Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
When the irredeemably evil villain just needs to be [[Freud Was Right|run through with a big rod]]. Bigger is better in [[Big Bad|bad]]. The defining element is the shock value of the impalement. Imaginative impalements qualify. Death by bladed weapon ([[Knife Nut|knife]], [[Katanas Are Just Better|sword]], [[Sword Fight|foil]], [[Laser Blade|lightsaber]], [[Off
Sometimes it's done to a good guy ([[Disposable Woman|or girl]]) in a type of visible [[Stuffed Into the Fridge]] moment in order to [[Kick the Dog|tick off the audience]].
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When a person is impaled through their... ahem... alimentary canal (starting at either end), it qualifies as a [[Cruel and Unusual Death]]. If the victim is impaled through their neck, it's an [[Impromptu Tracheotomy]]. If the victim is impaled multiple times, you have an example of [[Human Pincushion]].
{{
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]]
* This happens fairly often in ''[[
** Kakashi uses his Raikiri against a held-in-place Zabuza, only for Haku to [[Taking the Bullet|take the blow for him]]. [[Bowdlerize|In the anime]] this gave him a sizable stomach wound, but in the manga, Kakashi's forearm ''went most of the way through his abdomen''.
*** {{spoiler|Twice}}
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** Pain does this quite brutally against both {{spoiler|Jiraiya}} and {{spoiler|Fukasaku}}, although it's unclear whether {{spoiler|Hinata}} was actually impaled or just "poked".
** Hidan pretty much makes this trope his way of life. He does this to ''himself'', but a combination of [[Immortality]] and a voodoo-like technique he gets the pleasure of it happening to whoever he used for a ritual.
** A flashback shows {{spoiler|Madara}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20121124071357/http://read.mangashare.com/Naruto/chapter-399/page011.html was impaled] after fighting {{spoiler|the first Hokage}}, and everyone assumed he must have died.
** Jugo was partially impaled by {{spoiler|the Raikage's}} '''arm''', even after it went all the way through his [[Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me|shield]]. Luckily for Jugo, [[Nigh Invulnerability|he can survive that]].
** In chapter 504, {{spoiler|Minato and Kushina sacrifice themselves to save Naruto by letting the Kyuubi impale them on his claw}}.
** A flashback to the 8-Tailed Beast before Killer Bee was its host showed impaling Motoi's father was the last thing it did with its left horn before A cut it off.
** {{spoiler|Konan}} was killed from impalement with [[Improvised Weapon|a broken pipe]].
* ''[[
** ''[[
** ''[[Shin Mazinger Zero]]'' gave a [[Nightmare Fuel]] example when in one of the first chapters {{spoiler|Sayaka was impaled by several huge, metallic rods.}}
* In ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]], [[The Movie]]: Poltergeist Report'', Kurama grows an entire bamboo forest in the battlefield he's in, impaling one of the villains with several bamboo shoots. Pissing off Kurama is never a good idea.
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* Survived in ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'', when, during her chronologically first on-screen battle, Yuki was suddenly run through with a big collection of nasty-looking shards of metal. It is a testament to this character's [[Badass Bookworm|awesomeness]] that she was undeterred by this development.
** Played straight in the Disappearance film, where {{spoiler|Asakura manages to stab Kyon as he's about to shoot alternate Nagato with a gun to fix the broken timeline. She nearly succeeds in killing him too, if not for the meddling of a future Kyon, robo-Nagato, and young Mikuru, who then successfully fix the timeline for the dying Kyon.}}
* ''[[
** And then in ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion
* Both the Anime, the Manga and the OVAs of ''[[Hellsing]]'' shows this, mostly because of Alucard being Vlad the Impaler.
** In the ending of the ''[[Hellsing (
** The manga and the OVAs also presents a few examples:
*** One time when Alucard confronts an enemy with a magic rifle (late 1700s musket style). When Alucard defeats and disarms her, he impales her with her own rifle through the stomach.
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** In ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'', Shinn ''loves'' doing this. Too bad for him, he only stabs main characters who refuse to [[Plot Armour|stay down]].
*** He does it successfully a few times, such as against {{spoiler|the Abyss, along with its pilot}} with a beam javelin, and later on against some Destroy Gundams.
** In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory]]'', Kou Uraki {{spoiler|stabs the Dendrobium Orchis's beam cannon into the Gerbera Tetra, '' and then he fires it.}}''
* Gemmu in the second ''[[Galaxy Fraulein Yuna]]'' OAV is impaled on one of the giant spikes she herself had raised throughout the city. Karmically appropriate, both for the irony, and for how she'd killed her sister.
* In ''[[One Piece]]'', The first of Luffy's [[Third Time's the Charm|three battles]] with Crocodile ends with Crocodile impaling Luffy on his pirate hook. Crocodile soon does the same to Nico Robin after he realizes she won't tell him where Pluton is.
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* ''[[Inuyasha]]'' gets impaled several times, the most extreme example being early in the manga when [[Aloof Big Brother|Sesshoumaru]] plunges his hand all the way through Inuyasha's torso, in what is Sesshoumaru's signature unarmed attack. Inuyasha is hard to kill, however.
** Late in the manga, this happens to {{spoiler|Sesshoumaru,}} who is impaled twice through the chest by {{spoiler|[[Ultimate Evil|Magatsuhi]], one of which strikes directly [[No One Could Survive That|through the heart]]. [[Not Quite Dead|Sesshoumaru]], however, is even [[Came Back Strong|harder to kill]] than Inuyasha.}}
* ''[[
** Later on, Fate also impales {{spoiler|Negi with a stone spear. Unlike Evangeline, Negi [[Mood Whiplash|nearly dies of blood loss]] before [[The Medic|Konoka]] heals him.}}
** Negi has ''Jaculatio Fulgoris'' and ''Titanoktonon'' spells, both having shape of spears [[Shock and Awe|made of lightning]]. ''Titanoktonon'' is actually [[BFS|huge enough]] to leave the target hanging a few feet above ground.
** It's also subverted in chapter 225. Dramatic use of black makes it ''look'' like Setsuna got impaled by a stone spike, but it really just ripped her suit.
* As an unfortunate victim of [[The Worf Effect]], poor Haji in ''[[Blood
** Haji redeems this trope when he turns the tables on the villain Amshel in the penultimate episode by dramatically impaling him on the tip of a skyscraper. Which is then struck by lightning. It slows him down for about ten minutes.
* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (
** Lust manages to impale Havoc through the spine, paralyzing him.
** This also happens when {{spoiler|Edward got caught in an explosion causing the mine he was in to collapse. When he started to get up after the explosion, he found that he had a huge metal beam through his gut. It took a risky trick with alchemy that shortened his overall lifespan to heal himself.}}
** This is how {{spoiler|Sloth}} is finally killed. After already being [[Immortal Life Is Cheap|impaled a dozen times]] in the preceding fight, so it fails to be really spectacular...
** Also done by {{spoiler|Ed}} to {{spoiler|Father}} in chapter 107. [[Curb Stomp Battle|It worked much better.]]
** In the [[Fullmetal Alchemist (
*** Also in this version, Envy kills {{spoiler|Ed}} in this manner ''[[Super Strength|with his fist]]'' after {{spoiler|revealing that he was actually Ed's half brother, Hohenheim's son from a previous relationship}}. He got better, though.
* Toward the end of the fight between Rukia and Aaroniero in ''[[
** Rukia has been impaled many, many times. It's become a rather morbid running joke among fans.
** {{spoiler|Hinamori}}. For the ''second'' time, we must add. {{spoiler|First, it was her [[Evil Mentor]] Aizen, who hugged and then stabbed her to kill her right before revealing his treachery. Later, Aizen himself uses his zanpakuto's [[Master of Illusion|shikai powers]] to fool Momo's childhood friend Hitsugaya into stabbing her.}} [[Break the Cutie|Poor kid DEFINITELY has no luck.]]
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*** Ichigo gets this A LOT.
