History Main / LivingStatue

* In ''VideoGame/{{Ultrakill}}'', [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Demons]] are portrayed as statue-like creatures made of stone and flesh rather than the traditional BigRedDevil. Their designs vary, ranging from giant spider-legged heads, to faceless parodies of The Thinker, or even scorpion-shaped abominations.

* The protagonists of ''Manga/SekkouBoys'' are an idol band composed of four busts based on real-life statues: [[Myth/SaintGeorge Saint Giorgio]], Medici, [[Characters/ClassicalMythologyOlympians Hermes, and Mars]]. Their manager is a former art student named Miki Ishimoto. Not only does she have to ensure their success, but she's also their primary mode of transportation, because as busts, they can't move on their own [[RuleOfFunny (except when they can)]].

* In ''Videogame/Borderlands2'', [[BigBad Handsome Jack]] calls the player up to taunt them with [[Fiction500 how absurdly rich he is]] by buying a "diamond horse" which he names Butt Stallion in honor of you. He's not exaggerating: the horse is real, and in ''Videogame/TalesFromTheBorderlands'' you can encounter the actual Butt Stallion (who has [[AngstComa gone comatose and frozen like an actual statue when Handsome Jack died]]) and, as a distraction, shoot her. ''She bleeds''.

* The 3rd mission in ''Manga/{{Gantz}}'' saw the team fighting an assortment of statues on the grounds of a Buddhist temple, including a ''giant'' Buddha statue bigger than the ''daibutsu'' at Nara's Tōdai-ji!'' [[spoiler:They kill the ''[[TotalPartyKill entire]]'' team except [[SoleSurvivor Kurono]].]] Another mission has lizard creatures coming out of statues.

** The [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Demonic Statue of the Outer Path]] (Gedou Mazou) is normally dormant, but can be awakened by people who have [[MagicalEye Rinnegan]] and used as a weapon. It's later revealed that the statue is actually the [[AnimalisticAbomination Ten Tails]] without its chakra.
** The greatest attacks created by the First Hokage's [[GreenThumb Wood Style]] as immense wooden statues of famous Buddhist imagery that come to life to do battle.

* In a shock-induced hallucination, Freder of ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'' imagines the eight statues of TheGrimReaper and the SevenDeadlySins he'd seen in the cathedral earlier come to life. The Reaper grows large enough to sit down on top of the New Tower of Babel. Freder eventually snaps out of it and later returns to the cathedral, where he curiously finds the statue of the Reaper gone. It's left ambiguous if the Reaper is active or if the statue is just undergoing repairs.
* Preceding "The Venus of Ille" is "The Ring" by Thomas Moore, in which the statue is one of [[RemoteBody two bodies controlled]] by an unnamed regal female entity, who's [[TheFairFolk either supernatural or undead]]. A man named Rupert is soon to be married and while out playing tennis with his friends, he's afraid he might break or lose the wedding ring. He places it on the finger of a marble statue for safekeeping, but when he returns to retrieve it he sees the finger bend and lock the ring in place. Not wanting to seem mad to his friends, he leaves it be and returns at night to break it off if need be, but the wedding ring is straight up gone. He gets another ring and lets whatever this is be, but at his wedding night finds a phantom between him and his bride. Neither of them can see it, but Rupert can feel and hear it, learning from the voice that it is [[AccidentalMarriage she whom he gave the wedding ring at the tennis court]]. Rupert goes to ask what possibly is [[TheGrimReaper Death]] himself to annul the marriage. He is compliant and tells the spectre in his entourage whose looks are identical to the statue to let Rupert go. Sadly, she returns the ring and declares the two of them no longer married.
* "The Venus of Ille" by Prosper Mérimée: A man puts a ring on the finger of an ancient statue; she becomes possessive of him and takes revenge when he gets married by squeezing him to death between her arms and legs during the wedding night. The statue is melted down and turned into church bells afterwards, but it's stated the crops froze twice in the years since.

