History Main / RuleOfSeven

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Subverted; the most magical number is 8. Magic being a very [[SpeakOfTheDevil dangerous thing to play with]], there are a lot of superstitions around the number (some people insist on calling it "7a").

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky'' introduces the seven Bracer Guild ranks that start from F which the lowest, all the way to S rank which is the highest ranked bracer that it's supposed to be a secret to the public. [[TheHero Estelle]]'s father is one such member who is in the S rank.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'' gives us the seven floors of the Old Schoolhouse, the [[HumongousMecha Seven Divine Knights]], and TheHero Rean Schwarzer who specializes in the seventh form of the [[FantasticFightingStyle Eight Leaves, One Blade]] style.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsThroughDaybreak'' plays with this trope in that there are eight Genesis artifacts that are missing and that Agnes hires [[TheHero Van Arkride]] to find them. At the end of the game however, only ''seven'' of these artifacts are recovered with the final artifact being saved for a SequelHook.

* Literature/TheBraveLittleTailor kills seven flies in one blow.

* In a Swedish version of "Literature/TheSwanMaiden" folktale, the huntsman and the maiden remain married for seven years until the maiden gets her dress back and flies away.

* In one of the most widespread tales in the world, "The Swan Maiden" (often mixed with "The Man on a Quest for the Lost Wife"), the human male protagonist finds seven maidens bathing in a lake or river, and steals the clothes of one of them or of the youngest one. The seven maidens may be [[ShapeshiftingLover swans turned into humans]], or, as is common is East Asian and Southern Asian tales, seven "heavenly nymphs" (e.g., ''bidadaris'' in Java, Indonesia, and ''apsaras'' in India).

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesKuroNoKiseki'' plays with this trope in that there are eight Genesis artifacts that are missing and that Agnes hires [[TheHero Van Arkride]] to find them. At the end of the game however, only ''seven'' of these artifacts are recovered with the final artifact being saved for a SequelHook.

* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' has a number line strip that says 7 indicates a false statistic.

* In one of the most widespread tales in the world, "The Swan Maiden" (often mixed with "The Man on a Quest for the Lost Wife"), the human male protagonist finds seven maidens bathing in a lake or river, and steals the clothes of one of them or of the youngest one. The seven maidens may be [[ShapeshiftingLover swans turned into humans]], or, as is common is East Asian and Southern Asian tales, seven "heavenly nymphs".

* The real life Pleiades constellation is one of the widespread myths around the world, and the common trait that seems to recur among most of them is that seven people (e.g., seven sisters, seven boys, six man and one woman) originate the asterism.

** On that note, the real life Pleiades constellation is one of the widespread myths around the world, and the common trait that seems to recur among most of them is that seven people (e.g., seven sisters, seven boys, six man and one woman) originate the asterism.

** On that note, the real life Pleiades constellation is one of the widespread myths around the world, and the common trait that seem to recurs among most of them is that seven people (e.g., seven sisters, seven boys, six man and one woman) originate the asterism.

** Seven Star Spirits in ''VideoGame/PaperMario64''.

** ''VideoGame/MarioKart7'', the first game in the ''Mario Kart'' series to be numbered this way. Also the debut of the Lucky Seven item, which gives an assortment of seven weapons.
* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':

** Even when it's not Chaos Emeralds, there are seven MacGuffin-style items to collect. [[VideoGame/SonicStorybookSeries Seven Rings in Hand]], for example.

* Seven needles in ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}''.
* Seven personalities in ''VideoGame/{{Killer7}}'', along with a revolver that has seven chambers. The game is also divided into seven chapters.

* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' references ''VideoGame/Killer7'' with the Lovikov Balls, as there are 49 of them in total (7 x 7), seven are required for a new ability, of which there are seven as well (each of them based on one of Emir's personalities from Killer 7). Also, one of the Dark Side powers are enabled when the jackpot (which appears every time an enemy is killed) hits 777. In ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'', both training courses in Ryan's gym have seven levels each.

