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* A handful of giant whirlpools appear scattered around the Zee in ''VideoGame/SunlessSea''. They impede the ship's movements, pulling them to their center, and cause slow damage to their hull.
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* Moskstraumen was the inspiration for ''[[Creator/EdgarAllanPoe A Descent Into The Maelstrom]]''. Wiki/TheOtherWiki has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moskstraumen more info]] on this and normal maelstroms, complete with pictures that look like nothing more than [[BoringButPractical standing water]]!
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* Moskstraumen was the inspiration for ''[[Creator/EdgarAllanPoe A Descent Into The Maelstrom]]''. Wiki/TheOtherWiki has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moskstraumen more info]] on this and normal maelstroms, complete with pictures that pictures-- although they don't look like nothing more than [[BoringButPractical standing water]]!quite as impressive as they do in movies]]!
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* The closest thing to a naturally-occurring real life instance of this trope is probably the whirlpool located in the Gulf of Corryvreckan, off Scotland. While not the largest maelstrom in the world (that record goes to the aforementioned Moskstraumen), it has a reputation for being the most dangerous, and is classified as an extreme maritime hazard by the Royal Navy. In one experiment, a dummy fitted with a depth gauge was thrown into the vortex and pulled down to a depth of over 800 feet. Creator/GeorgeOrwell was nearly killed by it in 1947.
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* Moskstraumen was the inspiration for ''[[Creator/EdgarAllanPoe A Descent Into The Maelstrom]]''. OtherWiki has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moskstraumen more info]] on this and normal maelstroms, complete with pictures that look like nothing more than [[BoringButPractical standing water]]!
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* Moskstraumen was the inspiration for ''[[Creator/EdgarAllanPoe A Descent Into The Maelstrom]]''. OtherWiki Wiki/TheOtherWiki has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moskstraumen more info]] on this and normal maelstroms, complete with pictures that look like nothing more than [[BoringButPractical standing water]]!
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* In OnePiece, this is actually exploited by the heroes once: Near the end of Enies Lobby arc, Sanji secretly sneaked out of his boat to hijack the control of the giant door on the waters they're on, causing it to slowly shut down and create giant whirlpools and water currents. The big Marine ships have difficulty on navigating through the currents, but the much smaller Straw Hat ship doesn't.
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* In OnePiece, ''OnePiece'', this is actually exploited by the heroes once: Near the end of Enies Lobby arc, Sanji secretly sneaked out of his boat to hijack the control of the giant door on the waters they're on, causing it to slowly shut down and create giant whirlpools and water currents. The big Marine ships have difficulty on navigating through the currents, but the much smaller Straw Hat ship doesn't.
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* ''[[Literature/LandofOz The Scarecrow of Oz]]'': Cap'n Bill and Trot get pulled into Oz by way of a freak summer maelstrom.
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* ''[[Literature/LandofOz ''[[Literature/LandOfOz The Scarecrow of Oz]]'': Cap'n Bill and Trot get pulled into Oz by way of a freak summer maelstrom.
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* In ''Videogame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack'', whirlpools are a common obstacle in the river levels. Get too close into it and you'll be sucked into the river, costing you a life.
* ''VideoGame/DragonsLair'''s hero, Drik the Daring, at one point must pilot a rowboat along a subterranean watercourse, dodging maelstroms left and right. If Dirk times himself correctly, he can skirt the vortexes and continue downstream; otherwise, Dirk goes down the vortex to his doom.
* ''VideoGame/DragonsLair'''s hero, Drik the Daring, at one point must pilot a rowboat along a subterranean watercourse, dodging maelstroms left and right. If Dirk times himself correctly, he can skirt the vortexes and continue downstream; otherwise, Dirk goes down the vortex to his doom.
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* In ''Videogame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack'', ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack'', whirlpools are a common obstacle in the river levels. Get too close into it and you'll be sucked into the river, costing you a life.
* ''VideoGame/DragonsLair'''s hero,Drik Dirk the Daring, at one point must pilot a rowboat along a subterranean watercourse, dodging maelstroms left and right. If Dirk times himself correctly, he can skirt the vortexes and continue downstream; otherwise, Dirk goes down the vortex to his doom.
* ''VideoGame/DragonsLair'''s hero,
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** In ''The Lost Age'', Lemuria is hidden behind a series of whirlpools and currents (and Poseidon). To get past them, you need to remember a children's song that explains how many times you need to go around each whirlpool.
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** In ''The ''[[VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge The Lost Age'', Age]]'', Lemuria is hidden behind a series of whirlpools and currents (and Poseidon). To get past them, you need to remember a children's song that explains how many times you need to go around each whirlpool.
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* ''[[Literature/KrimPyramid Pyramid Scheme]]'' ''also'' had Charybdis herself show up.
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* ''[[Literature/KrimPyramid Pyramid Scheme]]'' ''also'' ''Literature/PyramidScheme'' had Charybdis herself show up.
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* In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioColorSplash'', one of these sits permanently off the coast of Vortex Island, giving it its name. This whirlpool is actually artificially created: [[spoiler: It is energy leaked off from the [[DarkWorld Parallel World]] that manifests in the Normal World in the form of that vortex.]] [[spoiler:The source of that energy is an absurdly powerful washing machine that, due to the bizarre weather of the Parallel World, is perpetually in use.]]
