History Main / EnergyBeings

* The Vorlons from ''Series/BabylonFive'' appear to be mostly energy beings, although they apparently still have some degree of physicality left, too. In "Mindquake", super-psychic Jason Ironheart, having undergone a DeadlyUpgrade, gives up corporeal existence to become pure psychic energy. According to the episode "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars", at least part of humanity appears to be [[HollywoodEvolution destined to go this way]], too, within the next one million years. Note that the far-future human seen in this episode looks like an ordinary man at first, then turns into a cloud of glowing particles which fly into a human-shaped encounter-suit. Similarly, [[{{Precursors}} precursor being]] Lorien is a quite physical humanoid when he feels like it, but can turn into a glowing cloud (possibly his true form) for travelling through space. This suggests that all these beings are basically physical creatures that have gained the ability to turn into a more or less gaseous/plasma/energy form at will.
** The film ''River of Souls'' confirms this suggestion. The Soul Hunters trap the Ralgans in spheres because of it.
* On ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', people perceiving Dawn as The Key tend to describe her as a green Energy Being.

** Parodied with the Observers, who repeatedly claimed to be brains without bodies... despite the fact that they used their bodies to carry around their brains.
** Mike, Crow, Servo, & Gypsy became energy beings at the end of the series finale on its original network...[[StatusQuoIsGod then changed back again when the show was picked up by the Sci Fi Channel]].

* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'':

** He can teleport, turn intangible, has telekinesis, and can manipulate his own size and color. As the page description says, the definition of "energy being" is pretty complicated, but if this guy doesn't qualify, what does?

** ComicBook/CaptainAtom from the Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse.

** When the Eradicator first took physical form, it was in the form of this due to the device he was contained in being [[HurlItInTheSun tossed into the sun]]. When he was resurrected following Superman's death, he was in this form again until he built himself a new body.

* Dr. Manhattan from ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' sometimes behaves as though he were an energy being, even though he has a perfectly physical body. On the other hand, he doesn't seem to need it too much, since he quickly makes himself a new one after being disintegrated ''again'' at the end of the story.

** Parodied this with the Observers, who repeatedly claimed to be brains without bodies... despite the fact that they used their bodies to carry around their brains.

** In "Counterweight", an energy being from the planet Antheon spies on a group of humans who plan to colonize the planet.
** The titular Eck, a 2-D energy alien from "Behold, Eck!"
** Another energy being is the "vacuum cleaner monster" from "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork".
** The titular alien from the episode, "Galaxy Being".

** In "The Second Soul", the N'Tal are symbiotic energy beings who cannot survive outside a host body for more than two years.
** In "Joyride", the UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} astronaut Colonel Theodore Harris encounters energy beings who have the appearance of violet lights on both of his trips to space, in 1963 and 2001.

*** In "Legacy" Daniel suspects that some dead Goa'uld are not in fact dead but have become energy beings. They haven't, he's becoming delusional because of some alien technology that got into him. Ironically, this later turns out to be exactly the case with Anubis.

* Creator/PiersAnthony used a race of these in ''OX'', mostly as an excuse to toss in references to [[VideoGame/TheGameOfLife Conway's Game of Life]]. No rationale for why a cluster of disembodied energy nodes would work like Conway's cellular automata is provided, but give Piers his credit: at least he ''tried'' to base his Energy Beings on something coherent, which is more than other users of this trope seem inclined to do.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' has had a bunch of these, including a few which simulated physical bodies -- like the Organians, Trelane, the Koinonians -- and at least one group who wanted to get back ''into'' physical bodies.

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' has something similar with the Data Entity, a non-physical being which created Yuki Nagato in order to be able to communicate with humans. It's really made of ''information'' rather than energy.

* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'': The Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann from ''[[TheMovie Lagann-hen]]''. It's only physical parts are the Kamina-esque shades. The [[BigBad Anti]]-[[ScaryDogmaticAliens Spiral]] is also this, being [[HiveMind the gestalt mind]] of a hibernating species of [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well-Intentioned Extremists]].