** Mayuri kills {{spoiler|Szayel}} this way and gets bonus points for combining it with an [[Impaled Palm]].
** During the [[Training
*** {{spoiler|And this is how Byakuya defeats Tsukishima, with his bare hand - albeit full of Senbonzakura blades.}}
** As of 492, the most recent victim of this is {{spoiler|Apacci}}, "thanks" to {{spoiler|Kirge Opie.}}
* {{spoiler|Okoi}} dies in this way in ''[[Basilisk]]'' {{spoiler|when Nenki's hair impales her ''all over her body''}}. It's messy. ''Very'' messy.
** {{spoiler|Her brother Saemon}} dies this way too, but {{spoiler|he's impaled with several lances after his cover is blown, gets mocked by the man he was impersonating (Tenzen) as he dies, and then his body is dumped into a river.}}
* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
** In ''Force'', {{spoiler|Signum and Hayate}} follow the suit.
** It's implied that {{spoiler|Due}} was killed this way toward the end of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
* In ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'': {{spoiler|Tamahome kills Nakago by running his fist riiiiiiight through the latter's chest. He ''did'' promise to kill him with his own bare hands, right?}}
* Towards the end of ''[[Ayashi no Ceres]]'', Shiso stabs Aya {{spoiler|and by extension, her and Tooya's unborn child}} bigtime. And what's worse is the blade in the anime is '''much bigger''' than the one he used in the manga. She {{spoiler|and her baby}} got better.
* Gara in ''[[Bastard!!]]'' gets impaled on a bony spike extruded by an [[Eldritch Abomination]], and does the pulling-himself-along-the-impaling-instrument trick. And then the [[Eldritch Abomination]] helps him the rest of the way along it.
* This is the favorite tactic of the Zaibach soldiers in ''[[Vision of Escaflowne]]''
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
* In the [[Soul Eater]] anime, Crona is impaled by Medusa's arrows which had been aimed at Maka (they got better}. Maka, naturally, is not best pleased (as if she needed more of a reason to go after Medusa). Actually the second time Crona got run through with something sharp, poor thing.
** Can't forget the [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] Asura impaling {{spoiler|Death The Kid}} near the end of the anime.
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* The hero-as-victim (and very [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic]]) instance in ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', when {{spoiler|Kamina is fatally wounded by way of being impaled, both mech and body, by Thymilph}}.
** Again in the finale, to a certain extent, after Simon's last bad-ass boast, the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Granzeboma each create 2 drills and impale eachother with them. Of course, this doesn't prevent Simon from launching in the smaller versions of Gurren Lagann.
* In the final great battle of his childhood, Son Goku punched a hole clean through Demon King Piccolo in ''[[
** Freeza runs Kuririn / Krillin through on one of his horns after his first transformation (good thing [[Healing Hands|Dende]] was there). Unsurprisingly, most of the videogames have this as that form's ultimate move.
* Happens to an [[Asshole Victim]] in ''[[
** And to another [[Asshole Victim]], who {{spoiler|also is thrown off a (much lower) balcony by the local [[Sympathetic Murderer]], ending up impaled on a pointy railing piece.}}
* In ''[[Mai
* In ''[[Karakuridouji Ultimo]]'', {{spoiler|Eko, on two occasions}}, gets impaled; {{spoiler|the first time, by Rage, the second time, by Vice}}. This also happens to {{spoiler|Iruma, who gets stabbed by Jealousy}}.
* In ''[[Muhyo and Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation]]'', {{spoiler|Panza}} is mortally wounded this way [[Heroic Sacrifice|while protecting Roji]] [[Taking the Bullet|from Mick's thrust]].
* In ''[[
* Happens to {{spoiler|[[Doomed
** And right before ''that'', {{spoiler|Oriko allowed herself to be impaled by Kyouko's spear to prevent her from destroying Kirika's body and breaking the barrier. Then Homura shot her Soul Gem and destroyed it, killing her... but she still wasn't able to stop Oriko from checkmating her and killing poor Madoka.}}
** In the official manga adaption, {{spoiler|Oktavia von Seckendorff impales Kyouko.}}
* In ''[[
* Happens at least once during {{spoiler|the Elder Bairn's destruction of Saya's hometown}} in [[Blood
* ''[[Taimanin Asagi]]'': Asagi kills off her [[Arch Enemy]] Oboro in this way at the end.
* Happens to {{spoiler|[[Class Representative]] Yukari Sakuragi}} in ''[[
* This is how {{spoiler|Shougo and Sayo's father}} was murdered in ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'', during {{spoiler|the annihilation of their [[Doomed Hometown]] for being [[Japanese Christian
** Also, in the anime this is how {{spoiler|Saitou}} kills {{spoiler|Usui.}} In the manga, he actually {{spoiler|[[Half the Man He Used To Be|impales
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
▲== Comic Books ==
* Also not bad guys, but there are two examples from ''[[Elf Quest]]''. In the first Lord Voll and his giant bird get run through by a giant ground-to-air crossbow bolt. Since the bird is in flight at the time and also carrying Cutter and Ember, this gives them a bumpy landing. Shortly afterward in a climactic battle scene Cutter gets speared through the gut and subsequently lives. Artist Wendy Pini once joked that she did it so they could put a pencil sharpener in the character's action figure.
** The elf Redlance owes his ''name'' from having done this to save his chief from a rampaging monster.
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* [[Dick Tracy]] foe the Brow ended up impaled on a flagpole.
* Non-bad-guy [[Marvel Comics]] example: Openly-gay hero Freedom Ring fought an evil [[Alternate Universe]] version of [[Iron Man]], with neurokinetic (controlled by his brain) armor. [[Unfortunate Implications]] abounded.
* The first Green Goblin in ''[[Spider
* ''[[Punisher]]''. The 'Max' series, which is in a different continuity. Frank punches the bejeebers out of [[The Dragon]], then throws him onto a wrought iron fence. He is impaled all down through his body. Notable, in that he shows up later, most of the fence still WITH him, and tries to get Frank. The Punisher blows his face clean off his body. [[The Dragon]] takes ''two more steps'', then dies.
* In Marvel, Omega Red frequently impales people with his tentacles and drains their life right out of them but what happens to his captive, Jubilee, isn't his fault as the building they're in is bombed and a beam falls through her chest.
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* ''Wormwood''. Just... Wormwood. At the climax, to prevent armageddon, the title character runs Satan (a badass horned devil) and God (a masturbating, levitating old man) through with the Lance of Longinus. They stay that way. Shish-kabobbed together, floating through space, forever.
* Subverted in the early 1990s ''[[Sleepwalker]]'' comics when a villain attempts to impale the alien hero on a roasting spit and appears to succeed. After the villains leave, Sleepwalker gets up, revealing that he merely warped the spit around his body to make it look like he'd been skewered, as a means of getting the villains to leave so no [[Innocent Bystanders]] would be hurt by their fight.
* ''[[Daredevil]]'' #181: [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qZK742rc1hc/Sc66FetQwcI/AAAAAAAAJIc/kTR6-U3ehaY/s1600-h/Daredevil+181-24+.jpg The death of Elektra.]
* Most of [[Wolverine]]'s enemies die like this.
* Dee Tyler (also known as Phantom Lady) was killed by Slade Wilson (also known as Deathstroke the Terminator) this way. See [http://www.comicvine.com/dee-tyler/29-29468/all-images/108-218630/95686-sandra-knight/105-306016/ here].
* Ryan Choi (also known as Atom) was killed by Slade Wilson (also known as Deathstroke the Terminator) this way. See [http://www.comicvine.com/ryan-choi/29-2352/all-images/108-218227/death/105-1227823/ here]. Is this Slade's modus operandi or something?
* Angela del Toro (also known as White Tiger) was killed by Lady Bullseye this way. See [http://www.comicvine.com/white-tiger/29-1925/all-images/108-199481/dd_0018b/105-624450/ here]. She was revived soon after though.
* Kendra Saunders (also known as Hawkgirl) ended up experiencing this in the ''[[Blackest Night]]'' storyline. See [http://www.comicvine.com/hawkgirl/29-6903/all-images/108-216978/hawkgirl___death/105-880405/ here].
