History Main / LavaPit

* ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' has these in some of the Foot air base tunnels.

A subtrope of LavaAddsAwesome. May or may not be a part of FireAndBrimstoneHell. Supertrope to LavaPotVolcano, where a perennial lava pit fills the crater of a volcanic mountain. Falling in one might kill you instantly, or boil you slowly and painfully in a MoltenDateWithDeath.

A subtrope of LavaAddsAwesome. May or may not be a part of FireAndBrimstoneHell. Supertrope to LavaPotVolcano, where a perennial lava pit fills the crater of a volcanic mountain.

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}''

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'': the castle where Princess Fiona is imprisoned is surrounded by a moat of lava. The only way in is across an old rope bridge, which prompts the page quote.

A subtrope of LavaAddsAwesome. May or may not be a part of FireAndBrimstoneHell.

* ''Film/StarWarsEpisodeIIIRevengeOfTheSith'': The climatic duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker takes place on the lava planet Mustafar, with the Jedi fighting on platforms teetering over several lava pits that belch spurts of molten rock around the former comrades.

* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': Several [[{{Robeast}} Mechanical Beasts]] were fought beside or over lava pits on the crater of a volcano -usually Mount Fuji-: Aeros B2 and B3, Holzon V3 — in one of the manga versions — Debira X1... And in one episode, Kouji was dumped in one.

* The second ''Film/AustinPowers'' movie features a DeathTrap over a pit of lava. Doctor Evil seems to have a thing for magma.

** The big finish, when Gollum falls with the One Ring into a lava pit inside [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom Mt. Doom]].[[note]]In the book, it's just a "crack of fire", contents not clearly specified — Gollum falls over the edge and that's the end of it. In the movie, we get to watch him sink slowly into the lava, and the ring sits on the surface for a long couple of seconds before melting.[[/note]]

--->''One presentation, movie, song, and puppet show later...''
--->'''Frodo:''' This sure is taking a long time.
* In the opening of ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'', the ''Enterprise'' crew are working to stop an active volcano from erupting so as to save the native population of the planet. In Spock's case, this means being put into a protective suit and being beamed ''into'' it, to place a freezing device.
* Famously, the climatic duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker in ''Film/StarWarsRevengeOfTheSith'' takes place on the lava planet Mustafar, with the Jedi fighting on platforms teetering over several lava pits that belch spurts of molten rock around the former comrades.

* Creator/WilliamsElectronics' ''Pinball/{{Gorgar}}'' takes place in one, where the titular monster lives.
* In Creator/{{Stern}}'s ''Pinball/{{Star Trek|Stern}}'', the "Prime Directive" Mode requires rescuing Spock from inside an actively-erupting volcano.

* Lava pits appear in [[LethalLavaLand Sector 4]] of ''VideoGame/{{Jumper}} Three''. Earlier games substituted floating fireballs for that.
* The "floor" of the arena in ''VideoGame/{{Joust}}'' is one of these, with a troll lurking in it that grabs at any combatant who gets too close.

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', several of the [[MiniDungeon Shrines]] found in the Eldin region have lava pits.

* The final area of ''VideoGame/LighthouseTheDarkBeing'' is the titular villain's VolcanoLair, complete with a geothermal steam system fueled by its still-active caldera. And for good measure, you have to [[PipeMaze reroute a set of steam pipes]] to retrieve part of the {{MacGuffin}}, using a diving-bell-esque apparatus suspended over the lava.

* Long, long ago, pre-''Halo'', the Bungie company had the ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' series. A few levels take place underground on some planet, and you can fall into lava if you're not careful. It's like water, except instead of the screen having a blue filter it has a red filter, and your health slides down--quickly, but not instantly.

* Underground lava pools in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' are always a threat to the player's safety. Digging straight down poses the risk of falling into one with no easy way to climb back out -- that's why not digging straight down is an unspoken rule of the game. The player ''can'' scoop up lava with a bucket and use it to fashion lava pits of their own, either as a trap, defense, or a prank.
* In ''VideoGame/LaMulana'', several areas contain lava, which on top of draining your health like a mofo, is hard to swim around in, and disables your menus unless you have the Heatproof Case. Once you get the Ice Cape, you are completely invulnerable to lava.[[note]]Changed in the remake, where it lowers the lava's dps from critically lethal to manageable.[[/note]] Also, one of the steps to the BonusLevelOfHell requires you to drop down several screens of a bottomless Lava Pit.
* Comes up a few times in the ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' series.

** In the ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'' games, stage 100 of Mt. Battle is on a platform that essentially floats on the lava pit in the crater of a volcano.
** The Blackthorn Gym in ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' and the remakes has lava. The solution to cross it and get to Clair differs between the original (Strength puzzle) and remakes (rotating floor).

