History Main / IronMaiden

* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'': One can be found in the dungeons of Fort Joy. A player character who climbs in gets hit with DamageOverTime and the "Bleed" StatusAilment, but fortunately, it doesn't lock.

->''"Within this virgin of cold ore, who shall swallow even your screams with her embrace, suffer in anguish as your entire body is stabbed and skewered!'' '''''[[PowerEchoes IRON MAIDEN!!]]"'''''

* This is involved the KarmicDeath of one villain in ''Creator/ECComics''. In "The Irony of Death" from issue 8 of ''Haunt of Fear'', [[GoldDigger Jeremy Slag]] kills the wealthy boss of an ironworks by pushing him into a vat of molten iron when he threatens to annul the marriage between Jeremy and his daughter. Afterwards, Mr. Slag proceeds to use the ingots from the vat into a number of humiliating objects, namely a safe, chair, ashtray, shovel, and spittoon. Two ingots, however, end up missing, and [[spoiler: when he goes into an iron maiden in a museum display with the exhibits made of iron from the ironworks he now ones, it closes on him and kills him. As could be expected, the two missing ingots were used in the construction of the iron maiden]].

* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSin2'': One can be found in the dungeons of Fort Joy, using it makes characters bleed for a while.

->''"Within this virgin of cold ore, who shall swallow even your screams with her embrace, suffer in anguish as your entire body is stabbed and skewered!'' '''''[[PowerEchoes Iron Maiden!!]]"'''''

->''"Within this virgin of cold ore, who shall swallow even your screams with her embrace, suffer in anguish as your entire body is stabbed and skewered!'' '''''Iron Maiden!!"'''''

** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS26E3TreehouseOfHorrorXXV Treehouse of Horror XXV]]" one of the ThreeShorts takes place in a school in Hell. At one point we see two bullies push a smaller demon into a locker with spikes inside and slam it shut, then blood pours out of the bottom of the locker.

* In ''VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvolt 2'', Gibril's level is set in a mansion, with iron maidens as traps that may snap Gunvolt in, causing him to take big damage if he isn't careful. In the boss fight, Gibril herself may sometimes summon an iron maiden to try to trap Gunvolt in. Also, in the third phase of her battle, she proceeds to trap ''herself'' in her iron maiden to help her unleash her LimitBreak (which required her to bleed enough); the fact that she's a CombatSadomasochist helps.

* After failing to rob the proprietor in ''Film/FromBeyondTheGrave'', the thief staggers back, is hit by a swinging skeleton, falls into what appears to be a combination of a coffin and an iron maiden, and is spiked to death.

Despite taking hold in popular culture, this is a DeadUnicornTrope. There is no evidence of tortures via iron maidens in the actual medieval era, and [[ArtisticLicenseHistory they probably never existed at all in real life]]. The modern discovery of the iron maiden may come from erroneous interpretation of the actual purpose of a real torture device known as "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schandmantel Schandmantel]]".

* ''Discworld/RaisingSteam'': A prisoner is kept in a (spikeless) iron maiden with several kittens. If the torturer drops by and doesn't hear contented purring, he opens it and whacks the prisoner over the head.

* ''ComicBook/CodeNameGravedigger'': In ''Men of War'' #12, Gravedigger has himself smuggled into Gestapo headquarters by concealing himself inside an iron maiden that is part of the personal collection of the TortureTechnician and is being brought in to help him break a captured British colonel.

* MarionetteMaster Kankuro from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' has a FinishingMove named after and emulating this trope [[DubNameChange (in the English dub)]]. "Secret Black Move: Iron Maiden", in which he first traps his victim in one of his puppets' barrel-like body, then uses the blades of his other puppet to skewer them.

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* In Season 3 Episode 6 of ''WebVideo/EscapeTheNight'', [[spoiler: [[DramaQueen Colleen]]]] was [[TearJerker killed in the]] [[NightmareFuel Maiden of Madness]].

