Pippin: It's so quiet.
Gandalf: It's the deep breath before the plunge.
A Storm Is Coming. Great clouds lit from within by lightning gather on the horizon, an army can be seen assembling, or the Final Battle is just around the corner. Everyone knows it is inevitable. Tomorrow the silence will be broken. Tomorrow there will be chaos. But for now, all is quiet.
A form of the Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene, this time is characterized by a sense of anticipation, perhaps tension, even dread of what is to come. It allows the characters a moment of respite prior to everything going to hell. Maybe they make final preparations. Maybe they go bid farewell Maybe they go tie up loose ends or bury hatchets. They might decide now's the time to finally spend the night with that special someone. Or maybe they just meditate to still their minds and/or calm their nerves. Or they may decide to throw a party while they still can. If someone bursts out singing then we have a The Song Before the Storm.
In any case, this allows us a quiet moment to just be with the characters, especially if it winds up being the end of the line for some of them.
A lighter version might come in sports movies where the players are readying themselves for the Big Game or match.
Compare Last Day of Normalcy, which shows the daily routine right before it's unexpectedly disrupted, and Breather Episode, which eases the tension after an arduous arc.
Examples:
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Comic Book
- The Avengers: Discussed in The Avengers (Kurt Busiek) #36, when Wasp eavesdrops on a nice morning breakfast by returning Avengers members Jack of Hearts and Photon, who are just there for a stop.
Wasp: I don't know about this. It seems calm, but not relaxed - - like it's the calm before a storm. And I've been getting the feeling that the storms are getting bigger...
Films — Live-Action
- Conan the Barbarian (1982): The director's cut has a scene right between Valeria's funeral and the preparations for the battle of the Mounds, where Conan and Subotai have a laid-back conversation on what it means to be a barbarian warrior and whether or not it is wise to stay and fight Thulsa Doom. In the end, they figure all they will ever have is that the wind will smell fresh before the storm. Cue Lock-and-Load Montage.
- The Lord of the Rings:
- The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers: At Helm’s Deep, Theoden has marshaled his forces and the Elves for the defense of the keep. They stand silently along the battlements as the army of Uruk-Hai appears in the distance and marches toward them.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King: There is a scene where Pippin and Gandalf are on the precipice of Minas Tirith looking at the gathering clouds over Mordor, while Gandalf explains the forces that are being arrayed against them. Then they see the beacon marking the advance of the Orc armies and realize the war is upon them.
- Midway (2019): On the morning of the battle, the Enterprise pilots are in the mess hall silently sitting around their barely-touched breakfast. Dick Best begins trying to give them a pep talk and the scene ends with Lt. Dickinson pounding the table and declaring, "We're gonna give 'em a shellacking!"
- Miracle has the US hockey team in a quiet mood right before their big game with the Soviets, during which time Coach Brooks comes in and gives them a Rousing Speech.
- Rocky: The night before the match with Apollo Creed, Rocky goes to the ring, looking around the empty seats and the giant posters of himself (though his shorts are the wrong color) and Apollo. Then he goes home and admits to Adrian that he doesn't think he can win, but if he can just go the distance, all 15 rounds, he can be satisfied.
- Return of the Jedi: The night before the assault on the second Death Star, Luke and Leia have a moment where they have a talk about various things, Luke telling her he intends to go confront Vader personally, that he's Vader's son and that Leia is also his sister. He then leaves to surrender himself to the Imperials and the rest of the Rebel team makes preparations to attack the shield generator protecting the station.
- Thirteen Days: As October 28 draws to a close, war between the United States and the Soviet Union appears imminent. US forces are on orders to invade on Monday and everyone, the administration, the military, are seemingly just waiting for it. Even the protesters outside the White House and Soviet embassy are just robotically marching back and forth with their signs but otherwise seem resigned to their fates.
Walter Cronkite: It almost seemed today as if time stood still; the shooting hadn't started yet, but there weren't any really encouraging signs that it could be avoided.
- Tora! Tora! Tora!: In the pre-dawn of Dec. 7, the pilots of the Japanese fleet are shown approaching the shrine to the emperor and paying their respects prior to heading to their planes and eventually Pearl Harbor.
