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Claimed by the Supernatural

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"When you die, your soul will also belong to Hell. You will never know the joys of Heaven; you will be left to wander through a world made of pain and agony for all of eternity."
"You've got a lot of work ahead of you, kid... And you're going to learn firsthand just how pathetic gods, demons, and humans are. Remember one thing, my Godslayer: You have no choice but to obey me."

Sometimes someone will find another person they want. They could be a Love Interest, Lust Object, or pure obsession — or, it may have nothing to do with that and the object of their desire is nothing more than a Living MacGuffin or Phlebotinum Girl. At even further extremes they could genuinely want the character to join their family, or they could want to possess them to Break the Haughty.

Whatever the motivation, sometimes a character is supernatural enough to make it happen with none of those pesky things like "permission" and "consent".

This can take many forms:

  • A goddess could bestow a holy aura to designate her champion...
  • A demon could generate a magic tattoo that claims the bearer's soul...
  • An Eldritch Abomination could saddle their victim with a Clingy MacGuffin to demonstrate their influence...
  • A vampire could deliver a special bite to mark this human as their personal prey...
  • A werewolf could alter the adopted one's scent or pheromones to claim them as part of their pack...
  • A fantastic humanoid or Green-Skinned Space Babe could alter their beloved's presence in some way only detectable to their kind to advertise the bearer as their chosen mate...
  • This list is not definitive; almost any mix-and-match or variation on the above could happen if the claimer is being creative.

The one wearing the new mark may not be aware of its presence at all, or if they are, may not realize its significance. If they do, don't expect them to be able to do anything about it (or, eventually, to want anything to be done — many marks are insidious like that). Whether the marked one knows about it or not is usually immaterial to the marker; its purpose is plain and simple, and that's to tell everyone "hands off — this one belongs to me".

The intent may not be — and often isn't — actively malicious; an attempt to protect a loved one (or Chosen One) or a bonding is as likely as a curse. Even the benevolent versions, though, are often performed without foreknowledge or permission, as an attempt to protect the marked one from the knowledge or consequences of it. Actually getting that permission and bestowing the mark will often be as solemn and meaningful as a wedding or knighthood ritual, depending on the connotations.

This mark often comes with unwanted side effects, good or bad; these commonly include heightened emotions or sex drive, unwanted physical changes such as a new eye color, enhanced sensitivity to the supernatural, or altered mental state (particularly if their opinion of or behavior toward the one who marked them is changed). Might be used to invoke Synchronization, Mindlink Mates, or More than Mind Control to encourage a reluctant partner. At times it might even backfire — what was intended to be a protection becomes bait that draws in other strong supernaturals who want to steal them from their marker.

Often overlaps with Muggle in Mage Custody, when a mortal becomes a slave, a ward, or an apprentice of a supernatural being. May overlap with Touched by Vorlons or Cursed with Awesome when the claim grants the marked person a power-up or new ability. Inversely a backfiring mark could be Blessed with Suck. May also overlap with Mark of Shame if it was applied against their will or they have since changed their mind, especially if they are a Hunter of Monsters. Compare Slave Collar and Slave Brand for the mundane variations (although they are not mutually exclusive).

Supertrope to Mark of the Beast, which is specifically a mark of an evil force on a fallen character; may overlap with Red Right Hand if the mark is supposed to show the audience that they are (or are thought to be) evil, or with Birthmark of Destiny, though a significant birthmark doesn't have to be supernatural.

Not to be confused with Mark of the Supernatural, which is when a person has a mark that indicates they themselves are supernatural.


Examples:

