History Main / PhosphorEssence

** The [[OurTrollsAreDifferent troll]]'s inverse version of vampires, "[[OurVampiresAreDifferent rainbow drinkers]]", [[PowerGlows glow]] a bright white. Later it's shown they can turn off the light, [[ParanoiaFuel looking indistinguishable]] from normal trolls.
** When Rose [[spoiler:goes {{Grimdark}}]], she [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=005543 gains a black glow]] to show her immense power. (Spoilers for Act 5.)

* The gods in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' have an aura distinct for each pantheon; yellow for [[Myth/NorseMythology Northern]], blue for [[EasternZodiac Southern]], and red for [[Myth/MesopotamianMythology Western]]. [[spoiler:And Green for [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Eastern.]] This appears to be very important later, as their color denotes their essence. A creation made with multiple essences is stronger than one made of a single essence. Since the local Eldritch Abomination, the Snarl is made of ''four'' and then killed the Eastern Pantheon, the gods can only create 3-essence creations ever since which can only hold The Snarl temporarily. Their first opportunity in [[TimeAbyss eons]] to make another four-color creation comes when the [[EthnicGod Dark One]] ascends to godhood on his own and develops a unique purple essence.]]

* There's a subtle example in ''Manga/DeathNote'' that crosses with RedOniBlueOni: when Light and L confront each other, or meet each other on the street, Light unexpectedly starts to shine a deep, blood-like red, and L an almost navy blue. Sometimes it appears as a tiny aura around their bodies, other times their hair and eyes glow that color. In later episodes, other characters also glow colours like green (Aizawa) and orange.
* In ''Manga/DragonBall'', every character who goes [[SuperMode Super Saiyan]] glows. While other characters can summon a BattleAura, Super Saiyans are constantly glowing, as indicated by their clothes and skin tone being lighter even when the Battle Aura is off, and the hyper saturation of their hair in the most recent special.

* Olivia Newton-John's character in ''Film/{{Xanadu|1980}}'' does this, due to being TheMuse.

* ''Film/{{Cocoon}}'': In their true forms (after taking off their human disguises) the Antareans glow brightly.

* One of the good guy ships in ''Film/BattleBeyondTheStars'' has this effect. It's either made of energy itself, or just contains it in a crystalline material.

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', as Frodo succumbs to the Nazgûl blade, he perceives Glorfindel (a powerful elf lord) as "a shining figure of white light".
** Sam also notes that at times, it seems as if a light is shining out of Frodo.

* In the Neil Gaiman short story "Murder Mysteries", angels glow from within. When an angel is killed, s/he stops glowing.
* In ''Literature/{{Elantris}}'', before being reduced to twisted wrinkled pseudo-zombies, Elantrians glowed faintly. [[spoiler:After the problem that removed their powers is fixed, they start glowing again.]]

* In ''Literature/{{Stardust}}'', Yvaine is a fallen star who glows more brightly the happier she is. Yvaine herself is not particularly powerful [[spoiler:except in the movie, and only at the very end]]; however, her heart is, and the brighter she is, the more powerful her heart is.

* The Delphae in ''Literature/TheTamuli'' trilogy are known literally as "Shining Ones". Their glow came indirectly from their god, Edaemus, who made the lake in their isolated village glow. They had to drink from it, and they eventually started to glow, too. It was originally nothing more than harmless divine foolery, but when people started persecuting the Delphae, Edaemus gave the glow a purpose: a warning that their very touch [[CruelAndUnusualDeath could melt the flesh from your bones]]. From then on, the sight of a Delphae made most people flee in terror.
* Literature/TheFourGospels: The three synoptic gospels describe that Jesus shines with light during the Transfiguration when Peter, James and John are on the mountain with him ("His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light." - Matthew 17). At the same time, Moses and Elijah appear talking to Jesus, and a voice from the sky declares "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" (Mark 9), revealing Jesus' divine nature.
* ''Literature/TheQuestOfTheUnaligned'': This marks [[spoiler: the transformation into an orah, or mage of light. Also will occur when an orah is crowned as Prince of Caederan.]]
* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': Kaladin glows slightly when he's using his Surgebindings. In one scene, upon swearing the [[BadassCreed Third Ideal]], he has to pull in a tremendous amount of the titular Light to instantly heal from mortal wounds. The flash thus emitted almost blinds his opponents.
* ''Literature/TowersTrilogy'': Radiants' powerful magic causes them to emit a noticeable glow. This applies even to the ghosts of Radiants, making them the only ghosts visible to ordinary people.

