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{{trope}}
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{{quote|"Defeated by an ugly crone,
From mortal man to standing stone,
With sun and rain upon you blown,
Through carven locks the wind shall moan,
Here you will be through years unknown,
And slowly crumble when time has flown."
|'''[[Have a Nice Death|Game Over Screen]]''', ''[[Conquests of Camelot]]''}}
A character has been petrified—literally. Transformed into stone (or another inanimate substance) by someone else, the archetypal result is a perfectly sculpted gray (concrete?) statue, complete with matching gray clothes and accessories, frozen in whatever position they were in when the spell took effect, presumably for all time. Heed well, traveler: Should you ever stumble upon a cave filled with impeccably detailed life-size statues showing expressions of terror on their faces, <s>[[Genre Blind|proceed with great caution]]</s> be [[Genre Savvy]] and turn back '''now'''.
The ability to transform someone in this manner is a fairly common [[Stock Superpower]], especially if combined with an [[Evil Eye]]. Definitely [[Older Than Feudalism]], being fairly common in Classical Greek myth as well as [[Fairy Tales]]. If the victim isn't killed outright, he might be in some sort of stasis. At worst, he'll remain conscious while frozen in a form of locked-in paralysis, sometimes accompanied by [[And I Must Scream|inescapable pain or anguish]]. However, it's generally accepted that [[Literally Shattered Lives|shattering the statue]] kills the person held within... [[Fridge Horror|hopefully]].
More likely to produce [[Tears From a Stone]] than most
It does not count if they transform and untransform on their own (unless they cannot move, such as in ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20100701132620/http://www.dragon-tails.com/comics/archive.php?date=020222 Dragon Tails]'' and ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' 3). If the character ''can'' transform on their own and remain mobile, then this is an [[Elemental Shapeshifter]].
Being Taken for Granite happens a lot in children's literature, because, [[Never Say "Die"|unlike death]], [[No Ontological Inertia|it is (probably) reversible. Usually]].
If a villain [[Genre Savvy|knows]] that this effect can be potentially reversed, you can expect them to consider [[Literally Shattered Lives|smashing the "statue"]] to ensure the person cannot be brought back.
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There is often an ambiguity as to whether the petrified person is completely turned to stone, or whether they are 'encased' in a thin layer of stone in a manner similar to [[Harmless Freezing]]. You can often see this when a character is only partially petrified - they will seem only to be encased in stone, and may break out. This is probably to avoid the obvious circulatory problems with having a completely petrified limb.
See [[Puppet Permutation]] for turning creatures into dolls and [[Wax Museum Morgue]] for a similar trope when the monster (or whatever) that petrified the people decides to put them on display in a gallery.
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* In ''[[Mega Man NT Warrior]]'' (anime), the viruses Pharaohman.exe creates can turn Net Navis to stone. He uses them to prevent people from stopping him (because in that universe, most people are absolutely useless without a Net Navi during a crisis). Net Navis turned to stone can't even log out, trapping them in the network. The effects seem to not happen instantly, however, as Sharkman.exe is able to successfully shut off the electricity (Pharaohman.exe was attempting to hijack a [[Kill Sat]]) before he completely turns to stone. However, it was all in vain as Pharaohman.exe manually turns the power and hijacks the satellite anyway. Thankfully, every Navi turned to stone reverts to normal after Pharaohman.exe is deleted.
** Stoneman.exe can also do this, on people in the real world, because [[The Ditz]] businesswoman, who picks him up, accidentally expressed her wish to turn her boss into a stone so he'll stop yelling at her. The result is Stoneman turning ''everyone'' in her office into the stones.
* In ''[[Melody of Oblivion]]'' the Monster named Medusa does this and then collects the statues, she especially likes pubescent boys (each Monster does something like this to people who see their true form).
* In ''[[SD Gundam Force]]'', the Bagu-Bagu inject a chemical that turns organic life forms into stone. All life on Zero's home planet Lacroa was given this treatment. Near the end, they turn most of the residents of Neotopia to stone, but after regaining his Soul Drive, Captain Gundam reverses the petrifaction by reprogramming them in the [[Cyberspace|Brain World]].
* Cockatrimon in ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'' and (briefly) ''[[Digimon Savers]]''.
* Ash in the climax of ''[[Pokémon:
** Also happens in {{spoiler|the very end}} Fire Red/Leaf Green saga of ''[[Pokémon Special]]'', when {{spoiler|one of the villains blasts the main characters with an attack from Darkrai. It colliding with Mewtwo caused a reaction that turned the main characters into stone. The next arc uses this as Emerald's reason to pursue Jirachi -- to wish the effect reversed.}}
** Another ''
* Dabura of ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' could turn people to stone with his spit.
** Majin Buu has a slight twist on this in that his antenna can turn people into ''food'', which he then eats (or in one case, steps on). This creates a [[Crowning Moment of Funny]] when he turns [[Fusion Dance|Vegetto]] into a coffee candy, but Vegetto's immense power means he remains sentient and mobile, resulting in a little hard candy ball beating the stuffing out of a galaxy-destroying monster.
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* [[Meaningful Name|Algol Perseus]] in ''[[Saint Seiya]]'' turns people into stone with his "Medusa Shield". Destroying the shield and killling Algol reverse the process.
* Hayate of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' has a spell called Misteltein which does this. With it, she managed to turn the ''[[Humongous Mecha|giant, bio-mechanical]] [[Cosmic Horror]] of a [[Big Bad]]'' into stone. At least, before it broke free by shedding its old body for [[One-Winged Angel|a more grotesque form]].
* The villain of the manga-faithful ''[[Violinist of Hameln]]'' movie was basically Medusa with a chip on her shoulder, and she turns Hamel's companions Oboe, Sizer, and Raiel, into stone statues. Not that this deters Hamel in the
** Then, paying heed to the [[No Ontological Inertia|trope]], the petrified victims return to normal as soon as she's defeated, leading the panicked Hamel and Flute to reassemble Raiel before he returns to normal.
* The eventual [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', Fate Averruncus, did this to multiple people in his first appearance in Kyoto ( {{spoiler|the only one who's unaffected is Asuna, due to her [[Anti-Magic]]}}). And he's threatened to do it again.
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** Then there is Negi's tragic backstory, wherein almost everyone in his home village except for him, Nekane and Anya was turned to stone. Said Count is one of the demons who did that.
** More recently, Fate lived up to his threat: he used magical darts to do this to {{spoiler|Beatrix, Sayo and Yuna, when they attacked him in an attempt to rescue Asuna.}}
* There is a manga, ''[[
* In her first appearance in ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'', Alisa Southerncross does this to two pursuers by turning her headband (actually a part of her amorphous alien adoptive father) into a cluster of snakes (a clear reference to the Gorgon, which another character recognizes).
* In the ''[[Inuyasha]]'' special "The Woman Who Loved Sesshoumaru," a one-shot villain turns an entire village full of people, and later on Miroku, Sango, and Kirara, into ''glass''.
* A demon in the original ''[[
* Anacondy, a member of the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] in ''[[Yes!
* Happened to Yui, Freeze and others in a second season episode of ''[[
* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', one of the filler episodes involves a town being infected with a disease that turns everyone's skin into some sort of bark/stone substance.
* In ''[[One Piece]]'', Boa Hancock has the ability to turn people into stone with the power of her Devil Fruit, the Mero Mero no Mi. Though said people have to be at least remotely smitten with her, [[Ms. Fanservice|that's not too big]] [[Most Beautiful Woman In The World|of a problem]]. The effect is perfectly reversible however, only resulting in minor memory loss to the victims (that is, if she revives them before they're shattered, such as the case with the shattered limbs of pirates at the Battle of Marineford]].
** Mr. 3 of the Baroque Works can also use his hardening wax to petrify people, and unless the victim is saved in time, the effect is slightly less reversible than Hancock's.
* In the first season of ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'', this happened to [[Squishy Wizard|Clef]] after he was struck by a spell from [[Big Bad|Zagato]].
