History Main / DeadlyRinger

* ''Literature/OldKingdom'': {{Necromancer}}s and Abhorsens channel their magic through special sets of bells that are enchanted in TheUnderworld, which have effects varying from ForcedSleep, mind control, causing death, and reversing death.

* In a [[ChristmasEpisode Christmas]] [[Recap/MonkS6E10MrMonkAndTheManWhoShotSantaClaus episode]] of ''Series/{{Monk}}'', a man dressed as a Salvation Army Santa bludgeons a woman to death with his handbell [[spoiler:to better aid his plan of stealing a valuable diamond from a museum where she worked]].

* The two-part ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' episode "For Whom the Bell Klangs" applies this to an ''entire ancient civilization''. Tinabula incorporated bells and sound-based mechanics into all of its technology, including what amounts to a [[MakeMeWannaShout sonic death ray]]; [[spoiler:when Klang fires it at an oncoming army, it proves capable of throwing ''tanks'' aside like toys]]. In the end, [[spoiler:even the city's self-destruct mechanism turns out to be a bell built in the shape of a titanic metal scarab: a single toll from it is enough to trigger the city's cataclysmic re-burial]].

* ''VieoGame/DragonQuestVIII'' has a class of bell-shaped enemies including the Ding-a-Ling, the Magc Dumbell, and the Dead Ringer. The first kind is harmless by itself, but can call stronger enemies, while the latter two can lay low even high-leveled characters.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'': In the backstory, Ernesto de la Cruz was killed when a large bell fell on him.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'': Ratigan owned a tiny handbell that summoned his RightHandCat Felicia to eat mice that upset him. Basil kept the bell as a trophy at the end.
* ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'': The enormous Sleeping Giant of Del Mar fights Puss in Boots by swinging a bell on a rope like a massive flail. Puss turns the tables by tricking the Giant into tying itself up and getting knocked out by the bell. But as Puss stops to celebrate his victory, the bell breaks off the rope and crushes him, costing Puss [[CatsHaveNineLives his eighth life]].
[[/folder]]

* The Creator/ECComics story "For How the Bell Tolls!" (''Vault of Horror'' #28, Dec 1952) has an apprentice bellringer who after 34 years of not being allowed to ring the bell murders his master in sheer frustration. He is sentenced to death by the bell being rung all day-- with him as the clapper. (The story notes that near the end of the day the bell doesn't so much ''ring'' as ''[[NauseaFuel splat]]''...)

* ''FIlm/TheMagicCrane'' has the enchanted bell, the villain General Zhao's main weakness, whose notes somehow causes Zhao's body to overload with energy in the final battle until he ''explodes'', PopGoesTheHuman-style.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'': In the backstory, Ernesto de la Cruz was killed when a large bell fell on him.

* ''Literature/FightingFantasy''

* The Literature/LordPeterWimsey novel ''The Nine Tailors'': [[spoiler: A man was left bound and gagged in a belfry, and it's thought that the sheer cacophony and loudness of the church bells being rung all night on New Year's Eve killed him--but the person who left him there never intended him to die, originally intending to bring him down before the bell-ringing began, only to be struck down by illness and unable to either rescue him or send someone else to do it.]]

* In a [[ChristmasEpisode Christmas]] [[Recap/MonkS6E10MrMonkAndTheManWhoShotSantaClaus episode]] of Series/{{Monk}}, a man dressed as a Salvation Army Santa bludgeons a woman to death with his handbell [[spoiler:to better aid his plan of stealing a valuable diamond from a museum where she worked.]]

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'': Two examples.

* ''VideoGame/PhantomBrave'': You can make pretty much anything into this game into not only a weapon but an InfinityPlusOneSword. A bell is one of the options.

** In G4, Grogar was banished, and his bell was moved to the peak of a high mountain where no one could get it. A team of villains is sent to retrieve the bell, and it is later used in the finale [[spoiler:but not by Grogar, who turns out to have been a disguise.]]

* The two-part ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' episode "For Whom the Bell Klangs" applies this to an ''entire ancient civilization.'' Tinabula incorporated bells and sound-based mechanics into all of its technology, including what amounts to a [[MakeMeWannaShout sonic death ray]]; [[spoiler: when Klang fires it at an oncoming army, it proves capable of throwing ''tanks'' aside like toys]]. In the end, [[spoiler: even the city's self-destruct mechanism turns out to be a bell built in the shape of a titanic metal scarab: a single toll from it is enough to trigger the city's cataclysmic re-burial]].

* ''LightNovel/TrinityBlood'': The anime adaptation has a pipe organ and series of bells as the controls of a sonic-based earthquake device.

Bells are among the most majestic noisemakers. Whether small and cheerful or big and possibly ominous, their resonance rings out. Perhaps heralding something's arrival, perhaps signaling someone or something, but whatever the case, they're not something to be worried about in and of themselves.

* ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'': Matthias wins his DavidVersusGoliath battle against Cluny the Scourge by retreating up the belltower and cutting the bell off its rope. It falls directly on Cluny, crushing him with a final peal.

** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', the keychain from [[Film/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame La Cité des Cloches (French for "The City of Bells")]] is the Guardian Bell, which gives the Keyblade a bell for its teeth, held in a gargoyle's mouth.

* ''Series/RobinHood'': Averted: when each of the Merry Men gets an InstrumentOfMurder, Little John gets ordinary and very ''small'' bells, which he tacks on the end of his SimpleStaff.

* ''Literature/BloodSword'': in book 2, meeting Uraba the Seer will allow you to obtain an iron bell whose knoll will dispel sorcery. You can use the bell to istantly put an end to the Witch-King of Wyrd, though by doing so you'll gain less experience points.

* In a [[ChristmasEpisode Christmas]] [[Recap/MonkS6E10MrMonkAndTheManWhoShotSantaClaus episode]] of Series/{{Monk}}, a man dressed as a Salvation Army Santa bludgeons a woman to death [[spoiler:in order tro better aid his plan of stealing a valuable diamond from a museum the woman works at.]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]