History Main / KingInTheMountain

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Invoked at the end of ''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS16E12GooGooGaiPan Goo Goo Gai Pan]]''. As the Simpsons are leaving China, a trio of dragons - which Homer had first glimpsed in a drug-and-alcohol-induced hallucination - appear and one sings a prediction:

** Subverted in ''Battlefield'': It's implied that the King Arthur of a parallel universe is doing this on the main Whoniverse Earth, but it turns out he was dead all along and the story that he would return was just propaganda.

* The Irish version has [[CelticMythology Fionn mac Cumhaill]] and his warriors coming back from their mounds to defend Ireland.

* In the backstory of ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' Queen Sharess made a promise to the Dark Elves that she would return and lead them back to the Surface from the Underworld once it was safe again after demonic wars had made it uninhabitable before she departed into the Netherworld to seal the gates. After 1000 years there are no signs of her returning and the Dark Elves and those who believe in her are largely extinct outside of the Kyorl'solenurn clan. However, [[spoiler:Sha'sana actually has been keeping Sharess' body the entire time and has her own plans to bring her back to unite the clans]].
** The prophecy is subverted when [[spoiler:Diva comes back in Sharess' body]]. WordOfGod says that Sharess herself is never coming back.

* Myth/ArthurianLegend: Myth/KingArthur in Avalon, and Myth/{{Merlin}} in the oak. Said to come back when England is in its hour of most need. Still hasn't shown up, despite the threats of the Spanish Armada, Napoleon and Nazi Germany. Since then Francis Drake, the Duke of Wellington and UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill have all been referred to as reincarnations of Arthur, and Admiral Nelson is also a candidate, though he'd have to mud-wrestle UsefulNotes/TheDukeOfWellington to figure out which of them it was since they lived at the same time. In much the same way, Arthurian legend is still very popular in many [[UsefulNotes/TheCommonwealthOfNations Commonwealth]] nations, particularly the Commonwealth Realms where the Royal Family still reigns (UsefulNotes/{{Canada}}, UsefulNotes/{{Australia}}, and UsefulNotes/NewZealand).

* Artus in ''LightNovel/{{Campione}}'' is a God who only descends to eliminate Campiones who have begun wreaking havoc in the world, sleeping in solitude the rest of the time. As the in-universe basis of King Arthur's legend, this is why Arthur is said to be waiting in Avalon for the day England needs him.

* In ''ComicBook/DCOneMillion'' and ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'', our Superman goes into the sun in order to rebuild its heart and leaves the superheroing to his many descendants who he blesses with extra-extraordinary powers. He returns after 851,000 years and brings New Krypton into our solar system.

** Lion El'Jonson, primarch of the Dark Angels, is a literal case since he is sleeping in a hidden chamber of the Dark Angels' asteroid headquarters to wait for the final battle. In an interesting inversion, the Dark Angels aren't aware of this and actually believe that his body disappeared during his duel with Luther. The only people who know the truth are Luther (who is mad), the Emperor (who can't talk) and the Watchers in the Dark (a race of silent, mysterious robed creatures).

* Some [[UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories QAnon]] adherents took to think John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. would come back and serve as VP for Trump.

** [[TheMaker Arceus]] is one of these in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'', having fallen into a deep slumber after creating the Pokémon world. The player needs to awaken him using the Azure Flute before they can enter the Hall of Origin to [[BonusBoss fight him]].

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}:

* [[TheMaker Arceus]] is one of these in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'', having fallen into a deep slumber after creating the Pokémon world. The player needs to awaken him using the Azure Flute before they can enter the Hall of Origin to [[BonusBoss fight him]].

** Makuta [[GenreSavvy accounted for all this]], knowing that the Toa [[BecauseDestinySaysSo are destined]] to revive Mata Nui [[YouCantFightFate despite his efforts]]. So he [[XanatosGambit planned ahead]], making sure the Great Spirit would die only temporarily, while he [[GrandTheftMe placed his own soul]] into the robot's CPU and banishing Mata Nui's soul [[SoulJar into the Mask of Life]] that the Toa used to revive him. So when the Great Spirit body awoke, Makuta was controlling it, setting up the story's climax.

** At the very end, Mata Nui chose to go back to sleep, this time voluntarily sealing his soul in the [[MaskOfPower Mask of Life]], not wanting his people to hail him as an almighty god anymore.

* In ''Toys/{{Bionicle 2015}}'', [[BigGood Ekimu the Mask Maker]] fell into a coma after fighting his brother [[BigBad Makuta]], but murmured the prophecy of heroes to his followers in his sleep. Ages later, when the island Okoto was overrun by an army of Skull Spiders, the Toa are summoned to find Ekimu's tomb and awaken him to be their mentor and guide.

