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* In ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeastTheEnchantedChristmas'', chip and Belle seem to face this when climbing the staircase up to the attic to consult with the other members of the household about putting together a Christmas party.
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* In ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeastTheEnchantedChristmas'', chip Chip and Belle seem to face this when climbing the staircase up to the attic to consult with the other members of the household about putting together a Christmas party.
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* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': The peak called Zirakzigil by the dwarfs had a stairway (appropriately enough, called the Endless Stair) that reached from the peak to the bottom of Moria, and was destroyed during Gandalf's battle with the Balrog.
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* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': The peak called Zirakzigil Zirak-zigil by the dwarfs dwarves had a stairway (appropriately enough, called the Endless Stair) that reached from the peak to the bottom of Moria, and was destroyed during Gandalf's battle with the Balrog.
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* In Literature/{{Discworld}} the Unseen University's Tower of Art is 800ft tall and along the inside edge of the building are some (very old and infirm) steps which spiral upwards and number 8,888. Several wizard traditions require senior wizards climb those steps, then spend five minutes being out of breath and wheezing. There may be something supposed to happen after this, but since most UU wizards are elderly and overweight, few ever get enough puff back to carry them out. They still climb the spiral steps though, because it is ''tradition''.
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* In Literature/{{Discworld}} the Unseen University's Tower of Art is 800ft 800 feet tall and along the inside edge of the building are some (very old and infirm) steps which spiral upwards and number 8,888. Several wizard traditions require senior wizards to climb those steps, then spend five minutes being out of breath and wheezing. There may be something supposed to happen after this, but since most UU wizards are elderly and overweight, few ever get enough puff back to carry them out. They still climb the spiral steps though, because it is ''tradition''.
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--> ...the endless stairs of the Screw took everything that remained: courage, strength, and endurance-endurance above all. Climbing. Climbing. Climbing. Clinging to seams as they picked their way over collapsed sections. Hurrying past the hundreds of gaping black portals. Bending back their faces to remind themselves of the sky they sought, to wonder at the way it waxed and grew.
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--> ...the endless stairs of the Screw took everything that remained: courage, strength, and endurance-endurance endurance--endurance above all. Climbing. Climbing. Climbing. Clinging to seams as they picked their way over collapsed sections. Hurrying past the hundreds of gaping black portals. Bending back their faces to remind themselves of the sky they sought, to wonder at the way it waxed and grew.
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* In ''ComicBook/{{Lucifer}}'', the angel Meleos keeps a copy of every written work humankind has ever produced. The archives are in an "underground tower more than a mile high," concealed beneath the Hamburg bookshop he manages. At the very bottom he keeps his own creation, a living [[TarotMotifs tarot deck]], which has become corrupt and extremely dangerous, such that when he tries to destroy the cards, they overpower him and escape. Too weak after the battle to manifest his wings, he must climb the staircase by foot.
to:
* In ''ComicBook/{{Lucifer}}'', the angel Meleos keeps a copy of every written work humankind has ever produced. The archives are in an "underground tower more than a mile high," concealed beneath the Hamburg bookshop he manages. At the very bottom he keeps his own creation, a living [[TarotMotifs tarot deck]], which has become corrupt and extremely dangerous, such that when he tries to destroy the cards, they overpower him and escape. Too weak after the battle to manifest his wings, he must climb the staircase by on foot.
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* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBoyAndTheWorld'', Cuca and his new friend walk up many of these in the city.
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* ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'': The peak called Zirakzigil by the dwarfs had a stairway (appropriately enough, called the Endless Stair) that reached from the peak to the bottom of Moria, and was destroyed during Gandalf's battle with the Balrog.
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* ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'': ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': The peak called Zirakzigil by the dwarfs had a stairway (appropriately enough, called the Endless Stair) that reached from the peak to the bottom of Moria, and was destroyed during Gandalf's battle with the Balrog.
