History Main / OurSoulsAreDifferent

Note that despite popular culture associating it with the "soul", the above definition actually describes "[[OurSpiritsAreDifferent spirit]]" better, which in fiction usualy refers to LifeEnergy (it can also refer to an invisible force such as an [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel]]). The correct definition of a "soul" is the person itself, including the physical body and mind rather than separate from it. Many often confuse them as being the same thing.

Note that despite popular culture associating it with the "soul", the above definition actually describes "spirit" better, which in fiction usualy refers to LifeEnergy (it can also refer to an invisible force such as an [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel]]). The correct definition of a "soul" is the person itself, including the physical body and mind rather than separate from it. Many often confuse them as being the same thing.

* Played with in ''VideoGame/{{Afterlife}}'' and its [=SOULs=] (Stuff Of Unending Life).

* ''Fanfic/BloomingDreemurr'', being a fanwork of ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', has this going. Particular attention is brought to it beyond Undertale due to the blog directly having characters preforming experiments to try and figure out any way to create an artificial soul for Flowey.

* ''LightNovel/SDGundamTheLastWorld'' has G-Souls. G-Souls are the souls of SD Gundams, and they can absorb other G-Souls to acquire powerful weapons or turn into [[HumongousMecha giant forms more reminiscent of traditional fullscale Gundams]]. [[spoiler:Later on in the story it's revealed that they're actually copies of characters throughout the ''SD Gundam'' multiverse, with similar skills, personalities, and even memories to match. So in a way they're a weird combination of souls, clones, and data.]]

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'': All beings have a separate heart and soul, with the heart fulfilling the role traditionally assigned to the soul, while the soul is more akin to the brain: the heart contains all your intentions, emotions, and the connections you've made with other people, and losing it leaves your body an EmptyShell. The soul is will, logic, intelligence, and the spark that animates the body, and its loss is fatal. The mind is stored in both places, and can be duplicated by splitting the heart from the body. In one unusual case, a character manages to store their mind separately from both their heart and soul within a suit of AnimatedArmor. Later games in the series elaborate on the nature of the heart: anything that has emotional connections to others can gain a heart. This includes people who've lost their hearts, who can naturally recover if given the chance.

Note that despite popular culture associating it with the "soul", the above definition actually describes "spirit" better, which refers to in this case LifeEnergy (it can also refer to an invisible force such as an [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel]]). The correct definition of a "soul" is the person itself, including the physical body and mind rather than separate from it. Many often confuse them as being the same thing.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': All living beings have a soul except the Grimm. Souls create Aura, which can be locked, trained or manifested passively. Aura can create effects such as a {{Deflector Shield|s}} or [[KiManipulation Ki Attacks]], and fuel Semblances, an ability unique to its user. Aura can also be channelled into inanimate objects, empowering weapons and armour; science has even created an Aura-using robot [[spoiler:though this was actually done by taking part of the creator's aura]]. Rare, secret events can cause soul and Aura mergers that risk the loss of the original, independent selves. [[spoiler:Thanks to the God of Light, Ozpin- originally Ozma- has been doing this for millennia and his current host is a farm boy named Oscar]].

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': All living beings have a soul except the Grimm. Souls create Aura, which can be locked, trained or manifested passively. Aura can create effects such as a {{Deflector Shield|s}} or [[KiManipulation Ki Attacks]], and fuel Semblances, a unique ability shaped by an individual's personality. Aura can also be channelled into inanimate objects, empowering weapons and armour; science has even created an Aura-using robot. Rare, secret events can cause soul and Aura mergers that risk the loss of the original, independent selves. [[spoiler:Ozpin attempts an artificial soul merger between Amber and Pyrrha to prevent Cinder obtaining Amber's full Maiden powers. Ozpin himself underwent a soul merger when he was a child, and later soul-merges with a young farm-boy called Oscar, causing them to share thoughts and memories.]]

* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' [[spoiler: the Soul Gem is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. The souls get transformed into one as a part of a contract with Kyubey. The girls' emotions seem to appear as magic energy, so while a girl's wish gives her positive magic, the despair equal to the wishes the girl creates darkens the Soul Gem and turns it into a Grief Seed, turning the girl into a witch]]. In addition, [[spoiler: being too far away from your gem causes you to enter an EmptyShell state until it's returned, and if it's ever destroyed, you die]].

