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* {{Psychopomp}}: Often the only being capable of crossing between the worlds of the living and the dead.
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* TheTrickster: Frequently, particularly in older myths, have a theme of guarding/crossing/exemplifying the thresholds between gods/humanity, good/evil, life/death, male/female etc.
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They are also notorious for LoopholeAbuse and NoManOfWomanBorn, particularly for the ImpossibleTask. If a task can be performed by neither one thing nor the other, it can often be done by someone who is half one and half the other.
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[[AC:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'''s "Reaper of Souls" expansion, Malthael, Angel of Death, is said to be in a state of superimposed life and death, allowing him to attack people or even [[YourSoulIsMine suck out their souls]] while their weapons pass through him harmlessly. In the final part of the act, the player-character must counter this by receiving help from a group of powerful ghosts, giving them the same attribute.
* In ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'''s "Reaper of Souls" expansion, Malthael, Angel of Death, is said to be in a state of superimposed life and death, allowing him to attack people or even [[YourSoulIsMine suck out their souls]] while their weapons pass through him harmlessly. In the final part of the act, the player-character must counter this by receiving help from a group of powerful ghosts, giving them the same attribute.
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** In ''Discworld/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.]]
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style
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-->''"Then I shan't be exactly a human?" Peter asked.\\
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--->--'''J. M. Barrie''', ''Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens''
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* 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, with symbols of creation and destruction. The Hanged Man is a card full of paradoxes: dangling between worlds, he sees all of them clearly; bound, his mind is freed; having sacrificed himself, he wins new life.
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* 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, with symbols of creation and destruction. The Hanged Man is a card full of paradoxes: dangling he is between life and death, sacrificed, but still alive; he dangles between worlds, he yet sees all of them clearly; bound, his mind is freed; having sacrificed himself, he wins new life.
freed.
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[[AC: Other]]
* In the WesternZodiac, a few signs hinge between forms, either obviously or implicitly. Capricorn is depicted as a goat with a fish's tail, therefore being between earth and sea. Sagittarius, depicted as a centaur, is half-human, half-animal, furthermore always aiming towards heaven with their bow, therefore a being between ''three'' worlds. Gemini is a pair of twins, Castor and Pollux, of whom one is mortal and the other is divine, but they'll do anything to stay together. Aquarius, "The Water Bearer," is actually an Air Sign; in mythology Aquarius is Ganymede, a human prince who was kidnapped and made to be a servant of the gods.
* 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, with symbols of creation and destruction. The Hanged Man is a card full of paradoxes: dangling between worlds, he sees all of them clearly; bound, his mind is freed; having sacrificed himself, he wins new life.
* In the WesternZodiac, a few signs hinge between forms, either obviously or implicitly. Capricorn is depicted as a goat with a fish's tail, therefore being between earth and sea. Sagittarius, depicted as a centaur, is half-human, half-animal, furthermore always aiming towards heaven with their bow, therefore a being between ''three'' worlds. Gemini is a pair of twins, Castor and Pollux, of whom one is mortal and the other is divine, but they'll do anything to stay together. Aquarius, "The Water Bearer," is actually an Air Sign; in mythology Aquarius is Ganymede, a human prince who was kidnapped and made to be a servant of the gods.
* 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, with symbols of creation and destruction. The Hanged Man is a card full of paradoxes: dangling between worlds, he sees all of them clearly; bound, his mind is freed; having sacrificed himself, he wins new life.
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-->''"Then I shan"t be exactly a human?" Peter asked.\\
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-->''"Then I shan"t shan't be exactly a human?" Peter asked.\\
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Transitioning out of being a liminal being is difficult if even possible. See the [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=6xiitlmr7l3hawctc4tygwl0 Liminal Time]] YKTTW for when transition is normal.
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Transitioning out of being a liminal being is difficult if even possible. See the [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=6xiitlmr7l3hawctc4tygwl0 Liminal Time]] YKTTW LiminalTime for when transition is normal.
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* 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.]]
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* In Creator/UrsulaKLeguin's ''Literature/TheFarthestShore'', ''[[Literature/EarthseaTrilogy The Farthest Shore]]'', 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.]]
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* In Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Discworld/WitchesAbroad'', Mrs. Gogol starts her invocations with the observation that she is between light and darkness, which does not matter because "I ''am'' between."
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* ChildOfTwoWorlds
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* 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.]]
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* In ''Webcomic/BirdBoy'', [[http://bird-boy.com/comic/volume-ii-the-liminal-wood/ the woods]], which are actually called the liminal woods.
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* In Creator/MadeleineLEngle's ''Literature/AWrinkleInTime'', when Calvin and Charles Wallace first meet, Charles Wallace explains that Meg has it tough because she's not really one thing or another.
