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Stay on the Path: Difference between revisions
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== Comic Books ==
* One [[JMS Spider
* From ''[[The Sandman]]''.
{{quote| "I have spoken to the lord of this realm. He has given you permission to enter the castle, and will grant you audience. I am honour-bound to warn you to stay on the path through the castle. Straying from the path could mean your destruction. You killed my friend, woman. Stray from your path."}}
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* The hero of ''[[An American Werewolf in London]]'' and his [[The Lancer|wing-man]] are given the warning "Stay on the road, and beware of the moon!" They ignore the first, and don't understand the second. As a result, one of them dies, and the other becomes a werewolf.
* ''[[The Golden Child]]'': Before undergoing a test, Eddie Murphy's character is warned to (among other things) "Stay on the path," During the test, the path he's on suddenly explodes, and he angrily demands to know what's going on. A voice tells him that he has to know when to break the rules (an important clue for completing the [[Secret Test of Character]]).
* ''[[The Company of Wolves]]'': Granny tells Rosaleen not to stray from the path. She does and finds a [[
== Literature ==
* ''[[The
* ''[[Rowan of Rin]]'' had this happen. They were in a swamp that through some means conjured up images of loved ones drowning just off the path. Of course, if you rush off to save them....
* ''[[The Hobbit]]'' has Gandalf give this advice. Inverted in ''[[
* The original "[[
* ''[[Stardust (
* [[Ray Bradbury]]'s ''[[A Sound of Thunder]]'' justifies this trope: leaving the path while on a hunting trip in the past could lead to [[Temporal Mutability]] problems a la [[Butterfly of Doom]]. A character messes up, leaves the path and steps on a butterfly. Dystopia ensues.
* In ''[[Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone]]'', Hagrid warns Harry not to leave the path in the Forbidden Forest.
* David from ''[[
* In ''Dream Park'', visitors at the Chamber of Horrors attraction are warned to stay on the green glowing path, as they pass through a holographic diorama of underwater terrors. One woman steps off the path anyway, and {{spoiler|is instantly snatched away and torn to pieces by a shark and an aquatic zombie! Lucky for Dream Park's liability insurance, she turns out to be a hologram too.}}
* One of the main themes in the first book of the ''[[The Edge Chronicles]]'', mainly because it's set in the Deepwoods, where [[Everything Is Trying to Kill You]]. This mentality even extends to children's sports in the woodtroll villages - when protagonist Twig "strays from the path" during a game, he's beaten up by the other kids even though there's technically no rule against it. ''No-one'' strays from the path.
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** Susan Ivanova is warned not to stray from the path. She disobeys, and is nearly mind-raped by The Shadows.
** It is a really bad thing when you lose the signals of hyperspace beacons.
* ''[[The Invaders (TV series)|The Invaders]]'': The old TV series began like this, as the protagonist took a wrong turn somewhere and accidentally discovered the alien invasion going on...
== Tabletop Games ==
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** Module I12 ''Egg of the Phoenix''. In one section of the adventure the PC's are told "If a path is given, do not stray from it". They really need to follow this advice. If they don't, not only will they not be able to complete the mission and possibly get lost 200 million years in the past, but if they stray off the Platinum Path in the Black Forest they'll end up getting massively energy drained and almost certainly die.
** Subverted in the adventure ''[[Tomb of Horrors]]'', where following the mosaic path on a hallway's floor will lead you past a couple of pit traps, then ''directly into'' another one. Not that anyone who so much as considers tackling the ''Tomb of Horrors'' has any excuse for not testing the floor [[Everything Trying to Kill You|(and the walls, the ceiling, the air, the doors, the doorlatches...)]]
* ''[[
** Even the predecessor, ''[[Changeling: The Dreaming]]'', had elements of this, despite being [[Lighter and Softer]]. Wandering off the Shining Path while wandering the Dreaming was a very good way to get lost in some of the deeper delusions of the collective unconsciousness.
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* Racing games with open areas will often respawn you should you leave the area, for obvious reasons.
* This is the idea of the game ''[[The Path]]'': Essentially, the player must deliberately lose by straying from the path, thus guaranteeing your character's death while experiencing the more interesting aspects of the story.
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
<!-- %% Stalchilds are not an example - they can appear anywhere on Hyrule Field at night, even on the paths. -->
** The Haunted Wasteland forces you to follow the flags; going off-route will cause you to be swallowed by the desert winds (and teleported back to a checkpoint). A similar puzzle occurs near Pinnacle Rock in the western ocean of ''[[Majoras Mask]]''.
** ''[[Zelda II:
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'': One of the loading screen tips is that players are much less likely to encounter monsters when following a path. Generally true, but there are also some regions where particularly deadly enemies follow the roads. Pre-expanion Rexxar followed a very long path through Durotar and Feralas, and was death to any Alliance character who didn't see him coming in time.
* In ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'', a village has been suspended out of time by Lathander. When you get to the castle you have 3 paths to choose from. If you stay on the correct path, then you get a note from Lathander complementing you on your choice of the middle balanced way. The others you get attacked by deamon or devils and appropriately chastied by Lathander.
* In ''[[Black Sigil]]'', you must cross a desert. You are told to follow the path (marked by specific plants), else you will encounter [[Sand Worm|Sand Worms]], which are rather tough for you at that point. Of course, straying from the path also means interesting items.
* In ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'', low-level characters can do quite a bit of exploring in relative safety if they stick to the crumbling roads. Wander just a little way off the path, though, and the restored-to-their-former-magnificence [[Boss in Mook Clothing|Deathclaws]] and their adorable new sidekicks the [[Demonic Spiders|Cazadors]] await you.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy V]]'', a moogle shows you the way to the moogle village. He walks into a patch of desert, shakes his head "no", and avoids the desert all the rest of the way. When you take control, walking on the path will result in no [[Random Encounters]], while the encounters in the desert are, at least for your likely current level, likely to spawn a [[Boss in Mooks Clothing]].
* The guards in [[The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion]] will sometimes advise you to do just this.
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== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In ''[[No Rest for The Wicked (
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