| abstract
| - A subtrope of Human Sacrifice, Virgin Sacrifices typically fall under three main categories:
* As payment to a god or some other power, either to keep them functioning or to win their favor in general.
* As payment to a god or some other power for the exclusive use of some powerful Applied Phlebotinum.
* As a necessary fuel for one's own continued existence (eg: a vampire who needs to feast on -- or bathe in -- virgin blood every once in a while in order to continue living). Popular places to conduct virgin sacrifices include, dark, skull-lined altars under glowering idols and the edges of active volcanoes. Abandoned churches with upside-down crosses in them make a nice setting for any vampiric or Satanically-themed sacrifices (although, if the church in question is in use, the alley next to it works just as well). Virgin Sacrifices are usually young, female, pure-minded, and sometimes raised from birth to accept -- even celebrate -- their honored position as Virgin Sacrifice. If not, then they're usually a Love Interests or a member of the heroes' party who got kidnapped and carted away for sacrificial purposes. (If said member of the party is, in fact, not a virgin, you can expect some hilarious hijinks to occur when that fact is uncovered.) In the ultra-rare case that a male virgin is required for a Virgin Sacrifice, expect the situation to be played for as much humor as possible. Also, expect the victim to be far more upset that his friends have discovered his virgin status than he is about actually being sacrificed. The virgin will usually be saved right from the sacrificial altar by the Big Damn Heroes, or via an elaborate scheme by her allies to impersonate the hungry god. Despite the most obvious logical solution, Virgin Sacrifice situations are hardly ever resolved by giving the sacrifice-to-be an opportunity to have an intimate encounter, thus rendering the Virgin Sacrifice unsuitable. (Unless the victim is male and the story is a Sex as Rite-Of-Passage comedy.) In a few cases, the save-the-sacrificial-victim sex may be non-consensual. That's probably the only time a "heroic character" can rationalize and "get away" with rape, if the hero is male and the Sacrificial Victim is female. Most professional writers probably shy away from plotlines like this due to the amount of Squick they dredge up, although such a scenario has been the plot to many a rape Fanfic. And this is not exactly helped by the fact that the squickiest of such ceremonies (which are not shown on TV for obvious reasons) involve the virgin being raped as part of the sacrifice. Also note that virgin sacrifices are never the most obvious solution -- children -- for obvious reasons. The most common in-story justification is that the victim's virginity is ritually significant for some reason connected to the fact that they might have but didn't, which lets the prepubescent population off the hook. While human sacrifice is Truth in Television -- though less frequently than religions have been accused of it -- the Virgin Sacrifice is not so accurate. Often tied in with a Town with a Dark Secret and A Fete Worse Than Death. Subtrope of Virgin Power and Powered by a Forsaken Child. This is most definitely a down side to Nature Adores a Virgin. Examples of Virgin Sacrifice include:
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