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The [[Impossible Task]] is a favorite theme in myths and legends, folklore and [[Fairy Tale|Fairy Tales]] the world over, and is [[Older Than Feudalism]]. The task might be undertaken to win a boon, or [[Engagement Challenge|a bride]], to gain land, to break a [[Curse]], [[Famed in Story|because everyone will know about it if you do it]], to prove your worth to Baba Yaga (who may agree to be your mentor if you succeed), or because your [[Evil Uncle]] wants you -- the rightful heir -- out of the way. Some creators try to set up one as the [[Fantastic Fragility]] flaw.
In general, the person who assigns the task does not expect the hero to succeed and is just trying to get rid of them or to make an excuse to not keep their end of a deal. Sometimes the Impossible Task is [[The Quest|a quest]], often involving killing an unkillable beast, but in other cases the task is a simple paradox or riddle.
Sometimes, the one making the task [[Be Careful What You Say|will be bound]] by their [[Promise]] should the hero succeed, or face dire consequences if they refuse. On the other hand, it may be a form of [[Dude, Where's My Respect?]] when [[Royal Brat|the king]] really doesn't want to hand out the [[Standard Hero Reward]], and the king [[Moving the Goalposts|may go on, and on,]] with the [[Impossible Task|Impossible Tasks]] until finally one blows up in his face, or he decides [[You Can't Fight Fate]].
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* Sorting a huge pile of grains and lentils in a single night (if you helped a wounded bird earlier, it will call its friends to help you)
* Making a rope of ashes (make a rope out of straw, then burn it)
* Appearing before the challenger neither naked nor clothed, neither riding nor walking, neither in night nor day... etc. (come wrapped in a fishing net, with one foot on a goat, at twilight)
Sometimes the challenge is answered like a riddle (e.g. when told to "Bring fire wrapped in paper," the hero returns with a paper lantern), sometimes by finding a witty way to demonstrate its impossibility (e.g. the king tells the peasant to bring him "yogurt made with bull's milk;" the peasant's daughter arrives the next day saying, "My father can't bring you that yogurt you asked for because he's giving birth to a baby.")
These fall into in three categories.
# Feats that should be too hard, but the hero is just that [[Badass]] (like killing one hundred Philistines).
# Feats that sound like they break the laws of physics, but the hero treats it as a riddle, [[Loophole Abuse|exploits a loophole in the requests]] (like carrying water in a sieve) or succeeds purely because [[Achievements in Ignorance|he didn't know it was supposed to be impossible]].
# A [[Chekhov's Gun]] magic spell solves the problem (like in the Grimm's fairy tale of the seven servants, or Aladdin). The [[Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter]] is useful for that.
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Sometimes, the hero doesn't solve the task at all, but rather by being kind to others before the task is given. Be it befriending [[Androcles' Lion]], freeing a [[Benevolent Genie]], or otherwise gaining the [[Disproportionate Reward]] of a [[Sidekick Ex Machina]].
Another recent variant, if the [[Curse]] lasts long enough, is to wait until [[Technology Marches On|modern or future technology]] [[Clarke's Third Law|makes the impossible possible]]. Almost always something the witches and warlocks didn't count on. See [[Post-Modern Magik]].
Related to [[No Man of Woman Born]], [[We Do the Impossible]] and [[Cutting the Knot]]. The [[Engagement Challenge]] is often an [[Impossible Task]]. The [[Snipe Hunt]] can be a comic form of it.
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== [[Film]] ==
* From ''[[Monty Python and
** Also used in the "Happy Valley" sketch on ''Monty Python's Previous Record''. To quickly get rid of any suitors who go after his daughter, King Otto sets them the task, "Tomorrow at dawn, armed only with your sword, you must climb to the highest tower in the castle, and jump out of the window." When the queen gets sick of this, he is forced to change the task to something a bit easier - going into town and buying some tobacco.
