Line #216 Main/MakeAWish


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9	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/geppettoswish.png]]]]
10	[[caption-width-right:350:[-Anyone want to tell him [[ComicallyMissingThePoint that's actually Jupiter]]?-] ]]
11
12	->''"The evening star is shining bright,\
13	So make a wish, and hold on tight,\
14	There's magic in the air tonight,\
15	And anything could happen..."''
16	-->-- ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog''
17
18	When you wish upon a star... Oh, right.
19	Characters in stories always want something; it's one of the [[SoYouWantTo/WriteAStory rules of fiction]]. Some heroes [[HardWorkMontage work very hard]] in pursuit of their dreams, some [[GuileHero use wit and charm]], but a few look up to the nearest star and make a longing, desperate wish.
20
21	It always comes true.
22
23	Wishing has power in fiction; it's one of the main sources of AppliedPhlebotinum. No matter what you want, from a new car to [[OvernightAgeUp a sudden age-up]], you can get it by wishing. Of course, you have to BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor and make sure that if you want to be [[IJustWantToBeSpecial special]], [[IJustWantToBeNormal normal]], or [[IWishedYouWereDead want someone out of your life]], that you actually mean [[BeCarefulWhatYouSay exactly what you say]]. Good or evil, the wish-granter is almost always a LiteralGenie who will gladly [[RealityWarper warp reality]] for the heck of it.
24
25	The best-known wish-granter is probably the GenieInABottle (or other similar [[TheFairFolk magical creatures]]) who generally grants ThreeWishes. If he's lucky, the hero will get a BenevolentGenie; unlucky ones will have a LiteralGenie or even a JackassGenie.
26
27	Other wishing methods, generally only resulting in one wish, include:
28
29	* Wishing on a star
30	* [[WishUponAShootingStar Seeing a shooting star]]
31	* [[WishingWell Wishing wells]]
32	* Birthday candles and/or wishbones, which generally come with a proviso that telling anyone the wish means it won't come true
33	* Some sort of magic wish tool (like a monkey's paw)
34	* A lunar/solar eclipse
35	* Any number of other things, like blowing on an eyelash, blowing the seeds off a dandelion, or blowing on wishing/pixie dust
36	* [[WordsCanBreakMyBones The power of words]]
37
38	If the story begins with a wish being granted, the wisher may discover they [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor don't like the way things are going]] and will use another wish to hit a ResetButton. If after all the wishes have been used up, the wisher ends up no better off, they've been WastefulWishing. Big wishes may end in a {{Wishplosion}}.
39
40	If, on the other hand, the story was a QuestForAWish and the wish is granted at the end after many trials have been overcome to earn the right to make it, it's much more likely to result in a HappilyEverAfter.
41
42	The final shot may reveal that the wish story was AllJustADream (OrWasItADream), but some stories are much more subtle and leave it up to the audience whether the "wishes" [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane really came true or were just a string of marvelous coincidences]].
43
44	Subtropes include ItsAWonderfulPlot, IWishItWereReal, WishingWell, and WishingForMoreWishes. Also, see MundaneWish for the comic version. Often involves a RealityWarp.
45
46	Not to be confused with MakeAWishContribution or the [[Film/WishUponAStar Disney Channel movie of the same name]].
47	----
48	!!Examples:
49
50	[[foldercontrol]]
51
52	[[folder:Advertising]]
53	* In this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AUiD0lNvOo Subway commercial]] a man wishes on a star and his girlfriend turns into a Subway sandwich.
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
57	* ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'' has this as the central device that begins the story.
58	* ''Manga/DragonBall'': Anyone who gathers all seven Dragon Balls will be able to summon Shenron and have a wish granted. The first arc revolved around a quest to find them, facilitated by the Dragon Radar built by [[GadgeteerGenius Bulma]]. They would rarely feature at the center of the series afterwards but were an ever-present background element, and once the heroes were able to fly around the world at incredible speeds the Dragon Radar made finding them a minor chore that took a few hours at most, so they were often used as a ResetButton to undo the villain's damage.
59	* In ''Anime/EigaTamagotchiHimitsuNoOtodokeDaiSakusen'', this is why [[spoiler:Spacytchi]] wants the package the Tama-Friends are delivering to the Gotchi King; he thinks the [[EggMacGuffin egg]] contained within will hatch into a being that can grant any wish of his choosing [[spoiler:and he wants to use that wish to conquer Tamagotchi Planet; the egg doesn't contain any such creature, though]].
60	* In ''Anime/EurekaSeven'', most of the things Renton wished for in the early episodes eventually came true (be good at reffing, getting an adventurous life, wanted Eureka as his girlfriend, wanting to hear Holland's "first love" story (episode 7), to see his father and sister, taking Eureka away to a distant place along with her (episode 30), stop the war, kissing Eureka, etc). Ironically, the last episode is titled "Wish Upon A Star", whereby the 3 kids and Renton's grandpa makes a wish upon the stars in the ending.
61	** In the movie version ending, Eureka gets to have her long time wish came true: [[spoiler:become human]].
62	* In ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'', the Priestess gets ThreeWishes from whichever Beast God she summons. There ''are'' some catches, however: although ''technically'', she ''can'' wish for anything she wants, she's ''supposed'' to use her wishes for [[GreaterNeedThanMine the greater good]], not for her own gain. Also, she is to remain [[VirginPower a virgin]] until she summons the Beast God. And lastly, if she is deemed to be not strong enough, or not pure enough, she will be [[VirginSacrifice completely devoured by the Beast God in question]]. [[ImHavingSoulPains (This process begins as soon as she summons the god and makes her first wish.)]]
63	* ''Manga/TheLuciferAndBiscuitHammer'' has its {{Mentor Mascot}}s offering a wish in exchange for service in becoming Knights to battle a being that wants to destroy the world. The wish itself is granted in good faith, but it is possible to squander it.
64	* The Jewel Seeds in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' were able to grant the wishes of the {{Muggle}}s who gets a hold of them. They [[JackassGenie tend to grant these wishes by way of a new]] MonsterOfTheWeek.
65	* ''Manga/MermaidSaga'': [[{{Squick}} eating the flesh]] of a mermaid is said to grant one wish: immortality. Actually ''getting'' immortality is extremely rare. More common is becoming horribly mutated and insane, and much, much more common is the usual result of trying this: dropping dead.
66	* In ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'', Jirachi is a cute FunSize Mythical Pokémon that has the power to grant wishes. A Jirachi features prominently as the featured Mon of the sixth movie, ''Anime/PokemonJirachiWishmaker''. On top of that, the ending theme for the said movie is called "Make A Wish".
67	* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' has WeaselMascot Kyubey offering a wish in exchange to turn girls into {{Magical Girl}}s to fight Witches. [[spoiler:He's a LiteralGenie and the wishes have a [[DealWithTheDevil price]] that he [[YouDidntAsk doesn't elaborate on]] but the miracles are genuine.]] As a little bonus, [[spoiler:Madoka's Grief Seed has a shooting star on it]].
68	* Yuuko Ichihara's [[TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday shop]] in ''Manga/{{xxxHOLiC}}'' sells wishes, for [[EquivalentExchange something of equal value to what is being wished for]].
69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder: Comic Strips]]
72	* Very early in the ''[[ComicStrip/{{Popeye}} Thimble Theater]]'' strip, Popeye would stroke the head feathers of a wish-granting creature called a Wiffle Bird and wish for the strength to defeat his foes (soon changing to eating spinach). Much later the Wiffle Bird would appear in the Al Brodax Popeye cartoons to grant wishes to anyone.