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    Anime and Manga 
  • In Berserk, when the Eclipse goes down, the Band of the Hawk are all marked with the "Brand of Sacrifice", denoting their terminal role in Griffith's ascension ritual. Only Guts and Casca escape being eaten by demons, because the Skull Knight pulls a last-minute rescue. However, the Brand remains even after escaping and attracts demons to the two. Guts is hounded every night by the monsters, which attack him in all kinds of ways, forcing him to fight or die. However, the Brand is also known to afford some advantages to Guts: he has some warning before demons appear thanks to it bleeding when they approach, so they can't sneak up on him; and being branded shifts him slightly into the spirit realm, which allows him to do at least some harm to non-physical beings, a situation that Guts takes full advantage of.
  • Ciel Phantomhive of Black Butler has a pentagram etched into his right eye as a physical representation of his contract with Sebastian. It allows Sebastian to find him anywhere, facilitating his protection while also ensuring that he can never escape. He hides it from others with an Eyepatch of Power. Later chapters establish that being marked with a demon's seal is a key part of any Deal with the Devil, and where you place the mark determines how much power you gain, with more power for more visible spots; Ciel's mark is in his eye because he wanted as much power as he could possibly get.
  • In Descendants of Darkness, the retina of a famous violinist is marked with the seal of a devil who will claim his soul when he dies. The retina is transplanted to another person, who also becomes bound by the contract.
  • In Hell Girl, every person who makes a covenant with Enma Ai, the title character, is marked with a black flame tattoo on their chest once they pull the red string and send the target of their vengeance to Hell. There's nothing they can do about it, and it's a sign that upon death, they are also bound for Hell, no matter how they live the rest of their lives.
  • Life with an Ordinary Guy who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout: The heroes chosen by the fantasy world's gods have a mark on them identifying which god they are associated with. The Goddess of Love left her mark on the back of Tachibana's neck, marking him as her chosen one. Jinguuji, brought along with Tachibana, does not have such a mark since he is technically Tachibana's weapon/champion, not the goddess's.
  • '"Puella Magi Madoka Magica": When a Witch targets a victim, they'll grant them a "Witch's Kiss" which appears as a tattoo on their necks. The victims will then be under the spell of the Witch and will follow their commands. Most of the time, it's usually to kill themselves.
  • In Naruto, Orochimaru brands many people, including Sasuke and nearly all of his minions, with curse marks. These do more than just bind them to him; they also allow the branded to enter a One-Winged Angel mode.
  • The manga Rasetsu follows a young woman who has been claimed by an evil spirit that fell in love with her. He marked her with the image of a rose when she was 15 and plans to claim her when the mark fully blooms.
  • For the first season of Sailor Moon, Nephrite would secretly place an evil crest on the objects belonging to a target who's energy levels were about to peak. The crest would then manipulate the target into focusing their efforts into their respective hobby/talent while becoming more crueler. When their energy peaked, a youma would emerge from the possessed object with some of them bearing the crest symbol.
  • In Suicide Club, part of the bonding between the girls under Mitsuko's influence involves them tattooing a circular symbol on their earlobes. Saya tattoos Kyoko's ear with this symbol while she's unconscious, which may have been enough for Mitsuko to infect her since she survives the mass suicide at the end while Saya dies.
  • The first Vampire Hunter D movie starts with Doris being marked by Count Magnus Lee (shown as an unhealing bite mark on her neck) and she hires D to take care of him before he comes back to claim her completely.
  • Yu-Gi-Oh!:
    • The spirit of the Ring claims Ryou with the Clingy MacGuffin of the Ring itself; it was thrown away several times and always returned for the spirit to possess him again.
    • Dartz was marked by the Leviathan in Atlantis, signified by one eye changing from gold to green. (By the show he's had it for so long most would be likely to take as a Mark of the Supernatural instead - which his natural gold eye actually is.)
  • The Signers from Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds have the Dragon's Birthmarks, signifying that they were chosen by the Crimson Dragon. Conversely their mortal enemies, the Dark Signers have the Dark Marks (Mark of the Shadows in the English Dub) that indicates which Earthbound Immortal resurrected them and they are bound to.

    Comic Books 
  • A subplot in Spawn had an army of vampires who decided to only eat unholy sinners — which of course meant anyone they disagreed with. A bit of magic 'marked' them with sigils only the monsters could see. Spawn managed to turn off the mark for all of the vampires' prey, and they didn't know who to eat so couldn't risk eating anyone 'innocent'.

