History Main / BridgeLogic

* ''WesternAnimation/AroundTheWorldWithWillyFog'': While Fog and his companions are travelling through the Indian jungle, they find their path blocked by a raging river whose current is so swift that even Koa the elephant may not be strong enough to fight it. Luckily, there are three palm trees growing right next to the river, so the travellers have Koa knock them over and use them as a makeshift bridge. Fog, Brigadier Corn and Tico cross on foot, but then have to save Rigodon and Koa when the trees break under Koa's weight while Rigodon is guiding the elephant across.

->'''Milo:''' Will you look at the size of this? It's gotta be half a mile high, at least. It must have taken hundred -- no, thousands of years to carve this thing.\\
''[Vinny blows it up so it falls down over a chasm]''\\

* In ''VideoGame/SpiderManShatteredDimensions'', Amazing Spidey has to get Kraven the Hunter to do this as he's trying to snipe him in one part of his stage.
* The gameplay in ''VideoGame/TinyAndBig'' relies fairly heavily upon these, as Tiny's entire arsenal is designed specifically for manipulation of the game's environment.
* One of the first playable quests in the web-based RPG ''VideoGame/DragonFable'' lampshades and double-subverts this. Your character sees a chasm in a cave and a conveniently-placed stalagmite and thinks to knock it over:
-->'''[[HelloInsertNameHere Your character]]:''' This is my best idea ever!\\
''[Stalagmite leans toward you]''\\
'''[[HelloInsertNameHere Your character]]:''' This is my ''worst'' idea ever!\\
''[stalagmite leans the other way, falls, and bridges the chasm]''\\
'''[[HelloInsertNameHere Your character]]:''' BEST. IDEA. EVER!
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' introduced an interesting example in its 5th expansion. When first arriving in a water-filled zone comprised of separate islands the only way to get between islands is to form tree bridges. To do so a powerful group of enemies must be killed at the base of the tree. The resulting bridge only stays for less than an hour before the same tree must be knocked down again.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' manages to avert this trope while still forming a bridge by felling trees at a river's edge in Giza Plains during "The Rains". An [[BonusBoss Elite Hunt]] called the Gil Snapper is located on an island that can only be reached by knocking several trees into a river. Rather than a single tree spanning the length currents carry several from various locations in the zone to form a dam of sorts.
* Subob is allowed to bridge gaps for his sleepwalking master to pass through by using literal fish bridges in ''VideoGame/BackToBed''.
* ''VideoGame/MajinAndTheForsakenKingdom'' provided an example at Hawme'a Falls, where there is an upright plank of wood besides the ravine. Not only is its height ''just'' right, but it will fall exactly into place after getting knocked down by Majin’s wind spell. Subverted in that it is not a true bridge but only there for a side path.
* In the ''VideoGame/PokemonRanger'' games, you are occasionally required to get a wild Pokémon to knock over a dead tree or similar object to create a bridge.
* At one point in ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'', you have to call an aerial bombardment in order to break a hole in a wall and then to knock down a communications tower to make a makeshift bridge to said hole.
* ''VideoGame/{{Ico}}'' has you blow up a large pillar to make a bridge.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/TheLastGuardian''. Early on, you knock over a pillar, creating a bridge across the chasm in front of you. A moment later, the pillar slides free and tumbles into the chasm and you're forced to find another way across.
* The first time you visit Rhamu in ''VideoGame/CosmicStarHeroine'', Chahn gets a flamethrower which she uses to topple trees to use as bridges. Dave isn't enthusiastic about that idea, despite Chahn's reassurance.
* In ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'', in [[ShiftingSandLand Sand Ocean]], you'll need to destroy the dynamite packs below the pillars to get the pillars to fall over and form bridges.
* The solution to a puzzle in ''VideoGame/WorldsOfUltimaTheSavageEmpire'' ... though rather than chopping the tree down, you throw a grenade made from hand-ground chemicals and mixed together by a museum creator in a partially destroyed laboratory. Amazingly, the blast is still so precisely directed that the tree falls exactly where you need it to.
* ''VideoGame/LEGOJurassicWorld'': Used to help a Triceratops cross a river.

* In ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'', Boris Badenov tries to finish off the title characters by chopping a tree down over a gorge that Rocky and Bullwinkle are traveling under in a makeshift boat. The tree is too long and hits the other side of the gorge.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGummiBears'', when the Gummi Bears are trekking through underground caverns and a bridge over a boiling chasm is destroyed, they topple a nearby statue, which is ''just'' tall enough for a makeshift bridge.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In "Cheeseburger Backpack", the Gems are exploring some ancient Gem ruins when they come across a flooded path. While Pearl tries to figure out a way over, Garnet simply knocks down a damaged pillar to make a bridge.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1581902041088057200
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:300:[[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIIVohaulsRevenge https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tree_trunk_8.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:How convenient.]]

