History Main / FirstTimeInTheSun

* Asimov's classic short story, "{{Nightfall}}", both inverts this (it's built around an entire civilization on a world that orbits two binaries seeing the stars for the first time when all the suns briefly set) and subverts it (instead of being awed, as the Emerson quote that inspired the story suggests, a civilization-ending panic and insanity outbreak ensues).

* The protagonists of ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 1}}'' and of ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' have both lived in underground 'vaults' for as long as they can remember. The moment that the character first steps into the sunlight is pivotal in both.

* The first episode of ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann''. Kamina, Simon and Yoko emerge from their underground village and soar high into the air, seeing the earth laid out before them and the sun and moon whirling around in an unrealistic but highly symbolic manner.

* Near the end of ''TheMatrix: Revolutions'', Neo and Trinity, in their scrambling battle to reach the Machine City, manage to break above the omnipresent cloud layer and see the sky, glorious in sunshine and pink clouds, becoming the first humans to do so in centuries. Trinity in particular is impressed, and is killed shortly after.

* The protagonists of the original ''{{Fallout}}'' and of ''{{Fallout 3}}'' have both lived in underground 'vaults' for as long as they can remember. The moment that the character first steps into the sunlight is pivotal in both.

* While Goku from ''{{Saiyuki}}'' could see the sun from his mountain prison, part of the reason he refers to Sanzo as his sun is that he had never actually stood in the sun until Sanzo reached out to him. An interesting case though, as they skip the scene where he first steps out, cutting off as Sanzo reaches out. But due to the somewhat out of order nature of Saiyuki's storytelling, this doesn't mean we will never get to see Goku take his first steps out of the cave.
* Due to PowerIncontinence, Juvia Loxar from ''FairyTail'' lived in constant rain. When Gray defeats her in battle, she becomes so tried that the rain finally stops. She says the sun is beautiful.

[[folder: Film]]

* In the finale of ''{{WALL-E}}'', the Axiom finally returns to earth and its passengers disembark. But the awe of the moment is undercut by WALL-E's peril. The image would have been weakened in any case because the film uses TheWorldIsJustAwesome moments from the word go.

[[folder: Literature]]

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'' has this in the episode 'In the Dark'. Angel's been a vampire for so long that he's really awed when he puts on the Gem of Amarra and goes out in the sun.
* Frankie Boyle made a joke based on this on ''MockTheWeek'', involving Scottish people going on holiday to the Mediterranean and being astonished by the bright thing in the sky. If anyone has the exact quote that would be helpful!

* In ''PhantasyStar 4 '' ArtificialHuman Rika is first taken out of the underground lab she spent her first year of life in, she is amazed at how blue the sky is (which, thanks to the series's comic panel cutscenes, is actually shown despite being a top-down 16 bit jRPG).

[[folder: Webcomics]]

* The Earth King from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', has never been outside the palace before the Gaang meets him.

* Averted for most player-characters in ''{{Paranoia}}'' -- unless he's a Sierra Clubber, the average citizen of Alpha Complex who finds himself Outside will freak out.

A variant happens just before the climax, during the DarkestHour: the characters are on the verge of giving up, when this symbol of potential fulfillment appears, reminding them that they have something worth fighting for and giving the strength for a HeroicSecondWind. The apparition is especially common for one who is dying or about to die, particularly from HeroicSacrifice, as if to show them that their death is not in vain.

SubTrope of TheWorldIsJustAwesome.

* Disney's ''{{Tangled}}'': Rapunzel has always seen the outdoors through the windows of her tower, but going out in it for the first time fills her with wonder and joy.

** Also, shortly after that, after the BigBad is dead, the survivors that had fled underground to escape a total obliteration of life on the surface, get their first look at a clear blue sky, and a sun not reddened by ash and smoke.

* Averted in IsaacAsimov's ''Robot Trilogy'': most people from Earth are agoraphobic. The protagonist Elijah Baley describes standing on bare soil as feeling like he is standing on a rotting corpse.

* While Goku from {{Saiyuki}} could see the sun from his mountain prison, part of the reason he refers to Sanzo as his sun is that he had never actually stood in the sun until Sanzo reached out to him. An interesting case though, as they skip the scene where he first steps out, cutting off as Sanzo reaches out. But due to the somewhat out of order nature of Saiyuki's storytelling, this doesn't mean we will never get to see Goku take his first steps out of the cave.

* Happens to Quasimodo at the end of ''Disney/TheHunchbackofNotreDame'' when Phoebus and Esmeralda tell him to come out of the cathedral now that [[CompleteMonster Frollo]] is dead and no one will make fun of him anymore.

* The Earth King from [[AvatarTheLastAirbender Avatar: The Last Airbender]], has never been outside the palace before the Gaang meets him.

* In Arthur C. Clarke's ''The City and the Stars'', it's implied that the sun is somewhat filtered from [[CityInABottle the city]], therefore only outside, where only Alvin goes, can it truly be seen.

CueTheSun. Its power and majesty enhanced through unaccustomed eyes, all who behold it find themselves full of wonder and hope.

You have a person or, more likely, a large group of people, who have been raised somewhere bleak and cruel, usually BeneathTheEarth, or in some overgrown urban or industrial setting in which no beauty remains among the cold architecture and pollution. Striving to escape their hellish lives, these protagonists go through a harrowing adventure in order to find the lush and growing world they know is out there somewhere. Finally finding themselves on the alien surface, they look around, stunned and uncertain, and...

* In the ''{{Portal}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/BlueSky'', Wheatley (a robot who has spent his entire existence indoors)'s first reaction to the sun is "''AAAHHH!'' Aaahh ahgodwhat'sthat it ''burns!''" He then realizes it isn't quite as dangerous as he initially thought.

* ''{{Angel}}'' has this in the episode 'In the Dark'. Angel's been a vampire for so long that he's really awed when he puts on the Gem of Amarra and goes out in the sun.

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[[AC: {{Literature}}]]

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[[AC: {{Webcomics}}]]

[[AC: WesternAnimation]]

[[AC: RealLife]]

* In 2010, when the 33 trapped Chilean miners were rescued, they [[http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/10/13/sports-sunglasses-aim-ease-miners-transition/ had to put on sunglasses]] before reaching the surface and wear them for a while afterwards since their eyes had gotten so used to the darkness there was a risk of permanent injury if they were exposed to too much light at first.

* In Arthur C. Clarke's ''The City and the Stars'', it's implied that the sun is somewhat filtered from [[CityInABottle the city]], therefore only outside, where only Alvin goes, can it truly be seen.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFtJeKojFfI This video]] of former research lab Beagles encountering sun and grass for the first time.

* {{Plato}}'s famous "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave#Release_from_the_cave Allegory of the Cave]]" uses the likely negative reaction of the lifelong cave dweller to being forcibly taken out of the cave and into the sun as a metaphor for the resistance to the truth.

* Asimov's classic short story, "[[Literature/Nightfall Nightfall]]", both inverts this (it's built around an entire civilization on a world that orbits two binaries seeing the stars for the first time when all the suns briefly set) and subverts it (instead of being awed, as the Emerson quote that inspired the story suggests, a civilization-ending panic and insanity outbreak ensues).

* Plato's famous "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave#Release_from_the_cave Allegory of the Cave]]" uses the likely negative reaction of the lifelong cave dweller to being forcibly taken out of the cave and into the sun as a metaphor for the resistance to the truth.