History Main / LivingBodysuit

** It's also one of the favourite party tricks of the Seers of the Throne in ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening''.

* The Pah-wraiths on ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' like to do this, and the Prophets will do it on occasion if they need to. Both Keiko O'Brian and Jake Sisco have served as unwilling hosts to Pah-wraiths, Gul'Dukat a willing host, and Kira a willing host to a Prophet.

* ''ComicBook/ExcaliburMarvelComics'': Excalibur once fights a pack of extradimensional creatures called Warwolves who work for [[EvilOverlord Mojo]] who can do this to any prey that they kill -- they drain the victim's life essence, causing every part of the body except the skin to discorporate, and then wear the skin as a disguise, the Warwolf changing its shape to accommodate. Ironically, when one of them named Ducks tries to do it to Kitty Pryde, she turns the tables on the creature, using her [[{{intangibility}} phasing ability]] to [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame use Ducks as her own]] MeatPuppet, which leads to Excalibur capturing the other four (although Kitty needs help from the rest of her team to ''separate'' from Ducks).

* ''Anime/YuGiOh'' centers around the main character of Yugi Moto, who acts as a Living Bodysuit for an ancient Pharaoh's soul, while another character, Ryo Bakura, acts as such for a less benevolent spirit.

* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' has [[spoiler: Malomyotismon]] hiding out in [[spoiler: Owikawa]]
* Medusa in ''Manga/SoulEater'' uses a snake, then [[spoiler: a little girl called Rachel]] after being killed. In the Manga she later [[spoiler: steals Arachne's body]] but [[GeckoEnding in the Anime]] [[spoiler: Maka gains a handy "only harms evil" ability to kill her without harming the girl]].
* ''Manga/DGrayMan'': [[TheHeartless Akuma]] are made by making a [[DealWithTheDevil deal with]] The Millennium Earl to bring back a recently deceased loved one. The price, unbeknown to the victims, is that the victim's soul is sealed in a [[PoweredByAForsakenChild skeletal machine]] [[AndIMustScream forced to obey him]] and the first thing they are forced to do is kill the person who wished them back and wear them like a Halloween costume. [[FateWorseThanDeath And this is only the beginning.]]

** [[MadDoctor Orochi]][[MadScientist maru]] is [[BigBadEnsemble one of the main villains]] and a former member of the [[StandardEvilOrganizationSquad Akatsuki]], who is obsessed with {{Immortality}}. He succeeds at this by transferring his soul into the body of anyone unfortunate enough to be his victim once every three years. [[spoiler: Although it is still debated as to whether this is a minimum time required to switch again or the limit to how long he can use the body.]]
** The Yamanaka clan is a family of ninja capable of [[MindProbe mind]] [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind jutsu]]. Their most frequent technique is a form of [[DemonicPossession possesion]] which allows them to [[AstralProjection send their mind into an enemy's body]] and use it against them and their allies.
* During the 3rd TournamentArc in ''Manga/DragonBall'', Kami takes possession of a human in order to infiltrate the Budokai and capture Piccolo. When Piccolo turns his trapping technique against him, Kami releases the man he possessed just before getting sucked into a jug. The man, Shen, upon waking up has no idea how he ended up in the tournament ring, or why everyone is applauding him.
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': The Evangelions. [[spoiler: Whether or not they have the souls of the pilots' mothers in them, they're biologically engineered organisms, restrained and controlled in a case of armor.]]
* The unnamed Sludge Villain from the very first story arc of ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' attempts to invade Midoriya's body, referring to him as an 'invisibility skinsuit'. Sludge intends to use Midoriya to hide from All Might until he can escape the city. When he fails to take over Midoriya's body, he happens upon Bakugo and tries to do it again, with moderately more success - albeit much less subtlety - but is still taken out and arrested before he can properly take over a body or cause anyone permanent harm.

