Falling Chandelier of Doom: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|''For some reason Agnes's practical eye was drawn to the huge chandelier that hung over the auditorium like a fantastic sea monster. Its thick rope disappeared into the darkness near the ceiling....
''"[[Genre Savvy|That looks like an accident waiting to happen if ever I saw one]]", she mumbled.''|''[[
When in high-class surroundings, the standard way to create chaos or kill people is inevitably to drop the enormous chandelier hanging from the ceiling. This is usually intentional on the part of the character (and strongly indicative of [[Badass
This is most common in film and theater, since it exists mostly as a way to create a visually spectacular effect.
Generally it's a subtrope of [[Death
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== [[Advertising]] ==
* In the original ''[[
* In the trailers for ''[[
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Noir]]'' does this straight, with Kirika machine-gunning a chandelier to down some mooks.
* Played with in ''[[Digimon]] V-Tamer'', where Taichi has his partner Zeromaru make a chandelier fall not for death and destruction, but so that the noise of it breaking breaks through a sonic attack in action.
* Happens to Ash and Pikachu in the ''[[Pokémon (
** Well, since their souls were literally ''pulled out'' by a Haunter, it was probably a case of [[Only Mostly Dead]].
* Happens to {{spoiler|one of the Zahlen Scwhestern}} in the final episode of ''[[Phantom of Inferno|Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom]]''.
* In [[Haikara
== [[Film]]
* Subverted in ''[[The
{{quote|
'''Yzma:''' And so does this! (drops Kronk down a [[Trap Door]]) }}
* In the first ''[[Futurama]]'' movie, ''Bender's Big Score,'' {{spoiler|Hermes' time clone body is destroyed by a falling chandelier. This leads Lars (actually an aged time clone Fry) to realize that he is just as doomed as Hermes' body.}}
* ''[[Anastasia]]'': Rasputin sends a chandelier crashing to the ballroom floor in the party scene at the beginning of the movie, but everyone steps out of the way.
* ''[[Cinderella (Disney film)|Cinderella]]'': [[Goofy|"Yaahh-hoo-hoo-hoo-hooey!!!"]]
** Subverted, as the "victims" in question are sitting astride the chandelier before it falls. Both survive, though it is implied that it hurt. [[Captain Obvious|A lot.]]
* ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]'' might or might not be the [[Trope Maker]]. (The page-quote is from a book which is largely a parody of ''Phantom of the Opera'')
* In ''[[
* In Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of ''[[Hamlet]]'', Hamlet (Branagh) drops a chandelier on Claudius (Derek Jacobi) during the final battle, in addition to poisoning and stabbing him. [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|Uh...]] [[Rasputinian Death|Yeah]]
{{quote|
* ''[[Clue (
* In ''[[The Wizard of Oz (
* In ''[[Robin Hood: Men in Tights]]'', Robin tries to drop a chandelier on the Sheriff's men, cuts the wrong rope, and drops a different chandelier on himself instead.
* In the movie of ''[[Stardust (
* ''[[The Scorpion King]]'' features a dropped chandelier which its target slips through, but then Mathayus uses the rope to dispose of a new opponent, which raises the chandelier again, catching the first guy astride. Ouch.
* In the first ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' movie, Elizabeth is able to escape temporarily from the crew of the ''Pearl'' by taking advantage of a falling chandelier in her father's mansion.
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] and subverted in the Disney film ''[[A Kid in King
* Subverted in ''[[The War of the Roses]]'': Barbara (Kathleen Turner) prepares to drop a chandelier onto her husband, Oliver, but he moves out of the way before she can drop it. {{spoiler|It ends up killing them both when, during a later fight, they both get on top of it and the supporting cables snap. This may not count, since they're both on top of the chandelier at the time.}}
* In ''[[Godzilla (
* Cruelly parodied in ''[[Mars Attacks!]]!'', as this is how the First Lady of USA (Glenn Close) dies:
{{quote|
* ''[[The International]]'' (2009). The museum shootout is brought to an end by dropping a chandelier-like construction that suspends several projection screens on a couple of mooks.
* Non-fatal version in ''[[
* ''[[From Dusk
* ''The Fall of the House of Usher'' - The curse brought on the House of Usher in the form of tremors for the family's devil worship practices ends up in the death of the main character's sister by a falling chandelier.
* In ''[[Killers]]'', Spencer shoots the rope for an antler decoration, causing it to swing and impale the hitwoman strangling him.
* Done in ''[[The Three Musketeers (1993
{{quote|
'''Porthos:''' Did I miss anyone?