73	[[/folder]]
74
75	[[folder:Fan Works]]
76	* ''Fanfic/NoPlumbersAllowed'': In a moment of desperation, Taylor makes a wish on a star for the ability to make a difference. The star, actually a Luma, considers this before granting her the ability to make technology from the Mario franchise.
77	* In the ''Manga/GunslingerGirl'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8459711/1/Porcupine-Love Porcupine Love]]'', Triela is visiting the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, where traditionally [[TruthInTelevision you can make a wish while spinning your heel on the testicles of the bull mosaic on the floor]]. Triela does this on a whim and finds herself facing Pinocchio, who's standing in line with everyone else to do the same. After chasing him down [[DatingCatwoman they end up in bed together]], so it's left ambiguous whether Triela's wish involved finding the teenage assassin she's sworn to kill, or [[MustNotDieAVirgin experiencing love before she dies.]]
78	[[/folder]]
79
80	[[folder:Fairy Tales]]
81	* Any story that features a genie (''Literature/{{Aladdin}}'', many tales in the ''Literature/ArabianNights'')
82	* In "Literature/SweetPorridge", wishing to never go hungry results in a family getting a pot that cooks porridge, with specific words to make it stop and go. When someone uses the pot but doesn't know the words that stop it, this results in a massive flood of hot porridge (or sweet soup, depending on the story) before somebody says the words that make it stop.
83	* In "Literature/TheFishermanAndHisWife", a fisherman gets three wishes granted to him by a magic fish because he spares it rather than catching it. The fisherman and his wife are arguing about how to use the three wishes granted them; the wife wastes the first one on wishing for a sausage, which ends with the husband getting fed up and saying "I wish that sausage was on your nose!" and then having to use the last wish as a ResetButton.
84	** There is a similar Russian tale. In that one, the fish offers a poor fisherman unlimited wishes. The man himself is perfectly satisfied with his life as is, but his greedy wife keeps asking him to make grander and grander wishes (on her behalf), which eventually ends up with her becoming queen. However, still not satisfied with this, she demands to be made Mistress of the Seas and command the fish itself, which is not only refusing to grant but also revokes all the previous wishes, leaving the wife with nothing. In another version, the fish does indeed make her Empress of the Seven Seas, but when she wishes to be God the fish simply tells her that it ''can't'' grant that wish, and then revokes all the previous wishes.
85	* In Hans Christian Andersen's "Literature/TheLittleMermaid", the mermaid in question sells her voice to the sea witch in order to get a wish for legs. After [[spoiler:she fails to seduce him]], her sisters sell their hair to kill the prince that caused her to make the wish and save her life. In some folklore, Mermaids are themselves able to grant wishes.
86	* In "Literature/TheMonkeysPaw", the wishes made by the poor couple [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane may or may not]] have been granted other than the first one which definitely was... but not as they hoped.
87	* In Japanese folklore, it's said that folding [[ThousandOrigamiCranes 1,000 paper cranes]] or 100 stars will allow you to make one wish.
88	[[/folder]]
89
90	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
91	* Disney is loaded with examples (some cross over into folklore):
92	** ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', with a genie in a lamp.
93	** ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle'' has the star fall on Little, revealed to be the panel of a spaceship.
94	** ''WesternAnimation/DuckTalesTheMovieTreasureOfTheLostLamp'', with another genie in a lamp.
95	** In ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'', the villainess lures Giselle to the portal between her world and ours by saying it's a wishing well. (A ShoutOut to ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'', where the Witch tricks Snow White into eating the poisoned apple by telling her it's a wishing apple.)
96	** ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'', with Lilo wishing on a shooting star for a friend. That star turns out to be a crashing spaceship carrying Experiment 626.
97	** ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}},'' on a star.
98	** ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'', both the heroine and her best friend make wishes on the evening star, although it's left ambiguous whether it's really the power of the star granting the wish or not. Also, one of the movie's messages is it's not just wishing, but hard work, that makes your dreams come true.
99	** ''WesternAnimation/{{Snow White\|AndTheSevenDwarfs}}'', in a wishing well.
100	* In ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeCollisionCourse'', the guys mistake a meteor shower for shooting stars, one of which hit Sid and send him flying into a tree.
101	-->'''Manny:''' Hey, look! Shooting stars!\
102	'''Sid:''' Quick, make a wish! You gotta make a-- ''(gets hit)'' ''WIIIIIIIISH!''\
103	'''Manny:''' Wow, my wish came true.\
104	'''Sid:''' I'm okay! ''(spontaneously combusts)''\
105	'''Diego:''' Mine, too.
106	* In ''WesternAnimation/ShrekForeverAfter'', the movie starts with Fiona wishing on a star for "every day to be like this one." Cue a GroundhogDayLoop and Shrek's midlife crisis.
107	** Shrek himself makes a wish 'to be an ogre for one day' (i.e., to be able to behave just like he used to before he met Fiona, without remorse, ruining his new reputation, or having her scold him). Just one day, for old times' sake. He even gets it. Unfortunately, it was granted by means of [[spoiler:a MagicallyBindingContract, with [[Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}} the antagonist]] pushing it almost into DealWithTheDevil territory, given his LoopholeAbuse of the One-day-for-one-day EquivalentExchange meant to [[RetGone erase Shrek from existence]]]].
108	* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Turbo}}'', the title character, a snail, wishes on a star to be fast. The star turns out to be an airplane, yet another reminder of his lack of speed. He nevertheless gets his wish.
109	[[/folder]]
110
111	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
112	* The film ''Film/ThirteenGoingOnThirty'': Wishing powder transports the protagonist into the future.
113	* ''Film/SixteenWishes'' is a Disney Channel Movie about a girl named Abby who has a list of sixteen things she wants to happen on her 16th birthday; once the day starts off on the wrong foot, a mysterious woman named Celeste gives her sixteen candles that can each grant one of those wishes. Interestingly, the moral wasn't so much BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor as helping Abby realize [[HeelRealization that she was kind of self-centered]], as the wishes help her realize that the people around her have HiddenDepths and her actions have been negatively affecting them.
114	* ''18 Again'' has a grandfather and grandson who share the same birthday [[FreakyFridayFlip switch bodies]] after they wish on the same birthday cake.
115	* ''Film/{{Big}}'', with a wish-granting machine at a fair.
116	* Disney's ''Film/DarbyOGillAndTheLittlePeople''. Darby receives three wishes after capturing King Brian of the leprechauns.
117	* The made for TV movie ''A Dog's Tale'': a boy makes a wish on a star to get a dog, but as he makes the wish a bee flies by making it sound like he says "I want to be a dog", so he turns into a dog and he must find a way to reverse the process.
118	* ''Film/GrumpyCatsWorstChristmasEver'' has Crystal using a magic Christmas coin on a Wishing Well to make a wish for a friend. She ended up gaining the ability to understand Grumpy Cat.
119	* Lifetime's ''How I Married My High School Crush'' has the teenage heroine transported to the future after making a wish during a solar eclipse.
120	* ''Film/IKnowWhereImGoing'' has protagonist Joan Webster count the beams in her room to wish away the fog that's delaying her wedding. She wishes a little too hard, though.
121	* In ''Film/JamesAndTheGiantPeach'', James sends out a balloon wishing for help to take him to New York. Help appears in the form of a strange man with a bag full of magic glowing alligator tongues. (This is only in the movie; in the book, the strange man just appears.)
122	* ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' has the heroine wishing goblins would take away her baby brother, thus triggering the plot of her trying to rescue him.
123	* ''Film/LiarLiar'' had a boy use his birthday wish to wish his lying father couldn't tell a lie for one day.
124	* The 1986 movie ''Milly/Willy'' (aka ''I Was a Teenage Boy'', ''Something Special''), where [[GenderBender a girl wishes to be a boy]] during the solar eclipse.
