History Main / LiminalTime

* BittersweetSeventeen: Age 17 marks the transition to young adulthood.

* ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'': Women are expected to bring some changes to their appearance when they they reach certain ages. Girls up to ten years old can wear skirts as short as knee-length, but after that skirts aren't allowed to be shorter than shin-length. When they become adults at age fifteen, they are supposed to bind her hair and wear the longest skirt possible. For practical reasons, that second rule is followed less strictly by women from lower classes than by those from higher classes.

* In {{Fairy Tale}}s, the heroine is particularly vulnerable to an abduction and substitution at two liminal times.
** A BrideAndSwitch when she's going to her wedding, such as in Creator/TheBrothersGrimm's "Literature/TheWhiteBrideAndTheBlackOne" ([[https://web.archive.org/web/20200110185918/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/135whiteblackbride.html link]]) ]]'' and "Literature/TheGooseGirl". This is inverted in "Literature/MaidMaleen", where the false bride getsMaleen to take her place, which allows her to reveal herself to her true love.
** When she has first given birth, transitioning between childlessness and maternity, as in Creator/AndrewLang's "Literature/TheWonderfulBirch" ([[https://web.archive.org/web/20200501091500/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/stories/birch.html link]]), Grimm's "Literature/BrotherAndSister" and Creator/JosephJacobs' "Literature/FairBrownAndTrembling" ([[https://web.archive.org/web/20200126063442/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/jacobs/celtic/fairbrowntrembling.html link]]).

* In the FairyTale, the heroine is particularly vulnerable to an abduction and substitution at two liminal times.
** A BrideAndSwitch when she's going to her wedding, such as in ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/135whiteblackbride.html The White Bride and the Black One]]'' and ''[[http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm089.html The Goose-Girl.]]''\\
This is inverted in ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/198maidmaleen.html Maid Maleen,]]'' where the false bride gets Maid Maleen to take her place, which allows her to reveal herself to her true love.
** When she has first given birth, transitioning between childlessness and maternity, as in ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/stories/birch.html The Wonderful Birch,]]'' ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/brothersister/index.html Brother And Sister,]]'' and ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/jacobs/celtic/fairbrowntrembling.html Fair, Brown and Trembling.]]''

** In ''Literature/WitchesAbroad'', Granny Weatherwax believes that the half moon is a more occult phase than the full or new moons, for this reason.
*** The notes on Lilith indicate that she is vulnerable on the last day of Carnival, which is between the living and the dead.
*** When they are trapped [[spoiler:in the mirror, both Granny and Lilith ask whether they are dead. Death answers, both times, that the answer is somewhere between No and Yes.]]

* The ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' novels have the legend of Sun and Shadow in the backstory. The man is under a curse that strikes him every night, and the woman a curse that affects her during the day. Thus, they can only interact with each other at dawn and dusk, which are neither day or night.

[[folder: Myths and Legends ]]

Whatever a character or a place or a thing or a time changes from one state to another, there is a time in between, a liminal state -- from the Latin ''limen'', or threshold.

* In south Tyrol legend the dwarf King Laurin used invisibility to hide but was betrayed to those searching for him by the motion of his roses about him as he danced with glee. He cursed them: "Neither by day nor by night should anyone again glimpse this lovely sight." But twilight, being neither, allows them to be seen, which is offered as an explanation of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpenglow Alpenglow]].

-->-- '''Creator/TerryPratchett''', ''Literature/WitchesAbroad''

* BittersweetSeventeen

* TheHerosBirthday

* In one episode of ''Series/TheIncredibleHulk'' David is stuck mid-transformation between regular David Banner and the Hulk form. (This has happened a couple of times in the comic book too.)

** And all but necessary if your film involves vampires, or other creatures who are weakened/destroyed by the rising (or, more rarely, setting) sun.

** In ''Discworld/WitchesAbroad'', Granny Weatherwax believes that the half moon is a more occult phase than the full or new moons, for this reason.

** ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'' and ''The Discworld Almanack'' both state that liminal time is an important part of witchcraft, and witches are naturally drawn to liminal events. It's called "[[{{Pun}} edge magic]]".

-->-- '''Creator/TerryPratchett''', ''Discworld/WitchesAbroad''

* ''Webcomics/BronzeSkinInc'': Julia touched the anchor where the ghost captain is trapped in the middle of the day, but he only wakes up at sunset, implying that he can only appear at night.

* In ''Literature/TamLin'', Tam Lin cites the transition between AllHallowsEve and All Hallows Day as the time to rescue him.

* In ''Creator/AGnosis''' comics on Myth/ClassicalMythology, the Anthesteria is a three-day festival to Dionysus where all social order is upended. Hades [[https://www.deviantart.com/a-gnosis/art/Anthesteria-4-664512682 isn't a fan]] because it leaves the dead free to wander the earth, which inevitably means more clean-up work for him afterwards.

--> '''Dionysos:''' Man and woman, young and old, free and slave, live and dead... and everything in between... [[https://www.deviantart.com/a-gnosis/art/Anthesteria-12-671372314 ''Rejoice!'']]

->''"What was supposed to be so special about a full moon? It was only a big circle of light. And the dark of the moon was only darkness. But halfway between the two, when the moon was between the worlds of light and dark, when even the moon lived on the edge...maybe then a witch could believe in the moon."''

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* Chaosium's ''Stormbringer'' supplement ''Demon Magic: The Second Stormbringer Companion''. Mordaga's Throne gives anyone sitting in it the chance to contact the Lord of Chaos named Arioch. The attempt must be made at twilight, when the world seems to be both dissolving and reforming.

* In south Tyrol legend the dwarf King Laurin was betrayed to those searching for him by the motion of his roses about him as he danced with glee. He cursed them: "Neither by day nor by night should anyone again glimpse this lovely sight." But twilight, being neither, allows them to be seen, which is offered as an explanation of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpenglow Alpenglow]].

* The "Witching Hour" in ''Literature/TheBFG'' by Creator/RoaldDahl.