http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/redolpillarlightfi4.jpg

When an event of great celestial, magical or ultratech power occurs, it is often heralded by a beam of light -- usually blue or white -- that shoots straight up into the sky from ground zero, often evaporating whatever clouds are unfortunate enough to be in its path. Sometimes it starts out narrow and expands in diameter as it climbs.

In the case of more disastrous events, the Pillar of Light is just an extension of the PreExplosionGlow; in other cases, it can be part of a truly cosmic BattleAura. The rest of the time it is relatively benign, if exciting to watch.

It should be noted that a Pillar of Light usually travels upwards. A Pillar of Light that comes ''down,'' more often than not, is a KillSat, which tends to be far less benign. See also SphereOfDestruction for the globular variant.

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[[foldercontrol]]

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* When Belldandy grants Keiichi's wish in ''AhMyGoddess'', a beam of light blasts from her forehead up to heaven (coincidentally blowing a hole through all the intervening floors of the building they're in at the time).
** I take it [[NoEndorHolocaust nobody was standing in the way]].
* ''GeneratorGawl''
* ''{{Bastard}}!!''
* ''DragonBall''
* The ''SilentMoebius'' movie.
* The ''[[VisionOfEscaflowne Escaflowne]]'' TV series uses this as the special effect for Hitomi's teleportation power -- which, besides being central to the plot, came up pretty frequently.
* In ''FutariWaPrettyCure'', the protagonists' TransformationSequence is performed within a PillarOfLight, and is one of the most pyrotechnically impressive transformation sequences known.
* A [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic cross-shaped version]] is often seen as the results of Angel attacks in ''{{Neon Genesis Evangelion}}''
* The Harmonium Organ in ''{{Mai-Otome}}''.
** ''{{Mai-Otome 0 Sifr}}'' has [[spoiler:Lena's Artemis]], which comes down from the sky in a potential homage to its ''{{Mai-HiME}}'' [[spoiler:KillSat]] namesake.
* In ''TheBigO'', a pillar of light effectively triggers the end of the world... [[{{Gainax Ending}} maybe]].
* ''{{Gasaraki}}'' has an inversion -- when Yushiro performs the ritual that is at the center of much of the Gowa family's attention, the pillar comes ''down'' out of the sky to him.
*''HaibaneRenmei'' has one for the Day of Flight.
* In ''{{Trigun}}'', Vash The Stampede gets [[ThePuppetmasters puppetmastered]] into firing his weapon at full power against an enemy. He manages to redirect the aim to the sky, and when the weapon fires a huge Pillar of Light rises up to the planet's moon and bores a large crater in it.
* The SpiritBomb in ''TokyoMewMew'' uses five pillars of light, [[ColourCodedForYourConvenience colour-coded to each girl]]. Ichigo's, of course, is the biggest, and right in the middle.
* The ''{{Pokemon}}'' anime did this in the first episode: Pikachu's final attack on the Spearow caused a pillar of electrical light to appear.
* Near the end of ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha A's'', [[spoiler: the return of Hayate and her Wolkenritter]] was accompanied by one of these.
** This also happened in the very first episode of the original season of that series, when Nanoha first activated [[EmpathicWeapon Raising Heart]].
* In the anime version of ''SailorMoon'', Chibi-Usa frequently emits one of these from the moon mark on her forehead when she's frightened or upset due to [[spoiler: the Silver Crystal being inside her body.]]
* In an episode of ''{{Beyblade}}'', Ray beats his rival with a move which is accompanied by his beyblade emmitting a green beam of light that smashes through the roof of the arena, causing one of the [[CombatCommentator Combat Commentators]] to [[DeadpanSnarker quip]] "That's probably going to take down a couple of satellites!"
* Especially large scale magic in ''MahouSenseiNegima'' tends to do stuff like this. Especially the time [[spoiler: the bad guys used Konoka's latent magical powers to summon a giant demon.]]
* FALCON PUNCH!!! [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFtw7qW7Vcw]]
* In the anime ''{{NabarinoOu}}'', a pillar of light accompanies the Shinrabansho's activation.
* Many of the events of the anime ''[[BoogiepopSeries Boogiepop Phantom]]'' appear to be precipitated by a mysterious pillar of light that shot into the sky. [[spoiler:As revealed in ''Boogiepop and Others'', this was the result of Echoes' transmitting himself as information back to the higher plane he came from.]]
* In ''OnePiece,'' the first hint of God Eneru's presence and power is a column of light that vaporizes people who make "blasphemous" statements. After Eneru actually appears on-screen, it is used as a particularly devastating attack.