* The WesternAnimation/BugsBunny short "False Hare" had a wolf trying several ways to kill Bugs, including shutting an Iron Maiden's door on him. The wolf's nephew takes a peek inside once the wolf inevitably falls victim to HoistByHisOwnPetard, and apparently [[TakeOurWordForIt doesn't like the result]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerPuffGirls'' episode [[Recap/ThePowerpuffGirlsS1E5BoogieFrightsAbracadaver "Abracadaver,"]] the titular VillainOfTheWeek was a magician who died from an iron maiden-like coffin after a little girl pushed him for losing her toy. After he was revived as a zombie, Abracadaver exacted revenge towards Blossom, who resembles that little girl decades ago, by hypnotizing her and sealing her inside the iron maiden. At the end, the Abracadaver reveals to be Blossom, and Blossom did the switcheroo by sealing the zombie inside the maiden.
* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'': In one of the darkest bits of humor on the show, the BumblingDad built one of these as a punishment for his children. The "Fenton Stockades", he called them - though ultimately, ''he's'' the one who gets put inside.
* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheGhoulSchool'' has Winnie Werewolf gift her father a lemon squeezer that resembles a tiny iron maiden with an opening on the head to make cups of (unsweetened) lemonade with.

* Creator/TimBurton's ''Film/BatmanReturns'' shows that Bruce Wayne steps into an iron maiden in Wayne Manor to enter the Batcave. The spikes retract, the front closes, and the trap door floor lets Bruce slide down a chute. FridgeBrilliance in that someone who learned Bruce's secret identity would think twice about trying to get into the Batcave this way, because if Batman has a safety feature to detect an imposter, the penalty would be painful indeed.
* In ''Film/SleepyHollow1999'' Ichabod Crane remembers that his mother was locked in an iron maiden by his father when he thought the free-spirited woman was a witch, leaving only her eyes visible enough to attract his attention and make him finally open that door.
* [[spoiler:Elizabeth]]'s ultimate fate in ''Film/ThePitAndThePendulum'' is to be locked in an Iron Maiden without any hope of rescue.
* ''Film/FiveDeadlyVenoms'' features an iron maiden variant with the victim's head exposed. [[spoiler:Snake uses this to kill Toad, but it only takes after Snake smashes Toad's ears and disables his "iron skin" power]].

* In the 25th ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' novel ''The Extreme'', it's revealed that [[BigBad Visser Three]]'s room on the Blade Ship contains an assortment of torture devices, including an iron maiden.
* The gruesome fate of the false princess in some tellings of "Literature/TheGooseGirl" (most notably Creator/TheBrothersGrimm's): She's placed in a barrel lined with nails which is then dragged about the streets by two white horses until she is dead. To be fair, [[HoistByHerOwnPetard she suggested the style of execution herself]] [[OriginalPositionFallacy thinking it was for someone else]].
* In one of the ''Literature/PhoenixForce'' novels, the VillainOfTheWeek has a hobby of collecting torture devices. He shows off a 'medieval' iron maiden, but when it's pointed out the spikes appear to be machine-made acknowledges that it's likely a fake, as there would be little use for a torture device that instantly killed the victim with multiple stab wounds.

* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': In "Talking to the Dead", one of the victims is murdered by being shoved in an iron maiden that has a mechanism that automatically extends the spikes.
* Played for laughs in a ''Series/TheCarolBurnettShow'' sketch. Tim Conway plays an incompetent torturer who gets trapped in his own iron maiden. Another character absentmindedly puts weight on the lid and forces the spikes into the torturer's body.

* The first ''Videogame/SimonTheSorcerer'' game has Simon being forced to hide from some goblins inside an iron maiden. PlayedForLaughs, since he claims the maiden has cured his hayfever via acupuncture, and the first thing he does when he escapes is drink a glass of water, which leaks out of his body through the holes.