* For a modern film version, Chandler Jarrell (Eddie Murphy) in ''[[The Golden Child]]'' is given a glass of water. He is told he must retrieve an item from across a cavern without spilling one drop of the water in the glass. He somehow manages to keep the glass of water after passing through all of the obstacles until he's standing in front of the hollow holding the Ajanti Dagger. When he reaches for the dagger the fire flares up, foiling him. He drinks the water and the flames die down, allowing him to grab the dagger.
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* Theoretically, the evil master in ''[[Krabat]]'' can be defeated easily - but he [[Loophole Abuse|twists the words of the condition to his advantage]]. If a girl who loves one of the master's students asks on New Years' Eve to let him go, this would do the trick. However, she has to recognize her boy for this - {{spoiler|and there's nowhere written that they may not turn into ravens. Which lead to the death of one girl and her boy Janko.}}
* Gest is challenged to do this {{spoiler|and succeeds}} in ''Power of Three'' by Diana Wynne Jones.
* The [[Card-Carrying Villain|Duke]] in ''[[The 13 Clocks]]'' sets impossible tasks to suitors who wish to marry his niece, the Princess Saralinda:
{{quote|"If you can slay the thorny Boar of Borythorn, she is yours," grinned a traveler. "But there is no thorny Boar of Borythorn, which makes it hard."}}
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* The labors of Hercules are a classic example.
* In [[Journey to the West]], The Buddha asks Sun Wukong to jump out from his palm. It turns out to be impossible because The Buddha's palm engulfs the entire universe.
* Psyche is given several of these tasks by a jealous Venus in the myth of Cupid and Psyche.
* There's a certain African myth... a man gave his boys the task to see who would inherit his farm. He told each boy to go out and buy objects so that he could fill a room. The first two boys tried to do it with grain and feathers (if memory serves). They failed. The third son took out a candle and match, and filled the room with light.
* The Norse gods needed to create a chain that could hold the Fenris Wolf. Thor's two attempts to forge such a chain failed, and the Wolf was becoming a major threat. They sent a message to the dwarves, who created an enchanted chain made out of the sound of a cat's footsteps, the roots of the mountains, the breath of a fish, and the sinews of a bear. It did the job.
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* Another example of the Perseus story has King Polydectes sending Perseus to bring him the head of Medusa because Polydectes wanted Perseus's mother Danae, whom Perseus was very protective of, and wanted Perseus out of the way. When Perseus comes back with Medusa's head, he finds out that Polydectes had enslaved and abused Danae in his absence, and proceeds to turn Polydectes to stone with Medusa's head.
* In the Mayan myth ''Popol Vuh'', Hunahpu and Xbalanque are assigned several tasks of these during their descent to Xibalba (the Underworld). One of them was to keep a cigar lit a whole night without burning it out. They attached fireflies to the end of the cigar so they would appear lit.
* An example that may be a parody: In the Finnish epic ''[[The Kalevala]],'' Väinamöinen is a mighty sorcerer and bard who is utterly inept in love. One girl he flirts with tells him she will never marry him unless he cuts a swan in half with a knife without a point, and knots an egg with an invisible knot. (In other words, when hell freezes over.) Väinamöinen, being both clueless and a wizard, proceeds to complete both tasks with his magic.<br />Then she says she won't marry him unless he pulls birchbark off a stone and breaks off poles from a piece of ice without a chip flying off. He uses magic to do both immediately. Then she says she can't marry him unless he builds a boat out of her distaff and gets the boat in the water without anyone touching it. He uses magic to do this easily as well...but an evil spirit causes him to accidentally cut himself with his axe, and he has to go on an adventure to heal his wound, by which time he has forgotten about her. (There are a lot of moments in ''[[The Kalevala]]'' that seem like parodies of myths.)
** Louhi, the Mistress of Pohjola also gives type 1 impossible tasks to men who seek to marry her beautiful daughter. This too was related to Väinamöinen's adventures, but ultimately it was his blood-brother Ilmarinen who was [[Badass]] enough to fulfil every request and got the girl (until her wickedness got her eaten by bears, but that's another story).