* Digimon Adventure 1: After beating Malomyotismon and his demon crotch the heroes use one of these to return to the digital world.
* Bad stuff happens when this shows up in SaiKano. ''Really'' bad stuff.
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[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In ''UndocumentedFeatures'', [[AhMyGoddess Yggdrasil]] in Asgard emits one to continually show it hasn't been compromised. This was added as a safety feature after it was nearly destroyed (and with it, the world).
* This happens in ''NeonExodusEvangelion: The Motion Picture'' when [[spoiler:five Evas and Lucifer use their AT fields to contain [[TakingYouWithMe the explosion]] of the BigBad]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films]]
* The "God" in ''StarTrek V: The Final Frontier''.
* Leeloo in ''TheFifthElement'', [[spoiler:at the end where she releases the titular element.]]
* Minas Morgul produces one of these in the ''[[LordOfTheRings Return of the King]]'' movie.
** The book tells us that this particular pillar is produced in response to one from Barad-dûr. The exchange is essentially Sauron (at Barad-dûr) asking "Are you ready?" and the Witch-King at Minas Morgul replying "Yes!"
* In ''IronMan'', [[spoiler:overloading the large Arc Reactor]] results in this.
* At the conclusion of ''[=~Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within~=]'', the [[spoiler: Phantom Gaia, having been countered by the Spirit Wave, leaves Earth in the form of a pillar of light that stretches from the Leonid Crater and into outer space, taking its Phantoms with it]].
* "I/O Towers" in ''{{Tron}}''.
* In ''{{Ghostbusters}}'', when the ecto containment unit explodes.
* In the ''{{Over the Hedge}}'' movie, the De-Pelter Turbo unleashes a Pillar of Light that obliterates a passing satellite, roasts marshmallows and pops popcorn a few feet away, and can be seen from outside the galaxy.
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[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* On ''{{Lost}}'', the characters, having [[spoiler:travelled back in time]], see a pillar of light shoot up into the sky. Subverted in that it is later revealed by Locke that it was [[spoiler:perfectly ordinary lightbulb light from the hatch, and he comments that at the time he thought the light was somehow significant, when in reality it was actually completely meaningless]].
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[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In ''{{Exalted}}'', there is a Solar-Circle Sorcery called [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Total Annihilation]], which results in a pillar of light that is five miles high.
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* Copy X from the ''MegaManZero'' games uses a big blue pillar of light to heal himself, if the player's rank is high enough to warrant it.
* Frog earns one of these in ''ChronoTrigger'' (complete with ThemeMusicPowerUp) by attuning himself to the Masamune blade, just before the party's assault on Magus's castle. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ugnp7d6Whs Watch!]]
* Occurs in the opening animation of Jedah Dohma, the BigBad of the third ''{{Darkstalkers}}'' game ''Vampire Saviour'', except the pillar is made of blood instead of light. He appears from the top of the screen, slowly hovering down into place, before the pillar dissipates.
* Terry Bogard's Power Stream from ''TheKingOfFighters'' is one of these, though it was probably inspired by Geese Howard's Raging Storm, which is a ''cage'' of light.
* One of the death animations from ''ScorchedEarth''.
* The American superweapon from ''{{Command and Conquer}} Generals'' fires one of these... which is then reflected off of the KillSat in orbit and back onto the battlefield, where it acts like a huge cutting laser.
** You forgot the ''Tiberium'' series and the GDI's KillSat Ion Cannon? Especially since it fits the "Pillar of Light" idea a bit more; Kane himself treats it like a beam of light from God himself. Honorable mention goes to Nod's Obelisk of Light, which is a pillar that ''shoots'' light. [[FrickinLaserBeams Very, very deadly light]].
* One of the finishing moves of Squall's limit break in ''FinalFantasyVIII'' involves a Pillar of Light that's visible from orbit, which is impressive since it's generated by his gunblade.
** An optional boss uses this as one of its attacks. Granted, it doesn't go straight up but straight through the target, but since it's named "Light Pillar", this trope still applies.
* ''MetroidPrime'': When Samus finally [[spoiler:places all the artifacts]], a beam of light shoots up from the central structure. What does it do? I don't know, [[spoiler:Meta Ridley comes along and breaks it]]. Presumably, it would have done what the pulse afterward does, which is [[spoiler:teleport Samus into the Impact Crater]].
