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Anthropomorphic Personification: Difference between revisions
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{{trope|wppage=Anthropomorphism}}
{{quote|''"You are utterly the stupidest, most self-centered, appallingest excuse for an [[Department of Redundancy Department|anthropomorphic personification]] in this or any other plane!"''
|'''Death''' berating '''Dream''' in ''[[The Sandman]]''}}
{{quote|''"[[He Who Fights Monsters]] should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you."''
|Friedrich Nietzsche}}
The living (roughly humanoid) embodiment of a fundamental abstraction. They are typically god-like in power, but have a much narrower focus. Athena does many things; Death only one. In non-magical series they resemble a [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]], but unlike them are an intrinsic part of the workings of the universe.
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* Kool-Aid Man has, in the past, acted as the AP of refreshment—arguably, anyway—when in order to give him some justification for all his property damage, the advertising introduced what was unmistakably the AP of thirst: [https://web.archive.org/web/20130912185559/http://x-entertainment.com/articles/0861/ Scorch]. A Kool-Aid ad campaign in the '90s involved a contest for which kids procuring a map and watching the commercials for clues to where Scorch was hiding.
* Allstate gives us [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9eqj7xRzk0&feature=relmfu the anthropomorphic personification of mayhem.]
== Anime and Manga ==
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*** {{spoiler|[[Tsukihime|Arcrueid Brunestud]]}} is also ARCHETYPE-EARTH, basically the living embodiment of [[Mother Nature|Gaea]].
== Comic Books ==
== Comics ==▼
* The [[Marvel Universe]] has ''loads'' of these. Lord Chaos, Master Order, Eternity, Infinity, Oblivion, Anomaly, Despair... They even have Anthropomorpho, of the "dimension of forms", where they pick up physical forms to manifest themselves within the regular universe, making him the living embodiment of ''living embodiments''.
** Galactus has been shown to be similar -- the giant humanoid Earthlings perceive him as is not his true form.
* [[The DCU]] has them too, the most famous being [[Neil Gaiman]]'s "[[The Sandman|The Endless]]"; Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium. Note that this version of Death is ''not'' [[The Grim Reaper]], being instead a cute, [[Perky Goth]] girl who appreciates the value of life as far as her calling permits (''Dream'' is the grim, brooding one...). At one point, when Dream is being particularly emo, Death shouts the page quote at him.
** There's also the Black Flash, anthropomorphic personification of death for speedsters (or maybe of the Speed Force), who takes the form of a zombie-looking guy in a black Flash costume.
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** One non-Sandman comic tried to [[Retcon]] the existence of multiple personifications of Death by claiming Death of the Endless was "the peaceful death that comes to the righteous", and distinct from hostile, threatening forms of Death like the Black Racer. [[Neil Gaiman]] was extremely offended by this and responded directly by having his Death give a speech in a comic explicitly declaring that she represented the death of all living things, everywhere, without exception, and that she would eventually bring about the end of the universe itself.
*** Given the existence of Black Flash and Black Racer, this means that either she's been hiring subcontractors or she likes [[Cosplay]] and has a couple of less nice alternate personae.
*** Actually, it is repeatedly shown that the Endless appear
** Along these lines, [[Neil Gaiman|Gaiman]]'s Endless have explicitly been permitted to alter their personalities over time in order to match different aspects of the concept they embody. [[Neil Gaiman|Gaiman]]'s Death really ''was'' once a cruel, callous Grim Reaper figure - still a beautiful girl in appearance - who reveled in the fear and revulsion living beings had for her, though this immature period of her life took place eons ago, in prehistoric times.
*** One of the realizations from this comic is that Death is shown to have a more flexible personality than her younger brother, Dream, who (at the conclusion of the Sandman series) was shown to be incapable of accepting change. One can infer that this older version of Death became more life-affirming at some point after she was made to take mortal form once every century (as seen in the spin-off series, Death: The High Cost of Living).
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** Actually, the 'Century Babies' have been reincarnated every 100 years only recently, and would change more often before, to suit the change in times. [[Fridge Logic|Though, given that society has changed more in the last 100 years than other time periods of 1000 years...]]
* In one ''Ampney Crucis Investigates'' story, a group of contaminated souls ripped out of the afterlife attempt to create a physical embodiment of war.
