Fictional Traditions - TV Tropes (2024)

• Toothless explains to Hiccup how mating rites among dragons work. Male dragons seek out magnificent kills and bring the skull to a female they desire. If the female accepts, then they fight and the fight can last days. Toothless refers to this as the primary and it's what male dragons look forward to the most. If the male survives, then they do the actual mating.
• Toothless explains to Hiccup the Vale tradition. Among Night Furies, when one of them dies, the closest of kin flies the body as high as possible, lets it fall, then the entire drove fires a single blast at the body as a blessing for Good Passing. The closer the living were to the deceased, the more power they put into the blast. It's said that if the body is obliterated before it hits the ground, the deceased spends an eternity in WolcenEye.

• For the Hooligans of Berk and their close allies the Bog Burglars and Meatheads, they have the Frelsis-öl ceremony, which celebrates a former slave becoming free.
• On Berk, one Norse tradition not found in the more general Norse culture is that every month, a small fire would be lit and clanheads and other heads of family units will take a piece of the flame home and feed it an offering to mark the new month.

• Dwarfs have a funeral custom where they get buried with weapons to help them fight whatever dangers they might face in the afterlife.
• The Truth: It's explained in this installment that part of dwarven engagement and marriage tradition is for the spouses to pay their parents for the costs of raising them to symbolise their independence.

• The dragons in The Dream Eaters burn their dead, believing that the smoke carries their souls to one deity, the Skyfather, whilst the ashes of their bodies become one with the other, the Earthmother. Their deceased enemies are treated with rather less respect.
• "Sharazad" from the same collection features the bipedal carnivores of the titular empire holding a ceremony every ten years to reaffirm their union. The lions also hold a "First Blood ceremony" to celebrate their first kill.

• Among wizards, there are a few customs practiced in formal wizard duelling as established in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. During the first session of the Duelling Club, Lockhart and Snape demonstrate these customs. The participants bow to each other as a sign of respect, then they go to the accepted combat positions, then begin duelling on the count of three.
• Quidditch Through the Ages: Japanese Quidditch players have a variation of seppuku where after they lose a game, they burn their brooms to regain their honor. This results in a Culture Clash with non-Japanese wizards since to them, it's a waste of good brooms and makes the Japanese look like sore losers.

• When several dwarves are trapped in a mine, Princess Disa sings to the stones asking the mountain for their release.
• The Harfoots, who are nomads, must sometimes leave behind members of their party to die for the safety of the greater good. They have a ritual in which they read the names of those lost and remember them.
• While Galadriel is hiding in an orc camp, she witnesses orc women preparing the bodies of their dead for burial and setting them up for ritual funeral pyres.
• Arondir, an elf, plants seeds before a battle, creating new life before the coming bloodshed. Adar, his enemy, is seen doing the same thing.

• Star Trek: The Original Series: In the Season 2 opener "Amok Time", we are introduced to the Vulcan wedding rite known as kun-at-kal-I-fee which translates to "Marriage or Challenge". The bride and groom are mind-linked at childhood and when one or both experience the pon-farr blood fever, they come to a pre-arranged spot. Over there, the bride must decide whether to go through with the marriage, or nominate a "champion" to fight her arranged groom on her behalf. She must then "become the property of the victor" of a fight until death.
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
  • "Facets" reveals that joined Trills have something called a z'ian tara, which is a party during which The Symbiote's previous hosts' minds are put in the bodies of other people, allowing the Trill to interact with their past hosts.
  • "You Are Cordially Invited" reveals how a Klingon wedding works — the bride recites the groom's history, the officiate tells a story about Klingon hearts, a certain kind of candle is burnt, and there is something similar to a bachelor party that involves things like endurance tests and fasting.
  • "Destiny" reveals that Cardassians flirt by insulting the object of affection, leading a Cardassian woman to think a grumpy O'Brien was flirting with her. It also reveals that generally, only women are scientists on Cardassia.
  • Some episodes show that among Ferengi, the women aren't allowed to have jobs or wear clothes, and that they're expected to chew up the men's food for them.
  • When a Ferengi male comes of age and leaves home for the first time, they hold something similar to a garage/yard sale, selling their childhood possessions for starting capital.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation:
  • Betazoid weddings are done in the nude, and at dinner, Betazoids give thanks by banging a gong.
  • "Data's Day" reveals that Andorians get married in groups of four.
  • Soren in "The Outcast" says that when her/their^note species dances, whoever is taller leads, and that sleeping in the same bed is a common way of keeping warm.
  • When a Klingon dies in honorable combat, surrounding Klingons will roar to the heavens, letting everyone known a warrior is going to Sto-vo-kor.