* In the manhwa ''Manhwa/DorothyOfOz'', Mara attempts to blast a tree to cross a river. She overdoes it and the tree turns to dust. She is bemoaning her lack of control when Abee points out that they can skip over the wreckage she created from destroying most of the surrounding landscape.

* In one ''ComicStrip/FootrotFlats'' strip, the Dog attempts to avoid one of the Murphy's crocopigs by pushing over a tree to allow him to cross the river. However, the dead sapling he pushes over is both far too short to reach the over bank and far too spindly to support his weight.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''Film/SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow'' features an enormous tree serving as a bridge over a ravine on Totenkopf's island.
* ''Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies'': Legolas does this with a small tower by steering a blinded troll into it.

%%* ''Literature/TheLostWorld1912'': Used by the explorers to reach the mysterious plateau.
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': The cats are able to travel to the island where they hold their gatherings thanks to a tree that conveniently falls down in ''Starlight''.
* In ''Literature/TheUnderneath'', the dying resident WiseTree lets itself fall down at the necessary moment for Puck to be able to use it as a bridge to escape.

* The Marshalls make one in the ''[[Series/LandoftheLost Land of the Lost]]'' season 3 episode "Abominable Snowman" to cross over a canyon, leaving the [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti Yeti-like beast Tappa]] on the other side.

* ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet'': Any tall object, be it a ruler, a pencil, a sword, or even dead fish, if not heavy or thick or glued, can be kicked down and serve as makeshift bridges for our Sackboy.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'', the player will often encounter gaps between building to building. Conveniently, there's always a ladder or board the exact size of the gap nearby to form a makeshift bridge with.
* Both the first (two trees to make two separate ones) and the last level (a pillar) of ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Jedi Academy]]'' have objects destroyed to make bridges, the first two by cutting them with a lightsaber, the second by using force push. Interestingly, the pillar doesn't just fall down; your push is so powerful the BASE of the pillar is the end of the bridge (and the tip rests at the original base).

* One of the ghosts needs to create an earthquake down a tree in ''VideoGame/GhostMaster''.
* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsRepublicCommando'', the commandos bomb a pillar to reach the unconnected opposite side of a gap.
* In ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIV'' the player knocks down a statue of an EldritchAbomination to cross a swamp.
** In the third game, the Fighter and the Paladin have to defeat a gargoyle (who then turns back to stone), then use ''that'' to cross the chasm.
** In the SpiritualSuccessor / FanSequel, ''VideoGame/HeroinesQuest'', the Warrior must do this to enter the swamp.
** ''VideoGame/KingsQuest2015'' has this twice in chapter one.

* In ''VideoGame/BlueDragon'', the player has to to push over a tree to make a bridge to reach a chest in the Lot Wilderness, and the Elder of Pachess Town uses the Green Device to destroy the base of a rock pillar to make a bridge over a fissure in the Giant Ice Fields.
* The Howling Halls in ''VideoGame/FableII'' have pillars that are conveniently the right height to bridge the spike filled pit blocking the players escape.
* ''VideoGame/TalesSeries''
** Many Sorcerer's Ring-related gimmicks in ''VideoGame/TalesOfHearts'' revolve around knocking down a pillar or tree over a chasm.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' does similar things with Mieu Fire.
** It pops up a couple times in ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' as well.
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'', you use the sorceror's ring in a similar manner. Except you down pillars and walk across their widths, not lengths.
* ''VideoGame/GhostHunter'': [[spoiler:Detective Lazarus Jones uses a sniper rifle to blow up a cabin high on a cliff face by a waterfall. The debris falls into the river, floats down and fetches up against rocks in the stream forming a bridge.]]
* ''VideoGame/GuildWars'': In the Nightfall campaign, there is an area in the Desolation where you have to [[spoiler:shoot a boulder with your [[SandWorm Junundu Wurm]]]] at a monolith to knock it down, making a bridge so you can progress. In Prophecies, there's an ancient statue that will topple when you get close, forming a bridge for you.
* Hermes, a sort-of-antagonist in ''VideoGame/TheSuffering'', launches a bus down a ravine that blocks your progress. It's uncertain whether he's deliberately creating a bridge for you, or trying to run you over.
* ''VideoGame/{{Overlord}}'' does this a couple of times.
** To be more precise, you kick down sections of wall from ruined houses. They always have exactly the needed length and never break anywhere except at foot level...
** Even more surprising, they're exactly the right size to fit ''flush'' into the gap, so you walk across them like level ground.

