Barrier Maiden/Playing With

Basic Trope: A person who keep the world from falling apart, usually through magical means.

• Straight: Himiko, the Shrine Maiden who maintain the spiritual wall separating the world from the realm of the demons.
• Exaggerated: Himiko, the Shrine Maiden who psychically hold the entire reality from falling into the Grand Oblivion.
• Justified: It's the law of the realm that someone with great spiritual power to take the role of the Barrier Maiden.
• Inverted: Himiko is an Apocalypse Maiden—she will destroy the world simply by existing.
• Subverted: Himiko seems to be the one who maintain the wall that protects the world from the demons, but when she takes a long vacation, the wall is doing okay.
• Double Subverted: ...for a while, anyway.
• Parodied: Himiko dresses like a shrine maiden and regularly performs rituals she thinks holds the world togehter, and everyone who passes by thinks she's a cosplayer
• Deconstructed: Himiko is under unbelievable pressure from keeping the world together by herself.
• Reconstructed: It's obvious that no single person can hold the world together forever, so the law of the realm is amended to make the role of Barrier Maiden rotates amongst the most spiritually powerful priestesses of the world.
• Zig Zagged: Himiko is raised to maintain the wall keeping the demons away, but then Bob and his band wipe out the demons so she doesn't have to, but this upsets the Balance of Good and Evil and the other world group that used to be humanity's ally turns against thm so Himiko has to make a wall against them. This buys Bob's group time to finish off the new threat, but the Dangerous Forbidden Technique they use to do so damages the world.....
• Averted: The world doesn't need to be maintained with powerful magic cast by a person or a group of individuals.
• Enforced: The author's marriage life is unsatisfactory and she's only keeping it going for the sake of the children, the much-abused Himiko is an Author Avatar of some sort.
• Lampshaded: "This lady who stands before the gigantic pillar of light seems to be important to the world's well-being."
• Invoked: According to legends, a Barrier Maiden annointed in the Temple of All-Gods shall raise a barrier between this world and the realms of the demons. Since the world is currently, you know, overran by demons, The Hero Bob and his Five-Man Band wander the land to search for a girl to deliver to the Temple of All-Gods.
• Exploited: Archfiend Centurios sends his demonic hit-squads to assassinate Himiko before she can become a Barrier Maiden.
• Defied: The people of the world wise up and take the role of upholding morality themselves instead of relying on a Barrier Maiden to ward the demons away.
• Discussed: ???
• Conversed:

Bob: "So if anything happens to you, the world will be thrown into chaos?"
Himiko: "That about sums it up."
Bob: "Harsh."

• Played for Drama: Mio, Himiko's lady-in-waiting can't bear to see her beloved lady shoulder the responsibility of the world alone. That's unfair, so she elopes with her. Thus it becomes a melee-a-trois: Mio, who want to protect Himiko from the pain of being a Barrier Maiden; Bob, who want to restore Himiko to her supposed role; and Centurios, who want to assassinate Himiko so he can start his demonic invasion. Meanwhile, being outside the Temple of All-Gods allow Himiko to see how rotten humans can be, and darkness grow in her heart... she's torn between keep on running from her responsibility, returning to her role, or take the mantle of Apocalypse Maiden altogether.

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Back to Barrier Maiden. Don't let her fall, or the world will come to an end.