Live-Action TV
- Babylon 5:
- "Messages From Earth", before facing a rogue Shadow ship, Sheridan and Delenn spend a quiet moment aboard the White Star while he recollects how he used to find rain falling on the roof soothing and she has the computer simulate rain sounds.
- "A Tragedy of Telepaths": The episode ends with Captain Lochley name-dropping it in her Captain's Log as she gets ready for bed after calling in Bester and Psi Corps bloodhound units to clear out a group of rogue telepaths that have sealed themselves away in one part of the station, lamenting the killing that will start in the morning and wishing she could see a way out of it.
- The TV movie Babylon 5: In the Beginning has a moment where the president of the Earth Alliance addresses her forces, informing them that they have lost contact with several outposts and the Minbari are preparing to assault earth itself, then asks that available ships prepare to form a defense to buy time for civilians to escape to neutral space.
- Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 2, "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," is a quiet, more introspective episode that spends most of its time on character interactions before the next episode, "The Long Night". Notably, in a series that is full of death, this is the last of the five episodes where Everybody Lives, as they save it all for the next episode.
Theatre
- 1776:
- The night before the vote is to take place, John Adams sends Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson off to try and bring the last few holdouts around, then finds himself alone in Independence Hall where he begins pondering, the song "Is Anybody There?", what is to happen the next day, concluding with the lyrics, "How quiet, how quiet the chamber is. How silent, how silent the chamber is."
- After the vote has been taken, and the resolution on American independence adopted, one final dispatch from General Washington arrives to report that battle is imminent, and that he must defend New York from a 25,000-strong British army with only 5,000 men of his own.
"And I begin to notice that many of us are lads under the age of fifteen and old men, none of whom could truly be called soldiers. [...] As I write these words, the enemy is plainly in sight beyond the river. How it will end, only Providence can direct, but dear God, what brave men I shall lose before this business ends."
Video Games
- Final Fantasy VII: Right before going off to face Sephiroth, the party splits apart to go take care of personal matters. Cloud and Tifa, since they don't have anyone to go see, stay behind with the Highwind, leading to a Did They or Didn't They? moment.
- Final Fantasy X: The entire game has been taking place in one, as they party camps on the outskirts of the ruins of Zanarkand the night before Yuna is to perform the Final Summoning and defeat Sin, Tidus takes the opportunity to recount his story, explaining how he came to be there, which is what players have been following up to this point.
- Mass Effect:
- Mass Effect potentially has a scene with Shepard's love interest right before Illos to stop Saren from enabling the Reapers to return.
- Mass Effect 2: Similarly, prior to going through the Omega 4 relay to face the Collectors on their home turf, Shepard will spend a night with their love interest, if they have one. If they did not, but did in the first game, they will be seen staring at a picture of their original love interest.
- Mass Effect 3:
- After reaching Earth, there's an area where the united races are preparing their forces for one final push to reach the Citadel. Shepard can go around having one last chat with each of their crew before starting the last offensive.
- In the "Citadel" DLC, you can find audio of Admiral Anderson talking about his experiences, one of which is about going into battle during the First Contact War. He recalls the mood on the shuttle, the marines he was with all being deathly silent. Eventually, they break the tension by telling Your Mom jokes.
- World of Warcraft: The short "Old Soldier
" takes place on the eve of the Battle of Lordaeron. Varok Saurfang looks out at the assembled forces of the Alliance and, disillusioned with the Horde under Sylvanas Windrunner and longing for the warrior's death that keeps being denied him, begins marching out toward the enemy encampment seemingly preparing to commit Suicide By Alliance. Before he can, a young shaman convinces him to live another day.
Western Animation
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: The end of season 1 has the Fire Nation mounting a massive attack on the Northern Water Tribe. The Fire Navy ships approach their waters but as night falls, which would give the waterbenders the advantage, they drop anchor to wait for daybreak. This gives the waterbenders time to make final preparations. The chief even mentions the stillness before battle, considering it unbearable.