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* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians''. The Sea of Monsters had Charybdis herself [[note]]see Mythology section[[/note]].
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* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians''. The Sea of Monsters had Charybdis herself herself .[[note]]see Mythology section[[/note]].section[[/note]]
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** In ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', Charybdis is situated under a rock which is opposite to a cliff inhabited by the sea-monster Scylla. When Odysseus sails through the strait, he stays as far away from Charybdis as possible, following Circe's advice who had warned him that not even Poseidon can save ships that are sucked into Charybdis' whirlpool. When the shipmates are watching the maelstrom in terror from a safe distance, six of them are seized and eaten by Scylla.
:::Later, Odysseus' ship has been wrecked by a storm, and Odysseus is drifting on a piece of wreckage back into the strait, when Charybdis starts to suck in the sea. The raft is sucked into the whirlpool, but Odysseus manages to hold on to a branch of the large fig tree growing on the rock above Charybdis. At evening, Charybdis regurgitates the water, and the raft comes up again. Odysseus recovers it and paddles away.
:::Later, Odysseus' ship has been wrecked by a storm, and Odysseus is drifting on a piece of wreckage back into the strait, when Charybdis starts to suck in the sea. The raft is sucked into the whirlpool, but Odysseus manages to hold on to a branch of the large fig tree growing on the rock above Charybdis. At evening, Charybdis regurgitates the water, and the raft comes up again. Odysseus recovers it and paddles away.
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** In ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', Charybdis is situated under a rock which is opposite to a cliff inhabited by the sea-monster Scylla. When Odysseus sails through the strait, he stays as far away from Charybdis as possible, following Circe's advice who had warned him that not even Poseidon can save ships that are sucked into Charybdis' whirlpool. When the shipmates are watching the maelstrom in terror from a safe distance, six of them are seized and eaten by Scylla.
:::Later,Scylla.\\
Later, Odysseus' ship has been wrecked by a storm, and Odysseus is drifting on a piece of wreckage back into the strait, when Charybdis starts to suck in the sea. The raft is sucked into the whirlpool, but Odysseus manages to hold on to a branch of the large fig tree growing on the rock above Charybdis. At evening, Charybdis regurgitates the water, and the raft comes up again. Odysseus recovers it and paddles away.
:::Later,
Later, Odysseus' ship has been wrecked by a storm, and Odysseus is drifting on a piece of wreckage back into the strait, when Charybdis starts to suck in the sea. The raft is sucked into the whirlpool, but Odysseus manages to hold on to a branch of the large fig tree growing on the rock above Charybdis. At evening, Charybdis regurgitates the water, and the raft comes up again. Odysseus recovers it and paddles away.
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* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians''. The Sea of Monsters had Charybdis herself [[note: see Mythology section]].
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* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians''. The Sea of Monsters had Charybdis herself [[note: see [[note]]see Mythology section]].section[[/note]].
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* In ''Literature/{{Redwall}} The Bellmaker'', Joseph and the other abbeydwellers encounter the Green Maelstrom at the end of the swift Roaringburn current, which is legendary for taking ships. They swing around the edge of it, [[spoiler: but the pursuing pirate ship isn't so lucky.]]
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* In ''Literature/{{Redwall}} The Bellmaker'', Joseph and the other abbeydwellers encounter the Green Maelstrom at the end of the swift Roaringburn current, which is legendary for taking ships. They swing around the edge of it, [[spoiler: but [[spoiler:but the pursuing pirate ship isn't so lucky.]]
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* The eighth episode of ''Anime/PokemonGenerations'' has Kyogre creating these in addition to HostileWeather. The island that Mossdeep City is on gets surrounded by maelstroms the size of cities.
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* The eighth episode of ''Anime/PokemonGenerations'' has Kyogre creating these in addition to HostileWeather. The island that Mossdeep City is on gets surrounded by maelstroms the size of cities. Compared to the games, even the remakes, that mostly only imply that the catastrophe would be a Great Flood, this shows that the resulting storm is far more catastrophic than that.
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* The eighth episode of ''Anime/PokemonGenerations'' has Kyogre creating these in addition to HostileWeather. The island that Mossdeep City is on gets surrounded by maelstroms the size of cities.
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* In ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' At World's End, [[spoiler:Calypso]] creates a massive maelstrom that serves as the battleground for TheClimax.
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* In ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' At World's End, ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'', [[spoiler:Calypso]] creates a massive maelstrom that serves as the battleground for TheClimax.
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* In ''Literature/TheInheritanceCycle'''s second book ''Eldest'', Roran and the Carvahall villagers are attempting to escape the Empire by sailing to Surda, but are pursued by three sloops. In a desperate attempt to evade the sloops, Roran and Uthar, despite their fear, run through a maelstrom called the Boar's Eye, formed by two opposite tidal currents that go between two islands southwest of the Empire. They succeed in getting through it due to the sheer amount of manpower available on the boat. The sloops... not so much.
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* In the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' universe, there is a continent-destroying magical maelstrom between the two main continents created by elves trying to [[AGodAmI play god]].