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'': All beings have a separate heart and soul. If the heart separates from the body it becomes one of TheHeartless, while the body and soul either die or become [[BetaTestBaddie Nobodies]]. You read that right, "TheHeartless" are in fact ''made from lost hearts'' (or at least the Emblem ones are) and the Nobodies are actually "heartless" bodies. Here, the heart contains all your intentions, emotions and the connections you've made with other people, while the soul is will, logic, intelligence and the spark that animates the body. Later games in the series elaborate on the nature of the heart. [[spoiler: Anyone has the potential to have a heart, as long as they have friends. This includes Nobodies, the heart will naturally recover, given the chance.]]
** And events in ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth By Sleep]]'' seem to indicate that there is a third element to the a person's soul [[spoiler: when after Terra gets both his mind ''and'' heart [[GrandTheftMe taken over]] by Xehanort, his HeroicSpirit possesses his discarded armor to continue the fight. It should also be noted that despite Xehanort possessing both his heart and mind, Terra's HeroicSpirit imbued armor (which seems to lack even cognition) ''still'' beat him down. And ten years later, he/it is considered to be the ThatOneBoss out of the entire series]].

* You become an EmptyShell.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' has a lot of this; die in the real world, your spirit goes to Soul Society, or you become a Hollow. Get killed after you go to Soul Society or the Hollow world, you're reincarnated back in the real world. Screw up ''way'' too badly in life, and you leave the loop -- you go to Hell. According to one of {{The Movie}}s, if you die in Hell, you regenerate in Hell; no escape. The manga adds another element to the system in "The Lost Agent Arc" -- [[{{Pantheism}} souls also reside in "matter" as a whole, not just living beings]], and is the basis behind Fullbring.

* In ''VideoGame/SaltAndSanctuary,'' mortals (humans and orcs) are said to have souls made of sea salt. To that end, you can offer salt to the gods, who turn it into pearls of soulstuff, which are then used to increase your mind, body, and magic prowess, depending on where those pearls are inserted in the TechTree. The god's souls are said to be made of light, and the BigBad [[spoiler: is a mortal who is desperately trying to turn his salty soul into light so he can be a god too, [[ScamReligeon using the prayers dedicated to the newest three to do it with]].]] It doesn't work (wether because the myth is untrue or because it's not possible to turn salt into light isn't stated), leaving him with a dessicated (and mouthy) scarecrow for a body and a suit of AnimatedArmor containing his soul.
* In ''VideoGame/DarkSouls,'' souls don't actually represent one living being. A person's soul is actually comprised of about 50 or so motes of soulstuff, and those motes can be sent to the Afterlife through a Bonfire. They grant the player character their physical attributes in gratitude, though, justifying how levelling up works.

* In ''VideoGame/SaltAndSanctuary,'' mortals (humans and orcs) are said to have souls made of sea salt. To that end, you can offer salt to the gods, who turn it into pearls of soulstuff, which are then used to increase your mind, body, and magic prowess, depending on where those pearls are inserted in the TechTree. The god's souls are said to be made of light, and the BigBad [[spoiler: is a mortal who is desperately trying to turn his salty soul into light so he can be a god too, [[ShamReligeon using the prayers dedicated to the newest three to do it with]].]] It doesn't work, leaving him with a dessicated (and mouthy) scarecrow for a body and a suit of AnimatedArmor containing his soul.
* In ''VideoGame/DarkSouls,'' souls don't actually represent one living being. A person's soul is actually comprised of about 50 or so motes of soulstuff, and those motes can be sent to the Afterlife. They grant the player character their physical attributes in gratitude, though, justifying how levelling up works.

** The Eldar are stated to have particularly strong souls that retain consciousness after death, which is particularly horrifying as their souls are promptly torn apart and devoured by an Eldritch Abomination of their own creation, unless they make use of special methods to avoid such a fate.

* ''Webcomic/AwfulHospital'' doesn't have "souls" per se, but the thing that makes a person a person is a "[[http://www.bogleech.com/awfulhospital/458.html concept core]]". It "doesn't exist and is not real", but makes itself exist nonetheless through one or more bodies in {{the Multiverse}}-esque Perception Range, perpetuating itself by perceiving and being perceived. Humans are seen as pitiably limited by having their cores tethered to individual, transient bodies, rather than to an arbitrary number of alternate-universe manifestations like most perceptoids. The practical issue with this is that, once a human dies, their core dies as well and their entire personal history is lost, while other perceptoids are able to endure in some non-specified way through their other iterations.

* The central premise of ''Franchise/GhostInTheShell'', in pretty much all its iterations, is the exploration of the true nature of souls and minds. People believe that even when almost the entire body and brain is replaced by implants, cybernetics do ''not'' [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul eat your soul]] and that some unique part of a person always remains. It's even hinted that highly advanced machines could possibly create rudimentary ghosts.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' has a lot of this; die in the real world, your spirit goes to Soul Society, or you become a Hollow. Get killed after you go to Soul Society or the Hollow world, you're reincarnated back in the real world. Screw up ''way'' too badly in life, and you leave the loop - you go to Hell. According to one of {{The Movie}}s, if you die in Hell, you regenerate in Hell; no escape. The manga adds another element to the system in "The Lost Agent Arc" - [[{{Pantheism}} souls also reside in "matter" as a whole, not just living beings]], and is the basis behind Fullbring.

