History Main / AttackTheMouth

Compare/contrast PalatePropping (the mouth is stopped from attacking you), KillItThroughItsStomach (using the mouth as an attack entry point), GagReflexGag (specifically attacking the uvula to escape the mouth).

Compare/contrast PalatePropping (the mouth is stopped from attacking you), KillItThroughItsStomach (using the mouth as an attack entry point).

* In ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings: The Fellowship of the Ring'', Legolas kills the cave troll by shooting an arrow through its mouth into its brain.

* The ''VideoGame/GodOfWarSeries'':

Compare/contrast PalatePropping (the mouth is stopped from attacking you).

The mouth is one of the most sensitive parts of the body. It's where we repeatedly let foreign objects enter our body -- it's just that usually those objects are nourishment of some kind. Sticking in something dangerous will likely create visceral feelings of horror and revulsion in people. It has shades of BodyHorror even when that trope isn't actually happening. And being situated in the head, it's also very close to the brain[[note]]Notwithstanding cases where the being's anatomy is [[BizarreAlienBiology bizarre when it comes]] [[OrganDodge said organ's placement in the body]][[/note]], and thus presents an alternate direction for targeting the body's most vital organ.

* In the Creator/StephenKing story ''The Cat from Hell'', a hitman is hired to kill a cat (who is avenging an drug experiment which killed thousands of cats years before), but the cat takes the hitman out by leaping into his mouth, and causing the hitman to choke to death as the cat [[OrificeInvasion crawls all the way down his throat]].

* While fighting an unstoppable monster called Chaos, ComicBook/TheSavageDragon knocked out its partner, a mutant with high-pressure dung hoses for ((Arm Cannon}}s. He shoves the guy's arm into Chaos' mouth, cries out [[PreMortemOneLiner "Eat shit and die!"]], and activates the shit-slingers with enough force to make Chaos' head explode.

* The ''Franchise/GodOfWar'' series:

The mouth is one of the most sensitive parts of the body. It's where we repeatedly let foreign objects enter our body -- it's just that usually those objects are nourishment of some kind. Being situated in the head, it's also very close to the brain... unless the being's anatomy is [[BizarreAlienBiology bizarre when it comes]] [[OrganDodge said organ's placement in the body]]. Sticking in something dangerous will likely create visceral feelings of horror and revulsion in people. It has shades of BodyHorror even when that trope isn't actually happening.

The mouth is one of the most sensitive parts of the body. It's where we repeatedly let foreign objects enter our body -- it's just that usually those objects are nourishment of some kind. Being situated in the head, it's also very close to the brain. Sticking in something dangerous will likely create visceral feelings of horror and revulsion in people. It has shades of BodyHorror even when that trope isn't actually happening.

The mouth is one of the most sensitive parts of the body. It's where we repeatedly let foreign objects enter our body. Just usually those objects are nourishment of some kind. Sticking in something dangerous will likely create visceral feelings of horror and revulsion in people. It has shades of BodyHorror even when that trope isn't actually happening.

!!Examples

[[AC:Film - Animated]]

[[AC:Film - Live Action]]

* In The ''Film/LordOfTheRings: The Fellowship of the Ring'', Legolas kills the cave troll by shooting an arrow through its mouth into its brain.

* A segment in ''Film/TalesFromTheDarksideTheMovie'', "Cat From Hell", ends similarly to the Stephen King short story it's based on, where a hitman is hired to kill a vengeful cat, but the cat instead kills the hitman by jumping into his mouth. Here it goes even further, as the cat waits all night inside the hitman's body until its real target Drogan, an old man who did animal testing (and hired the hitman), comes home and sees the cat [[OrificeEvacuation crawl out from the hitman's mouth]], causing Drogan to have a fatal heart attack at the sight.

[[AC:Literature]]
* In the Creator/StephenKing story ''The Cat From Hell'', a hitman is hired to kill a cat (who is avenging an drug experiment which killed thousands of cats years before), but the cat takes the hitman out by leaping into his mouth, and causing the hitman to choke to death as the cat [[OrificeInvasion crawls all the way down his throat]].

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/GloryRoad''. While Oscar Gordon and Star are fighting a dragon they fire several arrows into its mouth - one of the few places on a dragon's body where they can penetrate.

[[AC:Tabletop Games]]

[[AC:Video Games]]

[[AC:Web Original]]

[[AC:Western Animation]]

[[caption-width-right:270:[[OrificeInvasion Leaping into the throat]], a hitman\'s [[KryptoniteFactor one weakness]]!]]

The mouth is one of the most sensitive parts of the body. It\'s where we repeatedly let foreign objects enter our body. Just usually those objects are nourishment of some kind. Sticking in something dangerous will likely create visceral feelings of horror and revulsion in people. It has shades of BodyHorror even when that trope isn\'t actually happening.

This is why any kind of attack there, whether it\'s putting the barrel of a gun in someone\'s mouth, making someone unknowingly ingest poison, or an OrificeInvasion through the mouth, will likely be to show just how serious things have gotten.

* In \'\'WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon\'\', the Red Death is defeated by Toothless spitting a plasma shot in its mouth, blowing it up from the inside. This is foreshadowed when he sees a small dragon do a similar thing to another dragon when fighting for food (just that one was not a fatal blast).

