History Main / BigShadowLittleCreature

%%* ''Literature/TheGruffalosChild'': How the Mouse convinces the Gruffalo's Child that the Big Bad Mouse is real.

** Used again in ''The Mysterious Island'', where Littlefoot and his friends get stranded on an island and cower from the shadow of an approaching Sharptooth, which turns out to be a slightly older Chomper.

* ''WesternAnimation/XMen'': Both played straight and terrifyingly subverted in the 1990s version when the [[KillerRobot Ultimate Sentinel]] Nimrod shows up. We see the massive shadow on the wall as [[FutureBadAss Bishop]] yells '' [[OhCrap "Oh, no! It's Nimrod!"]]'' -- when a [[RealMenWearPink man-sized, pink robot]] appears, and [[HopeSpot everyone breathes a slight sigh of relief...]] which disappears completely as Nimrod [[CurbStompBattle then promptly proceeds to beat everyone present like a red-haired stepchild.]]

* ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'': An early article details a fan-designed shadowy monster called an "umbra", which can only be slain with the shadows of weapons rather than the weapons themselves. Shortly after it was published, the magazine's letters column included a reader's inquiry about what to do about a sneaky player who'd invoked this trope against it, having his PC hold a sword very close to his party's torch and create a gigantic sword-shadow.
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': In the 3rd edition ''Fiend Folio'', the picture of the spriggan (which are normally about two feet tall) has a huge shadow on the wall behind it. As spriggans can [[SizeShifter grow to about twelve feet tall]] this is surely meant as symbolism.

** ''The Great Valley Adventure'' does this with the recently-hatched Chomper, by which he scares off Ozzie and Strut.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'': At one point, Snake sees the shadow of a boss who unambiguously ''died'' in VideoGame/MetalGearSolid; it turns out it was cast by a flashlight a few inches behind an action figure.

->A very small man can cast a very large shadow.
-->--'''Lord Varys''' on Tyrion Lannister, ''Series/GameOfThrones''

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'': At one point, Snake sees the shadow of a boss who unambiguously ''died'' in VideoGame/MetalGearSolid; it turns out it was cast by a flashlight a few inches behind an action figure.

** In ''Secrets of the Furious Five'' an orphanage terrified by a rampaging monster shown as a huge clawed shadow...who turns out to be a young and cute Tigress [[DoesNotKnowHerOwnStrength who just wants to play]]. Unlike usual for this trope, Young Tigress continues to be feared even after TheReveal, until Master Shifu teaches her self-discipline.

* In the first episode of ''Animation/NanaMoon'', Keke sees a shadow on a nearby bush and freaks out, thinking it's some kind of monster that's after her. The shadow turns out to be from Princess Amy, a harmless moon genie who isn't even as tall as Keke.

[[folder:Fanfic]]
* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': In "Mukrezar's Return":
--> A huge shadow, almost as broad as it was tall, moved across the mildewy wall as its owner approached with quiet footsteps. The being that stepped into the weak torchlight was much shorter and less imposing than the menacing shadow it cast. An eyebrow rose curiously over half-lidded, fist-sized imp eyes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'': Mushu casts a nice dragon-shaped shadow, until Mulan realizes he's only a foot high.
** This scene is repeated in the game, ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', which Sora and the gang initially mistake for a heartless attacking Mulan.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}'': As Timothy Mouse approaches the ringleader's bed to whisper in his ear, he casts a huge shadow that is a direct homage to ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}''.
* Mama Odie's introduction in ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog''. The DVDCommentary references ''WesternAnimation/WhatsOperaDoc'' as an inspiration.
* The Galloping Goose (an old truck designed to run on rails) briefly seen at the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars 2}}'', mimicking a freight train barreling through a tunnel to scare Lightning [=McQueen=] out of his old route.
* The introduction of movie mogul L.B. Mammoth in ''WesternAnimation/CatsDontDance''.
* ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'': As Fievel the mouse is wandering the streets of New York looking for his family during a SadTimesMontage, he casts a huge shadow on the wall behind him. More of a visual effect than played for humor.
* At the start of ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', Po is called downstairs by his father, who first appears as a large panda-like shadow, that turns out to be a goose holding a cooking pot piled with food.
** ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'': Not really a little creature, but done for the same effect when Lord Shen first meets Po, the legendary panda warrior prophesied to defeat him. Shen is practicing the speech he'll give to Po, who has just been captured. Then a huge shadow appears on the staircase, accompanied by growls and panting. Shen nervously reaches for one of his knives and...it turns out to be one of his gorilla {{mooks}} carrying Po, exhausted from the endless stairs leading up to Shen's throne room.
* ''{{WesternAnimation/Brave}}'': The triplets exploit this trope to lure the warriors to the roof of a tower so Merida and Elinor can escape.
* Done close to the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/FlushedAway'' when one of the [[BigBad Toad]]'s rat goons tries to intimidate Rita and Roddy. He then falls on his face, completely ruining the effect.
* The imp does this to Sunny ''WesternAnimation/StrangeMagic''.
* Near the end of ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'', [[spoiler: Pepita casts a shadow resembling her ''Alebrije'' form in the living world, but then enters in the form a normal-sized cat.]]