125	* In ''Film/ASafePlace1971'', Noah shows Fred a magic box she received from the Magician. The wisher must put something special and important to her into the box while making a wish; when she removes the item, her wish will come true, but the box can only be used in times of genuine need. Noah won't tell Fred what she put in the box because then it won't work.
126	* In ''Film/{{Ted}}'', it's a childhood wish by John brings Ted to life and it's an adult one by Lori that saves Ted in the end.
127	* In ''Film/ThrowMommaFromTheTrain'', Larry says about his divorced wife "I hate her, I wish she were dead!" She turns up missing and presumed dead, and since he said it in the middle of a crowded lunchroom, everyone suspects him.
128	* In ''Film/WhenEvilCalls'', a JerkassGenie unleashes a chain text around a school that grants a wish to anyone who forwards the text on to two other people. The wishes always come true... [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor in the worst possible way]].
129	* The made for tv movie ''Whiskers'' is about a boy who has a misunderstanding with his parents thinking they want to get rid of his pet cat, so he makes a wish on a star to turn his cat into a boy. The wish backfires because the cat becomes a grown man because it was going by cat years, and he has to teach the cat how to be a human.
130	* This concept is referenced in the brief spoken-word intro to the song "Pure Imagination" in ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'': "Hold your breath. Make a wish. Count to three." (The song and dialogue also appears in the otherwise-new score of the [[Theatre/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory 2013 stage musical version of the source novel]], which also has its own take on this trope -- see below.)
131	* The MacGuffin of ''Film/WonderWoman1984'' is the Dreamstone which will grant a wish for anyone who holds it. Diana thinks it's a fake until her OneTrueLove comes back from the dead, and she realises too late it's an ArtifactOfDoom that has destroyed civilizations. Unfortunately a media-friendly businessman has gotten hold of the Dreamstone, wished that ''he'' had its power, and now intends to grant the wishes of the entire world.
132	[[/folder]]
133
134	[[folder:Literature]]
135	!!!By Author:
136	* Creator/EdwardEager's children's fantasy novels:
137	** ''The Well-Wishers'' centers around a well that [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane may or may not be magical and grant wishes]].
138	** ''Literature/HalfMagic'' centers around four siblings finding a magic coin that grants wishes by half (e.g. if you wished for a house, you'd get half a house).
139	** ''Seven-Day Magic'' centers around a library book that grants literature-related wishes.
140	* In a Creator/ShelSilverstein poem, the protagonist received a wish from a goblin and used it to wish for two more wishes - lather, rinse, repeat. He eventually died without ever having used even a single wish for anything ''worthwhile''. ("In a world of apples, and kisses and shoes/He wasted his wishes on wishing.")
141
142	!!!By Title:
143	* ''Literature/BigfootAndLittlefoot'': In the first book, when Boone first appears, one of the first things that he does is pick up a dandelion and blow all the seeds off it. Gigi tells Hugo that Humans do that as a way to make a wish. We later find out in the book that Boone wished to see a Sasquatch, and it had apparently came true because he and Hugo made eye contact not long after.
144	* ''Literature/BruceCovillesBookOf Spine Tinglers'': Miranda Alice gets three wishes from a snail (and promptly wishes for a thousand more) in ''Those Three Wishes''. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, she wasn't [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor careful what she said]] and, after realizing she'd forgotten to study for a test, unwittingly wished to be dead.]]
145	* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/GimmicksThree": Welby's contract provided him with ten years of supernaturally guided life, every wish he had could be fulfilled by [[InMysteriousWays seemingly coincidental events that happened to bring him good fortune]].
146	* In one of the dialogues in ''Literature/GodelEscherBachAnEternalGoldenBraid'', the main protagonist Achilles finds[[note]] technically, this only happens within (ItMakesSenseInContext) an Escher etching inside a dialogue within the dialogue[[/note]] a magical lamp whose BenevolentGenie grants him three wishes. Achilles tries to wish for more wishes, only to find out the genie can't do that for him; a wish about wishes is technically classified as a metawish, and in order to grant such wishes one would need a metagenie in a metalamp, whereas Achilles's genie merely is of the base variety... [[spoiler:Luckily the genie happens to have a metalamp with a metagenie in, and even petitions GOD to grant Achilles a typeless wish (that could be about wishes, or metawishes, or metametawishes…), but Achilles still manages to mess it up.]]
147	* ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' tended to be quite fond of this trope as a device for lesson learning. ''Literature/BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor'' is probably the best example. Typically wishes don't go exactly as planned and the protagonist finishes the story by wishing nothing had ever happened.
148	* ''Literature/HouseholdGods'' begins when Nicole annoyedly tells what she believes to be normal statues of the Roman gods Liber and Libera—but which were actually avatars of the real gods—that she "wished she'd lived then" (ancient Rome), and the gods, ecstatic to have a wish they can grant, are more than happy to grant that wish. She wakes up the next morning extremely confused.
149	* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': There are numerous gods in Tariatla that select mortals deserving of aid and grant them a wish, but the manner in which they do so depends on the god. The world is big on free will and self-determination so they won't actually grant the wish so much as make it easier for the wisher to obtain what they want.
150	** Fiol, goddess of fire, will essentially make the wisher HotBlooded by removing any inhibitions that may be blocking them and amplifying their passion for the wish
151	** Wiol, goddess of wind, will chart the many possible futures and show the wisher the one that will lead to their wish coming true.
152	** Eaol, the god of earth, will endow them with the knowledge and experience they need.
153	** Tasio, the trickster god, will become a personal StealthMentor and work InMysteriousWays until the results came to fruition in a hilarious ([[ItAmusedMe to him at least]]) manner.
154	* Towards the end of ''Literature/TheMagicians'' the protagonist captures a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Questing_Beast Questing Beast]] which then grants him three wishes. His first wish is impossible, as is the next one and the one after that. The Beast still counts them as his first wish.
155	* ''Literature/MermaidsOfErianaKwai'': Early in ''Ice Massacre'', Meela wishes on a four-leaf clover that Eriana Kwai could be free from the mermaids that have killed so many people.
156	* The ''Literature/MouseMath'' picture book ''Make a Wish, Albert!'' is about Albert, the main character of the series, celebrating his birthday. He wishes on his birthday candles for a new scooter after seeing his friend Leo's, even though he hadn't asked for one, and gets one.
157	* In Creator/ErinMorgenstern's ''Literature/TheNightCircus'', the circus acquires the Wishing Tree where you light a candle from the ones already lit. Only some patrons can find it.
158	* In a rather grimmer way, ''Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray''. Here, the wish (that Dorian's portrait would age rather than he) is definitely magic, but the question is, ''who'' granted it?
159	* The ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' novelisation "All That Glitters" featured a substance called Wish Dust that would indeed grant any wish and there didn't seem to be a limit. Unfortunately, the dust has a life of its own and finds its way into other people's hands. The kicker has got to be Neve Campbell, Brad Pitt, Leonardo Di Caprio, and Winona Ryder ending up at school because one kid heard they were shooting a new movie.
160	* The entire ''Literature/StarDarlings'' franchise centers around Starlanders granting wishes for humans to both inspire them and bring positive energy back to Starland.
161	* Joan Aiken's short story ''The Third Wish'' has our hero Mr. Peters freeing a swan from some thorn bushes, who turns out to be the King of the Forest, who grants him three wishes. Mr. Peters wishes for a pretty wife, which is exactly what he gets (her name is Leita), only it turns out [[spoiler:Leita's actually a swan that [[JackassGenie the King]] turned into a human girl. She loves Mr. Peters but misses her swan sister very badly. Mr. Peters [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy uses his second wish to turn her back into a swan,]] and Leita and her sister stay with him as swans for the rest of his life.]].