* During a [[Filler]] arc in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]!'' the villain Noah turns the Kaiba Bros. into stone after Seto loses by risking to use Last Turn, causing Yugi to take over and continue the duel. When Noah gets fed up with everybody, he threatens to turn all of Yugi's supporters into stone, and does, in this order: Duke, {{spoiler|robot-monkey!}}Tristan, Serenity, and Joey. And when he turns Tea into stone, Yugi goes through an [[Narm Charm|over-the-top]] [[Heroic BSOD]], until Hikari no Yugi tells Yami no Yugi that he's not alone, and everybody that was solidified gives him support, leading to {{spoiler|1=Yugi reviving Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragon, fuses it with 2 more, uses Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon to kill Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi, defuses BEUD back into 3 Blue-Eyes, siccing them on Noah, thus winning the duel and saving everybody.}}
* In ''[[Kannazuki no Miko]]'', {{spoiler|Souma's Orochi-granted powers eventually petrify him.}}
* In ''[[Samurai Deeper Kyo]]'', the "true" Mekira turns Yuya to stone from the waist down, and completely statue-fies the newly [[Heel Face Turn|heel face turned]] Santera. They recover after Akari gets seriously peeved and does away with Mekira.
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* Xanxus from ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'' has a [[Cool Pet]] liger who has the power to turn people to stone when it roars. [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|Then Xanxus shoots them through the head]]...
* Just one of the many Dark Bring in ''[[Rave Master]]''
* ''[[Rosario
* Not a typical attack, but a real danger of using senjutsu in ''[[Naruto]]''. If the user's body draws more natural energy than it can balance with its own chakra, their body transforms into a stone frog.
** Actually used as an attack against Pein's chakra-absorbing body. As it lacked the knowledge to balance the natural energy, Naruto was able to overload it with the energy and transform it into stone.
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* In ''[[Saint Beast]]'', while plotting to break Judas and Luca out of hell, {{spoiler|the other four Saint Beasts are betrayed by the Goddess and turned to stone.}} After years pass, [[Chekhov's Gunman|Saki]] manages to free {{spoiler|Goh.}}
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* In a Bill Willingham [[Spin-Off]] from ''[[Fables]]'' featuring [[Sandman|Thessaly the witch]], the titular witch falls into this trap when she notices that she's surrounded by odd statues wearing [[And I Must Scream|horrified expressions]]. Her last thoughts before she gets turned to stone are exasperated self-recriminations for falling into such a stupid trap.
* Stone Boy of the ''Legion of Super Heroes'' [[Legion of Super-Heroes (TV series)|cartoon]] and [[The Legion of Super Heroes|comics]] is a Substitute Legionnaire who can turn into an immobile statue. However, he manages to use this power effectively anyway.
* The "final" fate of [[Thanos]] in the [[Marvel Comics]] of the 70's; undone in the late 80's.
* In ''[[Elf Quest]]'', some of the magic users among the Gliders of Blue Mountain [http://www.elfquest.com/gallery/OnlineComics/OQ/OQ12/DisplayOQ12.html?page=12 spend their lives in apparent trances], focusing their minds on specific limited tasks such as opening and closing portals or correcting flaws in the rock, while their bodies remain almost completely inanimate. It is hinted (though never actually confirmed) that [[Big Bad]] Winnowill keeps them this way to prevent them from revealing things they have learned about her.
** One of them, Door (the male one) in the New Blood series became the tyrant of a people of humans. One way of killing servants that displeased him was making stone from the floor flow up over their skin until they were completely encased in it, effectively creating a statue with a corpse inside.
* Grey Gargoyle from the [[Marvel Universe]] has the power to turn anyone into an immobile statue for one hour (or himself into a very mobile rock bruiser.) He has to touch the target with his right hand.
* Once while fighting the ''[[X
** Doom actually counted on Storm being incapacitated due to panic. The extremely dire gathering of storm clouds outside couldn't possibly be related to her, could it? [[Tempting Fate|No, I'll prop her up by the window and go about my plans]]. Who cares there's no other possible explanation? Because it is a perfectly natural storm, surely there's no way the window could be in danger.
** This was also one of Doom's earliest plots while facing the Fantastic Four themselves. "I'll turn you all to statues, with ''liquid titanium steel''!"
* At the end of [[The Golden Age of Comic Books]], the vastly-powerful Spectre, DC's Spirit of Vengeance was abruptly forbidden to kill anyone by the [[Moral Guardians|Comics Code Authority]]. DC's response was to have the Spectre inflict massive [[Transformation Trauma]] on his victims
** That said, the Spectre himself died in a manner that resembles this somewhat, being thrown in a barrel full of cement and tossed into a river.
* [[
* This happens to
* In ''[[Asterix]] and Obelix All at Sea'' this is revealed to be the effect of magic potion overdose. Bonus points for the resulting statue being ''actually made'' of granite.
* The Phantom Blot did this to Minnie's village in ''[[Wizards of Mickey]]'', which is what set her off on her own quest. {{spoiler|She eventually suffers the same fate in the second arc.}}
* One of the wizards' more often used powers in ''[[Douwe Dabbert]]''.
* [[Supergirl]] did this to her ex
** Bizarro Supergirl has [[Eye Beams]] that cover the victims with a stone shell. Because that's the opposite of [[X
* The Fearmaster in ''[[Marvel 2099|Punisher 2099]]'' had a whole collection of women turned to statues with his molecular engineering powers. Each of them is a different material, you know, so it doesn't get boring. Gold, diamond, that sort of thing. He calls it the "Endymion Room", after a poem by John Keats about eternal youth and beauty (more or less).
* Gorgon, one of the few [[Wolverine]] foes that outmatched him in everything Wolvie was good at, could turn people to stone just by looking at them. Unfortunately for Gorgon he was not one of those mutants with immunity to his own power. Wolverine defeated him by popping his shiny ''reflective'' claws at just the right moment.
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** Brittany had been turned into a statue before, but on that occasion she was animate... a super-strong, super-fast granite statue under the magical control of Atlantean sorceror Gyphon.
* In ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]'', Brian's character is turned to stone by a medusa in "The Stone Menagerie", leading to a [[Literally Shattered Lives]] scenario.
* In the Nintendo Power ''[[Super Mario Adventures]]'' comic, Bowser gave Peach the ultimatum that if she didn't marry him, he'd turn all her subjects into stone, petrifying all her subjects in the castle to prove it - including Mario! Fortunately, Luigi and Toad found the world's greatest masseuse, and three hours later Mario's back in the flesh.
== [[Fairy Tales]] ==
* In ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20140704200150/http://surlalunefairytales.com/authors/crane/dancingwater.html The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird]'', when the young princes [[Forbidden Fruit|answer the Speaking Bird despite a warning]], they turn to stone.
** Similarly in ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20140413155236/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/aulnoy/1892/princessbelleetoile.html Princess Belle-Etoile ]'' and ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20130603131735/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/facetiousnights/night4_fable3.html Ancilotto, King of Provino]''
==
* In ''[[
** Also, on two occasions George turned himself into a rock and a chunk of metal, respectively. And he did a boulder monster too, though that's alive.
** And in an inversion, Brox discovered a spell that turns inanimate objects into living creatures.
== [[Film]] ==
* In ''The Snow Queen's Revenge'', the Snow Queen [[Disney Villain Death|falls into lava]]. The ending of the movie shows her body to be intact, but completely turned to stone along with her staff. Her eyes glow before the credits roll, hinting that she is still alive. Given that no sequels have been made since, and that she is the SNOW queen fallen into LAVA, however, we can assume she doesn't survive for much longer, and even if she does, her staff (which unfroze her at the film's beginning) isn't doing anything this time, so it's safe to assume she's not going anywhere.
* The fate of the villain Saluk in ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin
* It's okay, everyone. Admit that it happens in ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]''. C'mon—that movie's practically a historical landmark of culture now anyway.
** Okay. After Frank-n-Furter turns Colombia, Janet, Rocky and Brad into statues, he dresses them up in makeup and corsets, turns them back to normal, forces them to do a floor show, then makes them join him in a synchronized pool orgy. You asked for it.
** And they find themselves enjoying it.
* In ''[[Hellraiser III Hell On Earth]]'', Pinhead is trapped as a statue, but frees himself after a certain amount of blood.
* In
* In ''[[Ernest Scared Stupid]]'', the troll Trantor's signature power is to turn kids into little wooden dolls that give him his power.
* Medusa in ''[[
* Han Solo, frozen in carbonite in ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'', later [[Wax Museum Morgue|put on display]] in Jabba's palace then eventually unfrozen in ''[[Return of the Jedi]]''.