* In one arc of ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' the protagonists encountered a character who had the power to capture a person's soul if the person spoke a certain taboo word. Characters whose souls were taken were frozen in place and glowed with something resembling electricity until the only character who ''didn't'' break the taboo won their souls back.
* TheVirus in ''Manga/VenusVersusVirus'' preys on [[{{Muggles}} civilians]], eating their souls.
* While not literally showing souls, drills in ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' are apparently supposed to ''represent'' them.
* ''Anime/YuGiOh'' is terrible with this. Souls can jump/[[SoulJar be sucked]] in and out bodies, millennium items, the Shadow Realm, [[YourMindMakesItReal Virtual Reality games]], cards and other lifeless objects; they can float in mid-air, [[SharingABody possess other bodies]] (both with and without the original owner still present, and with or without his permission/knowledge), or even split up into different parts, which can be diametral opposites or identical copies, depending on the situation. The only rule that stands is ''" 'you' go where your soul is"'', but (because of the split-ups) some can be in several places at the same time. Bodies without a soul usually go into a coma, unless some other soul comes along for a ride.

* ''Manga/SoulEater'', obviously enough. Weapons are designed to eat souls, but there's a moral code that only the souls of those about to become ''kishin'' are allowed. Eating human souls is a very bad thing. Also, if weapons and meisters have their souls in sync--Soul Resonance--massive fighting power can be unlocked. The size of one's soul wavelength reflects their potential strength (physical and otherwise), and the leader of the good guys has a soul large enough to contain an entire city. Potentially, the souls of gods can cover the ''entire planet'' (which, if one in-universe god is Death, is actually quite appropriate).

** It is also established that the act of removing one's soul and attaching it to another person corrodes the soul and renders it incapable of sustaining a body. [[SociopathicHero Barry]] [[SerialKiller the]] [[MeaningfulName Chopper's]] original body is revealed to actually still be around. However, an animal's soul is inside it, causing it to decay, though 'his' current body is okay. [[spoiler:Alphonse realizes the same is happening to his own suit of armor, different in that it causes him to black out occasionally and will lead to a violent explosion at an unpredictable point in time.]] Seems that souls are indeed paired up with one body and one mind in this series.
** In [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]], [[spoiler:souls are what power alchemy. In turn, people actually have a smaller version of the Gate of Alchemy within their own souls, which pulls souls of the dead from a parallel world (read: our real world, circa WWI) to power alchemy. The [[PoweredByAForsakenChild Philosopher's Stone]] is in turn made from condensing a metric ton of souls into one object. This is also why attempts at human transmutation fail and produce homunculi: equivalent exchange can account for the physical elements that make up a body, but not for the soul. Homunculi are thus soulless abominations, though it's shown that what truly makes them a homunculus in the end (and gives them their overall life and power) is eating red stones, which are lower-power versions of Philosopher's Stones]].
*** The element of a soul and body requiring one another is also touched upon in this version, as [[spoiler:Hohenheim]] reveals to [[spoiler:Dante]] towards the end of the series.
* A story in ''Manga/{{Mushishi}}'' features a Mushishi who had his soul replaced with a Mushi (essentially making him [[SealedGoodInACan "the can"]]) because he couldn't see mushi, which would have made him useless in protecting [[SealedEvilInACan another "can"]]. Most of the time he's merely TheStoic, but occasionally the Mushi-soul leaves and he becomes TheSpock.
* The rule in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' is ''apparently'' that if you think you have a soul, you do. Details on this are fuzzy, but it appears to only be necessary for certain aspects of magic such as forming pactios and dark magic. Plus the whole 'Am I a real person and not just a robot?' thing. Chachamaru's sisters presumably do not have one while she herself does.
** This is likely because Chachamaru is part robot part magic puppet. Note that Chachazero also has her own distinct personality.

* In the {{Franchise/Nasuverse}}, souls are eternal, but require a physical body to tether them to the world. The soul is linked to the body, and when the body dies, it returns to [[TheLifestream Akasha]], to await reincarnation. Ordinarily when a soul is reincarnated, it retains no memories from any of its previous lives, but there are ways around this, as seen with [[{{VisualNovel/Tsukihime}} Roa]]. If a person does manage to preserve their soul beyond the death of their original body, usually by [[GrandTheftMe transferring it directly into a new body]] or by [[OurVampiresAreDifferent becoming a vampire]], then the soul will decay. The Third True Magic, as explained in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', can overcome this problem. Also, [[spoiler:[[LightNovel/KaraNoKyoukai Aozaki Touko]] has a method of [[CloningGambit transferring her consciousness and soul into an identical artificial body]] with no apparent negative effects]].
** Souls in the Nasuverse are normally indestructible, but someone with the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception can [[DeaderThanDead kill the soul itself]].