* Newspaper cartoonists sometimes represent the new year as a newborn baby (and sometimes the old year as an old man) when producing cartoons to mark the turn of a new year.▼
* In previous decades, national personifications were often used in political cartoons, with their interactions giving a summary of the artist's opinion or interpretation of then-recent international occurrences - for instance, [[wikipedia:File:Germany GB France.gif|this cartoon]] portraying Germany's reaction to the formation of the Franco-British alliance. Most political cartoons these days, however, opt to depict national leaders instead, though political parties still find themselves personified, at least in the US.▼
* Carrying on from the above, [[DC Comics]] has an Anthropomorphic Personification [[Captain Patriotic]], Uncle Sam, the Spirit of America. According to his backstory, Uncle Sam has previously been known as Minuteman during [[The American Revolution]], then became Brother Jonathan between then and [[The American Civil War]], was split into Billy Yank and Johnny Reb during that war, and became Uncle Sam afterwards. [[Dork Age|He was also briefly the space-helmeted Patriot, but we don't talk about that]]. Interestingly, the reason America has an Anthropomorphic Personification but most other countries don't is actually explained- he isn't a natural phenomenon, but, rather, the Founding Fathers specifically created him with a magic ritual to help with the Revolutionary War.▼
* Also in DC Comics, Kismet [[I Have Many Names|aka Ahti aka Sharon Vance aka Strange Visitor]] is the personification of the entire universe, similar to Marvel's version: Eternity. In fact, in ''[[JLA-Avengers]]'', the two ''fell in love''.
* The final arc of Grant Morrison's run on ''[[Doom Patrol]]'' dealt with the Candlemaker, at first thought to be one of Dorothy Spinner's more sinister [[Imaginary Friend|imaginary friends]]. Turns out he's actually the personification of mankind's fears of nuclear holocaust. Yeah. Shit got real.
== Fairy Tales ==
* In ''[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/crane/storycatherine.html Catherine and Her Fate]'', Catherine is asked whether she wants to be miserable in youth and happy in old age or the other way round by a woman who is her Fate. [[Fallen Princess|Whereupon her fate gives it to her.]] Finally, however, her Fate gives her a [[MacGuffin]], [[Rags to Royalty|which wins her a king in marriage]].
== Fan
* In ''[[The Captain of the Virtual Console]]'', The Thoughtless are this to [[Moral Guardians]] and ignorant gamers, and Selene is this to gamers' hopes and dreams. In Chapter 2, Gancena briefly sees a Thoughtless take the form of [[EarthBound|Giygas]].
* ''[[Queen of All Oni]]'' has the glimpses [[Ghost in the Machine|inside Jade's mind]], and the Aspects (representations of different parts of her psyche) that inhabit it. The two most prominent are Hero (Jade's inherent good) and The Queen (her [[Super-Powered Evil Side]]), although at least a dozen more have shown up or been mentioned.
* A newspaper reporter quotes the ''[[Lord of Light]]'' example in the Literature section below and applies it to the [[Sailor Moon|Sailor Senshi]] in ''[[Drunkard's Walk|Drunkard's Walk S: Heart of Steel]]'':
{{quote|A Western writer once said in one of his books, "Godhood is more than a name. It is a condition of being.... Being a god is the quality of being able to be yourself to such an extent that your passions correspond with the forces of the universe, so that those who look upon you know this without hearing your name spoken.... One rules through one's ruling passion. Those who look upon gods then say, without even knowing their names, 'He is Fire. She is Dance. He is Destruction.'"
So it is with the Sailor Senshi; one cannot be in their presence and ever hope to deny it. Sailor Mars ''is'' Fire, burning passion and intensity. Sailor Venus is shining Light. Sailor Mercury is Water in all its forms. Sailor Jupiter is the Storm and the Lightning. Sailor Uranus is the power of Heaven brought to Earth. Sailor Neptune is the inexorable force of the Sea.
And Sailor Moon -- Sailor Moon is Love.}}
== Film ==
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** Demonreach is [[Genius Loci]]. But certain characters have indicated that the island creature might be something more.
* ''[[The Palm-Wine Drinkard]]'' features a number of (physically undescribed) personifications: Death, Drum, Song, Dance, Laughter, Earth, Sky.