* In ''[[Willow]]'', the village sorcerer gives Willow a pouch of magical acorns and says, "Anything you throw them at, turns to stone." This turns out to be true. {{spoiler|However, at no point do they actually do Willow any good. He tries to use them in a fight with a troll, but he drops the acorn and instead of turning the troll to stone, it just petrifies the wooden plank it lands on. He actually manages to hit Queen Bavmorda, but it turns out that [[My Kung Fu Is Stronger Than Yours|Bavmorda's magical kung fu is rather stronger than the village sorcerer's]], and she shakes off the effect with ease.}}
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* The 50's ''[[Monolith Monsters]]'' features growing towers of crystals that fall and shatter; anyone exposed to their shards begins to turn to stone. What makes it worse is that the crystalline stones expand and even explode when coming in contact with water.
* The Monkey King's petrification is at the center of the plot of ''[[The Forbidden Kingdom]]''.
* A weapon turning living beings into ash was developed in ''[[Star Trek: Nemesis]]''.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
== [[Literature]] ==
* The
** There is also a pool which turns anything which touches it to gold in ''[[
* One of the short stories in ''[[The King in Yellow]]'' has a sculptor and dabbler in science discover a new element which changes objects to marble, {{spoiler|temporarily}}. He keeps a swimming pool full of the stuff in his house, which is kind of asking for trouble.
* The Baaz Draconians in ''[[Dragonlance]]''. Upon death, they turn to stone which traps your weapon, then crumble to rubble in a couple of minutes, but seeing as they attack in large groups and you're left without a weapon, getting the weapon back might prove to be a problem.
* The title character of Margaret St. Clair's story ''Thirsty God'' doesn't literally get turned to stone. After he's raped a humanoid girl, he takes refuge from her family in a "shrine" that's actually an ancient biological processor, and the process wasn't designed for humans. When he wakes up he finds that he's a lot bigger than he used to be and incredibly thirsty. But he's still not big enough to fight the girl's relatives so he falls asleep again. A little while after that he wakes up again, feeling even thirstier, and sees that the girl's family have gone. Thinking it's a trick he decides to get up, but can't make his muscles obey him. A little while after that he's visited by the first of many primitive, waterlogged creatures who are going to force his transformed body to painfully absorb their excess moisture (symbolism, anyone?) for years to come while he can never move again. (Also the story implies he's just one of many who have shared this fate.)
** There are several recent ASFR variants on this story, whose protagonists are forced to experience pleasure rather than pain while paralyzed.
* The heroes of [[L. Sprague
* ''[[
** In ''[[
** In ''The Patchwork Girl of Oz'', Unc Nunkie and Dame Margolotte are turned into marble by the Liquid of Petrifaction.
* In ''[[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (
* In [[Ray Bradbury]]'s ''[[
* Trolls in [[The Lord of the Rings
** The trolls of the ''[[Discworld]]'' series are a variant of this: trolls cannot be turned to stone, because as silicon-based life forms, they are essentially ''already'' living rock. It's just that their brains work better in cold temperatures, so if they leave their mountain homelands, they get stupid, and if it gets too hot, their brains shut down entirely and they go inert until nightfall.
** Also in ''Valiant'', the second book in Holly Black's ''[[Modern Faerie Tales
** Played with in ''Spearwielder's Tale'', in which one character is outraged that Tolkien wrote about trolls that turn to stone in the sun because 'real' trolls do not, and that probably caused many deaths from people running from trolls turning to laugh at them when the sun came up
* A random nameless fire-witch in [[Patricia C. Wrede]]'s ''[[Enchanted Forest Chronicles|Talking to Dragons]]'' turns people to stone, including Shiara. Daystar kisses her; she gets better.
** And in the first book, ''Dealing With Dragons'', Cimorene meets a prince who's been turned into a living, moving stone statue, having rather hilariously [[Take a Third Option|messed up]] a standard fairy-tale scenario.
* In ''[[Sabriel]]'' the title character encounters and frees a naked man transformed into a wooden figurehead on a ship.
* In ''[[
* [[Terry Pratchett]]'s early novel ''[[The Carpet People]]'' has a termagant whose gaze turns people to stone, the irony being that the beast is actually quite friendly and doesn't do it on purpose. Its own tears cause the statues to come back to life, unless they have been that way for many centuries.
* Used as a form of execution in the ''[[The Darksword Trilogy|Darksword]]'' trilogy. In the second book, {{spoiler|Saryon}} intentionally throws himself in front of the executioner's spell while holding the eponymous Darksword, both [[Taking the Bullet]] and trapping the Darksword in his stone hands. {{spoiler|He gets better.}}
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* Kara Dalkey's Trilogy "Blood of the Goddess" where the titular goddess is the Medusa whose gaze turns people into stone.
* In [[Roger Zelazny]]'s ''[[Book of Amber]]'' series, one of the characters is turned to stone, and serves a coatrack for much of the series.
** In his ''Dilvish The Damned'' stories, the titular hero
* In ''Ares Express'' by [[Ian McDonald]], decadent rich people buy furniture made from children locked into a suit that keeps them alive but paralyzed in the desired position: the novel implies that this is irreversible.
* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', {{spoiler|Aurora, one of the Queens of the Summer Court, transferred magical power into a person and then turned her to stone to keep the magic from being detected by anyone else. She gets better.}}
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* In the first [[Percy Jackson]] novel, Percy and his friends encounter a masked lady who has a garden full of stone animals, stone people, stone satyrs, ... It's the real Medusa. And since Percy's friend Annabeth is the daughter of Athena, Medusa wants a lot of payback.
** In ''[[The Heroes of Olympus]]'', Midas does this, too.
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] story "[[Iron Shadows in
* At the end of ''[[Duel of Sorcery|Changer's Moon]]'', {{spoiler|Serroi is turned into a tree as the [[Equivalent Exchange|price]] of defeating Ser Noris}}. (She gets better in the ''Dancer'' trilogy.)
* In the novella "I Like To Watch", the protagonist turns her restless adventurer sister into stone by watching her thoroughly. It's some sort of a an ultimate "you're better home" statement from the protagonist, who spent her whole life in their childhood home, watching things rather than doing them.
* In ''Master of the Five Magics'' by [[Lyndon Hardy]], [[The Dragon]] for a minor antagonist steals a heat-resistant ointment from the hero's mentor, slathers himself with an extra-thick coating, then taunts the hero for not having enough as they both venture into the heart of a volcano. He's [[Hoist
* Prince Nakel from ''Adventures in Agapeland: The Music Machine'' is rumored to have this power, and as his castle courtyard is filled with stone statues, it may very well be true.
* ''[[
** Dale is also temporarily turned into a lead statue.
* In ''[[
* A variation in the first ''[[Secret Histories]]'' novel: a captured water sprite is frozen into a statue. And is [[And I Must Scream|completely aware of it]].
* ''[[The Witches]]'' by [[Roald Dahl]] has an anecdote about a boy who was turned into stone. [[Nightmare Fuel|The process was apparently slow.]]
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** But it's okay, 'cause he was the bad guy.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* There's an episode of ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' about an alien race who were the basis of the Medusa myth.
* The Weeping Angels from ''[[
** The Doctor defeated the angels by {{spoiler|having someone run into the TARDIS and letting the "angels" converge on it, and then dematerializing at the last second. The angels all turn to stone, because they're left standing in a circle ''looking at each other''.}}
** The [[Tie-in Novel|original novel]], ''The Stone Rose'', involves this happen on an involuntary basis to a certain Rose Tyler. {{spoiler|And later the Doctor.}}
** Progressive Petrification: In the new ''[[
** "The Five Doctors" involves a villain looking for Rassilon's secret of immortality. It turns out, though, that {{spoiler|the supposed "immortality" is a trap Rassilon laid for megalomaniacs. Borusa becomes immortal by being turned into a [[And I Must Scream|paralyzed, living stone face]] on the base of Rassilon's coffin.}}
** In The Big Bang [[Apocalypse How|all matter in every point in history in the universe is erased]] except for the Earth, and if not stopped in time all universes everywhere will have never existed. Several Daleks and Cybermen were present at Ground Zero, and as a temporary side-effect of their histories never existing are turned into stone after-images before being erased permanently.
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** Subverted in ''The Time of Angels'', when {{spoiler|the Angel in Amy's mind makes her think she's turning to stone. She isn't, but it takes the Doctor biting the affected hand to snap her out of it.}}
** Also in the old series, this happened in the Season 26 serial "Ghost Light" - the victims were petrified by the story's [[Big Bad]], [[Light Is Not Good|Light]], because of his fear of change and evolution (they had 'adapted' to a new situation, and so he ensured they would 'never change again').
