Line #45 Main/SparkFairy


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4	%%The examples on this page have been sorted by medium and alphabetized. Please add new examples in order. Thank you!
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6	[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/navi_art.png]]]]
7	[[caption-width-right:350: Hey, look!]]
8
9	Often in fiction, [[OurFairiesAreDifferent fairy creatures]], fireflies, or other magical insects get depicted as simple little points of light rather than going for a full design for something so tiny we'll never get a good look at it.
10
11	The obvious inspiration is fireflies. It's funny how fireflies often end up behaving in unusual and rather magical ways. In a way, it's an example of the connection between light and magic.
12
13	Do not confuse with ByTheLightsOfTheirEyes; this trope is about EnergyBeings or FacelessMasses that may or may not [[EverythingsBetterWithSparkles sparkle]]. See also WillOTheWisp (point of light that leads unwary travelers into danger) and HitodamaLight (floating flame that represents ghosts). Contrast BallOfLightTransformation.
14	----
15	!!Examples:
16
17	[[foldercontrol]]
18
19	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
20	* This trope actually becomes motive for ''murder'' in ''Furuhata Ninzaburou'' — a very eccentric editor decides to change the lime-green points of light to ''red'' points of light for the hell of it. The original artist flipped out and bashed the editor's head in. (Art is SeriousBusiness.)
21	[[/folder]]
22
23	[[folder:Comic Book]]
24	* ''ComicBook/TheKaneChronicles'': In the graphic novel of ''The Red Pyramid'' a {{Flashback}} of Bast is shown with her battling Apophis. In the flashback, Bast is portrayed with little detail and is mostly a humanoid green glow.
25	[[/folder]]
26
27	[[folder:Fan Works]]
28	* ''Fanfic/Homecoming2026'': A Virtual Assistant created by a character is modeled after Navi from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', and is described as "a ball of light with wings".
29	-->As additional students and visitors wandered through the culinary laboratory, a ball of light with wings flickered into existence over the shoulder of one of the school's shide students. The Virtual Assistant flitted in front of its master and began speaking. "Hey! Listen!"\
30	"What is it, Navi?" Came the expected response.
31	* ''Fanfic/ShatteredSkiesTheMorningLights'': The mysterious [[GuardianOfTheMultiverse Lighthouse Keeper]], Fantine, uses a spark of light with blue, feathered wings as a holographic avatar.
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
35	* ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'': The "pyreflies" are depicted this way, more or less. They're visibly insects up close, but for the most part, they're depicted as flying points of light.
36	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'': The Blue Fairy first appears as a bright light that looks like a star before [[BallOfLightTransformation taking the form of]] a beautiful woman. She departs in the same way.
37	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'': The scenes with Ray's family have ''both'' detailed fireflies in the foreground and points of light in the background. Because the stars look like fireflies that are just further away, one of the fireflies has [[StarCrossedLovers tragically (and ironically) fallen in love with a star.]]
38	[[/folder]]
39
40	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
41	%%* ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'': Done with the tail-end UFO .
42	* ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'': When Mothra is hovering above the oil rig that is the Monarch base called ''Castle Bravo'', her body is glowing so brightly that aside from her wings no other features can be made out.
43	* ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'': The ghosts/angels in the opening are seen as celestial bodies that flicker when they speak.
44	* ''Theatre/AMidsummerNightsDream'': In the 1999 film version, the fairy characters have this form at the beginning of the movie, when they arrive, and at the end, when they leave.
45	* ''Film/{{Tron}}'': Bit is the personification of an on-off bit. It's basically a Disney sidekick fairy [[InSpace in Cyberspace]].
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Literature]]
49	* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': Harry summons a tiny glowing pixie named [[PunnyName Elidee]] to serve as a guide in ''Literature/SummerKnight''. She has a body, but you have to look very closely.
50	* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': Some of the smaller [[ElementalEmbodiment spren]] are described as this, such as lifespren (small green sparks) and rotspren (tiny red points of light).
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
54	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E4FearItself Fear, Itself]]", Willow summons a fairy like this to guide her out of the haunted house. However, the spell is warped by the demon haunting the place and her own lack of focus, leading to her being chased around by a swarm of little floating lights.
55	* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
56	%%** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E3TheStonesOfBlood The Stones of Blood]]": The Megara.
57	** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E9TheEmptyChild The Empty Child]]"/"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E10TheDoctorDances The Doctor Dances]]": The nanogenes are floating pinpricks of light, much larger than "nanogenes" would imply.