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]

* When Mini-Me first appears in ''Film/AustinPowersTheSpyWhoShaggedMe'', we first see his full size shadow behind a screen door, before the door opens and we get to see what his real size is.
* In ''Film/TheThirdMan'', police on a night stakeout see a threatening shadow cast two stories high. It turns out to be a balloon peddler.
* ''Film/TheBurbs'' uses this; a menacing-looking shadow (accompanied by heavy footsteps) ends up belonging to Henry Gibson.

* In the film version of ''Film/InspectorGadget'', the villain makes a giant shadow puppet with his hands on the city's skyscraper, tricking people into thinking that a [[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever giant monster]] is attacking.
* Used in ''Film/Tremors2Aftershocks'' to introduce the second stage of Graboid metamorphosis: the Shrieker.
* Joe's entrance into the Giant Scary Stadium in ''Film/{{Idiocracy}}'' makes it looks like he's driving a Monster Truck, just like his opponents ... until the Reveal, when we see his vehicle is more on the scale of a Smart Car.
* In ''Film/SpyHard'', the mook who captures the woman spy at the beginning is initially shown as a shadow on the wall. He then walks on-camera, and turns out to be a midget with a machine gun.
* A promotional image for ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' shows the shadow of Darth Vader belonging to a young Anakin Skywalker, though of course it's just symbolic imagery foreshadowing his eventual turn to the dark side.
* The Spartans in ''Film/ThreeHundred'' inspect a village that has been destroyed by the Persians. They turn to see a huge shadow against the smoke and sunset. It turns out to be a local boy, traumatized and mortally wounded.
* in ''Film/PeeweesBigAdventure'', we see an enormous shadow stretch across a wall at night, only to discover that it's our pint-sized hero Pee-wee storming down the street in a very bad mood.

* How the Mouse convinces the Gruffalo's Child that the Big Bad Mouse is real in Julia Donaldson's ''The Gruffalo's Child''.
* The dwarf Tyrion Lannister's EstablishingCharacterMoment in ''Literature/AGameOfThrones'' has him PetTheDog and then get in a position where the shadow he casts is as large as that of a giant. It's meant to establish that despite his hideous appearance and reputation, he's a good man at heart.
** The exact words are "as tall as a king". This has led to the inevitable EpilepticTrees among fans.
* In Literature/WarriorCats after lying about killing a dog, Scourge is sent by some other cats to get rid of a dog in an alley. He manages to frighten it away through the use of this trope.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* A ''Series/BarneyAndFriends'' video where Barney and several children tour a farm had a scene where BJ tell everyone that's he's been chased by a large bull who's "black as night", has "eyes red as fire", and "roars like a lion." Cue a black lamb running out of the barn BJ's in and as a result everyone starts singing "Baa Baa Black Sheep."
* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Plato's Stepchildren", our heroes beam down to the planet and are greeted by a booming voice and an enormous looming shadow, which turns out to be cast by Alexander, the four-foot-high court jester. The actor playing Alexander (Michael Dunn) was 3 feet, 11 inches tall.
* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', [[spoiler: before we find out that]] Dean [[spoiler: has been infected with a condition causing overactive panic attacks that might eventually kill him, the HowWeGotHere ColdOpen starts as he]] runs from [[ContinuityNod a ferocious canine]] with a large shadow, warning that it's a killer. It turns out it's a puppy.
* In ''Series/{{Lassie}}'', Jeff and Lassie notice the shadow of someone walking through the barn. He alerts his parents, noting that it looks like there's a big guy in there. They go in to investigate, only to find a [[HeartwarmingOrphan young orphan named Timmy.]]