* The second season of ''[[Big Wolf
** He gets doubly screwed too, {{spoiler|turns out that the cure is also a poison so when he gets turned back he finds himself blind, sweating horribly from a fever, totally unable to care for himself, and with a touch of leprosy (apparently he spits out some teeth).}}
* In the first episode of ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'', Iolaus takes on a "she-demon" while Hercules is in a [[Ten
* Happened to Madison in ''[[Power Rangers Mystic Force]],'' at the hands of a cockatrice-themed [[Monster of the Week]], so she was naturally sympathetic when it happened to Jenji later on at the hands of a Medusa-themed one. This also occurred to Urara, Madison's counterpart in ''[[Mahou Sentai Magiranger]]'' (the Mystic Force episode was in fact a near copy of the Magiranger episode).
** Of course, it also happened to Jason, the original Red Ranger, many years before in ''[[Power Rangers
*** Who was, somewhat ironically (or not), the [[Sixth Ranger|Gold Ranger]] at the time.
** ''[[Engine Sentai
* A book in the ''[[Goosebumps]]'' series was called ''[[Be Careful What You Wish For]]'' and showcased the trope of this name. In the ending of the TV adaptation, which differed considerably from the book, a girl wishes that "wherever I go, people will come to admire me" - and instantly turns into a statue.
** In the TV adaptation of "Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes," Major McCall (Mr McCall in the book) is turned into a lawn ornament at the end.
* Occurs to ''[[
* Played for laughs in ''[[Look Around You]]'' series 2, which has an item about a disease called Geodermic Grantitis (Cobbles), which turns people into vaguely human-shaped piles of rock. Victims can slide around, and can see, hear and talk despite their lack of visible eyes, ears or mouths. The disease has one compensation: {{spoiler|its victims can fly}}. A leaflet, "Coping with Cobbles", is available at pharmacies and quarries, price 1p.
* In the instructional series ''[[
* One recurring obstacle (well, we see it twice but this was a year when no one won) on ''[[Knightmare]]'' was a giant gorgon head that once turned not just the Dungeoner but the Guides (who are normally immune to harm) to stone.
* The fact that that he possessed an "Off" Switch meant ''[[Star Trek:
* Done on ''[[
* In ''[[Kamen Rider Kiva]]'', people who have their [[Life Energy]] drained by [[Our Vampires Are Different|Fangire]] become glass-like and translucent. Only once do we see anyone actually shattering because of this, however. On the other hand, the show completely averts [[No Ontological Inertia]] since once somebody's been drained, they're effectively dead.
** ''[[Kamen Rider Fourze]]'' had a [[Monster of the Week]], modeled on [[Greek Mythology|Perseus]], whose left arm was an armored gauntlet with a relief of Medusa's head on it. Initially it only worked with physical contact, but his [[One-Winged Angel]] form upgraded it to [[Eye Beams]]. {{spoiler|However, when he used it on the main character it wore off after some time, apparently since he was in the middle of a [[Heel Face Turn]] and his heart wasn't in it.}}
* There's a [[Star Trek:
* Queen Admira from ''[[The Hugga Bunch]]'' special has the power to freeze people in place, which she uses on Bridget after the girl accidentally insults her. Later, Bridget's friends from the Hugga Bunch are able to restore her to normal through [[The Power of Love|The Power Of Hugs]].
* In an episode of ''[[Are You Afraid of the Dark?]]'', a villain put on a ring that was purported to make one immortal. It "immortalized" him in a way he hadn't bargained for. Removing the ring did not restore him.
* ''[[Friday the
* Bob Bishop from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' can turn anything he wants into gold. It was only used on inanimate objects in the series itself, but in the webcomic we see it being used on a person. That person was then hauled away and melted down.
* ''[[Eureka]]'' features several people petrifying in the aptly titled episode "Stoned".
* ''[[Warehouse 13]]'' has a variation with a knife that turns people into glass.
** And, of course, there is the process known as Bronzing, which is said to be done to those that have the potential to do the most damage to the world. [[And I Must Scream|And they're conscious the whole time!]]
** There's also a hybrid of an artifact and a computer virus, which changes people's DNA into a silicon-based configuration, changing their body parts into diatomacious earth. Needless to say, this is incompatible with life.
* One villain in ''[[
** One of the Titans can turn people to stone. She turns Whitelighters to stone and shatters them to steal their teleporting powers. Paige is turned to stone, but is saved from the shattering and later returned to normal.
* ''[[
== [[Music]] ==
* The song [[Black Sabbath|"Iron Man"]] tells the story of a hero who was "turned to steel in the great magnetic field" while traveling to the past. However, this was only temporary, and he was revived several hundred years later to "kill the people he once saved" for revenge, because no one tried to help him when he was in his metal state.
* Owen Pallett's "Basilisk" is [[Conversational Troping]] on the subject. Though a cheerful and catchy song, it's rife with subtle [[Nightmare Fuel]].
{{quote|
From a life everlasting }}
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==
* [[Classical Mythology]]:
** This was the trademark of the Gorgon Medusa, cursed by the Greek gods such that whomever looked ''at her'' became turned to stone (Medusa'a own gaze was actually harmless). This goes back at least to Pherecydes and Pindar, Greek writers of the 5th century BCE.
** The Catoblepas was a bull-like creature whose gaze could petrify instantly. However, it was [[Cursed with Awesome|cursed further]] with [[Weaksauce Weakness|horns so heavy]], it was forced to look down upon the ground all its life.
** Inverted in the Classical myth of Pygmalion and Galatea. Pygmalion carves a statue based on Aphrodite and falls in love with it; Aphrodite sympathizes with him, and brings the statue to life so he can marry her.
** King Midas' Golden Touch turned his daughter (and in some versions, his wife as well) into a golden statue.
** Niobe, after [[Disproportionate Retribution|her children were killed]] by Apollo and Artemis, was turned into a weeping rock.
* The gaze of [[Basilitrice|the basilisk and the cockatrice]] can petrify a victim. Depending on accounts, the mythical cockatrice could also kill or transform victims into stone by touching, pecking, or breathing at people. And as if that wasn't enough, both monsters can also spread lethal poison.
* In [[The Bible]], Lot's wife is turned into a "[[Cool and Unusual Punishment|pillar of salt]]" after [[Curiosity Killed the Cast|looking back]] [[Above the Ruins|upon the destruction]] of Sodom and Gomorrah against God's instructions. Whether this line was meant metaphorically or literally is, like many things of the Bible, a matter of debate.
* Many stories claim that trolls could only come out after dark, as sunlight turned them to stone. Strange-looking rock formations were said to be trolls that missed this curfew.
* The Russian folk hero Ilya Muromets and his band of invincible ''bogatyrs'' (
== [[Puppet Shows]] ==
* In ''[[The Muppet Show]]'', guest star Tony Randall accidentally turns Miss Piggy to stone. Of course, the rest of the gang can't resist cracking jokes in her face about "being taken for granite" since she is in no position to retaliate. Unlike most examples, she can still hear and mumble incoherently in that state, making all the insults really hit home.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* Common in [[RPG
* In ''[[
* In the ''[[
** Mana storms will occasionally sweep an area, hitting it with various elemental and illusion spells. These include the Petrify spell, which a small town in the Australian Outback learned to their misfortune.
** Additionally, a Seattle nightclub known as the Alabaster Maiden has a statue out front which is supposedly the body of a mage whose spell backfired on her.
** Some Awakened creatures have the power Petrifying Gaze, which acts like the Petrify spell.
* ''[[
** As well as your standard medusas, cockatrices and basilisks, the gorgon (a bull-like creature with metal scales for skin) could petrify creatures with its breath.
** There are spells that can turn people to statues of stone, ice, salt or glass.
** In addition, beholders, (spherical [[What Measure Is a Non-Cute?|aberrations]] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|with lots of eyes]]), have a Petrify ray. Aside of being a weapon, it's commonly used for food storage and sculpting (often combined with charm before and [[Disintegrator Ray|disintegration]] after). One beholder in a sourcebook [[Mad Artist|begins sculpting his victims so their faces looked more like him]].
