Line #5 Main/BanishingRitual


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14	[[quoteright:350:[[Film/TheCabinInTheWoods https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cabin_in_the_woods_ghost_sealing.png]]]]
15	[[caption-width-right:350:[[MemeticMutation "The evil is defeated."]]]]
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17	->''Hold, Alduin on the wing! Sister Hawk, grant us your sacred breath to make this contract heard! Begone, World-Eater! By words with older bones than your own, do we break your perch on this Age and send you out! You are banished! Alduin, we Shout you out from all our endings unto the last! YOU! ARE! BANISHED!''
18	-->-- '''Felldir the Old''', ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''
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20	Companion to the HolyHandGrenade, stronger than TurnUndead, and opposite of the SummoningRitual; the Banishing Ritual sends evil somewhere ''else'' where it will at least take a while to get back. This is usually the preferred choice when the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil means killing evil makes things worse, or FightingAShadow doesn't send it away long enough, or when the thing is simply hard to kill.
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22	The mechanics of the Banishing Ritual may simply be the CurseEscapeClause or counter curse to the SummoningRitual; or a reminder to the universe that the EldritchAbomination or TheLegionsOfHell don't belong on this plane. Can be the start of or continuation of SealedEvilInACan. Technically, sending something to AnotherDimension is "banishing", sealing something up while still in this one is "binding."
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24	'''[[Administrivia/InternalSubtrope Sealing Ritual:]]''' A similar ritual that is used for sealing something, instead of banishing it to another place. The net effect is the same, although in the case of sealing, the something is still "around". Will lead to the whole SealedIndexInACan.
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26	See also HollywoodExorcism, where the Banishing Ritual is specifically used against DemonicPossession. Also, SupernaturalRepellent, a more mundane and typically more temporary solution.
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28	----
29	!!Examples:
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31	[[foldercontrol]]
32
33	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
34	* Anime/GhostStories runs wild with it, considering the MonsterOfTheWeek tends to be a rogue spirit recently awakened, which the heroes have to seal away.
35	** The antagonist for the first episode is a special case, since the ritual used required a specific sakura tree to exist. However, by the time Satsuki and friends attempt the ritual, the sakura tree had been cut down. As a result, Amanojaku was sealed away into the first thing it could, which just happened to be a cat. Ultimately, this meant he was around for the majority of the series and could even interact with the protagonists. However, being sealed in a cat meant he was no more dangerous than, well, a cat.
36	** Similarly, the Kutabe was sealed on a Jizo statue that had been destroyed. In order for it to not pull a Kaya and get it shoved into a random thing or animal, Satsuki actually had to superglue the statue's head back together.
37	* In the ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' series, this is called "Sealing": a procedure that renders pretty much any dangerous {{Magitek}} construct inert and harmless. Sealing [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots sentient constructs]], though, pretty much equates to murder, as the heroes learn in the [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs season two]] finale, where they have to seal [[spoiler:Reinforce Eins]] in order to stop the Book of Darkness for good.
38	* ''Anime/{{Naruto}}'':
39	** A variant is the ritual the Akatsuki organization performed on any [[SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan Jinchuriki]] to extract the Biju sealed in them and then seal it in the Demonic Statue of the Other Path. The ritual takes three full days to perform with full member present.
40	** Another technique is the Dead Demon Consuming Seal, where the user summons and channels the {{shinigami}} to rip off the opponent's soul and seal it inside the shinigami's body. It's a DangerousForbiddenTechnique, as the user will also have their soul ripped off and sealed once they're done.
41	* ''Manga/NoLongerAllowedInAnotherWorld'': After managing to defeat Zuk, Sensei gains the divine gift "Storyteller", which allows him to send otherworlders back to whence they came.
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Comic Books]]
45	* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': In the "Necropolis" storyline, Judge Dredd manages to save the city from the [[EldritchAbomination Sisters of Death]] by killing the Psi-Judge that they're using as a bridge to Mega City One, which banishes them back to Deadworld since they otherwise have no physical form in this dimension. The same doesn't apply to the Dark Judges, however, who are occupying animated dead bodies that have to be separately destroyed.
46	* In ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', Nico uses a "scatter" spell to temporarily banish the Light Brigade from Malibu. Unfortunately, it has the side-effect of making the Runaways unable to cooperate while the spell is active.