* An early ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' article detailed a fan-designed shadowy monster called an "umbra", which could only be slain with the shadows of weapons rather than the weapons themselves. Shortly after it was published, the magazine's letters column included a reader's inquiry about what to do about a sneaky player who'd invoked this trope against it, having his PC hold a sword very close to his party's torch and create a gigantic sword-shadow.
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': In the 3rd edition Fiend Folio, the picture of the spriggan (which are normally about 2 feet tall) has a huge shadow on the wall behind it. As spriggans can [[SizeShifter grow to about 12 feet tall]] this is surely meant as symbolism.

* In ''[[Franchise/AceAttorney Ace Attorney Investigations]]'', the culprit engineers a fake giant shadow of [[PhantomThief Yatagarasu]] emblem on a wall by inventively applying light to local statues.
* In VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline there is a quest on Vvardenfell to assist an archeologist. When you first encounter him in an ancestral tomb he has you investigate what appears to be a large menacing shadow, failing horribly to hide how terrified he is. The source of the shadow is actually a tiny spider that happens to be right in front of a lantern, and the archeologist splutters, saying that is obviously what he had expected.
* At one point in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', Snake sees the shadow of a boss who unambiguously ''died'' in VideoGame/MetalGearSolid; it turns out it was cast by a flashlight a few inches behind an action figure.
* Occurs in the opening scenes of ''VisualNovel/{{Snatcher}}'', when the main character's RobotBuddy (also named Metal Gear) enters the room. Both its silhouette on the wall and the background music echo the FinalBoss fight of the original ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' ({{UsefulNotes/MSX}}).
* This turns up in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia'' with a slight twist. The little creature is one of the bosses, and the big shadow is what he uses to attack you - and deals more damage than almost any other boss, unless you [[GuideDangIt complete a specific quest to unlock the accessory that reduces Darkness damage]].
* One of the secrets in ''VideoGame/SeriousSamTheSecondEncounter'' has a demon shadow on the spiral staircase room in The Pit. The caster of the shadow is a very tiny variation of one of the enemies.
* Done at one point in the Old Clockworks of ''VideoGame/LuigisMansionDarkMoon''. One of the game's normal spiders is sitting right next to a light source, casting a giant shadow on the wall. Luigi is predictably a little freaked out by this until the camera catches up and shows the spider. Made more impressive when you notice that every light source in the game can do this if it's aimed right, even with Luigi himself.

