History Main / LiminalBeing

* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'': In the backstory, [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace the Void]] mutated a group of children into... ''something'' that hovers between the realm of {{Energy Being}}s and mutated humans. This is likely why the Orokin treated them like dirt, since they no longer saw the children as pure humans and referred to them as monsters or "demons." [[spoiler:These children eventually became the Tenno, warrior-gods who destroyed the Orokin Empire for their crimes against absolutely everyone.]]

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

* Kurama and [[spoiler: Yusuke]] in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho.'' Kurama is a fox demon who fused with a human embryo to avoid dying of injuries, while [[spoiler: Yusuke was born a human, but because he was descended from a demon 44 generations back, he transformed into one after dying a second time]].

[[folder: Fairy Tales]]

* Literature/TheSwanMaiden, a creature from Eurasian folklore and myth, can be considered this. Barring tales where she is a cursed human princess, she is of supernatural origin (sometimes the daughter of a celestial deity), and is capable of shifting between human and avian forms. In her tales, a mortal man meets her (and her sisters) while they are bathing in a lake - which is also a liminal place between water and land.
* Jean de l'Ours (John of the Bear, John Bear, among other names) is a character in European folklore that can be described as this: he is the product of a union between a human woman and a bear, after the animal kidnaps her and takes her to its den. After the boy is born, he is always said to possess superhuman strength, and sometimes is described as having some of his father's physical traits (bear's ears, lots of hair, etc.). The boy and his mother escape back to human civilization, but, due to his animal ancestry and superpowers, he can no longer fit among human peers. Eventually, in his adulthood, he meets two (or three) equally strong companions and rescues three princesses, marrying the youngest of them (depending on the tale).

[[folder: Films -- Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Balto}}'' has it verbalized by Boris about the title character. "Not a dog, not a wolf...all he knows is what he is not."

[[folder: Literature]]
* Tiresias, when Odysseus consults him in the underworld, manages to hit a trifecta of liminality:
** A ghost, both alive and dead
** A blind seer, both less and more than human in his abilities, and
** Having been transformed into woman and back while alive, both male and female.

* The "scramble suits" worn by drug enforcement agents in ''Literature/{{A Scanner Darkly}}'' were thin membranes projecting constantly-shifting images of different physical and facial features over the bodies of the wearers, to provide anonymity.
* In Creator/KatherineAddison's ''Literature/TheGoblinEmperor'', a woman had been formally betrothed to a prince when he died, but not actually married him; this detached her from her own family without incorporating her into his. Maia contemplates her status as this, and there are suggestions that she could [[TakingTheVeil become a votary (dedicate herself to a god)]] as the simplest way to handle her situation.
* In Creator/MadeleineLEngle's ''Literature/AWrinkleInTime'', when Calvin and Charles Wallace first meet, Charles Wallace explains to Mrs Who that Meg has it tough because she's not really one thing or another -- neither, like him, comfortable dealing with Mrs Who and others like her, nor not involved at all
* In ''Literature/ADiscoveryOfWitches,'' it turns out that Diana Bishop is a being of opposites in several ways -- thanks to Vanishing Twin Syndrome, she's a genetic chimera with DNA of her unborn twin brother. She then saves Matthew's life by giving him some of her blood, and patches of her body turn cold, like a vampire's. In the second book, it turns out she is a weaver (capable of [[JackOfAllTrades using all paths of witchcraft, but never mastering them]]), with an affinity for fire and water, and capable of standing between the realms of life and death, and past and future. [[spoiler: In the third book, it's revealed that weavers themselves are the result of daemon and witch DNA mingling -- and Diana merges with the Book of Life, to become a book and a woman, the history of the four races and the hope for their future.]] Phew!
* In Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin's ''Literature/TheFarthestShore'', they find that someone is offering that one can escape both life and death. [[spoiler:In the end, he claims to be between both and so free of them.]]
* Creator/TerryPratchett's novels:
** In ''Literature/WitchesAbroad'', Mrs. Gogol starts her invocations with the observation that she is between light and darkness, which does not matter because "I ''am'' between."
** In ''Literature/TheWeeFreeMen'', the "hag of the hills" is supposed to look after edges and gateways. At the end, [[spoiler:the witches tell Tiffany that witches are supposed to look after edges.]]
* Creator/RickRiordan's novels:

* In Creator/LordDunsany's ''Literature/TheKingOfElflandsDaughter'', having been across the border to the mortal lands and back means Lirazel can not be content in either land.
* In Creator/JohnCWright's ''[[Literature/MothAndCobweb Green Knight's Squire]]'', the Moths and Cobwebs are part human, part fae. They are known as the Twilight People as a consequence, and fall between worlds in many ways.

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'' Nearly Headless Nick reveals that this is what it means for a witch or wizard to become a ghost, to be stuck between life and death and have chosen not to move on for a flimsy approximation of life.

