Every time bellring.mp3 plays, an angelbot gets its halo.
"The halo is a purely optical illusion, produced by moisture in the air, in the manner of a rainbow; but the aureola is conferred as a sign of superior sanctity, in the same way as a bishop's mitre, or the Pope's tiara. In the painting of the Nativity, by Szedgkin, a pious artist of Pesth, not only do the Virgin and the Child wear the nimbus, but an ass nibbling hay from the sacred manger is similarly decorated and, to his lasting honor be it said, appears to bear his unaccustomed dignity with a truly saintly grace."
In fiction, halos are basically synonymous with holiness and extreme good. It means you're either a
God (or
a non-denominational equivalent), an
angel, a saint, the
Messianic Archetype or a
soul of the dearly departed in
Fluffy Cloud Heaven (the real
Heaven isn't quite so tacky). This is of course because of the religious connotations with
Catholic Christian religious iconography, despite the fact that halos are also a part of Muslim, Buddhist and other religious art. Traditionally, the presence of a halo on someone in art means they are inhabited with the Holy Spirit because of their great virtue.
Therefore, anyone with a halo is usually
chosen to, either by a deity or the cosmos in general. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that anyone with a halo hovering overhead is also likely very,
very powerful —
Power Glows, after all. Either as a pre-requisite to appearing or a side effect of being chosen by on-high, the character will be capable of miracles... and kicking butt! Expect it to be associated with
Elemental Powers of
Light and/or Holy, and
cause fear and pain to
the evil in their presence. Exceptions of course are when
Light Is Not Good, and the decidedly evil character (maybe a
fallen or
One Winged Angel?) decides to ape the good guys as a way to mock them.
Holiness aside, some characters can wear an "artificial" halo without ever being remotely religious or even spiritual. Energy powered
Super Heroes (and
Super Villains) may create
Battle Aura's around their head (or entire body) related to their power, like
Green Lantern or
Apollo. Interestingly, robotic characters may be built with mechanical halo's that can shoot
Reverse Shrapnel, or double as
Deflector Shields. Further, evil characters may create "negative" halo's of darkness around themselves, paired with
Face Framed In Shadow along with
Glowing Eyes Of Doom.
Often paired with
Power Gives You Wings. A
Sub Trope of
Power Glows and
Sister Trope to
Battle Aura. Not to be confused with the video game
Halo.
This item is available in the Trope Co catalog.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- Dead characters in Dragon Ball Z tend to wear halos when in the afterlife, or if they, like Goku of the Majin Buu saga, return to Earth without being resurrected by the Dragon Balls.
- The halos in Haibane Renmei appear to be artificial, created by a blacksmith, and need to be held on by a device until they "stick" and hover over the Haibane's head.
- Only in Rakka's case. According to the flashbacks, on most Haibane it normally sticks right away. Incidentally, it's created by putting substance called "light leaves" in a ring-shaped frying pan, and heating it over an oven until it melts and takes uniform shape. No special training is required, but only the Renmei know where the raw material comes from.
- At one point in FLCL Kanti the robot affixes a fake halo made of wire to his head.
- In the Director's Cut and Platinum version (as well as in the manga) of Evangelion when possessed by Armisael (which starts off as what looks like a giant halo, making this a double pointer), Unit 00 is shown growing a fleshy tumorous mass along its back which incorporates the shapes of almost all the previous Angels they have battled. Then, for a moment the Eva raises in the air and turns into an all white, naked, Rei, that appeared to resemble Lilith, with a halo over her head just prior to exploding.
- In the Rebuild of Evangelion, some of the Angels form a halo-like ring around themselves when they use their AT-field for specific actions, such as floating.
- In Rebuild 2.0 Unit 01 gets a halo when it goes into its god mode (this seems to freak everyone out, as 01 is now showing some very blatant Angel traits). Unit 06 gets one while it hovers down from the moon.
- The angels in Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan have halos that are only atoms wide and thus, very sharp. Like, "slice off all your fingers upon grabbing," sharp. Additionally, removing the halo causes... stomach issues.
Comic Books
- Apollo, The Cape of The Authority, has one of these. Justified by his solar powers: the halo gets dimmer when he's weaker, and glows brightest when he's just had a good bask in the sun. Or, to put it another way: that's not a halo; that's lens flare.
Video Games
- In the more recent Animal Crossing games, you can buy a halo from the Able Sisters to wear on your head.
- In Gauntlet 64, they are a powerup that lets you steal life energy from the Death enemies. If you beat the game, you will wear it at all times.
- While not strictly a halo, the Fire Tablet artifact in Okami creates a circle the the sun's corona around Amaterasu when equipped... and gives her a nice damage reduction to fire and immunity to Lethal Lava Land.
- Ubiquitous among the villains of Devil May Cry.
- Starships frequently have halos in Xenosaga, specifically the Dämmerung and the Durandal.
- Many JRPGs will include halos as part of either the "dead" status (World Of Mana) or the "revive" spell (Final Fantasy).
- Oddly subverted by Gaia Online. The Angelic Halo plays the trope straight, but there's also an evil halo, and several that are simply there to look pretty.
- Played straight (or, as it turns out, not so straight) in Tales of Symphonia.
- The angelic light spirit Rem in other Tales games often has one. If the Raise Dead spell summons an actual angel, that one too. (The one in Tales of Eternia was Mint with a halo.)
- Maxing out the positive end of the Karma Meter in the Fable series will get you one of these, among other changes. The halo isn't always visible, though; it's particularly hard to see in the day.
- In World Of Warcraft several of the high level priest and paladin armors create halos. There's also an item that grants essentially a halo made of fire, for mages or warlocks.
Real Life
- Renaissance paintings often have halos around Jesus/Virgin Mary/Holy Figure of Choice's head.
- The Trope Codifier seems to be the Christian art canon, where any holy person or being had to be drawn with a halo.
- In Muslim art canon, Muhammad's head is replaced by flames.
- Buddha is often shown with a fiery halo in Buddhist art.
- Older Than They Think: Most people think halos as we know them originated in Christian art. In fact, similar gilded round halos around gods' heads were used in late Egyptian religious paintings.
Web Comics
- Reliquary uses an interesting example of this in Alcolla's angel form: hovering spikes and letters.