** In the ''[[
** A magic item called Eyes of Petrifaction could turn anyone who put them on to stone. However, 25% of them instead acted like the eyes of a basilisk or medusa and petrified anyone who met the wearer's gaze.
** Used in a number of adventures and supplements:
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*** Another B-series module, "Palace of the Silver Princess", takes place in a cursed palace where the rightful inhabitants have all succumbed to this trope.
*** Going into Strahd's crypt in "I6: Ravenloft" without neutralizing or avoiding a magical trap can get you turned into a statue, not of granite (which is relatively easy to fix in D&D), but of several metals layered on top of one another.
** One of the archdevils, Dispater can even turn people to iron; he also has a power that instantly rusts metal, and likes to render his enemies [[Deader Than Dead]] by turning them into iron and then rusting them to pieces.
* In ''[[
* In the ''[[Champions]]'' adventure ''The Great Supervillain Contest'', one contestant was Brother Basilisk, who had the superpower of (temporarily) turning creatures to stone.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Warhammer
* ''[[Arkham Horror]]'' features the petrifying solution from ''the King in Yellow'', used as a powerful one-shot magic weapon, one that also negates the endless ability and removes the victim from play. Amusing given the source material.
* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'':
** The trope name is used as the basis for a pun in the [[Flavor Text]] of [https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=5648 Rock Lobster].
** Mechanically, creatures like basilisks and gorgons usually have deathtouch, which destroys creatures outright and is often flavored as petrification (see the card [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=146053 Mass Calcify] for a spell example).
** Cards like [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=3242 Basalt Golem], on the other hand, turns enemy creatures to stone; such creatures can still be used for blocking (at least, blocking creatures that aren't Basalt Golem). Similarly, [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=39900 Aurification] turns them into gold.
** Story-wise, there's also Lord Konda, the villain of the ''Kamigawa'' block. He became immortal when he captured the daughter of the ruler of the Kami, but was eventually defeated when he was turned to stone and shattered (it's implied that he's still alive, just...i n pieces).
* In the ''[[Magi Nation]]'' storyline, Tuku is a character who was petrified for a thousand years. In an interesting twist, he is aware of everything that he can see, and still feels things like itching and lack of sleep. A short story, from his petrified point of view, can be found [https://web.archive.org/web/20100701202427/http://dukenostalgia.com/mnd/story/glimpses3.html here].
* In the CCG-meets-Monopoly game ''[[Culdcept|Culdcept Saga]]'', there are several monster cards including a Medusa and a Cockatrice that can turn a monster they attack into a Statue. Depending on your strategy this can be either a good or bad thing. Statues do not recover HP during a Lap Bonus, but they do have a pretty good chunk of HP to start off with. Of course, if you give your Medusa an effect that lets it attack first while defending its territory, turning the opposing monster into a Statue means it can't attack the Medusa at all.
* Used several times as an ending in the [[Choose Your Own Adventure]] style "Give Yourself [[Goosebumps]]" gamebooks. In ''The Curse of the Creeping Coffin'' you are turned into a statue and ghosts 'tease you and pinch your stone nose' until the end of time. In ''Shop Till You Drop... Dead!'' two endings turn you into a mannequin and a cardboard cutout.
* Used in the ''[[Choose Your Own Adventure]]'' book about being sent back in time to the Ancient Greek Olympics. If you successfully win the Olympics, you will travel to the temple of Zeus and pray for your trip to Ancient Greece to never end. [[Jerkass Genie|Yeah...]]
* In one of the ''[[Grail Quest Solo Fantasy]]'' books you can encounter the legendary Medusa herself. Though she has a relatively low chance of actually hitting you, a successful hit means that she has managed to turn you stone and that's it. Game over, go to 14. She also has ''100'' Life Points, meaning she will have plenty of chances to hit you. On the bright side, if you do manage to defeat her you can walk away with a fortune in gold.
== [[Theater]] ==
* In ''Die Frau ohne Schatten'', the Emperor is condemned to turn to stone {{spoiler|and he's almost completely petrified in Act III until his wife the Empress frees him}}.
* In [[Lord Dunsany]]'s ''The Gods of the Mountain,'' {{spoiler|this is the ultimate fate of the seven beggars who impersonate the gods.}}
* In ''[[The Winter's
== [[Toys]] ==
* In ''[[Bionicle]]'' the Matoran in the realm of Kharzani would be turned to stone if they even so much as ''sat down'', and were forced to remain standing and working at all times.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* In the beginning of ''[[
** In ''[[King's Quest III to Heir Is Human]]'', the hero must defeat a Medusa-like creature that lives in the desert. {{spoiler|He takes his cue from Perseus, and shows the monster her own reflection (though in a hand mirror, and not a polished shield).}}
** Also, near the end of ''[[King's Quest V Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder]]'', {{spoiler|Cedric the Owl}} gets turned to stone by accident {{spoiler|via Mordack's weakened wand magic (don't worry, he gets better)}}. {{spoiler|Graham ends up like this too if he didn't save Cedric from the [[Harping
* In ''[[Tomb Raider]]'', Lara can be turned to gold by standing on the hand of a giant statue of King Midas. This also happens in the remake, ''Tomb Raider: Anniversary''; Lara is also encased in stone in a boss battle (which she can somehow break out of).
* Happens temporarily in ''[[Legend of Mana]]'' during one of the three main plots. Here, "temporarily" means about 5 seconds of cutscene.
** Also, one of the questlines has this happen to [[Casanova Wannabe]] Gilbert, who got "hard" on a [[Half-Human Hybrid|half-basilisk woman]]. When he pushed her too far, he got ''hard'', indeed.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' games, "Stone" is a recurring status effect treated it similarly to Death; since it never wears off through time, if all party members are petrified, the fight's over. Later games in the series have it so that if a petrified character is struck with a physical attack, they shatter and can't be revived until the battle's over. There's also the Doom-like Gradual Petrify, where the character becomes more and more stony as turns pass.
** {{spoiler|Palom and Porom}} do it to themselves in ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' to stop a deathtrap.
** {{spoiler|Red XIII's father}} from ''[[
** Early on in ''[[
** The Fayth in ''[[
*** Given in battles where you're fighting specific Fayth you can't call them in yourself... this troper thinks it's pretty much as good as said that the Fayth are the summons themselves.
** {{spoiler|Llednar Twem}} in ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics Advance]]''. What's worse? {{spoiler|He [[Literally Shattered Lives|crumbled]]}} shortly after that.
** In ''[[
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' franchise:
** This
**
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages]]'' has the boss of the 8th dungeon in ''Seasons'', the aptly named "Medusa Head", has [[Eye Beams]] that turn Link into stone if they hit you. In ''Ages'', when Veran starts fucking around with the past, some people disappear and some turn to stone, including a little kid whose grandmother spends most of the game crying over it.
* Elaine in ''[[The Curse of Monkey Island]]'' was turned into a gold statue by a cursed ring. And Guybrush set off to cure her while leaving the statue in the beach of an island inhabited by pirates. Obviously, it was promptly stolen and he had to go and search for them afterwards.
* The PC in ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]: Shadows of Undrentide'' goes through this, for a blessedly short time. You do get to see the effects of the other people/creatures who stood in the way of Medusa, and can restore them; unfortunately, all but one (a sphinx) will attack you the instant they are freed.
** Poked fun at in the sequel: you can hear a tale about an elf whose stare can turn people into a stone. [[Baleful Polymorph|Not into stone, but '''a''' stone]].
* Philia of ''[[Tales of Destiny]]'' is first discovered by the heroes in a petrified state.
* In ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'', it shows up a status effect that immobilizes the affected characters until cured, and results in a game over if everyone is affected by it.
* In ''[[Tales of Graces]]'', the effect is temporary and curable by taking damage, but the hit that frees you from it will deal a ''lot'' more damage.
* ''[[Super Mario (franchise)|Super Mario]]'' franchise:
**
**
* ''[[Nethack]]'':
** The [[Basilitrice|cockatrice]] can turn you to stone, either instantaneously through bare skin contact, or gradually through a series of attacks: after a bite attack, the cockatrice will attempt a touch attack; if it lands, there is a 1 in 3 chance that the cockatrice will hiss at you. Following this, there is a 10% chance that you will begin slowing down and turning to stone, losing any intrinsic speed you have in the process. {{spoiler|(On a new moon, this becomes 100% unless you are carrying a lizard corpse.)}} This delayed action petrification can only be cured by {{spoiler|eating a lizard or drinking something acidic}}.