162	* In Creator/RuthFrancesLong's ''Literature/TheTreacheryOfBeautifulThings'', the Leczi gives Jenny one. She tries to use it twice and is warned that it comes in its own time. At the end, Puck shoved her out into the mortal world with the instruction that it works more slowly but more surely there.
163	* In Creator/RobertArthur's "Literature/TheWonderfulDay", Danny wishes on a unicorn horn for all of the expressions adults use to become literally true for just one day. This results in everything from a woman [[InflatingBodyGag puffing up like a balloon]] with pride to a man who keeps saying "I wish..." ending up with an entire herd of horses.
164	[[/folder]]
165
166	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
167	* ''Series/Batwoman2019''. On Kate Kane's birthday, she blows out the candle on a wedding cupcake Luke Fox has made for her and makes a wish, but we don't hear what she wished for. Immediately after that a Beth shows up from an alternate universe where Kate's twin sister didn't become the psychotic supervillain Alice. Beth has no idea how she got here (she's an anomaly left over when the TheMultiverse combined in ''Series/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths2019'') and when asked Kate just replies, "I made a wish". Then in a flashback scene, young Beth (the future Alice) is being held captive by [[MadDoctor Mr. Cartwright]], and makes a wish to see her family again, only for Mr. Cartwright to [[KickTheDog tell her the wish won't come true]] now that she's spoken it aloud. At the end of the episode, Kate is enjoying another birthday cake with Alt-Beth, blows out the candle and mentions out loud what her first wish had been. Right then Alt-Beth (and Alice elsewhere) simultaneously [[NeverTheSelvesShallMeet collapse to the ground in pain]].
168	* The plot of ''Series/{{Beetleborgs}}'' is kicked off when three kids release a friendly spirit from a pipe organ, and he offers them a wish in gratitude. They wish to be [[IWishItWereReal their favourite comic heroes]], and he obliges. Unfortunately, this also brings the ''villains'' to life as an unintended side-effect.
169	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
170	** In [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E9TheWish "The Wish"]], [[AlphaBitch Cordelia]] decides that Buffy is the cause of all her recent troubles and wishes she had never come to Sunnydale. Unfortunately, she's speaking to vengeance demon Anyanka at the time, who instantly grants her wish by turning Sunnydale into a CrapsackWorld overrun by vampires.
171	** At the end of "Innocence", Joyce presents her daughter with a makeshift 17th birthday cake and invites Buffy to blow out the candle and make a wish. As Buffy's innocence has been shattered forever by [[OneTrueLove Angel]] becoming the evil Angelus, Buffy just replies, "Let it burn."
172	* The sisters in ''Series/{{Charmed\|1998}}'' went up against a genie who delighted in giving you exactly what you wished for. ''[[ExactWords Exactly]]'' what you wished for. Complete with [[JackassGenie every loophole]] you didn't close.
173	* This serves as the plot in the ''Series/ColdCase'' episode "Wishing", the developmentally disabled VictimOfTheWeek wished for his classmate to like him, for his caregiver to release him from the psychiatric hospital and [[{{Tearjerker}} for his terminally ill mother to get strong "like a train"]].
174	* ''Series/DoctorWho''. At the end of "Legend of the Sea Devils", Yaz encourages the Doctor to make a wish while skipping a stone off the ocean. The Doctor says hers out loud, as that's what you do on her planet. It's a wish that her time with Yaz will last forever. From Yaz's expression, she knows full well it's TemptingFate. Right after this comes the OnTheNext episode trailer which starts with the Doctor saying, "Nothing is forever..."
175	* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': Daphne's mother spends Daphne's birthday party whining about how her husband has left her and [[ItsAllAboutMe nobody is paying attention to her]]. After she storms out of the room, Daphne walks back over to her cake and relights the candles because she wants to change her wish (to wish for her mother to go back to England).
176	* In ''Series/FreeSpirit1989'', CuteWitch Winnie Goodwin first meets Gene Harper after Gene wishes for someone to spend time with him while his father and older siblings have become busy with other things.
177	* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Monica insisted on making a flan instead of a cake for Rachel's birthday. During the end credits Rachel blows out the candles on the flan, only for it to be immediately smashed by a volleyball thrown by one of the guests.
178	-->'''Rachel:''' Wow, those things almost never come true!
179	* The premise of ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie''.
180	* ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'' — [[spoiler:The "Greatest Treasure in the Universe" the team have been looking for is revealed to have this power. Not only could it stop the Zangyack Empire, it could make it so Zangyack never existed in the first place. Unfortunately, doing so would take the power of all Super Sentai, erasing ''them'' from the new universe as well. After some agonizing, they decide it's not worth it and they'll stop Zangyack their own way—something they underline by ''blowing up'' the Treasure.]]
181	* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' has several instances of this trope.
182	** ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'' involves a thirteen-man fight to the death over a wish. However, [[spoiler:it's all a ruse by the instigator of the fight to build up enough energy to revive his sister]].
183	** ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'' involves a race of monsters who grant wishes to people. However, they aren't actual wish-granting beings, so they instead grant them in a way that'd qualify, such as cutting up neck''ties'' to fulfill a man's wish of cutting ties. However, the consequence of making such a wish allows them to be corporeal and even hijack the person's body to travel back in time and wreck up as much of the past as they can.
184	** ''Series/KamenRiderGhost'' involves fifteen {{soul jar}}s containing the spirits of historical figures. In exchange, one can get a wish.
185	* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'':
186	** Jiminy tries everything he can think of, including [[DealWithTheDevil dealing with]] [[DragonInChief Rumplestiltskin]] in order to escape his family's thieving ways, [[spoiler:and accidentally kills Gepetto's parents]]. In desperation, he wishes on a star for a chance to escape and atone, gladly trading his humanity to become a cricket and serve Gepetto.
187	** In the pilot, Emma blows out a candle (topped with a blue star) on a birthday cupcake immediately before Henry shows up. At the end of the episode, she tells Regina that she had actually made a wish, not to be alone on her birthday.
188	* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' thoroughly explores this in the episode The Betrayal, which involves the wishing, counter-wishing, and re-wishing of Kramer to "drop dead" using most of the methods in the description. There's also Jerry wishing Man Hands would acquire normal feminine hands. [[spoiler:Neither comes true.]]
189	* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'':
190	** The "[[Recap/SmallvilleS01E01Pilot Pilot]]" begins with three-year-old Comicbook/LanaLang asking Martha to make a wish. She soon does get to "See a little face."
191	** There's also Chloe making a birthday wish of being Lois in "[[Recap/SmallvilleS08E17Hex Hex]]".
192	* ''Franchise/SuperSentai''/''Franchise/PowerRangers'':
193	** ''Series/PowerRangersMysticForce'' had a genie cat named Jenji who granted each person a wish. However, if you wish for more wishes (as Xander did) you render the "contract" null and void.
194	** In the Franchise/SuperSentai version, the [[Series/MahouSentaiMagiranger Magirangers']] first wish was to defeat the bad guys. He makes excuses about them having to pay them, but it quickly becomes apparent that unlike most genies, he has no special [[RealityWarper wish-granting abilities]] and has to make his come true [[AnAesop the old fashioned way]].
195	* Subverted in ''Sword and Fairy'' when the three main characters make various wishes on a falling star--none of which come remotely true.
196	* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' often centered on characters getting what they wished for, through many of the means listed above. This being the Zone, of course, BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor is in full effect.
