Line #24 Main/LiminalTime


1	->''"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."''
2	-->-- ''Literature/WitchesAbroad'' by Creator/TerryPratchett
3
4	Whenever (and wherever) a character or a place or a thing or a time changes from one state to another, there is a time and space in between, a liminal state -- from the Latin ''limen'', or threshold.
5
6	Because this is a time of transformation, it is story gold and widely used, such as the elegant simplicity of a FairyTale, where the son or daughter leaves, or is torn from, the parental home, entering a liminal state, and then, at the end of the tale, marries so as to form a new household, this time as husband or wife. Liminal times -- such as midnight, sunrise, sunset, or even noon; solstices, equinoxes, and the beginning of the year -- can be used to signify that the events are [[CelestialDeadline important]].
7
8	This can also include times when contrary states draw near each other. Ghosts are mostly likely to walk when the realms of the dead and the living draw near, which is often but not always an otherwise liminal time, such as year's end.
9
10	Liminal times are notoriously dangerous for people, even when they are merely transitions from one time of day to another, such as midnight, or one year to the next, and still more so when they change status, as when an unmarried couple become those liminal creatures, the bride and bridegroom, finally to reach the state of husband and wife. They are eerie and uncanny avenues for strangeness and magic to appear, out of control, unleashed until the time ends.
11
12	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 changing and so half one and half the other. DualityMotif may appear.
13
14	On the bright side, they are, by definition, not permanent, unlike {{Liminal Being}}s.
15
16	!!A SuperTrope to:
17	[[index]]
18	* AfterlifeAntechamber
19	* AstralCheckerboardDecor
20	* AtTheCrossroads
21	* BirthdayBeginning: The protagonist's journey begins featuring their birthday.
22	* Bittersweet17: Age 17 marks the transition to young adulthood.
23	* CockADoodleDawn
24	* Dangerous16thBirthday
25	* FictionalAgeOfMajority
26	* GrowingUpSucks
27	* TheHiddenHour
28	* InitiationCeremony
29	* NewYearHasCome
30	* RidingIntoTheSunset
31	* RiteOfPassage
32	* ShowdownAtHighNoon
33	* ShotAtDawn
34	* SpecialOccasionsAreMagic: When holidays, birthdays, etc. cause supernatural happenings.
35	* ThirteenthBirthdayMilestone
36	* TotalEclipseOfThePlot
37	* UndeathAlwaysEnds
38	* WalkingTheEarth
39	* WatchingTheSunset
40	* WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve: Indeed, the twelve strokes of the clock may be regarded as in neither one day nor the other.
41	[[/index]]
42	----
43
44	!!Examples not otherwise covered
45
46	[[foldercontrol]]
47
48	[[folder: Ballads ]]
49
50	* In ''Literature/TamLin'', Tam Lin cites the transition between UsefulNotes/AllHallowsEve and All Hallows Day as the time to rescue him.
51
52	[[/folder]]
53
54	[[folder: Fairy Tales ]]
55
56	* In tale type ATU 707, "The Three Golden Children", of the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index, the mother of the titular wonder children is ready to give birth, when the antagonists strike right at this time: they take the babies as soon as they are born (either twins or consecutive pregnancies), cast them in the water in a box and leave them to die, then place puppies and other creatures in their place to fool the king. The children's mother is later made to bear the brunt of a degrading punishment.
57	* 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 gets Maleen to take her place, which allows her to reveal herself to her true love); and 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]]).
58	* In Creator/AlexanderAfanasyev's "Literature/TheWiseLittleGirl", the Tsar demands the poor brother to come before him in a week's time, bringing his daughter, who "must appear before me neither naked nor dressed, neither on foot nor on horseback, neither bearing gifts nor empty-handed." Seven days later, the little girl appears draped in a fishing net, riding a hare and holding a partridge in her hand which flies off as soon as she releases her grasp.
59	[[/folder]]
60
61	[[folder: Folklore ]]
62	* Chime children are said to be born while the bells are ringing the hour, which gives them magical properties.
63	[[/folder]]
64
65	[[folder: Literature ]]
66
67	* ''Tom's Midnight Garden'' also uses this, with Tom discovering a new hour that isn't midnight or 1am when he can move between the past and present versions of his aunt's house.
68	* In the ''Literature/LabyrinthsOfEcho'', liminal states of any kind are Melifaro's magical specialization. His primary purpose to guard the border between the real world and the [[SpiritWorld Dark Side]] whenever his colleagues cross it into the latter, but he also displays the ability to stay in-between his normal state of mind and succumbing to MindControl, etc..
69	* In the ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}} Horrorland'' book "My Friends Call Me Monster", Michael only eats enough eggs to turn himself halfway back from monster to human. He is in humanoid form with claws and some scales.