    Fan Fiction 
  • Bleach fic Stalkers of the Night has vampire Shirosaki marking the protagonist with a bite (and she is then promptly treated as his vulnerability by some faceless antagonists). Vampire Ichigo also seems to have a bad habit of marking any attractive female that gets inside his personal space.
  • Non-mating example: The Buffy the Vampire Slayer story The Mark of Kayne has Xander marked to become a demon's servant.
  • Devil May Cry story Demon Drive has demons and half-demons going into a yearly heat which causes demons to pursue them and can only be stopped by such a mark.
  • Massively Multiplayer Crossover Blood and Revolution has a couple of examples:
    • Vampires Kenshin and Aoshi mark Saitou as their prey with bites.
    • Likewise vampire Seth accidentally claims Mokuba as his prey when he can't control his instincts.
    • Bakura (an incubus/demon) puts a magic tattoo-like mark on Seto to claim him.
    • Bakura puts a different tattoo on Aoshi that claims him for the chaos goddess.
    • Aoshi's Animated Tattoo snake bites people to mark them as vessels of Orochi.
  • Inuyasha story In a Blue Moon has Inuyasha unwittingly marking Sesshoumaru as his mate with a bite mark. (Naraku then takes that bait and tries to replace it.)
  • Inuyasha story Mating Mark: The Curse Mark goes into detail about how much suffering a demon's mating mark would cause their chosen mate if she were to ever be with another man.
  • Inuyasha story Marked has the OC protagonist claimed by a demon's bite.
  • The premise of Inuyasha story Mark is that Inuyasha inadvertently marks Kagome as his mate.
  • In the Kingdom Hearts fanfic Contract: after Vanitas tricks Ven into making a contract with him to buy his soul, he rapes him and leaves a mark/hickey of a broken gear on his neck- which is the keychain for Vanitas' Keyblade in canon.
  • NUMB3RS story In the Dark involves Don having been marked with two small fang scars as a sign that he belongs to a vampire and warning to others to leave him alone. Another vampire touching the marks seems to summon his claimant ( Charlie) to protect him.
  • The Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction Vampire's Rose features vampire slayer Amy being marked by vampire-Sonic as his mate against her will.
  • Teen Titans story The Mark of the Demon includes certain people who have been marked by a demon and thus can "do evil without [spiritual] consequence and good without reward".
  • The True Blood fic Markings has the protagonist actually having been born with a vampire mark, which takes the form of a tattoo-appearing birthmark.
  • Twilight story Demons, Warriors, and the End of the World? has Bella marked as a chosen one of the Nyx.
  • In It's All in the Details, Castiel only realises when Loki/Gabriel brings up the issue that his actions in making a "deal" with Dean to save Sam's life, coupled with Castiel's new status as pagan god Kaseva, have essentially turned Dean into a paladin in Kaseva's name. This essentially makes Dean a warrior for Kaseva, allowing him to grant "Kaseva" power by dedicating hunts to his god, and slightly increasing Dean's physical abilities; when he was briefly turned into a vampire, Castiel observed that Dean's enhanced physiology may even allow him to recover from the infection on his own, even if Castiel does the job himself to make it faster.
  • In the Lucifer (2016) fic "Gift to the Devil", when God sends a still-living Chloe and Trixie to Hell to be a "gift" to his son because Lucifer didn't go to Earth when he should have, God also leaves an undefined 'mark' on the two so that the demons see Chloe and Trixie as Lucifer's bride and heir respectively, ensuring that no demons will harm them.
  • In The Confectionary Chronicles, when Gabriel/Loki accepts Hermione's pledge of worship, he swiftly realises that her magic is a blessing from the pagan goddess Hecate, who essentially created the modern wizarding world centuries ago to secure worshippers for herself (unfortunately for Hecate this plan failed as nobody really worships her any more). Not wanting to share his most interesting follower for centuries with another pagan god, Gabriel is able to replace Hecate's blessing with his own, granting Hermione a portion of his power to recreate her original magic. When Hermione first learns about this, she assures Loki that she would still consider herself his even if she retained Hecate's blessing, but she is truly pleased to have been claimed by her god in such a manner. Her worship to Loki has also made her the "property" of the Norse pantheon, to the extent that when she takes part in a dedication to Samhain as part of a Slytherin tradition Hela is able to lay a claim on Hermione's soul to protect her from other deities.
    • While Loki is more "active" in claiming Hermione's soul, he doesn't ignore his other worshippers; when Fleur Delacour joins Hermione in a ritual, Loki creates a gold medallion with a kuanaz rune on it to acknowledge that he accepts Fleur's worship, and Hermione traces a similar mark on Fleur's skin to affirm her status as an acolyte of Loki.
  • Played two ways in the Vampiresnote  story Marks - there is a cultural expectation that donors will be branded with their vampire's initials, which is defied, and there is a natural, once in a lifetime set of supernatural marks for "pleasure, pain, and trust", which cause an empathic bond between them and means that even if one dies the other will never be able to fall in love again.
  • Stain, a YuYu Hakusho story, has demons being claimed with a bite mark which binds them; Kurama specifically is claimed by another kitsune.
  • This turns out to be a key plot point in Cinderjuice. It's subverted, however, since not only is Lydia unaware that she's been (invisibly) marked, but even Beetlejuice - who "marked" her - doesn't realize he did it. By the end of the story, it works both ways.
  • This is usually how the Zeros are chosen in Project Bluefield. Bluefield wasn't an exception.
  • In the Naruto fic, Kamikakushi, Tobirama has a dragon tattoo on his leg marking him as this.
  • A number of Supernatural fics interpret the handprint Castiel left on Dean's shoulder as this.
  • The Mountain and the Wolf: After a band of Dothraki survive the battle of Winterfell by fleeing (they claim they killed a fire-breathing dragon), the Wolf gets permission from Daenerys to use them as part of his ship's crew and be on the frontlines on the day of the siege to find honorable death. He has them marked with a flame-shaped tattoo to mock them for their supposed feat (which the readers will likely recognize as the mark of Tzeentch, Chaos god of magic, hope and betrayal). The Wolf was the one who brought the Fyrewyrm to use against the Night King's army in the first place and the tattoo is likely to celebrate their achievement, as Champions of Chaos get rewarded even for triumphing against their patron god's Elite Mooks.

