History Main / RocBirds

* TabletopGame/{{Chess}}: An indirect appearance: the name of the bird in Persian (''rukh'') is the same as an old word for chariot. This was applied to one of the pieces of chess in the Middle Ages, which became the rook in modern English.

* ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTensei'': Roc (sometimes Rukh) is frequently a demon in the series and its spinoffs. It is usually a member of the Avian or Flight race, and is usually portrayed as a giant bird with a rocky skin texture to emphasize its size, making it look like a flying mountain.

* ''Fanfic/AGrowingAffection'': The Shadow Roc is a creature similar to the [[AnimalisticAbombination Tailed Beasts]] that has allied with Orochimaru so that it can usurp control of its jinchuriki. The Shadow Roc is described as being weaker than Shukaku the One-Tailed Beast, but is so large that all nine could ride on its back and have space between them.

* ''TabletopGame/OkoYrrhedesa'': There is an island with a roc nests. Should the party tamper with it or, God forbid, decide to destroy or simply eat the egg, once the adult bird shows up, it will attack by hurling boulders at them from above to try to sink their ship.

[[folder:ThemeParks]]

* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', a drunken wizard [[TeleportationMisfire teleports the Order into a roc's nest]]. Fortunately, the roc eats the wizard first, becomes drunk itself, and passes out. In [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1049.html a later strip]], when the characters are on an airship going through a high mountain pass, hazard signs are visible warning of falling rocks and falling rocs. [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0755.html An in-universe version]] of ''Series/SesameStreet'' has a Big Bird-like full-body puppet called Little Roc.

* ''LetsPlay/{{Chuggaaconroy}}'': Invoked in the ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' playthrough, where Chugga named his Archeops after this bird. It doubles as a pun, since Archaeops is a ''rock-type''.

* ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'': There are two Peng demons (see below) which sometimes are translated as Rocs. The first plays a marginal role and is the Peng Demon King, one of Sun Wukong's friends and bearer of the title of "Great Sage who Muddles the Heaven". The second one is known as either the "1000 Li-Travelling Peng" or "Great Golden-Winged Peng Bird" and is one of the three Demon Kings of the Lion Camel Mountain Range. Essentially a humanoid Roc wearing armor and wielding a [[BladeOnAStick Fàngtianji (Squared Heaven Halbeard)]] and is one of the few enemies good enough to be a match for Sun Wukong, who's forced to seek the help of Buddha to submit him.

* The {{Thunderbird}}, as seen in various Native American mythologies, is similar in nature to the Roc, but also carries supernatural power often related to storms. So massive is it that it is said to create thunder by flapping its wings, and some accounts depict them hunting whales, which try to drown the birds by diving once they've been grabbed. In cryptozoology, the Thunderbird has since been appropriated to refer to rumored sightings of giant flying birds in the skies above North America, with theories ranging from misinterpretations of existing birds of prey to late-surviving [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teratornithidae teratorns]] and even [[PteroSoarer pterosaurs]] that have somehow escaped extinction. Generally, though, the notion of a giant undiscovered bird of prey has been dismissed as unlikely -- with so many birdwatchers in the U.S., one would think they'd have found out about such a bird by now if it actually existed.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'':

* In ''Fanfic/HeartOfTheForest'', [[spoiler:the Shadow that attacked Sungrove turns out to be a roc.]] They usually live in mountains in the far north, and few have met one and lived to tell the tale. They have the power to summon strong winds without even flapping their wings.

* In ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' there are two Peng demons (see below) which sometimes are translated as Rocs. The first plays a marginal role and is the Peng Demon King, one of Sun Wukong's friends and bearer of the title of "Great Sage who Muddles the Heaven". The second one is known as either the "1000 Li-Travelling Peng" or "Great Golden-Winged Peng Bird" and is one of the three Demon Kings of the Lion Camel Mountain Range. Essentially a humanoid Roc wearing armor and wielding a [[BladeOnAStick Fàngtianji (Squared Heaven Halbeard)]] and is one of the few enemies good enough to be a match for Sun Wukong, who's forced to seek the help of Buddha to submit him.

