History Main / LavaPit

* ''VideoGame/{{Daikatana}}'' features lava prominently throughout the third episode. While falling in is certain death in the PC version, the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor version has the character melt into the lava... only to reappear on a nearby platform with only a few health points knocked off.

* [[LethalLavaLand Arachnia]] in ''VideoGame/{{Bug|1995}}'' has them all over the place. Don't fall in -- MercyInvincibility ''will not'' save Bug from becoming ashes instantly!
* One secret path in, of all places, a sewer level in ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack''. Normally Crash sometimes has to hang from metal ceiling grilles to make his way over red-hot sewer piping, but in that one secret path, he's crossing over a molten lava pit.

* ''Holy Diver'' has lava pits that can be frozen with magic into destructible blocks. They soon start reaching up to the ceiling.

* In the ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening Awakenings]]'' expansion of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', you can find a prisoner suspended in a metal cage above a lava pit (ConvectionSchmonvection, it seems). You can set him free in exchange for a magical rune ... [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential or just be a dick]] and kick open the cage, sending him plummeting into the lava.
* In ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'', if you choose a site with a volcano or magma pipe, you can use the lava to build a variety of death traps, and it removes the need for coal to smelt most metals, except for steel. The only issue is the Fire Imps and Magma Men that come with said sites. Magma is the ''preferred'' way for most DF players to deal with virtually any problem. Too much garbage? Melt it in lava! Attacking hordes? Pump lava to the top of your tower, and pour liberally on any rash of invaders! Elves complaining about your deforestation? Melt the protesters! Your fortress flooding with regular water? Running out of good quality stone to craft with? Pour water and magma together, and you have an obsidian farming operation!

* ''Literature/StarterVillain'': {{Discussed|Trope}} when someone visits the VolcanoLair to [[FakingTheDead have his death faked]] -- he's disappointed to hear that there aren't any open lava pits, only geothermal generators, and that anyway, lava is so dense that a body would just lie on the surface and crisp.

Like a [[DrowningPit swimming pool]], but much more viscous and much hotter [[LavaIsBoilingKoolAid than water]], and somewhat less inviting. Plus it's too dense to sink into and doesn't require you to periodically add chlorine or scoop out leaves. And it really doesn't matter if you don't wait an hour after eating before you jump in. [[{{Dissimile}} A better simile]], in fact, would be "not like a swimming pool." ([[Literature/TheLightFantastic cf.]]) Often used as a barrier rather than a trap proper, but with [[TrapDoor the right mechanisms]] and delivery chutes, a Lava Pit can make for a delightful surprise at the end of a long drop. Often found in a LethalLavaLand.

* ''WesternAnimation/Shrek1'': the castle where Princess Fiona is imprisoned is surrounded by a moat of lava. The only way in is across an old rope bridge, which prompts the page quote.

* [[LethalLavaLand Arachnia]] in ''VideoGame/{{Bug}}'' has them all over the place. Don't fall in -- MercyInvincibility ''will not'' save Bug from becoming ashes instantly!

* Most volcanic vents that erupt fluid pāhoehoe lava are fountains, not pools. Lava can pool in depressions downhill from eruption, but they cool rapidly into slower-flowing semi-solid ʻaʻā lava. Persistent actively-convecting [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_lake lava lakes]] are extremely rare, and, as of December 2022, there are only ''six'' in the world: Erta Ale (Ethiopia), [[HailfirePeaks Mount Erebus]] (Ross Island, Antarctica), Kīlauea (Hawaiʻi), Nyiragongo (Democratic Republic of Congo), Marum (Ambrym, Vanuatu), and [[HailfirePeaks Mount Michael]] (South Sandwich Islands).

* In the ''ComicBook/{{Transformers}}'' comics, smelting pits are generally used for particularly gruesome executions. If you like putting people into these, we know you're a creep.

* Usually considered the best ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' battle in Indigo League arc, Charizard vs. Magmar (Ash's rematch against Blaine) took place over a lava pit.