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-->--'''WesternAnimation/BugsBunny''', ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes From Hare to Heir]]''
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* The Film/{{Ghostbusters}} have to climb 20 flights of stairs for the confrontation with Gozer, due to the elevators being out of service.
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* The Film/{{Ghostbusters}} Film/{{Ghostbusters|1984}} have to climb 20 flights of stairs for the confrontation with Gozer, due to the elevators being out of service.
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Could Have Avoided This Plot requires it be acknowledged in-universe.
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* In the season two finale of ''Series/TheMindyProject'', Mindy has to climb the stairway to the observatory on the Empire State Building because the elevators are broken. As soon as she starts climbing [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot the elevators start working again]].
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* In the season two finale of ''Series/TheMindyProject'', Mindy has to climb the stairway to the observatory on the Empire State Building because the elevators are broken. As soon as she starts climbing [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot the elevators start working again]].again.
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--> Sonny: Two thousand, eight hundred and eighty steps, Detective.
--> Detective Del Spooner: Do me a favor and keep that kind of shit to yourself.
--> Detective Del Spooner: Do me a favor and keep that kind of shit to yourself.
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--> Sonny: '''Sonny''': Two thousand, eight hundred and eighty steps, Detective.
-->Detective '''Detective Del Spooner: Spooner''': Do me a favor and keep that kind of shit to yourself.
-->
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* The Great Medial Screw in ''[[Literature/SecondApocalypse The Judging Eye]]'' goes up from the bottom of a huge mountain to its top and it takes the characters several days to climb it.
--> ...the endless stairs of the Screw took everything that remained: courage, strength, and endurance-endurance above all. Climbing. Climbing. Climbing. Clinging to seams as they picked their way over collapsed sections. Hurrying past the hundreds of gaping black portals. Bending back their faces to remind themselves of the sky they sought, to wonder at the way it waxed and grew.
--> ...the endless stairs of the Screw took everything that remained: courage, strength, and endurance-endurance above all. Climbing. Climbing. Climbing. Clinging to seams as they picked their way over collapsed sections. Hurrying past the hundreds of gaping black portals. Bending back their faces to remind themselves of the sky they sought, to wonder at the way it waxed and grew.
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* In ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeastTheEnchantedChristmas'', chip and Belle seem to face this when climbing the staircase up to the attic to consult with the other members of the household about putting together a Christmas party.
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* In Vasily Golovachev's ''Time of Troubles'' series, the Shaft (a tower-like EldritchLocation that connects various aeons and parallel worlds) has two means of moving from one time/world to another: the elevator and the stairs. During the early first book, the elevator does not work properly, it only offers one-way rides into the aeons of Multiverse's infancy. The only way out is climbing the stairs thousands of levels up.
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->''"Whew, the Alps ain't got nothing on these stairs."''
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->''"Whew, the Alps ain't got nothing on these stairs."''stairs for climbin'"''
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* ''Literature/RendezvousWithRama'': The interior of the eponymous gigantic cylindrical spaceship, 54 kilometres long, has three extremely long ladders spanning its length along its walls. And then there come stairways with "thousands upon thousands" of steps. Getting from the airlock down the ladders and stairs, to one end of the cylinder, takes the protagonists three chapters.
to:
* ''Literature/RendezvousWithRama'': The interior of the eponymous gigantic cylindrical spaceship, 54 kilometres long, has three extremely long ladders spanning leading down from its length along its walls.airlocks at the hub. And then there come stairways with "thousands upon thousands" of steps. Getting from the airlock down the ladders and stairs, to one end of the cylinder, takes the protagonists three chapters. Though it's highly likely it's all a triple-redundant emergency backup system, and the Ramans normally used some sort of smaller vessel or vehicle to travel around their ship's interior.