197	* In ''Series/TheWorstWitch'' Sybil and Clarice turn a torch into a magic lamp and immediately ask for unlimited wishes. That's absolutely fine...except the lamp has to drain energy from everything around it to facilitate the extra wishes.
198	[[/folder]]
199
200	[[folder:Music]]
201	* Music/FrankZappa's song ''Fountain Of Love'' from ''Music/CruisingWithRubenAndTheJets'' is a parody of this trope. It features a wishing fountain, make two people become a couple as a result.
202	[[/folder]]
203
204	[[folder:Pinballs]]
205	* This is a key game mechanic in ''Pinball/TalesOfTheArabianNights'', as making wishes allows the players to choose various bonuses or skip missions entirely.
206	[[/folder]]
207
208	[[folder:Podcasts]]
209	* The most powerful entity in ''Podcast/MissionToZyxx'' offers one wish to whoever unlocks its full potential.
210	[[/folder]]
211
212	[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
213	* ''Series/FraggleRock'': In [[Recap/FraggleRockS4E10WembleysFlight "Wembley's Flight"]], Wembley frees a trapped spider-fly from a snare blossom. The spider-fly turns out to be an [[GenderBender Odd Old Man/Fairy Godmother]]—who, [[NewSkillAsReward as a reward, grants Wembley his wish of being able to fly]]. He is told, however, that [[RuleOfThree he will be able to make only three flights]].
214	* ''Series/SesameStreet'':
215	** In the "Birdy Pox" episode, Big Bird and Snuffy's last attempt to make the former's [[PolkaDotDisease Birdy Pox]] go away is making a wish on the first star in the sky that they would disappear. It doesn't work, but the spots indeed go away moments after Snuffy leaves and Maria comes to say goodnight.
216	** The special ''Film/ElmoSavesChristmas'' revolves around Elmo receiving a magic snowglobe from Santa that grants him ThreeWishes, and for his second wish, he makes it ChristmasEveryDay, which leads to disastrous consequences.
217	** In the special ''Film/WhenYouWishUponaPickle'', a mysterious (and [[AnthropomorphicFood sentient) Wish Pickle]], which grants one wish per customer, is delivered to Sesame Street. Cookie Monster's wish for more cookies gets him multiplied, Elmo's wish to be grown-up and Chris' wish to be younger causes them to [[FreakyFridayFlip switch bodies]], Abby Cadabby's wish brings her favorite storybook detective to life, and Ernie's wish for Bert (who wants to be a weather man) to be on TV causes Bert to become [[TrappedInTVLand physically trapped inside the television and get shuffled from show to show]].
218	[[/folder]]
219
220	[[folder:Roleplay]]
221	* A frequent theme in ''Roleplay/{{Glowfic}}'':
222	** Wishcoins are [[BenevolentGenie coins you can use to make wishes]] and they come in tiers of power. The higher the tier, the bigger the wishes you can make and the more pain you must experience to make that wishcoin. The lowest tier is a pinprick and does things like flipping a light switch across the room. The highest tier is so painful no normal human can bear it and it lets you make a subworld where you are basically god. (The main characters use them to set up SocietyOfImmortals and usually well-thought-out {{Utopia}}.)
223	** Wish (world name) has a wish granter and [[spoiler:Gem made the fluffs hand it over in exchange for an infinite power hack]] and it's also pretty BenevolentGenie in the actual wishing part.\
224	(The main characters use them to set up SocietyOfImmortals and usually well-thought-out {{Utopia}}.)
225	[[/folder]]
226
227	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
228	* ''TabletopGame/ChuubosMarvelousWishGrantingEngine'': It's right there in the title - although being a setting focused on the wishing power of the heart, there are other ways to make wishes as well. No matter what the wish is, no matter how impossible it is, no matter how world-changing, it will happen. The fun is dealing with them.
229	* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' has the spells ''wish'' and ''miracle''. The 3.5 versions of these spells have very specific things they can do without risking LiteralGenie, JackassGenie, and/or spell failure. (Well, ''miracle'' can fail if you try to do something against your deity's nature.)
230	* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' has Green Sun Princes and the Akuma of Cecelyne. They have a charm chain named Verdant Emptiness Endowment, which allows them to grant wishes they overhear. Recipients owe the Infernal a favor but can gain virtually anything from greater skill with the sword to Sorcery. Fan upgrades include true love and helper demons. The original creators referred to the charm concept as 'Evil Desert Genie'.
231	* One of the tricks kitsune can play on fools in ''TabletopGame/KitsuneOfFoxesAndFools'' is Grant a Wish, which nets the casting fox a new tail if they pay foxfire equal to the fool's level. The explanation is "Sometimes the best way to purify a desire is to fulfill it." And given that the normal way of purifying fools is through karmic pranks, that probably means the fox acts like a JerkassGenie.
232	* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has [[http://magiccards.info/ju/en/37.html a few]] [[http://magiccards.info/ju/en/124.html wish]] [[http://magiccards.info/ju/en/64.html spells]] that allow you to take a card from anywhere in your collection, and bring it into the current game.
233	** In competitive play you're limited to the cards in your sideboard or cards that were previously removed from the game (so you could wish for a wish you had previously played).
234	[[/folder]]
235
236	[[folder:Theatre]]
237	* In the 2013 West End musical ''Theatre/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', after the fourth Golden Ticket is found Charlie (who's already seen his one chance to find a ticket -- his annual birthday bar of chocolate -- come and go) falls into a blue funk. To try and cheer him up, his father suggests they look through a hole in the roof to see if they can't find a shooting star for the boy to make a wish on, but Charlie sadly says "Don't waste a wish on me." A little later, as Mr. Bucket heads out to look for work once more, he says "Well Charlie, if you won't make a wish, then I will..." Is it a coincidence that soon after, Charlie ''does'' find the last Golden Ticket when he uses some dropped money to buy a Wonka Bar? [[spoiler:Yes. ''It was being saved for him.'']]
238	* The opening words of Stephen Sondheim's ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods'' are "I wish..." Magic, however, comes in only indirectly — Cinderella going to her mother's grave to request silver and gold (a dress appears); the Baker and his Wife agree to [[FetchQuest fulfill the demands of the Witch,]] who would then allow them to conceive a child. However, all of their wishes come back to haunt them in Act II, which opens with the same words.
239	* In ''Theatre/JasperInDeadland'', due to being a half-life thanks to Agnes giving him her heart, Jasper is able to have two wishes come true when in the Underworld.
240	[[/folder]]
241
242	[[folder:Toys]]
243	* The ''WesternAnimation/StarFairies'' toyline featured the fairies responsible for granting wishes wished on a star. In the animated special, Princess Sparkle, the head fairy, makes her own wish using the Wishing Well for a helper.
244	* The line of ''Wish Me'' stuffed toys featured puppies and unicorns with glowing accessories that you make wishes on.
245	[[/folder]]
246
247	[[folder:Video Games]]
248	* In ''VideoGame/NetHack'', there are a few ways to get a wish (most of them are based on the common tropes, like rubbing a magic lamp). If you find yourself fortunate enough to make a wish you can cause any item in the game to appear in your inventory, with certain limitations (e.g. wishing for enchanted equipment has a failure chance, you can't get artifacts that already exist elsewhere, you can't wish for the three plot required items, and you can't wish for things that would give you more wishes). The best type of wish is that from a Wand of Wishes, all of the other methods have some chance of going wrong (a wish itself is reliable, but a JackassGenie will simply attack you and not give you a wish at all).