* One of your hiding places for Fiona during the second portion of ''VideoGame/HauntingGround'' is inside an iron maiden. [[spoiler:If Daniella finds her, she'll pull a lever and [[TheManyDeathsOfYou Fiona is impaled.]]]]
* ''[[VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject Thief Gold]]'': There are several iron maidens in the TortureCellar under the Mage Towers.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': Brother Crowley of the [[KnightTemplar Scarlet Crusade]] hangs out in the basement of Cathedral of Light with a few maidens lining the walls.

* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'': One of the curios that heroes may encounter in the Ruins. Interacting with it can range from simply swinging open and revealing nothing but foul smelling air to trapping the hero inside it, having a chance of giving them a Claustrophobia quirk and stressing them out or exposing them to Tetanus with a low chance for a random disease. Heroes with the Bloodthirsty quirk can be compelled to open maidens on their own.

* In ''VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvolt 2'', Gibril's level is set in a mansion, with iron maidens as traps that may snap Gunvolt in, causing him to take big damage if he isn't careful. In the boss fight, Gibril herself may sometimes summon an iron maiden to try to trap Gunvolt in. Also, in the third phase of her battle, she proceeds to trap ''herself'' in her iron maiden to help her unleash her LimitBreak (which required her to bleed enough); the fact that she's a CombatSadomasochist helps.
* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSin'': In the dungeons of the elemental realm of Heiberheim the party encounters an Iron Maiden [[EverythingTalks that talks]]. She is quite lusty, beckoning you to enter her embrace, but also lamenting that she can only take life. She wants to [[SexualEuphemism be pierced]] instead of doing the literal, deadly piercing. Destroying her reveals a [[MacGuffin Star Stone]].
* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSin2'': One can be found in the dungeons of Fort Joy, using it makes characters bleed for a while.
* An iron maiden is present in the castle dungeon in ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIV''. However it's subverted in that it houses a secret passage leading to Katrina's chambers. [[spoiler:[[TheStarscream Ad Avis]] locks the Hero in the dungeon [[BatmanGambit specifically intending for him to find the passage, and take advantage of Katrina's helpless state to stake her]].]]
* Animus of ''VideoGame/TheBlackHeart'' spent most of his centuries-old immortal life inside of an iron maiden, which probably explains why [[GenderBender he/she]] is such a CombatSadomasochist. One of his victory animations even has him having the iron maiden close on him as he laughs.
* In ''[[VideoGame/MysteryCaseFiles Mystery Case Files: Fate's Carnival]]'', Lance Pierceman, the sword swallower, has been imprisoned in one for who knows how long until the Master Detective comes to the rescue.
* Not actually seen, but referenced in a codex entry in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition''. The tavern in Haven is called The Singing Maiden, and the codex entry reveals that this was also the name of a torture device (which is clearly, to judge by its description, meant to be an iron maiden) owned by a particularly ill-natured king.
* There is an iron maiden in the "Interrogation" room under the Maella Abbey in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII''. Angelo throws King Trode into it and then shuts the device to the Party's horror... until it's revealed the Maiden is harmless and is actually the entrance to a SecretPath.

Not to be confused with [[Music/IronMaiden the heavy metal group]], though they are named after the device. Also no relation to IronLady[[labelnote: *]]Although the TropeNamer was supposedly a [[BlindIdiotTranslation]] failed attempt by the Russians to reference this trope[[/labelnote]], or a young woman who is MadeOfIron.

Not to be confused with [[Music/IronMaiden the heavy metal group]], though they are named after the device. Also no relation to IronLady, or a young woman who is MadeOfIron.

->''"Foolish Sinner, I hereby grant you a punishment. Piercing your whole body with a virgin's embrace. Suffer in pain, your cries muffled!'' '''''Iron Maiden!!"'''''

** ''Magazine/{{Dungeon}}'' magazine #2 adventure "The Keep at Koralgesh". One room is a combined jail and torture chamber, with equipment such as a rack, branding irons and an iron maiden.