* Dracula spends the entirety of ''Incredible Dracula 3: Family Secret'' chasing an unspecified beast called Vlad which does an enormous amount of property damage. In the ending sequence he and his zombie minions are faced with a giant shadow resembling a werewolf - which is cast by a deceptively cute-looking dog about the size of a chihuahua.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Tepoz's introduction in ''Webcomic/WapsiSquare'' was [[http://wapsisquare.com/comic/01162002/ like this.]]
* In ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}'', a little monkey casts a huge shadow [[http://www.boneville.com/comic/tuki-season-three-page-eleven/ on a cave wall]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/BlazeAndTheMonsterMachines'' episode "T-Rex Trouble", this is how the baby t-rexes were introduced.
* The Warner Bros. ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]]'' cartoons
** "Scaredy Cat". In the scene where ''a group of killer mice have Porky bound, gagged, and on his way to be decapitated'', large shadows of the mice (with one carrying an executioner's axe) appear on the wall.
** Early in "Claws For Alarm", Sylvester is terrified by a gigantic shadow belonging to a tiny spider.
** The opening of ''WesternAnimation/WhatsOperaDoc'', where the muscular shadow commanding the elements belongs to Elmer Fudd in an ill-fitting armor.
** In "Bye, Bye Bluebeard", a mouse tries to convince Porky he's a hatchet-wielding serial killer. At one point his shadow looms, large and menacing, on a wall.
** In "WesternAnimation/PorkysMovieMystery" we see a shadow of presumably a giant muscular police officer interrogating and threatening Frankenstein's Monster, it turns out to be a very small police officer.
** At the beginning of "WesternAnimation/WeTheAnimalsSqueak" it shows a younger Kansas City Kitty's shadow and she appears to be a large and menacing cat that frightens away a gang of rats, then it turns out she was a very small kitten.
** A decade before "What's Opera, Doc?" we have the ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'' parody, "A Corny Concerto", which begins with the silhouette of a tall, strapping figure stepping up to a podium in a fashion similar to Leopold Stokowski, only to be revealed to be Elmer Fudd in a suit that seems to hang off of him like a set of drapes.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'': Subverted in one episode where they're camping - we see the shadow, and it turns out to be a squirrel. Then we see the bear who's really casting the shadow.
* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'' sometimes plays this straight, but an interesting variation was in the classic episode "Mine Your Own Business," when as a plot to scare the old Miner '49er into a trap, the Miner runs when he sees and hears what appears to be a train approaching, but is revealed to actually be Shaggy making train noises while Scooby ran down the tracks with a flashlight and speaker Shaggy's train imitations were coming out of.
* Mr. Mind in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold''.
* Mr. Big, a villain on ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'', appeared as an enormous shadow on the wall for several episodes before finally being revealed to be smaller than Rocky.
** For all Big's tiny size, the villains, including Fearless Leader, are still scared of him.
** The ''WesternAnimation/{{Beetlejuice}}'' cartoon also had a gangster named Mr. Big who initially appeared as an ominous looming shadow before turning out to be a midget.
* One of the ShadowDiscretionShot examples was the first appearance of Momo in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. Huge shadow. Little bat-eared flying lemur.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBeavers'' - the beavers and their sentient, yet visibly nonmoving, tree stump get trapped in a cave and try to find a way out. Along the way they encounter the shadow of what appears to be a giant shadow of a ''Dimetrodon''. Cowering in fear, they are relieved that it's just a small lizard - with a fin taped to its back. The lizard then proceeds to attack and bite the ButtMonkey Daggett, whose grip never lets go even after the end of the episode.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheWildThornberrys'': Done deliberately in "No Laughing Matter," when Eliza uses her shadow puppet skills to cast a lion shadow to frighten away the wild spotted hyenas mauling the friendly, domesticated hyena she released earlier.
* Both played straight and terrifyingly subverted in the 1990s version of ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' when the [[KillerRobot Ultimate Sentinel]] Nimrod - ''[[{{Determinator}} a robot that would give a Terminator nightmares]]'' - shows up. We see the massive shadow on the wall as [[FutureBadAss Bishop]] yells '' [[OhCrap "Oh, no! It's Nimrod!"]] '' -- when a [[RealMenWearPink man-sized, pink robot]] appears, and [[HopeSpot everyone breathes a slight sigh of relief...]] which disappears completely as Nimrod [[CurbStompBattle then promptly proceeds to beat everyone present like a red-haired stepchild.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Catscratch}}'': Waffles runs away from home and tries to live life on the streets as a dog. Seeking shelter he sees an ominous shadow against some flames: "Who dares enter the sanctity of my domain? Name yourself!" Waffle: "W-W-Waffle. Wh-who are you?" Dark Shadow: "History has given me many names. You may call me...(Shrimpy dog arrives) Barkmeat."
* In ''Literature/PippiLongstocking'', two crooks see Mr. Nilsson's oversized shadow at Pippi's window, and mistake it for that of a large, formidable man. Mr. Nilsson is, of course, a small monkey. Unlike most examples above, the audience is in on the joke.
* Jerry's magician uncle at the very beginning of [[WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry "The Haunted Mouse."]]
* The first appearance of [[OverlordJr Lloyd Garmadon]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}'' uses this trope, causing the Ninja to initially believe that his evil father, Lord Garmadon, had come to terrorise Jamanakai Village.
* Used in ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'' with a monkey [[GodGuise worshipped]] by a WackyWaysideTribe.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'' episode "The Smurf Who Would Be King", the Norf Nags are Smurf-sized creatures that cast giant shadows to make themselves big and fearsome in order to scare the Pookies into delivering them more jewels from the mines.

* The opening of the AnimatedAdaptation of ''ComicBook/{{Iznogoud}}'' shows a large, menacing shadowy figure climbing the steps of the sultan's (yes, he's a caliph in the comics, but a sultan in the cartoon) palace while a voice says 'Good... Good... Good'. Then when it reaches the top, it is finally shown that the figure is actually the short but menacing titular Grand Vizier, and the voice finishes by saying 'Iz No Goud'.

* A promotional image for ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' showed the shadow of Darth Vader belonging to a young Anakin Skywalker (albeit a completely visible one), foreshadowing his eventual turn to the dark side.

** The first movie had a more poignant example: Littlefoot sees a large shadow and mistakes it for his mother. Only when he approaches it does he realizes it's his own shadow.

