History Main / SupernaturalSuffocation

* ''Anime/DigimonXrosWars'': Splashmon, one of the generals of the villainous Bagra Army, can use a Bead Drown attack that consists of it concentrating moisture out of the air to form a sphere of water around his opponent's head.

* ''Manga/SoulHunter'': One of the enemies that Taikoubou faces has a paopei (magic artifact) that controls water, which she uses to create a permanent, inescapable water bubble just large enough to engulf his head.

* ''Literature/{{Stormsong}}'', by C.L. Polk:

->"You breathe when I allow it. The air in your lungs obeys my every whim. You would be wise to do the same."

!!Examples

* ''Film/TheLastAirbender'': Admiral Zhao meets his end when a trio of waterbenders simply walk up to him and encase him in a large bubble of water until he drowns, and then simply drop his lifeless body to the ground.

--->"It took three minutes... three minutes where she was terrified. Three minutes where she saw her death coming and couldn't do anything to stop it."

* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': [[PunchClockVillain Anadyne]] the spellwright's signature trick is to condense atmospheric moisture over someone's face and [[http://www.casualvillain.com/Unsounded/comic/ch06/ch06_68.html hold it]] there until they suffocate. It's not only cruel but slow and inefficient compared to other magic -- her one known victim needs to be immobilized by someone else and still gets rescued before she can kill him.

* Gali Nuva briefly did this against Hakann during their initial battle on Voya Nui by encasing his head in a water sphere. Hakann [[OhCrap briefly and noticeably panicked]] as his lungs filled with water before he reminded himself that he had defeated and killed other Toa of Water in the past and [[EyeBeams used his heat vision to evaporate the water sphere]].
** It's possible to do this with the Vacuum power, which was noticeably weaponized by Makuta to defeat [[TimeMaster Voporak]] since no amount of elapsed time will create air where there is none and even an ImplaccableMan like Voporak needs to breathe.

* ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'': The Kaukau Nuva, the [[MaskPower Mask of]] [[ArtificialGill Underwater Breathing]], can do this by sharing its power with others in the vicinity before withdrawing the power, but the Toa consider this immoral to do.

* ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'': The Kaukau Nuva, the [[MaskPower Mask of]] [[ArtificialGill Underwater Breathing]], can do this by sharing its power with others in the vicinity, but the Toa consider this immoral to do.

* ''Manga/FairyTail'': Julia Lockser, who can use her own body into powerful water, has a magic spell that allows her to trap opponents in an orb of water that cuts off their oxygen supply.

** Kisame Hoshigaki has a technique called "Water Prison Shark Dance Technique" that traps himself and his opponent(s) in a huge sphere or dome of water. One of the side effects of this arrangement is that the lack of oxygen makes it difficult for the target to fight a literal SharkMan as they attempt to futilely escape the large body of water.

** In the ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders'' OVA, N'Doul's Stand, Geb, mixes itself with water from a canteen, then forms a bubble around Polnareff's head, almost drowning him. Fortunately, Avdol uses Magician's Red to evaporate most of the water before Polnareff suffocates.

** Nereids are aquatic [[TheFairFolk fey]] who can fill a victim's lungs with water at a touch, preferably a KissOfDeath. If they fail their saving throw, they [[SuperDrowningSkills fall unconscious in one turn]] and die in three.

** In the ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'' OVA, N'Doul's Stand, Geb, mixes itself with water from a canteen, then forms a bubble around Polnareff's head, almost drowning him. Fortunately, Avdol uses Magician's Red to evaporate most of the water before Polnareff suffocates.
** In ''Manga/StoneOcean'', the minor antagonist Thunder [=McQueen=] is a severely suicidal man whose Stand, Highway to Hell, copies any injury he inflicts upon himself onto another person. When he tries to drown himself, the Stand turns into a liquid blob that wraps itself around Ermes' nose and mouth, suffocating her until she manages to stop him from drowning.

* ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG'': The Urashima Woman's cause of death was drowning, and so as a spirit she's gained some control over water. In particular, she can make her victims feel like they're drowning even without water present.