* ''{{Manga/Gantz}}'': A member of a [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien technologically superior alien race]] tries to prove the main characters that human life has no worth by bringing some of their loved ones back to life and then [[LudicrousGibs blowing them to a pulp]]. It also tells them that [[ReligionIsWrong there is no God]]. When they ask it if there is no soul either it responds:

** Apparently this data keeps on migrating from individual to individual after their deaths. Also, the souls that have shared a "relation" in life keep close to each other even after they die and reincarnate into the living world.

* Hector Hall in ''ComicBook/InfinityInc'', later used in ''Comicbook/TheSandman'', is a weird case. He was born without a soul. The major effect of this was that it let him be taken over by Hath-Set later, and was eventually reincarnated as a version of ComicBook/DoctorFate. The idea of someone without a soul being reincarnated, when reincarnation by definition involves a soul, was never explained.
** One also notes that he ended up trapped in Dream's realm after his death, though it's never explained what part of him this is, and Hector's not quite right.
* Raven demonstrated in ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' that Superboy, who was also born without a soul, developed one over time as he lived his life.

* Sebastian Faust, the son of EvilSorcerer Felix Faust from Franchise/TheDCU, doesn't have a soul. He doesn't have one because his father ''sold his infant son's soul to a demon'' [[DealWithTheDevil in exchange for power]] (as his MeaningfulName would suggest, Faust has a penchant for making Faustian bargains). The silver lining in this whole mess was that the demon screwed over Faust for the hell of it and gave Sebastian the power instead. Unusually, lacking a soul hasn't had any obvious negative effect on Sebastian; he more or less [[VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} makes do without one]].
* The idea of body and souls was tackled in the resurrection of Oliver Queen, the ComicBook/GreenArrow. When he returns from the dead, it's discovered that he only remembers about as far as UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}} (thus having no knowledge of Parallax, Arsenal, etc.), and has none of the character development he experienced since. After some digging around, Ollie finds out that when he was resurrected [[CameBackWrong his soul didn't come back,]] so he's really just an empty shell (his "quiver"). It appears the soulless body still possesses free will but can't grow or change emotionally and is stuck in whatever period he remembers, like a projection, and it's alluded that when it dies, the consciousness inside will just cease existing. As for Ollie's soul, it decided to stay in heaven even when being offered outright a chance to come back to life by reuniting with his body, deciding it preferred heavenly bliss and using it as an excuse to duck his lingering problems back on Earth. [[spoiler: Turns out that not having a soul made Ollie's body an easy target for possession by any demon who stumbled on him or even an Earthly sorcerer, and he winds up almost being taken over by a Satanist warlock who wanted immortality. At the end of the story, Ollie reunites with his soul, bringing with him all the memories of what's happened since his death and foiling the warlock's plans.]]

* In ''ComicBook/XFactor'', Layla Miller's ''true'' power is revealed as the ability to resurrect dead people, albeit without souls. Trevor Fitzroy's role as a longstanding Bishop villain is thus explaining as Layla [[CameBackWrong restoring the once good Trevor, but without a soul]].
** Sometime later, she does the same thing to [[spoiler: Guido Carosella]]. While [[spoiler: Guido]] apparently doesn't feel anything wrong about himself, he's shown acting more erratically and less restrained than usual, with Layla utterly distraught at his condition.
* [[Creator/IDWPublishing IDW's]] ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye goes into new details about just how Cybertronians function and where they come from. A Transformer's soul is their "Spark", a physical object within their chest (and separate from their brain), and destroying it means death (an afterlife called the Afterspark is posited but unproven). New Cybertronians are "born" when Vector Sigma, a supercomputer at the core of their planet, releases a pulse that ignites Sparks on the surface. Sparks can also be manufactured artificially from the Matrix, a MacGuffin with a connection to Vector Sigma. These Sparks are implanted in manufactured bodies, known as being "Constructed Cold", and there is some FantasticRacism against them from bots who were "Forged" (born naturally, and implied to grow their own bodies). Killing a Transformer usually involves destroying either their Spark or their Brain Module, but because the personality comes from the Spark, that's the surest way to guarantee death.

* When a Passenger is split from its body in ''ComicBook/{{Revival}}'' the resulting reviver gains a HealingFactor and limited {{Telepathy}} but loses emotional connections. If they are reunited they combust, leaving nothing.

* The Heart Containers in ''Fanfic/TheBlueBlurOfTermina'' are the metaphysical manifestation of a person's soul. The more powerful a person is, the larger (and more crystallized) their Heart Container will appear. Heart Containers of particularly powerful entities can even take on their own separate forms, should they be separated from their "bodies". Beings of godlike caliber harbor Heart Containers of truly limitless power.

