Take It to the Bridge

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
The Bridge of Eldin. Good for horseback duels and brawling.

Bridges are seen as symbols for the crossroads of life, so therefore, it can also be the setting for an important plot point.

Bridges are often used as meeting places, places for swaps, etc., anything relative to the plot. This is sometimes done when they form the border between two territories. They can also serve as the only connection for the isolated region to the mainland.

It can also be a battlefield for two men in a duel, with the loser falling to their doom. In this scenario, underneath the bridge is a chasm, some rapids, a pit of spikes, or anything deadly.

Unlike the misleading title, this may not always involve James Brown...or Justin Timberlake.

Examples of Take It to the Bridge include:

Anime and Manga

  • One of the Magical Princess Minky Momo OAVs ("The Bridge Over Dreams," maybe?) had a bridge with the legend that anyone who met another person on the bridge would eventually meet them there again. The catch is that it's about to be torn down—will everyone be able to get back in time?
  • The Bridge of Heaven and Earth in Naruto.
  • In Saint Seiya, the way to Yamir, home of the Cloth Artisan Mu, can only be reached by crossing a bridge across a spike-lined pit. At the bottom lie the corpses of all warriors and Saints who failed to conquer the bridge, and whose restless spirits now pull any newcomers into their own deaths. Dragon Shiryu, in his quest to have Mu repair the Dragon and Pegasus Cloths, must cross this bridge.
  • In Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, a lone bridge separates the neo-Deshima of the refugees from the capital. This is also starting point of the army/police crackdown.
  • Several scenes in the .hack series involve bridges.

Comic Books

  • The Rainbow Bridge to Asgard (taken from mythology) is often used in Marvel's Thor comic books.

Film

  • The Bridges of Madison County, that were covered so passers-by wouldn't interrupt all the sex.
  • Subverted somewhat in The Bourne Identity when Bourne arranges a meeting on Pont Neuf but doesn't actually go. (He's merely using the rendezvous as a ploy to draw out the agents chasing him.)
  • In The Movie of Prince Caspian, the Beruna Bridge becomes this.
  • The Lord of the Rings. In The Film of the Book, Arwen gives the Evenstar to Aragorn on an obviously symbolic bridge.
  • Connor Macleod and Sunda Kastagir meet in the first Highlander film on a bridge in Central Park.
  • In the Heavy Metal episode "Harry Canyon", the exchange for the Loc-Nar occurred at the Brooklyn Bridge.
  • In The Matrix, Neo was picked up by Trinity and the others under the Adams Street bridge.
  • Mary Jane dumps Peter on a footbridge in Spider-Man 3.
    • And in the first movie, Goblin dumps her (and a gondola full of boyscouts) off a bridge. Ditto for the comic book story it was based on.
  • In Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, that structure Luke fled onto before having his hand cut off and getting hit with a paternal revelation might or might not have been a bridge, it's hard to tell, but it certainly looks like one. Notably, the part he was trapped on was a dead end.
  • Bridge to Terabithia, linking our world with the world of Jesse and Leslie.
    • It's actually a rope. The titular bridge doesn't appear until the end.
  • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom features Indy, Short Round and Willie trapped in the middle of a rope bridge with the bad guys surrounding them. Indy: "Oh, shit."
    • In The Last Crusade, the invisible bridge (a trick of perspective) that connects the inner chambers of Alexandretta with the Grail's Tomb is devised as the ultimate test of the seeker's faith.
  • Frantic. The second attempt at a Hostage for Macguffin exchange takes place beneath the pont de Grenelle. Justified as the protagonist can threaten to throw the MacGuffin into the river if his wife isn't returned to him.
  • The French film Les Amants du Pont-Neuf (The Lovers on the Bridge).
  • In Puss in Boots, the entrance to the town of San Ricardo is a bridge. It's on the bridge where Puss experiences his greatest moment of shame, for which he has been trying to atone for, and it's there that he and Humpty Dumpty find redemption in the climax.
  • In Show Me Love (or Fucking Åmål if you prefer), Agnes and Elin share their first real kiss on a bridge.
  • The final battle in Balls of Fury takes place, in part, on a bridge.
  • The final test of the student's skill at the beginning of Bulletproof Monk.

