History Main / GhostlyGoals

->"''Try to imagine a Hitler or a Vlad the Impaler or even the nasty old man at the dump who steals people's cats and buries them alive. Now imagine those guys but strip them of all their limitations. No bodies, so they never die or run down or get tired. Give them literally all the time in the world. Imagine that malice, that stupid hate just burning on and on and on like an oil well fire-''"

-->"''Try to imagine a Hitler or a Vlad the Impaler or even the nasty old man at the dump who steals people's cats and buries them alive. Now imagine those guys but strip them of all their limitations. No bodies, so they never die or run down or get tired. Give them literally all the time in the world. Imagine that malice, that stupid hate just burning on and on and on like an oil well fire-''"
-->--David Wong, ''JohnDiesAtTheEnd''

* The BigBad of ''TheFrighteners'' is a powerful Type B.

** In the newer version of ''TheWorldOfDarkness'', ghosts are the echoes left by the departed, and their goals vary widely. Some will leave when their foremost desire is fulfilled, while others will require the destruction of their anchors before they move on. The book ''Ghost Stories'' has several examples: the ghosts in ''The House of Count Magnus'' are vicious murderers who can only be escaped, while Isaiah in ''Holy Ghost'' will leave if [[spoiler:his murderer begs forgiveness from his father, or if his former parish makes an honest effort to improve]].

'''Type A''' will never actually be proactive in getting things done to [[UndeathAlwaysEnds end their undeath]]; it's always about scaring the people inhabiting their house into exhuming their hidden-after-the-murder corpse, or investigating the strange disappearance of their family, or whatever it is their ectoplasmic tuchus [[FetchQuest unable to do.]] Though it will likely be a weaker spirit and limited in its ability to influence the world, it's always [[CrypticConversation vague, cryptic mumblings]] rather than "My name is Mary Jones and I was murdered; my body is buried under the garden shed. Please take my bones to the churchyard so that I can have a proper burial." Even if it has the ability to speak or use writing, it will rarely ever convey information directly or help out the investigations ''it started'' with more than a random clue.

'''Type A''' will never actually be proactive in getting things done to [[UndeathAlwaysEnds end their undeath]]; it's always about scaring the people inhabiting their house into exhuming their hidden-after-the-murder corpse, or investigating the strange disappearance of their family, or whatever it is their ectoplasmic tuchus is [[FetchQuest too lazy to do.]] Though it will likely be a weaker spirit and limited in its ability to influence the world, it's always [[CrypticConversation vague, cryptic mumblings]] rather than "My name is Mary Jones and I was murdered; my body is buried under the garden shed. Please take my bones to the churchyard so that I can have a proper burial." Even if it has the ability to speak or use writing, it will rarely ever convey information directly or help out the investigations ''it started'' with more than a random clue.

[[OurGhostsAreDifferent Every ghost is different]], and not just in the "[[SickeninglySweet every snowflake is unique]]" sense. Each spectre has their own reasons for staying on this earth, largely dependent on their life's UnfinishedBusiness or circumstances of their death. When you get right down to it, though, all ghosts can pretty much be [[ThereAreTwoKindsOfPeopleInTheWorld lumped into two groups]]: the "I've got unfinished business" type and the "Kill the living" sort.

[folder: Tabletop Games]]

[[AC:TabletopGames]]
* ''DungeonsAndDragons'' (3.5) held a campaign module called GhostWalk which allowed players to return as ghosts in the City of Manifest that, depending on the way they died, gain different powers and abilities.
** D&D being what it is, all editions have a pretty large selection of ''different'' more-or-less ghostly undead, which aren't necessarily easy to tell apart at a casual glance. Most of them, naturally, are of the "kill the living" type.
* Ghosts in ''UnknownArmies'' (cosmic-level spoilers) [[spoiler: come in two basic varieties: "revenants", whose method of haunting is determined by what they held important in their life (e.g. Ghouls are ghosts of people obsessed with death, and appear near those who are about to die) and "demons", who seek to possess people in order to experience life again and/or take care of unfinished business.]]