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* In the The ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' universe, there is a continent-destroying magical maelstrom between universe has the two main continents Maelstrom, a massive version of this near the center of the world, created by elves trying from a well of magic that led to [[AGodAmI play god]].the sundering of a Pangaea-like continent. The Maelstrom helped keep the continent of Kalimdor hidden from the Eastern Kingdoms due to the danger of sailing past it. It has been somewhat tamed since, and the shamans of the world have established a base in the jagged rocks that surround it, but it's still a huge and dangerous whirlpool.
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The teleporting thing is a simple tornado, not a maelstrom.
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* ''Franchise/LegendOfZelda'':''VideoGame/TheWindWaker'' does then when you choose to teleport when at sea, or when you fight one of the giant sea octoroks.
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* ''Franchise/LegendOfZelda'':''VideoGame/TheWindWaker'' ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' does then when you choose to teleport when at sea, or when you fight one of the giant sea octoroks.
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** In ''The Lost Age'', Lemuria is hidden behind a series of whirlpools and currents (and Poseidon). To get past them, you need to remember a children's song that explains how many times you need to go around each whirlpool.
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* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' can use these as a move and several appear on the maps in some games.
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* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' can use these as a move and several appear on the maps in some games.games, blocking passages. They're cancelled out by a Mon using the move out of battle.
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* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'', Characters/{{SCP Foundation SCPs 1000 And Beyond}}, [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1823 SCP-1823 ("Rock in a Hard Place")]]. SCP-1823 is a whirlpool with a variable diameter (1-4 kilometers) that can move between locations at up to 30 kilometers per hour. It hunts down and destroys ships.
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* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'', Characters/{{SCP ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[Characters/{{SCP Foundation SCPs 1000 And Beyond}}, Beyond}} SCP-1823]], [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1823 SCP-1823 ("Rock in a Hard Place")]]. SCP-1823 is a whirlpool with a variable diameter (1-4 kilometers) that can move between locations at up to 30 kilometers per hour. It hunts down and destroys ships.
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[[folder:Art]]
* The ''Art/CartaMarina'' of Olaus Magnus (1539) [[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maelstrom,_Carta_Marina.png depicts]] a large swirl in the sea amid the Lofoten islands, captioned [[AC:Hec est horrenda Caribdis]] ("This is the horrible Charybdis"). There is also a small ship in the middle of the maelstrom that is apparently just being sucked down.
[[/folder]]
* The ''Art/CartaMarina'' of Olaus Magnus (1539) [[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maelstrom,_Carta_Marina.png depicts]] a large swirl in the sea amid the Lofoten islands, captioned [[AC:Hec est horrenda Caribdis]] ("This is the horrible Charybdis"). There is also a small ship in the middle of the maelstrom that is apparently just being sucked down.
[[/folder]]
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[[/folder]]
[[folder:Other]]
* The ''Art/CartaMarina'' of Olaus Magnus (1539) [[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maelstrom,_Carta_Marina.png depicts]] a large swirl in the sea amid the Lofoten islands, captioned [[AC:Hec est horrenda Caribdis]] ("This is the horrible Charybdis"). There is also a small ship in the middle of the maelstrom that is apparently just being sucked down.
[[folder:Other]]
* The ''Art/CartaMarina'' of Olaus Magnus (1539) [[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maelstrom,_Carta_Marina.png depicts]] a large swirl in the sea amid the Lofoten islands, captioned [[AC:Hec est horrenda Caribdis]] ("This is the horrible Charybdis"). There is also a small ship in the middle of the maelstrom that is apparently just being sucked down.
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* The ''Carta Marina'' of Olaus Magnus (1539) [[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maelstrom,_Carta_Marina.png depicts]] a large swirl in the sea amid the Lofoten islands, captioned [[AC:Hec est horrenda Caribdis]] ("This is the horrible Charybdis"). There is also a small ship in the middle of the maelstrom that is apparently just being sucked down.
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* The ''Carta Marina'' ''Art/CartaMarina'' of Olaus Magnus (1539) [[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maelstrom,_Carta_Marina.png depicts]] a large swirl in the sea amid the Lofoten islands, captioned [[AC:Hec est horrenda Caribdis]] ("This is the horrible Charybdis"). There is also a small ship in the middle of the maelstrom that is apparently just being sucked down.
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->The sea is always hungry.
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* ''{{Manga/Uzumaki}}'' features whirlpools from the beginning. They start out as small eddies in rivers, but by the end, they're large enough to swallow boats. [[spoiler:An unusually large example near the end pulls several full-sized ships to the bottom of the ocean when they're sent to rescue the people of Kurozu-cho]].
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Compare FunWithFlushing, DoNotTouchTheFunnelCloud, and InevitableWaterfall.
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Compare FunWithFlushing, DoNotTouchTheFunnelCloud, UnrealisticBlackHole, and InevitableWaterfall.