* The second ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfKyrandia'' game has a similar situation: if Zanthia tries walking across the Quicksand Bog, she'll get sucked in and die. However, there's a tree nearby that's just the right height ...
* Justified in ''VideoGame/SuperheroLeagueOfHoboken'', where you have to use a size-amplifying superpower to make a tree grow to the right size before knocking it down and making a dam. (Later you have to return the tree to its original size to ''undo'' the dam.)
* One of the standard Doodads (objects that are neither terrain nor player units, like... trees and bridges) in ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'' was one of these -- a tree that became a bridge if you attacked it. It also splits down the middle when doing so, for some reason.

* In ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxterThePrecursorLegacy'' Jak can punch at some dinosaur ribs that are half buried on Misty Island to knock them over and make bridges over the rocks.
** Similarly, in ''VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander'', during the volcano climb, Daxter knocks down a tree by accident to create a bridge for Jak.

* ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheFateOfAtlantis'' is an odd example: the tree is long enough, but, to make it a bridge, Indy has to stand on top of the tree. It ''bends under his weight'', working like a TreeBuchet (minus the launching him somewhere else), without the tree breaking.
** And then you discover that [[TookAShortcut there was a shortcut]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Ristar}}'': In the first level, you have to headbutt a tree so it falls over.
* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Drakan}} Drakan: Order of the Flame]]'', after getting Arokh's Soul Crystal from Heron's crypt and returning outside, there's an old rotting tree that protagonist Rynn can push to make a makeshift bridge across a gap (and as a bonus, kill an unfortunate orc who's patrolling the other side).
* In ''VideoGame/DarkChronicle'', Max and Monica traverse the sections of Rainbow Butterfly Forest by gathering Fairy Saws (the signature keys for that dungeon) to fell large trees (the "gates") so that they form bridges across the streams and rivers.
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar2''. You DO use a tall, hollow thing to make a bridge, but it gives out half-way.
* In ''VideoGame/DarkSector'' to escape a sinking cruise ship the protagonist at one point has to blow up some crates that float and form a bride over the water.
* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'', Chris Redfield manages to do this using [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xuXkVzBdJQ a boulder]]. By punching it several times.

* In ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'', one of the ways you can get into Gremlin Village's Colosseum is by knocking over the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Eiffel Tower to make a bridge.
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun1'' plays with this. There's no instances of actually making a bridge, but there is one tree you knock over to make a platform.
* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'' and ''[[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood Brotherhood]]''. While not necessarily bridges, architecture always fall off to make steps when in areas like the Romulus lairs to act as a checkpoint and Ezio ALWAYS reminds you how convenient it is to climb back up whenever he falls.
** Throughout [[Franchise/AssassinsCreed the series]], the jumping action itself serves as BridgeLogic, because buildings and other objects are arranged precisely to match the assassin's maximum jumping distance. Although there are plenty of locations where a jump seems almost doable but really isn't, gameplay absolutely depends on you being able to easily find those routes where it's possible to continuously jump across from one place to the next during those ''long'' chases - often without slowing down at all.
* DoubleSubverted in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'', where the characters actively notice that a tree is an appropriate height, and embark on a miniquest to chop it down and get it to the river. Their attempt at this simply ends up dropping the tree into the river, forcing them to find another way... but when they go back to where they needed the bridge, that same log washes down the river and perfectly floats into place.

* Taken UpToEleven in ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet'', any tall object, be it a ruler, a pencil, a sword, or even dead fish, if not heavy or thick or glued, can be kicked down and serve as makeshift bridges for our Sackboy.

* In ''Film/SurvivingTheGame'', Mason bridges a ravine with a tree by cutting it ''with a shotgun''.

* In ''Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies'', Legolas does this with a small tower by steering a blinded troll into it.

* Early on in ''Castle Death'', Literature/LoneWolf has the option of using his telekinesis to move a pillar over a chasm (assuming he's picked up the [[MindOverMatter Nexus]] Magnakai power by then, anyway).

* In ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' (1900), the Scarecrow has the Tin Woodman do this by chopping down a tree... and then has him chop it down again, with the pursuing Kalidahs still on it.
* Used by the explorers in ''Literature/TheLostWorld1912'' to reach the mysterious plateau.

* First level of ''VideoGame/{{Ristar}}'' - you have to headbutt a tree so it falls over.

* In ''VideoGame/DarkChronicle'', Max and Monica traverse the sections of [[TheLostWoods Rainbow Butterfly Forest]] by gathering Fairy Saws (the signature keys for that dungeon) to fell large trees (the "gates") so that they form bridges across the streams and rivers.

