History Main / BellyOfTheWhale

[[redirect:CantRefuseTheCallAnymore]]

->''"Tell me, who gives a good goddamn?\\
You'll never get out alive!\\
Don't go dreaming, don't go scheming\\
A man must test his mettle\\
In a crooked ol' world\\
Starving in the belly, starving in the belly\\
Starving in the belly of a whale!"''
-->-- '''Music/TomWaits''', ''Starving in the Belly of a Whale''

This, as denoted in ''Literature/TheHeroWithAThousandFaces'', is the conclusion of the Separation, the first phase of TheHerosJourney: "The hero, instead of conquering or conciliating [[ThresholdGuardians the power of the threshold]], is swallowed into the unknown, and would appear to have died." There is no [[RefusalOfTheCall turning back]] from this point. This is TheHero's point of no return where he resigns himself to the difficult task ahead. Forward march to the Road Of Trials!

[[DarkestHour It may not be entirely pleasant]] -- there's a reason Campbell compares it with dying. It is often the moment of greatest ''personal'' danger for the hero. TheHero can move forward by defeating the ThresholdGuardians, but also by being destroyed by them.

The TropeMaker and Campbell's TropeNamer is [[BookOfJonah Jonah]] of the ''[[TheBible Bible]]'', who, having been called by God, flees from Him unsuccessfully aboard a ship, and, the ship subsequently being caught in a terrible and dangerous storm, finally surrenders to God's will by throwing himself overboard; here, a "great fish", at God's command, swallows him and stores him within its belly for three days, during which Jonah accepts God's original call, and after which he is spewed out onto land by the beast, again at God's command.

For tropes about actual stomachs, try FantasticVoyagePlot, SwallowedWhole, RibcageStomach, or WombLevel.
----
!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime And Manga ]]

* The battle in the Cathedral in ''Anime/{{Claymore}}'', Clare comes close falling and becoming a Youma herself, but ultimately pulls back and from that point on is all but immune to turning.
* In ''Manga/ChronoCrusade'' after the events on the "Marionette Train", when the TrueCompanions are sent down the path towards Aion.
* After [[spoiler: Kamina's death]] in ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', Simon falls in despair and is functionally useless until [[spoiler: he meets Nia and has to save the rest of his TrueCompanions]].
* The Eclipse and its aftermath serve as this in ''Manga/{{Berserk}}''. [[spoiler: His best friend turned betrayer, his comrades dead, and his lover gone insane]], Guts accepts that nothing would ever be the same again and takes on the quest to slay apostles, even remarking to himself that he is going into the void all alone.
* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' Edward and Alphonse Elric burning down their childhood home marks this for them, as the declared that there was no turning back on their quest to get their original bodies back.
* A surprisingly literal example happens in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' when [[spoiler:Eren gets nommed by a titan on his first mission. While he's inside its stomach, he discovers his titan shifting powers which prove to be a game changer for humanity's side]].
* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure: [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]]'' this happens for both TheHero Jonathan and [[VillainProtagonist Villain]] {{Deuteragonist}} Dio Brando when the latter decides to "reject [his] humanity" and become a vampire. Jonathan decides to burn down his family's mansion in an attempt to destroy Dio, and this confrontation ends the more "grounded" arc of this part and leads into the more "bizarre" arc of Jonathan learning the ways of Hamon and Dio taking over a small town.
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[[folder: Films -- Animated ]]

* Like the Biblical story of Jonah, the title character in ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}'' heads into a whale's belly, in order to rescue his father Geppetto.
* ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' has an accidental and literal example: Marlin and Dory are swallowed by a whale, which marks their final step in the journey to Australia (and a variant: instead of the Belly of the Whale preceding the Road of Trials, it's the end of it, though not of Marlin's privations).
* Hiccup finds himself here in ''WesternAnimation/{{How To Train Your Dragon 2}}'' after his father tries to stop him from going on his mission to find Drago Bludvist. Hiccup flies away and ends up getting kidnapped by a mysterious, masked dragon rider who [[spoiler:turns out to be his mother]] and takes him to the dragons' hidden sanctuary.

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[[folder: Films -- Live-Action ]]

* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** Anakin's is when he travels to Coruscant and becomes determined to become a Jedi, which sets him off on his course.
** Luke's is when he boards the Death Star.
** Rey's comes when she accepts her family is never coming back, and seeks out Luke to begin her training.
* ''Film/{{The Matrix}}'': After Neo swallows the red pill and awakes in his battery pod outside the matrix. The whole sequence is a very literal "rebirth" into his new world, with a naked, bald Neo covered in goop, breaking out of a translucent sac and being dumped down a chute, only to wake up disoriented and helpless in a hospital bed.
* In ''Film/MenInBlack'', when James Edwards becomes Agent J his entire existence is erased from records and the memories of those who knew him.
* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}'': Our heroes lose their positions at Columbia University, but resolve to go into business for themselves.
* ''Film/StarTrekBeyond'': The ''Enterprise'' is destroyed, most of the crew captured, and the crew members who remain free are scattered widely over a planet's surface - some of them critically injured.

