the Huntress. When she encounters another example of the alien species that provided her with her skull and pelt, it's none too pleased.

->'''Hellboy:''' So you're telling me that kid was the ghost of his pants?\\

[[/folder]]

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[[quoteright:283:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Herclion_6261.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:283:Mankind's first hoodie.]]

Can also overlap with PeltsOfTheBarbarian. Compare CarcassSleepingBag, for when you don't have access to magical tanning skills. Also compare AnimalDisguise, which may be made of an actual animal skin.

* Prior to ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}} ComicBook/HerculesUnbound often wore the Nemean Lion's skin as a cloak or cape.
* ComicBook/{{Hawkman}} foe Thrill-Killer was originally a hunter known for killing a Kasta Bird, which can paralyze with a single strike, with his bare hands. Since then he has taken to wearing it's skin as a fearsome cloak.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Beowulf|2007}}'' adaptation, there's a barbarian with a wolf skin. It's likely meant to be a pun on the name, "Beowulf". In which case it would be a lame pun, as Beowulf's name comes from "Bee Wolf," that is a bear, which he was described as being able to grapple like one.

* In ''Film/TropicThunder'', the lead kills a panda (accidentally, and much to his horror), whose skin he wears as part of his "descent into madness".

* In ''Windwalker'' the ancient, [[OnlyMostlyDead returning-from-the-dead]], [[ThePatriarch chief]] has an adrenaline boosting run-in with a bear. After killing it, he wears its pelt to keep warm in the snow.
* ''Film/{{Serenity}}'': A particularly macabre version of this: the Reavers wear clothing made from skins -- ''human'' skins.

* [[spoiler:Atlanna]] in ''Film/Aquaman2018'', having fought past a massive swarm of flesh-crazed FishPeople in the past, is shown wearing an outfit made from their scales and teeth.
* In ''Film/BlackZoo'', during the meeting of the animal cult, the high priest Radu and Michael Conrad wear robes of tiger skin with the entire open-mouthed head of the tiger as a hood. It is not established where the robes came from, however.
* ''Film/Hercules2014'': Hercules wears the skin of the Nemean lion (or ''a'' lion at least, since that story was possibly made up in-universe: it's left ambiguous in the film).

* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' book, The Titan's Curse: after they kill the Nemean Lion, it magically skins ''itself'' and not only that, because of the Mist's effects on mortal vision, it suddenly becomes a leather trench coat.
* John Jakes' ''Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian'' {{Expy}}, Brak, wore a lion skin and not much else most of the time.

* ''Literature/TarzanOfTheApes'' novel: Averted, believe it or not. Tarzan kills a big cat and plans to wear its skin: "But he found the hide had dried as stiff as a board, and as he knew naught of tanning, he was forced to abandon his cherished plan."
* ''Literature/MySideOfTheMountain'' has the protagonist kill a deer through use of traps, and the process of tanning its hide is long, complicated, and detailed. Kid has a good memory.

* As part of disguising themselves as tribesmen late in ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', Belgarath, Silk and Garion take out a few rabbits and sew the skins to their clothing. They later tear them off when the smell gets too strong, after they've served their purpose.

