History Main / WheelOfPain

* ''Literature/{{Eric}}'' One of Hell's torments is a giant wheel propelled by damned souls (and, briefly, by the Luggage).

Note that it is not strictly necessary to show a Wheel of Pain actually ''doing'' anything with all the effort its victims put into it. Many a Wheel of Pain has appeared only to make a story's bad guys look [[RuleOfCool cooler]] or [[ForTheEvulz more evil]]. When these things actually do something specific, they are typically connected to immense machinery such as fortress gates, mills, or the like that need a lot of effort to power. It is also fairly common for elaborate BambooTechnology to be powered by these things. Occasionally, there is explicitly no practical goal in mind beyong making the workers suffer; in these instances, the Wheel will connect to nothing at all, power something visibly trivial or superfluous, or be a knowingly inefficient way of doing whatever it's doing, and will be intended mainly as a way of tormenting prisoners and captive enemies or just to entertain powerful people.

* ''AudioPlay/LeDonjonDeNaheulbeuk'': In the later books, the barbarian, hired by an elven army as a drill sergeant, sets up one such wheel just for the purpose of strength training. He calls it the Wheel Of Muscle and reminisces about the more impressive ones he saw in his homeland. The Dwarf on the other hand, promptly rigs a mill to it and starts raking in money.

Note that it is not strictly necessary to show a Wheel of Pain actually ''doing'' anything with all the effort its victims put into it. Many a Wheel of Pain has appeared only to make a story's bad guys look [[RuleOfCool cooler]] or [[ForTheEvulz more evil]].

* In ''Manga/{{Bizenghast}}'' volume 3, the characters are forcibly chained to one of these.
* Some enslaved Numemon are forced to operate one of these to power Machinedramon's city in ''Anime/DigimonAdventure''.
* Electricity in Tentei's Capital in ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' comes from such a contraption, run by slaves.

* An episode of ''Anime/Ulysses31'' shows the loom of fate powered this way by those who have defied the gods.

* In ''ComicBook/BarbeRouge'', Eric finds himself sold as a slave in Alger. Since he is quick to rebel against his master, he soon finds himself sent to the oil mill, which serves this purpose.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Lucifer}}'', Hell is seen to have one of these.

* Used in ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'' in one storyline. The second Phantom is briefly held prisoner at one of these, which judging by the design of the wheel powers a mill, and is almost broken by the hard labor and torture, until a vision of his wife and his father, the original Phantom, spurs him into freeing himself by resuming the work by night when his torturer isn't present and using the wheel spokes to wear away on the chain. Eventually, he's worn it away enough for him to break it, and overpowers the torturer and locks him onto the wheel instead.

* Used on the sugar plantation the eponymous protagonist is chained to in ''Film/CaptainBlood''.
* Named for the device from ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982'', which turned the titular character from a scrawny kid into the musclebound BarbarianHero that rampaged across two films. (Indeed, Arnold Schwarzenegger buffed up ''so much'' for the movie, when he was being filmed pushing it along, the director had to have half the crew on the other side of the wheel pushing the opposite direction so it'd look like Arnie was actually exerting himself.) While the wheel's purpose is never revealed in the film itself, WordOfGod states that it is a grain wheel.
* The Creator/LouisDeFunes film ''Film/DelusionsOfGrandeur'' ends with the protagonists chained to one of these. It pumps water [[spoiler: for a tiny "pet" palm tree of a Bedouin chief]].

* The film adaptation of the musical ''Theatre/{{Oliver}}'' briefly shows a variation on the theme, as detailed in RealLife below, during the opening scene.

* Zombie slaves provide the motive power for a similar sugar-mill capstan in ''Film/WhiteZombie'' (1932, and not connected with Music/RobZombie beyond a AGoodNameForARockBand). There's a surprisingly grisly moment for the movie's era when one of the zombies ''falls into'' the mill and is mindlessly ground up by the rest.

