History Main / WinterOfStarvation

* Myth/NorseMythology: Before Ragnarok began, the sun and moon were swallowed by Skoll and Hati, triggering a great winter that caused humans to commit atrocities because of starvation.

[[folder:Mythology and Legends]]
* ''Myth/NorseMythology'': Before Ragnarok began, the sun and moon were swallowed by Skoll and Hati, triggering a great winter that caused humans to commit atrocities because of starvation.
[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'': In the early-game, the United Kingdom - an [[FascistButInefficient already-faltering]] [[DayOfTheJackboot Nazi puppet state]] in this timeline - soon experiences the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_of_1962%E2%80%931963_in_the_United_Kingdom Big Freeze of 1963]]. Unless the player commences a herculean effort to prevent it, thousands of people nationwide will freeze to death from the weather compounding the already poverty-stricken situation, and even success here [[ButThouMust doesn't prevent]] the British CivilWar.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Leningrad The Siege of Leningrad]] is the most lethal siege in all of history, and a large portion of its deaths were of the area's civilians, who mostly starved to death. The winter of 1941 and 1942 being one of the coldest in all of Europe for the 20th century may also have been a significant factor for many of the civilians that were too far away from food distribution considering starvation losses peaked in the winter time, though the freezing temperatures also facilitated quicker supply transportation into the city from the nearby Lake Ladoga freezing over. The degree of hunger the city faced led to [[NoPartyLikeADonnerParty reports of cannibalism]], the prevalence of this reaching the point that the city's police were known to use the threat of throwing a suspect into a jail cell full of cannibals.[[note]]Despite this, the actual amount of cannibalism that is believed to have actually occurred during the siege is considered to be surprisingly low (some 2,000 people were arrested for it) considering the mass starvation and it was generally of the already-dead - the murder of other civilians was far more likely to be for the purpose of just stealing their ration cards.[[/note]]

-->-- '''Opening narration''' of ''Film/WinnieThePoohBloodAndHoney''

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_Forge# Valley Forge]] was one of many winter encampments that the continental retreat from the Philadelphia campaign. Staying there for six months, nearly 2,000 soldiers died of malnutrition or disease. The imagery of Valley Forge played a large part in American myth; images of a bitter cold, snow-blanketed encampment with American soldiers clinging to life through sheer patriotic determination have become commonplace decades after the revolution, with Valley Forge now seen as a symbol of American perseverance in the face of hard times.[[note]]In reality, the primary factor for Valley Forge's casualty rate was not the weather, but the chronic supply issues. Death rarely came from the temperatures alone, but due to the lack of clothes, equipment and medicine. The coldest of the winter encampments was Jockey Hollow, which endured the harshest of the winters, but miraculously only sustained 100 casualties.[[/note]]

In essentials, this is any situation where characters become desperate for food during a harsh winter and may be driven to commit immoral acts out of desperation in order to survive, including theft and cannibalism--of their friends or even their family members. This trope can happen anywhere: in the wild, during a long journey, in a small town, or a big city, as long as you have a really cold winter, really hungry people or animals, and a lack of provisions. If cannibalism is involved, expect a reference to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party Donner Party]]. Common victims of the Winter of Starvation include wild animals, the poor and homeless, orphans (the stock image of the ragged orphan shivering alone in the snow is a classic of literature), soldiers, and wilderness travelers. Can overlap with TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and ApocalypseHow/Class2 apocalypse.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Leningrad The Siege of Leningrad]] is the most lethal siege in all of history, and a large portion of its deaths were of the area's civilians, who mostly starved to death. The winter of 1941 and 1942 being one of the coldest in all of Europe for the 20th century may also have been a significant factor for many of the civilians that were too far away from food distribution considering starvation losses peaked in the winter time, though the freezing temperatures also facilitated quicker supply transportation into the city from the nearby Lake Ladoga freezing over.

* ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'': In the early-game for the United Kingdom, an [[FascistButInefficient already-faltering]] [[DayOfTheJackboot Nazi puppet state]] in this timeline, soon experiences the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_of_1962%E2%80%931963_in_the_United_Kingdom Big Freeze of 1963]]. Unless the player commences a herculean effort to prevent it, thousands of people nationwide will freeze to death from the weather compounding the already poverty-stricken situation, and even success here [[ButThouMust doesn't prevent]] the British CivilWar.