** The [[spoiler:Colorless Little Girl]] (human name unknown) died to an attack so powerful that it erased the memories of people around her. A few years later, her brother forged an entirely new [[OurGodsAreDifferent Material]]- one outside the hierarchy of existing Materials- which she incorporated herself into. Therefore, she has all the strength of a Material, but she has the free will of a human [[spoiler:and can oppose the Queen of Materials]], owing to the NoManOfWomanBorn principle.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': {{Implied|Trope}} with wizards, who have both human souls and supernatural powers. One character notes that they have an inherent "conflict" in their natures, unlike other supernatural beings. In the modern day, this manifests as WalkingTechbane tendencies that worsen when they use their magic; in previous eras, it caused wizards to grow warts or spoil nearby milk.
* ''Literature/LabyrinthsOfEcho'': A strong affinity for liminality of all kinds is Sir Melifaro's unique magical power within the Special Investigations team. Its primary application allows Melifaro to serve as a Guardian for his colleagues whenever they travel to the [[SpiritWorld Dark Side]]: by staying exactly on the border between the material world and the Dark Side, he is able psychically monitor anything that happens to them and yank them out of danger if necessary, while also preventing anyone from pursuing them from the material plane. However, his liminality affinity also has a lot of other applications, such is when he is able to resist powerful enchantments by succumbing to them half-way, i.e. feeling their effects, but still retaining a degree of agency, or when he can keep watch for days by remaining half-asleep-half-awake indefinitely. Juffin suspects that this affinity has to do with his ancestry, as his [[HeinzHybrid forebears included both]] dwarves ''and'' giants, making it easier for him to stay in-between extremes.

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

[[folder: Myth/Folklore/Religion]]

* In Indian myth, Vishnu became a half-man, half-lion in order to deal with a demon that could not been killed by an animal, a man, or a god, neither by night nor by day. (He also did it at sundown.)
* According to [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} Christian doctrine]], UsefulNotes/JesusChrist is "[[GodInHumanForm fully God and fully Man]]". The official doctrinal term is the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypostatic_union hypostatic union,]] meaning Jesus was one individual person who had two natures, a divine nature and a human nature, 100% of each. The ideas that he was God but ''appeared'' to be human, or that he was a human who ''became'' God, are rejected by most branches of the Church as [[FandomHeresy heretical]], though not without a fair bit of controversy.

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': The Liminal Exalted are something like zombies, able to amputate and reattach their body parts without harm. Their appearance can range from human to disgustingly corpselike, depending on how high their Essence is at the time. Apparently they come from necromantic rituals both successful (in the sense that ''something'' came alive) and not (in the sense that what came back was ''not'' the original dead person, but something that inhabits their body).

[[folder: Theater]]

[[folder: Other]]

* In [[TarotMotifs the Tarot deck,]] more than a few cards dwell between worlds, or between states.
** TheFool is a clear example, standing outside the numbered cards, at both and neither the beginning and the end, [[note]]-- The other 21 "major" cards are each consistently numbered from 1 to 21, but the Fool is either/both card 0 and card 22 --[[/note]] with symbols of creation and destruction.
** The Hanged Man is a card full of paradoxes: he is between life and death, sacrificed, but still alive; he dangles between worlds, yet sees all of them clearly; bound, his mind is freed.

[[folder: Video Games]]

* Many characters in ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'' invoke this trope, but possibly no one embodies it as much as [[spoiler:Yomiel.]] [[spoiler:Stuck [[TheUndead between life and death]] due to the Temsik meteor fragment lodged in his body, Yomiel can neither live nor die, and the isolation eventually drives him insane.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'': In the backstory, [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace the Void]] mutated a group of children into... ''something'' that hovers between the realm of {{Energy Being}}s and mutated humans. This is likely why the Orokin treated them like dirt, since they no longer saw the children as pure humans and referred to them as monsters or "demons." [[spoiler:These children eventually became the Tenno, warrior-gods who destroyed the Orokin Empire for their crimes against absolutely everyone]].

[[folder: Visual Novel]]
* ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'': (WalkingSpoiler example that can't be written without endgame spoilers.) [[spoiler: Monika, thanks to being a DeconstructedTrope example of MediumAwareness, leaving her trapped in a world she sees as unreal, yearning for access to the real world, which she can interact with through the internet as well as by modifying the game itself, but never enter. Thus, she's between a real person and a video game character, neither fully part of the game world nor the real world.]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]

* In ''Webcomic/BirdBoy'', [[http://bird-boy.com/comic/volume-ii-the-liminal-wood/ the woods]], which are actually called the liminal woods.