* Shows up a couple of times in ''Literature/{{Gor}}'': The gate that one enters the Sardar Mountains at is powered by slaves, and in ''Guardsman of Gor'' the hero is captured and set to work one which opens and closes a water gate. [[spoiler: Don't worry, he planned for that to happen.]]
* The Great Wheel of Kharnabhar, in Brian W. Aldiss' ''Literature/{{Helliconia}}'' trilogy, is ''built inside a mountain'', has only one door, and takes several years to make a turn. The locals believe the Wheel drives Helliconia's great year, so in the centuries-long winter when things are bad for humans, the Wheel is basically a monastery staffed by volunteers; in summer, it's a prison.
** [[FridgeLogic Which opens another question]]: How the hell was this thing built? And after it was finished, how was it put into move, since it's harder to make something move than keeping it moving?
* In the later books of ''AudioPlay/LeDonjonDeNaheulbeuk'', the barbarian, hired by an elven army as a drill sergeant, sets up one such wheel just for the purpose of strength training. He calls it the Wheel Of Muscle and reminisces about the more impressive ones he saw in his homeland. The Dwarf on the other hand, promptly rigs a mill to it and starts raking in money.
* A variant in ''Literature/RangersApprentice'' - Skandian slaves turn the rack, which is a pair of paddles that aggravate the surface of the water in the well to prevent it freezing over in winter. It's such gruelling work that even the slave owners, who drive their slaves hard, recognise they can only work on it for two hours at a time.

* A Mammoth-pushed variant is shown in ''Literature/TheWayThingsWork'' to power a merry-go-round. The Mammoths have carrots dangling in front of them and are basically tricked into turning one wheel, which is propped up against another with seats dangling off it.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has the Christmas special "The Next Doctor", with orphans turning this type of device to [[spoiler:turn the machinery to start the Cyber King]].

* An unoccupied one is seen in Cimmeria in ''VideoGame/AgeOfConan''. It might even be the same in the Trope Picture.
* One of the first missions in ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend'' involves freeing a bunch of Headbangers from a mine that features one of these.
* In ''VideoGame/ConanExiles'', it's used to grind seeds into gruel and make the captured [=NPCs=] into slaves.
* In ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'', the player sees a horde of monkeys being enslaved this way.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Dominions}} 3'', Early Ulm has it as one of their national sites. Orphans are sent there, and those who survive are made into Steel Warriors, often called "Conans" by the fans.
* One can appear in ''{{VideoGame/Dungeons}} 2'' in parts of the overworld once they are corrupted by evil.
* Gene of ''VideoGame/GodHand'' fame rescues a few humans from one.
* A non-slavery example can be found in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker''. Tingle's brothers are responsible for keeping his lighthouse spinning. They aren't all that happy about it though.
** Though given that one of Tingle's "brothers" is a random, unrelated guy Tingle rescued from a shipwreck there may be a little bit of slavery involved...
* Some large huminoid creatures are shown pushing a wheel of pain in the Outworld Market stage in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX''. There are even slavers cracking whips at them.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' the expansion ''Warlords of Draenor'' has one that is a shout out to the trope name from ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982'' in the [[VideoGameRaids dungeon]] "The Bloodmaul Slag Mines". Slaves of various races are being forced to push it until a Boss calls on them to attack the players, the one NPC that stays pushing the wheel is called 'Arnold Croman' and is based on the Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger version of Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian from that film, if you follow the right instructions you can [[RenovatingThePlayerHeadquarters recruit him your player HQ]].

* Seen in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'', when Alice is looking for a preschool for her daughter. One school she visits turns out to be a Dickensian workhouse, complete with a Wheel of Pain being operated by the children. It turns out its actually a sweatshop that produces merchandise for ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'', when first informed about the Cluster, we see humans chained to this, apparently to power some kind of Ice Cream Parlor for robots.

** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS29E01TheSerfsons The Serfsons]]": The fantasy equivalent of the power plant consists entirely of a huge version of this, which doesn't actually power anything; the resource it's harvesting is literally human misery.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' episode "[[Recap/StarVsTheForcesOfEvilS2E20IsMystery Is Mystery]]", Buff Frog gets caught investigating who's been smuggling corn out of the royal fields of Mewni, and is chained to "the Grinder" with a bunch of other monsters and forced to grind corn into corn-meal.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', in Dean's daydream/hallucination in the Season 2 finale, he fights the Insect King (a cyborg version of his dad's arch-nemesis, the Monarch), who is forcing enslaved orphans to turn one of these.

