http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SilverHasMysticPowers

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Silver was considered a mystical element in folklore, and thus its properties become reality in fiction. The metal can do many things, from channel magic, to stopping evil (including warding off or harming vampires and werewolves), making magic mirrors, to turning water into a Healing Potion.

The myth of silver's mystical properties goes deep into human history. As a noble metal akin to gold, this is often attributed to something along the lines of silver's Incorruptible Pure Pureness. In fact, it's because of something people noticed a very long time ago: if you put water in a silver pitcher, it takes a lot longer for it to get unhealthily scummy. Silver has antimicrobial properties that make it quite useful in medicine. In ancient and medieval alchemy silver was also the metal with an affinity corresponding to the moon, so many of the mystical properties of the moon also became associated with the metal (which would certainly explain its usefulness against werewolves). Unlike in post-Medieval works, many pre-Christian pagan mythologies also associated it with the Sun, and many solar deities are described with silver objects (like Saulė 's silver thread, Apollo's silver bow and arrows or Amaterasu's silver mirror). Though ancient alchemists couldn't know it, silver does have a unique property among the elements — it exists in a naturally excited form — i.e. it has a single electron that exists in a higher energy level, leaving a gap in the shell immediately "below" it.

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Silver is almost always considered to be on the good end of magic (and items formed of it may also be Made of Good). Some works can make it evil or used for evil when Light Is Not Good.

This trope is the reason vampires traditionally have no reflections and don't show up on film. Old-timey mirrors used silver backing to achieve reflection, and black and white film used silver nitrates to capture the image (plus some old camera models included mirrors in the light capture mechanism); since vampires are unholy, their light is not picked up by divine silver. Of course, silver nitrates were phased out of film even before film itself was made obsolete by digital cameras, and modern mirrors are usually backed by much cheaper aluminium, but the associated between vampirism and lack of image reproduction still lingers.

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Even beyond mirrors and bullets, this can overlap with Supernatural Repellent.

A Winter Royal Lady might prefer silver due to it fitting in with that trope's color scheme.

If GoldSilverCopper Standard involves all those metal having magic qualities, expect gold to be even more powerful, while silver still has its own powers. The two of them used together can also be a sign of divinity.

A Super-Trope to Silver Bullet.

See also Mithril, a silver-like Fantasy Metal (which is also called "(Moria) silver"). If this trope is true in a work that also has mithril, then the mithril might take it Up to Eleven.

Compare Power Crystal, Crystal Skull, Thunderbolt Iron (another metal with mythic history), Cold Iron.

Examples:

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Anime and Manga

In Rave Master Musica the Silver Claimer (people who can manipulate alchemically altered silver in combat) at one point mentions that, traditionally, silver can harm demonic creatures such as Oni (and he curb-stomps a whole gang of them alone). Both he and the other Silver Claimer Reina can unite their powers to cast an ultra-powerful magical attack based on silver.

Highly implied to be the case in 3×3 Eyes: the taoist Steve Long usually fights monsters with Sutra cards, but he also has a revolver loaded with silver bullets, implying that demons and monsters can be harmed by silver.

Comic Books

Wonder Woman (1987): When Artemis returns as a demon hunter her decorative knee coverings are solid silver, which allows her to use them to harm Neron after he thinks he's disarmed her.

Fan Works

Child of the Storm mentions this a few times, as well as goblin-silver. Mithril also exists (Tolkien is mentioned as having been given a tour of the Nine Realms by Loki and having picked up perhaps a little more than was good for him) and is referred to as true-silver in the sequel, but only really emphasised by Peter Wisdom of MI13 so that he can sequester a very large deposit of it which is primarily vibranium , even though it's in Hogwarts, on the grounds of all deposits of gold and silver coming under the jurisdiction of Mines Royal, part of the UK's 'Crown Estate' (lands technically owned by the Crown that are administered by the government). He admits, when challenged, that this distinction probably won't hold up for long in court since the chemical relationship of silver and mithril is unknown, but points out that by that point, the definition will have been amended, and in any scenario, any legal case would have to be made in muggle courts, which the Ministry would never think of, or require booting MI13 off the site, which the Ministry aren't capable of (partly due to having lost a large number of personnel only a few months before, partly due to MI13's far greater numbers - including young witches and wizards - and resources).

