History Main / WalkOnWater

* ''Series/AmericanGods'': Mexican Jesus does this to save one of his believers from drowning, while one of the White Jesuses sits cross-legged on Easter's swimming pool in "Come To Jesus". He tries to put his glass down on the surface and it of course [[RealityEnsues sinks to the bottom]]

* ''Literature/TheDivineComedy''L In a show of divinely-gifted power, the first angel to appear walks across a swamp of anger to help Dante on his odyssey through {{Hell}}.

* Subverted in an issue of ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': a priest asks him if he's able to walk on water, and Superman admits that yes, he can, but he wouldn't take advantage of the priest's faith like that. Although he does this in the Batcave in ''ComicBook/KingdomCome''.

* Metro Man from ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'' walks on water towards the beginning of the movie. All though he is in fact just floating directly above it. Watch his heels: they never actually touch the surface, only his toes do.
* Kida does this in ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'' when she becomes possessed by the crystal. Actually a variant, as she's walking on ''air'' -- she repels the water as the crosses its surface, so the water recedes from under her feet as she hover-walks to shore.
* ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians'' showed Jack freezing the water in Tooth's palace as he walks across it[[spoiler:, an ability that certainly would've helped him back when he was human]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Epic}}'' the lily pads actually glide to Queen Tara's feet so she has places to step over the water.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'' gives us the standard variant of the water freezing everywhere Elsa steps. Not only that, but once she gains full control of her powers, she goes from trudging through the snow like everyone else to effortlessly walking on top of the snow without leaving footprints.

* Seems to be a standard ability for any sufficiently skilled mage or ninja in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima''. {{Lampshaded}} during the TournamentArc:

* ''Anime/PrincessTutu''

* A would-be girlfriend to Twilight Sparkle in ''A Stitch in Time'' (sequel to ''[[FanFic/EakinsHardReset Hard Reset]]'') tries to comprehend the idea of dating a mare who 'practically walks on water'. This being Twilight Sparkle, she does indeed do just this. And [[OnlyTheWorthyMayPass dares her to walk out onto the lake with her]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}''

* Vamp in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid 2'', can not only move across the surface of water but can actually swim through [[QuicksandSucks exceptionally light water]] that your character will instantly sink to the bottom of and drown.

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''

* ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}''

* VideoGame/{{Kirby}} can walk on water with the Ninja ability, as well as skim over it when going fast enough with the Wheel and Tornado abilities. He can also dash across it using the Water ability in ''Videogame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand''.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' series feature an example and a subversion. The former case is due to [[RealityWarper Yukari Yakumo's]] ability to manipulate boundaries, which she used to manipulate the boundary of truth and lie in order to invade the moon, through its mirrored image in a lake (she and her ghost friend [[ZenSurvivor Yuyuko Saigyouji]] invade the moon again through this method, in the official manga ''Silent Sinner in Blue''); the subversion is that the 9th game, Phantasmagoria of Flower View, features the [[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Perfect_Memento:_Sanzu_River Sanzu River]], through which the souls of the dead are ferried to be judged. This river is canonically described as unswimmable, and only a shinigami's boat is able to travel through it without sinking.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WebComic/StandStillStaySilent'': The mage-exclusive dreamspace has protected areas separated by a big expanse of deep and rogue spirit ridden water. Each of the two existing mage traditions has a different way of crossing it, Icelandic tradition mages being the ones that simply walk on the surface of the water.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'': In Hollow Bastion, the water doesn't let anyone swim in it; if you step or fall onto it, you walk on the surface. If you go into one of the bubbles, you walk ''[[WalkDontSwim on the bottom]]'' for a couple seconds, but then are quickly dragged back to the top.

JustForFun/NotToBeConfusedWith the [[Film/WalkOnWater 2004 Israeli movie]] of the same title. Compare with WalkDontSwim, which is about walking ''under'' water. Don't confuse with WaltzOnWater, which is the tendency for video game water levels to have waltz music.

Not to be confused with the [[Film/WalkOnWater 2004 Israeli movie]] of the same title. Compare with WalkDontSwim, which is about walking ''under'' water. Don't confuse with WaltzOnWater, which is the tendency for video game water levels to have waltz music.

* This is a common ability of the ship girls in ''Anime/KantaiCollection'' 'coz well, you know, they are ''[[MoeAnthropomorphism girls]]'' [[MoeAnthropomorphism with the spirits of WWII Imperial Japanese navy ships]] in them. When it came to this, the official 4-koma compared it to ice skating.