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* ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'': The peak called Zirakzigil by the dwarfs had a stairway (appropriately enough, called the Endless Stair) that reached from the peak to the bottom of the Moria, and was destroyed during Gandalf's battle with the Balrog.
to:
* ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'': The peak called Zirakzigil by the dwarfs had a stairway (appropriately enough, called the Endless Stair) that reached from the peak to the bottom of the Moria, and was destroyed during Gandalf's battle with the Balrog.Balrog.
** Somewhat less impressive, but still a challenging climb for mortals, are the Stairs of Cirith Ungol which Frodo and Sam climb to reach the mountain pass into Mordor.
** Somewhat less impressive, but still a challenging climb for mortals, are the Stairs of Cirith Ungol which Frodo and Sam climb to reach the mountain pass into Mordor.
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A StairwayToHeaven may be one of these. Can be sometimes found in an ItsAllUpstairsFromHere climax. Compare EndlessCorridor. also commonly paired with the punchline WeTookTheElevator
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A StairwayToHeaven may be one of these. Can be sometimes found in an ItsAllUpstairsFromHere climax. Compare EndlessCorridor. also commonly paired with the punchline WeTookTheElevator\n
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* In ''Film/TheMusicBox'', LaurelAndHardy deliver a piano up one of these. The staircase was also used in the comedy films ''Isn't Life Terrible?'' and ''Ice Cold Cocos''.
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* In ''Film/TheMusicBox'', LaurelAndHardy Creator/LaurelAndHardy deliver a piano up one of these. The staircase was also used in the comedy films ''Isn't Life Terrible?'' and ''Ice Cold Cocos''.
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-->--'''BugsBunny''', ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes From Hare to Heir]]''
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* During the raid on the Shinra HQ in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' the "subtle" approach is to climb up the skyscraper's stairs. 59 floors of them, in fact.
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* During the raid on the Shinra HQ in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'', you can either fight your way through the "subtle" approach is to guards, or climb your way up the skyscraper's 59 flights of stairs. 59 floors Barrett whines and complains the whole way up, while Tifa tells him to "[[MemeticMutation stop acting like a retard and climb]]!" At the end of them, in fact.the stairway, Barrett says [[ImNotDoingThatAgain he never wants to see any stairs again for the rest of his life]].
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->''"Whew, the Alps ain't got nothing on these stairs."''
-->--'''BugsBunny''', ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes From Hare to Heir]]''
-->--'''BugsBunny''', ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes From Hare to Heir]]''
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A StairwayToHeaven may be one of these. Can be sometimes found in an ItsAllUpstairsFromHere climax. Compare EndlessCorridor.
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A StairwayToHeaven may be one of these. Can be sometimes found in an ItsAllUpstairsFromHere climax. Compare EndlessCorridor.
EndlessCorridor. also commonly paired with the punchline WeTookTheElevator
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* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': In [[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS3E17TheMothers "The Mothers"]], when Darwin and Gumball are hanging off a parking garage, Nicole has to go from the bottom up to the 32nd floor to reach then, then go down to the 16th when they drop partway down, [[BiggerOnTheInside even though the garage clearly has only eight floor in exterior shots.]]
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* ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' had a looping staircase, with constantly climbing music, though it didn't lead anywhere at first. You can climb it forever if you don't have the key or powerup -- turn around and you only climbed 10 steps -- but have the item and the staircase is not very long.
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* ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' had has a looping staircase, staircase leading to the final stage, with constantly climbing music, though it didn't lead anywhere at first. accompanying music that keeps going up as you did. You can climb it forever if you don't have the key or powerup -- turn around and you only climbed 10 steps -- enough stars, but have the item and the staircase itself is not actually very long.big. (The game accomplishes this by loading another instance of the stairs once you've ascended enough steps; however, since the game only checks your ''forward'' motion, a series of backward long jumps can scale the "infinite" staircase without any problems.)
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* In ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewSchool'' episode "Yzmopolis", the Temple of the Sky God has one of these. Kuzko, lazy bum that he is, naturally complains about this, saying (paraphrased) "Why does it have to be the Temple of the Sky God? Why can't it be the Temple of the Down the Block Corner Store God?"