* In the ''FanFic/PonyPOVSeries'', a being's soul is composed of two parts -- a Light of Existence (the heart) and a Shadow of Existence (the appearance), both containing parts of the being's personality. If erased from existence, the Shadow ends up in [[EldritchAbomination Entropy]]'s Realm (the Light, according to WordOfGod, returns to Fauna Luster from whom all souls spring, or in the case of some of the G3 ponies, entered the afterlife, or was reborn as a new individual). What's more, it's stated that there's not a "Law of Conservation of Mass" when it comes to souls, meaning [[spoiler: the same person can have ''multiple'' {{reincarnation}}s ([[BadFuture Dark World]]!Twilight being the reincarnation of G3 Minty's Light and Minty Pie being the reincarnation of her shadow, for example), but the soul will still exist independently of the reincarnation]].
* In ''[[FanFic/BlackQueenRedKing Black Queen, Red King,]]'' Rex gains the ability to see souls. He describes them as brilliant, flaming figures that glow an impossible color. His own soul is described [[spoiler: [[EldritchAbomination as a horrifying monstrosity]] that damages the eyes of those who look at it and that it ''"glowed with a blindingly bright darkness."'']] This world is of the "Lose your soul, you die" variety, and soul eaters do exist.
* In the crossover fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6878267/10/Puella-Magi-Lyra-Magica Puella Magi Lyra Magica]]'', a girl from the ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'' universe [[spoiler:who had undergone intercision]] tried to regain her daemon by [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica contracting]] and forming a Soul Gem. The plan ''kind of'' worked...

* In Fanfic/TheMansionverse, souls are "sentient ectoplasmic constructs". Living beings naturally develop a soul, their mind shaping their shell of magic into a copy of itself, that can then materialize separate from the body after death — that's ghosts. Souls can be created in other ways as well. While their ectoplasmic form can be harmed or even destroyed, demon [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Ammit the Devourer]] is the only known force in the universe who can permanently destroy a soul.

* An interesting variation occurs in ''Film/GhostRider'', where Johnny Blaze seems to lose his free will as a consequence of selling his soul to Mephisto, as he is unable to refuse to become the Ghost Rider, or even to get off his bike when Mephisto doesn't want him to. Once his big mission is complete and his soul restored, though, Blaze has no trouble [[FaustianRebellion refusing the Devil's offer to free him of the Rider or in using the powers of the Rider against Mephisto's plans on Earth.]]
* In the world of ''Cold Souls'', extracting your soul is as common as, say, [[Film/EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind wiping away bad memories]]. CreativeSterility happens to Paul Giamatti (as himself) when his "chickpea-sized" soul is removed to prevent anxiety, and he later gets involved in ''Russian soul-smuggling''.

* In the 1967 version of ''Film/{{Bedazzled|1967}}'', it is said that the soul is a lot like the appendix and is of no real use. Of course, given [[{{Satan}} the source]] [[DealWithTheDevil and what they were selling at the time]], it's probably not that accurate...
** In [[Film/{{Bedazzled 2000}} the 2000 remake]], a person the protagonist meets in a jail cell [[spoiler:most likely God Himself]] tells him that while humans do have souls, they are not able to sell them as the owner is God, a universal spirit that animates and binds all things in existence.

* In the {{Franchise/Nasuverse}}, the soul is an indestructible "concept" that is tied down to the material world via the body. Souls of the dead are returned to "The Root" (that is, the origin of everything - past, present, and future) and recycled to create new souls.
** Other concepts in TheVerse, such as [[FunctionalMagic Magic Circuits]] and Origins, are also attached to the soul. It is also quite touchy, and easily damaged if messed with.

* Creator/PeterFHamilton loves the subject so much that he wrote a whole SF trilogy about possession in the 2600s. The soul is basically sentience (that is, YOU), but in a form that retains cohesion after death, without physical support (like the brain). This is linked to a theory of strata-less computing, which says (correct me if I'm wrong) that computation (read 'thought') can be accomplished without energy consumption and support if there is no input or output. A dead guy loses his 'input' (senses), and, so Hamilton says, the Universe is wired so that sentience survives and is either transported to the 'beyond' (an input-less hell where souls pass the time by raping each other for memories), or is transported to the end of time, to contribute with its memories to the creation of a new universe. Also, for some reason, if a soul is given the chance to take over a living human body (after suppressing the occupant), its remaining part which is still in the beyond dimension can serve as a massive source of energy for all sorts of evil powers.
* In ''Literature/TheCaseOfTheToxicSpellDump'' children with apsychia are born without a soul and apparently simply stop existing after death--no afterlife, no nothing. It is seen as horrendously tragic. (An experimental medical treatment is being investigated, in which tiny pieces of many souls are fused into, essentially, a synthetic soul which can then be implanted in the apsychic child. Whether this will actually work is still unclear.)
* In ''[[Literature/PumpSixAndOtherStories Pocketful of Dharma]]'', your soul is equal with your consciousness. And consciousness can be digitalised and stored in data cubes, cheap, throw-away pendrives of the future. This is but a premise to a story involving a young beggar accidently getting his hands on a data cube with [[spoiler: consciousness of Naed Delhi, the 19th Dalai Lama. And there will be no 20th one, ever, as long as his soul remains trapped in the electronic medium, thus being unable to reincarnate]]. Only the destruction of the cube can release him free.
* ''The Bear at the Gate'': Short story about a teddy bear who earns a soul through a good deed and gaining emotions, which results in it getting into heaven.
* In Creator/HansChristianAndersen's original version of ''Literature/TheLittleMermaid'', gaining a soul gives you access to the Christian afterlife; without one, you "dissolve like the sea foam".