* Yet another example is not-yet-[[The Bible|King David]] being told by King Saul that he can't marry Princess Michal unless he [[Twenty Bear Asses|brings the foreskins of one hundred dead Philistines.]] David tops him by bringing two hundred.
* A poem tells the story of the Abbot of Canterbury being summoned by the king for execution, for being able to keep a better household than the king does. The king is persuaded to give him his freedom if he can answer three impossible questions and to give him a year to seek the answers. Eventually the Abbot returns and answers all three: "How much am I worth (ie, how much money do I have)?" (Twenty-nine pieces of silver; even Jesus only sold for thirty.) "How quickly can I ride around the Earth?" (Keep pace with the sun, and you should make it in twenty-four hours.) "What am I thinking?" (You're thinking I'm the Abbot of Canterbury, when in fact I'm his clever servant. Please don't kill him.)
* Subverted in the story of Naaman and Elisha. Naaman is a commander in the Assyrian army, but he suffers from leprosy. Having been told that Elisha can cure him, he goes out to the prophet to ask for assistance. Elisha shrugs and sends a messenger who says, "Go dip yourself in the Jordan River seven times"--a trivial task, except that its very triviality makes Naaman furious. He's about to refuse when his servant asks whether he wouldn't have attempted any difficult task required (in one literary version, "if he told you to go climb a mountain of glass"). Humbled, Naaman goes and gets his cure.
* A Roman Vestal Virgin was accused of having had sex, a capital offense. To prove she was still a virgin, she offered to carry a sieve full of water from the Tiber to the Temple of Vesta "in proof of her perfect chastity". (Given that the accusation was political in nature, she may have had help to accomplish the task.)
* In some Middle Eastern story, a King gave a challenge with a great prize if someone could get a valuable gem that's in the middle of a large carpet without tools or setting foot on the material. Many people try stretching as far as they could and failed, until one humble person realized that the challenge ''didn't prohibit touching the carpet with anything other than feet''. So, he simply rolled up the carpet until he got halfway and simply picked up the gem.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
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== [[Web Original]] ==
* The quest in Year Four of ''[[The Questport Chronicles]]'': to rescue the [[Nature Spirit|Lost]] [[Taken for Granite|Lady]] from [[Eldritch Location|the netherworld]], which requires help from vampires (thankfully, one of the heroes is a vampire) and voluntary [[Demonic Possession]].
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In ''[[Futurama]]'', the Robot Devil challenges Leela in a violin contest, with her having to use a [[Made of Temptation|solid gold fiddle]]. Fry does point out that a solid gold fiddle "would weigh like a hundred pounds and sounds really cruddy." The Robot Devil admits to this, stated that it's "mostly for show". Leela does beat him though - over the head with the extremely heavy fiddle.
* A modern parody may be the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "The Wacky Molestation Adventure." Kyle's mom tells him he can't go to a concert unless he cleans out the garage, shovels the snow out of the driveway, and brings democracy to Cuba. Of course he succeeds at all three.
** He still doesn't get to go, being told specifically that they never expected him to be able to pull off that last one. Kyle decides this is unfair and applies some [[Cutting the Knot|lateral thinking]]: calling child services and telling them his parents molested him so they'll get arrested and he therefore won't need their permission. It works.
* Some of the Grimorum Arcanorum's spells in ''[[Gargoyles]]'' seemed to have this as spell conditions, until modern technology [[Prophecy Twist|made the impossible possible, so to speak]].
** The most obvious is the one that woke up the sleeping gargoyles: the castle had to be lifted above the clouds. Xanatos literally does that, moving it brick by brick to the top of a tall building.
* The terms of Zuko's banishment in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]].'' [[Snipe Hunt|"Find a nigh-all powerful person, catch him, and bring him back, and THEN you can come home. Oh, and he's been missing for a hundred years."]]
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