History Main / FairyInABottle

Despite fairies being sapient beings, there's almost no squick factor to this, unlike the one you get from [[PeopleJars putting human beings in a similar container.]]

Fairies in a bottle are much more likely to be female, have an {{Ambiguous Gender}}, or not have a gender at all than be male.

* The evil wizard Dolon in LSpragueDeCamp and FletcherPratt's ''The Incomplete Enchanter'' keeps a collection of fey in bottles, apparently [[ForTheEvulz just because he can]].

Fairies in a bottle are much more often than not female, have an {{Ambiguous Gender}}, or not have a gender at all than be male.

Despite fairies being sentient beings, there's almost no squick factor to this, unlike the one you get from [[PeopleJars putting human beings in a similar container.]]

* ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'' got one [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/level-6-33/ here]]. On the next page she's out of the bottle, though still quite saturated with its other contents. ([[HardDrinkingPartyGirl Appears to be the other kind of Bottle Fairy, too.]])

* ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'' got one [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/level-6-33/ here]]. On the next page she's out of the bottle, though still quite saturated with its other contents.

Not to be confused with the anime ''Anime/BottleFairy'' or a HardDrinkingPartyGirl, who is sometimes called a "bottle fairy".

Subtrope to OurFairiesAreDifferent. See also FairyCompanion, GenieInABottle, TheFairFolk.

The Victorian image of a fairy is a tiny creature, perhaps the size of your palm, with dragonfly-like wings. Unsurprising that a creature that resembles an insect and is only slightly larger than one, then, would frequently find itself caught in a jar like an over sized firefly. It's also a visual pun on the Victoria "fairy light", a candle with a porcelain hood, since fireflies captured in a bottle can be used as a light source.

* The evil wizard Dolon in LSpragueDeCamp and FletcherPratt's ''The Incomplete Enchanter'' keeps a collection of fey in bottles, apparently [[ForTheEvulz jjust because he can]].

* The evil wizard Dolon in LSpragueDeCamp and FletcherPratt's ''The Incomplete Enchanter'' keeps a collection of fey in bottles, apparently just because he can.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* A staple of the ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series, where a captured fairy in a bottle will restore all your {{Heart Container}}s or [[AutoRevive restore you to life if you die]], depending on the game.
* In ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheLastHope'', you can create one of these for each stat using the game's crafting system. Their only use was synthesizing onto weapons and armor, which made the item much more powerful.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'', a desert caravan has a mysterious bottle for sale. Using the bottle releases the fairy trapped inside it. The fairy helps the party by drawing Oxyale from the spring, which enables [[ArtificialGill underwater breathing]].
* In ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', you rescue the fairy Razzly from a tiny bird cage. Although the fairies don't like or trust humans, she will join your party in gratitude for saving her.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:New Media]]
* In ''Franchise/{{Neopets}}'' there are six types of bottled fairies that, once freed, will teach a pet a new spell depending on their type. According the the back story, they are put in the bottles by a fairy hating lupe named Balthazar.

Fairies in a bottle are much more often than not to be female, have an {{Ambiguous Gender}}, or not have a gender at all than be male.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' we heard a legend of a fairy can grant ANY wish, but only ONE on her entire life, when Jack tries to adquire her so he can go back to the past, when he tries to rescue her his hand ends up trapped in the magic sphere where she was captured, and the key to open it was destroyed on the fight with the fairy's captor... [[spoiler:Jack uses the wish to set them both free]]

* In ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' parody ''LegendOfNeil'', the moblins keep bottled fairies so they can snort fairy dust for kicks.

* A staple of the ''LegendOfZelda'' series, where a captured fairy in a bottle will restore all your {{Heart Container}}s or [[AutoRevive restore you to life if you die]], depending on the game.

* In ''VideoGame/LegendOfZelda'' parody ''LegendOfNeil'', the moblins keep bottled fairies so they can snort fairy dust for kicks.

* In ''Franchise/LegendOfZelda'' parody ''LegendOfNeil'', the moblins keep bottled fairies so they can snort fairy dust for kicks.

* In ''LegendOfZelda'' parody ''LegendOfNeil'', the moblins keep bottled fairies so they can snort fairy dust for kicks.

* In one episode of SamuraiJack we heard a legend of a fairy can grant ANY wish, but only ONE on her entire life, when Jack tries to adquire her so he can go back to the past, when he tries to rescue her his hand ends up trapped in the magic sphere where she was captured, and the key to open it was destroyed on the fight with the fairy's captor... [[spoiler:Jack uses the wish to set them both free]]

* In ''{{Neopets}}'' there are six types of bottled fairies that, once freed, will teach a pet a new spell depending on their type. According the the back story, they are put in the bottles by a fairy hating lupe named Balthazar.

* In ''Webcomic/TheDreadful'', initially uses this as a parody of the Zelda example, where Liz remembers that she's got one when she pulls out a long dead bottled fairy and throws it at Erin. [[spoiler:Then made more plot relevent, when it turns out the fairy, Ith, was a necromancer and proceeds to possess/ressurect (apparently something goes wrong and they end up SharingABody) Erin after Kit and Liz have left.]]

* In ''Webcomic/TheDreadful'', initially uses this as a parody of the Zelda example, where Liz remembers that she's got one when she pulls out a long dead bottled fairy and throws it at Erin. [[spoiler: Then made more plot relevent, when it turns out the fairy, Ith, was a necromancer and proceeds to possess/ressurect (apparently something goes wrong and they end up SharingABody) Erin after Kit and Liz have left.]]

* In one epidose of {{Samurai Jack}} we heard a legend of a fairy can grant ANY wish, but only ONE on her entire life, when Jack tries to adquire her so he can go back to the past, when he tries to rescue her his hand ends up trapped in the magic sphere where she was captured, and the key to open it was destroyed on the fight with the fairy's captor... [[spoiler: Jack uses the wish to set them both free]]

Also, compared to other fae they are very fragile, have high mortality, and may easily be killed by swatting them like a fly or crushing them in your palm.

See also FairyCompanion, GenieInABottle, TheFairFolk.

* A staple of the ''LegendOfZelda'' series, where a captured fairy in a bottle will restore all your HeartContainers or [[AutoLife restore you to life if you die]], depending on the game.