Literature

  • Oliver Twist. Nancy goes to meet Rose Maylie and Mr. Brownlow there every Saturday night though she kinda fails at times
  • The original book of Bridge to Terabithia, basis for the movie.
  • Older Than Print: Robin Hood first met Little John when they fought with quarterstaves over a bandit toll John had posted on a bridge. Robin lost, but John was impressed enough with his sportsmanship and abilities that he became Robin's right-hand man.
  • The Princess and the Cowherd is about two lovers who are forever separated by the Milky Way, except for on the seventh day of the seventh month, when a bridge of magpies forms for them to be together.
  • In The Lord of the Rings, it was at the Bridge of Khazad Dum where Gandalf the Grey fought the Balrog, and fell.
  • The Lost World features a huge tree which the heroes use as a bridge onto the plateau. Predictably it gets destroyed, leaving them with no choice but to go forward.
  • The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Crossing the covered bridge is the only way to escape the Headless Horseman. Local reports differ, but it appears that Ichabod never made it.
  • The third Skulduggery Pleasant book has a scene on Dublin's Liffey Bridge, where the heroes have to trade Fletcher, the only person in the world who can open the gate for the Faceless Ones, to the Diablerie in exchange for Grand Mage Thurid Guild. Naturally, they all double-cross each other multiple times. The Diablerie wins.

Live-Action TV

  • Heroes. "Company Man." Noah shoots his former partner off one.

Theatre

Video Games

  • In Metal Gear Solid 3, Naked Snake is betrayed and left for dead[1] by his beloved mentor, The Boss, just as he has retrieved his target from imprisonment and they're crossing the rope bridge towards their recovery point.
  • Link and Saria in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
    • In Twilight Princess, the Bridge of Eldin (shown above) is where Link engages in a mounted duel with King Bulblin. The same bridge is also a stage in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
  • Garcian meets with Christopher Mills, his contact for the jobs taken by Killer7, on an overpass. Close enough.
  • Mortal Kombat has "The Pit", where the Kombatants fight on a bridge over a pit of spikes or just the cold hard floor.
    • Although in Deception, it is made to be a huge square tile on a giant pillar.
  • The famous Conerian Bridge in Final Fantasy I, built to connect the peninsula of Coneria to the rest of the Southern Continent as reward for the Light Warriors' triumph over Garland and their rescue of Princess Sarah.
    • In Final Fantasy IV, the Tower of Bab-Il is surrounded by a moat of magma, and thus the only access is via a suspension bridge from solid ground. After the Light Warriors disable the Super Cannon, Golbez retaliates by destroying the bridge right from under them, forcing Cid to catch them on the deck of the Enterprise.
    • Final Fantasy V features the Big Bridge, a grand structure across the ocean which connects the continents of the West (allied) and the East (Exdeath's domain.) When Galuf crosses this bridge, alone, to rescue his captive friends, he's met by Gilgamesh and the famous "Battle On The Big Bridge" theme plays, which became so iconic of the battle it has become Gilgamesh's personal theme song.
    • In Final Fantasy VI, Locke the treasure hunter was on another treasure quest, this time with his lover Rachel tagging along. As they crossed a bridge deep within a cave, Rachel fell to her death, and a grief-stricken Locke preserved her body in suspended animation until he could find a way to revive her.
    • In Final Fantasy VII, similar to the above incident, Tifa and her friends were sneaking out of their village and into Mt. Nibel, with Cloud following close behind, when the rope bridge going across a gorge collapsed. Tifa was severely injured and all blame was placed on Cloud, inspiring him to try to become stronger so he could protect her. Thus his desire to join SOLDIER was born.
    • In Final Fantasy VIII, one of Squall's first major Not So Stoic moments takes place on the Horizon Bridge when he pours his heart out to the unconscious Rinoa during the hike along the bridge to Esthar.
    • In Final Fantasy X, there is one final bridge between the holy cloisters of the Temple of Bevelle and an escape route out of the city. While the party flees, Kimahri insists on staying behind to hold off their pursuers. After a brief pause to realize what they're doing, the party goes back to help him and then they all escape together.
    • In Final Fantasy XII, the ancient, mystical city of the Gods, Giruvegan, is joined to the far more ordinary (for fantasy standards) realm of Ivalice by an enormous bridge across the sea, protected by a seal at the entrance and a headless guardsman at the end.
  • Dusky Bridge in case 4 of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations.
  • Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura had it for a quest to pick up alcohol to a tavern in the really bad part of Tarrant's bar on the bridge. Unsurprisingly, there is an ambush waiting for you.
  • Shadow of the Colossus has a massive bridge connecting the mainland to the Shrine of Worship in the Forbidden Lands. Due to the surrounding cliffs (Read: edges of the map), the bridge is the only way to enter or exit the Lands. In the end, the bridge collapses, trapping all left within the land.
    • The 16th and final Colossus rests atop a mountain temple, and the only way to enter is via a smaller stone bridge that crosses a very deep ravine. However, it's so ancient and decayed that even the weight of Wander will collapse it. ...unless he approaches fast enough, as in, riding a horse at full gallop. Unfortunately not even Agro is fast enough to escape the collapse herself, and she tosses Wander off her back and onto safe ground at the last second, plummeting into the chasm while her master screams for her. This makes it the game's Point of No Return.
  • In Dragon Quest I, bridges serve as the boundaries between areas with monsters of differing power- cross a bridge, and you'll be facing difficult fights soon. Also, the hero spends most of the quest trying to create a rainbow bridge to reach the Big Bad's castle.
  • Half-Life 2 has a memorable sequence where Gordon Freeman has to get across the underside of a bridge to shut off a force field. When you finally get to cross the bridge on the surface it's not half as dramatic, apart from almost getting run over by a train.
  • In Ico, the Queen's Castle rests atop a mountain jutting out from the ocean. Therefore, its only connection to the mainland is either by boat, or via an enormous stone bridge. When Ico and Yorda first try to escape, the Queen appears to bar their way and close the way to the bridge. When they return and succeed in opening the gate, the Queen retracts the bridge, stranding Yorda in the castle and causing Ico to fall into the misty depths of the chasm.
  • Super Street Fighter II: Cammy's stage is a bridge across the battlements of a castle in England.