* As an Alien trope, you know there is a ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' example: the Anodites. They are alien beings made of {{Mana}} and able to manipulate it for a variety of purposes, including taking a physical form. It's discovered that [[spoiler:Ben and Gwen]] are quarter Anodite in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce''. [[spoiler:Specfically from Verdona Tennyson, their grandmother and Max's wife. She also offered (or rather insisted) on trying to get Gwen to do the same when first met, but eventually backed off. Gwen's Anodite lineage also explains why she is a naturally talented magic user. However, it does make it harder for her to fight a pure Anodite... such as Sunny Tennyson, her and Ben's cousin from Verdona's side of the family and a troublemaker]].

* The members (read: entire species) of the evil Brotherhood of Makuta from ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' have [[EvolutionaryLevels evolved past]] the need of physical bodies. They still need a shell or armor of some kind however, or said energy will disperse, killing them. Still, being made of energy gives them plenty of abilities, like being able to move into other bodies; and mind-control people with their energies. They have also padded their armor with Protosteel, since there's no body that needs space anymore. This made a painful experience for the Makuta Icarax, as he [[spoiler:was devolved into his biomechanical form again by the Mask of Life, making his armor way too small to fit his reformed organs.]]
** One of the latest books mentions the Avohkah, basically sentient lightning living in the universe's core. The Toa Mata drive these things out shortly after being created.

** In "[[Recap/FuturamaS1E4LovesLaborsLostInSpace Love's Labors Lost In Space]]" Amy Wong tried to set Leela up with M-5438, an entity of pure energy from another dimension that, according to Bender, is "[[AmbiguouslyGay big on musical theater]], if you know what I mean".
** The episode "[[Recap/FuturamaS4E11WhereNoFanHasGoneBefore Where No Fan Has Gone Before]]" had Melllvar (yes, that's spelled correctly), an energy being who was the living embodiment of the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' {{Fanboy}} stereotype, and was keeping the original cast alive on its planet. Melllvar borrows mostly from the energy being in Star Trek's [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Original Series]] episode "Metamorphosis", who had fallen in love with Zefram Cochrane and was keeping him alive and young on its planet.
** In "[[Recap/FuturamaS6E9AClockworkOrigin A Clockwork Origin]]", nano-bots planted in a lifeless planet by the Professor undergo MechanicalEvolution overnight, each day being a different [[EvolutionaryLevels level]]. And the stage right after the "20th Century human civilization" analogue is this.
* Bill Cipher from ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls''. He is an EldritchAbomination who resides in another dimension, and has been stated to be "a being of PureEnergy".
* The Meekrob from ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' may be energy beings...when they're not manifesting themselves as giant shoes.
** Of course, it needs to make sense even less than anything else in ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' needs to make sense, since they're [[spoiler:a simulation created by Zim's LotusEaterMachine. However, other episodes confirm the Meekrob were real and notes from WordOfGod do note that Dib would've allied with them for real to fight against the Irkens, especially in the would-be finale, Invader Dib.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' TOS episode "The Invisible Monster". The title creature is "a mass of energy that somehow came alive". It uses VampiricDraining to obtain all kinds of energy, including LifeEnergy.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'', an "energy vampire" called Gigawatt threatens to absorb all of the electricity on Earth. He claims to be a lifeform of pure energy, but after Jenny shorts him out with water from a fire hydrant, he shrinks down until all that's left is his lightbulb-shaped head.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfSuperman'' episode "The Wisp Of Wickedness". A demon has a laboratory accident that results in a tremendous explosion. As a result he's reduced to a ball of energy with the ability to possess other creatures and make them do evil deeds.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries''. In "Beyond The Farthest Star" a being made out of magnetic energy tried to take over the Enterprise. In "Bem" one of these was protecting a primitive species from outside interference.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'', where an episode opener has a ball of energy infiltrate the ''Cerritos'' and threaten Mariner and Tendi. Before it even finished talking, Mariner pounces on it and tries to force it into a container. The being quickly switches from threats to pleading, promising to give Mariner whatever she wants, stating that it can turn some of its energy into any object. Mariner demands a new tricorder. The entity obliged, growing smaller as its energy is converted into mass. Mariner then demands a power pack for the tricorder, and the entity produces that too, becoming a tiny speck. The women leave, and the entity tries to attack Captain Freeman, slamming into her and dissipating.
* The Gems in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' have bodies made of HardLight that appear as technicolor humanoid women. The only part of a Gem's body made of matter is their gemstone, which serves as a HeartDrive and renders them functionally immortal as long as it's not shattered. When a Gem's physical form sustains heavy damage or has the gemstone removed, they will "poof", that is, release their physical forms and retreat into their gemstones to regenerate a new body, which can take anywhere between hours to weeks. The only exception to all of this is Steven, who is a HalfHumanHybrid, and as such has a half-organic body. When his gem is removed, [[spoiler:he barely has the energy to stand, while his gem forms a HardLight projection of himself that it uses to return to him.]]
* In one of the Zan-and-Jayna episodes of ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'', alien bad guys report to their boss, over [[SubspaceAnsible interstellar picturephone]], that the Super Friends are foiling their plans. Their boss casually replies, "I'll teleport you an energy creature." (Said energy creature is less like an Organian and more like a walking molten lava monster, however.)