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean'': The minor antagonist Thunder [=McQueen=] is a severely suicidal man whose Stand, Highway to Hell, copies any injury he inflicts upon himself onto another person. When he tries to drown himself, the Stand turns into a liquid blob that wraps itself around Ermes' nose and mouth, suffocating her until she manages to stop him from drowning.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': The season 3 BigBad Zaheer weaponizes air bending in a far more lethal way than we've ever seen: he executes the Earth Queen by drawing all the air from her lungs and letter her suffocate.

* One episode of ''Series/{{Misfits}}'' had a villain of the week with the power of "lactokinesis", or control of dairy products. One of the things [[LethalHarmlessPowers he did]] was to manipulate cheese in people's digestive systems to choke them to death.

* One episode of ''Series/{{Misfits}}'' had a villain of the week with the power of "lactokinesis", or control of dairy products. One of the things [[LetalHarmlessPowers he did]] was to manipulate cheese in people's digestive systems to choke them to death.

* One episode of ''Series/{{Misfits}}'' had a villain of the week with the power of "lactokinesis", or control of dairy products. One of the things he did was to manipulate cheese in people's digestive systems to choke them to death.

Rarer versions make use of other substances, such as by burying someone in a non-porous solid matter. Someone with the PowerOfTheVoid might also be able to create hard vacuums around targets. This may also manifest as a form of PsychicPowers, typically by having a telepath [[YourMindMakesItReal convince you that you can't breathe]] or an angry spirit that died of drowning or suffocation causing the living to experience their own torturous death.

* ''[[LightNovel/DungeonMasterWantsToSleepNowAndForever Lazy Dungeon Master]]'': Keima's favorite technique for killing powerful monsters in Dungeon Battles is to create a horde of small creatures and control some of them to climb up the monster's body and jump into its throat.

* ''Film/{{The Dark Tower|2017}}'': The [[BigBad Man in Black]] often kills people by using his CompellingVoice to order them to stop breathing. They drop on the spot, but the command obviously takes some time to finish them off.
* ''Film/TheLastAirbender'': Admiral Zhao meets his end when a trio of water benders simply walk up to him and encase him in a large bubble of water until he drowns, and then simply drop his lifeless body to the ground.

Suffocation isn't usually an especially fast or efficient method of killing someone -- a typical human can last for several minutes before succumbing to oxygen deprivation, and will likely attempt to free themselves all the while, growing more aggressive and desperate as their air runs out. As such, suffocation is usually only a useful combat option in very situational circumstances. Some characters, however, possess skills that render this kind of kills a much more viable murder or combat method, most often by allowing them to supernaturally cause someone to no longer be able to breathe.

Rarer versions make use of other substances, such as by burying someone in non-porous solid matter. Someone with the PowerOfTheVoid might also be able to create hard vacuums around targets. This may also manifest as a form of PsychicPowers, typically by having a telepath [[YourMindMakesItReal convince you that you can't breathe]] or an angry spirit that died of drowning or suffocation causing the living to experience their own torturous death.

Drowning and suffocation are not fun ways to go. They're miserable, slow and terrifying, and as a result these powers are mainly the territory of villains and otherwise evil figures. In cases where this is just one application of a broader power set, the villains are typically going to be the ones to come up with or to want to use this specific application. When this is a specific, self-standing power, it's going be very rare for a hero to turn up whose superpower is just to fill people's lungs with water or suck them dry of air.

* ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'': April's contractor ability is water manipulation. In the first season, her role is essentially to provide the ElementalBaggage for her partner November 11, who can freeze water. However, in the second season she gets her chance to shine, first by her powers being [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman uniquely suited]] to take down a Contractor, and then almost killing the first season's protagonist by enveloping his head in water. Unfortunately for her, her MakingASplash abilities don't really cut the mustard against his ShockAndAwe ability...

* ''Manga/{{MAR}}'': Snow faces off against a {{Gonk}} looking girl named Emokis in the fifth round of the War Games. In the last few moment, she pulls out a new ARM named Undine, who controls water and covers Emokis body in a bubble of it. Snow tries to get her to surrender, but Emokis [[HonorBeforeReason is too prideful and nearly drowns due to her stubbornness]]. Luckily for her, Undine deactivates the power after Emokis loses consciousness, knowing that Snow didn't want to kill her, giving Snow the win.

* ''Film/TheLastAirbender'': Admiral Zhao meets his end when a trio of waterbenders simply walk up to him and encase him in a large bubble of water until he drowns, and then simply drop his lifeless body to the ground.