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* In ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewSchool'' episode "Yzmopolis", the Temple of the Sky God has one of these. Kuzko, Kuzco, lazy bum that he is, naturally complains about this, saying (paraphrased) "Why does it have to be the Temple of the Sky God? Why can't it be the Temple of the Down the Block Corner Store God?"this.
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* In ''ComicBook/{{Lucifer}}'', the angel Meleos keeps a copy of every written work humankind has ever produced. The archives are in an "underground tower more than a mile high," concealed beneath the Hamburg bookshop he manages. At the very bottom he keeps his own creation, a living [[TarotMotifs tarot deck], which has become corrupt and extremely dangerous, such that when he tries to destroy the cards, they overpower him and escape. Too weak after the battle to manifest his wings, he must climb the staircase by foot.
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* In ''ComicBook/{{Lucifer}}'', the angel Meleos keeps a copy of every written work humankind has ever produced. The archives are in an "underground tower more than a mile high," concealed beneath the Hamburg bookshop he manages. At the very bottom he keeps his own creation, a living [[TarotMotifs tarot deck], deck]], which has become corrupt and extremely dangerous, such that when he tries to destroy the cards, they overpower him and escape. Too weak after the battle to manifest his wings, he must climb the staircase by foot.
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to:
* In ''ComicBook/{{Lucifer}}'', the angel Meleos keeps a copy of every written work humankind has ever produced. The archives are in an "underground tower more than a mile high," concealed beneath the Hamburg bookshop he manages. At the very bottom he keeps his own creation, a living [[TarotMotifs tarot deck], which has become corrupt and extremely dangerous, such that when he tries to destroy the cards, they overpower him and escape. Too weak after the battle to manifest his wings, he must climb the staircase by foot.
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These stairways can be found in man-made structures (such as very tall towers with no lifts) or more supernatural locations. They can have a major symbolic meaning, about ascension or spiritual uplifting or the like. They can find application both in serious works and in comedy. In the latter case, expect some unlucky ButtMonkey to trip and tumble all the way down.
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These stairways can be found in man-made structures (such as very tall towers with no lifts) or more supernatural locations. They can have a major symbolic meaning, about ascension or spiritual uplifting or the like. They can find application both in serious works and in comedy. In the latter case, expect some unlucky ButtMonkey to [[StaircaseTumble trip and tumble all the way down.
down]].
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* In ''Literature/TheHeroAndTheCrown'', the protagonist goes to confront an evil mage in his extraordinarily tall MageTower. Climbing all the stairs requires a large dose of HeroicWillpower, and she's left feeling like she's been climbing unceasingly for ''years''.
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moved incomplete example to discussion page
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* A short story (the title forgotten) where a woman finds herself being chased by a street gang. She ducks into an abandoned building and starts climbing the stairs to get away from them. She keeps climbing and climbing, but it seems like the stairs never end. At one point, she hears one of the gang members have a nasty fall. (At the end, we find out he died on the way to the hospital.) Once she's certain she's safe, the woman goes back down and goes home. When she returns to the building with a friend, she's surprised to see the stairs only go up to the second floor. Something strange (implied to be supernatural) happened.
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** In the sequel, Po and the Furious Five are taken to Lord Shen's throne room at the top of a tall tower. Po has to be carried by one of Shen's guards for half of the way.
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* ''Series/DoctorWho'', [[Recap/DoctorWho2012CSTheSnowmen "The Snowmen"]]: The Doctor parks the TARDIS in the clouds and uses a spiral staircase to get up to it. The staircase is taller on the inside.
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* ''Series/DoctorWho'', [[Recap/DoctorWho2012CSTheSnowmen "The Snowmen"]]: The Doctor parks the TARDIS in the clouds and uses a spiral staircase to get up to it. The staircase is [[BiggerOnTheInside taller on the inside.
inside]].
