Nothing but Skulls: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"Disturbing, but tidy."''|''[[Runescape]]'' }}
Piles of bones composed of
There are good narrative and practical reasons for this. A human skull is instantly recognizable, making it a powerful symbol of death. Other bones do not carry the same emotive weight; few people could identify a human shoulder blade on sight.
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It helps too that skulls stack up so neatly. Or perhaps it's the fact that skulls represent a one-to-one ratio of bones to corpses, while a given human has multiple of the majority of other bones (and the most visible exception, the spine, takes up a lot more room per victim).
It's also what you're left with when you take heads as trophies and leave the rest on the battlefield. Whatever the case, when warlords and writers want to evoke terror, they create gargantuan piles of
After reading this page, skull will no longer sound like a word.
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== Film ==
* In ''[[Lord of the Rings|The Return of the King]]'' Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas are nearly buried under an avalanche of
* In ''The [[SpongeBob SquarePants]] Movie'', SpongeBob and Patrick arrive at an ice-cream stand surrounded by skulls. (Turns out it's [[That's No Moon|a trap set by an anglerfish.]]) Patrick at first appears to notice the skulls and shouts to SpongeBob as if to warn him... but turns out he's just asking for chocolate.
* The catacombs under Venice in ''[[Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade]]'' had niches in the walls that contained only skulls, one to a niche. Justified in that the skull is the "densest" indicator of death, those niches were probably high-density tombs and crypts. The body may not reside there, but the skull and the soul are there.
* ''[[His Dark Materials]]'': Oxford College has skulls in niches.
* ''[[Predator]]''; In somewhat of a subversion, goes for nothing but skulls ''with'' the spinal cord still intact. Presumably they go for more on Ebay.
* ''[[Terminator|Terminator 2]]'': The opening 'Future War' segment features an apparent ''carpet'' of
* ''[[Ghostbusters|Ghostbusters II]]'', at least in terms of imagery. Viggo the Carpathian says, "On a mountain of skulls, in a castle of pain, I sat on a throne of blood." Also a [[Badass Boast]] or whatever.
* In the opening scene of ''[[Muppet Treasure Island]]'', there's a cavern full of skulls. They sing a line of "Shiver My Timbers".
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* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'', [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080707 Castle Heterodyne] keeps skulls and straight bones to the exclusion of others. See also [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20070822 Iscarriot Heterodyne's "Friends"]
* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'': Almost
* ''[[Wapsi Square]]'': [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/monsteriwas/ Phix's wall]
* ''[[DM of the Rings]]'' [http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=1203 parodies] the scene in ''[[Lord of the Rings|The Return of the King]]'' where Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas are nearly buried under an avalanche of
{{quote|'''DM:''' The walls crack open and '''''thousands of skulls''''' are released!
'''Legolas:''' [[Oh Crap]].
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