** In the sequel, restoring the energy to all four temples and gaining the Light Suit allows Samus to [[WarpWhistle teleport between the temples]] by riding their Pillars of Light.
*** You also use one to enter the final level.
* ''{{The World Ends with You}}'': When Neku levels up.
** Also, Pillars of Light of varying magnitudes are Joshua's secondary attack method after a certain plot point. It's more this than BeamSpam, because they come out of the ground instead of from Joshua.
* ''[[HalfLife Half-Life 2 Episode 2]]'''s superportal beam might count, other than that it is not in the straight line.
* In ''[[{{Halo}} Halo 3]]'', a giant Forerunner artifact left buried in Africa emits one of these when it's uncovered and activated.
* [[BigBad Nowel]] of ''MagicalBattleArena'' calls down four of these for her super move, which is then followed by four massive, highly-damaging explosions. If you see her preparing these, for goodness sake, ''run!''
* In ''{{Magic and Mayhem}}: The Art of Magic'', the "Judgement" spell appears as a column of light.
* [[{{SuperRobotWars}} Wodan Ymir's]] ultimate attack summons one of these...and uses it as a [[{{BFS}} SWORD!]]
* In ''{{Mother3}}'', the [[CosmicKeystone Seven Needles]] turn into beams of light when pulled.
* A textbook Pillar of Light can be seen in the third ''{{Thief}}'' game [[spoiler: when Garrett activates the Final Glyph. The streets around it also briefly flood with light, creating an intricate symbol from the City itself.]]
* Several offensive Druid spells in ''{{World of Warcraft}}'' cause downward-traveling Pillars of Light. Most frequently seen (and also most awesome-looking, especially with the latest graphic change) is Moonfire.
** In the original ''{{Warcraft}}'', this is a pretty common effect for spells. Off the top of my head, this happens during Hero level ups, resurrections, Holy Light, Mass Teleport, Raise Skeleton, and more.
* This happens twice in the ''{{God of War}}'' series; once when you kill [[spoiler:Ares]] and then again when you kill [[spoiler:Athena]].
* In ''[=~Star Ocean: Till the End of Time~=]'', following [[spoiler:Fayt destroying the Vendeeni battleship]], talking to NPCs will have them wondering what that pillar of light was.
* The "Alpha Strike" in ''{{Iji}}'' is of the downward variety. And there are a ''lot'' of pillars (one from each of an entire space armada), since it is meant to ''raze the entire planet simultaneously''.
* This is how the [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Tower Of Kagutsuchi]] appears in ShinMegamiTenseiNocturne
* The Smiting Prayers elite skill Ray of Judgment in ''GuildWars'' calls forth a pillar of glowing white light that heavily damages (and sets on fire) anyone foolish enough (or knocked-down enough) to remain within its radius.
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[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Inverted in ''[[http://www.webcomicsnation.com/poyorick/botg/series.php?view=archive&chapter=10960 Breakfast of the Gods]]''. It is always nighttime at Castle Chocula.
* In ''{{Erfworld}}'', after Jillian attempts to persuade her to [[LastSecondChance switch sides]] and promises to find and croak Stanley, Wanda responds by unleashing a [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/erf0106.html massive attack spell]], complete with a Pillar of Light as wide as Efdup Tower.
* In ''TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' Fructose Riboflavin's escape pod appears to Galatea [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20091027.html in a pillar of light.]]
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The title character of ''She-Ra, Princess of Power'' drew her power from a living PillarOfLight.
* ''{{Avatar the Last Airbender}}'': In the series premiere, Prince Zuko guesses that the random Pillar Of Light that suddenly appears in the South Pole signals something of great, powerful significance, like the return of the Avatar.
** [[BookEnds Way later]] in the GrandFinale when Aang [[spoiler:takes away Ozai's bending]] a similar looking one occurs.
* In ''CodeLyoko'', whenever a monster or hero falls into the Digital Sea, a white Pillar of Light rises from the spot into the sky of Lyoko (with the notable exception of William in Season 4, since a dive into the Digital Sea doesn't harm him).
* The signal in ''BeastWars'' season one, "The Trigger, Part 2". Not a ''good'' thing, but a ''significant'' thing.
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[[folder:Real Life]]
* Highly magnetised neutron stars called pulsars do this in real life, producing electromagnetic radiation focused into two beams by the star's magnetic field.
** Black holes with accretion disks produce jets of matter like this as well.
* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribute_in_Light Tribute in Light]] memorial to the September 11 attacks.
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