***
*** With the right equipment, you can obtain a pet cockatrice that can petrify most non-acidic enemies (that aren't [[golem]]s, anyway) - be mindful you don't deprive yourself of corpses to eat, though! You can also even turn yourself into one, lay a few dozen eggs, and throw them at your enemies for instant petrification.
** ''Nethack'' also contains [[Medusa]] as a unique monster with her typical petrifying gaze attack.
* This happens at the end of the climactic fight between Martin Septim and Mehrunes Dagon in ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]]''.
* From ''[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'' on, characters are animated from trophies instead of dolls.
* In a pretty solid mimicry of the Dragon Tails example at the top, ''Mage Knight: Apocalypse'' allows Sarus, a biped dragon, to turn himself to crystal, making himself completely immobile for 10 seconds. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqR35rsmddk See it here].
* ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]]'':
** In [[God of War (PS2|the first ''God of War'']], Medusa can petrify Kratos, making him vulnerable and easily shattered. After defeating her, he can use her severed head to petrify non-Gorgon enemies, who can be shattered if struck quickly enough. Airborne creatures turned to stone shatter instantly upon hitting the ground - including Kratos.
** In ''[[God of War II]]'', Kratos does the same with Medusa's sister Euryale; her severed head is more powerful, and can even petrify other Gorgons. You can also reflect a Gorgon Flash to turn surrounding enemies to stone.
** In ''[[God of War III]]'', rather than a dedicated item, Kratos can perform a [[Quick Time Event]] kill on a Gorgon or Gorgon Serpent to freeze every nearby enemy. Upgrading Hades's Claws to level three also grants access to the Gorgon Serpent spirit, which has the same effect.
** In ''[[God of War: Ascension]]'', the third Gorgon sister Stheno is encased in stone within the Bog of the Forgotten in multiplayer; she can still unleashing her petrifying gaze onto those unlucky enough to stand too close. Obtaining a golden shield (the same one that Perseus had in ''God of War II'') and reflecting her gaze back will shatter the stone and free her, also petrifying enemy players nearby. The player who freed her gains the ability to use her magic to petrify and kill enemies within a certain radius.
* In Part IV of ''[[Fire Emblem Tellius|Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn]]'', the order goddess Ashera lets out bursts of energy which were intended to have this effect on the warring humans and laguz. Everybody who is not indoors, sufficiently strong, Branded, or fighting for Ashera is Taken for Granite, Part IV accordingly concerns itself with stopping her before she can do it again and reversing the effect.
** In ''[[Fire Emblem Jugdral|Fire Emblem: Thracia 776]]'', {{spoiler|this is stated to be the final fate of the ''Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War'' first generation playable characters who survived or escaped the Barhara massacre.}}
* ''[[Total Annihilation Kingdoms]]'' features the Basilisk and the Acolyte's Turn To Stone spell, which does [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]. The expansion pack introduced the Creonite freeze weapons, which have a similar visual effect but are supposedly turning the target into frozen ice statues.
* Happens for about five seconds in ''[[Jade Empire]]''.
* Seen in Sailor Venus's subplot of ''[[Sailor Moon: Another Story]]''.
* ''[[
* The Nashkel Carnaval in
* ''[[Castlevania III]]'': Sypha Belnades is first discovered as a petrified statue, as an effect of the Cyclops' [[Evil Eye]]. Strangely, you (Trevor) are never in danger of any petrifying [[Evil Eye]].
** Medusa makes an appearance in ''Lament of Innocence,'' along with a shot of the many soldiers who've tried to kill her that she's turned to stone. Leon can only be petrified as a status ailment, though.
** Many of the Post-SotN games add Gold [[Goddamned Bats|Medusa Heads]], which can petrify you on contact.
*** See also the Cockatrice card in ''[[Circle of the Moon]]'', which can add a petrification effect to your weapons or abilities.
* In ''[[Fate/stay
* ''[[Kirby]]''
* Malcolm, the evil jester in the original ''[[Legend of Kyrandia]]'' game absolutely loved doing this to whoever crossed him, including Brandon at the end if the player wasn't careful.
** In particular, Kallak, the royal wizard, was turned to stone at the beginning of the game, but his eyes were left alive so that he could watch his homeland being destroyed. {{spoiler|At the end of the game Malcolm himself is petrified, only to be revived and become the protagonist in the third installment.}}
* If you have a [[Relationship Values|good relationship]] with [[The Gunslinger|Magoichi]] in the second ''[[Onimusha]]'', there will be a bit where the [[PC]] is turned to stone and you'll play as Magoichi while searching for a cure, and to help various peasants who've also been petrified. It's an [[Surprisingly Easy Mini Quest|easy sidequest]].
* ''[[
* ''[[King of Fighters]]'' villain Rugal Bernstein had a hobby of taking fighters he killed in combat and turning them into statues... by dipping their corpses in liquid bronze. And that's just the start of what this [[Complete Monster]] likes to get up to.
** Also in ''The King of Fighters 2003'', the final boss Mukai has the ability to petrify you for a few seconds either by grabbing you, or through a full screen petrifying flash attack.
* Azelf from the ''[[
* In ''[[
** Near the end of the [[Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
* The Romans in ''Spartan: Total Warrior'' have a superweapon that uses a Medusa to fire a paralzying beam. After you beat the boss you can use the Medusa Shield, based on Athena's Aegis shield from Greek mythology after Perseus slew Medusa, to petrify groups of enemies.
* In ''[[Dragon Quest VIII]]'', a curse covers an entire kingdom with thorny vines and turns all the people and a cat into statue-like plants (except the King, the Princess and one soldier- all of whom have their own curses.)
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* In ''[[Ogre Battle]]'', the way to recruit Saradin is to cure his petrification. The problem is, there's a statue of him in every town in the region, and only one has Saradin trapped inside of it.
** Fortunately, the [[Applied Phlebotinum|sacred bell]] used to fix him will only be used up when you actually use it on the right statue.
* In ''[[
* This is essentially the entire motivation behind the original ''[[Star Ocean 1|Star Ocean]]''.
** Shows up in the other Star Ocean games as one of two status effects that get you an instant game over if everyone is afflicted by it.
* In Dimitri's ending in ''[[
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
* On the backstory of ''[[Guild Wars|Guild Wars Factions]]'', when the [[Big Bad]] Shiro was defeated the first time his death released an explosive wave which turned both an inland sea into solid jade and the entire Echovald forest into stone, along with any living creature unfortunate enough to be caught in it, this event was called "The Jade Wind" in the game.
* '''Sunlight''' does this to every normal human in ''[[Digital Devil Saga]] 2''. This means that only a fraction of the Earth's population isn't petrified; the statues we do see are all very crumbled, so it is safe to assume that everyone turned to stone is also dead as a doornail. [[Nightmare Fuel|Yikes.]]
** From the same game, the Stone ailment is very much like the [[Final Fantasy]] type - with the added caveat of every physical attack which hits a Petrified character instantly counting as a Critical hit, furthering the damage and possibly giving more turns to the attacker, depending on the game's mechanics. Hit 'em enough and... [[Literally Shattered Lives|well, there's no need to explain that, is there...]] Plus, if a petrified caracter is hit by a Force, Earth, Gun or Physical-type attack, there's always a high chance of it instantly killing the character. [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|You'd be surprised by how many of the demons can do this]]. On the other hand, at least it reduces or nullifies most other forms of damage, barring the non-elemental Almighty.
* ''[[Adventures of Lolo]]'' has Medusa and its cousin, Don Medusa. Both are capable of petrifying Lolo (and/or Lala in ''Lolo 3''), and will zap on sight, even if Lolo/Lala isn't looking their way. Don Medusa is the more dangerous of the two, because it can move back and forth.
* One area in ''[[Jade Empire]]'' features a guardian fox-spirit attacking the locals by petrifying them and smashing the statues {{spoiler|because said locals are trying to free an [[Sealed Evil in
** The [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|Master Li}} also uses this tactic towards the PC to break his resolve and see the futility of his battle resulting into a [[Battle in
* In ''[[
* The final boss of ''[[Monster World IV]]'' has an undodgeable attack that temporarily petrifies you. {{spoiler|Your pet Pepelagoo then [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrifices himself]] to block the boss's petrifying gaze.}}
* The Hippogriff boss in ''[
* This seems to be part of the reason the Patapon empire falls again in the soon to come [[Patapon]] 3 (as one of the side effects of opening the Pandora Box.)