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[[folder: Literature ]]

* Creator/CSLewis's ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'': When the Pevensies resolve to stay in Narnia and find Mr. Tumnus instead of returning home, which sets them on the road to save the world.
** ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'': Leaving the Lone Islands
** ''Literature/TheSilverChair'': Eustace and Jill being dropped off by the owls with their Guide, Puddleglum, literally at the start of the literal Road of Trials.
* In ''The Book of Three'' of Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain this corresponds to Taran's imprisonment in Spiral Castle.
* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', Rand must enter a series of archways to learn the history of [[spoiler: his true native people, the Aiel.]] If he stops or turns back at any point during this journey, he will never return.
* In Creator/TadWilliams's ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'', Simon's first journey [[BeneathTheEarth beneath the tunnels]] of the Hayholt on the heels of his mentor's HeroicSacrifice is the point where his journey becomes irrevocable. It also includes the literal metaphor of being "swallowed up" by the earth, followed by his emergence, alone, starving, and companionless.
* In ''[[Literature/{{Deryni}} The Quest for Saint Camber]]'', Kelson and Dhugal are swept away in a mudslide and washed into an underground cave system behind a waterfall. They follow the cavernous tunnels looking for an escape route and are forced to break into the tombs of the Servants of Saint Camber (who have been in hiding for two centuries due to the anti-Deryni persecutions) to escape. To avoid death sentences for despoiling the Servants' graves, Kelson must undergo a ritual trial called ''cruaidh-dheuchainn''; he's sent naked into an underground chapel that has chemical fumes used to induce visions, and he must stay there overnight and report whether or not Camber visits him. After this, he's ready to return to his capital and face the task of taking his throne back from his cousin Conall.
* Cleanly marked in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'': when Harry is on the Hogwarts Express, he thinks, "He didn't know where he was going... but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind."
* In the Literature/WhateleyUniverse, it's the moment when Ayla Goodkind leaves the 'normal' world and rides into SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy. Given that 'Goodkind' means 'mutant-hating enemy' in this world, it's pretty much like someone named Hitler going to a university in Jerusalem.
* In ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'', the Ordeal that Richard goes through. Other characters note that he seems more mature after passing it.
* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': When the Fellowship enters Moria.
** And before that when Frodo agrees to be the ringbearer for the Fellowship's journey at the council of Elrond.
* In ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'', Edmond Dantès is initially a benign, trusting, and naive young man with a happy future ahead of him. Then he's falsely imprisoned. He initially hopes that he'll receive justice and return to his friends. But after four years, he realizes that he'll never be released. This is the trope-point where there is no going back to his old life, only ahead... It initially drives him to despair and a suicide attempt. But the unexpected arrival of a fellow prisoner, the remarkable Abbe Faria, turns his thoughts in a new direction, toward escape and revenge. This also marks a change in Dantès's character.
* Halfway through ''Literature/{{Pact}}'', Blake Thorburn, the viewpoint character, has his connections to the outside world eaten by a demon, causing him to become an {{Unperson}} and trapping him in [[EldritchLocation the Drains]], where he's forced to confront hard truths about himself and [[TomatoInTheMirror his life]], ultimately emerging more supernatural creature than human.
* In ''Literature/{{Below}}'', Brenish and Raden fall off a cliff during a battle, leaving them in an uncharted part of the [[DungeonCrawling ruins]] with only a rough idea how to reunite with their party. Brenish is effectively on his own for the first time, having to put his knowledge to the test and even taking a lead role in combat because of Raden's injury.

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[[folder: Music]]
* The Mariner's Revenge Song by ''Music/TheDecemberists'' has two men in the belly of a giant whale, one of whom had been seeking bloody revenge on the other for most of his life.
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[[folder: Religion, Mythology, and Folklore ]]

* The [[Literature/TheBible Biblical]] story of [[Literature/BookOfJonah Jonah]] in the belly of the whale, where Jonah had no choice but to accept God's plans for him, is the TropeNamer (although the Hebrew word used in the Old Testament is fish "דג" NOT whale "לִוְיָתָן").
* In ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', after Ulysses/Odysseus is the sole survivor of a shipwreck and ends in Calypso's island.
** Arguably long before that. Since the time spent on Calypso's island is spent in the company of a bevy of beautiful women who want nothing more than to keep him there. The Belly of the Whale for Odysseus is pretty much the moment Agamemnon drafts him into the Trojan War; his life goes downhill from there for the next TWENTY YEARS (10 at war with Troy, 10 trying to get home but with a sizable chunk of time on Calypso's island). Looking at the events of the Odyssey, the moment of hubris in which infuriates Poseidon would probably count.

