History Main / AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence

* Applies to anyone in the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' book series [[CaughtUpInTheRapture who was raptured]] or martyred, as you are given a glorified body. Of course, this means that [[ChasteHero in your glorified state, you cannot fall in love,]] [[ImmortalityInfertilityClause neither sire or have children.]] But for those who have been raptured and been with the Lord during the Tribulation, [[BetterThanSex nothing else]] [[LivingForeverIsAwesome quite compares to it]].

* Applies to anyone in the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' book series [[CaughtUpInTheRapture who was raptured]] or martyred, as you are given a glorified body. Of course, this means that [[ChasteHero in your glorified state, you cannot fall in love,]] [[ImmortalInfertilityClause neither sire or have children.]] But for those who have been raptured and been with the Lord during the Tribulation, [[BetterThanSex nothing else]] [[LivingForeverIsAwesome quite compares to it]].

* Applies to anyone in the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' book series [[CaughtUpInTheRapture who was raptured]] or martyred, as you are given a glorified body. Of course, this means that [[ChasteHero in your glorified state, you cannot fall in love, neither sire or have children.]] But for those who have been raptured and been with the Lord during the Tribulation, [[BetterThanSex nothing else]] [[LivingForeverIsAwesome quite compares to it]].

** In the reboot of the line, ''MageTheAwakening'', a group of mages known as the Exarchs pulled this off in pre-history... and [[CrapsackWorld that's when things started to suck]], seeing as the Exarchs decided magic was ''their'' ball, and no one was going to take it from them. Fortunately, a group of princes with some knowledge of magic calling themselves the Oracles created the Watchtowers, which allow the titular mages to temporarily enter these higher planes of existence and come back with the knowledge of how to do magic.

* Officer Getskilled in ''{{Girly}}'', who pulls off a HeroicSacrifice by TakingTheBullet for his friends only to be saved by an immortal who is impressed with his bravery and carries him off to a never-ending life of love and adventure/

* According to ''[[FireEmblemElibe Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi]]'', Saint Elimine never died. As the founder of Etruria and TheMessiah among the heroes of the legend, one her mission in life was over she simply ascended to Heaven from a tower in the Etrurian capital, Aquleia. Said place became the Tower of the Saint and the placeholder of her spell book, [[HolyHandGrenade Aureola]], alongside the [[SimpleStaff Saint's Staff.]]

* Four of the six main storylines of ''EscapeVelocity Nova'' involve or touch upon this one way or the other. The ones that involve it most heavily are the Vell-os and Polaris storylines (in the first, you participate in the Vell-os' ascension, scheduled for as soon as they are freed from slavery, despite not technically ''being'' a Vell-os, and in the second, you [[[DescendFromAHigherPlaneOfExistence re-]]]ascend into becoming a part of the universe itself). Only the Federation and Pirate storylines lacks the Vell-os ascending and an epilogue stating that, in some far-off distant future, humanity as a whole will leave the corporeal behind.

* The [[BadFuture Dark World arc]] of the ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'' reveals that a few years into [[BigBad Discord's]] conquest of the world, this happened to ''every'' sentient cow in Equestria. [[NoodleIncident Somehow]]. Considering this is Discord's WorldOfChaos, that doesn't warrant the same reaction it does in our world.
* ''FanFic/ABriefHistoryOfEquestria'' strongly suggests that this was the final fate of Star Swirl the Bearded.

* [[CreatorsPet Wesley Crusher]] from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. Benjamin Sisko in the finale of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. Also Kes from ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', although she comes back to Voyager in a later episode (and does not re-ascend.)

* In {{Buffy}}, the Mayor of Sunnydale has had devised a very thorough and long-lasting plan of Ascension for himself, which was known to ultimately transform a human being into an embodiment of a pure demon.

** After her death, she really does ascend, though.

* In the second ''Xenosaga'' game, this happens to [[spoiler: Albedo.]]

* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' you can ascend by accomplishing an impossible miracle, being worshipped after death by large groups of people, or swearing into a Guardian Contract with the world. However, it's a pretty raw deal, as while it [[BlessedWithSuck grants apparent immortality,]] you do not retain the memories of incarnations sent into the world, exist outside time and Guardians get the extra special benefit of getting sent to 'preserve the balance' ie. kill lots of people so they don't kill even more people. They don't remember doing this after going back where they come from, but they know it's happened and know they're doing it. Oh, and you don't get any free will either unless you happen to be participating in the Grail War. Did we mention that the Grail will eat your soul if you're a Heroic Spirit? That means you don't even get reincarnation like normal humans. Yay ascension!
** Actually, the Grail doesn't consume their soul, because the Servants are copies of the Heroic Spirit stored in Akasha; the original is unaffected. Still pretty gruesome, though.
** On the other hand, [[UpdatedRerelease Realta Nua's Last Episode]] implies a brighter form of ascension when Shirou manages to reunite with Saber in Avalon.

* Eternals in ''EienNoAselia'' work like this. You agree to become one, you get tested to see if you're capable, and if you are, everyone forgets you even existed apart from other Eternals. And then you disappear from whatever world you came from altogether.

* Grizabella in the musical ''{{Cats}}''. Yeah, we KNOW she dies but... just shut up.
** Technically they're ALL dead. The "Heavyside Layer" was Earth - she was basically chosen to be reborn on Earth. 'Jellicle' was basically 'Angelical' after all.

If you have time, please take time to put examples in alphabetical order. This page Administrivia/HowToAlphabetizeThings should help you with that.

It is mostly a way to pay off a character. Or play off, in some cases. A way to [[PutOnABus put the character on a bus]], though that's not all that it's used for. If the writers should need the character back, it's easy to reverse, in which case the character will DescendFromAHigherPlaneOfExistence as a GodInHumanForm.

[[folder:Film]]

* Arguably explains what happened to Tetsuo at the end of ''Manga/{{Akira}}''.
** Forget ascension--he apparently '''becomes''' a plane of existence.

* ''2001: A Space Odyssey'': Bowman becomes the Star Child.

* Happens to Master Oogway of ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda''.

* When Mufasa is killed in ''Disney/TheLionKing'', he becomes a sort of spiritual adviser to Simba for the remainder of the movie, appearing to his son in the clouds and providing advice to help Simba along his way.
** It is strongly implied, that this happens to every king.
*** At least, every ''good'' king...
* In ''ThePrincessAndTheFrog,'' this is what becomes of Raymond the firefly after his squashing by Dr. Facilier. He becomes a star alongside Evangeline, [[CargoShip the star he was in love with]]. "I know some day, we gonna be together forever..."

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride'', the titular bride does this via her whole body turning into [[ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth butterflies.]]

* [[TheBible Enoch]] probably had this.

* ''Kid Kool and the Quest for the Seven Wonder Herbs'' has this if you lose all of your lives. The king's assistant says that Kid Kool has died, and the king says that the game is over. But a continue option will be added. If it is selected, Kid Kool, as an angel, returns to the king and says, "I'm sorry about that. I guess I died." According to JamesRolfe in his WebVideo/AngryVideoGameNerd review, the king can bring Kid Kool back to life, and Kid Kool thanks the king. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXPaJ3h_Yak&feature=channel&t=11m56s Here]] is a reaction to one of the reviewers '''and''' the entire cutscene.

* In the ''{{Arcanum}}'' your PC can achieve a status of deity by the end of the game. Furthermore, you can simply chose what type of deity you want to be in a final dialog with BigBad. Although it requires for PC to commit a ''Double FaceHeelTurn'' of a sort.