'''Aramis:''' Congratulations, Porthos. You brought down the house.
'''Porthos:''' Oh, drat. I was trying to hit Rochefort. }}
* As in the book, Dobby drops a chandelier on Bellatrix (or tries to) in ''[[Harry Potter
* In ''[[What a Girl Wants]]'', the chandelier at [[Theme Naming|Peach and Pear's]] coming out party crashes down from the thumping of the rock music and dancing after Daphne livens up the party.
** Made a little funnier when, earlier, Henry tells Daphne not to mention the chandelier within earshot of Peach & Pear's father, as he could tell you the whole story revolving around it. It seems to be a [[Priceless Ming Vase|priceless artifact]].
* This is how {{Spoiler|the villainous Mukesh}} met his end in ''[[Om Shanti Om]]''. To add to it: {{Spoiler|The chandelier in question was originally the main piece in the movie set where he trapped his secret wife Shanti Priya in a fire and then finished her when it turned out the fire wasn't enough to kill her; he buried her remains under the place the chandelier fell. It was restored and reused in the set recreation as part of the revenge scheme by the protagonist (who was a collateral in the above situation), and [[Karmic Death|Shanti's very own ghost was the one who dropped the chandelier onto her awful ex-husband.]]}}
== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]'' contains what is probably the most famous example of this trope.
** Gaston Leroux reportedly based this scene on [[Truth in Television|an actual incident]] where one of the counterweights of the Palais Garnier's chandelier (not the chandelier itself) fell into the auditorium and killed a woman.
** In a ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' parody of Broadway, the Phantom loses patience with his fellow Broadway characters, and uses his light fixture collapsing power on them. However since they are in a diner, the results are unimpressive.
* [[
** Despite the above quote (and the fact that it's parodying ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]''), ''[[
** In ''[[
** In ''[[
* ''[[Harry Potter
** And in book 5, Peeves is trying to drop one at Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall quietly gives him some advice when he's not getting it:
{{quote|
* One gets pulled down intentionally during the ''[[Legacy of the Force]]'' novels (''Exiles'' by [[Aaron Allston]], page 285). Of course, nobody dies, since there are two telekinetics in the room, but it was a good diversion.
* Much of the [[Dean Koontz]] novel ''Forever Odd'' takes place in the ruins of the Panamint Resort and Spa, which was severely damaged by an earthquake. Several people were killed in the ballroom when a massive chandelier fell on them during the quake; although this was an accident, it happened because the builders cut corners and suspended the chandelier from a wooden beam rather than a steel beam.
* The second [[World of Tiers]] book ends with the villain accidentally cutting down a giant chandelier and being crushed with it. {{spoiler|She}}, however, is still alive and manages to struggle free and attack the protagonists who's trying to help {{spoiler|her}}, only to be finished with {{spoiler|her}} own weapon.
▲== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'' has a funny, non-combat-related version [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcW-IrZe6aI here].
** This was based on a real dropped chandelier. The episode was written backwards to get there.
* In one episode of ''[[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]]'', "Death's Door", a potentially world-changing conference is put on hold when a key delegate pulls out, having had a bizarre recurring dream in which a chandelier falls on his head. He interprets this (with good reason) as a warning not to attend the conference, lest he meet his demise in this manner.
* This is how the [[Victim of the Week]] Gustav Hoffer is killed in the ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'' episode "Robbing Hood".
* In ''[[The Two Ronnies]]'' serial ''The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town'', the Prime Minister and the leaders of the [[Anachronism Stew|Commonwealth]] are meeting to discuss the threat of the Phantom. Who drops in uninvited, and blows a raspberry at them that's powerful enough to make the Queen's portrait blush and bring the chandelier down.
* An epsisode of ''[[The Dingo Principle]]'' featured a parody of ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]'' where someone was killing members of the Liberal Party by dropping chandeliers on them, regardless of where they were at the time.
* ''[[
* In the ''[[
** Averted in "Smashed". Spike weakens a chandelier while swinging from it to kick Buffy in the face, including a closeup showing how it's been pulled out of the ceiling. By the time it falls however neither of them notice, [[Coitus Uninterruptus|because they're too busy having passionate sex]] up against the wall.
* In the ''[[MacGyver]]'' episode "The Coltons", Jesse Colton takes out a gunman who has taken cover behind a table by shooting out the chandelier above him so that it falls on him.
== [[Music]] ==
* One of Peter Schickele's [[PDQ Bach|P. D. Q. Bach]] performances was supposedly in a (fictitious) castle in an advanced state of disrepair.