* A line in the spy novel ''The Hungarian Game'' invoked this as a statement of implausibility: the narrator's co-worker claims to have done something subtle, and the narrator notes that a vision of this fellow acting subtly is instantly followed by a vision of their boss walking across Lake Tahoe.
* In ''Illusions'', Donald Shimoda does this trick to demonstrate his powers...and then follows it up by ''swimming in land''.
* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', Harry once freezes part of a lake and runs across it, and invokes this.
* In the ''Literature/LabyrinthsOfEcho'' series Shurf Lonli-Lokli walks on water in ''Green Waters of Ishma'' when he saves drowning {{Mind Control}}led victims.[[note]]It's frequently mentioned that any Master magician of the Order of the Holey Cup has "very special relationship with water". One of unpleasant side effects is that a Holey Cup Master may make any ship fall apart just by staying there a few hours.[[/note]] Max lampshades it, of course, including the fact that Shurf is wearing his snow white toga-like uniform at the time.
* From ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'', the Titan Hyperion does this. [[MakingASplash Percy]] copies him and they have a swordfight on water. Percy could probably do this all the time, but since he can breathe underwater and swim super-fast (probably faster than he could run), there's no real need.
* ''[[Literature/TheIcelandicSagas The Saga of Hallfred Troublesome Poet]]'': When Hallfred is lying ill in the middle of a storm on the passage to Iceland, the people on the ship suddenly see a tall woman in armour following the ship. "She walked on the waves as if on land." Hallfred realizes the woman is his ''fylgja'' or guardian spirit, and has come to take her leave from him--meaning that he is about to die.
* The tiniest mammal in ''Literature/AfterManAZoologyOfTheFuture'' is a slender, short-legged insectivore with long hairs on its feet and tail. Set on the surface of still water, its foot- and tail-hairs spread its few grams of weight so broadly that it can scamper atop ponds and puddles, sticking its proboscis-like snout into mosquito larvae to suck out their contents.
* A newly-arisen ghost in ''Literature/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'' tries to shake himself out of his postmortem depression by testing out what he can do in his newly-incorporeal state. Alas, going for a stroll on the Thames turns out to be fairly boring.
* In a show of divinely-gifted power, the first angel to appear in ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' walks across a swamp of anger to help Dante on his odyssey through {{Hell}}.
* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels, many people in Ankh-Morpork have done this, at least if you consider the polluted silt of the River Ankh to count as water.

* In the [[FrancoBelgianComics French comic]] ''ComicBook/LesNaufragesDYthaq'', this is part of the Water {{Elemental Power|s}} set.

* In one story of ComicBook/ZipiYZape the twins trick one friend to attempt to walk on water as them saying that "you need to have the foot as flat as possible". It ends as expected and he calls his father for help [[spoiler: he plunges into the river and finds Zipi and Zape are both using stilts]]

* John does this a couple of times in ''FanFic/WithStringsAttached''. Notably, the first time he does it, he screams "Look at me! Look at me! I'm Jesus!"

* Kida does this in ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'' when she becomes possessed by the crystal. Actually a variant, as she's walking on ''air'' - she repels the water as the crosses its surface, so the water recedes from under her feet as she hover-walks to shore.

* In ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', Michael's (developmentally disabled) love interest Rita leaves both him and the series as a whole by walking thoughtlessly across the surface of a swimming pool (in a ShoutOut to ''Film/BeingThere'', mentioned above). Michael assumes that his magician brother has rigged the pool as part of his performance, but GOB tells him, "No. That's not my trick, Michael." [[spoiler:Immediately subverted in the 'next episode' trailer: "... It's my ILLUSION!!!"]]

** Euphemus the Argonaut, a son Poseidon, was granted by his father the ability to walk atop water. Further, his maternal grandfather was possibly the aforementioned Orion.

** The Body Equilibrium psionic power allowed this already in the 1[[superscript:st]] edition.
** The 3.5[[superscript:th]] edition spell "Balancing Lorecall" allows one to "balance" on liquids and semi-solid (like mud or snow) if the character has enough ranks in the Balance skill. However, the difficulty of the check increases every round, so the subject is going to sink sooner or later.
** The Elocater PrestigeClass has psionic power called "Scorn Earth" which makes one float 1 feet above the ground. It works above liquids too, and thus allows moving above water without trouble.

[[folder:Theater]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'''s hackers found out during their fiddle that Flint and Claus can walk on water in some places they aren't meant to be in. For Flint's case, this glitch racks his MemeticBadass trait up even more.

* The "Dark Rain" cheat on the original ''VideoGame/{{Age Of Empires}}'' allows archers not only to walk on water, but, when standing still they get to turn into trees. ''Trees''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Return of the Obra Dinn}}'': [[spoiler:When you get to the second half of [[ArcFatigue the two-chapter story arc]] (Chapter IV), you get the ability to walk on water and explore the ocean for clues, obviously due to the Memento Mortem allowing scenes to be frozen in time in death memories.]]

* Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}

* For obvious, [[Literature/TheFourGospels Biblical-related reasons]], this one is OlderThanFeudalism.

* Partway through the ''Battle Tendency'' arc of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', in order to demonstrate her mastery of Hamon, Lisa Lisa walks out onto a Venice canal. Joseph, refusing to be shown up, follows her out - neatly demonstrating the gulf between them at that point; Lisa Lisa steps lightly on the water's surface, while Joseph wades out like he's wearing snowshoes. Both are doing so by channeling Hamon into their feet, but Joseph has to pour a far larger amount into place to make it work.

* Barry does this in ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'' (2014) episode "Plastique" to save the city from the title metahuman who's about to explode. Since he runs up a building earlier in the same episode, this shouldn't be much more difficult. He's even able to outrun the large wave caused by the underwater explosion. He is, however, unsure at first if this is even possible, but his MissionControl tells him he can.

* ''ComicBook/XFactor2006'': Monet does this using her flight powers in #226 while she, Theresa and Longshot are looking for someone. This leads to a brief conversation about Monet and Theresa's respective religious faiths of Islam and Catholicism.

* The basilisk, a reptile, is nicknamed the Jesus Christ Lizard for its ability to run on water to escape predators.

* Kiddy from DonkeyKongCountry3DixieKongsDoubleTrouble can roll onto bodies of water and skip like a rock two times consecutively.

* Kiddy from [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry3DixieKongsDoubleTrouble]] can roll onto bodies of water and skip like a rock two times consecutively.

* Donkey from ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1'' can do the "running" variant. If you roll off an edge you get to jump on the air; and if you do the air jump thing in the edge between air and water, you get to jump again. Rinse and repeat. Kiddy from the [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry3DixieKongsDoubleTrouble third game]] could do the same (that is, the orangutans do it, the monkeys don't).