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So I was re-reading the Fullmetal Alchemist series recently. I noticed this
scene below with the man presumably on the verge of death with I presume to be
his "soul" coming out of his mouth. I was wondering what the origin of this
trope is, since I have often seen this in other mangas and animes.

![Full Metal Alchemist Pg. 151  Vol. 1](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ckrtd.png)


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question
tropes
What is the origin of the trope where a person lays on the ground with their "soul" coming out of their mouth?


This is a sample of the [Giving Up the Ghost
tropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GivingUpTheGhost) The term
itself actually originates from the [King James Version of the
Bible](http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/)

> when Jesus was on the cross, His last words were "Father, into your hands I
> commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last." (New
> International Version) The King James Version of 1611, however, gave it the
> contemporary wording "... and having said thus, he gave up the ghost."
> [source](http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/785830)

The trope is a spinoff version of the western version [Winged Soul Flies Off
At
Death](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WingedSoulFliesOffAtDeath).
The western version got first used in 1948 in a western animation

> The 1948 short "Back Alley Oproar" with Sylvester and Elmer Fudd. Sylvester
> insists on singing when Fudd wants to sleep, and Sylvester eventually ends
> up on a cloud, complete with halo and wings.

as for the giving up the Ghost trope I am not certain when it first occured.


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answer


According to chinese traditional medicine, when a person dies, the soul
escapes the body from one of its orifices (any). These beliefs passed to the
other asian cultures. So, the soul leaving the body from the mouth is a
familiar image that would need no explanation for asian people.


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answer