, even though it's in Hogwarts, on the grounds of all deposits of gold and silver coming under the jurisdiction of Mines Royal, part of the UK's 'Crown Estate' (lands technically owned by the Crown that are administered by the government). He admits, when challenged, that this distinction probably won't hold up for long in court since the chemical relationship of silver and mithril is unknown, but points out that by that point, the definition will have been amended, and in any scenario, any legal case would have to be made in muggle courts, which the Ministry would never think of, or require booting MI13 off the site, which the Ministry aren't capable of (partly due to having lost a large number of personnel only a few months before, partly due to MI13's far greater numbers - including young witches and wizards - and resources). Openly mocked a few times in The (Questionable) Burdens of Leadership of a Troll Emperor once Naruto and Xanna come to Earth. Multiple times, someone trying to assassinate one or both of them will bring either a silver blade or a gun with Silver Bullets. Naruto's rather amused that assassins keep thinking silver has some magic powers that make them more effective, especially since he's not a demon or vampire, but a god.

once Naruto and Xanna come to Earth. Multiple times, someone trying to assassinate one or both of them will bring either a silver blade or a gun with Silver Bullets. Naruto's rather amused that assassins keep thinking silver has some magic powers that make them more effective, especially since he's not a demon or vampire, but a god. Done relatively realistically in Carving Out a Future where Xander's silver axe is more effective against a demon than guns, but is rather useless against most other things and Rayne has to look up how to care for the weapon as he almost ruins the blade when trying to sharpen it like steel.

Films — Live-Action

Taken to extremes in the Blade Trilogy, where a minor scratch from any sharp silver object causes vampires to immediately crumble into dust.

In Dracula Untold, pure silver is one of the weaknesses of vampires, and it appears that light glints off of them in such a way that it also makes it hard for the vampires to see. Sultan Mehmet takes advantage of this by personally fighting Dracula in a room covered in silver coins.

Discussed in From Dusk Till Dawn: Sex Machine says that silver can be used to kill vampires, only for Scott to counter that's werewolves; and then Sex Machine counters right back that silver bullets are used on werewolves, but silver in general supposedly can work on vampires. Kate settles it by asking if anyone even has any silver. No? "Then who cares?"

LARP

In the LARP "The Realms", Silver is a weapon enhancement which is noted in the rulebook to have enhanced effects against certain types of beings.

Literature

Live-Action TV

In Moonlight it's mentioned that the reason vampires couldn't be photographed is because of the silver used in producing the negative, the silver reflecting the photographee's soul. (Which is also why they don't cast reflections in mirrors.) But modern digital photography and video don't use silver, making vamps easy to capture images of.

In True Blood vampires are weakened by contact with silver. It hurts too, and will leave burn marks on unprotected skin. Has been shown applied as chains, handcuffs, "pepper" spray and intravenously as a torture method.

In Supernatural, silver is one of the most common monster weaknesses (next to salt and iron). Shapeshifters, lamias and werewolves are all, in some way, vulnerable to silver. Hunters often test people with silver to make sure they aren't monsters, or even cut themselves with it to prove they're who they say they are.

In The Vampire Diaries, it's initially assumed that werewolves are vulnerable to silver (which the local werewolf plays up by avoiding touching a silver knife). While this is a Fake Weakness, it turns out that silver does have an effect on werewolves — it jumpstarts their already impressive Healing Factor. Attacking a werewolf with silver, therefore, is literally less effective than anything else you could hit them with. Mason : You know, I think werewolves were probably the ones who started this whole "weak to silver" thing, just for moments like this.

The Twilight Zone (1959): In "Jess-Belle", silver can be used to kill witches.

Pinballs

Invoked with the Silver Wizard in Silverball Mania, who's the source for the game's various mystical activities.

Tabletop Games

Video Games

Webcomics

Web Original

From a Magical Metals list found on the Net Silver: The metal of the moon, silver is well-known for being able to ignore lunar-based defensive powers such as those of lycanthropy. Unlike gold, silver will tarnish readily unless protected, but it needs no special preparation for most magical uses. Awakened, 3 ounces of silver (6 quantities for enchanting purposes) will grant moderate bonuses to divinations and magical wards it is used in. Unfortunately, silver is also strongly attuned to goodness and purity, it does not readily tolerate evil enchantments, having a marked tendency to decay into iron should the evil continue to be forced into it, though the presence of blue sapphire will aid the metal in resisting wickedness, and emeralds will weaken the silver if set in it. Like gold, but to a much weaker degree, silver can provide support for a spell, and also like its yellow cousin, it requires strengthening for physical reasons if used in weapons and armor. A wide selection of alloys can be made using silver, many exhibit varying degrees of tolerance for magical lightning, a quality the pure metal does not seem to have. Quite a few spells utilize the innate goodness of silver to strike out at evil, generally this does not harm the metal in the least.

Western Animation