* In the season two finale of ''Series/TheMindyProject'', Mindy has to climb the stairway to the observatory on the Empire State Building because the elevators are broken. As soon as she starts climbing [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot the elevators start working again]].
* In the season two finale of ''Series/TheMindyProject'', Mindy has to climb the stairway to the observatory on the Empire State Building because the elevators are broken. As soon as she starts climbing [[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot the elevators start working again]].
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You think it's annoying when the elevator stops working and you need to climb three floors to reach your apartment? Be glad you don't have to face the Absurdly Long Stairway.
The Absurdly Long Stairway is so incredibly, well, ''long'' that ascending it is a serious challenge in itself. The characters will probably be utterly exhausted by the time they get to the top, assuming they will persevere that long. (''Descending'' such a stairway tends to be easier, [[BanisterSlide one way]] or [[StaircaseTumble the other]], but not always.) Such stairways may have thousands of steps and stretch for miles. Indeed, sometimes they are literally ''endless''.
These stairways can be found in man-made structures (such as very tall towers with no lifts) or more supernatural locations. They can have a major symbolic meaning, about ascension or spiritual uplifting or the like. They can find application both in serious works and in comedy. In the latter case, expect some unlucky ButtMonkey to trip and tumble all the way down.
A StairwayToHeaven may be one of these. Can be sometimes found in an ItsAllUpstairsFromHere climax. Compare EndlessCorridor.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* In the first episode of ''Anime/DokiDokiPrettyCure'', Mana runs up an extremely long staircase all the way to the top of the Clover Tower (which is similar to the real life Tokyo Tower) in order to fight a monster, even though she hasn't become a Pretty Cure yet at that point.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Comic Books]]
* The ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse story "Watch Your Step!" has Mickey descending into Hades down a very long staircase. He realizes that he can get down more easily via a BannisterSlide, though he eventually attains a rather dangerous velocity and comes flying off at the end.
* In ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'', Scott defeats Lucas Lee by convincing him to rail grind a huge stairway on his skateboard. After [[ImplausibleBoardingSkills exceeding speeds of 309 kph]] he crashes hard.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Animated]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', near the beginning, Po has to climb a very long staircase to the Jade Palace. He tumbled down a few times but he manages to do it, only to find that the gate's already locked.
** Near the end, he climbed it again to save Master Shifu from Tai Lung. He's visibly exhausted even as he tries to be dramatic.
* While it's not too long for a human, the stairway to Cinderella's room in Disney's ''Disney/{{Cinderella}}'' is this trope for Gus and Jack (who are realistically-sized mice) when they have to carry the key up the stairs to her to let her out of the room when she was locked in by the wicked stepmother.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
* The Film/{{Ghostbusters}} have to climb 20 flights of stairs for the confrontation with Gozer, due to the elevators being out of service.
* In ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'', Sarah tries to reach her baby brother Toby through what is not only an insanely long set of stairs, but ones designed to look like M.C. Escher's "Relativity".
* Invoked in ''Film/TheWolfOfWallStreet''. While tripping very heavily and discovering a botched emergency, Jordan Belfort has to get back to his car, at the entrance to a country club. In long shots, you can see it is only about six steps, but in close-up shots (from Jordan's perspective), it's much, much longer than that.
* In ''Film/TheMusicBox'', LaurelAndHardy deliver a piano up one of these. The staircase was also used in the comedy films ''Isn't Life Terrible?'' and ''Ice Cold Cocos''.
* A similar was used in ''[[Film/TheThreeStooges An Ache in Every Stake]]'' where the Three Stooges must deliver an ice block to a house atop a very long staircase, but the ice always melts by the time they make it to the top.
* ''Film/IRobot'': As Spooner, Sonny, and Calvin are looking up the flights of stairs from the basement to the top floor of US Robotics...
--> Sonny: Two thousand, eight hundred and eighty steps, Detective.