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[[folder: Video Games ]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'''s Belly of the Whale is when Cecil is shipwrecked and washed up, all alone, near Mysidia, a city he had attacked and plundered before the start of the game. He has no choice now but to walk the road of atonement.
* In ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos'', after the first big WhamEpisode, Xelha finds herself locked up alone in the Imperial Fortress. It's only with [[spoiler:the help of the Guardian Spirit]] that she escapes. And more literally, Baten Kaitos is a star in the Cetus constellation. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Yes, it is the belly of the whale.]]
* In ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series, this is often done both as part of the beginning of the game, and when the first act is done and the second act starts in an event called the "mid-game plot twist."
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'', this comes when he rescues Zelda from Agahnim and becomes a fugitive. Later, it comes again when Agahnim has re-captured Zelda and Link goes to confront him, only to be sent to the Dark World at the end of their encounter.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', when the Great Deku Tree dies and Link must leave the forest, and later when Link is sealed in the Sacred Realm for a seven-year coma, only to awaken to a CrapsackWorld in which the first thing he sees is a [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies ReDead]].
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', when the pirates first drop Link off at the Forsaken Fortress. Arguably it's immediately after his defeat at the Forsaken Fortress. When he's sent to the fortress, he's still an overconfident kid. After he was tossed into the ocean and rescued, THAT was when he wised up to what he really needed to do. The mid-game twist occurs when Link first encounters Ganondorf with the Master Sword, only to find that it has lost its power.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', when Link finds himself turned into a wolf and locked in the twilit Hyrule Castle. The mid-game twist occurs when Zant blindsides Link and takes the Fused Shadows they worked hard to get.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', after the Happy Mask Salesman has taught him the Song of Healing and given him his quest.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'', when Link finally makes the jump from the safety of The Sky to the desolate Surface below.
** Played with interestingly in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', [[spoiler:where this part of the story actually happens before the game proper. As told by one of the flashbacks, Link [[OnlyMostlyDead nearly died]] defending Zelda from the corrupted Guardians, but right after he collapsed, the Master Sword's spirit, Fi, told Zelda to take him to the Shrine of Resurrection where he would be healed over the course of a century. However, the healing process caused him to lose his memory, thus necessitating him to restore it.]]
* Sora from ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' does this twice. Once in the sub-journey that is the [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI first game]], when he separates his heart from his body, and again and more fitting of the trope in his series-long character arc when his heart is shattered entirely and he has to put it back together and heal before he gets another chance to pass the official Hero's Test Yen Sid was giving.
** Sora arguably had a couple of these moments in the first game. The first was when [[DoomedHometown his homeworld was destroyed]] and he more or less washed up on Traverse Town. The second happens when he loses the Keyblade as well as Donald and Goofy to [[RivalTurnedEvil Riku]], [[BroughtDownToNormal forcing him to rely on his own strength and tenacity]] for the first time since starting his journey rather than using the Keyblade as a handicap.
** Oddly, the time he [[Disney/{{Pinocchio}} actually was in the belly of a whale]] doesn't really count.
* The initiation ritual for a Liir joining the Black Swimmers in ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars'' fits this to a tee. First, he goes through what is basically a funeral, where his loved ones circle him, sing to him, and touch him one last time. After he is handed over to the Black Swimmers, his lungs are filled with the oxygenated fluid that Liir warships use instead of atmosphere. To the recruit, this is very much like drowning, and indeed the first day of training is called "Drowning Day". After he has been reborn, not as a Liir, but as a Black Swimmer, he will undergo his military training.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha'' and ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration OG]]'', Campbellian Hero archetype Ryusei Date's symbolic death and rebirth comes when he and the rest of the SRX team are forced to use their dangerous, untested CombiningMecha in the middle of battle and re-emerge as the gigantic Super Robot X.
* ''VideoGame/CaveStory'' has a memorable case. After the reasonably light-hearted adventuring through Grasstown and the Sand Zone, Quote sees [[spoiler:Toroko]] die in front of him, and is cast into the Labyrinth by Misery.
* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRevelations'' is this for Desmond Miles. He has fallen into a comatose state after being forced to kill Lucy Stillman, and the only way for him to ever wake up is to relive Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad and Ezio Auditore's memories until there's nothing left for him to relive, as well as coming to terms with his troubled past, the fact he is an Assassin and the role he has to play.