* In the ''Betsy the Vampire Queen'' series by Mary-Janice Davidson, the title character can see ghosts, who have a rather wide variety of goals. The first one she met, a little girl, wanted to be with her mommy (a vampire, [[spoiler:who willingly killed herself on finding her daughter's ghost]]). Others are rather more comedic - one just wanted her son not to name his unborn daughter after her.

The first will never actually be proactive in getting things done to [[UndeathAlwaysEnds end their undeath]]; it's always about scaring the people inhabiting their house into exhuming their hidden-after-the-murder corpse, or investigating the strange disappearance of their family, or whatever it is their ectoplasmic tuchus is [[FetchQuest too lazy to do.]] Though it will likely be a weaker spirit and limited in its ability to influence the world, it's always [[CrypticConversation vague, cryptic mumblings]] rather than "My name is Mary Jones and I was murdered; my body is buried under the garden shed. Please take my bones to the churchyard so that I can have a proper burial." Even if it has the ability to speak or use writing, it will rarely ever convey information directly or help out the investigations ''it started'' with more than a random clue.

The latter will be forces of [[CompleteMonster pure, motiveless evil]] whose thirst for bloody death will be forestalled only by their sadistic desire to cause as much psychological anguish beforehand as possible. If there's anything resembling a human mind in them still, it will likely try to recreate scenes of debauchery they enjoyed in life, kill anyone nearby in anger at their death, [[DemonicPossession possess]] the house residents to pretend to live, or otherwise make the people in the place [[AHouseDivided turn on each other]]. Malicious and intelligent ghosts will likely let one or two residents get away or call for help to make the party bigger.

* The pilot episode of a short lived series, so short lived that this troper cannot remember its name, concerned a dorm room haunted by the frightening spectre of a previous inhabitant who had drowned in her bath. Campus rumor says she was murdered by her boyfriend and is looking for revenge. In fact [[Spoiler: she is desperate to communicate to said boyfriend, who has become a creepy recluse out of grief and guilt, that her death was just a stupid accident, she fell asleep in the tub and drowned,and had nothing to do with the fight they had on their last date.]]

* ''Dead Last'' has the main characters cursed with the ability to see ghosts, and thus responsible for helping them figure out how to pass on.

[[AC:{{Anime}}]]

[[AC: {{Film}}]]

[[AC:Live-Action TV]]
* ''BeingHuman'': Annie's main goal in the aftermath of her death is to drive away anyone who tries to move into her house. But then George and Mitchell move in and, being more than human themselves, can see her and treat her as a third flatmate. She spends the rest of the season trying to find out why she's still in the world. And making cups of tea.
* ''GhostWhisperer'' - Mostly the first group; the latter only appear in arcs.
* ''{{Supernatural}}'' - A mix of both.
* ''Dead Last'' has the main characters cursed with the ability to see ghosts, and thus responsible for helping them figure out how to pass on.
* ''{{Smallville}}'' - The ghost of a girl buried in the walls was unable to pass on until [[UnfinishedBusiness she killed her murderer]].

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:Webcomics]]

The latter will be forces of [[CompleteMonster pure, motiveless evil]] whose thirst for bloody death will be forestalled only by their sadistic desire to cause as much psychological anguish beforehand as possible. If there's anything resembling a human mind in them still, it will likely try to recreate scenes of debauchery they enjoyed in life, kill anyone nearby in anger at their death, possess the house residents to pretend to live, or otherwise make the people in the place turn on each other. Malicious and intelligent ghosts will likely let one or two residents get away or call for help to make the party bigger.

* Freddy Krueger was originally a mix of both types, but after killing the children of everyone involved in his death, became strictly Type 2.

* Played with in ''MonkeyIsland2: [=LeChuck's=] Revenge'', where Rapp Scallion, who owned a hot dog stand in live, asks you to...[[spoiler:Go check to see if he left the gas on in his Hot Dog Stand before he died.]]