In essentials, this is any situation where characters become desperate for food during a harsh winter and may be driven to commit immoral acts out of desperation in order to survive, including theft and cannibalism--of their friends or even their family members. This trope can happen anywhere: in the wild, during a long journey, in a small town, or a big city, as long as you have a really cold winter, really hungry people or animals, and a lack of provisions. If cannibalism is involved, expect a reference to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party Donner Party]]. Common victims of the Winter of Starvation include wild animals, the poor and homeless, orphans (the stock image of the ragged orphan shivering alone in the snow is a classic of literature), soldiers, and wilderness travelers. Can overlap with TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and ApocalypseHow/Class2.

In essentials, this is any situation where characters become desperate for food during a harsh winter and may be driven to commit immoral acts out of desperation in order to survive, including theft and cannibalism--of their friends or even their family members. This trope can happen anywhere: in the wild, during a long journey, in a small town, or a big city, as long as you have a really cold winter, really hungry people or animals, and a lack of provisions. If cannibalism is involved, expect a reference to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party Donner Party]]. Common victims of the Winter of Starvation include wild animals, the poor and homeless, orphans (the stock image of the ragged orphan shivering alone in the snow is a classic of literature), soldiers, and wilderness travelers. Can overlap with TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

In essentials, this is any situation where characters become desperate for food during a harsh winter and may be driven to commit immoral acts out of desperation in order to survive, including theft and cannibalism--of their friends or even their family members. This trope can happen anywhere: in the wild, during a long journey, in a small town, or a big city, as long as you have a really cold winter, really hungry people or animals, and a lack of provisions. If cannibalism is involved, expect a reference to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party Donner Party]]. Common victims of the Winter of Starvation include wild animals, the poor and homeless, orphans (the stock image of the ragged orphan shivering alone in the snow is a classic of literature), soldiers, and wilderness travelers.

* EndlessWinter / GlacialApocalypse: A common issue during this kind of weather.

* ''Literature/{{Pale}}'': In a vision Verona sees of Crooked Rook's past, the latter once killed two practitioners but spared their fourteen-year-old daughter and her 10 younger siblings, only to leave them to starve in the dead of winter since the prior fight left only enough food stores to feed Rook and her allied Others, and the daughter refused to be turned by Rook into an Other so that it would be easier for her to hunt in the two weeks it would take help to arrive.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': ExaggeratedTrope -- Planetos has BizarreSeasons which vacillate greatly in length, usually somewhere between one and ten years. (What is a "year" if not a cycle of 4 seasons? [[PlotHole Don't ask.]]) Several years of summer is great; several years of winter is devastating. And if year-long winters aren't bad enough, there's also the "Long Night" -- a [[LegendFadesToMyth legendary and probably historical]] generation-long winter -- which some people say will someday happen again.

** Season 1 ends with a clear division between winter and autumn, as Jackie is accidentally frozen to death after the first snowfall of the season. Season 2 shows everyone becoming more and more desperate - cannibalizing Jackie's body in a moment of desperate starvation, until they finally agree to the first card draw to hunt each other, [[spoiler:ultimately killing and eating Javi.]]

-->'''Commander Hurricane''': All I wanna know is why the earth ponies are hogging all the food!
-->'''Chancellor Puddinghead''': Us? We're not hogging all the food, ''you'' are! Oh, wait. You're right. It's us. Well, it's only 'cause you mean old ''pegasusususes'' are making it snow like crazy!
-->'''Commander Hurricane''': For the hundredth time, it's not us! We're not making it snow. It must be the unicorns! They're doing it with their freaky magic!
-->'''Princess Platinum''': How dare you? Unlike you pegasi ''ruffians'', we unicorns would never stoop to such a thing!

* ''Film/CannibalTheMusical'' is based on a real-life incident similar to the Donner Party, where Alfred Packer, the sole survivor of his party, killed and ate five other people in order to survive the winter of 1874.

* ''Literature/TheLeftHandOfDarkness'': While outlawed, Genly and Estraven resort to an 81-day, 800-mile trek across the polar ice in winter on starvation rations, a [[{{Mythopoeia}} literally legendary]] feat of endurance. Estraven's careful planning and survival expertise see them through, even though their food runs out three days before they reach safety.