* ''[[G.I. Joe]]'': Snake Eyes actually does this to Scarlett! See [http://www.comicvine.com/scarlett/29-11061/all-images/108-212359/img_new_0014/105-1017212/ here]. [[It Makes Sense in Context]]<ref>Scarlett was working for Cobra as a [[Fake Defector]], Snake Eyes knew that, and he did it to maintain the charade. A very brutal case of taking one for the team.</ref>
* ''[[X
* Marvel's ''[[Ultimate Universe]]'': Loki did this to Valkyrie. See [http://www.comicvine.com/valkyrie/29-6809/all-images/108-213425/val_loki/105-1311175/ here].
* [[Elektra]] eventually returned the favour to Bullseye. See [http://www.comicvine.com/elektra/29-1802/all-images/108-204335/picture_5/105-853226/ here]. Sweet revenge!
* [[Daredevil]] ended giving this treatment to Bullseye. See [http://www.comicvine.com/bullseye/29-4647/all-images/108-199551/darkness_is_growing/105-1263561/ here]. Bullseye will [[Never Live It Down]] when it comes killing [[Elektra]].
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* Magik does this to Karma. See [http://www.comicvine.com/magik/29-8303/all-images/108-214540/untitled2/105-1590871/ here].
== [[Film]] ==▼
▲== Film ==
* In ''Dracula Has Risen From The Grave'', the Count {{spoiler|falls off his castle and is impaled on a large wooden cross.}}
* In a deleted scene of ''[[Donnie Darko]]'', Donnie is impaled on a rafter when the plane crashes through his bedroom roof.
* In ''[[Andy Warhol's Frankenstein]]'', after having his hand severed (and throwing it at his attacker) Baron Frankenstein manages to give a final monologue while impaled on a sharp-tipped pole.
* The ''[[Underworld (
** ''Underworld: Evolution'' - Marcus impales Kraven to a wall with his wings while extracting information from him; he also fights Michael and seemingly kills him by shoving him onto a raised and sharpened piece of debris-- {{spoiler|Michael later heals from this}}; later, Seline rips one of Marcus's spiked wing pinions off and impales him through the head with it before shoving him into a helicopter's rotating blades.
** ''Underworld: Rise of the Lycans'' - Lucian, after agreeing that Viktor should have killed him when he was born, impales Viktor through the mouth with his sword.
* ''[[Excalibur (
* ''[[
* In ''The Condemned'', when the prisoners are flown to the island and pushed/thrown out of the helicopter, one lands on a wreaked ship and is impaled. He never hits the ground
* ''[[Flash Gordon (
** Also, Ming's right-hand man, Klytus, is impaled on the spike-covered floor of an arena in the hawkman city.
* ''[[Dark City]]'': Villain alien Mr. Book is impaled through the body. {{spoiler|However, it's not until he's thrown into a [[Kill It
* The well deserves death of a child-killing brute in ''[[
* ''[[Commando (
** Steam that's flowing oddly well considering there's a chunk of Bennett in the pipe...
*** ''[[Bond One-Liner|"Let out some steam, Bennett!"]]''
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* ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'': During the Battle of the Mounds, Thorgrim, one of Thulsa Doom's two [[The Dragon|Dragon]]s, gets impaled by a big old trap set up by Conan, which involves a spike the size of your average birch tree getting him ''right through the chest.'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDFoeJYDTmU ((BROKEN))Ouch].
* ''[[Apocalypto]]'': The villain is impaled by a trap made for boars.
* Saruman dies in the extended version of the third ''[[The Lord of the Rings (
{{quote|
** The fact that Saruman is played by [[Christopher Lee|Christopher]] [[Dracula|Lee]] adds extra significance to his impalement (which of course doesn't happen in the book).
** Aragorn also stabs the [[Elite Mooks|Uruk-hai]] leader Lurtz in ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', who merely ''[[Only a Flesh Wound|pulls the sword into himself]]'' to get closer to him. Aragorn promptly pulls the sword out and [[Off
** Special mention should go to Sam's stabbing of an orc from behind in ''Return of the King'', as he does this with Sting and the orc-detecting blade glows blue as it emerges from the target's chest.
* ''[[Star Trek
* ''[[The Hand That Rocks the Cradle]]''
* Not a bad guy, but {{spoiler|Trinity}} of ''[[The Matrix]]'' dies this way during the final movie.
* In the ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' movie, Shang Tsung meets his end when Liu Kang learns how to throw a fireball and blasts him off a ledge and into the [[Spikes of Doom]] below.
* The Green Goblin in ''[[Spider-Man (
** Also happens to Harry Osborn in the third film. [[Like Father, Like Son]].
* Mr. Han from ''[[Enter the Dragon]]'' meets his end when Lee kicks him right into a spear sticking out of a wall, a spear that [[Chekhov's Gun|Han threw at Lee to try to kill him in the adjoining chamber earlier on in the fight]].
* Averted in ''[[300
** Something similar to the above example happens to [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|the Captain]]; in the last stand he's impaled on a Persian's spear and a couple swords, so he hacks at the soldiers holding the swords, then pulls himself up the spear to finish off its (at this point terrified) wielder.
* Top Dollar meets his end in ''[[The Crow]]'' this way after living through [[Mind Rape|"thirty hours of pain" all at once]] courtesy of Eric Draven.
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** Mere minutes earlier in the same film, Michael impales David on the horns of a stuffed antelope head.
* The [[Big Bad]] in ''[[Exit Wounds]]'' died this way. What added to the "ouch" factor was the girth of the pipe he fell on and that it wasn't sharp.
* In ''[[
* ''[[The Rock]]'': one of the rebel soldiers falls on a stake after being pushed by a rocket ("[[Pre-Mortem One-Liner|Well, I only bring it up because, uh, it's you. You're the Rocket Man.]]").
* ''[[Hollow Man]]'' has the [[Invisible]] lead doing a non-fatal impalement with a crowbar.
* In ''[[
* Subverted in ''[[Doomsday]]'', as nobody gets impaled in a fight on an arena full of spikes.
* After [[Indiana Jones]] is poisoned in ''[[Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
** And in ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'', Satipo's betrayal of Indy leads immediately to a case of multiple spikes through the head. "Throw me the idol, I'll throw you the whip."
{{quote|
* ''[[
* Subverted in ''[[Black Rain]]''. The final fight ends with Michael Douglas' [[Rogue Cop]] wrestling the [[Big Bad]] towards a large pile of jagged spikes. The camera cuts in a way that seems as though he's going to impale the guy, but the scene immediately cuts to Douglas bringing him in to the police instead, alive, well, and unimpaled.
* Also subverted in ''[[The Cable Guy]]''. During the climactic fight Jim Carrey's unnamed titular villain suffers a nasty fall onto a giant satellite dish which sports a central spike, but instead of landing on the spike, he lands next to it and survives the fall to be rescued by helicopter.
** Given how trope-obsessed he is, he is visibly disappointed by this development.
* In ''[[Death Wish II]]'', after Kersey's daughter has recovered from being raped into catatonia in the first ''[[
* In ''[[Sudden Impact]]'', trying to chase the love interest of [[Dirty Harry]], whom they had raped years before, one of the bad guys falls off a platform and is impaled on the spike of a unicorn on a merry-go-round.
** Another example occurs in the final scene of ''[[The Dead Pool]]''. {{spoiler|After delivering his final line [[Dirty Harry]] Shoots the big bad with a harpoon gun pinning him to a wall with camera shot showing the tip of the harpoon piercing the wall.}}
* In ''[[Australia (2008 film)|Australia]]'', Fletcher is impaled by a metal rod thrown by King George. This is a [[Karmic Death]], as Fletcher speared the husband of one of the protagonists at the beginning of the movie in order to gain his property and frame King George.
* In ''Frostbite'', one of the vampires is impaled upon a garden gnome.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Dog Soldiers]]'', {{spoiler|Bruce}} is impaled on a broken tree branch whilst fleeing the werewolves.
