Basic Trope: A major part of a religion is the veneration, exaltation, and/or outright worship of one's ancestors.
- Straight: In Tales of Troperia, Hiro prays and leaves offerings at his family shrine in exchange for protective blessings.
- Exaggerated: With enough veneration, Hiro can summon the spirits of his ancestors to the battlefield where they devastate opponents with divine abilities.
- Downplayed:
- Hiro always feels like he does better in battle after praying at his family shrine, but it may just be a boost in confidence in a Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane scenario.
- Hiro talks to his deceased ancestors as a means of inspiring himself in tough situations.
- Justified: The ToT universe follows explicit Physical Religion rules and prayer has tangible, observable powers which empower the souls of the deceased to influence the mortal world.
- Inverted: Everyone has a terrible fear of their ancestors and they avoid veneration because they do not want to give them power.
- Subverted: Hiro believes his prayers and offerings are empowering his ancestors to protect him, but really, the local priest is secretly using White Magic to protect him instead.
- Double Subverted: ...however, Hiro's ancestors arent' acting because they know the priest is helping him. When the priest is killed, they actually use their powers to protect Hiro.
- Parodied:
- Zig-Zagged: Hiro prays and leaves offerings at his family shrine in exchange for protective blessings. However, the local priest overhears his prayers and uses white magic to protect him instead, letting him believe it is his ancestors to give him courage and not making him reliant on the magic. However, the priest is captured and Hiro comes to his rescue, displaying the same protections even though the priest did not use his magic. When he tells Hiro this, they both consider that it may actually be the ancestors afterall...
- Averted: Beyond standard funerary customs, no special veneration is given to the ancestors in the setting's religion.
- Enforced:
- Lampshaded: After mocking Hiro and saying that the dead aren't much help, his friend Quirby sees the protective blessings in action. At this point, he immediately falls to his knees and begins praying to his own ancestors.
- Invoked:
- Exploited: The Big Bad knows that the heroes pray to their ancestors which empowers them to grant blessings. He has managed to reroute and capture their souls, so the prayers are instead empowering him.
- Defied:
- Discussed:
- Conversed:
Pray to your ancestors and maybe they'll return you to the main page here.