* ''Literature/TheBible'': In Judges 16:21, Samson, after being captured by the Philistines and blinded, is set to work on a wheat mill. This could have been the UrExample in western media, eventually receiving the imagery popularized by a J. James Tissot artwork and the 1949 movie.

* ''Anime/{{Superbook}}'': in the scene where Samson has been captured by the Philistines and is set to work grinding grain in his prison, he pushes one of these.

* ''Literature/TheBible'': Samson, after being captured by the Philistines and blinded, is set to work on one of these.

* ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'' has the Kraken Hammer raised by a device of this sort.
** The Black Pearl has a similar device... to raise and lower the anchor. Most ships of that age had one. (This is what a capstan is; several sea-shanties are paced to the rhythm ideal for pushing it, to keep everyone walking at the same pace.)
* Zombie slaves provide the motive power for a similar sugar-mill capstan in ''Film/WhiteZombie'' (1932, and not connected with Music/RobZombie beyond a AGoodNameForARockBand).
** There's a surprisingly grisly moment for the movie's era when one of the zombies ''falls into'' the mill and is mindlessly ground up by the rest.

* Shows up a couple of times in ''Literature/{{Gor}}'': the gate that one enters the Sardar Mountains at is powered by slaves, and in ''Guardsman of Gor'' the hero is captured and set to work one which opens and closes a water gate. [[spoiler: Don't worry, he planned for that to happen.]]

* A Mammoth-pushed variant is shown in ''Literature/TheWayThingsWork'' to power a Merry Go round. The Mammoths have carrots dangling in front of them and are basically tricked into turning one wheel, which is propped up against another with seats dangling off it.

* Named for the device from ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982'', which turned the titular character from a scrawny kid into the musclebound BarbarianHero that rampaged across two films. (Indeed, Arnold Schwarzenegger buffed up ''so much'' for the movie, when he was being filmed pushing it along, the director had to have half the crew on the other side of the wheel pushing the opposite direction so it'd look like Arnie was actually exerting himself.) While the wheel's purpose was never revealed in the film itself, WordOfGod states that it was a grain wheel.
* The Creator/LouisDeFunes film ''Film/DelusionsOfGrandeur'' ends with the protagonists chained to one of those. It pumps water [[spoiler: for a tiny "pet" palm tree of a Bedouin chief]].
* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'' had trolls turning huge wheels to open the gates of Mordor.

* ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'' had the Kraken Hammer raised by a device of this sort.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': One of these shows up in an episode.
* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'': Cobra in many of its earlier episodes inexplicably keeps haggard-looking slaves wearing rags, turning wheels and pushing mining carts, despite that fact that Cobra prides itself on using the sorts of advanced technology that would have made it easier to mine via automation.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'':
** The beauty pageant episode has one of these in ''every'' character's fantasy of them becoming mayor for a day. In Vicky's fantasy, Timmy is the one turning the wheel. In Timmy's Mom's fantasy, it's a bunch of men turning the wheel. When Timmy's Dad actually wins the contest and becomes mayor for a day, he basically makes the fantasy come to life...only it's his hated neighbor, Mr. Dinkleberg. turning the wheel.
** At one point in ''WesternAnimation/{{Wishology}}'', the fairies are forced to do this by the Eliminators. Cupid asks "What happens if we stop pushing this thing?" [[TemptingFate They decide to find out]]... and discover that it plays the melancholy background music.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'', when first informed about the Cluster, we see humans chained to this, apparently to power some kind of Ice Cream Parlor for robots.
* Seen in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'', when Alice is looking for a preschool for her daughter. One school she visits turns out to be a Dickensian workhouse, complete with a Wheel of Pain being operated by the children. It turns out its actually a sweatshop that produces merchandise for ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', in Dean's day-dream/hallucination in the Season 2 finale, he fights the Insect King (a cyborg version of his dad's arch-nemesis, the Monarch), who is forcing enslaved orphans to turn one of these.