** Subverted in ''Battlefield'': it's implied that the King Arthur of a parallel universe is doing this on the main Whoniverse Earth, but it turns out he was dead all along and the story that he would return was just propaganda.

* The song [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93r%C3%B3_s%C3%A9_do_bheatha_abhaile Óró sé do bheatha abhaile]] holds that noblewoman and pirate [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_O%27Malley Grace O'Malley]] will soon return from over the sea witha thousand warriors to disperse the foreigners, presumably the English.

* Played for laughs in Creator/TomHolt's ''Literature/WhosAfraidOfBeowulf'' in which Viking King Hrolf of Caithness (god-forsaken country--but it is my kingdom) and his band of heroes are disinterred in time to put an end to the attempt of their ancient enemy, the Sorceror King, to take over the modern world via magic--or as we call it, technology.

* In the Philippines, Tagalog folk hero Bernardo Carpio is chained up hand and foot within the mountains of Montalban, and also caught between two boulders trying to crush him. He is often said to be the reason for the earthquakes in the area. The legend states that he was a Herculean man who fought against the Spanish occupiers, and so they enlisted a local sorcerer to trap him in the mountains. When his final chain breaks, so the tale goes, "the enslavement and oppression of the Filipino race will be replaced with freedom and happiness". This was mentioned in the novel ''Literature/ElFilibusterismo'' by Philipine national hero José Rizal. Intriguingly, the figure originated in a Spanish ChivalricRomance as a knight named Bernardo del Carpio. It's unclear how the Filipino tale started, or whether his name was grafted onto an original Filipino figure.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'': Big Boss becomes the prophesized founding father of modern-day Private Forces who would eventually return to rock the world and lead mercenaries to victory, which he does after nine years in a coma. [[spoiler:Except the player character is ''not'' Big Boss but Venom Snake, the true apprentice of Big Boss and the final boss of Metal Gear 1, distracting the world so that Big Boss could build Outer Heaven]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'' and it's derivated series,* ''WesternAnimation/ElenaOfAvalor'', have the Case of Princess(later Queen) Elena, who was magically sealed inside Sofia's amulet by almost 40 years, until the later managed to expose Shuriki's usurpation of the Throne of Avalor and Helped Elena to retake her rightfull kingdom

In * ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'' and it's derivated series,* ''WesternAnimation/ElenaOfAvalor'', we have the Case of Princess(later Queen) Elena, who was magically sealed inside Sofia's amulet by almost 40 years, until the later managed to expose Shuriki's usurpation of the Throne of Avalor and Helped Elena to retake her rightfull kingdom

* Played straight in ''Videogame/{{Warframe}}'', in which the Tenno and their OneManArmy Warframes are awoken from cryosleep by the Lotus (after some unknown time) to once again bring peace and balance to the solar system during a time of great war between the Grineer and Corpus superpowers and a [[TheVirus Technocyte pandemic]] known as the "Infestation".

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Myth/KingArthur in Avalon, and Myth/{{Merlin}} in the oak. Said to come back when England is in its hour of most need. Still hasn't shown up, despite the threats of the Spanish Armada, Napoleon and Nazi Germany. Since then Francis Drake, the Duke of Wellington and UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill have all been referred to as reincarnations of Arthur, and Admiral Nelson is also a candidate, though he'd have to mud-wrestle UsefulNotes/TheDukeOfWellington to figure out which of them it was since they lived at the same time.
** In much the same way, the Arthur legend is still very popular in many [[UsefulNotes/TheCommonwealthOfNations Commonwealth]] nations, particularly the Commonwealth Realms where the Royal Family still reigns (UsefulNotes/{{Canada}}, UsefulNotes/{{Australia}}, and UsefulNotes/NewZealand).

He [[RightfulKingReturns will come again]] in his country's [[InItsHourOfNeed hour of need]] to play BigDamnHeroes UpToEleven. The original folkloric motif generally referred the hero's awakening to TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt; the rise of nationalism altered the focus from the entire world to merely the nation.

* ''VideoGame/{{Dark Souls 3}}'' plays the original folkloric theme of the trope straight and takes it [[UpToEleven up to eleven]]: when [[CosmicKeystone the link of the fire]] is threatened, all the [[PhysicalGod lords of Cinder]] that have ever ruled rise from their graves to avoid [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the end of the Age of Fire]]. It is the player's task to hunt down those of them who [[RefusalOfTheCall refused the call]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'', [[spoiler:Master Chief winds up adrift in space, with no communications available. He enters a stasis tube with the final words "Wake me when you need me."]]