* ''My Laughing Philosopher'' by Eden Phillpotts deals with a man who purchases an antique bronze bust that he learns is alive a week later when it sneezes upon smoke reaching its face. The bust is nameless, but referred to as my Laughing Philosopher or my Laugher by the unnamed man. The bust was created in Greece when the country was young and brought to Egypt when the country was old. It was in Egypt that it was given life with "magic from the morning of the world". That is, once every 500 years it gains the ability to speak the language of its then-owner to communicate with them only for fifty midnights to exchange viewpoints. The rest of the time, the bust is aware but separate from humanity. It arrived in England fifty to sixty years before the events of the book and this marked its first visit to said county. "Laughing Philospher" is a title given because the bust is a philosopher and old enough that no sentiment remains but laughter. The bust's owner argues that if he were a full statue with a heart, he would have been left with more than laughter, but the bust disagrees and over the course of fifty midnights helps the man understand him.
* ''Literature/TheStressOfHerRegard'' by Creator/TimPowers features another ring-on-finger example, likely based on "The Venus of Ille", although in this case, the statue turns out to be a silicon-based lifeform: a female nephil/gorgon/vampire/whatever.
* In ''Literature/TheWonderfulAdventuresOfNils'', Nils meets two statues when he visits Karlskrona: King Karl XI and Rosenbom, the latter a pauper statue. Because Nils is rude to the former, he seeks revenge, but Rosenbom hides the boy until the king's initial anger has passed.
* In ''Literature/TheSpiritRing'', a bronze statue is temporarily inhabited by the spirit of the dead man who was its model in order to lead an army to save the city while molten-hot!

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', Dumbledore magically animates the statues located in the Ministry of Magic.
** That is nothing compared to the defenses of Hogwarts, which include Minerva [=McGonagall=] activating every statue in the castle to defend the castle.
* Near the end of ''[[Literature/YoungWizards So You Want To Be A Wizard]]'', Kit animates basically every statue in New York City (including the statue of Prometheus from Rockefeller Center, the New York Public Library lions Patience and Fortitude, and Lady Liberty) to take on the Lone Power. Since It is an eternal [[PowersThatBe Power That Is]], and ''the creator of entropy'', they only slow It down, but it's an impressive show.

* In Creator/RobertEHoward's ''Literature/ConanTheBarbarian'' story "Literature/TheTowerOfTheElephant" the idol comes to life while Conan is in the room. Conan is actually surprised enough not to move for moments.
* In the last ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' book, ''The Last Olympian'', a good example is [[spoiler:almost every statue in Manhattan, who are actually mechanical automatons that can be activated to defend the island]].
* In Thorne Smith's ''The Night Life of the Gods'' the inventor of a gadget which can turn flesh to stone encounters one of the Furies. After she teaches him how to turn stone to flesh, they decide to carry out the process on the statues of Roman deities in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
* In ''Literature/WingsOfFire'': ''The Lost Heir'', Orca, firstborn princess of the [=SeaWings=], possessed animus magic in addition to a talent for sculpting. She made a decorative statue for the Royal Hatchery, then secretly enchanted it to kill all female heirs before they hatched, in order to eliminate her potential competition for the throne and to spite her mother, Queen Coral. Second-born Tsunami is eventually forced to fight this statue to defend herself and protect her unhatched sister Auklet.
* Those Who Must be Kept from ''Literature/TheVampireChronicles'' are essentially these in their dormant state. Akasha and Enkil are in statue form when they are "asleep" only to move when its time to feed or something interesting happens for them. They are worshiped as gods by younger vampires, they enjoy feeding on mortals and immortals alike. Their blood is very powerful and potent, so they are "kept" by many younger vampires in their statue form to make sure nothing bad happens to them.
* ''Literature/TheSagaOfTheFaroeIslanders'': Before Sigmund sails off to the Faroes, Jarl Hakon urges him to seek the support of Hakon's personal patron goddess, Thorgerd Hordabrud. He takes him to a temple where there is a statue of Thorgerd, wearing a ring of gold on her arm, and says that Thorgerd will give him that ring if she favours him. After Hakon has prayed to the statue and has made Sigmund offer a sum of silver, Hakon tries to take the ring off the statue, but "it seems to Sigmund that she is clenching her fist towards it", and the Jarl cannot take it. The Jarl then prays more ardently until he is weeping, and when he tries to take the ring again, it comes loose.