* In Steven Brust's ''Literature/{{Dragaera}}'' novels, a person's soul can only be destroyed by a Morganti weapon. If they're killed any other way, they can reincarnate. It's implied that wizards keep their souls separate from their bodies, but otherwise they're treated inextricably linked.
* In Creator/JimButcher's ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', a soul, along with the body and spirit, is a component of a person, depending on the species. Humans have all three, Animals have body and possibly a spirit, Demons and Fae have body and spirit, Angels are all soul, and Ghosts and Spirits are, well, all spirit; and there are many other beings who have different configurations. The relationship between the soul and the spirit is complex and never fully explained, but on death of the body, most think that the soul would go on to an afterlife, and what happens to the spirit isn't entirely clear, but it appears to either disperse or carry on as a ghost if there's "unfinished business." A ghost is widely accepted to be a discreet and separate entity from the person that they were, even though they have the name, memories, and personality of the person that they were/came from.\\

** In ''Literature/SmallFavor'', [[spoiler:Harry gains "soulfire": magic strengthened with soul energy in much the same way that concrete is strengthened with rebar. Archangels use soulfire, but they have a lot more soul to work with]]. Using it does, however, [[spoiler:damage the soul by using it up a little at a time. (Bob complains that humans get too upset over phrases like that, though he acknowledges using Soulfire too much could be fatal, up to leaving no soul behind)]].
** And in ''Literature/GhostStory'', the concept of a soul is finally settled by one line [[spoiler: from Archangel Uriel]].
--> [[spoiler: Uriel's smile blossomed again. "You've got it backward, Harry," he said. "You ''are'' a soul. You ''have'' a body.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/DrowTales'', faeries have what is occasionally referred to as an aura or soul. A soul is basically a body of {{Mana}}, a special form of energy that keeps them young, in strong health, and allows them to manipulate their environment. However, a Fae's "soul" is almost every bit as mortal as their physical body, and the setting is explicitly confirmed to lack an afterlife, leaving CessationOfExistence as their ultimate fate when their mana inevitablely dissipates.
* In ''Webcomic/LastRes0rt'', souls are a form of 'creative energy' that naturally occurs in living beings, often in a set amount known as a 'Sterling'. Being born with more or less energy (or having it altered later on, in the case of the Dead Inside) leads to remarkable powers.
* At the end of ''Webcomic/ZebraGirl'''s "The Magi-Net" arc, after the wizards lose their souls, most of them die, and the few that are left lose their magical talents and become permanently insane.
* In ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'', destroying a soul causes a huge explosion. Now ''that's'' metaphysics!
* You knew we had to get in an ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' example, right? According to Nioi, people created by the Dewitchery Diamond have completely new souls, rather than being reincarnations. Because [[spoiler: she believed that being a new soul in an older body could lead to madness, she cast a spell on Kaoli and Ellen which made them have dreams in which they re-lived the lives of AlternateUniverse versions of themselves up past their current age]].
* If you are a host for [[SevenDeadlySins The Sins]] in ''Webcomic/{{Sins}}'' then your soul is shattered into pieces, no matter what you do or have done. Just ''picking up'' their SoulJar is enough. This doesn't seem to impact daily life beyond AnimalsHateHim, but WordOfGod states that when you die, it is nought but the NothingAfterDeath for you. Which sucks.