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* In Creator/MadeleineLEngle's ''Literature/AWrinkleInTime'', when Calvin and Charles Wallace first meet, Charles Wallace explains that Meg has it tough because she's not really one thing or another.
another -- she's not a glamorous and collected scientist like her mother, and she's not one of the cool, popular girls at school.
* 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 ''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!
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* In Creator/MadeleineLEngle's ''Literature/AWrinkleInTime'', when Calvin and Charles Wallace first meet, Charles Wallace explains that Meg has it tough because she's not really one thing or another.
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* 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.)
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[[AC:Fairy Tales]]
* In the French tale "The Valley of Damned", the character the couple meet on the borders of the valley is dressed half for town and half for country.
* In the French tale "The Valley of Damned", the character the couple meet on the borders of the valley is dressed half for town and half for country.
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* 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.
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-->''"Then I shan"t be exactly a human?" Peter asked.\\
"No."\\
"Nor exactly a bird?"\\
"No."\\
"What shall I be?"\\
"You will be a Betwixt-and-Between," Solomon said, and certainly he was a wise old fellow, for that is exactly how it turned out.''
--->--'''J. M. Barrie''', ''Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens''
"No."\\
"Nor exactly a bird?"\\
"No."\\
"What shall I be?"\\
"You will be a Betwixt-and-Between," Solomon said, and certainly he was a wise old fellow, for that is exactly how it turned out.''
--->--'''J. M. Barrie''', ''Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens''
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* OtherWorldlyAndSexuallyAmbigous: A god, demon, or otherwise otherworldly being or creature who is both male and female. Or neither.
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* OtherWorldlyAndSexuallyAmbigous: OtherworldlyAndSexuallyAmbiguous: A god, demon, or otherwise otherworldly being or creature who is both male and female. Or neither.
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* TheUndead: both dead and alive
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* TheUndead: both Both dead and alive
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----
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* OxymoronicBeing
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* OxymoronicBeing OtherWorldlyAndSexuallyAmbigous: A god, demon, or otherwise otherworldly being or creature who is both male and female. Or neither.
* OxymoronicBeing
* OxymoronicBeing
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* NonLinearCharacter: Both in and out of time
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* NonLinearCharacter: Both in and out of timetime
* OxymoronicBeing
* OxymoronicBeing
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* HalfHumanHybrid: both human and not
** DivineParentage
** DivineParentage
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* MixedAncestry and all of its tropes
** DivineParentage
** HalfHumanHybrid
** DivineParentage
** HalfHumanHybrid
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* Schrodinger in {{Hellsing}}, a catboy who, due to being a result of a Nazi experiment, has a loose grasp of causality; he both exists and does not exist.
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* Schrodinger in {{Hellsing}}, ''Anime/{{Hellsing}}'', a catboy who, due to being a result of a Nazi experiment, has a loose grasp of causality; he both exists and does not exist.
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** having been transformed into woman and back while alive, both male and female.
* Tobias from ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'', with his human and hawk dual natures, plus his Andalite heritage.
* The "scramble suits" worn by drug enforcement agents in ''{{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.
* Tobias from ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'', with his human and hawk dual natures, plus his Andalite heritage.
* The "scramble suits" worn by drug enforcement agents in ''{{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.
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** having Having been transformed into woman and back while alive, both male and female.
* Tobias from''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'', ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'', with his human and hawk dual natures, plus his Andalite heritage.
* The "scramble suits" worn by drug enforcement agents in''{{A ''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.
* Tobias from
* The "scramble suits" worn by drug enforcement agents in
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* ''Torchwood'' had Owen, who [[spoiler: died and CameBackWrong. He wasn't really alive or dead, so he couldn't be killed, couldn't heal from injuries, eat, etc etc]]
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* ''Torchwood'' ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' had Owen, who [[spoiler: died [[spoiler:died and CameBackWrong. He wasn't really alive or dead, so he couldn't be killed, couldn't heal from injuries, eat, etc etc]]
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* In one of AesopsFables , a bat tries to ally with both beasts and birds, trading on its similarity to both and disavowing the other traits according to who it's speaking to, but after the war, they unify in rejecting it from both groups.
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* In one of AesopsFables , Literature/AesopsFables, a bat tries to ally with both beasts and birds, trading on its similarity to both and disavowing the other traits according to who whom it's speaking to, addressing, but after the war, they unify in rejecting it from both groups.
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* ''{{Balto}}'' has it verbalized by Boris about the title character. "Not a dog, not a wolf...all he knows is what he is not."
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* ''{{Balto}}'' ''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.""
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[[AC:Webcomics]]
* In ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', when Annie and Kat ask Jones whether Zimmy is human, Jones says, not that she is or she isn't, but that she is for all practical purposes. She is in many respects more uncanny and creepy than many of the overtly non-human people about.
