History Main / SparkFairy

* ''Fanfic/Homecoming2026'': As part of a VirtualSidekick being a ShoutOut to Navi, her appearance as "a ball of light with wings", and her reminders in ''Videogame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'':

* Bit from ''Film/{{Tron}}'' is the personification of an on-off bit. It's basically a Disney sidekick fairy [[InSpace in Cyberspace]].
* Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019: Mothra [[{{Irony}} ironically]][[note]]She typically has fairies.[[/note]] and may actually be the largest example of this trope. This is seen when she's hovering above the oil rig that is the Monarch base called ''Castle Bravo'', while hovering her body is glowing so brightly that aside from her wings no other features can be made out.

* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "[[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.

** The Megara from "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS16E3TheStonesOfBlood The Stones of Blood]]".
** The nanogenes in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E9TheEmptyChild The Empty Child]]"/"[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E10TheDoctorDances The Doctor Dances]]" are floating pinpricks of light, much larger than "nanogenes" would imply.

* ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' has the Sidhe depicted as 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.
%%* On ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', the microscopic [[SiliconBasedLife crystalline aliens]] referred to humans as "[[HumansAreUgly ugly bags of mostly water]]".
* The fairy in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' 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...

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': The Lantern King, one of the Eldest who rule [[{{Fairyland}} the First World]], takes the form of a ball of golden light crowned by floating arcane symbols.

* Tinkerbell in ''Theatre/PeterPan1904'' 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.

* All the ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' games have fireflies shown as points of light until you catch one of them.

* Most "realistic" ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' 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, and in some games such as the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle]]'' series the "Ball" and "Human" fairies appear together. ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap The Minish Cap]]'' and ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'' have the fairies transforming between the two, implying this may be a case of AFormYouAreComfortableWith.
* In ''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]].

* Fairies in ''VideoGame/{{Stonekeep}}'' can apparently switch between spark-fairy mode and detailed mode.

* ''Fanfic/ShatteredSkiesTheMorningLights'': The mysterious [[GuardianOfTheMultiverse Lighthouse Keeper]], Fantine, has this as a holographic avatar, appearing as spark of light with blue, feathered wings.

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.

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 represent ghosts). Contrast BallOfLightTransformation.

* ''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.

"What is it Navi?" Came the expected response.

* ''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.

* All the ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' games have fireflies shown as points of light, until you catch one of them.

* In ''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]].
* ''Videogame/MegaManZero:'' The [[EnergyBeings Cyber-Elves]] have different appearances and forms, but in gameplay, they all look like flying spark of light.

* ''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.

* ''Series/FraggleRock'': The Ditzies are tiny luminous flying creatures who are the source of all light in Fraggle Rock. They depend on music to keep them alive.

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 represent ghosts).

** The nanogenes in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E9TheEmptyChild "The Empty Child"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E10TheDoctorDances "The Doctor Dances"]] are floating pinpricks of light, much larger than "nanogenes" would imply.
** [[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.
* ''Series/Merlin2008'' has the Sidhe depicted as 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.

* ''Videogame/MegaManZero:'' The [[EnergyBeing Cyber-Elves]] have different appearances and forms, but in gameplay, they all look like flying spark of light.

* ''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.

--> 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!"\\

--> '''Dean:''' ''[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments ...Nipples?]]''

* ''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.

* ''Fanfic/Homecoming2026'': As part of a VirtualAssistant being a ShoutOut to Navi, her appearance as "a ball of light with wings", and her reminders in ''Videogame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'':

[[folder:ComicBook]]

* ''Disney/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.

* ''Disney/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.]]

* ''Disney/{{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.

* Most "realistic" ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' 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 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, and in some games such as the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle]]'' series the "Ball" and "Human" fairies appear together. ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap Minish Cap]]'' and ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'' have the fairies transforming between the two, implying this may be a case of AFormYouAreComfortableWith.

* Most "realistic" ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' 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 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, and in some games such as the ''Oracle'' series have the "Ball" and "Human" fairies appear together. ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap Minish Cap]]'' and ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'' have the fairies transforming between the two, implying this may be a case of AFormYouAreComfortableWith.

* Most "realistic" ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' 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 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, and in some games such as the ''Oracle'' series have the "Ball" and "Human" fairies appear together. ''The Minish Cap'' and ''Hyrule Warriors'' have the fairies transforming between the two, implying this may be a case of AFormYouAreComfortableWith.

* Most ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games from ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'' onward depict fairies as a ball of glowing light with butterfly wings. Additionally in ''Ocarina of Time'', the air of the Kokiri forest is full of small, flying dots of light. However, it's implied these creatures have humanoid forms which are simply obscured by the strong light they emit. This may be supported by [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker Wind Waker]]'', where fairies are fully humanoid figures, but this may also be a part of the game's different art style.

* Most ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games from ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'' onward depict fairies as a ball of glowing light with butterfly wings. Additionally in ''Ocarina of Time'', the air of the Kokiri forest is full of small, flying dots of light. However, it's implied these creatures have humanoid forms which are simply obscured by the strong light they emit. This is most clear in [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaWindWaker Wind Waker]]'', where if you capture a fairy, the screen will zoom in to show an unhappy blond figure inside the bottle.

* Most ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games from ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'' onward depict fairies as a ball of glowing light with butterfly wings. Additionally in ''Ocarina of Time'', the air of the Kokiri forest is full of small, flying dots of light.

* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "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.