* Richard from ''Webcomic/LookingForGroup'' has partially settled the final question of the first paragraph of this entry. Monk souls taste like chocolate, other souls apparently do not.
* In ''Webcomic/MsfHigh'' all that is known is that souls are immutable. No magic can influence a soul. Period, end of story.
* Gilbert of ''Webcomic/AModestDestiny'' had his soul stolen as an infant. [[http://www.squidi.net/comic/amd/view.php?series=amd&ep=1&id=324 He says that he can't feel emotions and that when he dies he will cease to exist because of this.]]
** Also, it makes it so that after Deo Deo temporarily inhabits his body, he can't get it back. Ironically, Gilbert was only working for Deo Deo so he'd be immortal and wouldn't have to cease to exist. Deo Deo "forgot" to tell him the problem.
** Subverted; Gilbert didn't lose his soul, he lost his [[spoiler: DESTINY]], as in the part of him that was supposed to make him a righteous hero of justice, to Maxim.
* In ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' a person's consciousness and personality go where their soul goes. If their soul is sold or stolen, their body is left in a coma. It is apparently possible to "kill" a soul/spirit, but whether this leaves them DeaderThanDead or just sends them somewhere else is unknown. Souls also take on the same appearance as the body they used to inhabit (with a few ghostly attributes added); the exception being Aylee, who, due to being a {{shapeshift|ing}}er, has a far more amorphous soul.
** Soul "bodies" are also material if they enter a spirit world. Ghosts seem to be souls left behind in the normal material dimension, where their bodies are incorporeal. (Yes, incorporeal bodies. This kind of thing is why notions of a soul can be so confusing.)
* The principle characters of ''Webcomic/{{DDG}}'' are all disembodied souls, this leads to a certain amount of both {{voluntary|Shapeshifting}} and [[GenderBender involuntary]] shapeshifting
* Souls play an important part of the plot of Webcomic/{{Archipelago}}. The BigBad seeks to [[SealedEvilInACan free himself]] with the souls of the descendants of the six heroes who imprisoned him. TheDragon collects the souls by tearing them out of bodies with his [[{{Magitek}} magic mechanical arm.]] When a soul is removed, the body remains alive, although it loses its personality and becomes an EmptyShell that obeys simple orders but mostly sits around. The souls themselves remain in the physical world, wrapped in a layer of protective magic. They are small, weightless, retain the individual's magic capabilities, and are [[{{Moe}} extremely cute.]]

* In ''Webcomic/LsEmpire'', [[AllThereInTheManual souls apparently develop along with the mind while the body is still a fetus]]. The only difference is that the soul develops backwards in comparison to the mind (the mind develops selfishness then compassion, and the soul develops compassion then selfishness.)
* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/view.php?date=2006-11-26 the Devil can add some soul to his recipe.]]
* [[AllThereintheManual according to the character pages and story material]] in [[http://www.daemonslayers.net/characters.htm The Daemonslayers]], Soul (AKA Mecha) an immortal [[MixAndMatchCritters lycan-fae]], joined the other Daemonslayers when demon prince Lord Saragon (whom Blackjack had dissed earlier by killing his lover and torturer, Aster when he tried to recruit him back into his armies by holding his comrade and lycanthrope, Shade, hostage) tore out part of her soul to return to his lost demon lover. Still alive, she was saved by Blackjack and Shade before the prince could kill her, and now looks forward to the day she can kill Aster and reclaim what was hers.
* They aren't specifically identified as souls, but people in ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' have some sort of spiritual presence that endures after death and needs to be led into the Aether by a {{Psychopomp}}. [[spoiler:Mort]] is a person who decided to stay around for a while before passing on. This might also be the part that temporarily exits the body through AstralProjection.
* ''Webcomic/AwfulHospital'' doesn't have "souls" per se, but the thing that makes a person a person is a "[[http://www.bogleech.com/awfulhospital/458.html concept core]]". It "doesn't exist and is not real", but makes itself exist nonetheless through one or more bodies in {{the Multiverse}}-esque Perception Range, perpetuating itself by perceiving and being perceived. Humans are seen as pitiably limited by having their cores tethered to individual, transient bodies, rather than to an arbitrary number of alternate-universe manifestations like most perceptoids.
* Discussed in ''Webcomic/WeAreTheWyrecats''. The characters try to determine what the digital size of the human soul is and whether it can be [[BrainUploading saved on different hardware]].

* ''Roleplay/ShadowhunterPeril'' focuses on souls quite a bit. There exists a creature called an Ushubaen, which boils down to a human imbibed with demonic energy. Normally this would kill the human, but if the human is also imbibed with enough souls to counteract the corrosive demonic energy, then they become a perfect mix of the two (in contrast to faeries, which are half angel half demon but aren't perfect mixtures). Unfortunately, because they have multiple souls in them, and demonic energy taints the mind as well as bestowing powers, all Ushubaen are insane, genocidal monsters who want to destroy everything they can. They can even kill [[BigGood angels]].
** All demons don't have souls, instead they have PureEnergy. This grants them life, but not a place in the afterlife. Umbra's desire for a soul is pretty tear-jerking. No matter how hard he fights against his own kind and tries to protect innocent humans from the wrath of other demons, if his physical body is destroyed he will be sent straight to Hell and have to force himself back to the surface to fight for the humans all over again. This later gets rectified, as he gains a soul and turns into an angel.
* In ''Literature/ChronoHustle'' #9, [[spoiler:the original]] Jack makes a deal with Merlin in the Middle Ages, agreeing to give him a Demi-God's soul in exchange for some information. He tells him it'll take some time to get the information and to meet him in the year 3007, where the exchange will take place. So in the year 3007, [[spoiler: Merlin takes Agent Jack's soul in exchange for that information when he and Melinda show up]]. It's yet to be revealed what exactly a soul is, or what losing it even means as [[spoiler: Agent Jack]] doesn't seem to be any different afterward.
* In ''Literature/MagicalGirlPolicy'', the Spirit Guard are revealed to be reincarnations of ancient warriors from another civilization, and their souls carry "investiture" from their past lives.