--> Detective Del Spooner: Do me a favor and keep that kind of shit to yourself.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/RendezvousWithRama'': The interior of the eponymous gigantic cylindrical spaceship, 54 kilometres long, has three extremely long ladders spanning its length along its walls. And then there come stairways with "thousands upon thousands" of steps. Getting from the airlock down the ladders and stairs, to one end of the cylinder, takes the protagonists three chapters.
* ''Literature/{{Ubik}}'' makes an ordinary, sixteen-step staircase into one of these, as the character climbing them has had his life-force drained near completely by a local psychic vampire, and crawling up even one step becomes an immense effort.
* The Eyrie in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''/''Series/GameOfThrones'' is a castle atop a very high, sheer mountain. It can only be reached by a stairway that takes all day to climb and is so narrow that it has to be ascended in single file, making it more or less impregnable to attacking armies.
* ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'': The peak called Zirakzigil by the dwarfs had a stairway (appropriately enough, called the Endless Stair) that reached from the peak to the bottom of the Moria, and was destroyed during Gandalf's battle with the Balrog.
* Digitopolis's staircase to Infinity in ''Literature/ThePhantomTollbooth''.
* A short story (the title forgotten) where a woman finds herself being chased by a street gang. She ducks into an abandoned building and starts climbing the stairs to get away from them. She keeps climbing and climbing, but it seems like the stairs never end. At one point, she hears one of the gang members have a nasty fall. (At the end, we find out he died on the way to the hospital.) Once she's certain she's safe, the woman goes back down and goes home. When she returns to the building with a friend, she's surprised to see the stairs only go up to the second floor. Something strange (implied to be supernatural) happened.
* In Literature/{{Discworld}} the Unseen University's Tower of Art is 800ft tall and along the inside edge of the building are some (very old and infirm) steps which spiral upwards and number 8,888. Several wizard traditions require senior wizards climb those steps, then spend five minutes being out of breath and wheezing. There may be something supposed to happen after this, but since most UU wizards are elderly and overweight, few ever get enough puff back to carry them out. They still climb the spiral steps though, because it is ''tradition''.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/DoctorWho'', [[Recap/DoctorWho2012CSTheSnowmen "The Snowmen"]]: The Doctor parks the TARDIS in the clouds and uses a spiral staircase to get up to it. The staircase is taller on the inside.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. The TabletopGame/{{Planescape}} setting has the Infinite Staircase, a plane with nothing but--you guessed it--an infinite staircase spanning in all directions, with doors leading to various places around the planes.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' had a looping staircase, with constantly climbing music, though it didn't lead anywhere at first. You can climb it forever if you don't have the key or powerup -- turn around and you only climbed 10 steps -- but have the item and the staircase is not very long.
* During the raid on the Shinra HQ in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' the "subtle" approach is to climb up the skyscraper's stairs. 59 floors of them, in fact.
* In ''VideoGame/WildArms2'' nearing the end of the game there's the spiral tower, which has an extremely long staircase leading down into the center of the planet. Once you get to the end of the staircase you have to go through another dungeon then fight several minibosses, and the final boss to beat the game.
* Both ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheSecondStory'' and ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'' end their TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon with a needlessly long (straight) staircase leading up to the FinalBoss. Especially JustForFun/{{egregious}} in that the staircases in each case conclude a long [[ItsAllUpstairsFromHere climb up a tower]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Original]]
* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' entry, [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-087 SCP-087]] is a dark staircase that seems to go on forever, with what sounds to be a [[SchmuckBait crying child]] coming at the bottom. Despite this, explorers can never get any closer to the source of the crying and typically tend to run afoul of ''whatever'' is scurrying around in the darkness instead.
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has Twilight Sparkle confront a long, ''long'' circular staircase leading to where the McGuffin is. She manages to get past this obstacle by reversing gravity and dropping up to the staircase's bottom side, which is smooth and allows her to easily slide up.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewSchool'' episode "Yzmopolis", the Temple of the Sky God has one of these. Kuzko, lazy bum that he is, naturally complains about this, saying (paraphrased) "Why does it have to be the Temple of the Sky God? Why can't it be the Temple of the Down the Block Corner Store God?"
