War Elephants: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

These creatures can be used by the [[Evil Army]] of inflicting massive damage. If not then they might be used by foreign allies, and usually used to indicate the army's exotic-ness. May also be accompanied by other safari animals like rhinos or leopards.

 

{{examples}}

* In the various iterations of ''[[Digimon]]'', Mammothmon are usually used in this fashion. The final battle of ''[[Digimon Xros Wars]]'', which featured hundreds of the things serving under DarknessBagramon, stands out in this regard.

* In ''[[Berserk]]'', the [[Sim Sim Salabim|Kushan Empire]] utilizes war elephants during its invasion of Midland. And some of the elephants are used as familiars, which ends up giving them a more anthropomorphic appearance, which allows them to wear armor and use weapons.

 

== Film ==

* Subverted in ''Operation Dumbo Drop'', in which the U.S. Army goes to great lengths to transport an elephant, but as a gift of a work animal to a Southeast Asian village, not a battle-beast.

 

== Literature ==

* In ''[[The Black Company]]'' war elephants are used during during the Battle at Charm and Dejagore, and it is mentioned that they come from the Jewel Cities.

** In addition, the finest and most disciplined sellsword army in the series, the Golden Company, has a unit of elephants, though {{spoiler|in the voyage to Westeros to support the claim of the apparently-still-alive Aegon Targaryen, the ship carrying them is lost or late making landfall.}}

* [[Rudyard Kipling]] once wrote a short story giving the camp-animals archetypical army personalities. The cavalry horse was a gung-ho, the mountain-gun mules were [[Old Soldier]] s, and the siege-gun elephant was a [[Dirty Coward]].

* In [[Belisarius Series]] elephants are often mentioned as transport animals.

 

* The Mastodon Dinozord from ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]''. Huge, tough, and snorts a freezing mist.

** The Mammothzord, resident Carrier Zord of ''[[Power Rangers Ninja Storm]]'', is even more enormous.

 

 

* In ''[[The King and I]]'', the King planned to send War-Elephants to help [[Abraham Lincoln]].

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* The ''[[Civilization]]'' series has had war elephant units since ''II'', where they were [[Fridge Logic|inexplicably available as a result of discovering Polytheism.]] In ''Civ III'' they were the Indians' special unit, replacing Knights but requiring no special resources. In ''Civ IV'' all factions could build them so long as they had a source of ivory, and though slower than horse units they had a combat bonus against them; the Khmer from the ''Beyond the Sword'' expansion had Ballista Elephants as a unique unit, which would specifically target enemy cavalry when attacking a stack. In ''Civ V'' India and Siam get elephants as special units, replacing Chariot Archers and Knights respectively.

* ''[[Age of Wonders]]'' 1 and 2, have War Elephant units. Frostlings got [http://aow2.heavengames.com/gameinfo/units/frostlings.shtml#mammoth_rider Mammoth Rider] in 2.

* They also appear in ''[[Total War|Rome: Total War]]'', with the more advanced types carrying archers on their backs. Only Carthage and the Seleucids can train them.

** In ''Medieval II'' elephants are [[Game Breaker|Gamebreakers]], hugely effective in combat and capable of charging through enemy lines, flattening everything in front of them. Their only downside is their tendency to go berserk and rampage at random, which is only a problem if you have friendly units nearby. The vanilla version has a howdah full of gunners, while cannon and even rocket elephants are also recruitable. They make the scripted Timurid Invasion all the more terrifying.

* ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'' - War elephants are generally used as mounts by the [[Noble Savage|Nanman]], and sometimes unlockable as a companion animal by the player character.

* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', the Draenei utilize elekks (elephant-like creatures brought over from their homeworld) as their racial mount. Mammoths are also available to players in the northern region. Neither of these are specifically used in combat very much, though.

* Gohma Crushers from ''[[Asura's Wrath]]''.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

** Alexander first encountered while fighting against the Persians, but never fought them. The Persians had used them to haul supplies, and deemed them too tired to be used in the attack. Without their [[Secret Weapon]], Alexander defeated them, and captured the elephants for his own. They proved useful to Alexander when they began invading Pakistan and India, as his men already knew about them.

** One of the last uses of elephants in Mediterranean warfare was against Julius Caesar. Caesar dedicated part of his army as an anti-elephant force, by disciplining them to scatter and quickly reform after the elephant's charge, and by equipping them with axes with the authority to swing away.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Military and Warfare Tropes]]

[[Category:Mammal Tropes]]

[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]