* A velociraptor dies like this after being kicked out of a window in ''The Lost World: [[Jurassic Park]]''.
** Narrowly averted, twice, when a Stegosaurus swings its spiked tail at Sarah Harding.
*** And then a third time when Peter Ludlow is nearly gored from behind by a charging Triceratops.
* In ''[[Sleepy Hollow (Film)|Sleepy Hollow]]'', {{spoiler|Baltus}} is impaled through the chest by a fence post attached to a rope that the Headless Horseman launches at him like a javelin, in order to {{spoiler|pull him out of the church, which the Horseman cannot enter}}. Of course, the impalement isn't what kills him, given the Horseman's love of head-chopping...
* In the ''[[Hellboy (
** And apparently even that wasn't enough: rumor has it that Kroenen will be appearing in ''Hellboy III'', if it gets made.
* [[Sean Bean|Trevelyan]] in ''[[
** Other [[James Bond (
** Bond offs a mook with a spear gun in ''[[
* In ''[[
* Parodied in ''[[Robin Hood: Men in Tights]]''. The Sherriff of Rottingham is impaled this way ''accidentally''. He rushes Robin, who's busy with something else entirely and has shoved his sword underneath his armpit so he can work better. The camera angle makes it difficult to see what happened, but the Sheriff gets a pained expression on his face when he notices the hilt in his stomach. He says, "It's not so bad..." then turns around so we see the rather large sword stuck straight through him, says, "I was wrong!" and falls flat. He recovers, but immediately wishes he was dead, given the [[A Fate Worse Than Death|alternative]].
* ''[[Star Wars]]'':
** How [[The Obi-Wan|Qui-Gon Jinn]] dies in ''[[The Phantom Menace]]'', and also a Jedi in ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]''.
** Yoda is seen impaling a clone trooper by [[Throwing Your Sword Always Works|throwing his lightsaber]] into his chest.
** In a deleted scene, this was how Shaak Ti was supposed to die (being impaled by General Grievous while Obi-Wan and Anakin are [[Forced to Watch]]) but her death was later [[
** ''[[Star Wars:
* In ''Switchback'', {{spoiler|Bob the killer}} lands on a sharp log/stump while rolling down a hill falling off of a train. It's satisfying to the point of being funny because {{spoiler|before that he was cackling madly at having escaped the hero}}.
* Near the beginning of ''[[Mission: Impossible (
* ''[[Aliens]]'': Near the end of the movie, Bishop the gentle android (one of Ripley's surviving allies) gets impaled from behind quite suddenly and unexpectedly by the sharp spike on the end of the Alien queen's tail. And then the queen rips him apart, literally. Being an artificial lifeform, he does "survive", although badly damaged.
** When she wakes up on the prison planet in ''Alien 3'', Ripley learns that Corporal Hicks was impaled in the crash. ([[Yank the Dog's Chain|And]] that Newt "drowned".)
* [[Alien vs. Predator]]: The Predators attack and impale several people with their spears (and in one case, their retractable claws). Later, the lead Predator (having performed a [[Heel Face Turn]]) is himself impaled from behind on the Queen Alien's tail (obvious nod to Bishop from [[Aliens]]).
* In [[Predators]], the RUF soldier sets off one of the Predators' booby traps and is impaled multiple times by spikes rising from the ground. Also, the [[Danny Trejo|Mexican drug cartel enforcer]] is shown to be impaled for bait to lure the other humans into an ambush.
* In film of ''[[Transformers (
** In the sequel ''[[Revenge of the Fallen]]'', Optimus Prime does this to {{spoiler|The Fallen}}, with the bad guy's ''own weapon.''
** Then again, Optimus himself was {{spoiler|impaled by Megatron in the forest scene.}}
* Patrick Troughton's priest character is transfixed and killed by a falling metal bar, knocked loose from a lightning-struck church, in ''[[
* In ''The List of Adrian Messenger'', the bad guy gets impaled on a harrow.
* Gore-fest ''[[Cannibal Holocaust]]'' has a pretty infamous scene (that also served as the ''movie poster'') in which a native girl is impaled in a way that makes most of the other examples on this page look tame. It was so Squicky that the director was ''actually accused of murdering the actress for that scene'' and had to show how he pulled the scene off and present the very much alive actress to avoid the charges. The most unnerving part of the impaling (besides, well the impaled girl) is [[The Reveal]] that {{spoiler|the titular cannibals didn't kill her. ''The camera crew did it to get more exciting footage''.}}
* [[The Butcher]] from ''[[Wanted]]'' dies by being shot with a sharpening steel (Wesley even kicks it to ensure it really impales).
* In the 2008-2009 film version of Russian science fiction classic ''[[Strugatsky Brothers|Inhabited Island]]'', {{spoiler|resident [[Drill Sergeant Nasty]] Captain Chachu is eventually [[Hoist
* ''[[Team America: World Police]]'' has {{spoiler|Kim Jong-Il meet his doom on top of a Prussian spiked helmet}}.
* In ''[[Repo!
* ''[[Scotland, PA]]'' has the tragic hero Joe McBeth get impaled on the cattle horns on front of his own car.
* A humorous double example: In ''[[
* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] in ''[[Hero (
* In ''[[Dead Again]]'' the main villain is impaled by a giant pair of scissors.
* In ''[[
* The ''[[
* The T-1000 kills a security guard in ''[[Terminator]] 2: Judgement Day'', stabbing him through the head with a finger grown into a metal spike.
* After [[Crowning Moment of Funny|kicking arse for the Lord]] in ''[[Braindead]]'' a priest ends up getting impaled on the stone hand of an [[Crosses the Line Twice|angel statue]].
* Early on in ''[[Braveheart]]'', one of the English soldiers gets impaled on a wooden stake which the forms part of the wall surrounding the fortress.
* In the film version of ''[[The Virgin Suicides]]'', one of the daughters is killed by landing on a picket, as in the book.
* In ''[[
* Many of the deaths in the ''[[Halloween (
** Bob being pinned to the wall with a knife in the original film and the remake.
** Kelly being impaled to the wall ''with a shotgun'' in The Return of Michael Myers.
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** A redneck's impalement on antlers in Halloween II (2009).
* In ''[[Lethal Weapon 4]]'' [[Big Bad]] Wah Sing Ku is impaled by a spear from Murtaugh, this doesn't kill him he does die later when Riggs shoots him with a machine gun.
* This has happened a few times in the ''[[Friday the 13th (
** Jeff and Sandra are impaled by a spear in bed in part II.
** Chili impaled with a firepoker in part III
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** And in Freddy vs Jason Trey is impaled three times with a machete, Gibb and a raver who was trying to rape her are impaled on a pole, Shack is impaled on a flaming machete, Charlie is impaled on a shelf bracket. The monsters don't get off either. During the final battle Jason is impaled by multiple metal bars and Freddy Krueger is impaled with his own arm.
* In ''[[The Chronicles of Riddick]]'', {{spoiler|Kira}} is casually thrown by the [[Big Bad]] after a [[Heel Face Turn]] (following a [[Face Heel Turn]]) and ends up getting impaled on a random spike decorating the hall.
* Narrowly averted in ''[[
* One of the thieves in ''[[
* A redneck in ''[[
* The protagonist of ''[[
* In ''[[Santo
* What the British and the Zulus do to each other whenever the Zulu's [[Zerg Rush]] manages to get through the British's [[More Dakka|dakka]] in ''[[Zulu]]''.
* At the end of ''[[
* ''[[Monty Python and
== [[Literature]] ==▼
* In ''[[Saga of Tanya the Evil]]'' Tanya dived down on {{Spoiler|Anson Sioux}} to impale him with a bayonet at a high speed. Tanya was able to impale his enemy before the enemy fired a shot (in that engagement). [[Gone Horribly Right|However Tanya's stabbing literally went too far. Even the rifle muzzle went into {{Spoiler|Anson’s}} chest. Tanya couldn't pull the rifle out]] and resorted to just taking the enemy's weapon
▲== Literature ==
* ''[[The Bridge On the Drina]]'' features a slow, harrowing impalement, although in this case it's the Turks punishing a would-be saboteur.
