Soft Water/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A character is rendered immune to a fall from any height simply by landing in a large body of water.

  • Straight: John jumps out of a burning building from the 30th story, but lands in a large swimming pool, and suffers no harm.
  • Exaggerated: John jumps out of a space shuttle in low Earth orbit, falls down to the ground, and is saved by landing in the Atlantic Ocean a puddle.
  • Justified: Conditions on John's planet are just right so that, at terminal velocity, water will actually help him to avoid injury.
  • Inverted: John hits the water and is later pronounced dead-on-impact.
    • Given the circumstances of John's fall, he would have died if he had fallen into the water. But--through a great stroke of luck or resourcefulness--he manages to land on a Far Side Island, and thus he survives.
  • Subverted: John jumps off the building, watching the water below him while he falls, and then activates his parachute.
  • Double Subverted: The parachute gives away and John is saved by the water after all.
  • Parodied: The water reaches up and plucks John out of the sky, gently lowering him down to safety.
  • Deconstructed: John lands in the water and survives, but suffers massive internal bleeding, 4 broken ribs, a fractured femur, and a morbid fear of swimming for the rest of his life.
  • Reconstructed: John fights through his injuries and paranoia and becomes a professional high-dive champion.
  • Zig Zagged: John, having a basic grasp on the laws of physics, activates his parachute while falling towards a body of water, knowing that the water will not break his fall. However, the parachute gives way, and John falls into the water anyway...and dies on impact.
  • Averted: John does not attempt to survive a high fall by falling into water; he knows that it would be fatal.
    • Alternatively, John does attempt to break his fall by jumping into water, and promptly dies.
  • Lampshaded: "You'd think that you'd have been smashed to bits on impact with the water due to the laws of physics, John! It's like they don't actually exist or something!"
  • Invoked: John is Genre Savvy, and makes sure to fall into a body of water in order to survive.
  • Defied: As John looks down on the water from above, he decides to find another way down, knowing the fall would kill him.
  • Discussed: "Despite what movies may have led you to think, falling into water at this height is still fatal!"
  • Conversed: "How did that character survive falling into water at terminal velocity? That should have broken all the bones in his body!"

Just jump off this cliff and you'll be back to Soft Water. Make sure you hit the bucket!