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[[folder:TabletopGames]]
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* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'', Characters/{{SCP Foundation SCPs 1000 And Beyond}}, [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1823 SCP-1823 ("Rock in a Hard Place")]]. SCP-1823 is a whirlpool with a variable diameter (1-4 kilometers) that can move between locations at up to 30 kilometers per hour. It hunts down and destroys ships.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
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[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
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[[folder:RealLife]]
* As noted in the description, Maelstroms appear all over the world, but often look rather formless as they are simply two currents crashing into each other in opposite directions. Whirlpools do exists as well, but they are not usually fast moving enough to be consider a maelstrom and are ''never'' as large as a Mega Maelstrom.
* As noted in the description, Maelstroms appear all over the world, but often look rather formless as they are simply two currents crashing into each other in opposite directions. Whirlpools do exists as well, but they are not usually fast moving enough to be consider a maelstrom and are ''never'' as large as a Mega Maelstrom.
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* As noted in the description,
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* Leave it to humans to create the condition that actually does result in a Mega Maelstrom by accidentally [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddlrGkeOzsI&feature=youtu.be drilling for oil into a salt mine underneath a shallow lake.]] [[spoiler:The inflowing water dissolved the salt, widening the drain until the entire lake and parts of the surrounding countryside disappeared into an enormous whirlpool.]]
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Added space after dash, see Trope Entry Template for correct use of quotes
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-->--[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=378428 Vortex Elemental]], ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering''
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* [[ClassicalMythology Charybdis]] is a sea-monster that creates the UrExample. Charybdis lives in a sea-strait, often specified as the Strait of Messina (where tidal whirlpools occur). Thrice a day, Charybdis swallows huge amounts of water and thus creates a maelstrom. After a time, it spits the water out again; afterwards there is a period of calm before Charybdis begins to swallow again.
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* [[ClassicalMythology [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Charybdis]] is a sea-monster that creates the UrExample. Charybdis lives in a sea-strait, often specified as the Strait of Messina (where tidal whirlpools occur). Thrice a day, Charybdis swallows huge amounts of water and thus creates a maelstrom. After a time, it spits the water out again; afterwards there is a period of calm before Charybdis begins to swallow again.
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* NorseMythology: According to ''Literature/ProseEdda'', King Frodi of Denmark had a magical mill called Grotti which was so huge it had to be turned by two giantesses. Grotti was robbed by the viking Mysingr, who loaded it on his ship and used it to create salt. But his greed was so great that he did not make the mill stop even when the salt was becoming too heavy, and the ship went down. The mill is still turning on the sea-bottom, making the sea salty and causing a maelstrom where the sea falls into the mill-eye.
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* NorseMythology: Myth/NorseMythology: According to ''Literature/ProseEdda'', King Frodi of Denmark had a magical mill called Grotti which was so huge it had to be turned by two giantesses. Grotti was robbed by the viking Mysingr, who loaded it on his ship and used it to create salt. But his greed was so great that he did not make the mill stop even when the salt was becoming too heavy, and the ship went down. The mill is still turning on the sea-bottom, making the sea salty and causing a maelstrom where the sea falls into the mill-eye.
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* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. The monster fish known as the Afanc could swim in circles and create a whirlpool powerful enough to suck a ship up to 60 feet long down to the bottom.
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* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''
** 1st Edition ''Fiend Folio''. The monster fish known as the Afanccould can swim in circles and create a whirlpool powerful enough to suck a ship up to 60 feet long down to the bottom.
** 2nd Edition ''Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix''. The type of Worm known as the Marine Leviathan can swim in circles for three minutes and create a whirlpool 100 feet wide at the top, 200 feet deep, and 50 feet wide at the bottom.
** 1st Edition ''Fiend Folio''. The monster fish known as the Afanc
** 2nd Edition ''Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix''. The type of Worm known as the Marine Leviathan can swim in circles for three minutes and create a whirlpool 100 feet wide at the top, 200 feet deep, and 50 feet wide at the bottom.
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* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic III'''s maelstroms act as maritime portals that instantly transport you to different locations on the map.
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* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic III'''s maelstroms act as maritime portals that instantly transport you to different locations on the map.map, if you don't object that part of your army will fall overboard and drown.
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* ''[[Literature/LandofOz The Scarecrow of Oz]]'': Cap'n Bill and Trot get pulled into Oz by way of a freak summer maelstrom.
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[[quoteright:300:[[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/potc-maelstrom_6852.png]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:300:The ships in the vortex go round and round...]]-]
->The sea is always hungry.
-->--[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=378428 Vortex Elemental]], ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering''
You're sailing through the ocean on a grand ship, and the guy sitting in the crow's nest somehow doesn't see a '''''massive vortex of water''''' that threatens to pull you, your crew, and your ship to the bottom of the sea. Enter the most common version of the Mega Maelstrom.
The poor crew will attempt to sail around the maelstrom, through it or go straight into it if it's actually a PortalPool.
Occasionally, the Mega Maelstrom may not even be made of water but something [[BuffySpeak vortex-y]] that might suck in people or things around it. This version can overlap with GravitySucks.
In RealLife, aquatic maelstroms exist, and they are dangerous to people swimming in them as well as small boats, but they are merely two currents flowing against each other at high speed which can only cause a small funnel to form, at best. This real maelstrom doesn't actually suck you under; you might go from one fast moving stream to another, in a circle around the epicenter, or you might be eventually thrown off into safer waters.
