Virgin Power: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

So you've got your hands on a spiffy, brand new bunch of [[Applied Phlebotinum]]. It will do ''anything''. Launch psychic fireballs, generate matter out of nothing, lay waste to entire towns, fulfill your fondest desires, and [[Flight, Strength, Heart|let your cat out every evening before bedtime.]]

 

 

And by virgin, we almost always mean a ''female'' virgin. Because [[A Man Is Not a Virgin|male virgins don't exist. Ever.]] Often, being with another woman [[Unfortunate Implications|"doesn't count."]]

And by female virgin, we generally mean a sweet, young (but adult), beautiful, innocent, wholesome virgin. The [[Action Girl]] is treated as something of a subversion, as is an actual prepubescent [[Children Are Innocent]], and the sour-tempered and ancient old maid is always played as if it were a subversion.

 

 

 

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'' had both Miaka and Yui's powers tied to their respective virginities. Of course, the series milked the romantic tension this generated for all that it was worth. Both girls also underwent rape-related subplots as well.

** {{spoiler|Mokuren is a special case though, all other Kiches Sarjalians, including her parents,}} do lose their power once they aren't virgins. And yes, there are male virgins with special powers too (rare as they are)!

* ''[[Devil Hunter Yohko]]'' features a heroine who must remain a virgin until she gains her powers. (Her mother was unable to fight temptation and thus, could not become a demon hunter.) Interestingly, once Yohko gained her powers, she no longer needed to remain chaste, as her [[I Want Grandkids|grandchild-wanting mother]] hastily and happily informed her.

** Keep in mind that everything is word-of-mouth from the grandmother (no documentation, no neutral-party testimonials), and the importance of virginity is never proven, or for that matter even ''explained''. All that's ever said about it is that a budding Devil Hunter must be "physically pure", and the grumbling about the "impurity" of the mother is obviously just a convenient way to blow her off without having to make Yoko parentless. (This is supported by the fact that the mother has roughly ''10 seconds'' of screen time and is never mentioned again.) Oh, and that "retcon" is just granny blurting out "Protect your purity!"; she never says ''why'' this is important, and there's no reason to believe that this constitutes a nullification of a standing mandate. The most sensible explanation is that she has control issues and her moods change on a whim...both nothing unusual for authority figures. It ''was'' a good thing that she prevented Yoko's boyfriend from having at her, but that's because he was possessed at the time and probably would have ripped her head off before or during the act.

* ''[[Mai-Otome]]'', in that the [[Nanomachines]] that power the Otomes become worthless if they have sex through some convoluted biochemical reaction. While this is moot for some characters who choose their powers over relationships or some who do otherwise (Akane and Kazuya seem adamant about getting together, although they comically never succeed) it's a bit of [[Fridge Logic]] why they couldn't just use protection. Most fans don't think about it, aside from the cynical suspicion it's part of the [[Moe Moe]] fandom's obsession with virgins.

** Another explanation in-series links this to [[Voodoo Shark|Prostate-Specific Antigen, which destroys the Otome nanomachines on contact]]. This is a major case of [[Did Not Do the Research]], since [[You Fail Biology Forever|it is also found in female bodies]]. It isn't explained if this means that the nanomachines are able to resist low levels of PSA, or require special agents that have been genetically modified to produce better conditions for bioenhancement.

* Mentioned, but averted, in ''[[Slayers]]''. At one point, Lina Inverse says that it's a common myth that if a sorceress loses her virginity during her {{spoiler|menstrual period, when her powers are the weakest}}, she'll lose her powers forever. She then says that this is an untrue myth in the next sentence.

* The entire premise of the [[OAV]] ''[[Virgin Fleet]]''.

* In both the manga and OVA versions of ''[[Hellsing]]'', virgins drained by a vampire become vampires themselves, while non-virgins are turned into mindless zombie-like ghouls ({{spoiler|though it becomes a plot-point when even children and other obvious virgins are found as ghouls instead of vampires}}). This is why, in the first chapter/episode, Alucard asks if Seras is a virgin [[Shoot the Hostage|before...]]

** Also, some characters remark that virgin blood tastes better; at one point, the [[Big Bad]] asks that the first paratrooper to land in the final battle be given virgin blood as a reward.

* In ''[[Kannazuki no Miko]]'' Himeko Kurusugawa and Chikane Himemiya are virgins until {{spoiler|Chikane rapes Himeko}}. The point of which in the anime was {{spoiler|as part her [[Strike Me Down]] plan to make Himeko kill her}} but in the mangas it was meant to {{spoiler|remove her powers through the loss of her purity, thus making her worthless as a sacrifice to the Orochi, but it's subverted by the use of Himeko's hymen-blood to revive Ame No Murakumo, since that blood is technically pure}}.