Web Comics

  • The bridge to Gillitie Wood from Gunnerkrigg Court, Chapter 7: "Something is wrong. I shouldn't be here."
  • The epic duel on the bridge version of this trope is subverted in this strip of El Goonish Shive. The stage is set for a Justin vs the dragon battle on the bridge, but the dragon simply flies away.

Western Animation

  • Invoked in the Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy episode "Dueling Eds". Rolf digs up his own pit and creates his own bridge by lifting a tree from the root so he could duel Eddy on it.

Real Life

  • The real-life Glienicke Bridge in Berlin used for three spy-swaps.
  • Similarly, there is the former "Bridge of No Return" in the Joint Security Area of Panmunjeom, where POW and other prisoner exchanges (such as the freeing of the crew of USS Pueblo, captured in 1968, the last men to cross the bridge) have been held since the armistice that has paused the Korean War. It was called "The Bridge of No Return" because once one crossed the bridge, they could never change their mind later on. It was officially decommissioned in 1976, and has been in disrepair ever since.
    • Said bridge is depicted, inaccurately, in the prisoner exchange in Die Another Day.
  • These kinds of real life incidents are marvellously parodied in The Beiderbecke Connection, which has "a dissident being smuggled over the Yorkshire-Lincolnshire border" via the Humber Bridge.
  • Venice has many bridges; one of particular fame is the Ponte de i Sospiri ("Bridge of Sighs") that connects two judicial buildings: prisoners were led across the bridge to receive their sentence, and led back to be either released or punished.
  • Bridges are the site of many historical battles, due to their value as "choke points" that an enemy must file through slowly. The Battle of Stirling, depicted in the movie Braveheart as a battle on an open field, was really the Battle of Stirling Bridge.
  1. ↑ or so it seems
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