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The Absurdly Long Stairway is so incredibly, well, ''long'' that ascending it is a serious challenge in itself. The characters will probably be utterly exhausted by the time they get to the top, assuming they will persevere that long. (''Descending'' such a stairway tends to be easier, [[BanisterSlide one way]] or [[StaircaseTumble the other]], but not always.) Such stairways may have thousands of steps and stretch for miles. Indeed, sometimes they are literally ''endless''.
These stairways can be found in man-made structures (such as very tall towers with no lifts) or more supernatural locations. They can have a major symbolic meaning, about ascension or spiritual uplifting or the like. They can find application both in serious works and in comedy. In the latter case, expect some unlucky ButtMonkey to trip and tumble all the way down.
A StairwayToHeaven may be one of these. Can be sometimes found in an ItsAllUpstairsFromHere climax. Compare EndlessCorridor.
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!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* In the first episode of ''Anime/DokiDokiPrettyCure'', Mana runs up an extremely long staircase all the way to the top of the Clover Tower (which is similar to the real life Tokyo Tower) in order to fight a monster, even though she hasn't become a Pretty Cure yet at that point.
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[[folder:Comic Books]]
* The ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse story "Watch Your Step!" has Mickey descending into Hades down a very long staircase. He realizes that he can get down more easily via a BannisterSlide, though he eventually attains a rather dangerous velocity and comes flying off at the end.
* In ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'', Scott defeats Lucas Lee by convincing him to rail grind a huge stairway on his skateboard. After [[ImplausibleBoardingSkills exceeding speeds of 309 kph]] he crashes hard.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Animated]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', near the beginning, Po has to climb a very long staircase to the Jade Palace. He tumbled down a few times but he manages to do it, only to find that the gate's already locked.
** Near the end, he climbed it again to save Master Shifu from Tai Lung. He's visibly exhausted even as he tries to be dramatic.
* While it's not too long for a human, the stairway to Cinderella's room in Disney's ''Disney/{{Cinderella}}'' is this trope for Gus and Jack (who are realistically-sized mice) when they have to carry the key up the stairs to her to let her out of the room when she was locked in by the wicked stepmother.
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[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
* The Film/{{Ghostbusters}} have to climb 20 flights of stairs for the confrontation with Gozer, due to the elevators being out of service.
* In ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'', Sarah tries to reach her baby brother Toby through what is not only an insanely long set of stairs, but ones designed to look like M.C. Escher's "Relativity".
* Invoked in ''Film/TheWolfOfWallStreet''. While tripping very heavily and discovering a botched emergency, Jordan Belfort has to get back to his car, at the entrance to a country club. In long shots, you can see it is only about six steps, but in close-up shots (from Jordan's perspective), it's much, much longer than that.
* In ''Film/TheMusicBox'', LaurelAndHardy deliver a piano up one of these. The staircase was also used in the comedy films ''Isn't Life Terrible?'' and ''Ice Cold Cocos''.
* A similar was used in ''[[Film/TheThreeStooges An Ache in Every Stake]]'' where the Three Stooges must deliver an ice block to a house atop a very long staircase, but the ice always melts by the time they make it to the top.
* ''Film/IRobot'': As Spooner, Sonny, and Calvin are looking up the flights of stairs from the basement to the top floor of US Robotics...
--> Sonny: Two thousand, eight hundred and eighty steps, Detective.
--> Detective Del Spooner: Do me a favor and keep that kind of shit to yourself.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/RendezvousWithRama'': The interior of the eponymous gigantic cylindrical spaceship, 54 kilometres long, has three extremely long ladders spanning its length along its walls. And then there come stairways with "thousands upon thousands" of steps. Getting from the airlock down the ladders and stairs, to one end of the cylinder, takes the protagonists three chapters.