** In ''Literature/ADanceWithDragons'', during the march from Deepwood Motte to Winterfell in the middle of a blizzard, Stannis Baratheon's army quickly starts to run short of food and other provisions. Wagons start breaking down, men start wandering off and dying in the snow, and any horse that breaks a leg is butchered on the spot for meat. Four soldiers are burned alive as sacrifices to R'hllor for cannibalizing another man, who they claim was already dead.

In essentials, this is any situation where characters become desperate for food during a harsh winter and may be driven to committing immoral acts out of desperation in order to survive, including theft and cannibalism--of their friends or even their family members. This trope can happen anywhere: in the wild, during a long journey, in a small town, or a big city, as long as you have a really cold winter, really hungry people or animals, and a lack of provisions. If cannibalism is involved, expect a reference to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party Donner Party]]. Common victims of the Winter of Starvation include wild animals, the poor and homeless, orphans (the stock image of the ragged orphan shivering alone in the snow is a classic of literature), soldiers, and wilderness travelers.

* ColdEquation (forgive the pun): A group may decide it's better only one of them dies than all of them die from cold and hunger.

* ''Film/CannibalTheMusical'' is based off of a real-life incident similar to the Donner Party, where Alfred Packer, the sole survivor of his party, killed and ate five other people in order to survive the winter of 1874.

* ''Literature/TheLittleMatchGirl'': A little girl is trying to sell matches during winter in order to make money, but nobody's buying them. She is very hungry, and starts imagining happy things like a roast goose for dinner as she lights her matches to stay warm. She freezes to death over the night, but is taken to heaven by her grandmother.
* ''Literature/{{Pale}}'': In a vision Verona sees of Crooked Rook's past, the latter once killed two practitioners but spared their fourteen year old daughter and her 10 younger siblings, only to leave them to starve in the dead of winter since the prior fight left only enough food stores to feed Rook and her allied Others, and the daughter refused to be turned by Rook into an Other so that it would be easier for her to hunt in the two weeks it would take help to arrive.

** While being interviewed by the author, Jesika Hendrix says her parents grabbed a good deal of instant food, and went north with her in a camper, figuring that during the winter the zombies would freeze and they would be free of the threat. Except that with a massive societal collapse, the instant food ran out quickly, and they couldn't grow new food quickly, especially at winter. She herself was sick in bed in the family camper when she heard raised voices in argument, a gunshot, and suddenly there was a stew with meat in it back on the menu. She didn't ask where the meat came from. She didn't want to know.

* Music/{{Rush}}: In "Cygnus X-1 Book II: Music/{{Hemispheres}}", when the people start following Dionysus, they're too busy partying in the forest to think to store food for the winter and are caught off guard when winter eventually comes and "[brings] wolves and cold starvation".

* ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'': After Joel gets wounded and is unable to do much, Ellie watches out for him and goes out on her own for supplies and hunting wildlife, a matter made worse by winter and her unskilled capacity of catching anything. She runs into a group of survivors lead by David, who promises safe haven, but once they get close enough they catch and imprison her -- it is quickly revealed through Joel who has recuperated enough to come and find her, that David's ''cult'' is very much into NoPartyLikeADonnerParty, catching survivors, and even going after some of their own who disagree with David.

* ''VideoGame/StardewValley'': Hay is used to feed animals and is obtained by harvesting grass or wheat in the spring, summer and fall. Grass doesn't grow in winter, so if you don't stock your silos with enough hay to feed your animals during the winter, they will become hungry. While they won't die, they will become sad and will not produce animal products.
* ''VideoGame/ThisWarOfMine'': Several episodes deal with the approaching winter season, if not in the middle of them -- making it a race of gathering supplies, building interior gardens and keeping your crew healthy and away from exposure all throughout the duration. It only gets harder to do so as the season deepens.

** In "WesternAnimation/AlongCameDaffy", an early version of WesternAnimation/YosemiteSam and his lookalike brother are trapped in a cabin during the winter. With no food in the house, they [[MeatOVision see each other as food]] and try to eat each other, but are interruputed when Daffy, a cookbook salesman, knocks on their door, and decide to eat him instead.

[[/folder]]

* ''Literature/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'': In ''The Long Winter'', the Ingalls and their neighbors have to face a (well) long winter, complete with deprivation. Eventually two of the young men make a long trip in snowy weather to get food for the town.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':

'''Indices''': DeathTropes, FoodTropes, HorrorTropes, SeasonalIndex, TheseTropesWereFrozenToday, ImAHumanitarian, TruthInTelevision