    Film 
  • Constantine (2005): When Constantine meets Isabel Dodson's soul in Hell, she has a mark on her wrist that looks like a cross inside a circle. When Father Hennessy touches her dead body the mark appears on her wrist. Constantine later discovers that the mark is the symbol of the Big Bad Mammon and that Mammon is trying to possess her in order to carry out his evil plan.
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest: The Black Spot symbolizes that a person owes his soul to Davy Jones and they will be pursued to the ends of the Earth by the Kraken.
  • In Doctor Strange (2016), Kaecilius and his zealots have the symbol of the Dark Dimension branded on their foreheads which marks them as users of its power, and an odd decayed purple pattern around their eyes that marks them as servants of Dormammu. The Ancient One also has a certain symbol on her forehead...
  • Demon Knight: As shown in flashback, when Dickerson passed the Key on to Brayker, making Brayker the new Demon Knight, a pattern of seven stars were burned into Brayker's palm, and then rearranged themselves. The same thing happens when Brayker passes the Key and the mantle on to Jeryline.

    Literature 
  • In The Deed of Paksenarrion, the main character Paks is branded as a victim of the god Liart by his priests. Then after five days and nights of torment at their hands to buy the freedom of the king, the mark is magically transformed to that of the High Lord of all the gods of good.
    The priests called other guards, who yanked her upward, head still lolling — now all could see that Liart's black brand no longer centered her forehead. Instead, a silver circle gleamed there as if inset in the bone itself. At that, the priests of Liart shrank away, their masked faces averted from the High Lord's holy symbol.
  • In the The Demon's Lexicon trilogy, Demonic Possession is a three-tiered process where each step leaves a special mark with certain properties (being able to track the prey, bad dreams, etc.). If you get three marks, you're screwed.
  • In The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff, the women of Alysha Gale's family have a habit of putting an invisible magical mark on their man. It's one word: "Mine."
  • "Fairest of All": Every month, Siofra's King cuts open her arms and legs to write his name on her bones. He tells her that it's a spell to protect her from other creatures, who can kill her with a touch, but it seems to be really the equivalent of a Slave Brand.
  • Forbidden Sea: : During Adrianne and Cecily's first encounter with the mermaid, the mermaid grabs Adrianne by the wrist and scratches her, leaving three raised welts that don't seem to be healing as quickly as they should. Adrianne doesn't think it's unusual until she and Cecily visit a fortuneteller, who says that she bears the mark of the Windwaithe Mermaid, just like Lauretta Durran, who was similarly marked a hundred years ago, causing the island to be stricken by catastrophic storms until she agreed to go into the ocean to be the Sea Prince's bride. The fortuneteller screams at the sisters to leave the island before they get everyone killed. It turns out that the purpose of the mark is to allow Adrianne to breathe underwater. After she returns to the surface for good, Jendayi removes it.
  • Forgotten Realms: The Finder's Stone Trilogy begins with Alias waking up from a drunken bender to discover an intricate magical tattoo with six distinct symbols on her arm. She later learns that this tattoo marks her as the joint property and creation of half a dozen supernatural parties, including an evil god, a fiend, a lich, and a powerful sorceress. Her companion, Dragonbait, is eventually revealed to have the same symbols tattooed on his chest, marking him as the intended sacrificial offering for a sinister ritual that will erase Alias's free will.
  • In The Girl from the Miracles District, the eponymous district marks the auras of those who spend too much time in it, making it impossible for them to leave it without slipping into a coma.
  • The Girl Who Drank the Moon features an odd heroic example: Xan the witch is rescuing an abandoned baby as she has for five hundred years, but this particular one is so fascinating to Xan that she "accidentally" feeds the child moonlight instead of starlight, imbuing the child with magic powers so that only Xan is qualified to adopt her. The writing is clear that Xan is deliberately being irresponsible; nonetheless everyone involved is happy with the adoption.
  • Harry Potter