249	* In ''VideoGame/AncientDomainsOfMystery'', wishes may be gained from using a blessed ring of djinni summoning, using a wand of wishing, casting the Wish spell, or randomly and unlikely from drinking from a magical pool. Wishes can be used to create items (other than artifacts), raise your stats or skills, summon a specific type of monster, or a few other arcane things. It's possible to gain infinite wishes by either becoming an archmage (defined as a character capable of casting the Wish spell indefinitely) or building a wish engine that can create endless rings of djinni summoning.
250	* Strangely enough, this trope is ''corrupted'' in ''VideoGame/BlazBlueCentralFiction''. When [[spoiler:Izanami]] is bested in combat, the Entitled responsible ([[spoiler:sorry, Litchi]]) is granted an Azure fragment to grant their deepest desire... only said wish is usually corrupted in the worst way possible soon after. [[spoiler:As an example, Bang's wish to serve Imperator Tenjo again sees Tenjo and Homura dead and Izanami upon the throne.]] The corruption even goes on a deeper level than that: [[spoiler:it is very possible that Izanami herself is tainting these wishes explicitly to point the Entitled towards killing the "absolute Entitled", the inhabitant of the Master Unit, with killing Noel the first step.]] However, sometimes the Azure fragment crumbles when the wish cannot be granted: while the expected "wish for more wishes" loophole is closed ([[spoiler:Terumi is not content with a mere fragment]]), there's also [[spoiler:Rachel and Valkenheyn's wish to abolish Drives (since Izanami is the "Drive-existence" of the Master Unit, granting this wish means Izanami ceases to be) and Makoto's wish for a happy life with her friends (which includes the aforementioned Noel, making the wish divide-by-zero by default), both of which are detrimental to Izanami]].
251	* In ''VideoGame/{{Dominions}} 3'', you can research the high-level "Wish" spell and have one of your mages cast it. You have to type in what you want; there are about 20 possibilities, most beneficial but some quite {{literal\|Genie}}...
252	* ''VideoGame/{{Elona}}'' grants you wishes under very rare circumstances (the easiest way for new players is to drink from all fountains you find). You can type in almost any item's name to receive it, but [[YouCantGetYeFlask be sure to have a guide handy because the text parser might read part of your wish, ignore the rest, and grant you something completely different from what you wanted]].
253	* ''VideoGame/KyleAndLucyWonderworld'': This is the main goal of the main characters, in order to get back home.
254	* In ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'' when Miis decide to camp out for the night, there's a chance they'll do some stargazing, then one of them spots a shooting star in the sky. The Miis then decide to make wishes, which triggers a minigame where you have to tap whatever wish you want to come true three times before the star reaches the other side of the screen.
255	* ''VideoGame/PaperMario64'': The Star Rod, which Bowser steals, is a powerful artifact in Star Haven known for granting peoples' wishes; he uses the rod to wish he were invincible. During the final battle, Peach makes a wish for Mario to be stronger, allowing the Star Beam to match Bowser's NighInvulnerability and defeat him.
256	* The Sticker Comet of ''VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar'' grants the wishes of everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom on Sticker Fest; it set off most of the conflict when Bowser breaks it and absorbs its power, as well as separates the Royal Stickers which power it. At the end of the game, Mario uses the stickers to make his own wish for Kersti to be revived and everything to return to normal.
257	* ''VideoGame/{{Plantasia}}'': To become a full fairy, Holly has to successfully grant a wish. Unfortunately, that turns out to be a lot harder than it sounds when the wisher asks for all of the gardens around his estate to be fixed (and it's a ''massive'' estate), setting up the game's plot.
258	* Jirachi from ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' is said to have the ability to grant wishes, and is based on the UsefulNotes/{{Tanabata}} festival. [[GameplayAndStorySegregation It can't actually grant wishes for the player, though.]]
259	* ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonRescueTeam'': Jirachi can be found in Wish Cave, and actually ''can'' grant wishes to the player if you bring it a Wish Stone and don't recruit it into your party. It can give you money, items, stat-boosters, or even new Friend Areas or Pokémon.
260	* ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers'': In Bidoof's special episode, "Bidoof's Wish", he seeks out Jirachi so that he can wish to become the best explorer ever. He succeeds in making it to Jirachi, but changes his mind at the last second and instead wishes for new apprentices to arrive at the guild so that he can guide and befriend them. It's implied that Jirachi granted this wish by having the protagonists show up at the guild shortly afterward.
261	* The plot of ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars]]'' heavily involves wishes in between everything else. After the first few minutes of gameplay, the Star Road is destroyed and [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the titular seven stars]], [[DismantledMacGuffin pieces of the Star Road]], fall to the earth. Without the [[BenevolentGenie Star Road]], wishes cannot be granted, and no new wishes can turn into [[StarPower shooting stars]]. This is a problem [[RousseauWasRight because people often wish for something other than their own benefit]], like, oh... ''for Mario to succeed and save the world''.
262	* The plot of ''VideoGame/TouhouYumejikuuPhantasmagoriaOfDimDream'' involves the cast competing for a wish granted by a pair of extraplanar scientists. If you win with them, Reimu wishes for a way to keep the shrine clean and gets a (useless) RobotMaid, Marisa switches out her FlyingBroomstick for [[MyLittlePanzer an ICBM with a cute face on it]], Mima gets the moon put in geosynchronous orbit [[{{Lunacy}} so she'll always be at full power]], Ellen opens up a magic shop (on the Hakurei Shrine grounds), Kana gets a new home (at the Hakurei Shrine), Rikako gains the scientific knowledge she always craved, and Kotohime... [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} didn't have a wish in mind, but settles for locking up Reimu in a jail cell]].
263	* In ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal'', the winner of the titular tournament gets to make one wish. The problem is that the one granting the wishes is [[JackassGenie Calypso]].
264	* In ''Witch's Heart'', the titular Witch's Heart is rumored to be able to grant any one wish to the person who finds it. [[spoiler:It turns out to be the protagonist's heart, which means that anyone who wants to get their hands on the Witch's Heart needs to kill her first -- hence the game's tagline: "Do you have a wish you would be willing to kill for?"]]
265	[[/folder]]
266
267	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
268	* The holy grail in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' grants any wishes to the victorious master/servant pair of the Holy Grail War. [[spoiler:Though it is later explained that it's a JackassGenie due to a bad case of DemonicPossession, and will interpret any wish in a way that will cause maximum pain and suffering.]]
269	* ''VisualNovel/HatofulBoyfriend'':
270	** Hiyoko has a few different options for what to wish for during Tanabata: TakeOverTheWorld by force, [[TheManBehindTheMan rule the world from the shadows]], or [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking become a famous artist]]. Later in the game, you also unlock the option to wish for "the mad love of a fallen angel", which puts you on Anghel Higure's route.
271	** Also in the backstory. [[spoiler:As children, Hiyoko and Ryouta wished for a world where humans and birds would stop fighting. [[AxeCrazy Dr. Shuu]] overheard them and decided to grant it...by eliminating the remainder of humankind, so that there would be no humans left for birds to fight with.]]
272	* Wishes have a lot of power in the world of ''VisualNovel/{{Kanon}}'', but they also come with a high price. [[spoiler:Ayu and Makoto, at least the versions of them that we get to know, were brought into existence solely by the powers of their respective wishes to see Yuichi again. Ayu is an AstralProjection whose real body is lying in a coma, and she disappears when she realizes what's going on. Makoto was originally a fox that Yuichi took care of as a child, and her wish to meet him again transformed her into a human at the cost of erasing her memories and gradually draining her life until she dies. The former gets better in the GoldenEnding; the latter doesn't.]]
273	* The protagonist of ''VisualNovel/StarCrossedMyth'' makes the vaguest possible Tanabata wish for "something wonderful to happen." This becomes more significant than she expected when she's approached by six gods of the zodiac during the Tanabata festival.