** Just to make this clear, they carefully inserted a long wooden spike trough the guy's rear end, while carefully avoiding all vital organs. He was then left dying in agony ''for days''. The executioner's pay depended from the time the victim stayed alive. The longer, the better.
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* In [[Garry Kilworth]]'s ''[[Welkin Weasels]]: Vampire Voles'' Montegu Sylver {{spoiler|defeats the vampiric villain Count Flistagga by leaping onto his back from a rooftop and tearing his cloak, which he used to glide rather than actually fly, so they both fall. Monty lands in the river, and Flistagga is impaled on a broken pole, killing him.}}
** Slightly less impressively, in the first book, {{spoiler|Sylver is caught in a snare by Magellan, and attempts to attack him one last time before he dies. He manages to charge with enough momentum that the stake the snare is attached to is yanked out of the ground and spears Magellan, killing him.}}
* ''[[
** Oh, and who could forget {{spoiler|Feathertail killing Sharptooth}}? She impales him ''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|with a freaking stalactite]]''.
* John Nike from ''[[Jennifer Government]]'' ends up impaled on the sharp end of a Nike store's swoosh-shaped door handle.
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* In Brandon Sanderson's [[Mistborn]], {{spoiler|the Lord Ruler}} gets this in a gory-poetic callback to the earlier incident when the same was done {{spoiler|to finish off Kelsier}}. Impaling criminals through the neck with a hook and leaving them to hang somewhere visible is also the Steel Ministry's favourite method of execution. In the sequel, Well of Ascension, {{spoiler|Lord Venture}} could be said to get this, except the sword in question is so big he may have been bisected.
* According to ''Non Campus Mentis'',<ref>[[Selective Stupidity|i.e. American students]]</ref>
{{quote|
* This was the over-the-top cause of death in the [[Sherlock Holmes]] story "The Adventure of Black Peter", in which the retired sea captain is found pinned to the wall with a sealer's spear.
* In ''[[Dragons (
** [[It Got Worse|It Gets Worse]], because they weren't just impaled by the ice spike, they were also ''slowly frozen from the inside out'' due to it.
* In ''[[Le Morte
* The heroic demise of {{spoiler|Oy the billy-bumbler}} in ''[[The Dark Tower]]''.
* A character in ''[[The Lost World (
* [[The Bible (Literature)|Biblical]] examples:▼
** In Judges 4, the enemy commander Sisera is fleeing a losing battle with the Israelites. Jael, wife of Heber, invites him into her tent, waits until he is asleep, and drives a tent peg straight through his temple.▼
** In the book of Esther, some translations have Haman plotting to impale Mordecai on a sharp pole. After his treachery is discovered by the king, [[Hoist By His Own Petard|he is impaled on the pole]].▼
* {{spoiler|Count Olaf}} gets impaled by a harpoon in the last book of ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]''. {{spoiler|Dewey}} died the same way in the preceding book as a heroic variant.▼
* In the [[Belisarius Series]], this is the [[Big Bad|Malwa Empire's]] favorite method of execution.▼
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* On ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'', Gabby's evil mayor husband ended up impaled by a white picket fence. Symbolism anyone?
* One particularly tough [[Locked Room Mystery]] in ''[[
*
** Cordelia Chase is impaled on rebar and subsequently lives.
** This was based on a similar incident that happened to Cordelia's actress, [[Charisma Carpenter]].
*** The same thing happens to Angel on his [[Angel
{{quote|
'''Cordelia:''' Actually, yes. }}
:*
** Also, most vampires, generally in a fairly perfunctory fashion. The Master and Kakistos got the more dramatic version. Angel also got repeatedly impaled, always non-fatally.
*** Well, except that one time, though in that case it wasn't the impalement that killed him. It was a metal sword after all. And probably not through his heart.
** Giles does this to the Mayor - with a sword - when the villain comes to gloat in the first part of "Graduation Day". It doesn't kill him (he is protected by a spell of immortality) but it ''is'' [[Catharsis]], given what a [[Smug Snake]] he is.
* In the ''[[Lost]]'' episode "The Other 48 Days," Ana-Lucia discovers Goodwin is [[The Mole]]. He attacks her, flinging himself onto the pointy walking stick she's been carrying around all episode. Because of [[Anachronic Order]], we actually see the grisly result in the episode ''before'' that one.
** Phil gets a magnetically-thrown iron through his chest in the season 5 finale.
* In the ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' series premiere "Rising," the Wraith Queen gets impaled on the rather large poky bit on the back of a Wraith Stunner rifle by Sheppard, killing her.
* In ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' Claire gets impaled ''in the head'' after falling on a tree branch and [[Good Thing You Can Heal|temporarily]] dies.
** Peter [[Crucified Hero Shot|gets it]], too. [[Good Thing You Can Heal|Good thing he can heal.]]
* Spike TV's ''[[Deadliest Warrior]]'' featured a showdown between Shaka Zulu and William Wallace. It ended with {{spoiler|Shaka being impaled. On a ''claymore''.}}
** The episode that had the showdown between [[The Art of War|Sun Tzu]] and [[Dracula|Vlad Tepes]] discussed how Vlad impaled his victims and [[Body Horror|even demonstrated it on a ballistics gell body with artificial blood and organs.]]
* In the ''[[
* In the BBC's ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' {{spoiler|Maid Marian}} is impaled on Guy of Gisbourne's sword. He gets a [[Karmic Death]] at the end of the series in which he's likewise impaled on the Sheriff's sword.
* The A&E production of ''[[The Lost World (
* Many a ''[[Smallville]]'' character has died this way: it seems everyone is [[Made of Plasticine]] and metal rods (however blunt) ''will'' punch right through you as if you were made of tissue paper. This even extends to {{spoiler|''Jimmy Olsen,'' of all people, though he turns out to be the older brother of the Jimmy we know - James is his ''middle'' name.}}
* In the superhero drama ''[[Misfits]]'', {{spoiler|while trying to rescue his friends from the Virtue organisation, Nathan falls off the roof of the community centre and is impaled on a metal spike. He dies instantly, but due to his power of immortality, he is resurrected several days later (by which time the poor guy has been ''[[Heroic BSOD|buried alive]]'')}}
** {{spoiler|A day after being unburied, the poor guy is impaled ''again''- on a metal pipe by [[Stalker
** Extra brutality points for the fact that this happens to one of the ''good'' guys.
** And in the season two finale, {{spoiler|Daisy gets impaled on her own "Mother Teresa Young Humanitarian of the Year" award}}.
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' goes [[Up to Eleven|even more extreme in its impaling]] in ''State of Decay'' when {{spoiler|the Doctor impales the Great Vampire with a rocketship}}.
** {{spoiler|Rory}} has one of his own in "The Pandorica Opens." To summarize, a view of the scene from the side: Tip of sword, gargantuan-and-thick-as-hell door, head of a Cyberman, hilt.
* In an episode of ''[[
* On ''[[Primeval]]'', a Future Predator is killed by a Columbian Mammoth in this fashion, impaled on one of its tusks.
* It seems to happen a ''lot'' on [[Supernatural]], although often because its literally the only way to kill something.
** They do it to Gabriel some four or five times {{spoiler|before it actually works.}} And this is a character who's in a total of four episodes.
* [[Being Human
** {{spoiler|Bishop's staking Aidan in the second-last episode of Season 1 deserves special mention. Though it's unsuccessful, Bishop jumps ''through'' a window into the house uninvited (burning himself as a result), impaling Aidan and just missing his heart. The "extreme prejudice" part is covered for sure.}}
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==
* In [[Buddhism|Buddhist mythology]], sinners who have committed murder, sexual crimes, theft, lying, and hearsay (as in, having committed ''all'' those crimes in life) are condemned to Ennetsu Jigoku, “The Scorching Hell”, where sinners are impaled on iron spears over an ocean of fire.