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[[folder: Web Comics ]]

* In ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'', the secret plot of Headon and Yu Han Sung requires [[TheWoobie 25th]] [[WideEyedIdealist Baam]] to disappear from the face of the earth and the eyes of King Zahard. Apparently, it was most effective when he was killed by the person he was looking up to and searching for just when everybody thought it would be just fine. Not only is this a staged death, it is the final sladgehammer stroke that destroys Baam's innocence and replaces it with emotional emptiness.
* In ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'', this moment comes in chapter 7, when Antimony sees Robot S13 on the bridge and rushes out to help, knowing that she'll get in trouble for it. She then gets pushed off the bridge and spends the night trapped in the gorge.
* In ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob,'' this happens to Bob in his very first story arc, when he is [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20060617.html swallowed by a space monster.]] Fortunately, Earthlings turn out to be [[NoBiochemicalBarriers indigestible,]] and he punches the stomach wall until the monster upchucks him. [[http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20100420.html More recently,]] he has lampshaded that his survival there was pure luck, and his way of getting out was just inspired by ''Pinnochio.''

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': In "The Southern Air Temple," after Zuko's attack on the Southern Water Tribe forced Aang to accept his identity as the Avatar, Aang realizes "I really am the last Airbender," and he becomes aware of the danger of the Avatar State.
* 70 years later in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Aang's successor Korra manages to escape some ThresholdGuardians (the Order of the White Lotus) and conciliate others (Lin Bei Fong and Tenzin) and finds herself firmly set in Republic CityOfAdventure.

[[/folder]]
----

This, as denoted in ''Literature/TheHeroWithAThousandFaces'', is the conclusion of the Initiation, the first phase of TheHerosJourney: "The hero, instead of conquering or conciliating [[ThresholdGuardians the power of the threshold]], is swallowed into the unknown, and would appear to have died." There is no [[RefusalOfTheCall turning back]] from this point. This is TheHero's point of no return where he resigns himself to the difficult task ahead. Forward march to the Road Of Trials!

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', when the Great Deku Tree dies and Link must leave the forest, and later when Link is sealed in the Sacred Realm for a seven-year coma, only to awaken to a CrapsackWorld in which he first thing he sees is a [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies ReDead]].

* [[Franchise/StarWars Anakin's]] was when he traveled to Coruscant and became determined to become a Jedi, which set him off on his course.
** And Luke's was when he boarded the Death Star.
** And Rey's comes when she accepts her family is never coming back, and seeks out Luke to begin her training.
* ''{{The Matrix}}'': After Neo swallows the red pill and awakes in his battery pod outside the matrix. The whole sequence is a very literal "rebirth" into his new world, with a naked, bald Neo covered in goop, breaking out of a translucent sac and being dumped down a chute, only to wake up disoriented and helpless in a hospital bed.

* In ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' series, this is often done both as part of the beginning of the game, and (more frequently) when the first act is done and the second act starts in an event called the "mid-game plot twist."

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda''
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'', this comes when he rescues Zelda from Agahnim and becomes a fugitive.
** Done twice in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', when the Great Deku Tree dies and Link must leave the forest, and later when Link is sealed in the Sacred Realm for a seven-year coma, only to awaken to a CrapsackWorld in which he first thing he sees is a [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies ReDead]].
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', when the pirates first drop Link off at the Forsaken Fortress. Arguably it's immediately after his defeat at the Forsaken Fortress. When he's sent to the fortress, he's still an overconfident kid. After he was tossed into the ocean and rescued, THAT was when he wised up to what he really needed to do.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', when Link finds himself turned into a wolf and locked in the twilit Hyrule Castle.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'', this comes when he rescues Zelda from Agahnim and becomes a fugitive.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', when the Great Deku Tree dies and Link must leave the forest.
*** And later when Link is sealed in the Sacred Realm for a seven-year coma, only to awaken to a CrapsackWorld in which he first thing he sees is a [[EverythingsDeaderWithZombies ReDead]].
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', when the pirates first drop Link off at the Forsaken Fortress.
*** Arguably it's immediately after his defeat at the Forsaken Fortress. When he's sent to the fortress, he's still an overconfident kid. After he was tossed into the ocean and rescued, THAT was when he wised up to what he really needed to do.

* In ''The Book of Three'' of the Literature/ChroniclesOfPrydain this corresponds to Taran's imprisonment in Spiral Castle.