* ''Literature/JohnBarringtonCowles'': An unaddressed curiosity is that Kate Northcott's former fiances all drowned. William Prescott certainly dies from drowning, Archibald Reeves's [[DrowningMySorrows insanity-induced alcoholism]] is a major factor in his body giving up, and John Barrington Cowles's death is a toss-up between the fall off a cliff and drowning in the waves below. This recurrence has equal chance of being Kate's MO, of being a manifestation of her true nature's influence, or of being all mere coincidence.

** The villain is revealed to have committed a murder by using SympatheticMagic to force the victim to stop breathing. Grace [[spoiler:wins the victim's father's cooperation, [[EnemyMine despite their enmity]],]] by pointing out how [[CruelAndUnusualDeath hideously slow and cruel]] a death it was.

** "[[Recap/SupernaturalS01E03DeadInTheWater Dead in the Water]]" features the spirit of Peter Sweeny, who drowns people by literally possessing the black lake water he died in and forcibly traveling into people's lungs or using the water to hold them under. He goes after the families of the two men who accidental drowned him as a boy.
** "[[Recap/SupernaturalS03E06RedSkyAtMorning Red Sky at Morning]]" features the ghost of a sailor who appears every thirty-seven years to go after those who killed members of their own family (he was hanged for attempting munity by his own brother) and executes his victims by making them drown on dry land.

*** A fjord linnorm's death curse causes its killer to lose any ability to breathe underwater, to become unable to use magical aid to do so, and to hold its breath for any length of time and without intense nausea.
*** Gare and shoal linnorms' curses cause any liquid their targets drink to pour directly into their lungs, potentially drowning them on dry land.

** Nereids are aquatic [[TheFairFolk fey]] who can fill a victim's lungs with water at a touch, preferably a KissOfDeath. If they fail their saving throws, they [[SuperDrowningSkills fall unconscious in one turn]] and die in three.

* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'': The "Suffocating" StatusAilment is inflicted by specialized {{Necromancer}} and [[BlowYouAway Aerotheurge]] spells and can be countered by an Aerotheurge ProtectiveCharm. It's a NonIndicativeName; the status destroys the target's Magic Armor over time, but causes no direct harm.

* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': [[PunchClockVillain Anadyne]] the spellwright's signature trick is to condense atmospheric moisture over someone's face and [[http://www.casualvillain.com/Unsounded/comic/ch06/ch06_68.html hold it]] there until they suffocate. It's not only cruel, but slow and inefficient compared to other magic -- her one known victim needs to be immobilized by someone else and still gets rescued before she can kill him.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation:'' SCP-1812 is Earth's second moon, and appears to simply not exist to people that haven't had it pointed out to them. Those aware of it, however, will perceive its pronounced tidal effects upon the ocean and have been known for drowning in seawater that isn't there to anyone else; most coastal cities are a death sentence to people in the know, who will drown in absolutely nothing in the middle of the street.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': The season 3 BigBad Zaheer weaponizes airbending in a far more lethal way than we've ever seen: he executes the Earth Queen by drawing all the air from her lungs and letter her suffocate.

-->--'''Storm''', "[[ComicBook/XMen Worlds Apart, Part 1]]"

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/TheDarkTower2017'': The [[BigBad Man in Black]] often kills people by using his CompellingVoice to order them to stop breathing. They drop on the spot, but the command obviously takes some time to finish them off.

--->''"It took three minutes... three minutes where she was terrified. Three minutes where she saw her death coming and couldn't do anything to stop it."''

** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E2TheMindOfEvil The Mind of Evil]]" sees the "Keller Machine", supposedly an experimental treatment designed to [[HeelFaceBrainwashing cure criminals of their malignant tendencies]]. As the Doctor discovers to his horror, it's in fact an extremely dangerous alien mind parasite that feeds on the negative impulses in the brain and can kill people by making them [[IKnowWhatYouFear physically experience their worst fears]]. Early in the storyline, it kills one of the scientists who fears water by making him experience downing at sea within he's on dry land.

* ''WebVideo/{{Smosh}}'': In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtODX-055g8 REAL DEATH NOTE!]]", Ian gets ahold of an actual Death Note that causes people to strangle themselves to death when he writes their name down in it.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': Aqualad tries to down Speedy using his hydrokinesis during their round in the "Tournament of Heroes."