    • Intra-species bound servant example: Voldemort marks his inner circle of proven-loyal Death Eaters with the Dark Mark, an indelible magic tattoo which he is able to use to summon them and which becomes more or less distinct with his power rising or decreasing.
    • Voldemort also inadvertently marks Harry with a scar when he tries to kill him with the infamous Killing Curse; this serves as a mental conduit, a sign of their connection, and an indicator of his power and mood.
    • Peter Pettigrew gets a special replacement for his missing hand, a magical hand that Voldemort gave him both because he was more useful to him in one piece, as a show of rewarding the services to him for his other minions and to keep him in check, because that hand was more Voldemort's than Wormtail's extension and would turn against its wielder if he ever did something that the Dark Lord would disapprove of. That's why it ends up claiming his life.
  • In the Left Behind series, it's both the 144,000 of the twelve tribes of Israel and the Tribulation saints who have put their faith in Jesus Christ that are sealed with a cross on their foreheads that only other believers can see. This mark means that they forever belong to God and nothing and nobody can remove them from His protective hand. Chang Wong, who was already a believer when the Mark of the Beast was forced upon him, had both marks during the time he operated as a mole inside New Babylon. During the Millennial Kingdom, "naturals" who become believers before their 100th birthday belong to God forever and are supernaturally protected.
  • In S.J. Day's Marked novels, the Mark of Cain, a sigil originally borne by the biblical Cain, is bestowed on mortals by angels. In the first book, protagonist Eve Hollis is rather memorably marked this way when she has a quickie in a stairwell with a man who later turns out to be Cain's brother Abel.
  • Raybearer: Redemptor children are born with markings on their bodies that form a map of the underworld they will be sent to. These marks are permanent and won't fade for as long as the child lives, even if they managed to escape from the underworld.
  • Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell: Silver can reverse the effects of a Shade's Touch of Death, but people who are treated late are left with characteristic patches of withered flesh. Downplayed in that the Shades don't seem to care either way, but the living see it as a sign of ill fortune and tend to ostracize people who are so marked.
  • Steel Crow Saga has a consensual version when a human and an animal form a Shadepact bond: they both manifest a unique symbol at a random, identical spot on their bodies. Xiulan wears bangs because her and her Shade's are on their left eyes.
  • In Thud!, Vimes becomes host to the Summoning Dark while investigating a murder, a primordial spirit of vengeance and wrath. Its tailed-eyeball symbol doesn't appear on his body until after he expels it from his mind, but random objects around him start 'coincidentally' forming it when jostled (such as a turnip falling onto a partly-uncoiled garden hose, or knocked-over game pieces rolling around on a board). The mark is so widely known and feared by dwarvenkind that even the Low King fears it. Vimes' own inner sense of justice, the Guarding Dark, is all that forces it to relent from making him murder the dwarves responsible rather than bring them to justice.
  • The Unexplored Summon://Blood-Sign: Whenever a summoner does something that impresses one of the setting's god-like figures, they recognize this achievement with an Award - a mark carved into the summoner's soul. Summoners with at least 100 Awards are Invisible to Normals, and it's rumored that someone who gains 1000 Awards will become an immortal Material. Of special note is the unique Award "Loved by the White", given by the White Queen to the person she loves, held by the main character Kyousuke.
  • In The Wheel of Time:
    • The most favored servants of the Dark One are spiritually bonded to him; for the legendary Forsaken, this allows them to command Shadowspawn and insulates them from the Dark One's corruption on the male aspect of the True Source that fuels magic. On one unique occasion, Rand is able to identify and sever those bonds, to the horror of that Forsaken.
    • Shaidar Haran, a unique Shadowspawn avatar of the Dark One, touches the high-ranking Darkfriend Alviarin to mark her as under his protection. She finds the experience slightly traumatic, though it leaves no visible sign.

