History Main / SwarmOfRats

See also CruelAndUnusualDeath and RodentsOfUnusualSize. Contrast with [[EvenTheRatsWontTouchIt Even The Rats Won't Touch It]], and with ReducedToRatburgers, an inversion. Not to be confused with YouDirtyRat.

* EdgarRiceBurroughs' ''{{Barsoom}}'' novel ''John Carter of Mars'', section "John Carter and the Giant of Mars''. John Carter fights a swarm of ulsios (six legged Martian rats) and is captured by them.

* In an episode of the 80's ''[[{{WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987}} Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' cartoon, Donatello accidentally creates an evil clone of himself, who then joins forces with a mob boss and clones thousands of rats to take over New York City.

* A rat horde plays a {{McGuffin}}-type role in "Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin" and may well be the UrExample.

* In ''[[{{GauntsGhosts}} Straight Silver]]'', Gaunt and a team of infiltrators are sneaking through an abandoned siege tunnel when an artillery bombardment starts. This sends a horde of rats straight through the team. While no one died, they still bemoaned their situation and all of them were bit multiple times.

* ''{{Paranoia}}'' adventure ''Send in the Clones''. One of the many threats the Troubleshooters will face in Sewerworld is swarms of hungry, mean, housecat-sized rats. They rush out of the darkness and attack the {{PC}}s.

* In ''{{Pokemon}}'', Rattata often reach GoddamnedBats levels, especially early in the game.

* ''{{The Onion}}'s'' "world history" book has "Corpse eating rats become greatest power in europe" during the World War 1 newspaper headlines.

* {{Played for laughs}} in ''{{Ratatouille}}'', where the rats swarm around the health inspector's car, then come back with him gagged and tied.

** Any episode involving the Rat King also tended to involve this, since he kept hundreds of rats as pets in his sewer home.

* The [[http://www.neatorama.com/2007/01/30/worlds-worst-mouse-plague-millions-of-mice-attack-australia/ Australian mouse plague]]. Not only did the mice destroy the whole crop, the livestock were in danger of being eaten alive.
** [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12994713 Also mass migrations of Long Haired rats in 2011]]. Confirming {{Australian Wildlife}}'s reputation as RealLife horror.

* In the ''{{Akira}}'' manga, after [[spoiler:Akira causes the destruction of Tokyo upon reawakening]], there's one scene where Chiyoko is waist deep in a pool of water underground and swarms of starving rats swim to her trying to eat her.

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* Similarly in ''FromRussiaWithLove'', after the explosion in the Russian embassy, Bond and Tatania's escape route in the underground reservoir is diverted by a swarm of rats.

* A rat horde plays a {{McGuffin}}-type role in ''ThePiedPiperOfHamelin'' and may well be the UrExample.
* Some versions of the ''DickWhittington'' tale have a plague of rats, the ''{{Pantomime}}'' versions nearly always has one with the character of King Rat being the major BigBad.

Rodents are widely reviled, but not very threatening; after all, anyone can set a mousetrap. So how do writers make them a legitimate threat? By having a [[ZergRush very, very large swarm]] of them all at once! One rat isn't scary, but a huge wave of rats eating a victim alive, [[DeathByAThousandCuts one bite at a time]]? HighOctaneNightmareFuel.

* In one episode of ''SailorMoon'', Zoisite follows Luna and another cat into the sewer. Worn out by the chase, he places his hand on the wall... only to realize it's ''moving''. What follows stirs up a literal wave of rats that is shown [[NightmareFuel swallowing him up]] at one point.

* In ''[[NineteenEightyFour 1984]]'', {{Room 101}} contains, [[spoiler: for Winston Smith anyway]] a caged-apparatus that immobilises the body while letting rats crawl over every inch of skin. This proves [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel frighteningly effective]] at carrying out [[DespairEventHorizon the room's ultimate purpose]], especially because [[spoiler:Winston is absolutely, utterly [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes terrified of rats]]]].

* Done to [[NightmareFuel frightening effect]] in the CodeLyoko episode Plagued. Think a swarm of rats is bad? Try a swarm of rats [[DemonicPossession possessed]] by an [[AIIsACrapshoot evil computer program]]!

** [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12994713 Also mass migrations of Long Haired rats in 2011]]. Confirming {{Australian Wildlife}}'s reputation as RealLife NightmareFuelUnleaded.

* The StephenKing short story ''Graveyard Shift'' (from the ''NightShift'' collection), as well as being an example of RodentsOfUnusualSize.

* ''IndianaJones III'' had a whole catacombs full of them.

* In one issue of ThePhantom, set in Victorian London, this is the fate of the JackTheRipper inspired villain [[CompleteMonster Hack Jack]], who gets trapped in the sewers while fleeing the current Phantom, and is devoured by a horde of rats. His remains arent found until weeks later.

* This is a staple trope of ''MagicTheGathering'', which has cards like [[http://magiccards.info/m11/en/113.html Relentless Rats]], [[http://magiccards.info/arb/en/44.html Sanity Gnawers]], [[http://magiccards.info/dpa/en/31.html Ravenous Rats]], [[http://magiccards.info/mr/en/37.html Sewer Rats]], [[http://magiccards.info/fut/en/79.html Stronghold Rats]], [[http://magiccards.info/9e/en/166.html Swarm of Rats]], [[http://magiccards.info/mbs/en/55.html Septic Rats]], [[http://magiccards.info/shm/en/73.html Plague of Vermin]] and even [[http://magiccards.info/di/en/113.html Hellhole Rats]], which are ''[[IncendiaryExponent on fire]]''.

* In one issue of ThePhantom, set in Victorian London, this is the fate of the JackTheRipper inspired villain [[CompleteMonsterHack Jack]], who gets trapped in the sewers while fleeing the current Phantom, and is devoured by a horde of rats. His remains arent found until weeks later.

* In ''TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'', a swarm of friendly rats help get the Cowardly Lion away from a field of sleep-inducing poppies. This would have been to difficult to replicate in the 1939 film version of course.

See also CruelAndUnusualDeath and RodentsOfUnusualSize. Contrast with [[EvenTheRatsWontTouchIt Even The Rats Won't Touch It]]. Not to be confused with YouDirtyRat, though.

* [[UsefulNotes.{{Poland}} Polish]] tradition holds that Prince Popiel, supposedly a tyrannical ruler that lived in the 9th century, was eaten alive by mice while he was being besieged in a tower.

* One of the many torture devices in ''The Pit And The Pendulum'' by EdgarAllanPoe.

* In a 2011 arc of ''MindMistress'', Forethought is trapped in the backfire of time manipulation device, leaving him moving at a sixtieth of normal speed. At one point, an agent sent to check on him finds rats about to feast upon his apparently no-longer moving body. Imagine a SqueakingCarpet moving sixty times faster than in real life and coming at you...

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