* A common DeathTrap in the cave levels of ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2: The Shadow and the Flame''. They are a good way of killing skeletons permanently.
* World 1 and 4 fortresses in ''VideoGame/{{Purple}}'' contain lava pits with [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Podoboo]]-like fireballs to boot. World 2 fortress has {{Acid Pool}}s instead.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' deathmatch level "Claustrophobopolis" had several lava pit death traps that players could spring on each other.
* The Ammo Depot level in ''VideoGame/QuakeII'' has a retractable bridge over lava that can be used to fry crossing enemies. The Torture Chambers level has a cage used to dunk prisoners into lava.
* Present in many levels after the second temple of ''VideoGame/Rayman2TheGreatEscape''. Notably, the final levels feature them... despite taking place on a ''flying pirate ship''. One must wonder how they keep it from cooling down without melting a hole in the bottom of their hull.

* A variant in the ''Literature/JamesBond'' novel ''Literature/YouOnlyLiveTwice'': Blofeld has Bond (who is pretending to be a deaf-mute) seated on a chair directly above a geyser that erupts every 15 minutes, in an attempt to get him to break his cover. It works.

* Famously, the climatic duel between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker in ''StarWarsRevengeOfTheSith'' takes place on the lava planet Mustafar, with the Jedi fighting on platforms teetering over several lava pits that belch spurts of molten rock around the former comrades.

* The finale in ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheReturnOfJafar'' takes place in a lava pit created by Jafar to trap and kill Aladdin and his friends. He would have succeeded if it weren't for Iago's intervention.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'', the castle where Princess Fiona is imprisoned is surrounded by a moat of lava. The only way in is across an old rope bridge, which prompts the page quote.

* The Predacons in ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' had a lava pit in their base, which [[spoiler:Scorponok and Terrorsaur]] fell into. Also notable was when [[spoiler:Quickstrike, under Tarantulas' commands, dropped Megatron into one. Far from killing him, it caused him to mutate into a Transmetal 2 dragon.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'', "Too Much of a Gold Thing" has an unusual example. A lake of molten gold.

* [[AHellOfATime Miseryville]] in ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'' has quite a number of these. They vary between being a case of LavaIsBoilingKoolAid and ConvectionSchmonvection for [[TheLegionsOfHell the town's inhabitants]] to being genuinely destructive and incinerating Miseryvillians in an instant depending on the joke.

* In ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'' episode "Ultra Chicks", Jamie defeats the beast attacking the Ultra Cadets' planet by tossing it into a volcanic pit. That is, until it turns out lava makes it more powerful and it's unleashed to destroy the planet.

* [[GalacticConqueror Lord Hater]] has one on his ship in ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder''. It's been known to suffer from technical difficulties.
-->'''[[AdorableEvilMinions Watchdog]] 1:''' [[AffablyEvil Come on, little buddy]], time to get [[DisintegratorRay vaporized]].
-->'''Watchdog 2:''' Really? I thought Hater was gonna dip 'em in lava.
-->'''Watchdog 1:''' No, lava pit's on the fritz.
-->'''Watchdog 2:''' Aw, man! I love the lava.

* ''Manga/SazanEyes'': In the second part of the story, the last obstacle to the underground shrine where a Kunlun passage to the Triclops' Sacred Land is kept is Chi Luo (Red Net), a pool of sentient lava which blocks the path for anyone without the proper key. Since Chi Luo is living, trying to fly above the pool will result in the lava rising up to burn the intruder. Pai ends up defeating [[ArcVillain Zhou Gui]] by pushing him in the lava, where he's burnt to death.

* Parodied by ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} in ''ComicBook/GothamCityGarage''. He, ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} an ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} sneak into an secret underground facility protected with death traps and Dick wonders if they'll run into a lava trap.

-->''One presentation, movie, song, and puppet show later...''
-->'''Frodo:''' This sure is taking a long time.

* C.S. Lewis's ''Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy'' has a segment in ''Perelandra'' where Ransom is inside a volcanic mountain. He disposes of a dead body by dropping it into the lava, and at one point he's in a kind of a natural water slide, and is a little worried the slide will empty into a lava pit while he's rushing down it (it doesn't).

* An episode of ''Series/GetSmart'' parodying ''Film/ThePrisonerOfZenda'' has Max swordfighting the bad guy next to a pit of molten metal. Max knocks bad guy's sword out of his hand into the pit; bad guy's flunky cries out "I'll get it!" and steps into the pit, never to resurface. Bad guy shrugs "Good help is so hard to find these days!"

* One secret path in, of all places, a sewer level in ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack''. Normally Crash sometimes has to hang from metal ceiling grilles to make his way over red-hot sewer piping, but in that one secret path he's crossing over a molten lava pit.

* The video games ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'', and ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' all have some form of lava pit that you can walk across the rocks near it, or (with minor damage) touch it temporarily, but you only get serious injury if you stay in it for several seconds.