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* The eponymous character in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' is a gem-human hybrid, with the abilities and needs of both. Rather than a conventional HalfHumanHybrid, he has the HeartDrive of a gem (the same one his mother [[DeathByChildbirth effectively died passing on]]) tied to an organic body, instead of projecting a HardLight [[SelfConstructedBeing construct]]. [[spoiler:Separating the two will leave his organic body [[CantLiveWithoutYou physically crippled]], and make the gemstone project an [[TheSoulless emotionally crippled]] new body for the express purpose of reuniting.]]

-->'''Spectra''': What are you? A ghost trying to fit in with humans? Or some creepy little boy with creepy little powers?\\
'''Danny''': Both! Uh...neither! I don't know.\\
'''Spectra''': You're a freak! Not a ghost, not a boy! Who cares for a thing like you?
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' Spike the dragon suffers from this as a major emotional obstacle. As a dragon that grew up among (magical) ponies, Spike has a lot of characteristics normal for ponies, which makes him stand out like a sore thumb among his fellow dragons. Dragons aren't quite AlwaysChaoticEvil, but they are prone to more violence and aggression than is normal for ponies, so Spike's soft hearted nature is ill suited to living around large portions of the dragon race. Spike does later meet more reasonable, pragmatic dragons who can act and speak diplomatically and intelligently, and actually manages to reconcile his image of dragons being rude and crude with examples of genuinely well meaning dragons. Though, there is a degree of arrogance among the ponies (that the story rarely addresses) that the ponies are acting a bit self important; as if they have no history of crimes or terrible personality flaws to speak of, when clearly they're not that different from dragons in some respects.

** As an uplifted animal, Swift Wind is both a horse and a sentient being

* ''{{Videogame/Touhou}}'' has Yukari Yakumo, the youkai of boundaries, who has perhaps the single most broken SemanticSuperpower in a series filled with them. She can manipulate boundaries (Gensokyo/the real world, truth/illusion, Earth/the Moon, life/death...), manifesting mostly as ThinkingUpPortals (holes in reality where and whenever she wants. Call her the gap hag at your own risk). Thankfully she spends most of her time sleeping and playing stupid pranks on people.

[[folder: Web Comics]]

* ''LightNovel/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'':

[[folder: Film]]

* Jean de l'Ours (John of the Bear, John Bear, among other names) is a character in European folklore that can be described as this: he is the product of a union between a human woman and a bear, after the animal kidnaps her and takes her to its den. After the boy is born, he is always said to possess superhuman strength, and sometimes is described as having some of his father's physical traits (bear's ears, lots of hair, etc.). The boy and his mother escape back to human civilization, but, due to his animal ancestry and superpowers, he can no longer fit among human peers. Eventually, in his adulthood, he meets two (or three) equally strong companions and rescues three princess, marrying the youngest of them (depending on the tale).

* Jean de l'Ours (John of the Bear, John Bear, among other names) is a character in European folklore that can be described as this: he is the product of a union between a human woman and a bear, after the animal kidnaps her and takes her to its den. After the boy is born, he is always said to possess superhuman strength, and sometimes is described as having some sort of his father's physical trait (bear's ears, lots of hair, etc.). He and his mother escape back to human civilization, but, due to his animal ancestry and superpowers, he can no longer fit among human peers. Eventually, in his adulthood, he meets two (or three) equally strong companions and rescues three princess, marrying the youngest of them (depending on the tale).

* The [[Literature/{{TheSwanMaiden}} Swan Maiden]], a creature from Eurasian folklore and myth, can be considered this. Barring tales where she is a cursed human princess, she is of supernatural origin (sometimes the daughter of a celestial deity), and is capable of shifting between human and avian forms. In her tales, a mortal man meets her (and her sisters) while they are bathing in a lake - which is also a liminal place between water and land.

* The Swan Maiden, a creature from Eurasian folklore and myth, can be considered this. Barring tales where she is a cursed human princess, she is of supernatural origin (sometimes the daughter of a celestial deity), and is capable of shifting between human and avian forms. In her tales, a mortal man meets her (and her sisters) while they are bathing in a lake - which is also a liminal place between water and land.

* The Swan Maiden, a creature from Eurasian folklore and myth, can be considered this: more often than not, she is of supernatural origin (instead of being a cursed human princess), and is capable of shifting between human and avian forms. In her tales, a mortal man meets her (and her sisters) while they are bathing in a lake - which is also a liminal place between water and land.

* According to [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} Christian doctrine]], UsefulNotes/JesusChrist is "[[GodInHumanForm fully God and fully Man]]". The official doctrinal term is the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypostatic_union hypostatic union]], meaning Jesus was one individual person who had two natures, a divine nature and a human nature, 100% of each. The ideas that he was God but ''appeared'' to be human, or that he was a human who ''became'' God, are rejected by most branches of the Church as [[FandomHeresy heretical]], though not without a fair bit of controversy.

* OxymoronicBeing: a living self-contradiction