** Dainetsu Jigoku (“Great Scorching Hell”) is for those who committed all the crimes associated with Ennetsu Jigoku plus murder of a priest or nun. (Or violated a nun - it does seem Buddhist believe [[Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil]].) It's similar to Ennetsu Jigoku except the fires are 10 times hotter and sinners are also impaled on tridents rather than spears.
▲** In Judges 4, the enemy commander Sisera is fleeing a losing battle with the Israelites. Jael, wife of Heber, invites him into her tent, waits until he is asleep, and drives a tent peg straight through his temple.
▲** In the book of Esther, some translations have Haman plotting to impale Mordecai on a sharp pole. After his treachery is discovered by the king, [[Hoist
▲* {{spoiler|Count Olaf}} gets impaled by a harpoon in the last book of ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]''. {{spoiler|Dewey}} died the same way in the preceding book as a heroic variant.
▲* In the ''[[Belisarius Series]]'', this is the [[Big Bad|Malwa Empire's]] favorite method of execution.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* Common enough in ''[[Warhammer
* In ''[[Ravenloft]]'', Vlad Darkov is well-known for impaling [[
* The [[Cruel and Unusual Death|cruel and unusual]] version of this is the most ignominious version of the death penalty in ''[[
== [[Video Games]] ==
* This is one of the Arishok's attacks in ''[[Dragon Age II]]''. He lifts Hawke up into the air on the point of his [[BFS|sword]] and thrusts up and down several times. Good thing Hawke is [[Made of Iron]]; a real person or NPC would not get up from that if they survived at all (which Hawke may not if the attack comes at bad time).
** Also a line in the first game, when a scholar is asked if an ancient temple is really cursed and the Maker will punish infidels who set foot inside it:
{{quote|
* In ''[[Bullet Witch]]'', Alicia is able to summon a small field of bloody spears that burst up from the ground and impale all foes within the area of effect.
* In ''[[
** In ''[[
** In the [[Mass Effect 3
** Also, Kai Leng does this to his victims, stabbing them to death with his sword. Unfortunately for him, he also does it to one of {{spoiler|[[Berserk Button|Shepard's friends.]]}} [[Karmic Death|Shepard responds in kind.]]
* ''[[God of War (
** The Blade of Olympus is essentially the embodiment of this trope starting with the second game. First Kratos uses it to impale the magic out of the Colossus of Rhodes, then Zeus impales Kratos and kills him, at the end of the game Kratos tries to return the favor (which he eventually does in the third game). Also in bonus play you can use it to impale everything else.
** Basically if Kratos isn't murdering you by magic, fire, crushing, slashing, bare hands or anything else, he's usually impaling you on something. Various spike traps exist to return the favor for careless players.
* ''[[Metroid Prime]] 3'': Rundas, the ice Hunter, dies by impalement on <s> one</s> several of his own icicles.
* ''[[Lyle in Cube Sector]]'': the final boss is impaled on a spike in his base, in hilarious fashion.
* In ''[[Command
* In ''[[Devil May Cry]]'', Dante is introduced to his [[Empathic Weapon]] [[BFS|Alastor]] in this fashion. In ''[[Devil May Cry]] 3'', taking his own sword Rebellion through the chest is how he awakens his [[Super Mode|Devil Trigger]] powers. In ''[[Devil May Cry]] 4'', Nero is the one who gains the Devil Trigger, although it is not his own sword that impales him. Nero also manages to pin Dante to a statue of his father via Rebellion delivered at range with high velocity during their first major fight, but being a [[Made of Iron]] half-demon [[Badass]], this doesn't much faze Dante.
** Really, it's become a [[Running Gag]] in the series. Not only does it happen in every game except the one that [[Fanon Discontinuity|doesn't exist]], Dante always responds the same way: by [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_1kETIVweo pulling himself up along the blade of the sword, through the hilt].
* Most of spear skills in ''[[Disgaea 4:
* The third case of ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]'' had this happen to the victim. It turned out that {{spoiler|he was actually pushed onto a spiked fence. Plus, he himself killed someone that way five years before then.}}
** Let's not forget in the last case of ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]'' which has {{spoiler|Jake Marshall's brother Neil killed by Damon Gant on his suit of armour's sword.}} Trying to frame {{spoiler|Ema Skye}} was just mean...
** And in the final case of ''Trials and Tribulations'', the victim is found skewered on a large ceremonial sword held by a gold statue, and the scene puts extra emphasis on the shock value. In fact, later in the case, {{spoiler|we learn the scene is fake, and it is mentioned that Iris purposely made the fake crime scene so shocking so it would confuse the investigators}}.
* The fate of anyone who gets knocked into The Pit (or the Ceiling of Spikes) in the ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' games.
* Daniella in ''[[
** It is also possible for Daniella to kill Fiona this way if she performs one of her [[One-Hit Kill|kill moves]]; she'll grab Fiona's arm and laugh maniacally, and if you don't manage to get free or have Hewie attack her, she'll impale Fiona with that [[Sarcasm Mode|lovely]] [[Improbable Weapon User|glass shard]] (or [[Up to Eleven|fire poker]]) of hers.
** Daniella can also dish this out with one of the many [[Nonstandard Game Over|dead ends]].
* ''[[
* In the original ''[[Prince of Persia]]'', pushing [[Mooks]] backwards into spiked pits is very satisfying. It's arguably the easiest way to off the first guard in level 8 and the second guard in level 9. Of course, falling on [[Spikes of Doom]] is just as lethal to the player.
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]: [[Twilight Princess]]'', {{spoiler|Midna impales Zant with her ''[[Prehensile Hair|ponytail]]''.}}
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** ''[[Spirit Tracks]]'' has Malladus {{spoiler|get the Lokomo Sword lodged into his skull courtesy of Link ''and'' Zelda.}}
** ''[[Skyward Sword]]'' {{spoiler|ends with Link driving an ''electrified'' Master Sword right into Demise's chest. [[Continuity Nod|Memories of]] ''[[Twilight Princess]]'', [[Continuity Nod|anyone?]]}}
** Way back in ''[[Ocarina of Time]]'', Link finishes off the bestial Ganon with a stab to the face. Unfortunately, because of the Triforce of Power he possesses, even this is not enough to kill him and the Sages have to [[Sealed Evil in
* Not done to a villain per se, but in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'', [[Big Bad]] Sephiroth impales a giant serpent on a tree. Too bad we don't get to see him do it; when the heroes find it, it is the [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] that firmly established Sephiroth's [[Badass]] status.
** It's also another case of [[Faux Symbolism]], as the image of the Crucified Serpent is important in Kabbalism, which is where [[wikipedia:Sephirot|Sephiroth's name]] comes from.
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*** He also ran Sephiroth through with the Buster Sword in the Mt. Nibel reactor. That Sephiroth got back up and continued fighting is either a demonstration of his superhuman strength or a sign that it's time to invoke the [[MST3K Mantra]], as given the size of that sword, it would have cut him nearly in half.
** In ''[[Advent Children]] Complete'', Cloud is impaled and suspended by Sephiroth's sword, in an explicit recreation on Sephiroth's part of the 'impale Cloud' scene in the Nibel Reactor years ago.
{{quote|
** [[It Was His Sled|And then there's]] [[Kill the Cutie|what he did to Aerith]] at the Forgotten Capital.
* [[
** Not done ''to'' a fish, mind. ''With'' a fish.
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'':
* ''[[Dark Messiah (Video Game)|Dark Messiah]]'' allows the player to kick enemies into spikes for instant-kills. So often in fact, that one review referred to the game as "Sir Kick-Alot Deathboot in the Land of the Conveniently Placed Spikeracks".▼
** In Pandaria, several impaled klaxxi are at the entrance to the Heart of Fear, likely soldiers who displeased [[God Save Us From the Queen| the cruel Empress.]]
** In Blade’s Edge Mountains in the Outlands, several dragons are impaled on jagged spires, a grisly reminder of Gruul’s atrocities during [[Warcraft 2| the Second War]].