* Many aliens in the ''WesternAnimation/ThreeBelow'' installment of ''WesternAnimation/TalesOfArcadia'' are, like Gems from the above example, HardLight around a Core that serves as a HeartDrive. However, unlike Gems, all the aliens in ''WesternAnimation/ThreeBelow'' actually age.
* [[PhysicalGod Primus and Unicron]] from the various ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' series were originally Energy Beings before being [[SealedGoodInACan sealed]] [[SealedEvilInACan into]] planets, which they later took on as bodies. As the [[MechanicalLifeforms Transformers]] themselves are descended of Primus, they could be also considered such (a Transformer's true self is its "[[OurSoulsAreDifferent spark]]," and those can be removed and manipulated), but their bodies are usually much more important to them, with destruction of their body causing their spark to fade.
** The Vok from ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' also qualify.

* ''VideoGame/NuclearThrone'': Radiation-based energy beings called Guardians are EliteMooks found mostly late in the game, coming in various forms. There's also a friendly playable version, called Horror, unlocked by [[DefeatMeansFriendship defeating it in battle]]. Due to their nature, they drop lots of [[ILoveNuclearPower rads]], the game's form of [[ExperiencePoints XP]].

* In ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', Zordon was this in his last two years of life as a consequence of the method he used to free himself from [[SealedGoodInACan his can]]. He was still ''in'' the can, as it was all that was holding his energy body together, but at least he could have people move the can around for him, rather than being stuck broadcasting to a fixed point.

Never mind that being [[PureEnergy "made of energy"]] makes as much sense as being "made of weight". This shows that many still don't know what the word "energy" [[YouKeepUsingThatWord really means]].

* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' can be seen as this, being sentient computer programs, though they still need physical bodies to exist in the Real World. Those bodies are assembled out of nearby elements in a process called ''bio-emergence''. Similarly, humans and any other physical matter is automatically converted to data upon entering the Digital World.

** ''ComicBook/ThePlagueOfTheAntibioticMan'': In order to figh Superman, Amalak creates an "electro-surrogate", a human-like being made of green energy.

** Green Lantern Dkrtzy Rrr is described as a "bio-sentient mathematical equation".

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

* ''Spontaneous Combustion'' has it's main character, Brightly, as a being made of pure light.

* ''VideoGame/NuclearThrone'': Called Guardians, these are EliteMooks found mostly late in the game, coming in various forms. There's also a friendly playable version, called Horror, unlocked by [[spoiler:[[DefeatMeansFriendship defeating it in battle]]]]. Due to their nature, they drop lots of [[ILoveNuclearPower rads]], the game's form of [[ExperiencePoints XP]].

* ''Radio/JourneyIntoSpace'': {{Discussed|Trope}} in ''Journey to the Moon'' / ''Operation Luna''. Lemmy theorises that the Time Travellers may not have physical bodies.

* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Space. It poses the idea of plasma-based life that lives inside stars, [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever many miles tall]].
* Easily created in ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' by adding the Immaterial trait to a creature.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'''s [[TheLegionsOfHell Daemons of Chaos]] are Energy Beings in the Warp, where they [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace attempt to break into spaceships traveling through it and devour the souls of everyone inside.]]

** The Eldar Phoenix Lords are all implied to be a mix of this and AnimatedArmor.

* Kheldians in ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes''. However, they cannot survive for more than a decade as pure energy though so they inhabit organic hosts. Peacebringers and Warshades (reformed Nictus) do this with the consent of the host, the Nictus just take over whichever body they please.
** Kheldians (and as a result Nictus) can't take over a body unwillingly though, because the host can eventually just kick them out. However, Nictus get around this by kidnapping them and breaking their will in various ways so that they will become compliant hosts.
* ''VideoGame/CommanderKeen 5'' features a race of extragalactic energy beings called the Shikadi as the main antagonists. They want to use a quantium explosion dynamo to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt blow up the whole galaxy.]]
* A slight subversion with the Celareons in ''VideoGame/ConquestFrontierWars''. While they are indeed energy beings, they cannot survive outside containment suits, which are crafted for them at "birth". They, essentially, spend their entire lives in metal suits. Their early stories claim that they were artificially evolved to their present state by an [[{{Precursors}} ancient race]], who also taught them how to make the containment suits.
* In ''Videogame/CookieClicker'', building 15 Prisms unlocks the Rainbow Grandma upgrade, which turns some of the grandmas into photonic beings.
* The character Pyron from ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'' seems to be made from pure energy.
* While Alpha-152 from ''Videogame/DeadOrAlive'' is never stated to be anything other than a superpowered clone who went through weird genetic experiments, she is still depicted as a typical energy being, with a shiny and shimmery body seemingly made out of liquid or gel.
* Io in ''VideoGame/DotA2'' is the very essence of the fundamental forces that hold the world together. In a more meta example, Io's in-game model is purely made of particle effects.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'':

* In ''VideoGame/{{Evolve}}'' [[spoiler: this is the original and true nature of the monsters, who lack physical form in their home dimension. After humanity started destroying their dimension by accident, they pushed into our dimension and formed physical bodies. Since they had no concept of bodies, they mimicked existing things like animals and inorganic materials for the base and used widespread mental impressions from humans to put the pieces together into something considered frightening.]]

* The Zoltan from ''VideoGame/FTLFasterThanLight'' are green humanoids made of energy. They even [[LivingBattery provide one bar of energy]] to the system they stand in, making them useful as support, but have less health than other races, which makes them bad at combat. They also [[ActionBomb explode on death]] in the Advanced Edition.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter'': the first time we see a Precursor, it appears to be made out of glowing blue-white fire. [[spoiler: It later turns out that they're instead fuzzy orange mustelids. Daxter was overjoyed.]]
* Xerath from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' was once a man, then ascended to a being of pure arcane energy, then was imprisoned within a sarcophagus for his reckless abuse of magic. Now he is mobile once again, but still not entirely free due to the remaining enchantments placed upon him.
* Every alien character in ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce'' is a sentient pack of radio waves. By combining with a human, the fusion also becomes a radio being. This describes the eponymous Mega Man as well as every single boss, as apparently mere waves are no match for radio humans.
* Ditto the cyber-elves from ''VideoGame/MegaManZero''.
* The Thirnovans/Trinovans from ''VideoGame/{{Meteos}}'' somewhat count. Fine, they're only half-energy, which is also why they apparently only have one form.
* The Chozo from ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' mcan also be assumed to be this after they AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' villain Overload is an electric monster controlled by a circuit board. In the final battle, Killowat absorbs the energy and the chip is frozen.

** Fuji from ''ComicBook/{{Stormwatch}}'', whose suit provides some... interesting side effects. [[spoiler: Due to his form being extremely sensitive to vibrations, he has an orgasm every five minutes.]]

** Wildfire from ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}''.