The [[AncientGreece Ancient Greek]] myth of Charybdis makes this trope OlderThanFeudalism.
Note that the whirlpool does not have to pose a threat to a large ship to qualify as this trope. It need only be an unrealistically large [[EverythingsBetterwithSpinning swirling]] maelstrom or ''comparatively'' large to one of the characters. A bathtub drain could qualify in a movie about anthropomorphic bugs, for example.
Compare FunWithFlushing, DoNotTouchTheFunnelCloud, and InevitableWaterfall.
If the maelstrom is long-lasting enough, it can overlap with PerpetualStorm.
----
!!Examples
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' made one of these when Freeza was [[spoiler:thought to be dead]].
* In OnePiece, this is actually exploited by the heroes once: Near the end of Enies Lobby arc, Sanji secretly sneaked out of his boat to hijack the control of the giant door on the waters they're on, causing it to slowly shut down and create giant whirlpools and water currents. The big Marine ships have difficulty on navigating through the currents, but the much smaller Straw Hat ship doesn't.
** Additionally, the character Jinbe can be seen standing in a Mega Maelstrom in episode 450.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film]]
* The closing bars of Darla Dimple's VillainSong in ''WesternAnimation/CatsDontDance'' show Danny and Sawyer circling each other while caught in a vortex, looking appropriately scared and doomed. Fortunately, this scene exists only in Darla's mind, but it illustrates just how craven and ruthless she is in order to maintain her ''prima donna'' status at Mammoth Studios.
* In ''Film/TheFinalCountdown'' there's a time vortex that is kind of a sideways maelstrom, that ''literally'' swallows the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz.
* In ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'', the sea witch Ursula wrestles the crown and trident away from King Triton, stirs the sea until she has formed a huge vortex, and traps Ariel on dry sea bed at its bottom. Ursula then toys with poor Ariel, who has little room to dodge deadly bolts from the trident.
* In ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' At World's End, [[spoiler:Calypso]] creates a massive maelstrom that serves as the battleground for TheClimax.
* Zig Zagged in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'': [[spoiler:Near the end, the toys get put inside a trash machine that has scraps flowing down in a vaguely funnel shape towards a melting point with no way to climb out. They were saved by a claw machine.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' has the Cherek Bore, a maelstrom that protects the Cherek peninsula from incursion. Chereks have developed a technique to get through it.
* TropeCodifier is ''A Descent Into the Maelstrom'' by Creator/EdgarAllanPoe. The narrator is awed by watching the "Moskoe-strom" [[note]]see "Moskstraumen" in RealLife section[[/note]], described as a gigantic whirlpool of "more than a mile in diameter", from a mountain top in the Lofoten islands. His guide, a local fisherman, then tells him a story of how he and his two brothers were sucked into the Moskoe-strom in the middle of a storm. While the fisherboat was spiralling at high speed around the edge of the funnel, the fisherman had time to observe that small, cylindrical objects were sucked slower into the funnel than other objects. By lashing himself to an empty barrel, the man managed to outlast the whirlpool and was saved, while his elder brother clung to the fishing boat and was sucked down.
* In the ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' world of Krynn, at the center of the Blood Sea of Istar lies a giant vortex known as the Maelstrom. It was created when the Gods destroyed the city of Istar during the Cataclysm. The Maelstrom constantly stirs up the soil causing the water to look red which is how the sea got its name, though the legend on Krynn was that the color was really caused by the blood of all those who died in Istar.
* Paul the Deacon's ''History of the Lombards'' (c. 790 AD) discusses maelstroms in chapter 6. Paul believes maelstroms switch between sucking and emitting water twice a day, thus causing the tides. Especially there is huge maelstrom called "Navel of the Sea" in the North Sea and another one in the Channel near Alderney. One time, an entire fleet was sucked into this latter whirlpool, and only a single survivor managed to cling to a rock in the sea, from where he could see right down into the maelstrom. The man expected to die, when luckily the maelstrom switched from sucking to spitting and threw up the ships it had sucked in; the man managed to grab one of the ships and made it back to land.
* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians''. The Sea of Monsters had Charybdis herself [[note: see Mythology section]].
* ''[[Literature/KrimPyramid Pyramid Scheme]]'' ''also'' had Charybdis herself show up.
* At the end of ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'' by Creator/JulesVerne, Professor Aronnax and his friends are just trying to flee from the ''Nautilus'' in one of her skiffs, when they realize the submarine has been caught by the Lofoten maelstrom. They want to turn back, but the current rips the skiff away from the ''Nautilus''. Professor Arronax then loses consciousness by bumping his head; when he comes to he and his friends are in safety in a fisherman's hut in the Lofoten. He doesn't know how they escaped the maelstrom, or whether the ''Nautilus'' escaped.
* In ''Literature/{{Redwall}} The Bellmaker'', Joseph and the other abbeydwellers encounter the Green Maelstrom at the end of the swift Roaringburn current, which is legendary for taking ships. They swing around the edge of it, [[spoiler: but the pursuing pirate ship isn't so lucky.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'' tested this. Turns out maelstroms simply ''can't'' get big enough to swallow any reasonably sized ship.
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'' used several as portals between worlds.