* In ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', when Annie and Kat ask Jones whether Zimmy is human, Jones says, not that she is or she isn't, but that she is for all practical purposes. She is in many respects more uncanny and creepy than many of the overtly non-human people about.
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[[index]]
* SemiDivine
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[[/index]]
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Some creatures are not exactly a thing, because they partake of the natures of two different things. The term for this is "liminality", from the Latin ''limen'' or threshold, and beings who remain perpetually on this threshold are mysterious, uncanny, eerie beings -- if the artist uses them for their full potential. They can also appear just for the RuleOfCool (but beware the dangers of NinjaPirateZombieRobot). This makes this a SuperTrope of many, many, many tropes.
Shapeshifting or other changes into and out of determinate states is still liminal if the transition keeps happening, or if the time in the other state confers a permanent change in the character.
Transitioning out of being a liminal being is difficult if even possible. See the [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=6xiitlmr7l3hawctc4tygwl0 Liminal Time]] YKTTW for when transition is normal.
!!Tropes of liminal beings
* DisabilitySuperpower: Both more than human and less than human in ability
** BlindSeer
* FlyingDutchman: Trapped in endless travel
* GenderBender
*HalfHumanHybrid: both human and not
**DivineParentage
* {{Hermaphrodite}}
* HeroicBastard: Neither of his parents' social status, nor exactly ''not'' of it.
*MixAndMatchCritters: Part one critter, part not.
** HybridMonster
* NonLinearCharacter: Both in and out of time
* {{Planimal}}: Both plant and animal
* ShapeShifting
* TheUndead: both dead and alive
* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Both comprehensible/experienced -- and not.
!!Liminal beings that fall between the tropes
[[AC:Anime & Manga]]
* Schrodinger in {{Hellsing}}, a catboy who, due to being a result of a Nazi experiment, has a loose grasp of causality; he both exists and does not exist.
[[AC: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.
*Tobias from ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'', with his human and hawk dual natures, plus his Andalite heritage.
* The "scramble suits" worn by drug enforcement agents in ''{{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.
[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* ''Torchwood'' had Owen, who [[spoiler: died and CameBackWrong. He wasn't really alive or dead, so he couldn't be killed, couldn't heal from injuries, eat, etc etc]]
[[AC:Myth/Folklore]]
* In one of AesopsFables , a bat tries to ally with both beasts and birds, trading on its similarity to both and disavowing the other traits according to who it's speaking to, but after the war, they unify in rejecting it from both groups.
[[AC:Visual Novel]]
* Ciel from ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' is stuck between [[spoiler:life and death, due to not having died after the BigBad possessed and left her body, like all his previous victims did]].
[[AC: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."
Shapeshifting or other changes into and out of determinate states is still liminal if the transition keeps happening, or if the time in the other state confers a permanent change in the character.
Transitioning out of being a liminal being is difficult if even possible. See the [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=6xiitlmr7l3hawctc4tygwl0 Liminal Time]] YKTTW for when transition is normal.
!!Tropes of liminal beings
* DisabilitySuperpower: Both more than human and less than human in ability
** BlindSeer
* FlyingDutchman: Trapped in endless travel
* GenderBender
*HalfHumanHybrid: both human and not
**DivineParentage
* {{Hermaphrodite}}
* HeroicBastard: Neither of his parents' social status, nor exactly ''not'' of it.
*MixAndMatchCritters: Part one critter, part not.
** HybridMonster
* NonLinearCharacter: Both in and out of time
* {{Planimal}}: Both plant and animal
* ShapeShifting
* TheUndead: both dead and alive
* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: Both comprehensible/experienced -- and not.
!!Liminal beings that fall between the tropes
[[AC:Anime & Manga]]
* Schrodinger in {{Hellsing}}, a catboy who, due to being a result of a Nazi experiment, has a loose grasp of causality; he both exists and does not exist.
[[AC: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.
*Tobias from ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'', with his human and hawk dual natures, plus his Andalite heritage.
* The "scramble suits" worn by drug enforcement agents in ''{{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.
[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* ''Torchwood'' had Owen, who [[spoiler: died and CameBackWrong. He wasn't really alive or dead, so he couldn't be killed, couldn't heal from injuries, eat, etc etc]]
[[AC:Myth/Folklore]]
* In one of AesopsFables , a bat tries to ally with both beasts and birds, trading on its similarity to both and disavowing the other traits according to who it's speaking to, but after the war, they unify in rejecting it from both groups.
[[AC:Visual Novel]]
* Ciel from ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' is stuck between [[spoiler:life and death, due to not having died after the BigBad possessed and left her body, like all his previous victims did]].
[[AC: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."