    Live-Action TV 
  • In HEX, anyone who has their deepest desire granted by Malachi becomes an incubus or succubus. They are marked by a tattoo on their neck stating they are Malachi's property.
  • Lost Girl. Bo learns with slow-dawning horror that Lauren is actually a slave to the supernatural Ash in the world of the Fae. While initially a good example of Happiness in Slavery, the Ash's claim to Lauren becomes more and more problematic as the series goes on.
  • Game of Thrones: Bran reveals in "The Rightful Queen" that he has the mark of the Night King's hand on his arm from when the latter touched him in a vision two seasons earlier, and that because of it the Night King knows where he is at all times.
  • Supernatural: Sam Winchester learns that he was fed demon blood as an infant, granting him psychic powers but also making him a potential chosen one, and later it is revealed that means he is destined to be Lucifer's human vessel when he comes to Earth.

    Religion & Mythology 
  • This goes back all the way to the first book of the Bible with the Mark of Cain, which warns people not to kill Cain or risk God's displeasure.
    • In the Book of Ezekiel, God has an angel mark those in Jerusalem that would be spared from slaughter.
    • In the Book of Revelation, God has an angel mark 144,000 of the twelve tribes of Israel with the seal of God on their foreheads.
    • In the book of Ephesians, Paul the apostle says that God seals believers in Christ with the Holy Spirit, that, according to Calvinist theology, means that they forever belong to God and could never be lost. This seems to go hand in hand with what Jesus said in the gospel of John: "I give them eternal life. They shall never perish, nor shall anyone snatch them from My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them from My Father’s hand."

    Tabletop Games 
  • Call of Cthulhu supplement The Asylum and Other Tales, adventure "Black Devil Mountain". The undead Indian shaman who lives under Howl Mound gives a young human girl named Margot Desplaines an amber amulet marked with the words "The Chosen" written in the old Welsh alphabet, indicating that he has diabolical future plans for her.
  • One of the darkest possible spins on this is Changeling: The Lost, starring people who were abducted by The Fair Folk and reshaped to said Fair Folk's whims. This is, explicitly, an experience traumatic enough that they don't so much have a Karma Meter or Sanity Meter as a PTSD Meter.
  • Earthdawn. Horrors have the innate ability to place a Horror Mark on Namegivers. The Horror can use the mark to track the victim and even use other Horror abilities on them through it. Anyone with a Horror Mark on them is justifiably considered undesirable (to say the least) by other Namegivers and is usually sent away for everyone's good.
  • In Exalted, sacrificing a living human in the name of a deceased human will cause the sacrificed to become a slave-ghost to the person they were sacrificed to. The ghost-body of the slave bears a special mark that will never disappear, even if body-altering ghost-magic is used. Special ghost-apparel that can hide this mark is highly valued in the Underworld.
  • Being branded all over one's body with the mark of a (completely randomly-chosen) god is one of the less ridiculous possible consequences of a Magic Misfire in F.A.T.A.L..
  • Warhammer and Warhammer40000 occasionally have marks of Chaos appearing on mortal worshipers. One mildly unnerving piece of art from one edition of Warhammer depicted a pair of eyes with the pupils turned into eight-pointed stars. In the latte, this mark is seen as heretical by the theocratic Imperium of Man and must be snuffed out with extreme prejudice. The person marked with it will most likely be overjoyed at the mark as they've likely already turned to Chaos.
  • Warhammer:
    • Valten was born with a twin-tailed comet on his chest, a symbol that he is The Chosen One of Sigmar. The village where he grew up initially believed that it was a Portent of Doom, presumably because the last twin-tailed comet destroyed Mordheim.
    • The Dark Gods marked some of their champions from birth, such as the mark of Slaanesh on Sigvald's neck or Wulfrik being born with wolf fangs.