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', Kuja traps your entire party in cells in his Desert Palace with floors that retract to reveal lava beneath them. He threatens to retract them all the way unless Zidane and his selected party members fetch him the Gulug Stone from Oeilvert. However, after Zidane and the others leave, he says he hates keeping promises and puts the remaining party members on a ten minute timer which can be reset by an hourglass, but only if Zidane makes it back in time.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'': In contrast to the game's two predecessors in 3D, this one has ''all'' lava pits force Link to respawn in the area entrance upon falling into lava pits, which is retained in all future games. Fortunately, there are usually water jars that cool down a part of the pit for a limited time, allowing Link to quickly traverse them; shooting an Ice Arrow at the lava has the same effect, becoming handy in a room from Ganon's Tower.

* Long, long ago, pre-''Halo'', the Bungie company had the ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' series. A few levels take place undeground on some planet, and you can fall in lava if you're not careful. It's like water, except instead of the screen having a blue filter it has a red filter, and your health slides down--quickly, but not instantly.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' has lava areas in some levels. Fire Pokemon are able to move across them without taking damage.

* The Ammo Depot level in ''VideoGame/QuakeII'' has a rectractable bridge over lava that can be used to fry crossing enemies. The Torture Chambers level has a cage used to dunk prisoners into lava.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' has lava pools ''with slopes''. It also has {{Palette Swap}}ped pits of boiling mud in Chocolate Island, and bubbling grayish "death water" in some of the fortress levels, which is used frequently in PlatformHell hacks.

* ''VideoGame/TombRaiderAnniversary'' does this for the mutant boss in the final level before the final boss. You have to let the monster charge at you, pull off an bullet time shot so that it rolls over and over the edge, and then blast its fingers as it hangs on in order to drop it down a shaft with lava on the bottom.

* While not seen, Castle Heterodyne from ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' mentions off hand that it can [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090417 drop people into a lava pit through a door Agatha passes by.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' : The Joker dumps Batman into a trash incinerator in one episode. In another, Red Claw tries dropping him into actual lava.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Dinotrux}}'' has lava pits used by the BigBad as part of his evil lair. The gang eventually builds there own as it turns out access to a lava pool can be extremely handy in melting down spare scrap metal and reforging it.

** [[DeathWorld Apokolips]] is a world teeming with Fire Pits, which in the finale are implied to be made by drilling right into the planets magma core and letting all the smoke and flame spill out, which gives your atmosphere that nice FireAndBrimstoneHell look. The "implied" part comes when, during their latest AlienInvasion, Apokolips tries to perform this terraforming feat on ''Earth'', turning us into a twisted mirror image of that world purely ForTheEvulz.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MegasXLR'' episode "Ultra Chicks", Jamie defeats the beast attacking the Ultra Cadets' planet by tossing it into a volcanic pit. That is, until it turns out lava makes it more powerful and its unleashed to destroy the planet.

* ''WebAnimation/SonicForHire'': In Season 6, [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] utilizes one to kill [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]]'s daughter Soniqua. Not only it [[NoSell fails]], Soniqua spits out some of the lava at Luigi.

* ''WebAnimation/SonicForHire'': In Season 6, Franchise/{{SuperMarioBros}} utilizes one to kill Franchise/{{SonicTheHedgehog}}'s daughter Soniqua. Not only it [[NoSell fails]], Soniqua spits out some of the lava at Luigi.

* ''WebAnimation/SonicForHire'': In Season 6, Franchise/{{Mario}} utilizes one to kill Franchise/{{Sonic}}'s daughter Soniqua. Not only it [[NoSell fails]], Soniqua spits out some of the lava at Luigi.

* A variant in the ''Literature/JamesBond'' novel ''Literature/YouOnlyLiveTwice'': Blofeld threatens to leave Bond on top of a frequently erupting geyser unless he talks.

* In the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series, Marble, Hill Top, Lava Reef, and the Underground Zone all feature lots of lava (or magma) pits. Eggman is very creative about incorporating them into his [[DeathCourse gauntlets of traps]].

* ''Manga/SazanEyes'', in the second part of the story, the last obstacle to the underground shrine where a Kunlun passage to the Triclops' Sacred Land is kept is Chi Luo (Red Net), a pool of sentient lava which blocks the path for anyone without the proper key. Since Chi Luo is living, trying to fly above the pool will result in the lava rising up to burn the intruder. Pai ends up defeating [[ArcVillain Zhou Gui]] by pushing him in the lava, where he's burnt to death.

* The climax of ''Anime/{{Noir}}'' takes place over a Lava Pit, in the [[EldritchLocation mystical dimension]] in-between Spain and France. No, not Andorra. [[spoiler: Altenna dies by falling into it. Kirika almost falls with her, but Mireille saves her.]]