* In ''[[Lord of Light]]'' by [[Roger Zelazny]], ''becoming'' an anthropomorphic personification is how one becomes a god:
{{quote|Godhood is more than a name. It is a condition of being.... Being a god is the quality of being able to be yourself to such an extent that your passions correspond with the forces of the universe, so that those who look upon you know this without hearing your name spoken.... One rules through one's ruling passion. Those who look upon gods then say, without even knowing their names, "He is Fire. She is Dance. He is Destruction. She is Love."}}
== Live Action TV ==
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** This is confirmed when Death tells Dean that he wants him to take his job for one day, and the only way to do that was to put on his ring. Ostensibly this was to teach Dean a lesson about the natural order of things and why Death ''hates'' the angels and demons who mess around with it on a daily basis (especially [[Bratty Half-Pint]] Lucifer).
* In ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', The First is basically the very idea of evil itself.
== Music ==
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* The [[Vocaloid]]s are the Anthropomorphic personifications of software. Specifically, each one represents a particular voice synthesis program designed for the use of singing. They take the form of [[Ridiculously Human Robot]] [[Idol Singer]]s.
▲== Newspaper Comics ==
▲* Newspaper cartoonists sometimes represent the new year as a newborn baby (and sometimes the old year as an old man) when producing cartoons to mark the turn of a new year.
▲* In previous decades, national personifications were often used in political cartoons, with their interactions giving a summary of the artist's opinion or interpretation of then-recent international occurrences - for instance, [[wikipedia:File:Germany GB France.gif|this cartoon]] portraying Germany's reaction to the formation of the Franco-British alliance. Most political cartoons these days, however, opt to depict national leaders instead, though political parties still find themselves personified, at least in the US.
▲* Carrying on from the above, [[DC Comics]] has an Anthropomorphic Personification [[Captain Patriotic]], Uncle Sam, the Spirit of America. According to his backstory, Uncle Sam has previously been known as Minuteman during [[The American Revolution]], then became Brother Jonathan between then and [[The American Civil War]], was split into Billy Yank and Johnny Reb during that war, and became Uncle Sam afterwards. [[Dork Age|He was also briefly the space-helmeted Patriot, but we don't talk about that]]. Interestingly, the reason America has an Anthropomorphic Personification but most other countries don't is actually explained- he isn't a natural phenomenon, but, rather, the Founding Fathers specifically created him with a magic ritual to help with the Revolutionary War.
== Radio ==
* A [[Big Finish Doctor Who]] audio revealed the Master as Death's Champion.
== Religion and Myth ==
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== Sports ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120617195837/http://www.guardianproject30.com/bios.php The Guardian Project]: Thirty [[Superhero]] personifications of [[NHL]] teams.
== Tabletop Games ==
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* The [[Our Titans Are Different|Titans]] in [[Scion]] would fit in this trope, being Light, Darkness, Water, Fire. etc.
* In [[Unknown Armies]], each member of the Invisible Clergy is one of these, personifying a sometimes simple, sometimes complex idea of what a human being can be. The very concepts of things like [[The Fool]], [[The Hecate Sisters|The Mother]] and [[The Trickster]] (among others) are represented by ascended mortals in the Clergy. Really abstract conceptions of non-human things (Good/Evil, Elements, Animals, Geographical Things, etc.) do not have similar representation. It's a very [[Humans Are Special|human-centric]] cosmos.
== Toys ==
* Even ''[[Transformers]]'', of all things, has these, though mostly in the comic continuities. The most noteworthy is Vector Prime, one of the thirteen original Transformers and the legendary guardian of Space and Time, whose job it is to keep the timestream flowing, resolve temporal paradoxes, and suchlike. He fares rather worse in a fight than most anthropomorphic personifications. Another of the original thirteen, The Fallen, is entropy personified. His true name was taken away from him after he betrayed their creator, Primus, to side with his enemy, Unicron, leaving him known only as "The Fallen". Unlike Vector Prime, the Fallen is portrayed as exceedingly powerful.
* ''[[Milky Way and The Galaxy Girls]]'' is based on humanized versions of the solar system.
== Video Games ==
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* Parsee from ''[[Touhou Project]]'' has essentially [[Abstract Apotheosis|become]] the Anthropomorphic Personification of [[Green-Eyed Monster|jealousy]].
* ''[[Kantai Collection]]'', also known as ''Kancolle'' features various [[World War II]] ships, especially those of the Imperial Japanese Navy, as anthropomorphic girls.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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* [[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin: the Animated Series]] has many of these. Most notable are Mirage as "Evil Incarnate" and a one shot character called [[Trickster|Chaos.]] Chaos also mentions another one:
{{quote|'''Chaos:''' I never liked fate. Predestination goes against the grain. Besides, he cheats at cards.}}
== Real Life ==
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