{{quote|
* A scene in the [[Meat Loaf]] video "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" has a chandelier fall on the cops searching the castle. The Literal Video version has [[
== [[Video Games]] ==
* In ''[[Hitman]]: Blood Money'', setting a bomb on the rope of a chandelier is one of the ways you can make a 'hit' [[Make It Look Like an Accident|look like an accident]]. Several missions practically invite you to drop chandeliers on people like this. In one mission, you actually got the chance to murder both a father and his son, by two separate chandeliers.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Indiana Jones and The
* In ''[[James Bond]]: [[James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing]]'', you must drop a whole lighting rig on some bad guys during the second half of "The Kiss Kiss Club" level.
* In the fine [[Sierra]] tradition of [[Everything Trying to Kill You]], [[Laura Bow]] in ''[[The
* ''[[
* ''[[Final Fight]]'''s last stage featured falling chandeliers. Which contained.. Turkeys, radios and two by fours..?
* In ''[[House of the Dead]]: Overkill'' you can create one on a bunch of mutants as they break into Papa's house of Pain.
* ''[[You Have to Burn The Rope]]''. Doing that will means a [[One
* ''[[Castlevania]]'': Appears multiple times as an obstacle in richly-adorned environments. [[Stalactite Spite|Tries to fall on you if you walk past them]]. In ''Castlevania Adventure: Rebirth'' some of the chandeliers can be used to kill enemies.
* ''[[
** In the following cutscene, Bowser cuts down Mario's chandelier, and they fall together long enough for Bowser to rant at you before Mario shows off his [[Goomba Stomp|incredible jumping skills]] yet again.
* In ''[[Paper Mario (
* These randomly appear in ''[[Sweet Home (
* ''[[Medal of Honor]]'' (particularly the manor house in ''Frontline'')
* The third ''[[Nancy Drew (
* In ''[[Professor Layton and
* During the course of ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines]]'', the player encounters one of these in the Ocean House Hotel quest, though it can be pretty easily avoided. And when compared to the ''elevator''...
{{quote|
* ''[[Splatterhouse]]'' had this happen at the end of one [[Boss Battle]], with said chandelier [[One
* In ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'' Batman can drop a chandelier at one point, although there it's a means to smash the glass floor of the room and save two hostages from [[The Joker|Joker]].
* ''[[Mickey Mousecapade]]'' has these in the Fun House. They can take out enemies as well as you.
* In ''[[Another World (
* In ''[[Maniac Mansion]]'', you do this by playing the recording of the Tentacle's high-pitched screech, to obtain the Rusty Key.
* In the Arbiter's Grounds stage of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess]]'', you can drop a chandelier on ''yourself'' at one stage, if you're not careful. Later, you must ''actually'' drop a chandelier on yourself (standing in a gap in the middle so as not to be reduced to a 2-dimensional object) in order to progress.
* ''[[Persona 4]]'': Yukiko's Shadow can attack with this.
* Subverted in ''[[Ghost Trick]]''. If you drop the chandelier on the pink-haired lady, she will dodge it {{spoiler|or get stuck if your timing is right}}.
* In ''[[Syphon Filter]]'', you have to drop an ''[[Made of Explodium|exploding]]'' chandelier on a pair of guards in Rhoemer's stronghold.
* During the first visit to Beast's Castle in ''[[
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In ''[[The Perils of Penelope Pitstop]]'' episode "The Treacherous Movie Lot Plot", the Bully Brothers cut the chandelier rope with a saw, hoping to drop it on Penelope.
* The climax of ''[[The Simpsons (
* Not quite a chandelier, but in an episode of ''[[South Park]]'', Butters ends up accidentally killing about 16 people by kicking down a fixture of stage lights.
* ''[[
* The castle in ''[[
* ''[[Batman and Mister Freeze Sub Zero]]'': Mr. Freeze uses his... uh, [[Freeze Ray]] on a chandelier to cover his escape.
* Happens to Mr. Botsford in the ''[[Word Girl]]'' episode where Nocan the Contrarian makes his first appearance.
* A chandelier falls on a [[Mook]] in [[The New Batman Adventures]] in the episode Joker's Millions
* ''[[Batman:
== [[Real Life]] ==
* At the Theatre-Lyrique in Paris (an opera house), some portions of the glass chandelier fell on the audience, but no one was killed. (Novello, 'The Musical World'). Then in October 1888, according to 'The Times', one of the chandeliers fell and did kill a man.
*
* Norwegian author Jens Bjørneboe is supposed to have tried to kill his parents this way when he was 8 years old.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Fight Scene]]
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[[Category:Film Tropes]]
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