274	* In ''VisualNovel/SteinsGate'', Mayuri relates a story of wishing on a shooting star for Okabe to get better from his fever when they were kids. Okabe happened to recover the following day. What prompts this discussion is her seeing "the first star of the night sky", which Okabe points out is actually the planet Venus.
275	* In ''VisualNovel/TokimekiMemorial 2 Substories: Leaping School Festival'', Akane, while talking with the protagonist under the starry sky, makes a wish upon seeing a shooting star, in an Event of her storyline. [[note]]Image of the scene is available for view in the trope's [[ImageLinks/MakeAWish Image Links]][[/note]]
276	[[/folder]]
277
278	[[folder:Web Animation]]
279	* In ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'', Sarge has been wishing on shooting stars every night for the past decade. The wish is, of course, for Grif's violent and untimely death.
280	[[/folder]]
281
282	[[folder:Webcomics]]
283	* In ''Webcomic/CucumberQuest'', [[http://cucumber.gigidigi.com/cq/page-203/ on a shooting star.]] [[http://cucumber.gigidigi.com/cq/page-204/ Accidentally.]] If he'd known it would work, he would have made a better wish.
284	* ''ComicStrip/ThePerryBibleFellowship'''s [[http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF210-Wishing_Well.gif take on it]].
285	* In ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'', it's said that those reaching the top of the Tower can have whatever they wish for, and people set out climbing with various wishes. Of course, climbing the Tower involves an average of five hundred years of competition against others trying to do the same thing. [[spoiler: Eventually, it's revealed weirdly off-handedly that ''nobody'' has actually reached the top of the Tower; contrary to what is implied earlier in the comic, those who finish climbing and are promoted to Rankers merely reach the floor that [[GodEmperor Jahad]] reached, and the way up from there is blocked pretty decisively.]]
286	[[/folder]]
287
288	[[folder:Web Original]]
289	* [[http://www.real-wishes.com/ This site.]] Evidently, if one follows the directions right, [[http://real-wishes.com/what-people-are-saying.php?eight=8888 it actually works]].
290	[[/folder]]
291
292	[[folder:Web Videos]]
293	* In the Vox Machina campaign of ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'', Scanlan learns the "Wish" spell. [[spoiler:Since its uses are limited, he tries to hold onto its corresponding spell slot for long enough to free Vax'ildan from the Raven Queen's thrall, but was forced to use that spell slot to use "Counterspell" on Vecna, giving the heroes the chance they need to fell the archlich. In an epilogue one-shot session, Scanlan uses his final "Wish" to temporarily bring Vax back from the dead to visit his sister Vex on her wedding day.]]
294	* In ''WebVideo/TheGuild'', Codex spends one opening monologue waiting for a star to fall so she can make a wish and fix all her problems.
295	-->'''Codex:''' The stars are being sticky little bitches tonight, huh?
296	* Parodied by ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'' in his 'Top 11 Disney Villains' video, whereas he chronicled a list of very very evil, depraved villains that originated from [[Creator/{{Disney}} the company that encourages this trope a lot]]. He ends his video with "[[SubvertedTrope When you wish upon a star,]] '''[[EvilSoundsDeep EVIL WILL FIND YOU!!]]'''"
297	[[/folder]]
298
299	[[folder:Western Animation]]
300	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfPussInBoots'', Dulcinea gets a wishing star named Esteban and becomes an Official Secret Star Wisher. Although the two of them have only the best of intentions, Dulcinea makes her wishes too vague (Dulcinea wishes for a person's stubborn horse to move) and Esteban interprets them too loosely (Esteban makes the horse never stop moving) causing chaos to erupt.
301	* ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' has the creature in "Scare Necessities", which grants wishes as a ''defense mechanism''—when it's frightened, it grants the wish of whatever frightened it in order to distract them from harming it. [[spoiler:At the end, Iago shows it a mirror and screams. The creature thus scares ''itself'', and grants its own wish—to go to a paradiscal garden where the rest of its kind lives.]]
302	* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' movie, ''WesternAnimation/WakkosWish'', had the entire cast racing to be the first to the Wishing Star. Wakko wishes for [[spoiler:another ha'penny]].
303	* In ''WesternAnimation/AnnabellesWish'', the titular character intends to make a wish to Santa Claus so that she can achieve her dream of flying. Instead, however, she gives up her wish and her voice so that her friend Billy can talk again. Years later, Santa repays her for her selflessness by granting her original wish to fly. She gets turned into a reindeer and even gets her voice back.
304	* In one segment of the "Adventures of Cliff Hanger" of ''Series/BetweenTheLions'', Cliff finds a first wishing star on the night sky. Finding help from his survival manual, Cliff makes a wish so that he can get a chance to get off the cliff. Soon Cliff's wish comes true when the Helicopter Chorus (who sing the introduction to start every ''Cliff Hanger'' segment) flies in, finally getting Cliff's attention and he is rescued; but [[AllJustADream it turns out to be all a dream]] that Cliff was having while dozing off on his branch.
305	* In the ChristmasSpecial ''Christopher The Christmas Tree'', when Christopher first meets Hooty, he expresses his belief in wishes, partially to explain why he's still optimistic about becoming a Christmas tree, despite not being picked year after year. "But I believe in wishes. I '''know''' they come true, as sure as the stars above." He also encourages Hooty to make a wish, which Hooty does, while a chorus sings about wishing on a star in the background (no, not [[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} that song]]). By the end of the special, both Christopher and Hooty have gotten their wishes.
306	** The album on which the animated special is based is even more explicit about wishing on a star, as Christopher tells Hooty, "You can have anything in the whole world you want, if you wish on the Wishing Star. But you gotta believe in it, or it won't come true."
307	** In both the album and the animated special, there's a little boy who wishes on the star on his Christmas tree, but since his wish is to be President of the United States, we don't get to see if his wish comes true or not.
308	* Two instances from ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'':
309	** "Where There's A Well, There's A Way" has DM and Penfold trekking to find the mystic inkwell of Merlin the Magician. Casting a copper coin into the well and making a wish grants the finder his wish.
310	** In "I Spy With My Little Eye," Penfold sees what he thinks is a star and makes a wish:
311	--->'''Penfold:''' Oh, little star that shines so bright,\
312	I'd like a wish if that's all right.\
313	Oh, little star in the ink-black heaven...\
314	'''DM:''' Forget it, Penfold, It's a 747.
315	* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' had a recurring villain named [[LiteralGenie Desiree]], who would grant you any wish.
316	* ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'' did this with a dragon scale in the introduction sequence.
317	* ''WesternAnimation/{{DuckTales\|1987}}'': "[[Recap/DuckTalesS1E51MasterOfTheDjinni Master of the Djinni]]", featuring a magic lamp and wish-granting genie.
318	* This was the whole premise of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents''. Complete with the kid's inability to make a wish that didn't go horribly, horribly wrong.
319	** It's literally revealed a few times fairy godparents have to grant wishes for their godchild often; if they don't grant a wish long enough, they suffer magical buildup and literally explode into confetti.
320	** Norm the Genie on the same show lives in a lava lamp and the third wish sucks him back into the lamp. The third wish is always the ResetButton, too, because Norm is a huge JackassGenie, and tweaks the wishes to screw over the wishers. Norm parodies this trope too, expressing frustration that the first wish is always something mundane like a sandwich, the second wish is grander but goes wrong, and the third wish is putting everything back the way it was. On an additional note, Norm reveals that you CAN wish for extra wishes, the genies just tell people that you can't.
321	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' when Barney and Betty wished for a baby after seeing a falling star. They later found Bamm Bamm in a basket on their doorstep.