* ''Series/TimeTrax'': [[HumanAliens Procardians]] glow in their natural state. They can willingly remove the glow to appear human, though, although they avoid speaking, since their vocal cords are unable to make believable human sounds.
* One vessel of SufficientlyAdvancedAliens who aid the protagonists from ''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978'' is even called the ship of lights.

* In ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up'', all playable characters glow. The color of the glow indicates the player number, and the intensity of the glow indicates the amount of health remaining (the stronger, the healthier).
* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'': Hero units glow regardless of alignment to make them more identifiable.

* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'': A player character who passes the Path of Blood's [[OnlyThePureOfHeart test of purity]] gains an aura of divine {{gold|AndWhiteAreDivine}}en light, which some [=NPCs=] will remark on with religious awe. [[spoiler:Lucian the [[PhysicalGod Divine]] has an identical aura in the FinalBattle, with GlowingEyes to match.]]

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E10TheSpringfieldFiles The Springfield Files]]", wherein the green-glowing space alien who claims to come in peace [[spoiler:turns out to be [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Mr. Burns]], who has a SicklyGreenGlow from decades running a nuclear power plant]].

* The gods in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' have an aura distinct for each pantheon; yellow for [[Myth/NorseMythology Northern]], blue for [[EasternZodiac Southern]], and red for [[Myth/MesopotamianMythology Western]]. [[spoiler:And Green for [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Eastern.]] This appears to be very important later, as their color denotes their essence. A creation made with multiple essences is stronger than one made of a single essence. Since the local Eldritch Abomination, the Snarl is made of ''four'' and then killed the Eastern Pantheon, the gods can only create 3-essence creations ever since which can only hold The Snarl temporarily.]]

* In ''Literature/TheQuestOfTheUnaligned'', this marks [[spoiler: the transformation into an orah, or mage of light. Also will occur when an orah is crowned as Prince of Caederan.]]
* In ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'', Kaladin glows slightly when he's using his Surgebindings, but this is taken UpToEleven in one scene where, upon swearing the [[BadassCreed Third Ideal]], he has to pull in a tremendous amount of the titular Light to instantly heal from mortal wounds. The flash thus emitted almost blinds his opponents.
* In the ''Literature/TowersTrilogy'', Radiants' powerful magic causes them to emit a noticeable glow. This applies even to the ghosts of Radiants, making them the only ghosts visible to ordinary people.

* In ''Series/TimeTrax'', [[HumanAliens Procardians]] glow in their natural state. They can willingly remove the glow to appear human, though, although they avoid speaking, since their vocal cords are unable to make believable human sounds.

* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', powerful [[TheForce Force-users]] tend to glow when using their abilities, people glow when Force entities possess them, random [[SwirlyEnergyThingy Swirly Force Thingies]] glow, and in general glowingness accompanies any Force effect greater than throwing a rock at somebody's head. [[GoodColorsEvilColors Naturally]], Light Side effects are usually blue or yellow, whereas Dark Side effects are usually red or purple.

While villainous examples are possible (sometimes with a "bad-coloured" glow, such as red or sickly radium-watch green), most frequently the glowing person is on the hero's side.

* Olivia Newton-John's character in ''Film/{{Xanadu}}'' does this, due to being TheMuse.