* In ''Emperor: The Death of Kings'', Corvix has a head dress made from the head of a lion that he killed many years ago.
* The BigBad of the fifth ''{{Literature/Redwall}}'' book, ''The Bellmaker'', is [[SdrawkcabName Urgan Nagru]], a fox who [[BlatantLies (allegedly)]] killed a wolf then took his name and pelt for himself. [[spoiler:Nagru is HoistByHisOwnPetard when he gets rammed into a tree, causing the teeth of the wolf's skull to stab through his head and kill him.]]
* In Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil Rafaella, the Valiant Champion, is fond of taking trophies from defeated worthy opponents. To quite some people's disgust and anger, she makes a cape out of [[spoiler: The Captain's fur]].
* In ''Through Wolf's Eye'', Firekeeper's original outfit was made out of the hide of a deer she had killed herself. It is explicitly mentioned that the leather of her outfit is of low quality, as she was literally RaisedByWolves and knew nothing of practical tanning. The garment design itself is also of low quality (She basically just cut a hole in the middle of the crudely tanned hide and stuck her head through it, then cut off a thin strip to use as a belt), as she also knew nothing of practical tailoring.
* ''Literature/CodexAlera'': Canim Ritualists are believers in this trope and dress themselves in cloaks made from the skins of their enemies. Since most of the Canim encountered in the series are those who war with and raid human realms, most of the witnessed Ritualists dress in human-skin cloaks. The Shuaran Ritualists, on the other hand, dress in Vord-chitin robes.
* In ''[[Literature/{{Nightside}} Something from the Nightside]]'', Belle wears the pelt of a werewolf she caught and skinned over her back, with its head draped over her own as per the pic above. In her case, she didn't need to tan or even ''clean'' the pelt, as she magically linked the fresh skin to her own body to acquire the werewolf's HealingFactor.
* In ''Literature/{{Updraft}}'', the [[InvisibleMonsters invisibility of a certain monster]] is inherent to its skin, a fact which comes in handy when Kirit wants to make herself hard to find. It's not a very clean process, but it works.
* Gary Jennings' monumental novel 'Literature/{{Aztec}}'' chronicles the life of Mixtli, a man who rises in Aztec society just before the Spanish conquest. One episode cocerns Mixtli and his trading expedition fighting and killing a jaguar. The animal is skinned with the intention of having the skin tanned and preserved when they reach a town; a slave is detailed to wear the uncured skin. Unfortunately for the slave it takes several days to reach a town where the skin could be cured and tanned; Mixtli drily notes that by then, it has rotted under the Mexican sun and everybody is trying not to stand too close to the hapless slave.
* The seraphs of ''Literature/TheFold'' wear roughly made leather cloaks skinned and processed so poorly that they are immediately recognizable as human origin.

* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' had one sequence that made reference to the absurd number of steps (though only showing some). Of course they manage to skip some thanks to Schlock's... ''unique'' biology.

* In the "Ice Station Impossible!" episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', Brock does this to a polar bear ''in seconds'' to help Dr. Venture survive being dumped naked in the tundra. In fairness, both Brock and the bear pelt were absolutely covered in blood. That didn't stop Dr. Venture from wearing it for the rest of the episode, including after he got back to the station, and while working in the lab to cure a volatile mutagen.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "Hereafter," Franchise/{{Superman}}, having been blasted into the far future, [[BroughtDownToBadass under a red sun]], is accosted by big mutated wolves, until he makes himself a sword and kills their leader, wearing its skin as a cape afterward. It clearly took time for him to fashion the skin into a cape, which would certainly be easier than making it into a tunic or something anyway and require way less skill to pull off.
* On ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'', a feverish Bloo (as his alter ego Bloo Superdude) fights a [[KillerRabbit vicious giant pink rabbit]] and wears his skin afterwards. Turns out it was Eduardo's stuffed bunny, Paco.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'' season 1 episode 17, Sadlygrove shears a pack of arctic dog-like beasts with one slash of his sword -- without even killing them -- to provide wool for his companions.
* In ''WesternAnimation/KipoAndTheAgeOfWonderbeasts'', Wolf's... well, wolf pelt is this. In particular, it's later revealed to be [[spoiler:the pelt of her adoptive mother, who she killed after she and the rest of said wolf family tried to eat her]].

* Similar to the ''Foster's'' example above, the ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' episode "Dexter the Barbarian" has Dexter, imagining he's a barbarian warrior, wearing a fur like this after fighting a pack of wolves. It later turns out that he had shaved the family dog.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' episode "Bush Comes to Dinner" when Stan drops Hayley into his "Pit of No Return", she shows up alive later, prompting Stan to ask how she got past what was supposedly his guard beasts (we don't know what they were for sure because Hayley cuts him off). She killed them all, [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith even the younglings]], and used their hides to make Stan a wallet.