    Video Games 
  • Eldritch Abomination Nyarlathotep brands Tatsuya with a black mark on his hand as a reminder of his status as a potential Apocalypse in Persona 2: Eternal Punishment.
  • In Final Fantasy XIV, the process of Tempering claims the soul of members of the spoken (read: sentient) races for a Primal, whether or not the Primal has yet been summoned. Once Tempered, the process is irreversible, and that soul cannot be bound to anothernote . It is hypothesized that the Player Character’s ability to use the Echo is a form of Tempering employed by the Mother-Crystal Hydaelyn, spirit of the planet. This theory is disproven when Hydaelyn's Tempering of the Warrior of Light is lost and yet the Echo remains.
    • It later turns out that Midgardsormr didn't break that Tempering, just suppressed it by breaking the Warrior of Light's connection to the six elemental crystals. And then, much much later, it transpires that all the Ascians have also been Tempered... by Zodiark.
  • The main character of Beyond Atlantis, the second game in the Atlantis: The Lost Tales series, has a mark in the palm of his left hand. It proves he's the one who carries the light part of an alien power.
  • Neverwinter Nights Hordes of the Underdark has the Relic of the Reaper, a piece of Mephistopheles' flesh and is what binds the PC to him.
  • In Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, Dagda resurrects Nanashi as a walking corpse with Resurrective Immortality as a part of a Deal with the Devil, and marks his left arm and right cheek with a green tattoo. If Nanashi refuses to unseal a certain demon, Dagda will force him to do so with his marked left hand, despite Nanashi being right-handed. On both Neutral Ending routes, Nanashi loses the markings after fulfilling his end of the contract. On Bonds, Dagda restores Nanashi to a normal human state. On Massacre, Nanashi attains godhood and no longer requires Dagda's power to live.
  • In The Elder Scrolls series, St. Alessia, the "Slave Queen", was the leader of the 1st Era rebellion of Cyrodiil's human population against the Daedra-worshiping Ayleids, now known as the Alessian Revolt. After escaping slavery herself, she prayed to the Aedra for aid, and they answered by lending aid against the Ayleids forces both subtly and directly. Akatosh, the draconic chief deity of the Aedra, imbued Alessia with "Dragon Blood" and placed her soul in the central stone of the Amulet of Kings, symbolizing Akatosh's covenant with mankind to protect Mundus from the forces of Oblivion (the Daedra). As part of her Bargain with Heaven, she created the religion of the Eight Divines, worshiping the eight Aedra who aided her, to be the religion of her new Empire in return.

    Visual Novels 
  • In Dies Irae, the main character Ren Fujii is given the same decapitation scar on his neck as Marie after he finally accepts the guillotine and her soul within himself. And although he doesn't know it, he is also branded with the Caduceus on his eyes due to him being a relic created by Mercurius. After he attains Eine Faust Finale, he is also branded with the Caduceus on his chest.

