Epiphany (trope)

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An Epiphany (from the ancient Greek ἐπιφάνεια, epiphaneia, "manifestation, striking appearance") is an experience of a sudden and striking realization. Generally the term is used to describe scientific breakthroughs, or religious or philosophical discoveries, but it can apply in any situation in which an enlightening realization allows a problem or situation to be understood from a new and deeper perspective. Here at All The Tropes, we employ it primarily to describe any illuminating discovery, realization, disclosure, or insight used as a device for Character Development. This is usually a life-changing revelation on some (or all) levels, and can be the critical moment that leads to a Heel Face Turn -- or its opposite. An Epiphany often leaves its subject momentarily stunned as the world makes a complete paradigm shift around him.

Super-Trope to

• Epiphanic Prison
• Epiphany Comeback
• Epiphany Therapy
• Eureka Moment
• Green-Eyed Epiphany
• Heel Realization
• Ignored Epiphany
• Love Epiphany

Compare Anagnorisis. If you're looking for the web comic of the same name, see here.

Examples of Epiphany (trope) include:

Anime and Manga

• The ride Raimu gives Hane in episode 1 of Bakuon!!, which pushes Hane over the line from "motorcycles are kinda cool" to "I MUST HAVE ONE!"
• In Bleach, Ichigo has different epiphanies throughout the series, which usually involves a battle with someone. His battle with Kenpachi made him realize that his Zanpakuto is an extension of his own soul rather than just a tool. Another instance would be when he is fighting his Inner Hollow that almost gains control of him but manages to turn the tide by using his own will power. Another example would come from how he is fighting the fusion of his Inner Hollow and his Zanpakuto Spirit to learn the Final Getsuga Tensho. The fusion states how he has taken that form due to how much Ichigo fears the power of it. It when Ichigo stops fighting him and accepts the finishing blow does he learn the technique and not to fear his power.
• Dragon Ball Super has Vegeta comes to the realization of a Saiyan's power coming from anger after six months of training. This method, in turn, also gives Goku Black an epiphany on how to use his anger against losing to mortals that he creates a scythe out of his ki that can cut through dimensions.

Comic Books

• In Scott Pilgrim, the titular character gets one when he realizes that he and Gideon are alike compared to their relationships. This epiphany gives him a large sword called the Power of Understanding and a new shirt with a star on the chest. There's also how he will change himself for the better.

Fan Works

• An aggressively avante-garde "musician" by the name of Ragulin, who appears early in the Symphony of the Sword cycle of Undocumented Features, undergoes one about the nature and purpose of music at some point. When the main characters re-encounter him some years later, he has become an itinerant bluesman.
  • Also in the Symphony is former high school Alpha Bitch Liza Broadbank. When one of her plots to inconvenience the protagonists spins wildly out of control, resulting in the destruction of her school, her nearly being Press-Ganged into the Psi Corps and needing a rescue provided by those she thought of as her enemies, and getting disowned by her father, she reassesses her life and ultimately reinvents herself and renames herself "Liza Shustal".
• Akane Tendo has one about her skill as a chef in chapter 17 of the Ranma ½ Original Flavour fic Girl Days, after she tastes her own cooking for the first time.
• Simultaneous Vision Quests undertaken by all the extant Slayers in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer pseudo-crossover Xendra prompts both individual and group epiphanies that, among other things, reveals the essential (and not at all metaphorical) sisterhood of all Slayers -- and helps Faith realize that she no longer needs to be The Atoner over being Brainwashed and Crazy.

Film

• In The Lion King 1 1/2, Timon has an epiphany when deciding on living Hakuna Makata or try to help Simba reclaim the savanna from Scar. He even states it that he has one, or it was the slug he ate.

Literature

• Watching Yngwie Malmsteen perform live on stage at a rock concert inspires a plot-critical epiphany for the heroine of Gael Baudino's novel Gossamer Axe, in which she realizes that The Power of Rock is what she's been searching for for two centuries to free her lover from the Fey who have held her prisoner for fourteen hundred years.

Music

• The group BTS has a song named "Epiphany" from their album Love Yourself: Answer, a solo song by band member Jin, which describes the singing character finally realizing that they were in a toxic relationship and that their interest now is learning to love themselves. Thematically the song ties with the ones from the previous albums in the Love Together trilogy; the MV, which is part of the BU Universe, implies that it's also an epiphany for the character that Jin plays on it.

Video Games

• In City of Heroes, Frostfire: He is initially encountered as a villain in a low-level story arc in the Hollows, but reappears as a heroic ally in level 45+ content. You never get the full story behind his Heel Face Turn, but his dialogue hints strongly at some manner of epiphany that led to him becoming a hero.

Western Animation

• In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode, "Pickles", Spongebob's epiphany was when he realizes that Bubble Bass was lying about him forgetting to add pickles in his Krusty Krabs burger. That the pickles were hiding underneath Bubble Bass's tongue all this time.
• Steven Universe has an example in the episode "Steven Floats", where the titular character comes to the realization that his powers activate based on his emotions.
  • In Steven Universe The Movie, Steven goes through another epiphany where he needs to change to regain his powers. He then sings a song to Spinel about how he can change as well as her while she continues to attack him. By the end of the song, Spinel has her epiphany, where she questions why she's trying to kill him and poisoning the planet, which then breaks down crying. At the end of the movie, she realizes all the horrible things she has done to Steven, his friends, and Beach City, which wants to become friends once she has a clean slate by living with the Diamonds.