• Andor:
  • On planet Ferrix, the burial tradition is to cremate the body and have the ashes baked into a brick, which is then put into a wall, thus joining the city forever. The ceremony involves a marching band followed by a procession, as seen with the funeral of Maarva Andor in episode 12, although being an especially beloved figure, her procession is certainly unusually large.
  • On Aldhani, the indigenous Dhanis performed an annual pilgrimage to view a meteor shower, the Eye of Aldhani, or Mak-ani bray Dhani in their language. The Empire has deliberately interfered with this so that now the pilgrims numbers' have dropped from at least 15,000 to around 60.
• The Mandalorian: Certain sects of Mandalorians, particularly the Children of the Watch, which the protagonist belongs to, are not allowed to remove their helmets in front of others. If they do, they have to atone by bathing in a lake called the Living Waters.

• One that's universal to all the Clans is The Remembrance, a massive book where great events are recorded in poetic form. Each Clan maintains their own version, so the events recorded are different.
• Clan Ghost Bear has The Clawing, a ritual where warriors who've shown particular skill are sent to the polar region of the Ghost Bear homeworld where they hunt the Clan's namesake animal, the Ghost Bear (which is basically a giant polar bear), armed only with a spear and some hunting dogs. If they succeed in killing one, they skin it and from then on are allowed to wear its pelt as a cloak to let everyone who sees them know their accomplishment.
• Clan Hell's Horses has a similar ritual called The Branding. A team of Horse warriors are sent out into the wilderness to capture one of their namesake Hell's Horses (giant, carnivorous horses that hunt in herds). The animal must be captured alive and branded, then released unharmed. Success means that the participants are honored by receiving a tattoo called the Mark of the Horse.

The cloudrose was the flower they used to throw at weddings, a long time ago, when they were easier to find.

• Final Fantasy X: One important funeral custom in Spira is the Sending, where a trained Summoner dances and sends the souls of the recently deceased to the Farplane. According to Lulu, if they don't do this, the souls of the dead would become resentful of the living and they will turn into fiends. The Al-Bhed have their own version of the rite which doesn't require a Yevon-trained summoner.
• Final Fantasy XIV:
  • Dunesfolk Lalafell traditionally practice a form of mithridatism in which herbal tea laced with diluted snake and scorpion venom is given to children. This tradition became a necessity due to the many venomous creatures of their desert homes.
  • Lalafellin boys are usually given rat tails as good luck charms, while Lalafellin girls are given puk wings for the same reason.
  • In the town of Mord Souq, the act of "cracking the coinpurse", or paying tribute by buying some local fare, is necessary for travelers to win over the trust of the locals.
  • The Night's Blessed believe that the Light is a scourge that burns all it touches. Many of the group's traditions are based around protecting one's most precious things from it.
  1. The Night's Blessed traditionally use pseudonyms in public, only using their true names with family and extremely close friends within the shade of Slitherbough.
  2. All members of the Blessed are given heartstones at birth that they carry with them everywhere. These stones are believed to protect them in life and ferry their spirits into the afterlife after death.
  3. Visitors are also asked to wash their hands and faces with water blessed to be aligned with Darkness to remove the taint of the Light.
  • In Dawntrail, we're shown numerous customs throughout Tural - the Hanuhanu have the yearly Ihih'hana festival which is done to bless their reeds for the year, the Shaaloni settle greater problems via a gun duel, etc. Part of the story deals with Koana and his hatred of such customs and trying to force everyone to modernize due to an incident in his youth.

• A tradition among drow summoners is that they would travel from their underground city all the way to the surface, slay an appropriate creature, and turn it into their summon. This tradition was largely abandoned when traditional summoning was displaced by nether summoning.
• The Sarghress clan has their own variation where they would kill a creature on the surface and dye their hair with their blood.