* ''[[Koe de Oshigoto!]]'' has a particularly ironic example, as virgins make the best eroge voice actors, because sex in real life is nothing like its portrayal in games. Fumika is not happy about her lack of hands-on experience, though.

* Inverted in ''[[Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt|Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt]]''. {{spoiler|The last sign that Panty lost her angelic powers was that her hymen grew back, regaining her virginity. She gets her powers back when she has sex with Brief, breaking her hymen.}}

* It has been said in the ''[[High School DxD]]'' universe that unicorns will only approach virgins and they need the horn of the unicorn to {{spoiler|get Rias and Asia back to normal because they've been turned into children.}} While all of Issei's harem are virgins, Azazel uses Akeno as bait for the unicorn. {{spoiler|[[Hilarity Ensues|She then smacks the unicorn, knocking it out and take the horn of said unicorn]]}}

 

== Comic Books ==

* ''[[The Darkness]]'' series has this to a certain extent. While Jackie was not a virgin before his 21st birthday, he later learned that having sex with a woman would kill him, because the Darkness (and his life by extension) would leave once his sperm fertilized an egg. It should be noted that this revelation caused him almost as much distress as the people who were trying to kill him when he found out.

** There is, however, a loophole; {{spoiler|the Darkness itself possesses him and rapes the comatose Sara Pezzini, bearer of half of the [[Witchblade (Comic Book)|Witchblade]]. The [[NSFW]] [http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h291/SirThinks2Much/scansdaily/sejic/jackiesex.jpg art] implies that they or their...riders were both conscious of it on some level, [[Unfortunate Implications|but still]]. Please note that neither Jackie nor Sara has any memory of the conception.}}

** Interestingly, the only teenage male on the team [[A Man Is Not a Virgin|did not have the same advantage...]]

* For ''[[Alpha Flight]]'' member Snowbird, losing her virginity had mixed results. She lost her immortality and, for a time, the blessing of her family, but she gained the ability to leave Canada's borders without ill effect and could change into any animal rather than just those native to the North. She herself didn't think much of the benefits for a very long time, but her teammates did, as they previously had to do without her power whenever a mission took them away from Canada.

* In the French comics series "Epic of Knights Dragons" (la geste des chevaliers dragons). In that world, dragons turn any creatures that get close to them into a crazy monster. The only people not affected by this evil power are virgin women. So, the knights' order specially set for killing dragons is only female, with virgins [[Action Girl]].

* Lampshaded in ''[[Top Ten]]: The Forty-Niners'', where an officer is grousing about how the whole thing is just a ploy by the heroines.

* In ''Le Collège Invisible'', only "pure maidens" are immune to Dragons'/Great Destroyers' zombification aura. Well, pure maidens and [[Anti-Magic|Néga-mages]], the latter also protecting nearby allies.

 

== Film ==

* Subverted in the movie ''[[Kull The Conqueror]]''. The hero's non-virgin love interest needs a god to grant her the power to destroy the [[Big Bad]]. She knows gods usually don't hand that kind of power to non-virgins, so she asks the god to give it to her anyway, since her ''intentions'' are pure at least. The god generously obliges.

** It perhaps helped she lost her virginity as [[Scarpia Ultimatum|a price]] (yep, the old king was one dirty ol' bastard) for letting her brother free (he was to be executed for heresy), and not by just screwing around.

** It's especially funny because the virgin who lit the candle WAS A DUDE. How many 8-year-olds didn't get ''that'' joke the first time around?

*** The joke is helped by his [[Little Miss Snarker|little sister's]] answer when he asks what's happening.

'''[[The Nostalgia Chick]]''': "Fucking virgins, man. Why do we have them around?" }}

* Inverted in ''[[Once Bitten]]'', where the male lead needs to lose his virginity to protect himself from the vampiress. He just barely "makes it" in time. But he didn't have time to enjoy it, which is probably why they went right back to it at the end.

* ''[[The Monster Squad]]'' has an amulet that, through the reading of a magic spell that works only if the reader is a virgin, blows a hole in Limbo to suck the monsters into it. Dracula wants the amulet because every hundred years, the amulet becomes vulnerable enough that it can be shattered. The titular bunch of kids first try it out with Patrick's sister, only to find out that she's not a virgin because of a one-night stand, so they have to have Sean's sister, five-year-old Phoebe, read through the spell with the help of Scary German Guy.