* And just in case you forgot the robot souls thing, ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' offers [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Spark sparks]]. Note that ''only'' transformers have sparks. Humans do not. And at least in [[spoiler: ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'']] it is possible for a Transformer to still live and function without their personal spark.

** In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' they even seem to have an afterlife, the Well of All Sparks. While its existence has been proven, virtually no properties have been established for it.
*** A similar concept in the ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' series called the Matrix seems to exist, it being the place where the sparks of the departed commune. All these sparks being there is what makes the Matrix what it is, though, rather than it being an otherworldy place that may or may not exist and you'd have to die to find out. This concept is also called the Allspark until the movieverse made its Allspark a MacGuffin - since then, it's been called the Well of All Sparks.

* In the ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' multiparter "Bright Lights", several ponies and other beings have had their shadows stolen. They start becoming sick and tired, with no explanation or cure. The long-term victims are half-alive and zombie-like. Galaxy, TheEmpath, even states that it's not just the patch of obstructed light that's missing.
* From ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Scaredy Pants":
-->'''Mr Krabs:''' Like I was saying, The Flying Dutchman swoops down and starts stealing people’s souls. (holds up a pickle)
-->'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' Do souls look like pickles?
-->'''Mr Krabs:''' Aye, as a matter of fact, they do. And he puts them where you can never get them...in his soul bag. (drops the pickle into a bag that has the words "krusty krab" crossed out and the word "soul" written above it. Mr Krabs laughs evilly as Squidward appears behind [=SpongeBob=] in a pirate suit)
-->'''Squidward:''' I’ve come for your pickle! ([=SpongeBob=] jumps up screaming)
* A variation in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' concerning Steven's gem. [[spoiler:In the season five finale, the BigBad forcibly separates Steven's human and Gem halves. Since his gem is literally half his soul, if not a container for the whole thing, the human half becomes sickly, pale, and unable to stand without help because of the pain.]]

* In ''Videogame/FinalFantasyX'', when a person dies, their soul must be sent on to the Farplane by a summoner's Sending. If not one of two things will happen: Either the soul will form with other souls and become a Fiend, which is the major source of monsters all game, or a strong willed soul will give itself a physical form by pulling together supernatural creatures called pyreflies, becoming an Unsent. Several major characters are Unsent (including [[spoiler:Auron]]). An Unsent can voluntarily leave for the Farplane (as happens to [[spoiler:Belgemine]] in ''X'' and [[spoiler:Maechen]] in ''X-2'') or be Sent against their will.

* In ''Franchise/SailorMoon'', souls are represented by starseeds, which can be readily stolen by Sailor Galaxia and her minions. When a normal human loses their starseed, they become a [[TheHeartless phage]], when a Sailor Soldier loses hers, she dies.

* ''Literature/ISitBehindTheEyes'': Just s the mind controls the body, the soul controls the mind. The mind stores memories and handles thought processes (both conscious and unconscious), but the soul decides what the mind consciously thinks about. The study of the soul is referred to as 'Psychology-ology'. The titular Entity is essentially an alien soul possessing the mind and body of a little girl and reveals itself as such when it starts discussing Psychologyology, as its soul controls minds in a different way to humans. When this happens, [[spoiler: the suppressed soul is able to regain partial control over the mind]]. Psychopaths have souls that are damaged, usually as a result of having a diseased mind. It is never made clear what happens when a soul is destroyed, but it is presumed that they either die or [[CessationOfExistence cease to exist]].

* ''FanFic/TheMadScientistWars'' explores this a bit. Souls are basically an imprint or image of a person that is tied to the body, and constantly updates. Upon death, they go to either heaven or hell depending on their deeds. The mind of a person is something else entirely and can be copied, moved or altered, but the soul will still be the same. Intelligent creations that were not physically born need to pass a test to see if they should exist and have had existence (i.e. If they fail it, they will have never existed at all).

* ''LightNovel/SDGundamTheLastWorld'' has G-Souls. G-Souls are the souls of SD Gundams, and they can absorb other G-Souls to acquire powerful weapons or turn into [[HumongousMecha giant forms more reminiscent of traditional fullscale Gundams]].