* In Literature/TolkiensLegendarium, the Giant Eagles are colossal, [[TheAgeless ageless]], [[NobleBirdOfPrey benevolent]] agents of the chief PhysicalGod on Middle-Earth. Their leader Thorondor was described as 180 feet tall and powerful enough to scar [[GodOfEvil Morgoth]] himself. Although their true nature was left ambiguous, Tolkien speculated that they could be [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angelic Maiar]] in animal form.
* In ''Literature/TheTravelsOfMarcoPolo'', in what is quite possibly one of the earliest accounts of the creatures in Europe, Marco Polo describes rocs as eagle-like birds from Madagascar so large that their feathers alone are twelve paces long. They hunt by gripping elephants in their talons and dropping them to ground, before swooping down to feed on the smashed remains.

* In ''VideoGame/AceCombat7SkiesUnknown'', fellow squadmate Jaeger compares the [[DroneDeployer Arsenal Birds]] to the Roc birds of myth. A fairly apt comparison, since the Arsenal Birds are roughly the size of an entire sports stadium.

* A Roc serves as the third boss of ''VideoGame/ArabianMagic''. You fight it while riding a MagicCarpet, and because it's so huge you'll need to fight it twice, firstly the talons and then the head (each with it's own healthbar).

* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'': One of the BonusBoss ship battles is against a Roc. It is large enough to dwarf Vyse's ship, the Delphinus, which is one of the largest craft in the game. You can also find it's nest nearby, a single egg from which is said to be enough to feed an entire town for a lunar cycle.

* In ''Fanfic/HeartOfTheForest'', [[spoiler:the Shadow that attacked Sungrove turns out to be a roc. They usually live in mountains in the far north, and few have met one and lived to tell the tale. They have the power to summon strong winds without even flapping their wings.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hilda}}'': A thunderbird named Raven features prominently in the third episode and makes occasional cameos afterward. Differs from most other examples on this page in that he resembles a raven rather than an eagle, and can change his size to disguise himself as an actual raven.

* WesternAnimation/''{{Hilda}}'': A thunderbird named Raven features prominently in the third episode and makes occasional cameos afterward. Differs from most other examples on this page in that he resembles a raven rather than an eagle, and can change his size to disguise himself as an actual raven.

* WesternAnimation/{{Hilda}}: A thunderbird named Raven features prominently in the third episode and makes occasional cameos afterward. Differs from most other examples on this page in that he resembles a raven rather than an eagle, and can change his size to disguise himself as an actual raven.

** In ''TabletopGame/AlQadim'', it should come as no surprise that they are a prominent part of the setting, given the ArabianNightsDays theme. In fact the setting has ''three'' variations. Asides from the common roc found in other settings, there are also the intelligent great rocs and the evil-aligned two-headed rocs (based on the Creator/RayHarryhausen one from ''Film/The7thVoyageOfSinbad'').

A very specific form of GiantFlyer hailing from Arabic and Persian folklore, the roc (sometimes spelled ruk or rukh) typically takes the form of an eagle of stupefying size. Additional embellishments are rare, but they may sometimes have two heads. Rocs are universally much bigger than the usual brand of [[GiantFlyer predatory flying monsters]], which tend to be "merely" big enough to carry off a man in their talons. The rocs' size is usually brought to deliberate extremes; generally, they are in the same size range as flying dragons or airplanes.

* A less well-known but arguably even more impressive mythic Middle-Eastern bird is the Ziz of Jewish mythology, said to be large enough to be able to block out the sun with its wingspan. As Behemoth is the said to be king of land creatures and [[KrakenAndLeviathan Leviathan]] the king of sea creatures, so is Ziz said to be the king of birds. A similar role is ascribed by rabbis to the weirder-looking [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simurgh Simurgh]] of Persian lore, a MixAndMatchCritter which is gigantic enough to carry off an elephant or a whale and has the body of a peacock, the head of a dog, and the claws of a lion.

* WesternAnimation/Hilda: A thunderbird named Raven features prominently in the third episode and makes occasional cameos afterward. Differs from most other examples on this page in that he resembles a raven rather than an eagle, and can change his size to disguise himself as an actual raven.