** Warlord Paresh is a boss in Eye of Ashara who can do this to a player with a spear attack. If it hits, it does ongoing damage but strangely, does not impair the victim’s ability to fight.
** A deadlier version of this attack is used by Beastlord Darmac in Blackrock Foundry in ''Warlords of Draenor''. Hitting with his Pin Down attack leaves the target helpless until helped by another player. It’s unwise to fight him alone, even if you’re high enough level to complete the rest of the Raid.
** Shortly after the events that start ''Battle for Azeroth'', shards of azerite erupt through the chambers of the Heart of Azeroth, one of which impales the [[Chrome Champion|Maiden of Vitality]]. Worse, if you speak to her, it seems she is barely functioning, meaning she’s conscious, and there is nothing you can do to help. Fortunately, after the event where you bring M.O.T.H.E.R. to the chamber, the Maiden has been freed and repaired.
▲* ''[[Dark Messiah
** Also, Arantir impales Sareth on a stone spike after there meeting in Asha's temple.
* One of the most common mook deaths in ''[[
** The Shogun boss ends up with one of these as well.
* Done to the hero in ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'': despite defeating Seifer and Edea, Squall is impaled by a giant magic icicle courtesy of the latter, and he plummets over the edge of her platform as he loses consciousness. He awakes in prison quite some time afterwards, no worse for wear, and even he wonders where the hell his injury went.
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** Ditto for ''[[Hexen]]''.
* In ''[[Drakengard]]'''s [[Multiple Endings|fifth ending]], {{spoiler|Angelus ends up impaled on the tip of a Tokyo skyscraper after being shot down by Japanese fighter jets. Talk about your [[Downer Ending]].}}
* This is yet another one of the ways Alex Mercer can kill things in ''[[Prototype (
* {{spoiler|Lars Halford}} is killed by Lord Doviculus this way in ''[[Brutal Legend]]''.
* ''[[Silent Hill 2]]'': One of Pyramid Head's preferred methods of execution.
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* In the second ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'' game, the majority of Ezio's spear counter-kills involve spearing the various that come his way as an especially brutal way of finishing them off.
** You can also throw spears at the enemies for long-range impalement.
* ''[[
* [[Valkyrie Profile|Lenneth]]'s [[Finishing Move]]. Three spears stab her enemy and hold it in the air, while she summons an additional stupidly huge fourth spear that ''turns into a fricken dragon'' before she throws it. [[
* In ''[[Ar
* Impaling someone with Gungnir is Remillia Scarlet's signature attack in ''[[Touhou]]''. In the fighting games, this attack can be made ''uninterruptible and unblockable''. Well, she does claim descent from a certain Vlad.
* [[Resident Evil 5|Wesker]] impales {{spoiler|Ozwell Spencer}} on his [[Super Strength|arm]], and he can do the same to you. {{spoiler|Post-Uroboros, he can impale you on a massive drill arm.}}
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** Likewise, Kiryu can use his energy sword to impale enemies and throw them.
** Megalon [[Up to Eleven|takes this even further]]. Not only does he impale his enemies with his drill-like hands, he even spins them around before throwing them.
* The video game for ''[[Spider-Man (
* ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'', particularly the prequel ''Duodecim'', is in love with this trope. No less than five characters explicitly work impalement into their [[Limit Break|EX Bursts]], more have attacks that explicitly evoke the idea (even if [[Set Swords to Stun|swords and spells are set to "stun"]]), and with application of [[Fridge Logic]], the movesets of the [[Blade
* In ''[[Tales of Monkey Island]]'', Guybrush does this to LeChuck with a botched spell that only manages to turn him human. However, LeChuck suddenly turns good and becomes an ally. {{spoiler|1=However, LeChuck later reveals that he was faking it and does it to Guybrush himself and manages to kill him.}}
* ''[[Painkiller]]'' has the Stake Launcher, which [[Zero Punctuation|pins baddies to walls with entire trees]].
* In the sequel to ''[[No One Lives Forever]]'', Cate Archer entire the katana-wielding kunoichi Isako at the end of the first level. After a short dialogue, Isako runs Archer through with her katana. However, sometime later, Archer is shown recovering nicely in a bed at UNITY headquarters. Apparently, UNITY agents were able to recover her quickly and save her, despite her supposedly being stabbed through the heart. Oh, well.
* You can do this to people in [[
* In ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution
* Two examples in ''[[
** The second example is {{spoiler|Dehl's father}}, who, unlike {{spoiler|the Cryomancer}}, is ''graphically'' impaled in an aversion of [[Bloodless Carnage]]. Also a case of [[Hoist
** I'm surprised by no mention of the Mortal Kombat games. The infamous pits through out the games are shear impalement fun(minis the second game, where the spikes are not at the bottom of the pit, but on top of the FUCKING CEILING!) Then There is Scorpeon's spear which is definitely tossed at the opponents with extreme prejudice(GET OVER HERE BITCH!) Then there is Baraka's arm blades going through you if you lose to him, or chose to do that fatality. And of course in [[MK 4]] the spikes at the bottom of the continue screen if you chose not to continue....its a wonderful failure.
* In ''[[Arkham City]]'', {{spoiler|Ra's Al Ghul.}} Not only does {{spoiler|he}} get stabbed by {{spoiler|his sword}} but also gets impaled the gates of Arkham City!
* ''[[
** ''[[
* In [[Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning]] this can occur, among other things, when you do your fate reckoning, effectively creating a huge spike from the very [[Threads of Fate]] and jamming your victim onto it, thus killing them.
* ''[[
=== [[Visual Novels]] ===
* In one of the endings of ''[[Fatal Hearts]]'', the vampire meets his end when {{spoiler|the PC channels mystical strength to drive her hand through his chest and PUSH his heart out of his body.}} That's a romance that did not end well. For bonus points, {{spoiler|it's implied that he ripped the heart out of a woman in the past in order to become a vampire in the first place.}}
* Several ''[[Fate/stay
** And in ''Heaven's Feel'', {{spoiler|Shirou, overusing projection using Archer's left arm (which earlier replaced his own), gets to spend the last few minutes of his life getting [http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100730173230/typemoon/images/2/29/Blades.jpg skewered by swords]. ''[[Body Horror|Swords slowly growing out from inside his body.]]'' In the Normal End we see him losing bit by bit his identity, memories and cognitive functions, until he dies in the process of Excaliiblasting Angra Mainyu. In the True End he is saved by Ilya at the last minute and put into a new body, at the cost of her life.}}
* On the third Episode of ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro
▲== Web Original ==
* A number of characters in ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' die by being impaled in all three versions, but the one that fits this trope best (mostly in the "dispatching of a [[Big Bad]]" way) occurs at the end of v1 where {{spoiler|Adam Dodd uses a katana to pin Cody Jenson to a tree, and then uses a knife to carve the word "Rapist" into his chest as he bleeds to death. Cody dies before Adam finishes carving, but he doesn't care.}}▼
* The canonical [[Whateley Universe]] example: A student with the [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|revealing codename]] 'Bloodwolf' decides to pick on the wrong little girl and ends up nailed to a tree by multiple railroad spikes. {{spoiler|He lives -- regeneration is your friend --, but he hasn't tried ''that'' again since.}}▼
** The same little girl gets stabbed through the heart with an ''athame'' much later and also {{spoiler|survives through regeneration.}} Karmic retribution?▼
* In [[Red vs. Blue|Red vs. Blue: Revelation]], {{spoiler|Agent Texas}} is stabbed through the face with a two foot-long spike by [[The Juggernaut|the Meta]]▼
* In the ''[[Xombie]]'' flash series, the fight with the zombie velociraptor ended with it impaled on the ribcage of a fallen dinosaur skeleton. Being a zombie, it was little more than an inconvenience, but it was enough to keep it in place [[Face Heel Turn|long enough for its owner to arrive and befriend the heroes.]]▼
* {{spoiler|Penny, the designated love interest,}} is impaled and killed by a shard of the {{spoiler|exploded Deathray gun}} near the end of ''[[Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog|Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog]]''.▼
* [[Fafnir the Dragon]]: {{spoiler|Vlad Tepes}} does this to some of his opponents. "Just like the good old days."