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
50	* Songstress Angel was exploited in ''WesternAnimation/RockAndRule'' to summon a towering monster from another dimension. Free of the villain's MindControl, Angel stands her ground: "If I can sing it up, I can sing it back." This doesn't seem to work, as Mok snarks, "The girl can't sing it back; no one can." It turns out that once Omar joins Angel in a duet, the monster recoils as though sprayed with HollywoodAcid, and retreats into its hole, not to be seen again.
51	* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', the red moon ritual is a sealing ritual that separates a red panda spirit from its host and seals it in an object, usually a piece of jewellery.
52	[[/folder]]
53
54	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
55	* ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'': The college students encounter numerous {{Summoning Artifact}}s for the various monsters that could have descended on the cabin, but only one actual Sealing Ritual is shown in the film when the monitors observe a group of Japanese schoolgirls using a chant to contain the spirit of a StringyHairedGhostGirl [[SealedEvilInATeddyBear inside a frog]]. The observers are livid when they see this, since a human sacrifice is necessary to stop the world from ending.
56	* The first ''Film/{{Ghostbusters\|1984}}'' movie has the titular team ReverseThePolarity of the HellGate that brought the BigBad into our universe, thus sucking it back.
57	* ''Film/HauntedMansion2023'': Harriet plans to use one of these to banish Alistair Crump to the underworld. [[spoiler:She succeeds, with Madame Leota's help.]]
58	* Galadriel banishing Sauron from Dol Guldur back to Mordor in in her wraith form in ''Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies''.
59	--> '''Galadriel''': You have no power here, servant of Morgoth! You are nameless, faceless, formless! Go back to the Void from WHENCE YOU CAME!
60	* ''Film/KillBabyKill'': When a teenage daughter of an innkeeper is targeted and MarkedToDie by a vengeful ghost child, the local witch Ruth performs a banishing ritual: she strips the girl and then whips her with a bunch of twigs, reciting a formula to drive away the ghost.
61	[[/folder]]
62
63	[[folder:Literature]]
64	* ''And Less Than Kind'', the fourth novel in Creator/MercedesLackey's ''Doubled Edge'' series, has a scene toward the end where Elizabeth and her Sidhe guardians must cast out the entity that is controlling Queen Mary.
65	* In the early Enid Blyton adventure book, ''Literature/BookOfBrownies'', the brownies managed to defeat the Golden Dwarf by reciting a long, long incantation, ''Kerolamisticootalimarcawnokeeto''. It's so long they have to separate it into three parts, each of them memorizing one-third, and then saying it in continuous succession. It works.
66	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
67	** The classic banishing ritual at the end of the Rite of Ash'Kente, which summons Death, begins "Begone, foul fiend". DEATH has asked for this to be replaced with something less personally offensive.
68	** When the Lancre witches summon a demon to whom they ask the traditional three questions, the malevolent entity hangs around at the end and diffidently points out he hasn't been properly banished yet, so would they mind awfully? The youngest, Magrat Garlick, is given the dogsbody task by the older witches. Nanny Ogg, a very down-to-earth witch, personally considers the best banishing ritual of all the words "BUGGER OFF!" spoken with force and authority.
69	** Rincewind the Wizard has learnt that hand gestures count in magical spellcasting. The unspoken banishing ritual is a dread sign made with the right hand, [[FlippingTheBird involving the raised middle finger jerked upwards]]. This binds all entities and they have no choice other than to withdraw to their own chthonic plane of existence by the shortest possible route.
70	** A wizard called Albert tried to permanently banish Death from his presence, making himself immortal, by performing the Rite of Ash'Kente in reverse. Instead it teleported him to Death's house, where he got a job as his manservant.
71	* Tom Bombadil's song to banish the barrow-wight in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' results in the inner part of the barrow-chamber falling in, followed by a cry and a long trailing shriek. Afterwards, the treasures of the barrow are laid out on the grass with Tom bidding them lie there "free to all finders" and thus to be scattered as a ritual to break the spell of the barrow-mound so that no wight would ever return.
72	* ''Literature/NightWorld'': In ''Literature/{{Spellbinder\|1996}}'', Thea and ''[[OnlyICanKillHim only]]'' Thea must perform a banishing ritual - which is the reverse of the summoning ritual - to send the ghost of Suzanne Blanchet back beyond the veil before she harms anymore humans. Eric insists on helping her by distracting Suzanne long enough for Thea to complete the ritual.
73	* ''Literature/RetiredWitchesMysteries'': In book 3, Cassandra Black finally uses one to open a door and forcibly send Olivia's ghost onward into some nether realm, with the intention that she'll go from there to the afterlife (she and the rest of the Grand Council ''really'' don't approve of witches sticking around after death). Fortunately, Olivia's too stubborn for it to actually work, and returns soon afterward with Drago's aid.
