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Supernatural Repellent

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In fiction, there are a lot of things that attract the supernatural: a cursed object, a summoning, owning a Soul Jar or some Sealed Evil in a Can, the list is practically endless. So, naturally, if there are so many ways to attract to the supernatural, there has to be at least a few ways to repel the supernatural.

Enter the supernatural repellent. In fiction, there are a number of ways to send supernatural spirits sprinting away, from common household items, like salt, to actual houses or other places where evil cannot follow you. There are many examples, varying a good deal according to local folklore, but in modern media the most common (in no particular order) are sunlight, iron, salt, holy ground, running water, silver, and garlic. Some of these have their own specific trope - see below.

This is a Sub-Trope of Achilles' Heel and Meta Power.

Super-Trope to:

If the weakness is particularly mundane, it can overlap with Weaksauce Weakness.

Compare Banishing Ritual, Kryptonite Factor (weaknesses for people with superpowers), Protective Charm, and Encounter Repellant. Contrast Summoning Artifact, Magic Is a Monster Magnet, Weirdness Magnet and Encounter Bait. If you want to kill the supernatural creatures rather than simply repel them, that falls under Weapon of X-Slaying instead.


Examples:

Please only list examples here that don't have their own subtrope, or fit multiple tropes.

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    Anime & Manga 

    Comic Books 
  • Edge of Spider-Verse (2023): The Fairy Gob-Mother reveals to Spinstress that her castle has magical warding that prevents her from simply teleporting in. The only way around it is if someone summons her by saying "I wish...", just as Petra did.
  • X-Factor (2006): At one point Layla Miller starts pouring salt over the doors and windows of X-Factor's office, which no-one questions because it's Layla. She later clarifies it's to ward off the demonic spirits that are about to attack them, to get at Rahne. It doesn't work on Feral's ghost, because as Layla explains, it wards off threats, and Feral's just a nuisance.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Hocus Pocus has this in both the object and the place variety. Apparently, witches cannot cross a ring of salt, nor can they set foot on a graveyard. They can fly over the graveyard, though.
  • In The Hollow, the Headless Horseman cannot cross the old covered bridge, so victims can escape him by running across it. Later it is discovered that the Horseman bursts into flame if he is forced on to the bridge.

    Literature 
  • In The Dresden Files, a circle can keep out the bad, as well as the mundane. This becomes a plot point in Fool Moon, where a specialized three-circle is used to repel both the bad and the mundane, as well as trap the creature inside.
  • Parodied in the Discworld novels, especially in Carpe Jugulum, where much mirth is raised by recounting, in a Discworld context, all the things which Earth legends say are fatal to vampires. This ranges from the normal — garlic, and whatnot — to the more unorthodox — lemons, poppyseed, and carrots.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Supernatural:
    • A ring of salt will protect you against ghosts. Another way to get rid of ghosts in the Supernatural-verse is iron, although it's also used to just kill or weaken them normally.
    • Demons cannot cross a line of salt. They can also be trapped inside a pentagram, which can be used the other way around too: after Bobby covered the panic room in anti-demonic sigils, Ruby was unable to enter it.
    • Angels can be warded off with Enochian sigils, and outright banished temporarily with a sigil written in blood.
    • Fairies have to count every grain of salt if it is spilled in front of them.
  • In a "Wonder Gran" sketch on The Benny Hill Show, Dracula is repelled by a picture of Nicholas Parsons, who was a show regular. Nicholas Parsons is the sort of clean-living, squeaky-clean TV and radio personality who a young damsel could trust with their virginity, her wealth, or her aging parents, knowing they're in safe hands. Comedians make much mirth from the sort of personality this implies — either oleaginously greasy, or else utterly boring. But he is regarded as a National Living Treasure and by all accounts is a totally decent and likeable guy. Dracula would be repelled.
  • Parodied in a music video sketch from La Télé des Inconnus, "Rap-tout", by French comedic trio Les Inconnus. Here, they portray vampires, but as stand-in for the Intimidating Revenue Service. At one point, they try threatening a sharp-dressed man, but they are kept at bay by a Principality of Monaco passport. The fact that said passport sports a cross isn't the important thing; more to the point, Monaco citizens don't pay taxes.
  • The Twilight Zone (1985):
    • In "Something in the Walls", Sharon Miles determines that the creatures that live in the walls and in anything with a pattern can be prevented from coming through if she surrounds herself with items that are plain and entirely one color. As such, she paints her room at the Crest Ridge Sanitarium white and covers each crack that appears. She also refuses to place a checkered blanket on her bed. In spite of all her precautions, however, the creatures manage to come through a crack in her wall and replace her with one of their own.
    • In "Crazy as a Soup Sandwich", Nino Lancaster has his henchmen Gus and Bork get 100 gallons of lead paint and tells them to spray his office with it 12 times so that the demon Volkerps will not be able to leave once he enters.
  • In Reaper it's established that the Devil can enter through any angles, so an effective way to proof an area against his presence or observation is being in a circle.