[[folder:Mythology]]
* [[ClassicalMythology Charybdis]] is a sea-monster that creates the UrExample. Charybdis lives in a sea-strait, often specified as the Strait of Messina (where tidal whirlpools occur). Thrice a day, Charybdis swallows huge amounts of water and thus creates a maelstrom. After a time, it spits the water out again; afterwards there is a period of calm before Charybdis begins to swallow again.
** In ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', Charybdis is situated under a rock which is opposite to a cliff inhabited by the sea-monster Scylla. When Odysseus sails through the strait, he stays as far away from Charybdis as possible, following Circe's advice who had warned him that not even Poseidon can save ships that are sucked into Charybdis' whirlpool. When the shipmates are watching the maelstrom in terror from a safe distance, six of them are seized and eaten by Scylla.
:::Later, Odysseus' ship has been wrecked by a storm, and Odysseus is drifting on a piece of wreckage back into the strait, when Charybdis starts to suck in the sea. The raft is sucked into the whirlpool, but Odysseus manages to hold on to a branch of the large fig tree growing on the rock above Charybdis. At evening, Charybdis regurgitates the water, and the raft comes up again. Odysseus recovers it and paddles away.
** In book 3 of ''Literature/TheAeneid'', Aeneas' fleet of Trojan refugees draws near the Strait of Messina with the intent to pass it, when the growing current and a thundering noise make them realize at the last moment that they are approaching the infamous Charybdis. They immediately turn around and row for their lives, and, hours later and utterly exhausted, manage to escape the suction of Charybdis.
* NorseMythology: According to ''Literature/ProseEdda'', King Frodi of Denmark had a magical mill called Grotti which was so huge it had to be turned by two giantesses. Grotti was robbed by the viking Mysingr, who loaded it on his ship and used it to create salt. But his greed was so great that he did not make the mill stop even when the salt was becoming too heavy, and the ship went down. The mill is still turning on the sea-bottom, making the sea salty and causing a maelstrom where the sea falls into the mill-eye.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:TabletopGames]]
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. The monster fish known as the Afanc could swim in circles and create a whirlpool powerful enough to suck a ship up to 60 feet long down to the bottom.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:VideoGames]]
* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' inexplicably uses one of these to teleport you while you're ''on foot''.
* In ''Videogame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack'', whirlpools are a common obstacle in the river levels. Get too close into it and you'll be sucked into the river, costing you a life.
* ''VideoGame/DragonsLair'''s hero, Drik the Daring, at one point must pilot a rowboat along a subterranean watercourse, dodging maelstroms left and right. If Dirk times himself correctly, he can skirt the vortexes and continue downstream; otherwise, Dirk goes down the vortex to his doom.
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'' requires that you sail your ship into one of these to get to the BonusDungeon.
* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic III'''s maelstroms act as maritime portals that instantly transport you to different locations on the map.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' can use these as a move and several appear on the maps in some games.
* ''Franchise/LegendOfZelda'':''VideoGame/TheWindWaker'' does then when you choose to teleport when at sea, or when you fight one of the giant sea octoroks.
* In ''VideoGame/UltimaIV'', getting sucked into a maelstrom while at sea gives you a FissionMailed message and actually transports you to an otherwise unreachable location which you have to visit in order to finish the game.
* In the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' universe, there is a continent-destroying magical maelstrom between the two main continents created by elves trying to [[AGodAmI play god]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' had [[spoiler:Katara]] making one of these to fight a giant sea serpent.
* ''WesternAnimation/LoonaticsUnleashed'': The villainous aquatic mutant Adolpho from "A Creep In The Deep" episode can orchestrate sea creatures to swim in unison in order to create vortexes that swallow bridges, seaside condos and luxury liners.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:RealLife]]
* As noted in the description, Maelstroms appear all over the world, but often look rather formless as they are simply two currents crashing into each other in opposite directions. Whirlpools do exists as well, but they are not usually fast moving enough to be consider a maelstrom and are ''never'' as large as a Mega Maelstrom.
* Moskstraumen was the inspiration for ''[[Creator/EdgarAllanPoe A Descent Into The Maelstrom]]''. OtherWiki has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moskstraumen more info]] on this and normal maelstroms, complete with pictures that look like nothing more than [[BoringButPractical standing water]]!
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Other]]
* The ''Carta Marina'' of Olaus Magnus (1539) [[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maelstrom,_Carta_Marina.png depicts]] a large swirl in the sea amid the Lofoten islands, captioned [[AC:Hec est horrenda Caribdis]] ("This is the horrible Charybdis"). There is also a small ship in the middle of the maelstrom that is apparently just being sucked down.
[[/folder]]
[-[[caption-width-right:300:The ships in the vortex go round and round...]]-]
->The sea is always hungry.
-->--[[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=378428 Vortex Elemental]], ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering''
You're sailing through the ocean on a grand ship, and the guy sitting in the crow's nest somehow doesn't see a '''''massive vortex of water''''' that threatens to pull you, your crew, and your ship to the bottom of the sea. Enter the most common version of the Mega Maelstrom.
The poor crew will attempt to sail around the maelstrom, through it or go straight into it if it's actually a PortalPool.