* During ''[[VideoGame/MetroidPrime Metroid Prime Hunters]]'''s story mode, the scan visor actually suggests blasting a piece of ruined architecture, calculating it will make a bridge.

** Played straight, however, in the sequel ''VideoGame/{{Okamiden}}'', where cutting down stalagmites to make bridges is a gameplay mechanic in two areas.

* ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestIIVohaulsRevenge'', pictured above. Slightly subverted, the part of the tree that breaks off would not be long enough to cover the chasm, on a modern display's aspect ratio.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' manages to avert this troupe while still forming a bridge by felling trees at a river's edge in Giza Plains during "The Rains". An [[BonusBoss Elite Hunt]] called the Gil Snapper is located on an island that can only be reached by knocking several trees into a river. Rather than a single tree spanning the length currents carry several from various locations in the zone to form a dam of sorts.

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun2001'' plays with this. There's no instances of actually making a bridge, but there is one tree you knock over to make a platform.

* Happened once or twice in ''[[VideoGame/Rayman2 Rayman Revolution]]''.

* Both the first (two trees to make two separate ones) and the last level (a pillar) of ''[[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Jedi Academy]]'' have objects destroyed to make bridges, the first two by cutting them with a lightsaber, the second by useing force push. Interestingly, the pillar doesn't just fall down; your push is so powerful the BASE of the pillar is the end of the bridge (and the tip rests at the original base).

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheBrokenSeal'' plays with this. There's no instances of actually making a bridge, but there is one tree you knock over to make a platform.

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' plays with this. There's no instances of actually making a bridge, but there is one tree you knock over to make a platform.

-->-- ''Disney/AtlantisTheLostEmpire''

* ''Disney/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'', as quoted above.

[[quoteright:320:[[VideoGame/SpaceQuestIIVohaulsRevenge https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bridge-logic.gif]]]]
[[caption-width-right:320:How convenient.]]

* In the second episode of ''VisualNovel/KoihimeMusou'', Chouhi cuts down a tree that ends up crossing a chasm in order to save some villagers from a group of bandits.

A tall object, such as a pillar or a tree, is destroyed to make a bridge over a [[BrokenBridge river or chasm]].

* In ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'', the player will often encounter gaps between building to building. Conveniently, however, is the fact that in such situations a ladder the exact size of the gap will always be nearby to form a makeshift bridge with.

* Happened once or twice in ''[[VideoGame/Rayman2TheGreatEscape Rayman Revolution]]''.

* Happened once or twice in ''VideoGame/{{Rayman}} Revolution''.

* DoubleSubverted in ''VideoGame/TheLegendofDragoon'', where the characters actively notice that a tree is an appropriate height, and embark on a miniquest to chop it down and get it to the river. Their attempt at this simply ends up dropping the tree into the river, forcing them to find another way... but when they go back to where they needed the bridge, that same log washes down the river and perfectly floats into place.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLastofUs'', the player will often encounter gaps between building to building. Conveniently, however, is the fact that in such situations a ladder the exact size of the gap will always be nearby to form a makeshift bridge with.

** In the SpiritualSuccessor / FanSequel, HeroinesQuest, the Warrior must do this to enter the swamp.

%%* ''Disney/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'', as quoted above.

* Slightly subverted in ''VideoGame/TheLegendofDragoon'', where the characters actively notice that a tree is an appropriate height, and embark on a miniquest to chop it down and get it to the river.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* ''Disney/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'', as quoted above.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'', Shrek doesn't cut the tree down, but he bends it over a stream so Fiona can cross. Then, while Donkey is trying to cross, Shrek lets go of the tree, [[TreeBuchet with predictable results.]]

* Early on in ''Castle Death'', Literature/LoneWolf has the option of using his telekinesis to do this (assuming he's picked up [[MindOverMatter Nexus]] by then, anyway).

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* In one ''ComicStrip/FootrotFlats'' strip, the Dog attempts to avoid one of the Murphy's crocopigs by pushing over a tree to allow him to cross the river. However, the dead sapling he pushes over is both far too short to reach the over bank and far too spindly to support his weight.
[[/folder]]

--> '''[[HelloInsertNameHere Your character]]''': This is my best idea ever!
--> *Stalagmite leans toward you*
--> '''[[HelloInsertNameHere Your character]]''': This is my ''worst'' idea ever!
--> *Stalagmite leans the other way, falls, and bridges the chasm*
--> '''[[HelloInsertNameHere Your character]]''': BEST. IDEA. EVER!
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''