70	* On the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', this moment of acute and painful existential angst, usually perpetrated by the Wizards of Unseen University, is called the ''thlabber'' state. Nobody knows why it is called this. Witches have a similar moment of vulnerable uncertainty at the moment where they cease to "borrow" the mind and body of an animal and return to their human form. For instance, when Granny Weatherwax returned to her human body after occupying the hive-mind of a swarm of bees, she was uncertain as to how many legs she had, wanted to suck up sugar syrup with her proboscis, and tried to leave the room via the closed part of a window.
71	** 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.]]
72	** ''Literature/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]]".
73	* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', times of renewal often have powerful magical effects. For instance, sunrise will destroy all but the most powerful spells. And there exist special times and places in which certain rules are suspended, and it becomes possible, for instance, for a mortal to become immortal or an immortal to die. [[spoiler: Halloween is one of these]]. Harry's being born in such a time puts him slightly outside of the normal world and gives him protection against a certain class of supernatural beast.
74	* In Creator/SeananMcGuire's ''Literature/OctoberDaye'' books, dawn will disintegrate fae spells.
75	* In Creator/KatherineAddison's ''Literature/TheGoblinEmperor'', Maia regards himself as being between states between his father's death, particularly during the coronation ceremony where he thinks on how he is released from his old life to take up a new one.
76	* In John [=DeChancie=]'s ''Literature/CastlePerilous'', Kwip can walk through walls. In ''Castle for Rent'', he pauses half in and half out, and the text comments on his paradoxical state.
77	* ''Literature/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.
78	* ''Literature/TheLastBinding'': Liminal states allow for magic that wouldn't otherwise be possible. One curse-breaking spell only works at a time when the recipient's mind is [[{{Seers}} off in a prophecy]] and his heart is temporarily stopped. Flora Sutton created incredibly powerful self-perpetuating magic by literally growing it into new seedlings.
79	-->'''Flora:''' Beginnings and endings are powerful. Liminal states. You can create profound change if you slip in through the gaps.
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder: Live Action TV ]]
83
84	* In an episode of ''Series/EerieIndiana'', Marshall discovers that he can move from the present time to an alternate timeline when he sets his watch back one hour.
85	* In one episode of ''Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977'' 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.)
86	* Each season of ''Series/{{Babylon 5}}'' started and ended on the (Earth standard calendar) New Year in-universe (as each season represented one year in real time). Since transitional or "cliff-hanger" events often ended the seasons, these events occurred at New Year in universe.
87
88	[[/folder]]
89
90	[[folder:Myths and Religion]]
91
92	* In Myth/HinduMythology, the demon Hiranyakashipu bargained with Brahma to attain conditional invulnerability: he could not be killed inside or outside a building, during day or night, on the ground or in the air, by anything living or nonliving, or by man, god, or beast. Vishnu ended his ensuing reign of terror [[LoopholeAbuse by manifesting as the tiger-man Narasimha, who killed the demon in his courtyard at twilight by placing him on his lap and skewering him with his claws.]]
93	* In Myth/EgyptianMythology, Ra cursed Nut to be unable to give birth on any day of the year. Thoth, therefore, gambled with Khonsu, the moon god, for his light, and used it to create five more days to the year, where she could give birth. These were known as the "Demon Days" and regarded as unlucky.
94	* 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.]]
95	[[/folder]]
96
97	[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]
98
99	* Creator/{{Chaosium}}'s ''TabletopGame/{{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.
100
101	[[/folder]]
102
103	[[folder: Video Games ]]
104
105	* Towards the end of ''VideoGame/BeyondTwoSouls'', Jodie becomes stuck between the world of the living and the Infraworld (essentially, a world populated by the spirits of the deceased), and has to decide between going back to life or moving on (leading to different endings).
106	* In the casual game ''Nightmare Realm'', the Extractors target children to have their creativity harvested at midnight on the evening before their 7th birthday.
107	[[/folder]]
108
109	[[folder: Webcomics]]
110
111	* ''Webcomic/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.
112	* 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.
113	--> '''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!]]''
114
115	[[/folder]]
116
117	[[folder: Real Life ]]
118
119	* Every fifty-two years, the Aztecs performed a fire-rite at a time where there was great peril of the world ceasing to exist as they transitioned from one bundle of years to the next. This period took place on the day that the Aztecs' two calendars (one yearly, the other seasonal) converged.
120	* The Golden, or Magic, Hours are the liminal times between day and night, or vice versa, that are most coveted for filming or photographs due to their indirect soft yellow/orange hues creating gorgeous lighting on principal subjects.
121	[[/folder]]

Context Main / LiminalTime