Occasionally, the Mega Maelstrom may not even be made of water but something [[BuffySpeak vortex-y]] that might suck in people or things around it. This version can overlap with GravitySucks.
In RealLife, aquatic maelstroms exist, and they are dangerous to people swimming in them as well as small boats, but they are merely two currents flowing against each other at high speed which can only cause a small funnel to form, at best. This real maelstrom doesn't actually suck you under; you might go from one fast moving stream to another, in a circle around the epicenter, or you might be eventually thrown off into safer waters.
The [[AncientGreece Ancient Greek]] myth of Charybdis makes this trope OlderThanFeudalism.
Note that the whirlpool does not have to pose a threat to a large ship to qualify as this trope. It need only be an unrealistically large [[EverythingsBetterwithSpinning swirling]] maelstrom or ''comparatively'' large to one of the characters. A bathtub drain could qualify in a movie about anthropomorphic bugs, for example.
Compare FunWithFlushing, DoNotTouchTheFunnelCloud, and InevitableWaterfall.
If the maelstrom is long-lasting enough, it can overlap with PerpetualStorm.
----
!!Examples
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' made one of these when Freeza was [[spoiler:thought to be dead]].
* In OnePiece, this is actually exploited by the heroes once: Near the end of Enies Lobby arc, Sanji secretly sneaked out of his boat to hijack the control of the giant door on the waters they're on, causing it to slowly shut down and create giant whirlpools and water currents. The big Marine ships have difficulty on navigating through the currents, but the much smaller Straw Hat ship doesn't.
** Additionally, the character Jinbe can be seen standing in a Mega Maelstrom in episode 450.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film]]
* The closing bars of Darla Dimple's VillainSong in ''WesternAnimation/CatsDontDance'' show Danny and Sawyer circling each other while caught in a vortex, looking appropriately scared and doomed. Fortunately, this scene exists only in Darla's mind, but it illustrates just how craven and ruthless she is in order to maintain her ''prima donna'' status at Mammoth Studios.
* In ''Film/TheFinalCountdown'' there's a time vortex that is kind of a sideways maelstrom, that ''literally'' swallows the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz.
* In ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid'', the sea witch Ursula wrestles the crown and trident away from King Triton, stirs the sea until she has formed a huge vortex, and traps Ariel on dry sea bed at its bottom. Ursula then toys with poor Ariel, who has little room to dodge deadly bolts from the trident.
* In ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' At World's End, [[spoiler:Calypso]] creates a massive maelstrom that serves as the battleground for TheClimax.
* Zig Zagged in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'': [[spoiler:Near the end, the toys get put inside a trash machine that has scraps flowing down in a vaguely funnel shape towards a melting point with no way to climb out. They were saved by a claw machine.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' has the Cherek Bore, a maelstrom that protects the Cherek peninsula from incursion. Chereks have developed a technique to get through it.
* TropeCodifier is ''A Descent Into the Maelstrom'' by Creator/EdgarAllanPoe. The narrator is awed by watching the "Moskoe-strom" [[note]]see "Moskstraumen" in RealLife section[[/note]], described as a gigantic whirlpool of "more than a mile in diameter", from a mountain top in the Lofoten islands. His guide, a local fisherman, then tells him a story of how he and his two brothers were sucked into the Moskoe-strom in the middle of a storm. While the fisherboat was spiralling at high speed around the edge of the funnel, the fisherman had time to observe that small, cylindrical objects were sucked slower into the funnel than other objects. By lashing himself to an empty barrel, the man managed to outlast the whirlpool and was saved, while his elder brother clung to the fishing boat and was sucked down.
* In the ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' world of Krynn, at the center of the Blood Sea of Istar lies a giant vortex known as the Maelstrom. It was created when the Gods destroyed the city of Istar during the Cataclysm. The Maelstrom constantly stirs up the soil causing the water to look red which is how the sea got its name, though the legend on Krynn was that the color was really caused by the blood of all those who died in Istar.
* Paul the Deacon's ''History of the Lombards'' (c. 790 AD) discusses maelstroms in chapter 6. Paul believes maelstroms switch between sucking and emitting water twice a day, thus causing the tides. Especially there is huge maelstrom called "Navel of the Sea" in the North Sea and another one in the Channel near Alderney. One time, an entire fleet was sucked into this latter whirlpool, and only a single survivor managed to cling to a rock in the sea, from where he could see right down into the maelstrom. The man expected to die, when luckily the maelstrom switched from sucking to spitting and threw up the ships it had sucked in; the man managed to grab one of the ships and made it back to land.
* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians''. The Sea of Monsters had Charybdis herself [[note: see Mythology section]].
* ''[[Literature/KrimPyramid Pyramid Scheme]]'' ''also'' had Charybdis herself show up.
* At the end of ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'' by Creator/JulesVerne, Professor Aronnax and his friends are just trying to flee from the ''Nautilus'' in one of her skiffs, when they realize the submarine has been caught by the Lofoten maelstrom. They want to turn back, but the current rips the skiff away from the ''Nautilus''. Professor Arronax then loses consciousness by bumping his head; when he comes to he and his friends are in safety in a fisherman's hut in the Lofoten. He doesn't know how they escaped the maelstrom, or whether the ''Nautilus'' escaped.