* ''ComicBook/ExcaliburMarvelComics'': Excalibur once fought a pack of extradimensional creatures called Warwolves who worked for [[EvilOverlord Mojo]] who could do this to any prey that they killed, drain the victim's life essence, causing every part of the body except the skin to discorporate, and then wear the skin as a disguise, the Warwolf changing its shape to accommodate. Ironically, when one of them -- the one named Ducks -- tried to do it to Kitty Pryde, she turned the tables on the creature, using her phasing ability to [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame use Ducks as her own MeatPuppet]], which led to Excalibur capturing the other four. (Although, Kitty needed help from the rest of her team to ''separate'' from Ducks.)

* The djinn in ''Film/{{Wishmaster}}'' does this with a dead body he finds in a med school lab.

* In ''Film/HowardTheDuck'', The Dark Overlord of the Universe takes over the body of one Dr. Jennings.
* In both the film and novel ''Literature/TheHost2008'', the Souls (alien symbiotes) make almost all of humanity into this. Almost all Souls are very gentle and the main character (Wanderer/Wanda) did not realize she was destroying the consciousness of other beings.

* Creator/HPLovecraft's ''Franchise/CthulhuMythos'' has Nyarlathotep, The Crawling Chaos, who in Robert Bloch's Mythos story "The Shadow From the Steeple" (arguably [[RunningTheAsylum non-canon]]), has one form that can possess humans.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}:''
** The climax of ''Literature/TheLightFantastic'': Rincewind expects the Things From The Dungeon Dimensions to break through in the sky above Ankh-Morpork, tentacles waving, but all they really need to do is break into Trymon's mind.

* In Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/{{Desperation}}'' the shapeless ancient evil entity called Tak has to possess others to interact with the world. Tak uses the body of a Sheriff's deputy to incarcerate travelers so it can use them later. When Tak occupies a body it wears it out quickly.
** In the AlternateUniverse version, ''Literature/TheRegulators'', Tak has instead found a body which it can stay in indefinitely: an autistic boy named Seth. Where in ''Desperation'' it was trapped in the title town, in this one it manages to relocate to Ohio, where it proceeds to [[RealityWarper twist the neighborhood according to its whims]].
* This happens to [[spoiler:Luke Castellan]] in the last few ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' books.

* Octavia E. Butler's ''Literature/{{Patternist}}'' series features a body-hopping entity named Doro. While he typically switches bodies at will (effectively wiping out the victim's soul/consciousness as he does so) he also involuntarily inhabits the nearest body if his current one is killed, making him effectively immortal.
* Ghosts and other incorporeal spirits in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' are able to briefly possess willing living bodies, such as when [[spoiler:Harry himself]] possesses Molly Carpenter in ''Literature/GhostStory'' and casts one of his own spells using her body.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

** When Illyria tried to return to life its body had been destroyed eons ago, requiring it to find a new one. [[spoiler: It takes Fred's, though the process kills her body. Fred is now BackFromTheDead, however, and sharing her body with Illyria.]]
** Cordelia is revealed in Season 4 to be acting under the control of Jasmine.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie The TV Movie]]: The Master possesses Bruce the paramedic, but his ultimate goal is to [[spoiler:take the Doctor's body]]. He wears a BadassLongcoat with CoolShades to hide the fact the host body is dead and starting to decompose around him.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E8HumanNature "Human Nature"]]/[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E9TheFamilyOfBlood "The Family of Blood"]]: The Family possesses (and kills) four people so that they could leave their suspended animation and hunt The Doctor.
** The... ''[[EldritchAbomination thing]]'' in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E10Midnight "Midnight"]] uses Sky as one of these.
* The Pah-wraith on ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' like to do this, and the Prophets will do it on occasion if they need to. Both Keiko O'Brian and Jake Sisco have served as unwilling hosts to Pah-wraith, Gul'Dukat a willing host, and Kira a willing host to a Prophet.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''

** The kid warlock in "Swap Meat" did this with Sam, although (apparently unexpectedly) this also let Sam walking around wearing him. They showed this by having the actors port with the characters, so while mirrors and all other characters and the physical world agreed that Sam's scenes involved a scrawny little asthmatic, magic viewer-vision still saw Jared Padalecki.
* In ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' a spell is used to possess [[spoiler:Alaric]] with [[spoiler: the ancient vampire Klaus.]] Given the level of [[spoiler: Klaus' apparent paranoia, this is likely to avoid exposing his real body to danger.]]