    Myths & Religion 
  • As it's been mentioned before, a lot of superstitions mention that salt is a very good way to get rid of demons.
  • Other repellents for the supernatural include garlic and crosses for vampires.
  • In Shinto, plates of salt placed by the door are said to repel evil spirits.
    • Tsukumogami, objects and tools said to develop spirits and animation after at least a century of existence, are said to be repelled by electricity, justifying why they don't show up in modern society or manifest from appliances.
  • Wiccans believe that salt cleanses an area of negative/evil energy, and it's not uncommon to see a plate of salt on the altar.
  • Inverted by the Aztec goddess of fertility, Huixtocihuatl, who resides over salt and salt water.
  • European wolfsbane (Arnica montana) got its name from the belief that it could repel werewolves, or its extract could immunize a victim against werewolf bites, which would infect them into becoming a werewolf. Its comparative rarity helped maintain its curative legend.

    Podcasts 
  • In Alice Isn't Dead, Sylvia says that the smell of heather oil repels the Thistle Man, so when The Narrator goes to confront him she slathers herself in it and shoves some whole heather branches into his mouth, which causes him to begin choking and turning purple.

    Tabletop Games 
  • Dungeons & Dragons:
    • Mirrors, garlic and holy symbols (and other holy relics) repel vampires.
    • Clerics can "turn" the undead, which causes them to retreat from the cleric.
    • The 1st Edition Advanced D&D supplement Deities and Demigods Cyclopedia mentions that objects covered in dung are reputedly unable to be touched by the undead.
    • 1st Edition Advanced D&D supplement Oriental Adventures. Magic items called "Noisome Spirit Chasers" are firecrackers that, when detonated, cause nearby spirits to leave the area.
    • Most editions have a variety of spells that offer protection from supernatural beings like fiends and undead. In 5th Edition, these include protection from good and evil, magic circle, and hallow. Protection from good and evil protects a single target, while the others protect an area. In all cases, creatures like fey, fiends, celestials, aberrations, and the undead cannot voluntarily enter the area or possess or charm anyone inside it, and any attacks they try to make against someone inside the area are at a substantial penalty.
  • In Age of Aquarius, radiation repels and hurts spirits. Those spirits who cannot simply leave the presence of the radiation isotopes (like earth spirits, bound to their land,) were subjected to a Fate Worse than Death.

    Theatre 
  • In the West End/Broadway version of Dracula, Van Helsing uses The Host as this.

    Video Games 
  • Final Fantasy XIV:
    • Dragons may be some of the most powerful creatures on the face of the star, but incense created from the silver dew plant causes their eyes to water for hours and fills their mouths and noses with a rancid flavor that few can withstand. The Gnath and Vath make extensive usage of this incense to avoid becoming meals for dragons swooping down from Sohm Al.
    • In the 2021 All Saint's Wake event, the Warrior of Light is given a special lantern to chase away the voidsent haunting the catacombs near Gridania along with holy water to help return kidnapped souls to their rightful owners.
  • Kaiju Wars has Dr. Wagner's anti-Kaiju serum, which renders kaiju docile when ingested so they abandon their attacks. Unfortunately, the kaiju mutate so rapidly that they become immune to any given batch of the serum after a single dose, forcing the doctor to whip up a fresh batch whenever the kaiju come back.
  • Yaobikuni from Onmyōji (2016) is walking Supernatural Repellent to Hōōka. Being the embodiment of the phoenix fire, the latter is repelled by the former's still living despite her soul's having gone cold because her flames of life have been extinguished long, long ago.
  • Scribblenauts, humorously enough, has the aptly titled "Zombie Repellent". Guess what it does.

    Web Animation 

    Western Animation 
  • Danny Phantom has a lot of technological anti-ghost inventions, but a standout example is an episode where the eponymous hero finds himself within the Salem era of America's history. There he discovers a plant called "blood blossoms", red and black rose like flowers that emit some kind of vapor that harms and depowers ghosts, effectively trapping him when he gets stuck in a circle. The series finale also introduces a another naturally occurring, space borne radioactive rock that harms ghosts.
  • A two-part episode of South Park focused on the boys (and Craig) becoming a Peruvian pan-flute band, only for them to be rounded up with the other bands by the Department of Homeland Security. Then giant guinea pigs and other similar creatures start rampaging across the world. Turns out the pan-flute music kept the guinea creatures contained, and the Director of Homeland Security was actually a guinea creature in disguise (a guinea pirate, no less) who used his position to eliminate the pan-flute bands and unleash the guinea creatures upon the world once again. Fortunately, the Incans planned for this, and Craig, no matter how much he doesn't want to, ends up being the one to defeat the guinea pirate.

Alternative Title(s): Supernatural Repellant

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