* In the working world, this is often combined with the RuleOfTwo as it's an unspoken rule that, if you quit, you should give at least two weeks(14 days, 7*2) notice before leaving.

* In one of the most widespread tales in the world, "The Swan Maiden" (often mixed with "The Man on a Quest for the Lost Wife"), the human male protagonist finds seven maidens bathing in a lake or river, and steals the clothes of one of them or of the youngest one. The seven maidens may be [[/ShapeshiftingLover swans turned into humans]], or, as is common is East Asian and Southern Asian tales, seven "heavenly nymphs".

** ''Series/DragonBallZ'' introduced the Dragon Balls of Planet Namek, which are also seven in number and summon a stronger dragon than Shenron, Porunga, who can grant three wishes instead of only one per summon (before Shenron's upgrades, that is).
** ''Series/DragonBallGT'' has the Black Star Dragon Balls, which summon Ultimate Shenron, a mightier divine dragon whose wishes exceed his own power. They also invert the usual trope meaning of the seven's luck by blowing up the planet they're used on after a year if they aren't gathered again. And the final arc introduces the seven Shadow Dragons, evil entities born from the Dragon Balls who will destroy the entire Universe if not stopped; they are taken down one-by-one across the finale as well.
** ''Series/DragonBallSuper'' introduces the Super Dragon Balls, ''planet-sized'' Dragon Balls (and the original ones) which summon Super Shenron, the most powerful Dragon who is entirely omnipotent and can grant any wish.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'' has the seven titular orbs which can summon a wish-granting divine dragon.

* The Level 5 Espers from ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' and ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun''. Only seven people from an entire city have achieved this rank. Although one of the Level 5 hasn't official debut yet.

*** Each of the Seven Fathers of the Dawrves was the progenitor of one of the seven dwarven kindreds (Blacklocks, Broadbeams, Firebeards, Ironfists, Longbeards, Stiffbeards, Stonefoots).

* ''Series/ExtremeMakeoverHomeEdition'' built seven homes for seven familes in seven days in their finale.

** Also "Seven Screaming Dizbusters" on ''Music/TyrannyAndMutation".
** And "Perfect Water" on "Music/ClubNinja".

* Music/BlueOysterCult's ''Music/{{Imaginos}}'' [[Music/ImaginosIIBombsOverGermany album saga]] follows the eon-spanning manipulation of humanity by seven alien deities called "Les Invisibles". ''[[LoopedLyrics "Seven seven seven seven seven seven seven..."]]''
** Also ''Seven Screaming Dizbusters" on ''Music/TyrannyAndMutation".

* The seven Endless from ''ComicBook/TheSandman''; [[BlindSeer Destiny]], [[PerkyGoth Death]], [[DreamWeaver Dream]], [[WarriorPoet Destruction]], [[AmbiguousGender Desire]], [[BodyHorror Despair]] and [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Delirium]].

* The third ''Literature/{{Sorcery}}'' adventure, ''The Seven Serpents'', has the hero crossing the treacherous Baklands while being pursued by seven deadly, elemental serpents sent by the Archmage. They will encounter the serpents throughout the adventure, some (like the Air, Earth and Time Serpent) which are unavoidable, and at the end of the adventure their quest's performance is assessed by the number of serpents they've slain.

* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' references ''VideoGame/{{Killer7}}'' with the Lovikov Balls, as there are 49 of them in total (7 x 7), seven are required for a new ability, of which there are seven as well (each of them based on one of Emir's personalities from Killer 7). Also, one of the Dark Side powers are enabled when the jackpot (which appears every time an enemy is killed) hits 777. In ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'', both training courses in Ryan's gym have seven levels each.

** Vanya spends seven years lying on his home's stove, living off seven sacks of sunflower seeds and relying on seven sheepskin blankets to keep himself warm. After leaving his home, he travels through sevent countries and seven kingdoms during seven times seven weeks until he crosses the White Mountains.