74	* In ''Literature/SpiritHunters'' Sura prefers banishing extraplanar monsters back to their home plane to destroying them, in a ritual that usually involves boxing them in with {{Paper Talisman}}s, making a yin-yang symbol in the air with her hands or the butt of her spear, then using her spear's AbsurdlySharpBlade to tear open a rift in planes and shove the monster through.
75	* In Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's HistoricalFantasy novel ''Literature/TheSpiritRing'', banishing a demon is as much a matter of a high-ranking Christian cleric (an abbot-bishop) [[ReligionIsMagic giving the last rites to the soul of a deceased mage]] (who is fully cooperating with the ritual) as it is of banishing an evil sorcerer's [[DemonOfHumanOrigin ghost-turned-demon]], which the first magician is supernaturally grappling until the ceremony can be completed.
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
79	* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' had one with a demon in the internet...it was trapped in a book until Willow scanned it. Jenny Calendar and Giles had to combine their skills to do a virtual binding ritual. It never returned to the book but got smashed in the robot body it had humans build.
80	* ''Series/{{Charmed\|1998}}'' referred to this process as "vanquishing". The Halliwell sisters almost always had a spell to send demons away. In one episode, this was reversed, and in another, a demon threatens to manifest anyways and is told that there's "dead" and then there's [[DeaderThanDead Dead.]]
81	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Demons can be removed from their host and sent back to hell with a Latin incantation (the Winchesters used this to deal with Demons before they acquired a demon-killing weapon), but there's also one for Angels (who also possess human hosts to manifest on Earth) in Enochian to send them back to Heaven. The only character who's ever seen attempting the latter is [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Alastair]], since Angels are far too powerful to be even be restrained by anything less.
82	[[/folder]]
83
84	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
85	* ''TabletopGame/{{Alternity}}'', ''Dark*Matter'' campaign setting. The Monotheism Faith FX skill Exorcism can remove a demon or evil spirit from the physical world and return it to its home dimension.
86	* The Exorcism attribute in ''TabletopGame/BigEyesSmallMouth'' has banishment back to an entity's own dimension as a possible outcome of reducing its Energy Points to zero by means of the attribute in question. Third Edition changed this to freeing someone from Mind Control.
87	* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu''. Certain deities that can be summoned by a Call spell can also by sent back to their place of origin by a Dismiss spell. These include Arwassa, Azathoth, Cthugha, Ithaqua, Nyogtha, Shub-Niggurath and Yog-Sothoth.
88	* Early editions of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' have spells such as Banishment, Dismissal, Dispel Evil and Holy Word, all of which could send evil creatures back to their plane of origin.
89	* ''TabletopGame/{{Earthdawn}}'' adventure ''Terror in the Skies". A Horror tricks the PlayerCharacters into [[MacGuffinDeliveryService retrieving a book of rituals that can send Horrors back to their own plane of existence, then steals it from them]]. If the {{PC}}s can regain the book, they can use one of the rituals to banish the Horror.
90	* ''TabletopGame/{{Ehdrigohr}}'' has the Rites of Tranquility: special rituals that have to be carried out by a group of heroes over the resting places of the slumbering [[{{Kaiju}} Woe]] just as they begin to awaken to [[DontWakeTheSleeper prevent them from waking up completely]].
91	* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has more than one mechanic that work like this. Summoned creature cards can be, for example, returned to their owner's hand or forced to be shuffled back into the deck. The most permanent one of these is the "exile" mechanic, that removes a card completely from the game. None of these mechanics are, however, limited to any certain type of creatures.
92	* ''TabletopGame/Sorcerer2001'' has detailed rules for banishing summoned demons, as it is pretty much the only guaranteed way to regain [[SanityMeter Humanity]].
93	* ''TabletopGame/{{Toon}}'' supplement ''Tooniversal Tour Guide'', chapter "Crawl of Catchoolu". One type of spell available to Investigators is Banish, which allows you to send a Catchooloid creature back where it belongs. Each creature has a specific spell that affects it.
94	* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
95	** Some exorcisms in 40K work like this, though the majority just involve killing the daemon's corporeal form (much easier said than done for the more powerful ones).
96	** The Exorcists chapter of SpaceMarines (based on the planet Banish) go through a ritual where a minor Warp entity is deliberately summoned into an Marine's body under the maximum security the Chapter can provide and exorcized after twelve hours. Those who survive the procedure with mind and body intact are now effectively invisible to all but the most powerful of daemons, making them excellent killing machines against the forces of the Warp (their first test run saw a kill ratio of 97 to ''1'').
