History Main / WalkingWasteland

** Infernal Exalted actually posses the ability to call Celecyne the Endless Desert (a demon-god representing physical and spiritual wastelands) into Creation. Infernals are most definitely both CursedWithAwesome and BlessedWithSuck as well as being chock full of NightmareFuel.

See PowerIncontinence, SuperPowerMeltdown, and EnemyToAllLivingThings; also see WalkingDisasterArea. If this comes as part of a superpower, you're BlessedWithSuck. Contrast FisherKing and FertileFeet.

* In the ''{{Elektra}}'' movie, Typhoid (loosely based on Typhoid Mary) decays everything in close proximity to her. She can rot wood and rust metal and even give people diseases by kissing, or even by breathing a puff of (presumably miasma-tic) air in their direction.

* In the German Eco-ScienceFiction PulpMagazine series ''Die Terranauten'', published between 1979 and 1987, an ultra-powerful psychic called Llewellyn 709 suffers from being a WalkingWasteland due to PowerIncontinence. While people with psychic powers (called "Treiber") are not uncommon within the ''Terranauten'' universe, Llewellyn was the result of an experiment GoneHorriblyWrong. While the [[CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers Terranauten organization]] was made up entirely of people with various psionic powers who can telepathically merge with [[LivingShip living sentient spaceships]] that teleport through space, most worlds in known space still needed technological stardrives to achieve [=FTL=] flight and distrusted the "mutants". In the past, governments had [[SuperRegistrationAct hunted down rebel psychics]] and subjected them to lobotomies, while corporations had tried to create "super-mutants" with vastly increased powers but under their control by subjecting psychics to a massive bombardment of psionic energy. (Note that not all of those test subjects had volunteered.) Unfortunately, many test subjects went insane or died. Those that survived were [[AGodAmI permanently altered]]. Llewellyn 709 found that his body was no longer dependent on food and water, but he radiated a psionic aura so strong that everyone in the vicinity would go insane and eventually die and reality itself would warp. While Llewellyn can use this as a weapon of last resort, he [[PowerIncontinence cannot shut the energy off]] and the uncontrolled outpouring of energy causes him [[BlessedWithSuck excruciating pain]]. The scientists who had created him came up with a way of containing the energy, by wrapping Llewellyn's naked body head to toe into a cocoon of overlapping strips of material coated with a [[AppliedPhlebotinum mineral that absorbs and blocks psionic energies]], making him look a bit like an Egyptian mummy covered in golden bandages. From this he got his nickname "Riemenmann", after he had managed to flee the laboratory.

* Subverted in the ''{{Pokemon}}'' games by the Muk species, which is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a giant sentient blob of toxic...well...muck]]. Its Pokedex entries state that it leaves a trail of contamination wherever it goes, and even a single touch of its body is enough to turn an entire pool of water rancid. This turns out to be more of an InformedFlaw, since it never once comes up in the video games. In the anime, we see Ash's Muk wandering the grounds of Professor Oak's ranch and sometimes smothering Professor Oak or even Ash himself, but neither the grounds or the humans are ever harmed by Muk's touch.

* One of the [[CuteShotaroBoy few male]] {{Sekirei}} in the titular series has this as his themed ability, opposite his sister, who can invoke FertileFeet.

* One of the ''New X-Men'''s BlessedWithSuck mutant power is that any living thing he touches starts decomposing extremely fast. His codename is, appropriately, Wither.

* In the ''Elektra'' movie, Typhoid (loosely based on Typhoid Mary) decays everything in close proximity to her. She can rot wood and rust metal and even give people diseases by kissing, or even by breathing a puff of (presumably miasma-tic) air in their direction.

* The NeverendingStory (book version) features a gentle lion-like creature named Graograman, also known as The Many-Colored Death. Any living being that comes near him is turned to sand, and this effect extends for ''miles'' around him. His residence is far away from civilization, in the Desert of Colors, and he is very lonely.

* Dagenham from TheStarsMyDestination became this, after his [[strike: nuclear experiments]] Phlebotinum went horribly wrong; he was so toxic that he was ''forbidden by law'' to spend more than thirty minutes per day in the company of anyone, including his wife.

* In the {{Dragonlance}} KingpriestTrilogy, [[BigBad Fistandantilus]] has a minor version of this ability, coupled with EvilIsDeathlyCold- everywhere he goes the temperature drops and plants freeze and whither, and if he sticks around long enough (which he admittedly generally doesn't) animals will start to freeze and drop dead too. Even the spellbooks he writes are painfully cold to the touch.

* Kyp Durron does it deliberately for evil effect in the JediAcademyTrilogy.

* Happens in PointPleasant for one scene near the end as the protagonist is walking out of a hospital.