* In ''Literature/{{Redwall}} The Bellmaker'', Joseph and the other abbeydwellers encounter the Green Maelstrom at the end of the swift Roaringburn current, which is legendary for taking ships. They swing around the edge of it, [[spoiler: but the pursuing pirate ship isn't so lucky.]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Mythbusters}}'' tested this. Turns out maelstroms simply ''can't'' get big enough to swallow any reasonably sized ship.
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'' used several as portals between worlds.
[[folder:Mythology]]
* [[ClassicalMythology Charybdis]] is a sea-monster that creates the UrExample. Charybdis lives in a sea-strait, often specified as the Strait of Messina (where tidal whirlpools occur). Thrice a day, Charybdis swallows huge amounts of water and thus creates a maelstrom. After a time, it spits the water out again; afterwards there is a period of calm before Charybdis begins to swallow again.
** In ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', Charybdis is situated under a rock which is opposite to a cliff inhabited by the sea-monster Scylla. When Odysseus sails through the strait, he stays as far away from Charybdis as possible, following Circe's advice who had warned him that not even Poseidon can save ships that are sucked into Charybdis' whirlpool. When the shipmates are watching the maelstrom in terror from a safe distance, six of them are seized and eaten by Scylla.
:::Later, Odysseus' ship has been wrecked by a storm, and Odysseus is drifting on a piece of wreckage back into the strait, when Charybdis starts to suck in the sea. The raft is sucked into the whirlpool, but Odysseus manages to hold on to a branch of the large fig tree growing on the rock above Charybdis. At evening, Charybdis regurgitates the water, and the raft comes up again. Odysseus recovers it and paddles away.
** In book 3 of ''Literature/TheAeneid'', Aeneas' fleet of Trojan refugees draws near the Strait of Messina with the intent to pass it, when the growing current and a thundering noise make them realize at the last moment that they are approaching the infamous Charybdis. They immediately turn around and row for their lives, and, hours later and utterly exhausted, manage to escape the suction of Charybdis.
* NorseMythology: According to ''Literature/ProseEdda'', King Frodi of Denmark had a magical mill called Grotti which was so huge it had to be turned by two giantesses. Grotti was robbed by the viking Mysingr, who loaded it on his ship and used it to create salt. But his greed was so great that he did not make the mill stop even when the salt was becoming too heavy, and the ship went down. The mill is still turning on the sea-bottom, making the sea salty and causing a maelstrom where the sea falls into the mill-eye.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:TabletopGames]]
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. The monster fish known as the Afanc could swim in circles and create a whirlpool powerful enough to suck a ship up to 60 feet long down to the bottom.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:VideoGames]]
* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' inexplicably uses one of these to teleport you while you're ''on foot''.
* In ''Videogame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack'', whirlpools are a common obstacle in the river levels. Get too close into it and you'll be sucked into the river, costing you a life.
* ''VideoGame/DragonsLair'''s hero, Drik the Daring, at one point must pilot a rowboat along a subterranean watercourse, dodging maelstroms left and right. If Dirk times himself correctly, he can skirt the vortexes and continue downstream; otherwise, Dirk goes down the vortex to his doom.
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'' requires that you sail your ship into one of these to get to the BonusDungeon.
* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic III'''s maelstroms act as maritime portals that instantly transport you to different locations on the map.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' can use these as a move and several appear on the maps in some games.
* ''Franchise/LegendOfZelda'':''VideoGame/TheWindWaker'' does then when you choose to teleport when at sea, or when you fight one of the giant sea octoroks.
* In ''VideoGame/UltimaIV'', getting sucked into a maelstrom while at sea gives you a FissionMailed message and actually transports you to an otherwise unreachable location which you have to visit in order to finish the game.
* In the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' universe, there is a continent-destroying magical maelstrom between the two main continents created by elves trying to [[AGodAmI play god]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' had [[spoiler:Katara]] making one of these to fight a giant sea serpent.
* ''WesternAnimation/LoonaticsUnleashed'': The villainous aquatic mutant Adolpho from "A Creep In The Deep" episode can orchestrate sea creatures to swim in unison in order to create vortexes that swallow bridges, seaside condos and luxury liners.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:RealLife]]
* As noted in the description, Maelstroms appear all over the world, but often look rather formless as they are simply two currents crashing into each other in opposite directions. Whirlpools do exists as well, but they are not usually fast moving enough to be consider a maelstrom and are ''never'' as large as a Mega Maelstrom.
* Moskstraumen was the inspiration for ''[[Creator/EdgarAllanPoe A Descent Into The Maelstrom]]''. OtherWiki has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moskstraumen more info]] on this and normal maelstroms, complete with pictures that look like nothing more than [[BoringButPractical standing water]]!
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Other]]
* The ''Carta Marina'' of Olaus Magnus (1539) [[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maelstrom,_Carta_Marina.png depicts]] a large swirl in the sea amid the Lofoten islands, captioned [[AC:Hec est horrenda Caribdis]] ("This is the horrible Charybdis"). There is also a small ship in the middle of the maelstrom that is apparently just being sucked down.
[[/folder]]