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder:Theater]]
100	* ''Theatre/ThePianoLesson'': To banish Sutter's ghost, Avery attempts this, reading from the Bible and saying "Get thee behind me, Satan" and the like. But it fails, as the ghost battles Boy Willie upstairs. It takes Bernice sitting down at the piano and playing, something she hasn't done since her mother's death, to banish the ghost. It also banishes her brother Boy Willie, who makes his peace with Bernice keeping the piano and leaves.
101	[[/folder]]
102
103	[[folder:Video Games]]
104	* Aside from being a [[ParanormalInvestigation paranormal investigator]], the titular character from ''VideoGame/ConradStevensonsParanormalPI'' is also well-versed in removing spirits from the mortal realm. The precise process depends heavily on the type of spirit that haunts the place, with demon exorcisms naturally being more involved than convincing a dead person to let go of their past and move on.
105	* The entire plot of ''VideoGame/TheConsumingShadow'' is trying to seal the correct [[EldritchAbomination Ancient]] god that is invading Great Britain and the world using the Ritual of Banishment.
106	* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
107	** Thousands of years prior to the events of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', the ancient Nords were in a life or death battle against [[BeastOfTheApocalypse Alduin the World-Eater]] and his [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragon hordes]]. Armed with the dragons' own LanguageOfMagic, the Thu'um, as taught to them by Alduin's [[HeelFaceTurn Heel-Face Turned]] lieutenant Paarthurnax, a trio of Nord heroes set out to defeat Alduin. However, they were still unable to defeat him and, in their desperation, used the power of an [[TomeOfEldritchLore Elder Scroll]] to banish him out of the stream of time. He emerges several thousand years later just prior to the events of the game.
108	** In the [[GaidenGame spin-off]] game ''[[VideoGame/AnElderScrollsLegendBattlespire Battlespire]]'', the [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Prince]] [[DestroyerDeity Mehrunes Dagon]] has invaded the eponymous Battlespire (training ground for the [[MagicKnight Imperial]] [[MilitaryMage Battlemages]]. The PlayerCharacter must navigate the tower full of Dagon's [[LegionsOfHell Daedric Hordes]], gathering the items (read: powerful weapons) and information (namely Dagon's [[IKnowYourTrueName Neonymic and Protonymic names]]) in order to banish him back to [[VoidBetweenTheWorlds Oblivion]].
109	* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
110	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'': Since Ganondorf has become effectively immortal so long as he possesses the Triforce of Power, the Sages defeat him by sealing him away inside the Dark Realm after Link has weakened him enough with the Master Sword.
111	** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'': Ganondorf was originally supposed to be executed by the sages, but he survived and started attacking the sages. So in a last-minute maneuver, they banished him to the Twilight realm.
112	* ''VideoGame/SimonTheSorcerer'': Late in the game, Simon meets two demons who have been bound to serve the [[EvilSorcerer Evil Wizard]] [[BigBad Sordid]] against their will. They agre to help Simon if he can cast a spell to banish them back to Hell.
113	[[/folder]]
114
115	[[folder:Webcomics]]
116	* In ''Webcomic/YokokasQuest'', after the tunnel dwellers are beaten and bound in [[WhiteMagic chains of light]], Blinky casts a spell to banish them; its [[MagicalIncantation incantation]] implies [[https://yokokasquest.com/comic/chapter-6-page-14/ they're angry spirits being sent back where they belong]], which Yokoka later describes as "[[https://yokokasquest.com/comic/chapter-8-page-33/ back to the]] SpiritWorld [[UnreliableExpositor or whatever]]".
117	[[/folder]]
118
119	[[folder:Web Original]]
120	* It's stated early on in ''Roleplay/{{Alanna}}'' that all summoned creatures are vulnerable to a simple banishment spell. [[spoiler:Ultimately subverted when the BigBad attempts to banish an empowered [[{{Familiar}} Franklin]], whom a god had just blessed with immunity to banishment.]]
121	[[/folder]]
122
123	[[folder:Western Animation]]
124	* In the GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Ford knows of a ritual that can send Bill Cipher back to his dimension, which requires all of the show's main characters to take part. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, the ritual is interrupted by Stan's arguing with his brother, which results in Bill capturing them all.]]
125	* In season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', the heroes had to find a separate banishing ritual for each of the demon sorcerers.
126	[[/folder]]

Context Main / BanishingRitual