* In an episode of StarTrekTheNextGeneration, a group of scientists created a highly advanced group of humans that are telepathic and could never get sick. The main problem is that their immune systems are so agressive that anyone who gets close to them starts aging rapidly and dies. They had to be kept in isloation forever.

* In ''{{Deadlands}}'', there is a flaw, that makes you somehow a silent servant of the reaper. just making bridges crush down, dynamite explode and guns hit their owner. You are not affected, but around you, everything deadly that can go wrong, will go wrong. Not good for your reputation.

* In the ''Warcraft'' table top rpg, Sargeras, the BigBad for the {{Warcraft}} setting, had an aura that raised the temperature by 50 degrees within a thousand mile radius of his location, causing serious enviromental damage. The closer to him, the hotter it got.

* In the {{Roguelike}} game AncientDomainsOfMystery, molochs leave a trail of blighted ground where they walk.

* In {{Warcraft}} 3, the Undead Scourge had the "Blight" which turned all land around Undead buildings into plagued wastelands and killed all trees and vegetation. In addition, in the final Night Elf level, [[BigBad Archimonde]] had an aura that had a similar effect. The land around him would be blighted as he walked.
* In the introductory movie for the first release of WorldOfWarcraft, the footsteps of a Forsaken warlock set fire to the grass he's walking on.

* The [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Darkspawn]] of DragonAge spread an effect called "the Taint" wherever they go that kills plants, mutates people and animals into twisted thralls, and even rots the ground itself like [[MeatMoss fetid meat]]. The codex states that some areas they've passed through are so noxious that dead bodies won't rot as all insects and bacteria are already dead.

* Xiion from TrintonChronicles had this ''cursed'' upon him by a fairy, he gained a touch that could rot ANYTHING he touched, but only with his right hand.

* The BigBad of ''{{Constantine}} is shown slaughtering a herd of cattle simply by walking nearby.

* The Forest God in ''PrincessMononoke'' turn into a writhing mass of worms [[spoiler:(or black, translucent goo in the case of [[FertileFeet Shishigami]])]] with this effect after losing his head. The hero, Ashitaka, [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive catches]] [[HatePlague a mild form]] of this.

* Forest Gods crossing the MoralEventHorizon in ''PrincessMononoke'' turn into a writhing mass of worms [[spoiler:(or black, translucent goo in the case of [[FertileFeet Shishigami]])]] with this effect. The hero, Ashitaka, [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive catches]] [[HatePlague a mild form]] of this.
** It's not the matter of morality, but going insane from pain and anger after being severely wounded. The Deer God/Great Spirit is an odd example in that life sprouts at his feet, but dies from his breath - he represents the everlasting cycle of nature, after all. But after his head is stolen, he becomes a mad spirit of destruction, fulfilling this trope to the tee.

* Dynamoman from ''MegaMan & Bass'' has an experimental compact reactor inside him that will kill any living thing that gets too close.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/WallpaperMurder.jpeg
[[caption-width:320:Time to redecorate. Black is nice, yes?]]

** This ionsatniy, of course, is due to the fact that his rotting powers are caused by some sort of parasite inhabiting his inner body. It's impossible to remove, and slowly took over his mind.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rXOyAKdTik Beware]] of the eldrith power of pop music!

* In the ''Elektra'' movie, Typhoid (loosely based on Typhoid Mary) decays everything in close proximity to her. She can rot wood and rust metal and even give people diseases by kissing, or even by breathing a puff of (presumably miasma-tic) air in their direction.

** It wasn't ''just'' denial. Although [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Mallon Mary Mallon]] was a ''vector'' for the disease, she not only never displayed symptoms, but ''had actually tested clean'' for it at one point (due to being in temporary remission).

* Forest Gods crossing the MoralEventHorizon in ''PrincessMononoke'' turn into a writhing mass of worms [[spoiler:(or black, translucent goo in the case of [[FertileFeet Shishigami]])]] with this effect. The hero, Ashitaka, [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive catches]] [[HatePlague a mild form]] of this.

* The Groke from ''TheMoomins'', who sucks heat and life from everything around her through no fault of her own.

* ''[[PrometheanTheCreated Promethean: the Created]]'': As part of every Promethean's Disquiet, if they spend too long in a certain area, a Wasteland starts to take hold as the Promethean's central humor goes out of control. Frankensteins, whose humor is fire, generate static electricity to the point where electrical equipment no longer works; Galateids, whose humor is air, lead to the wind growing still and stultifying; Osirans, whose humor is water, lead to water turning thick, oily, and generally undrinkable; Tammuz, whose humor is earth, cause the earth and stone around them to erode and turn to dust; and Ulgans, whose humor is spirit, cause the barriers between the material world and the Shadow Realm to collapse. Needless to say, it really sucks if you're one of the rare nuclear Prometheans...