* ''Literature/TheStoneheartTrilogy'' is all about living statues. Their alive selves exist on [[AnotherDimension another plain of existence]] from which they can observe humans, but only rare gifted humans can see them. Statues are divided between Spits and Taints, which are at war. "Spit" is from "spitting image" and is the group comprised of statues of historical people which soul copies inhabit them. Taints are all other statues and they are soulless. Of course, there's a few who've switched sides, a few that are in-between and, of course, the [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman spits are the heroes]]. The story commences when a boy, George, breaks off the Temple Bar Dragon's head and is brought into the statues' dimension.
* An ambiguous case is Charley the Lawn Jockey in ''Literature/DumaKey'', which liveliness is tied to multiple factors. The real Charley is just a statue that John Eastlake used to mark the grave of the victims of Perse. But Charley as a living creature was also one of the first things Perse made Elizabeth draw into reality. Ever since, the Eastlake children have been afraid of Charley and in the present Perse has made its image one of the main guards of her hiding place. This Charley is larger than the actual statue, being about five and a half feet tall, and it moves around rapidly by means of GhostlyGlide because it cannot move its limbs. Because of this, its role a guard is to scare off intruders, but it can't actually harm anyone.
* Mayka, a young girl, is the titular protagonist of ''The Stone Girl's Story''. She is the last living statue created by the stonemason she and her siblings now only as Father. Father's first creation was Turtle (turle), and between him and Mayka he also created a school of fish, Badger (badger), Jacklo and Risa (two birds), Nianna (owl), Dersey and Harlisona (two rabbits), Kalgrey (cat), and Etho (lizard). Their life comes from storified personalities carved into their stone and various capabilities like speech and high jumping are granted by symbols placed on the appropriate body parts. At the start of the story, Father has been long dead and the statues are suffering fading and chipped marks. Turtle, the oldest, and most of the fish, which suffer erosion worse, have already "gone to sleep". Seeing as they are all doomed if nothing changes, Mayka sets off from the secluded mountain they live on to find a stonemason to fix them in the city of Skye in the valley below, from which Father originated. She estimates it should take her a week, but once in Skye she finds that the living statues there are servants to their organic keepers by means of an enslaving mark. From this horrific lesson also follows understanding that she and her stone kind have freedom of interpretation when it comes to the stories that give them existence, which changes the relationship between the stone and the flesh creatures for the better.
* Two stories by Creator/ENesbit deal with living statues:
** In ''Man-Size in Marble'', Brenzett in England is the location of a church that houses two marble statues that mark the final resting places of those they are sculpted after: two knights who terrorized the area in their time. Although their names are lost to time, the legend goes their deeds were so foul that their home was struck by lightning as a form of divine intervention. That same legend also says that on 11 o'clock on All Saints' Eve, the statues get up and visit the location of their former home, where nowadays a cottage stands. Any who meets them won't be there for sunrise. Of course, the narrator, who rented the cottage with his wife Laura, believed nothing of it and chose not to tell Laura either because of her frail state of mind at the time. Come All Saints' Eve and he felt like going for a walk, happening upon the church past 11 o'clock and noticing the statues gone. Once back home, he found Laura dead, though still clutching a marble finger in her hand.
** The marble statues of the manor in ''The Enchanted Castle'' come to life in moonlight, but humans can't see them do that. The only way to get in on the spell is to wear the magic ring or to use the ring to wish yourself to be a statue for the duration of the night. The statues know of this and if given the chance happily welcome humans and instruct them how to use the ring properly. The statues represent dinosaurs and Greek deities and by the rules of their magic are all (this includes statue-fied guests) athletically gifted. Each night, they enjoy a divine banquet on an island they swim to.

* In Dennis Etchison's short story "When They Gave Us Memory" a young man meets a struggling actor working as a living statue in his hometown. Later, after learning that his parents and friends have no memory of him, he finds that the living statue doesn't respond to him either. The fact that he and the statue are both actors gives the tale another level of eerie ambiguity.

* ''Literature/DonCamillo'': In "The Fear Persists" Don Camillo, who has learned the identity of the killer in an unsolved case of murder in a confession, is applying varnish to the large wooden crucifix on the main altar of his church when he suddenly has the impression that the statue's hand comes alive and touches his forehead to push it back. At the same time, a gunshot is fired into the church through a window (presumably the murderer trying to eliminate an unwanted witness). Moments later Don Camillo realizes that the bullet has pierced the hand of Christ. Though Christ insists that Don Camillo is "fantasizing", it is strongly implied that Christ's statue saved Don Camillo's life by pushing his head aside.