* ''Literature/{{Ubik}}'' makes an ordinary, sixteen-step staircase into one of these, as the character climbing them has had his life-force drained near completely by a local psychic vampire, and crawling up even one step becomes an immense effort.
* The Eyrie in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''/''Series/GameOfThrones'' is a castle atop a very high, sheer mountain. It can only be reached by a stairway that takes all day to climb and is so narrow that it has to be ascended in single file, making it more or less impregnable to attacking armies.
* ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'': The peak called Zirakzigil by the dwarfs had a stairway (appropriately enough, called the Endless Stair) that reached from the peak to the bottom of the Moria, and was destroyed during Gandalf's battle with the Balrog.
* Digitopolis's staircase to Infinity in ''Literature/ThePhantomTollbooth''.
* A short story (the title forgotten) where a woman finds herself being chased by a street gang. She ducks into an abandoned building and starts climbing the stairs to get away from them. She keeps climbing and climbing, but it seems like the stairs never end. At one point, she hears one of the gang members have a nasty fall. (At the end, we find out he died on the way to the hospital.) Once she's certain she's safe, the woman goes back down and goes home. When she returns to the building with a friend, she's surprised to see the stairs only go up to the second floor. Something strange (implied to be supernatural) happened.
* In Literature/{{Discworld}} the Unseen University's Tower of Art is 800ft tall and along the inside edge of the building are some (very old and infirm) steps which spiral upwards and number 8,888. Several wizard traditions require senior wizards climb those steps, then spend five minutes being out of breath and wheezing. There may be something supposed to happen after this, but since most UU wizards are elderly and overweight, few ever get enough puff back to carry them out. They still climb the spiral steps though, because it is ''tradition''.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/DoctorWho'', [[Recap/DoctorWho2012CSTheSnowmen "The Snowmen"]]: The Doctor parks the TARDIS in the clouds and uses a spiral staircase to get up to it. The staircase is taller on the inside.
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[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. The TabletopGame/{{Planescape}} setting has the Infinite Staircase, a plane with nothing but--you guessed it--an infinite staircase spanning in all directions, with doors leading to various places around the planes.
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' had a looping staircase, with constantly climbing music, though it didn't lead anywhere at first. You can climb it forever if you don't have the key or powerup -- turn around and you only climbed 10 steps -- but have the item and the staircase is not very long.
* During the raid on the Shinra HQ in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' the "subtle" approach is to climb up the skyscraper's stairs. 59 floors of them, in fact.
* In ''VideoGame/WildArms2'' nearing the end of the game there's the spiral tower, which has an extremely long staircase leading down into the center of the planet. Once you get to the end of the staircase you have to go through another dungeon then fight several minibosses, and the final boss to beat the game.
* Both ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheSecondStory'' and ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'' end their TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon with a needlessly long (straight) staircase leading up to the FinalBoss. Especially JustForFun/{{egregious}} in that the staircases in each case conclude a long [[ItsAllUpstairsFromHere climb up a tower]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Original]]
* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' entry, [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-087 SCP-087]] is a dark staircase that seems to go on forever, with what sounds to be a [[SchmuckBait crying child]] coming at the bottom. Despite this, explorers can never get any closer to the source of the crying and typically tend to run afoul of ''whatever'' is scurrying around in the darkness instead.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has Twilight Sparkle confront a long, ''long'' circular staircase leading to where the McGuffin is. She manages to get past this obstacle by reversing gravity and dropping up to the staircase's bottom side, which is smooth and allows her to easily slide up.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewSchool'' episode "Yzmopolis", the Temple of the Sky God has one of these. Kuzko, lazy bum that he is, naturally complains about this, saying (paraphrased) "Why does it have to be the Temple of the Sky God? Why can't it be the Temple of the Down the Block Corner Store God?"
[[/folder]]
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