* In [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0337877/ Birth Rite], Rebecca, a virgin, has to have sex with a warlock in order to gain her "birth rite" as the grand dame, but can't have sex with anyone else, to avoid becoming impure. She ''does'' have sex with her adopted brother, and then kills him in order to rectify her sin.

* ''[[Cast a Deadly Spell]]'' has "the last unicorn hunter" who is also intended as a virgin sacrifice to the Old Ones. There's a lot of drama around the obvious and anticlimactic solution.

 

== Literature ==

* Every [[Action Girl]] in ''[[The Faerie Queene]]'' is also a virgin, who conveniently comes across a sorcerer or monster (representing various lusts) who can be defeated only ''by'' a virgin. ''Of course'' a poem written in honor of Elizabeth I, a.k.a. the Virgin Queen of England, would be populated with ass-kicking virgins!

* [[Older Than Print]]: The 12th century epic poem ''[[Nibelungenlied]]'' has the character Brunhild, Queen of Iceland, whose virginity gives her superhuman strength (she can throw 22 metres a boulder that takes 12 men to lift).

* Played with in ''[[On A Pale Horse]]'' when Luna, despite having been the victim of [[Mind Rape]] and soul tarnishing by a demon, is still technically a physical virgin, so she is acceptable food for a hungry dragoness.

* ''[[Many Waters]]'' by Madeleine L'Engle, has the [[Unicorn]] thing. Interestingly, the book centers around two male virgins (although a big deal isn't made about it).

* In [[Alan Dean Foster]]'s ''The Day Of The Dissonance'', a young girl is hired by some bandits to lure out a unicorn stallion, who is entirely unaffected (beyond being friendly and protective towards her, at any rate) because he's gay.

* In [[Caroline Stevermer]]'s ''[[Scholarly Magics|A Scholar of Magics]]'', {{spoiler|the Agincourt Device, which can turn people into animals, doesn't work on virgins -- one of whom, the viewpoint character and undoubted hero, is a very adult man}}.

** [[Discworld]] also subverts the [[Unicorn]] myth. Granny Weatherwax demonstrates that the virgin need not be young or innocent.

* Subverted in [[Elizabeth Ann Scarborough]]'s ''[[The Unicorn Creed]]'', where a "household witch" (magical cleaning, cooking, etc.) has to ''lose'' her virginity when she's 18 or she will lose her powers. Also, unicorns associate with virgins because they're young, impressionable, and it lasts only a short while (unicorns are out to make the world a better place, one girl at a time). It is stated that they could have chosen pregnancy just as easily, except you can get pregnant more than once.

** It's far more complicated than that and somewhat simpler at the same time. Basically by not channelling their energy into sex, they have far more psychic power available. In the darker days some Keepers were psychologically and even physically castrated so they could not even engage in or even think about sex even if they wanted to. Psychological blocks against sexual activity are actually major plot points in at least 2 of the Darkover books. But that probably a different trope.

* A subversion in [[Harry Turtledove]]'s short story ''Honeymouth'': The foul-mouthed and very lecherous mercenary, ironically dubbed Honeymouth, is somehow able to ride a unicorn without any problem. When asked how he can do it, usually while the unicorn is parked outside a brothel, he sarcastically replies that he's a virgin. {{spoiler|He is, technically. The nickname "Honeymouth" has nothing to do with scatological verbiage.}}

* In [[Fred Saberhagen]]'s ''Empire of the East'' and ''Swords'' series, some wizards, both male and female, lose some or all of their power if they lose their virginity. Many do not, and, indeed, some are quite promiscuous with no ill effects, but there is no explanation of why some do and some don't.

** More specifically, in ''The Second Book of Swords'', Doon and Mitspieler are very intent on Ariane maintaining her virginity, {{spoiler|because they plan on sacrificing her to a demon.}}

* Confusingly used in [[Andre Norton]]'s ''[[Witch World]]''. Everyone believes that the witches lose their powers with their virginity, and it's proven to be true (one of the nastier enemies of the witches rapes the ones he catches for that very reason). However, most of the main female characters end up keeping their powers, even through several children. The books never address it explicitly, but all the cases where the woman keeps her powers has her having sex with a man who ''also'' has powers (unheard of in the land where the early books occur) and in at least some cases, their powers ended up somehow linked.

** The sole exception being Elys. Jervon explicitly does not have any sort of magical power, which is what caused half the trouble in ''[[Songsmith]]''. Gillan may also be an exception, considering the kind of power her husband has. Consensuality may have something to do with it, as may the expectation that you will lose your powers.