* A Mammoth-pushed variant is shown in ''Literature/TheWayThingsWork'' to power a Merry Go round. The Mammoths have carrots dangling in front of them and are basically tricked into turning one wheel, which is propped up against another with seats dangling off it.

* Shows up a couple of times in ''Literature/{{Gor}}'': the gate that one enters the Sardar Mountains at is powered by slaves, and in ''Guardsman of Gor'' the hero is captured and set to work one which opens and closes a water gate. [[spoiler: Don't worry, he planned for that to happen.]]
* A variant in ''Literature/RangersApprentice'' - Skandian slaves turn the rack, which is a pair of paddles that aggravate the surface of the water in the well to prevent it freezing over in winter. It's such gruelling work that even the slave owners, who drive their slaves hard, recognise they can only work on it for two hours at a time.

* In ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'', the player sees a horde of monkeys being enslaved this way.

* An unoccupied one is seen in Cimmeria in ''VideoGame/AgeOfConan''. It might even be the same in the Trope Picture.
* In ''VideoGame/ConanExiles'', it's used to grind seeds into gruel and make the captured [=NPCs=] into slaves.
* One can appear in ''{{VideoGame/Dungeons}} 2'' in parts of the overworld once they are corrupted by evil.

* Gene of ''VideoGame/GodHand'' fame rescues a few humans from one.

* Used on the sugar plantation the eponymous protagonist is chained to in ''Film/CaptainBlood''.

* ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'' had the Kraken Hammer raised by a device of this sort.
** The Black Pearl has a similar device... to raise and lower the anchor. Most ships of that age had one. (This is what a capstan is; several sea-shanties are paced to the rhythm ideal for pushing it, to keep everyone walking at the same pace.)
* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'' had trolls turning huge wheels to open the gates of Mordor.
* The film adaptation of the musical ''Theatre/{{Oliver}}'' briefly shows a variation on the theme, as detailed in RealLife below, during the opening scene.
* The Creator/LouisDeFunes film ''Film/DelusionsOfGrandeur'' ends with the protagonists chained to one of those. It pumps water [[spoiler: for a tiny "pet" palm tree of a Bedouin chief]].

* ''Series/{{Norsemen}}'' has one which, true to the trope, has absolutely no function other than to make the village slaves push something around and around.

%%* ''Anime/MagicalWitchPuniechan'' {{Omake}} had this in the [[CrapsaccharineWorld Fantasy Kingdom]]. (ZCE)

* Some enslaved Numemon are forced to operate one of these to power Machinedramon's city in ''Anime/DigimonAdventure''.
* ''{{Anime/Superbook}}'': in the scene where Samson has been captured by the Philistines and is set to work grinding grain in his prison, he pushes one of these.
* An episode of ''Anime/{{Ulysses 31}}'' shows the loom of fate powered this way by those who have defied the gods.

%%(ZCE) * In ''ComicBook/{{Lucifer}}'', Hell is seen to have one of these.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Lucifer}}'', Hell is seen to have one of these.

* King Bumi's pet, Flopsy, was chained to one of these in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' in Season 2 after the Fire Nation takes over Omashu and overthrows Bumi (or rather Bumi let them win to spare his citizens).
* In the debut episode of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', the protagonist finds his now-elderly father chained to one of these devices, which seemingly does nothing but rotate a large statue of [[BigBad Aku]]. Notably, he's the only person consigned to push it, [[MakeAnExampleOfThem as an apparent punishment for having been the one to defeat Aku originally.]]

** Parodied in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E4Rosebud Rosebud]]" when Homer, due to not returning Mr. Burns' teddy-bear, is forced to work one, which turns a display wheel at the canteen.

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS29E01TheSerfsons The Serfsons]]", the fantasy equivalent of the power plant consists entirely of a huge version of this, which doesn't actually power anything; the resource it's harvesting is literally human misery.
* One of these showed up in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''.
* Cobra from ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'' in many of its earlier episodes inexplicably kept haggard-looking slaves wearing rags, turning wheels and pushing mining carts, despite that fact that Cobra prided itself on using the sorts of advanced technology that would have made it easier to mine via automation.