History Main / ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice

'''Since this is a DeathTrope, beware of unmarked spoilers.'''

Dramatic impalement may be the result of a really successful attack (perhaps a FinishingMove) with a spear, or even by an especially strong JavelinThrower. This can very often qualify as a CruelAndUnusualDeath. If the victim is impaled through their neck, it's an ImpromptuTracheotomy. If the victim is impaled multiple times, you have an example of HumanPincushion. If the target moves but the big rod doesn't, it's an InertialImpalement.

* Several cases over the course of the 20th Century involved Construction Workers and rebar invoking this trope. Amazingly, one such incident in the Nineties had the victim survive despite having had at least three go through him, making him far luckier than the last case, who had taken a pair straight through the heart...

* In the US Army's SL-1 nuclear accident, one of the operators, Navy Electrician's Mate Richard Legg, was impaled on the ceiling by a shield plug when the control rod was pulled out too far.
** Note that this was the ''only'' control rod in the reactor. Its servo had a tendency to stuck, though, so when this happened a technician tried to help the motor with his hands. He was [[GoneHorriblyRight so successful]], though, that instead of a couple of inches, he managed to pull the rod out almost completely, King Arthur-style. The reactor immediately went prompt-critical (increasing its power output almost 7000-fold in 0.004 seconds), flashing the cooling water into steam and created a water hammer effect which caused the entire reactor case to jump up an hit the ceiling. The pressure also caused the shield plugs to fly out with such force that one of them pinned one of the three operators, to the ceiling as well.
*** Search and rescue personel initially only found the bodies of two of Legg's coworkers, and assumed Legg must have evacuated before the accident. [[NoPeripheralVision Until one of the crew looked up at the ceiling.]] Getting him down while no one could be in the room for more than a minute due to the deadly radiation was a difficult task.
** The operator who removed the control rod, Army Specialist Richard [=McKinley=], had the control rod itself ''driven through his body''. The amount of radiation he absorbed as a result required him to be buried in a special lead coffin in a metal-lined concrete grave. His remains cannot be moved without consulting the Atomic Energy Commission.

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice/{{Webcomics}}
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice/WesternAnimation

* ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'': ''[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho099SonOfTheDragon Son of the Dragon]]''. To be expected in a story dealing with Vlad the Impaler. At one stage the Doctor and Radu stumble in the 'Forest of the Dead' where Vlad impaled 20,000 of his countrymen on stakes.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'':
** During a flashback in Chapter 10, an emergency signal flare leads Mingxing to a breach in progress at the house of her friend and former teammate Mitsuki. The first thing she finds there is Mitsuki's mother [[https://www.sleeplessdomain.com/comic/chapter-10-page-27 lying dead with a chunk of ice through her chest]], evidently having [[TakeAMomentToCatchYourDeath just barely escaped from the house before the monster finished her off]].
** In the climax of Chapter 19, the BigBad attacks [[BarrierMaiden Anemone]] while the latter is asleep by [[https://www.sleeplessdomain.com/comic/chapter-19-page-30 shooting a massive needle through her bedroom window]], impaling her clean through the chest. [[spoiler:Anemone promptly [[https://www.sleeplessdomain.com/comic/chapter-19-page-33 wakes up]] and [[LodgedBladeRemoval pulls the spike out]], seemingly unharmed and [[LetsGetDangerous definitely angry]].]]
* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': While Duane's assasins were pinning him to the ground and beating him to death his daughter Mikaila tried using magic to blind them with light. One turned and stuck their sword straight through her chest and out her back in response.
[[/folder]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'': Flora enchants Philip's Sword of Truth, and he throws it right into Dragon Maleficent's belly, killing her upon impact.

-->'''Flora:''' Now, Sword of Truth, fly swift and sure! Let evil die and good endure!

Dramatic impalement may be the result of a really successful attack (perhaps a FinishingMove) with a BladeOnAStick, or even by an especially strong JavelinThrower. This can very often qualify as a CruelAndUnusualDeath. If the victim is impaled through their neck, it's an ImpromptuTracheotomy. If the victim is impaled multiple times, you have an example of HumanPincushion. If the target moves but the big rod doesn't, it's an InertialImpalement.

** Some [[NumberTwo Exalted Deathbringers]] of the Bloodbound Warhords from ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'' go into battle with an [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Impaling]] [[BladeOnAStick Spear]]. The Exalted Deathbringer uses this brutal polearm to impale his opponent and hoist them into the air so that their own weight drives them further along the weapon’s haft. In-game this is represented by the Brutal Impalement ability that has a 50% chance of inflicting extra damage against an opponent wounded but not killed by the spear.