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' (v3.5) held a necromancy spell called "Magic Jar" which allowed a spell caster to possess a Living Bodysuit while the body's original soul was sent to a jewel of a container. Also, Psionic characters held the chance to switch minds or dominate those of their victims, allowing for a Living Bodysuit to be made with a mere thought!

* ''[[TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness World of Darkness: Immortals]]'' has a race of humans known as Body Thieves, who could take complete and permanent control of their victims, their last body dying as if through natural causes.
** TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem has a discipline called Domination, which holds as its highest level of power the ability called "Possession" allowing the vampire in question to transfer his/her mind into the body of any living bodysuit until that body falls unconscious (this can be a serious drawback however, if the vampire uses this ability and doesn't move their own body away from possible exposure to sunlight).
** It's also one of the favourite party tricks of the Seers of the Throne in ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening''.
* The Dominate discipline from ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' also has the Possession ability. The Animalism discipline has a similar ability that only works on animals.
** The Earthbound from ''TabletopGame/DemonTheFallen'' usually have their [[DealWithTheDevil Thralls]] hollowed out of all free will so that they can ride the meat puppets as they wish.

* Frankly to many things in ''TabletopGame/BleakWorld'', but most notably is the Legion classification of the [[GoneHorriblyWrong Experiment Gone Horribly Wrong]] race. Unlike most Experiments, their prime consciousness is not their original consciousness and is either a demon or a ghost possessing the body.
%%** Most ghosts can do this too.

* ''VideoGame/{{Geist}}'' was famous for the possession mechanic, as you made everyone your personal costume and disguise. The BigBad is also incorporeal, so it takes over the wheelchair-bound old man heading the corporation which had accidentally released it.

* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'', the Reapers can commandeer their mooks and boost their combat abilities significantly. [[spoiler:Sovereign can even resurrect Saren's [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul mostly-cybernetic body]] for this purpose, while Harbinger relies on genetically-engineered mooks.]]
* An arguably nicer Creator/BioWare example is the sweet little girl Wild Flower in ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire.'' The poor child has two entities battling for supremacy inside her. You end up having to forcibly evict one of them.
* In the HGame ''School Mate 2'', the female lead accidentally desecrates a shrine to three sisters, who take revenge by possessing her until she performs a series of tasks, all of them sexual, with the assistance of a male acquaintance who was present. [[ManySpiritsInsideOfOne Any of them can hijack her body at any time, switching hair, eyes and bust to each character]], but they're also capable of [[MindScrew manipulating her without taking direct control]]. [[spoiler: In the end it was all [[ShipperOnDeck an excuse to get the leads hooked up]], and enjoy some pleasures of the flesh while they're at it. There was no curse to be broken so they can still seize control, but by that point they have a more cooperative relationship.]]

* In ''VideoGame/AlanWake'', the Dark Presence wears the skin of Barbara Jagger to lure Alan and his wife out to her cabin on Diver's Isle, but strangely never drops this disguise even when it becomes obvious what she is. It eventually reveals itself to be [[spoiler: [[OneWingedAngel a swirling tornado of darkness]]. This is the closest thing it has to a "true form".]]
* Impa in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames The Legend of Zelda Oracle of Ages]]'' gets possessed by [[BigBad Veran]] in order to sneak into the Oracle's sanctuary with Link. She later controls the Oracle of Ages, Nayru and falls back on controlling Queen Ambi later on. She tries to do this to Link but he dodges her soul effortlessly.
* ''Videogame/SoulHackers'':
** [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Satanael]] does this to one of your allies. Played for all the horror possible (normal and [[BodyHorror otherwise]]) when he ''bursts'' out. He doesn't make it ''all the way'' out.

* ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness: Sanity's Requiem'' has Bonethieves. They like to burrow down people's throats and then control their host's joints directly. The victims are still conscious but are unable to control themselves.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'' gives us Ansem or [[spoiler:Xehanort's Heartless]]. Not only did he do this to [[spoiler: Riku]] earlier in the game, but he can command his Guardian to temporarily possess Sora ([[CallingYourAttacks "Submit!"]]), causing continual damage to the latter and opening him up for a follow up ([[CallingYourAttacks "Come, open your heart!"]]). However, this also means the Guardian is not around to block hits for him, so if you're good at avoiding the Guardian's attacks, you can retaliate.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'' has the thousand year old malevolent spirit Shuyin who uses first the Youth League leader Nooj and later the New Yevon leader Baralai to do his bidding.
* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' has a varied example regarding [[CosmicEntity celestial beings]] known as Aspects, where any human who could complete the perilous ascension up Mount Targon would become imbued with their power, sharing in the celestial's powers and inheriting their title, a form of [[SharingABody cohabitation]]-induced [[DeityOfHumanOrigin ascension to godhood]]. Most Aspects retain their mortal identities and autonomy while also driven by the PowersThatBe, but one major exception is [[WarGod Pantheon, the Aspect of War]], who prefers to entirely possess his hosts as if they were armor, [[AndIMustScream shunting their mortal consciousness into a state of dark limbo.]]

** In "The Lich", Finn discovers that [[spoiler:Billy is dead and the Lich has been possessing his corpse.]]
** Jake often uses his [[RubberMan elasticity]] to act as armor for Finn. In the episode "Jake Suit", the situation is reversed so Jake can control Finn to see how much he can take.
* Whenever the protagonists of ''WesternAnimation/PennZeroPartTimeHero'' enter a new dimension they posses the bodies of existing heroes. This process allows them to roam about without being noticed and ensures that the original hero will get credit for saving the day.

* In the ''Anime/{{Devil May Cry|TheAnimatedSeries}}'' anime, the secret BigBad, Sid, is a weak demon who late into the series shows to have the power to literally wear humans like the trope's name suggests, grusomely tearing the skin from the body and using black magic to make himself appear as the now dying or already dead victim.

* During the 3rd TournamentArc in Manga/DragonBall, Kami takes posession of a human in order to infiltrate the Budokai and capture Piccolo. When Piccolo turns his trapping technique against him, Kami releases the man he posessed just before getting sucked into a jug. The man, Shen, upon waking up has no idea how he ended up in the tournament ring, or why everyone is applauding him.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'' Gives us Ansem or [[spoiler:Xeahnort's Heartless]]. Not only did he do this to [[spoiler: Riku]] earlier in the game, but he can command his Guardian to temporarily possess Sora ([[CallingYourAttacks "Submit!"]]), causing continual damage to the latter and opening him up for a follow up ([[CallingYourAttacks "Come, open your heart!"]]). However, this also means the Guardian is not around to block hits for him, so if you're good at avoiding the Guardian's attacks, you can retaliate.

[[folder:Roleplay]]
* ''Roleplay/CosmicInterference:'': Twisted frequently use the original's bodies. One of the notable examples is [[spoiler: Shadow being controlled by her Twisted, VIOLENCE.]]
[[/folder]]

The purpose of a Living Bodysuit varies just like when regarding other forms of {{Meat Puppet}}s. Usually, the L.B. is used for a disguise, however, sometimes it is also used as a way of gaining immortality, or power via the intellect of the host's mind and experience.

Not to be confused with LivingClothes.

* ''VideoGame/{{Geist}}'' was famous for the possession mechanic, as you made everyone your personal costume and disguise.
** The BigBad is also incorporeal, so it takes over the wheelchair-bound old man heading the corporation which had accidentally released it.

* ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}'' once fought a pack of extradimensional creatures called Warwolves who worked for [[EvilOverlord Mojo]] who could do this to any prey that they killed, drain the victim's life essence, causing every part of the body except the skin to discorporate, and then wear the skin as a disguise, the Warwolf changing its shape to accommodate. Ironically, when one of them - the one named Ducks - tried to do it to Kitty Pryde, she turned the tables on the creature, using her phasing ability to [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame use Ducks as her own MeatPuppet]], which led to Excalibur capturing the other four. (Although, Kitty needed help from the rest of her team to ''separate'' from Ducks.)

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
* The Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger movie ''Film/EndOfDays'' has a couple of moments where TheDevil possesses people to disguise himself... while being very indiscreet.

* Rasputin in ''Film/{{Hellboy|2004}}'' is this. He has some part of the EldritchAbomination creature inside of him, which, when released is much bigger than Rasputin's normal body.

* The unnamed Sludge Villain from the very first story arc of ''Anime/MyHeroAcademia'' attempts to invade Midoriya's body, referring to him as an 'invisibility skinsuit'. Sludge intends to use Midoriya to hide from All Might until he can escape the city. When he fails to take over Midoriya's body, he happens upon Bakugo and tries to do it again, with moderately more success - albeit much less subtlety - but is still taken out and arrested before he can properly take over a body or cause anyone permanent harm.

* In both the film and novel ''Literature/TheHost'', the Souls (alien symbiotes) make almost all of humanity into this. Almost all Souls are very gentle and the main character (Wanderer/Wanda) did not realize she was destroying the consciousness of other beings.

In the process of DemonicPossession, GrandTheftMe, or similar {{Body Snatch|er}}ing abilities, a Living Bodysuit is a type of MeatPuppet and [[BodyAndHost Host]] that acts somewhat like that of a SoulJar, as it allows the hijacker to act from within the character/victim via it mental or spiritual projection.

** The climax of ''Discworld/TheLightFantastic'': Rincewind expects the Things From The Dungeon Dimensions to break through in the sky above Ankh-Morpork, tentacles waving, but all they really need to do is break into Trymon's mind.
** They do the same thing with Simon in ''Discworld/EqualRites''. Unlike Trymon [[DefeatingTheUndefeatable he gets better]].

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' a spell is used to possess [[spoiler:Alaric]] with [[spoiler: the ancient vampire Klaus.]] Given the level of [[spoiler: Klaus' apparent paranoia, this is likely to avoid exposing his real body to danger.]]

** The kid warlock in 'Swap Meat' did this with Sam, although (apparently unexpectedly) this also let Sam walking around wearing him. They showed this by having the actors port with the characters, so while mirrors and all other characters and the physical world agreed that Sam's scenes involved a scrawny little asthmatic, magic viewer-vision still saw Jared Padalecki.
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'':
** When Illyria tried to return to life its body had been destroyed eons ago, requiring it to find a new one. [[spoiler: It takes Fred's, though the process kills her body. Fred is now BackFromTheDead, however, and sharing her body with Illyria.]]
** Cordelia is revealed in Season 4 to be acting under the control of Jasmine.
* In the ''Family of Blood'' episode of ''Series/DoctorWho'', the Family possesses (and kills) four people so that they could leave their suspended animation and hunt The Doctor.
** The Slitheen use literally hollowed-out human suits, with zippers in the forehead, to disguise themselves while on Earth.
** The... ''[[EldritchAbomination thing]]'' in "Midnight" uses Sky as one of these.
** The Master possesses Bruce the paramedic, but his ultimate goal is to [[spoiler: take The Doctor's body]]. He wears a BadassLongcoat with CoolShades to hide the fact the host body is dead and starting to decompose around him.
* The Pah-wraith on ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' like to do this, and the Prophets will do it on occasion if they need to. Both Keiko O'Brian and Jake Sisco have served as unwilling hosts to Pah-wraith, Gul'Dukat a willing host, and Kira a willing host to a Prophet.

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'', The Reapers can commandeer their mooks and boost their combat abilities significantly. [[spoiler:Sovereign can even resurrect Saren's [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul mostly-cybernetic body]] for this purpose, while Harbinger relies on genetically-engineered mooks.]]