* Guinevere has healing powers in ''Mad Merlin'', for which she must remain chaste. Three guesses as to how that turns out.

* In some versions of the Arthurian Legend, Lancelot has this power. He is the best and strongest knight because he is a virgin. Once he sleeps with Guenivere, he loses his strength. This is why he cannot reach the Holy Grail, but his son, Galahad, can. Galahad remains a virgin. (This of course leads to a very funny scene in ''Monty Python and the Holy Grail''.)

* Played completely straight in Parker Blue's ''Try Me''.

* ''Gomez'' by Cyril Kornbluth: a young Puerto Rican maths/physics genius described as a 'second Ramanujan' is discovered in New York. He winds up in a super-secret research project that has been going nowhere, and comes up with a physical theory that implies the ability to create a super-weapon so deadly that he's horrified. The narrator, a sympathetic reporter, all but abducts the thoroughly stressed-out Gomez for a forced vacation; out of his sight, Gomez sneaks across a state line and marries his girlfriend. When he returns, his mathematical ability is (he claims) gone: he admits, with an glance at his (literally) blushing bride, that he now can't think about math at all.

* In James MacDonald and Debra Doyle's ''Land of Mist and Snow'', Columbia Abrams can act as a [[Barrier Maiden]] because of her virginity. {{spoiler|Being an abolitionist, she doesn't on the whole approve of the imprisonment. And at the climax, she tells the hero of the story that their only safety is freeing it. Whereupon he, [[You Are in Command Now|having just become captain]], declares them husband and wife, and they set up freeing it.}}

* In David Feintuch's ''The Still,'' the king/queen has the power to commune with his ancestors, which he uses to good effect to help run the country. The catch? He has to be a virgin. Unfortunately, the protagonist is a typically horny teenager.

* Subverted in Steven R. Boyett's fantasy novel ''Ariel''. The protagonist is a wisecracking twenty-year-old virgin, which allows him to become the magical Familiar of the eponymous unicorn. Though the unicorn delivers an occasional ass-kicking to the bad guys, she is {{spoiler|easily captured}}. Due to their <s>codependent relationship</s> magical bond, the protagonist goes into unicorn withdrawal and becomes a bit of a headcase for the obligatory {{spoiler|rescue}} quest. The [[Unresolved Sexual Tension|constant advances from random women]] don't help, either.

* Virgin Mary: Only a virgin can bring the son of God to the world.

** In two male examples, her son, Jesus, and possibly (according to the apparitions at Fatima) her husband, Joseph.

** This is the case with many of the Catholic saints. St. Margaret of Cortona was an interesting one, in that Christ promised her in a vision that he would still honor her as a virgin in heaven even though she had a son before her conversion.

** ''Sorcerers'' can be married or otherwise not celibate, but wizards can't. The magical hierarchy in Earthsea goes Witches<Sorcerers<Wizards<Mages. The first two needn't be celibate, but it's a requirement for the second two. Ged, being a mage, is celibate and almost certainly a virgin {{spoiler|that is, until the end of ''Tehanu'', but at that point he's not a mage anymore}}. It's implied in ''Tehanu'' that wizards use spells to suppress their sex drive in order to keep it from being a problem.

* In The Outstretched Shadow by [[Mercedes Lackey]] and James Mallory, Kellan asks the wild magic for an out {{spoiler|to escape the Outlaw Hunt}} and ends up meeting Shalkan, a unicorn who requires him to remain chaste and celibate ("you ''do'' know the difference?") for a year and a day.

* In Gene Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun, only virgins can clearly see and hear messages from the gods. This serves as an in-universe justification for why priests and nuns are forbidden from carnal pleasures. Non-virgins can see and hear messed-up tidbits, though.

* In Jack Chalker's ''Dancing Gods'' series, the female protagonist starts out learning a form of magic that demands virginity. Naturally, once she's passed her tests she's instead taught a form of power [[Deus Sex Machina|based on prostitution]].

* In [[William Morris]]' ''The Wood Beyond the World'', [[No Name Given|the]] [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Maid]] explains to Walter that she will lose her powers when she loses her virginity, so they cannot have sex until after she has defeated the [[Big Bad|Lady]]. {{spoiler|She does. They do.}}

* In ''The Education of Jennifer Parrish'', a Satanic organization plans to switch the mind of one of their members with an innocent girl. The ritual requires that the victim '''not''' be a virgin, and one of their members is assigned to make sure of this but fails to do so. When the ceremony takes place, her virgin status foils the magic and saves her.