* ''[[Goblins|Goblins: Life Through Their Eyes]]'': The sadistic Dellyn Goblinslayer {{spoiler|falls into a sharp, upsticking bit of broken pipe during his duel with Thaco the old goblin monk. Although the impalement doesn't kill him, he probably wishes it did shortly thereafter, as he finds he cannot pull himself free and is effectively stuck, and Thaco is advancing on him with sword in hand and murder in his eyes...}}
** {{spoiler|and then horrifies him by...telling him he's [[Not Worth Killing]], definitely not his nemesis, and then walking away.}}
* In ''[[
** And finishing an [[Rasputinian Death|Rasputinian death-attempt]], Vilbert von Vampire is impaled with the Armoire of Invincibility. It doesn't go through his heart, so he survives.
* In ''[[Parallel Dementia]]'' Alexi sticks a pole from the base of a woman's skull so that it pokes through her mouth.
* In ''[[MS Paint Masterpieces]]'', one-shot villain Allegro is impaled with his own laser sword. Which wouldn't ordinarily count, except that said sword went through his ''face''.
* {{spoiler|Mijuu}} of [[Juathuur]] gets impaled on a ''flower''.
* ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'' makes fun of this in their strip about ''[[Castlevania: Lords of Shadow]]''. Gabriel Belmont is leaping down upon a hapless werewolf, who cries out, "Don't stake me, bro!"
* {{spoiler|Zeetha and Higgs}} have this happen to them in ''[[
* This seems to be the preferred way of offing characters in ''[[
* In ''[[Problem Sleuth]]'', {{spoiler|Mobster Kingpin befalls this fate by way of the Ham Needle after [[Humiliation Conga|being defeated and falling all the way down]].}}
* A flashback in ''[[
== [[Web Original]] ==
▲* A number of characters in ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' die by being impaled in all three versions, but the one that fits this trope best (mostly in the "dispatching of a [[Big Bad]]" way) occurs at the end of v1 where {{spoiler|Adam Dodd uses a katana to pin Cody Jenson to a tree, and then uses a knife to carve the word "Rapist" into his chest as he bleeds to death. Cody dies before Adam finishes carving, but he doesn't care.}}
▲* The canonical ''[[Whateley Universe]]'' example: A student with the [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|revealing codename]] 'Bloodwolf' decides to pick on the wrong little girl and ends up nailed to a tree by multiple railroad spikes. {{spoiler|He lives -- regeneration is your friend --, but he hasn't tried ''that'' again since.}}
▲** The same little girl gets stabbed through the heart with an ''athame'' much later and also {{spoiler|survives through regeneration.}} Karmic retribution?
▲* In ''[[Red vs. Blue|Red vs. Blue: Revelation]]'', {{spoiler|Agent Texas}} is stabbed through the face with a two foot-long spike by [[The Juggernaut|the Meta]]
▲* In the ''[[Xombie]]'' flash series, the fight with the zombie velociraptor ended with it impaled on the ribcage of a fallen dinosaur skeleton. Being a zombie, it was little more than an inconvenience, but it was enough to keep it in place [[Face Heel Turn|long enough for its owner to arrive and befriend the heroes.]]
▲* {{spoiler|Penny, the designated love interest,}} is impaled and killed by a shard of the {{spoiler|exploded Deathray gun}} near the end of ''[[
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In ''[[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command]]'', {{spoiler|NOS-4-A2}} eventually suffers this fate - the only major villain to be [[Killed Off for Real]].
* The ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "Anthology of Interest I" (with a section called "Terror at 500 Feet") has a 500
** Fry was impaled twice: once by a pipe shot from an exploding boiler, and once by a giant space bee.
*** Amusingly, {{spoiler|neither injury was treated as serious, though in the latter case, we don't find that out until the end of the episode.}}
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** In an episode of the series Kenny dies by getting impaled on a flagpole, then sliding to the bottom of it.
* Ursula in ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'' winds up [[Ramming Always Works|speared]] by the broken spar of a ship. In an original draft, she was actually going to be impaled by the Trident.
** Similarly, in ''[[
* Mel Gibson on ''[[The Simpsons]]'' impales a member of Congress on a flagpole, complete with waving Stars and Stripes.
** Also spoofed, when in a scene from one of Wolfcastle's movies (where he is playing a nerd character in a highschool setting) he impales a bully with...another bully.
** In "[[Halloween Episode|Treehouse of Horror]] XI", Groundskeeper Willy is cleaning a window when a dolphin jumps through it... and through him.
* Rampage from ''[[
* The ''[[Ren and Stimpy]]'' episode "Pixie King" at one point has Ren impaled on a giant bee stinger.
* Has happened many times in ''[[Happy Tree Friends]]''.
== [[Real Life]] ==▼
▲== Real Life ==
* A not entirely uncommon, though very harsh, medieval punishment. A certain Wallachian Voivode named Vlad III, whose surname would later be used for [[Dracula|the lord of all vampires]], used this punishment to put the fear of god into his numerically superior enemies. And just anyone he hated. Or was annoyed by.
** To be fair, a lot of those stories were made up by his enemies to discredit Vlad. While people and especially rulers in the Dark Ages tend to be brutal jerkasses by
*** They may not have all been made up, due to the fact that the nickname his Turkish enemies gave him translates to "The Impaler Lord" and that according to history- the infamous "Forest of the Dead" he had created made a pursuing Turkish (a superpower in that era known for their own barbarity) army commander ''vomit'','' and then retreat in fear''.<ref>What's not commonly known is that Turkish commander was Vlad's ''own brother''.</ref>
* Indians of Northeastern America would impale captives, then burn them alive.
* As mentioned in the ''[[Detective Conan]]'' example, there exist a number of tall buildings with flagpoles in front of them in [[Real Life]]. Invariably, urban legends (sometimes true) spring up of suicide jumpers missing the ground and hitting the pole instead, resulting in this trope.
* A hand rail impaled Mexican artist Frida Kahlo in a bus accident. Which was probably the least painful of her injuries.
* Gather round and hear the story of [[wikipedia:Phineas Gage|Phineas Gage]]. While working on a railroad crew laying track in 1848, a dynamite mishap projected a metal rod 1.25 inches wide through his cheek and jaw, then behind his left eyeball, finally exiting through ''the top of his skull'' and landing 80 feet away. Despite both of his frontal lobes being damaged, Gage was sitting up and speaking within a few minutes. His skull is on display at [https://www.countway.harvard.edu/lenya/countway/live/menuNavigation/historicalResources/warrenAnatomicalMuseum.html#Photos the Countway Library of Medicine.]{{Dead link}}
** Of course, he spent the rest of his life [[Not Himself]]. The only upside is that biologists learned more about what frontal lobe damage does to a person.
** Gage was essentially the first example of a frontal
* Newbie insect-collectors sometimes fail to use a killing jar properly, and pin their specimens while they are unconscious rather than dead. A pin through the thorax is fatal, albeit not instantaneously.
* There was a story on ''A Thousand Ways to Die'' about an overzealous gym teacher lecturing his students about throwing a javelin. This doesn't end how you think it does. After throwing the javelin the teacher ran to get it back, but was looking over his shoulder while doing so, not looking where he was going. at the very last moment he turned around, and was stabbed through the right eye up into his brain by the end of the javelin. He was killed instantly, but was held standing upright by the javelin in his head, which was gruesome for the students to look at when they eventually came over to see why he was just standing there. This falls into [[Eye Scream]] territory.
* In line with the many examples of the "baddie pulls himself up the spear to fight" subtrope, [[Determinator|boar]]-hunting spears are forged with large crossguards to prevent this sort of thing from happening.
** [[Everything's Worse
* This is how Mapuche chieftain Caupolican was executed by the Spanish ''conquistadores'', according to his legend.
* In the US Army's SL-1 nuclear accident, one of the operators was impaled on the ceiling by a control rod when he attempted to pull it out.
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