* Beldar of \'\'Film/{{Coneheads}}\'\' has been sentenced to fight for survival against the monstrous Grelblatt for \"bonding\" with inferior humans. Beldar uses his golf skills to launch one of the monster\'s turds into its mouth, where it lodges in its throat, asphyxiating it. This earns Beldar a royal pardon.
* Played for laughs in \'\'Film/{{Dragonheart}}\'\', where Sir Bowen stabs the last dragon into the roof of its mouth as a natural response to it trying to eat him. With him still inside the mouth, his leads to a MexicanStandoff where neither character can attack or withdraw safely. Eventually, after many hours of being stuck in this position, they agree on a truce and separate.
* In The \'\'Film/LordOfTheRings: The Fellowship of the Ring\'\', Legolas kills the cave troll by shooting an arrow through its mouth into its brain.
* In \'\'Film/KingKong2005\'\', Kong rips out the tongue of one dinosaur he fights, and then kills it by breaking its jaws.
* In \'\'Film/ReignOfFire\'\' ReluctantHero Quinn learns about the weakness of dragons from feisty Denton. Dragons\' fire-breathing is done by spraying a combustible fluid and an oxider from twin ducts in their mouths. Rupturing a dragon\'s palate results in the fluids mixing too soon, which makes his head explode. Quinn exploits this tactic to defeat the FinalBoss dragon.
* At the end of \'\'Film/TheRock\'\', Stanely takes out the (true) villain of the movie by shoving a ball of the nerve gas in his mouth.
* A segment in \'\'Film/TalesFromTheDarksideTheMovie\'\', \"Cat From Hell\", ends similarly to the Stephen King short story it\'s based on, where a hitman is hired to kill a vengeful cat, but the cat instead kills the hitman by jumping into his mouth. Here it goes even further, as the cat waits all night inside the hitman\'s body until its real target Drogan, an old man who did animal testing (and hired the hitman), comes home and sees the cat [[OrificeEvacuation crawl out from the hitman\'s mouth]], causing Drogan to have a fatal heart attack at the sight.

* In the Creator/StephenKing story \'\'The Cat From Hell\'\', a hitman is hired to kill a cat (who is avenging an drug experiment which killed thousands of cats years before), but the cat takes the hitman out by leaping into his mouth, and causing the hitman to choke to death as the cat [[OrificeInvasion crawls all the way down his throat]].
* \'\'Literature/{{Everworld}}\'\': One of the Vikings is known as Sword-eater due to having taken a sword through both cheeks.
* Creator/RobertAHeinlein\'s \'\'Literature/GloryRoad\'\'. While Oscar Gordon and Star are fighting a dragon they fire several arrows into its mouth - one of the few places on a dragon\'s body where they can penetrate.
* In \'\'Tribesmen of Literature/{{Gor}}\'\' Tarl is part of a hunt for a legendary old shark. At one point the shark grabs the leader in his jaws, and while the shark\'s jaws are open Tarl stabs and slashes at it with a sword.

* \'\'TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons\'\' 1st Edition Advanced D&D \'\'Player\'s Handbook\'\'. The Poison section mentions the technique of throwing a poison potion into a monster\'s mouth, hopefully killing it.

* \'\'VideoGame/BrokenAge\'\': Vella fights Mog Chothra by forcing open its mouth and shooting the death ray into it.
* The \'\'VideoGame/DarkSouls\'\' games mostly avert this, as the mouths are rarely the weak point.
** \'\'VideoGame/DarkSouls1\'\' even tries to trick the player into thinking this can be done to Chaos Eaters, who have their mouths on top of their heads. But leaping onto them doesn\'t do the usual CriticalHit, but instead gets the player chewed up.
** \'\'VideoGame/DarkSoulsII\'\' does a variation. The Demon of Song is a giant frog, but what looks like its mouth is actually a cover for its face and extra set of arms. Yet that face within the mouth is the only vulnerable part of its body (unless the player uses poison cloud attacks).
* In \'\'VideoGame/DemonsSouls\'\' the Rock Worm takes a lot more damage when hit in the mouth (done either with spells, arrows, or a long melee weapon with a vertical swing).
* The \'\'Franchise/GodOfWar\'\' series:
** Several ActionCommands attacks involve slamming the Blades of Chaos/Athena into a monster\'s mouth, and pulling until either the blades tear through the mouth (to do it again) or the monster\'s jaw is ripped open (the killing move).
** The finishing move against Minotaurs is to slam one of Kratos\'s blades down their throat.
* In \'\'VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess\'\' the Deku Toad is defeated by repeatedly attacking its tongue.
* In the \'\'Franchise/{{Metroid}}\'\' series, this is used for several bosses, including the mainstays Kraid and Ridley.
** In \'\'Videogame/SuperMetroid\'\' a mini-boss named Crocomire does not take damage from any attack, but attacking its mouth pushes it back, eventually [[RingOutBoss into a pit of lava]].
* \'\'VideoGame/ResidentEvil4\'\' does this for some enemies.

** Salder in the \"Separate Ways\" missions has to be hit until the eye in his mouth is exposed, and hitting that enough times will defeat him.

* \'\'WebVideo/TheMarkRemark\'\' spoofed how getting punched in the mouth was treated as serious and wrong, despite such injuries being expected in professional wrestling.

* In \'\'WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfSuperman\'\', \"The Robot of Riga\", Superman flies into the mouth of the HumongousMecha to sabotage it from the inside.

An attack at someone\'s mouth is one of the most intense ways to hurt or kill a person.

This is largely a reason why the DepravedDentist trope still happens even with modern medicine, since the thought of someone doing things in one\'s mouth is not pleasant for many people.

A SuperTrope to JawBreaker (breaking or tearing the jaw), AteHisGun (where the attack is tragically self inflicted), FeedItABomb (toss an explosive into the target\'s mouth).

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!!Indexes
+ AnatomyAgony
+ InjuryTropes
+ MouthfulOfIndex
+ ImageSource.LiveActionFilms