* ''[[Neopets]]'' love doing this to their faeries.
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* In ''[[Dragon Age II]]'', {{spoiler|this is the final fate of Meredith}}.
* In ''The Magic Candle II'', one level of the [[Big Bad]]'s fortress is decorated with members of a nomadic tribe who had this done to them.
* As expected, given the source material, the ''[[
* [[Bad Powers, Good People|Emil]] of ''[[
* The introductory Dwarf adventure in ''[[
** In addition, quests in Monster Play often involve you looting pieces of stone from trolls petrified this way (called "Sun-Touched Trolls").
* Archibald Ironfist, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]] II: The Succession Wars'' is sentenced to this in the canonical ending, "for some future generation to take mercy upon". The main characters of ''[[Might and Magic]] VI: The Mandate of Heaven'' frees him from that state a decade or so after the Succession War, but for very good reasons (they need to learn something from him to keep the world from blowing up when they save it). The main characters of the RPGs can also be turned to stone as a status effect, but that is more easily reversible,<ref>Given that a stone-to-flesh spell is limited by how long someone has been stone, Archibald likely had been stone for too long for even a stone-to-flesh scroll to work</ref>
* In ''[[Desktop Dungeons]]'', the Gorgon have a Death Gaze ability, which causes instant petrification when a player's health is less than half (or, for the boss form, [[Medusa]], anything less than full).
* Getting Cursed in ''[[Dark Souls]]'' will cause this for you.
* [[Mr. Exposition|Franklin]] in ''[[Drawn (
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'':
** In the the Deepholm area, there is a group of [[Basilitrice|basilisks]] that petrify their enemies. Their work is scattered around them. It's worth noting that their targets were already made of stone, but now they're made of stone and can't move.
** In Val'sharah, there is a group of harpies that can curse victims and turn them to stone, keeping them as macabre trophies. It's possible to restore them, something you have to do for one quest. Their leader, Seersei, can do this to the player if her Stoneblood Embrace attack hits enough times, although she also claims, [[Bad News in a Good Way|"Pah! You're too ugly for my collection. Better to kill you!"]]
* Happens to both {{spoiler|[[Crossover|Asura and]] [[Street Fighter|Akuma]]}} in ''[[Asura's Wrath]]''. Not that it stops them from still trying to fight.
* At the beginning of ''[[Dishonored|Dishonored 2]]'', when Corvo (the protagonist of the first game) and Emily (his daughter) first confronts [[Big Bad|Deliah]], she does this to one of them - [[Sadistic Choice|the player has to choose]], a very important decision, as the one who escapes is the player's avatar for most of the game, with the goal of saving the other.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* A running gag in ''[[The Wotch]]'' has Scott Winters and [[Prophetic Name|Rosetta]] frequently turned into stone statues. They remain conscious while they're statues, but eventually get used to it. Likewise Natasha Dahlet (pronounced "dolly"), leader of the [[Straw Feminist]] group D.O.L.L.Y. - guess what ''she'' gets turned into when Miranda catches up with her. (Note: the creators of ''The Wotch'' have close ties with the ASFR community, although ''The Wotch'' has no sexual content.)
** Cassie is also turned into a life-sized wooden puppet at one point and remains this way for some time before anyone remembers to turn her back.
* Lampshaded in [https://web.archive.org/web/20100907074252/http://www.triquetracats.com/?date=2008-03-10 this] page of ''[[Triquetra Cats]]'', Petra gets turned into a statue, but because she's an earth mage she can still move.
* Happened to Black Belt from ''
* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'':
** In [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0053.html her first appearance], Celia was the victim of a Flesh to Stone spell. She was [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0070.html later restored] by a scroll of Break Enchantment.
** Part of O-Chul's torture regimen as Xykon's captive involved a "Basilisk staring contest". Jirix notes he technically won, due to being petrified and technically unable to blink.
** There's also [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0591.html a greater devil] turned to stone by Vaarsuvius with a Prismatic Spray. He certainly makes a kickass tombstone.
** The ''Snips, Snails, and Dragon Tails'' book has a bonus comic involving a medusa who's unable to practice her hobby (sculpture) because everyone keeps taking it for this. {{spoiler|She ends up getting a job at [[Cryogenic Sleep|Applied Lithogenics Inc]].}}
** Watch out for Medusa [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0087.html while visiting the women's restroom].
* ''[http://www.kdingo.net/champ/pics/main.php?g2_itemId=2344&g2_highlightId=2345 Idle Minds]'' is a comic about a woman turned into a (fully aware) statue for a week for spying purposes and must keep herself sane. [[Better Than It Sounds]].
* In ''[[The KAMics]]'', Nikki was on the wrong end of a [https://web.archive.org/web/20121019103434/http://www.drunkduck.com/The_KAMics/4820482/ Petrifacto spell] (it was later reversed).
* ''[[The Dragon Doctors]]'' uses it a lot, both offensively and defensively:
** In the "last victim" arc, a [[Complete Monster]]
** Earlier, the whole team<ref>minus Kili, who was busy elsewhere</ref> is petrified when accidentally looking at a gorgon. Sarin, the [[Catch Phrase|total magical badass]], immediately de-petrifies herself and solves the problem.
** In the "Thieves of life" arc, the bad guys use petrification for "crowd control"
** Early in the comic, it's shown that Sarin tends to stoneskin herself when under attack, allowing her to shrug off daggers while keeping a freedom of movement.
** Also used in
** And of course, there's an inversion with the crystal people
* Used rather horrifically in [http://www.oglaf.com/porkchisel/ this] ''[[Oglaf]]'' comic. ([[NSFW]])
* One ''[[Johnny Wander]]'' [http://www.johnnywander.com/comics/123 story] involves a [[Kid
* ''[[Hitmen for Destiny]]'' has a [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/thorsby/destiny/series.php?view=archive&chapter=27061 trantoros] which can turn themselves into rocks for extended periods of time, but can't move during that period. A few strips later, they're used as projectiles and as a perpetual motion machine.
* One wizard in ''[[
* Happens to the Jones family in ''[[
* Happens to a customer in ''[[Mike: Bookseller]]'' [http://www.krrobar.com/mikebookseller/comics/297.html here] when Mike smiles.
* Tepoztecal's first appearance in ''[[Wapsi Square]]'' had one of these being reversed. He had been turned into a statue using unexplained methods for unexplained reasons, and Monica accidentally released him by reading an incantation. Fortunately, he did not seem to be conscious throughout.
** In another strip, Monica startles a gorgon, and immediately gets turned into stone by her. Luckily, the gorgon is friendly (and also happens to be a [[Fan Boy|big fan of Monica]]), and reverses the process.
* In the ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' parody of ''[[Harry Potter]]'' "Torg Potter and the Chamberpot of Secretions", characters start turning mysteriously into chocolate. It's suspected to be the work of
** Note that turning into chocolate is considered death here, not a magical condition that can be cured, but Torg manages to turn everyone back with a wish of his own after he gets past the first wish by wishing that Torg Potter be turned into chocolate. The villain controlling the genie takes to be reverse psychology and commands the genie to obey exactly... which doesn't bother Torg since contrary to what almost everyone thinks, [[Exact Words|he's not Torg Potter]].
* Ashley Madder in ''[[Tales Of Gnosis College]]'' steals a mysterious chemical from Professor Corwin's laboratory and assumes that it is "perfume". {{spoiler|Later, at a session as a model for a student artist, she expresses the wish that people might be able to see her beauty forever. Uh oh.}}
* In ''[[American Barbarian]]'', [http://www.ambarb.com/?p=348 the god turns to stone -- and then to ash].
* ''[[Modest Medusa]]
== [[Web Original]] ==
* Variants appear in the ''[[Whateley Universe]]''. The mutant Gorgon is a psi with the knack of making you think you have been petrified, which of course petrifies you. The mutant Michelangelo (also known as Stoner) does something nastier. He literally causes nearby stone to flow over your body in a thin coating, turning you into a living (but not for long) statue.
* A gorgon is found among the students of Harlowe Hall in ''[[Tales of MU]]''. Though normally a background character, she got [http://www.talesofmu.com/story/book0x/balancing-scales a spotlight story] where she described her culture. She has the traditional [[Evil Eye|Medusa gaze]], which is normally restrained by a shimmery membrane over her eyes. The effect wears off, though one seeing her own uncovered eyes in a mirror could lead to an endless cycle of petrifying and thawing - racial [[Nightmare Fuel]].