* ''Webcomic/{{Erma}}'': PlayedForDrama with TheDreaded MonsterLord Osamu. Though he himself is roughly human-sized, his shadow [[https://tapas.io/episode/1688150 engulfs]] an entire town with his approach.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBeavers'' - the beavers and their sentient, yet visibly nonmoving, tree stump get trapped in a cave and try to find a way out. Along the way they encounter the shadow of what appears to be a giant shadow of a frilled dinosaur. Cowering in fear, they are relieved that its just a small lizard - with a frill taped to its back. The lizard then proceeds to attack and bite the ButtMonkey Dagett, whose grip never lets go even after the end of the episode.

* Used in ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'' with a [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys monkey]] [[GodGuise worshipped]] by a WackyWaysideTribe.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'': When Yzma drinks one of the last potions, she briefly casts a huge shadow, and is then revealed to have transformed into [[spoiler:a cute kitten]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheWildThornberrys'' - Done deliberately by Eliza Thornberry, who uses her shadow puppet skills to cast a lion shadow to frighten away the wild hyenas mauling the friendly, domesticated hyena she released earlier.

* ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime The Land Before Time 2: The Great Valley Adventure]]'' does this with the recently-hatched Chomper.

** Used again in ''The Land Before Time 5: The Mysterious Island',' where Littlefoot and his friends get stranded on an island and cower from the shadow of an approaching Sharptooth, which turns out to be a slightly older Chomper, the T-Rex from the second film.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewGroove'', when Yzma drinks one of the last potions, she briefly casts a huge shadow, and is then revealed to have transformed into [[spoiler:a cute kitten]].

** ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2''. Not really a little creature, but done for the same effect when Lord Shen first meets Po, the legendary panda warrior prophesied to defeat him. Shen is practicing the speech he'll give to Po, who has just been captured. Then a huge shadow appears on the staircase, accompanied by growls and panting. Shen nervously reaches for one of his knives and...it turns out to be one of his gorilla {{mooks}} carrying Po, exhausted from the endless stairs leading up to Shen's throne room.

* Done close to the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/FlushedAway'' when one of the [[BigBad Toad]]'s rat goons tries to intimidate Rita and Millicent Bystander (Roddy). He then falls on his face, completely ruining the effect.

* Near the end of ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'', [[spoiler: Pepita casts a shadow resembling her Alebrije form in the living world, but then enters in the form a normal-sized cat.]]

* The movie adaptation of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing'' portrays the scene where Sam scares away the orcs of Cirith Ungol as this, unlike the book where it was the Ring's evil aura that frightened them. This was likely done because the latter is an abstract concept that's a lot harder to convey in a visual medium.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "The Smurf Who Would Be King", the Norf Nags are Smurf-sized creatures that cast giant shadows to make themselves big and fearsome in order to scare the Pookies into delivering them more jewels from the mines.

-->--'''Varys'' on Tyrion Lannister, ''Series/GameOfThrones''

* ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime Land Before Time II]]'' movie does this with a recently hatched T-Rex. The first movie had a more poignant example: Littlefoot sees a large shadow and mistakes it for his mother. Only when he approaches it does he realizes it's his own shadow. Used again in ''The Land Before Time V'' where Littlefoot and his friends get stranded on an island and cower from the shadow of an approaching Sharptooth, which turns out to be a slightly older Chomper, the T-Rex from ''II''.
* Mushu, the [[NonHumanSidekick dragon sidekick]] in Disney's ''{{WesternAnimation/Mulan}}'' does this: he casts a nice dragon-shaped shadow, until she realizes he's only a foot high. This scene is repeated in the game, ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', which Sora and the gang initially mistake for a heartless attacking Mulan.

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2''. Not really a little creature, but done for the same effect when Lord Shen first meets Po, the legendary panda warrior prophesied to defeat him. Shen is practicing the speech he'll give to Po, who has just been captured. Then a huge shadow appears on the staircase, accompanied by growls and panting. Shen nervously reaches for one of his knives and...it turns out to be one of his gorilla {{mooks}} carrying Po, exhausted from the endless stairs leading up to Shen's throne room.
* Done in ''{{WesternAnimation/Brave}}'' to lure the warriors to the roof of a tower so Merida and her mother can escape.

** At the beginning of "We The Animals Squeak" it shows a younger Kansas City Kitty's shadow and she appears to be a large and menacing cat that frightens away a gang of rats, then it turns out she was a very small kitten.

** In "Porky's Movie Mystery" we see a shadow of presumably a giant muscular police officer interrogating and threatening Frankenstein's Monster, it turns out to be a very small police officer.