* The YA novel ''Rampant'' by Diana Peterfreund features a society of virgins who hunt bloodthirsty, evil unicorns. When one is raped, she loses her power to do so.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* In ''[[Angel]]'', Cordelia discovers that her demonic powers can be transferred sexually (at least to one other person). In a subversion, this requires not that she maintain her chastity indefinitely, but just until she acquires a supernatural prophylactic.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' has a scene of Willow looking at some phlebotinum and saying "You know, a dash of this mixed with a virgin's saliva will...do something I know nothing about."

** There's also an episode early in the first season that involves a Praying Mantis demon looking to mate with virgin males, in an interesting subversion of the trope. Of course, Xander, who has been professing his masculine sexual prowess for the entire episode, falls into the demon's trap, and consequently has to endure the barbs of his friends for being a virgin. Poor Xander...

* On ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', during a hostage situation, it's revealed that the problem could be solved by a virgin sacrifice, and there Just Happens To Be a very religious virgin girl in the police station. However, (a) the Winchester boys decline to kill her (even though she volunteers upon finding out the stakes), (b) during the course of the battle, she decides she'll rid herself of that virginity as soon as they're out of it, and (c) {{spoiler|she ends up dying anyway}}.

* Played depressingly straight in an episode of the short-lived 1997 series ''[[Conan the Adventurer (TV series)|Conan the Adventurer]].'' One of Conans many doomed love interests starts out a virgin warrior who can magically adorn herself with impenetrable armor and gain incredible strength and speed. She and Conan eventually fall in love and have sex. She later dies after being captured, because she couldn't do the armor thing anymore. At least he got laid that time?

* ''[[Xena: Warrior Princess]]'' the big thing is blood innocence, Gabrielle has not '''killed''' a man.

* When a vampire is delivered to the flat of ''[[The Young Ones]]'', Vyvyan argues that vampires only attack virgins. All four lads are quick to deny their eligibility, but the vampire itself remarks "what a choice!", confirming that they're all lying.

 

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[Tales of Phantasia]]'s'' distant prequel, ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'', the unicorn can again only be approached by "a pure maiden". [[Action Girl]] [[Hello, Nurse!]] Sheena gets quite [[Tsundere|snappy]] when Raine implies [[Plucky Girl|Colette]] will have to go alone.

'''[[The Smart Guy|Raine]]''': Because I'm an adult. }}

** Raine's comment that she is an adult was likely an excuse, it is more likely she refused to go because [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?|she is afraid of water.]]

 

== Web Comics ==

* Male example: Zander in ''[[Metanoia]]'' is [[Double Entendre|Ridden]], or a voluntary conduit for an angel. Virginity is part of keeping one's "aura clear" to allow the angel to work through; other requirements include vegetarianism and not swearing oaths.

* A trade paperback-only strip for ''[[Order of the Stick]]'' has the party encounter a unicorn in the woods. Haley tries to approach the unicorn... only for it to roll over on its back, laughing.

 

== Western Animation ==

* In one episode of ''[[Futurama]]'', the mutants below New New York require a virgin sacrifice. Leela volunteers, and they use her...mostly due to a lack of options.

 

* Some more generic examples are unicorns, whom only a virgin maiden can approach.

** At least one webcomic features a virgin unicorn hunter.

* From the [[Evil Overlord List Cellblock B]]:

 

== Real Life ==

* In North-Rhine Westphalia and other parts of Germany, there is a tradition that any man who is over 30 and unmarried has to sweep rubbish from the steps of the town hall until he is released by the kiss of a virgin. This has resulted in work colleagues and/or friends trooping to sufficiently public steps when someone turns 30 and making the 30-year-old cross dress and sweep straw/bottle caps until kissed. In one particular case, at first a girlfriend was sufficient. This escalated into three random passersby. In other cases, the guy gets released by a kiss from a pre-pubescent girl. This is really not as squicky as it might sound, though, as the kiss in question is a quick peck on the cheek (which is a pretty normal greeting in Germany and a very normal greeting in most other European countries) and at least in the cases of the pre-pubescent girls, they're often relatives of the guy or one of his friends.

** Not necessarily. Human biology was still the same in her time, and she'd want to be ''considered'' a virgin...

** This is where we get the name of the state of Virginia (also the common girl's name in most cases can be traced here as well) which is interesting considering Virginia now boasts itself as a place for LOVERS.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Purity Personified]]

[[Category:Power At a Price]]

[[Category:The Power of Index]]

[[Category:Magic and Powers]]

[[Category:Power]]