* Basilisx of ''[[Super Mario Bros Z.]]'' can do this with a simple stare.
* In ''[[Arcana Magi Zero]]'', everyone and every object, including the museum walls, are turned to stone by a shadow-shaped basilisk. Alysia Perez [[And I Must Scream|experiences the pain]] first hand.
* ''[[SCP Foundation]]'':
** [http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-409 SCP-409] is a quartz crystal that crystallizes anything organic it makes contact with, without fail - said object will inevitably burst into thousands of fragments, which all have the same effect. Inorganic material only crystalizes a few centimeters around the point of contact - ironically, granite is completely immune.
** There's also [http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-
** [http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1013 SCP-1013] is a classic cockatrice in all but name. It calcifies the outer layer of your body, then happily pecks a hole in you and eats what's inside.
* Medusa, from the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' is the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of the gorgon myth, and shares all the powers of her mythical namesake, including the ability to turn people who meet her eyes to stone.
** Gorgon can turn people's skin into a layer of stone that is just thick enough to keep them from moving. The effect wears off after a while. Anyone who is strong enough can break through this thin stone shell... if they don't mind [[Squick|being flayed alive]] when their petrified skin shatters.
** The appropriately-named villain Stone can transform himself into a living statue, giving himself [[Super Strength]] and [[Nigh Invulnerability]]. The Brazilian hero Estatua ("The Statue") has the same power. Granite Man and Golem are both like that permanently. Surkha Khamba ("Ruby Monolith") can turn herself into solid ruby.
* The ''[[Neopets]]'' arc "The Faeries' Ruin" has this happen to all the Faeries, as well as {{spoiler|Hanso and Xandra}}.
* The [[Damsel in Distress|Lost Lady]] in the fourth year of ''[[The Questport Chronicles]]'' was turned to stone by [[Love Makes You Evil|a wizard that she scorned]].
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Mystique is turned to stone by Apocalypse in ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]''. In this case, it's eventually revealed that Apocalypse turned Mystique's shape-shifting abilities against her, and if Rogue absorbed her powers for just a moment, Mystique could break free.
**
***
* Several episodes of ''[[
* Happens to Jackie on ''[[
* Used several times in ''[[
* A favorite [[You Have Failed Me...|punishment]] of [[Big Bad|Zordrak]] from ''[[The Dreamstone]]'' is to turn the offender to stone and throw him into a pit where he gets broken down into gravel by ravenous monsters.
* Similar to Shadow Master from the ''[[Double Dragon]]'' cartoon trapping failing [[Mooks]] in his mural.
* Happens to Monkey Fist in ''[[Kim Possible]]''. It's uncertain if it's permanent or not, but he's still turned to stone in his brief cameo in the final episode.
* The ''[[Iron Man (
* The garden-full-of-statues variety cropped up in ''The Challenge of the [[
* ''[[Teen Titans (
** Also, at the end of the season 2 arc, Terra turns to stone while using her powers to extreme effect to stop the volcano from forming under the city.
* One of the central goals of ''[[Conan the Adventurer (
* One of XANA's attacks in ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' is to turn everybody in school into stone with a greenish gas (episode "Triple Trouble").
* This becomes the fate of Omnifarious from ''[[Static Shock]]''.
* As per mythology, the Gorgons can do this in their appearance in ''[[American Dragon
* ''[[Freakazoid
* The animated ''[[Men in Black (
** Lampshaded by Agent J at the end of the episode.
* The fate of ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003
* The effect of King Basilisk's special ability in ''[[Huntik]]: Secrets and Seekers''.
* The [[Exactly What It Says
* In ''[[Spider
* ''[[
* An episode of ''[[Goldie Gold and Action Jack]]'' featured a villain who used chemicals to turn people into stone. He managed to get Jack's hand.
* On ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]'', the Moon Men Gidney and Floid were armed with "skrooch guns" that could paralyze people for a set amount of time, ranging from a few seconds to decades.
* Subverted on ''[[The Herculoids]]'', when a medusa tried to use her power on Igoo, but accomplished nothing because Igoo is ''already'' made of stone.
* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]]'':
** In one episode, a cockatrice turned Twilight Sparkle and a chicken to stone, and was in the process of turning [[Shrinking Violet|Fluttershy]] to stone, when [[Beware the Nice Ones|she]] [[Death Glare|stares]] [[Beyond the Impossible|the monster down]], [[Talking the Monster to Death|while sternly lecturing it on its rude behavior.]] This is also a good example of the ambiguity between complete petrification and encasement - Twilight and the chicken are obviously completely solid stone, but Fluttershy only has a layer of stone around her, from which she breaks out.
** [[Sealed Evil in a Can|Discord was imprisoned in a statue]] by Celestia and Luna for being a evil tyrant that ruled Equestria in everlasting chaos and suffering. [[And I Must Scream|He found it quite lonely being encased in stone]] (bonus points for said imprisonment [[Fridge Horror|having lasted well over one thousand years at the very least]]), but then again they wouldn't know that, would they? [[Even Evil Has Standards|Because ''he'' doesn't turn ponies into stone.]]
* ''[[The Smurfs]]''
** In an early episode, Gargamel turns himself into a Baby Smurf to infiltrate the village. (This would be long before the real Baby Smurf appeared.) While there, he uses Papa Smurf's "cactus petrificus" plant to make a potion to use on the Smurfs that petrifies them, although he eventually realizes it's too slow and decides to try something else.
** In one episode, the Smurfs were a victim to a spell that petrified them and half their forest, and would have stayed that way had Peewit not been able to convince two feuding sorcerers to stop fighting with each other and recite the incantation together that reverses the condition
** Gargamel himself was a victim of a potion he devised (possibly the same one as before) that turned him and his cat Azrael into stone. Papa Smurf [[Save the Villain|restored him to normal]].
** One episode had an evil wizard turn [[The Archmage| Homnibus]] into ice; Papa Smurf used a spell that surrounded his house in chilling wind so he wouldn't melt while they tried to find the cure. Unfortunately, they left Greedy to watch him, who carelessly started cooking - with a fire. They barely got back in time.
** Another episode had a weird variation. Smurfette becomes so addicted to Greedy's annual smurfberry candy, that after eating her whole allowance, she uses one of Papa Smurf's spell books to give herself a "smurfy touch" and turn anything into more candy. Naturally, it leads to an accident with Brainy. Worse, Smurfette panics, and while she runs to find help the other smurfs find him and think he's just a sculpture made by Greedy. She fortunately get back in time before they try to eat him.
* In the [[Grand Finale|series finale]] of ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'', the Golden Goose has the ability to turn anything it touches to gold...then it's revealed that it also works on people. The episode revolves around trying to reverse the effects of the touch affecting everything on earth... {{spoiler|They manage it, but not before everyone on earth is briefly turned to gold}}.
* An episode of ''[[Beetlejuice (animation)|Beetlejuice]]'' has Delia, Lydia's mom, enter a Neitherworld art contest where it turns out if they win they must agree to become a part of the art museum by being turned to stone. Eventually, Lydia and Beetlejuice are able to rescue her and turn her back to normal.
* The ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' short "Porky's Hero Agency" involved Porky dreaming he is in Greek myths and has to save people from a Gorgon (presumably Medusa) who turns people to stone with a special camera.
* Happens to Roderick in ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' in the episode "The Acme Bowl" after running through and smelling a cloud of Fifi's stink, and to Hamton when he gets hit by a blast of Fifi's stink in "The Just-us League Of Supertoons".
** Also happens to Hamton in "Pluck O' the Irish" when a banshee turns him to stone with her hypnotic stare, the only way to break the spell is to get the banshee to laugh.
* In the [[Betty Boop]]'s "Snow White", the wicked queen/witch thwarts Bimbo and Koko by turning them into statues (they get better) - just another turn in a massively surreal cartoon.
* In ''[[Princess Gwenevere and
== [[Real Life]] ==
* [
** It also comes in a non-progressive variety.
* Similarly, [
* There is a condition called [
* Fossilization, the only reason we're able to know about the dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures.
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Just for Pun]]
[[Category:The Ground Beneath Our Feet]]
[[Category:Stock Super Powers]]
[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]
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