58	** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E10InTheForestOfTheNight In the Forest of the Night]]": The entities controlling the trees look like this when the Doctor temporarily increases the local gravity to make them visible.
59	* ''Series/Merlin2008'': The Sidhe look like blue points of light, but due to Merlin's magic powers, we get some lovely FX shots of them in all their scary magical glory.
60	%%* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': The microscopic [[SiliconBasedLife crystalline aliens]] referred to humans as "[[HumansAreUgly ugly bags of mostly water]]".
61	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': The fairy is shown on screen as a ball of golden light, albeit a fast-moving PintsizedPowerhouse one that can hit as hard as a grown man. When you get a closer look, though...
62	-->'''Dean:''' ''[squinting]'' ...Nipples?
63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
66	* ''Series/FraggleRock'': The Ditzies are tiny luminous EnergyBeings who are the source of all light in Fraggle Rock. They depend on music to keep them alive.
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
70	* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Lantern archons, the lowest rank of archons in most cosmologies, resemble floating, featureless spheres of light.
71	* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': The Lantern King, one of the Eldest who rule the fey of [[{{Fairyland}} the First World]], takes the form of a ball of golden light crowned by floating arcane symbols.
72	[[/folder]]
73
74	[[folder:Theatre]]
75	* ''Theatre/PeterPan1904'': Tinkerbell and adaptations is commonly depicted as a glowing ball of light (dragonfly wings optional), based on the original medium using a small light reflected from a mirror and a tinkling bell.
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:Video Games]]
79	* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'': All the games have fireflies shown as points of light until you catch one of them.
80	* ''VideoGame/BlackAndWhite'': Gods like [[AGodIsYou the player character]] manifest as large balls of light with their symbol floating inside. Your own cursor appears as [[TheHandIsGod a hand]] that physically interacts with the world, but other gods show no sign of a physical body.
81	* ''Videogame/ChildOfLight'' has Igniculus, a newborn firefly with the appearance of a glowing blue raindrop. [[spoiler:He is later revealed to be an elemental, and there are others like him.]]
82	* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': Most "realistic" games from ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'' onward depict fairies as a ball of glowing light with butterfly wings, as opposed to the "cartoony" games such as ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'', where fairies are the usual fully humanoid figures. While this was originally done because of the N64's engine limitations, their appearance seems to have become literal at some point, as the fairies still appear as balls of light in the mangas and higher-end console games. Often, "ball" and "human" fairies appear side by the side, with the former being common fairies that act as healing items and the latter being the more powerful Great Fairies who act as [=NPCs=]. ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap The Minish Cap]]'' and ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'' have the fairies transforming between the two forms, implying this may be a case of AFormYouAreComfortableWith.
83	* ''VideoGame/LostEmber'': The wolf's companion is a ball of red light that used to be a human spirit but has since lost his human form [[IdentityAmnesia after forgetting who he was in life]].
84	* ''Videogame/MegaManZero:'' The [[EnergyBeings Cyber-Elves]] have different appearances and forms, but in gameplay, they all look like flying sparks of light.
85	* ''VideoGame/{{Nox}}'': A magical spell summons a small swarm of fairies that circle Jack until an enemy approaches, at which point they go kamikaze on the enemy. The fairies never appear as anything more than yellow sparks.
86	* ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory'': The fairies in the first game are little balls of light of various colors. The ones in the fourth game, however, are far more detailed.
87	* ''VideoGame/{{Rayman}}'': The Lums are literal spark fairies, in the sense that they're actual balls of light with faces and small wings.
88	* ''VideoGame/SpiritOfTheNorth'': The guardian of the Northern Lights, a translucent fox, is reduced to a point of light after lending her powers to the player fox in order to heal it.
89	* ''VideoGame/{{Stonekeep}}'': Fairies can apparently switch between spark-fairy mode and detailed mode.
90	* ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'' uses this look for both insects (fireflies and lightning bugs) and actual fairies (both the hostile kind that will attack you and the kind you can summon to produce light). Insects only appear this way when present in the world though, as they get a more detailed sprite in your inventory.
91	* ''VideoGame/{{Uru}}'': Flying points of light (presumably insects) are an important plot element in one Are. They're attracted to your character but dislike crossing water or getting rained on.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:Web Animation]]
95	* ''WebAnimation/{{Dreamscape}}'': Eleenin can separate into a horde of these for defense. If they are destroyed, she instantly appears in a flash of light.
96	[[/folder]]

Context Main / SparkFairy