    Webcomics 
  • This has happened to two main characters in Aurora (2019): Alinua has a birthmark in the shape of a Life rune on her arm, which seems to be an attempt to manifest on the part of the Life Primordial. Erin receives a large, ominous chest brand when he is possessed by the Void Dragon.
  • Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures
    • 'Cubi clan signs appear when a 'cubi first taps into their Clan founder's power, and can't be concealed by shapeshifting. Makeup, on the other hand, works just fine.
    • When a Fae decides to curse a mortal for offending them, they often don't have anything in particular in mind, so they mark their intended victim with glowing sigils wrapped around the wrist as a kind of magical IOU while they try to come up with a fitting punishment. In the meantime, the mark serves as a warning that anyone who tries to harm the bearer will earn swift retaliation from the Fae in question.
  • In Goblins, selling your soul to a demon will result in a random part of your body turning translucent, marking you as the demon's property and telling other demons not to interfere with you. Biscuit's lips and hair are see-through as a result of such a bargain, and Dies-Horribly's ears become so after he tries to sell himself to a demoness.
  • In the Beetlejuice fan comic Cobweb and Stripes, which is a merging of the film and the cartoon, Betelgeuse does a form of this to Lydia so she can visit the Neitherworld while still alive. The "mark" isn't visible, but it does involve her ingesting a bit of his "essence" in order to make the trip. A later strip implies that this could potentially have repercussions of an uncertain nature.
  • In Sorcery 101, powerful vampires can "claim" werewolves as their property by interacting with them directly. It has no effect on the werewolves' behaviour, but is noticeable to other vampires; a side comic describes it as the werewolf's aura being changed by the presence of a scarier predator.
  • The Queen and the Woodborn: "Stonecrossed is Woodborn Owed", so says the titular Woodborn Morana, a goddess dwelling in an ancient mystical forest, in reference to a set of stones marking the boundary between the human world and that of The Fair Folk. The titular Queen, Danica, finds this out the hard way when she's tricked into crossing the border.
  • In The Weave, Tally has a flower-shaped mark on her hand after she got into contact with the blood of the murdered fairy queen Rhiannon. By those means, Rhiannon has bound Tally to her ghost, wanting to use her for her revenge. Emil reveals to Tally that he has a similar mark on his chest, though he doesn't reveal to whom he is bound.
  • In Wilde Life, Cliff turns out to have a Mark on him, a fact that he didn't know until Eliza made it visible. It's some glowing writing that none of the good guys can read, but seemingly relates to why the White-Faced Bear is protecting him, and/or his Disappeared Dad's history with Sheol.

    Web Original 
  • Trials & Trebuchets:
    • Mira gains a spiral tattoo on her left arm after completing the Trial of Power at the Sunken Hatch. Said spiral is the symbol of the royal family of the ancient civilization of Sheora, and Mira soon starts being visited by the ghost of the Sheoran Empress Terassis in her dreams, who later magically replaces Mira's left arm with an identical arm that can turn into a snake as a blessing.
    • Winsler gets an "S" branded on his wrist after he makes a deal with the witch Seltie to trade one-seventeenth of his soul for her magic scale.
    • Integrity gains a black streak in her hair after she accepts a deal for power from the Progenitor and becomes a warlock.
  • Whateley Universe: Demon marks, irreversible marks of ownership from a demon. If you have one, the demon owns your soul and can control you almost utterly any time they want. However, as said Insanity Prerequisite (Part 1):
    you have to be willing to accept it on some subconscious level for the mark to appear."

    Western Animation 
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender: Princess Yue has white hair because the moon spirit gave some of its energy to save her life when she was a baby. Eventually, she is called upon to return the favor.
    Sokka: My first girlfriend turned into the moon.
    Zuko: [Beat] ...that's rough, buddy.
  • Teen Titans (2003) gives Raven glowing red birthmarks in the shape of occult-looking symbols all over her body as a sign that she is the daughter of/portal for the demon lord Trigon. However, these marks are normally invisible and only appear when Trigon is stirring (i.e., only when they're relevant to the plot).
  • In X-Men: Evolution, Mystique, Magneto, Xavier, and Storm receive markings similar to those of Apocalypse when he "recruits" them as his horsemen.
  • In Reboot, the virus Hexadecimal gives Little Enzo a "gift" in the form of turning his icon strange and "viral-looking" before her Heroic Sacrifice, to ensure he "doesn't end up like Matrix". Everyone is understandably afraid that it is this, fearing what it could mean as Hex had turned good but was far from sane or predictable. It's not: it turns out to actually be somewhat of a "cure" for nullification that allows Little Enzo to restore the mind of their nullified father Welman Matrix.
  • In Wendell & Wild, people like Kat and Sister Helley can be marked as a Hell Maiden by a deformation on their hand shaped like a skeletal mouth and nose. This allows them to summon demons to Earth, as well as enforce pacts they make with the demon at risk to their wellbeing. Through a risky ritual, it also allows them to master a unique supernatural power after confronting the negative memories that fuel it.

Alternative Title(s): Marked By The Supernatural

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