->''Tucker Foyle slides slowly forward onto his spar. He has a bullet wound in his back, at the shoulder. This itself would not be such a terrible thing, but the impact has driven him onto the wooden spike resting onto his chin. Tucker has been impaled. He is not dead. He will not die for several minutes, but die he will and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.''

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'', [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-299 SCP-299 ("Infectious Tree")]]. The tree uses its CombatTentacles to grab prey and impale them on its sharp lower branches in order to assimilate them.

* ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'': Done for laughs when Olaf bumbles into a jutting spar of ice. He's a snowman, of course, so it doesn't hurt one bit.

** In the ''Literature/BookOfEsther'', some translations have Haman plotting to impale Mordecai on a sharp pole. After his treachery is discovered by the king, [[HoistByHisOwnPetard he is impaled on the pole]]. Remember Haman ordering a gallows built 50 cubits high? (or 22.86 '''METERS''') That's Haman being impaled on a 22 meter high tree and hoisted up so he can slide......slowly......down.....

*** Search and rescue personel initially only found the bodies of two of Legg's coworkers, and assumed Legg must have evacuated before the accident. [[NoPeripheralVision Until one of the crew looked up at the ceiling.]] Getting him down while no one could be in the room for more than two minutes due to the deadly radiation was a difficult task.

* In ''[[Machinima/RedVsBlue Red vs. Blue: Revelation]]'', [[spoiler:Agent Texas]] is stabbed through the face with a two-foot-long spike by [[TheJuggernaut the Meta]].

** ''[[VideoGame/TombRaider Lara Croft]] vs. [[VideoGame/{{Uncharted}} Nathan Drake]]'' has [[spoiler:Nathan die via getting impaled by a helicopter blade as his luck runs out.]]

The defining element of this trope is the shock value of the impalement: mere death by a bladed weapon ({{knife|Nut}}, [[SwordFight sword]], {{l|aserBlade}}ightsaber, etc.) '''does not qualify''' unless the victim is stabbed, and in an extreme fashion -- usually, the blade goes all the way through the body so that the point emerges from the victim on the other side. Garden-variety stabbings or [[WoodenStake vampire stakings]] don't count -- extraordinary stakings ''do'' count. Imaginative impalements also qualify. This trope often appears with {{Anvilicious}} symbolism with a side dish of [[FreudWasRight Freudianism]]: after all, the character was just [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything run through]] with a [[PhallicWeapon really big rod]]... and [[BiggerIsBetterInBed bigger is better in]] [[FoeRomanticSubtext bad]].

[[caption-width-right:350:[[BloodlessCarnage Where's the blood, you ask]]? [[BodyHorror Being replaced with cybernetic technology and machinery]].]]

* An anti-heroin PSA from [[Advertising/PartnershipToEndAddiction The Partnership for a Drug Free America]] shows a man getting impaled via falling onto a giant needle as a metaphor for how heroin addicts who start off by snorting it will eventually use the drug via injecting it into themselves.

This trope is for when someone gets stabbed in a [[UpToEleven really big way]].

The defining element of this trope is the shock value of the impalement: mere death by a bladed weapon ({{knife|Nut}}, [[SwordFight sword]], {{l|aserBlade}}ightsaber, etc.) '''does not qualify''' unless the victim is stabbed, and in an extreme fashion — usually, the blade goes all the way through the body so that the point emerges from the victim on the other side. Garden-variety vampire stakings, à la ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', don't count — extraordinary stakings ''do'' count. Imaginative impalements also qualify. This trope often appears with {{Anvilicious}} symbolism with a side dish of [[FreudWasRight Freudianism]]: after all, the character was just [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything run through]] with a [[PhallicWeapon really big rod]]... and [[BiggerIsBetterInBed bigger is better in]] [[FoeRomanticSubtext bad]].

This trope is sometimes used on one of the good guys as a way to [[SacrificialLamb raise the stakes]]. Some go as far as using it on an ''[[SacrificialLion important]]'' character to [[GutPunch really mess with the emotions of the audience]].

Dramatic impalement may be the result of a really successful attack (perhaps a FinishingMove) with a BladeOnAStick, or even by an especially strong JavelinThrower. This can qualify as a CruelAndUnusualDeath. If the victim is impaled through their neck, it's an ImpromptuTracheotomy. If the victim is impaled multiple times, you have an example of HumanPincushion. If the target moves but the big rod doesn't, it's an InertialImpalement.

[[WMG:[[center:[[AC:This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1644348842021541900 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.]]]]]]

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'', Vlad Drakov is well-known for impaling [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating dissenters]], [[FantasticRacism nonhumans]], or someone [[ForTheEvulz that just happened to annoy him on that day]], granted he's an exaggerated CaptainErsatz of Vlad Tepes.