* In the first ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'' novelization, ''The Book of Atrus'', the path to D'ni from the surface involves crossing a lava chasm, over which the original bridge has collapsed and been replaced by one made of rope. When Atrus tries to escape from D'ni, he finds that this bridge has been removed, and tries to jump over the chasm instead. [[spoiler: He barely makes it, but begins to fall in; however, Gehn jumps over and grabs him.]]

** The original game had a small chasm in the Selenitic Age, containing rocks hot enough to emit fire - and in ''realMyst'', actual lava along with it.

** Eder Gira in [[VideoGame/UruAgesBeyondMyst Uru]] is split in half by a wide lava pit - which the player will panic-link away from when inches from the surface. Naturally, there's an island in the middle that needs to be jumped onto to complete a steam valve puzzle.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' is in [[LethalLavaLand love with lava]] -- and ConvectionSchmonvection, as evidenced by the abundance of lava pits in zones like Blackrock Mountain, Burning Steppes, Dragonblight, Shadowmoon Valley, Ironforge, and others. It's also not entirely consistent regarding which lava is harmful - there are places where it's almost instantly fatal, places where it's annoying but not a major hazard as long as you get out quickly, and places where you can swim in or walk on it without any apparent ill effects. There's even one zone where you can ''fish'' in lava, although what you get out of it isn't edible.

* The Predacons in ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' had a lava pit in their base, which [[spoiler: Scorponok and Terrorsaur]] fell into. Also notable was when [[spoiler:Quickstrike, under Tarantulas' commands, dropped Megatron into one. Far from killing him, it caused him to mutate into a Transmetal 2 dragon.]]

* A BBC documentary ''Iceland, Land of Ice and Fire'' followed Icelandic geologists and volcanologists as they attempted to assess how critical a pending eruption would be on the fault line running through the country. After nearly a year of rumbling and warning, the Badarbunga volcano blew, venting its lava in the most "harmless" way possible. But the trench of fire as a subterranean lava stream came to the surface was ''still'' one and a half kilometres - one mile - long. And all along its length, lava was being ejected for four or five hundred feet into the air. The resulting light show was awesome and spectacular.

* While not seen Castle Heterodyne from ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' mentions off hand that it can [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090417 drop people into a lava pit through a door Agatha passes by.]]

* Most volcanic vents that erupt fluid pāhoehoe lava are fountains, not pools. Lava can pool in depressions downhill from eruption, but they cool rapidly into slower-flowing semi-solid ʻaʻā lava. Persistent actively-convecting [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_lake lava lakes]] are extremely rare, and as of this writing there are only ''five'' in the world: Erta Ale (Ethiopia), [[HailfirePeaks Mount Erebus]] (Ross Island, Antarctica), Kīlauea (Hawaiʻi), Nyiragongo (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Marum (Ambrym, Vanuatu).

* ''Manga/SazanEyes'', in the second part of the story, the last obstacle to the underground shrine where a Kunlun passage to the Triclops' Sacred Land is kept is Chi Luo (Red Net), a pool of sentient lava which blocks the path for anyone without the proper key. Since Chi Luo is living, trying to fly above the pool will result in the lava rising up to burn the intruder. Pai ends up defeating [[ArcVillain Zhou Gui]] by pushing him in the lava, where he's burnt to death.

* In ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable'', Patty Gauzweiler cements her KillerGM status (and greatly impresses her fellow [=GMs=]) by creating a DeathTrap in which the players willingly have their characters jump into a lava pit.
* Subverted (doubly) in the ''Comicbook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'' comic. Sun Boy gained his powers when Doctor Zaxton Regulus locked him inside a nuclear reactor just before its activation. In a later issue, Regulus comments "I could have killed him [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim when I had the chance]]. But no; I had to get theatrical!"

* C.S. Lewis's ''Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy'' has a segment in ''Perelandra'' where Ransom is inside a volcanic mountain. He disposes of a dead body by dropping it into the lava, and at one point he's in a kind of a natural water slide, and is a little worried the slide will empty into a lava pit while he's rushing down it (it doesn't).

* Creator/AlanMoore, naturally, takes this trope UpToEleven in ''ComicBook/TomStrong''; during their first encounter, Paul Saveen, Strong's ArchEnemy, traps Tom in a pit about to be filled with Phlogiston, described as "heat in its liquid form".

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'': You can transform into a Goron, who is apparently immune to lava (the flipside is that they easily freeze to death and sink instantly in water bodies).

* An episode of ''Series/GetSmart'' parodying ''Film/ThePrisonerOfZenda'' has Max swordfighting the bad guy next to a pit of molten metal. Max knocks bad guy's sword out of his hand into the pit; bad guy's flunky cries out "I'll get it!" and [[WhatAnIdiot steps into the pit]], never to resurface. Bad guy shrugs "Good help is so hard to find these days!"