322	* ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie'' also had a [[RecycledInSPACE teenage version]] AnimatedSeries -- her wishes, like Jeannie's, were unlimited.
323	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'':
324	** In Episode 93, when Stumpy and Quack Quack realize that they don't know when Quack Quack's birthday is, they can call any day his birthday and blow out a candle to make a wish on that day. They decide to use it on the current day. While Quack Quack blows on the candles, Stumpy makes the wish for him and wishes for [[spoiler: [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext himself and their other friends to become pole dancers.]]]]
325	** In Episode 129, Kaeloo, Stumpy, Quack Quack, and Mr. Cat try to stay up late so they can see a shooting star and make a wish on it. [[spoiler: Kaeloo and Quack Quack fall asleep, Stumpy stays up but is so tired that he wastes his wish on asking for a bed, and Mr. Cat asks for his own bar and several clones of Kaeloo.]]
326	* ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' had an experiment which granted wishes, and could only do a certain number of them, and took your wishes literally (for instance, if you wish to become ruler of the universe, you will become a ruler, that is a stationery equipment). The episode ends up teaching the {{Aesop}} of "Be careful what you wish for".
327	* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': The reason the BigBad wants Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous is because, if someone combines them and uses the proper invocation, they can make any one wish come true. The reason the heroes haven't used this to their advantage is that it works on EquivalentExchange rules. If, for instance, a machine wished to become human, someone else would lose their humanity.
328	* ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'':
329	** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends'': In "The End of Flutter Valley", Wishful the bushwoolie claims to be able to make things happen by wishing for them to do so. When he tries to put this in practice, however, it entirely fails to work.
330	** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyG3'': In ''Twinkle Wish Adventure'', the ponies celebrate the [[YouMeanXMas Winter Wishes Festival]] with everyone receiving a wish from Twinkle Wish, the star that is placed on top of the tree. Due to the circumstances of the movie, by the time Twinkle Wish takes her spot on the tree, she doesn't have enough power to grant a lot of wishes. However, Pinkie Pie points out that all throughout the adventure, every one of them had said "I wish" something, and that something had come true. In the end, everyone wishes for snow, with Twinkle Wish granting a tiny wish for it to be ''pink'' snow.
331	* In the ''WesternAnimation/PJMasks'' episode "The Dragon Gong", Night Ninja steals the titular gong and the mallet that activates it, summoning An Yu, who's trapped inside as a dragon (hence the object's name of "dragon gong") and using her power of granting wishes to get rid of the PJ Masks. However, she fails to mention to him that she only grants one single wish to whoever uses her power, until after he makes his first wish.
332	* In ''WesternAnimation/PJSparkles'', PJ's wish on the wishing star for someone to love turns her into a MagicalGirl and brings her to Twinkle Town, which is made from children's wishes. Its inhabitants similarly wished on the star for someone to love them.
333	* ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'': In "Bortron Leprechaun", Sydney tells Jet that leprechauns will grant you a wish. Jet wishes that Sunspot was there with him to help him decide on his wish, and his wish gets granted when the leprechaun is revealed to be Sunspot.
334	* ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'': One of the "Fractured Fairy Tales" segment does a "magic mermaid" variation on the Russian version of the magic fish story (see under "Fairy Tales") with a surprisingly heartwarming ending: rather than taking away all of her previous wishes out of wrath, the fisherman tells the mermaid that all he wants is to make his wife happy, and she grants this as his final wish. When he returns home, he finds that all of the trappings of her previous exorbitant wishes are gone, but his wife is now happy and satisfied with her modest life, and he's happy because she's happy, and as such they live HappilyEverAfter.
335	* ''WesternAnimation/ShimmerAndShine'': The whole point of the show is the titular genies granting wishes for their friend Leah whenever they want. However, they only grant three wishes a day, and because they're still genies in training, they tend to mess up their wishes on occasion (this was dropped in Season 2 onward). Also, once a wish has been made, they must grant it and cannot be stopped.
336	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode where Flanders starts the left-handed store; he and Homer share a wishbone, and Homer wishes for the store to fail. He briefly considers wishing for Flanders to ''die'', but then decides it's overkill and goes back to wishing for the store to fail.
337	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'': In the AnimatedAdaptation of "The Astro Smurf", Dreamy makes a birthday wish that he could travel to the stars, and eventually goes out of his way to build a spaceship so he could make that wish come true. Although it initially fails, the Smurfs end up fulfilling that wish by making Dreamy believe that he actually had traveled to the stars through an elaborate scheme that had Dreamy be put to sleep, his ship dismantled and reassembled within an extinct volcano, and the Smurfs disguising themselves as primitive aliens called Swoofs.
338	* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': Parodied in "It's Christmas in Canada", where a Mountie claims that the characters have the power inside of themselves to wish themselves to Ottawa. They then attempt to do so while harp music plays. Absolutely nothing happens.
339	-->'''Mountie:''' It's OK, boys; the power is inside us to get to Ottawa. We can wish ourselves there!\
340	'''French Canadian:''' Yes, let's wish ourselves there!\
341	''(they close their eyes, harp music plays)''\
342	'''Mountie:''' Is it working?\
343	''(no, it isn't)''
344	* In the first of The80s' ''WesternAnimation/StrawberryShortcake'' specials, ''The World of...'', TheFaceOfTheSun reveals that his birthday present for Strawberry is a "magic wish", and she winds up wishing for an army of trees (which, in Strawberryland, are sentient) to defeat the Purple Pieman who had been causing trouble for the kids the whole story. The wish is granted with trees that can also ''march'', and the result is the destruction of his Pie Tin Palace.
345	* ''WesternAnimation/SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperForceGo'' has an episode with the Wigglenog, which is a JackassGenie. Otto, the green monkey, outwits him with [[spoiler:"I wish we'd never even found you in the first place!"]]
346	* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'':
347	** In "Henry and the Wishing Tree", Henry visits the old Sodor Wishing Tree and makes a wish on it that he could pull coaches instead of Gordon. His wish comes true, but it isn't as good as he thought.
348	** In "Merry Winter Wish", Thomas is to transport a special holiday light -- the Star of Knapford -- to Knapford Station for a party. It is a special light that engines can make wishes on when passing by. Thomas decides to delay his trip to visit his friends so they can make wishes on it, but when it all goes wrong and he accidentally breaks it, he makes his own wish that his friends can help him. His wish comes true, and eventually his friends get their wishes as well: to all be under the star together.
349	* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' has Elmyra wish on a star for her doll to become real, which it does. After being terrorized for a day, she wishes on the star again to make the doll like all her other dolls...[[LiteralGenie so they all become real]]!
350	* In the fifth season of ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'', once the Winx obtain the Sirenix transformation, they will each be granted one wish should they conquer a life-risking task which tests themselves:
351	** Tecna wished for the people of Zenith to believe in magic.
352	** Stella wished for her parents to always listen to each other.
353	** Flora wished for the people on Earth to respect nature.
354	** Aisha wished for Nereus to come back to life.
355	** Bloom wished for the Sirenix curse to be broken forever.
356	* ''WesternAnimation/WishKid'': It's said Nick got his wish-granting baseball glove when he wished upon a star.
357	* ''WesternAnimation/WorkItOutWombats'': In "Special Delivery," while delivering ice cream, Malik knocks on a lucky knothole to make a wish.
358	[[/folder]]
359
360	[[folder:Real Life]]
361	* The Make-a-Wish Foundation raises money to give kids with terminal illnesses a chance to do something incredible, like have a photoshoot in Seventeen magazine, or take their family to Disney World. Maybe humans aren't such bastards after all...
362	[[/folder]]

Context Main / MakeAWish