History Main / PortalPool

* The eponymous ''Catweazle'', a bumbling wizard, casts a spell in the 11th century to escape from invading Normans, jumps into a lake, and finds himself transported to the 20th century. He goes back in the last episode of series 1, but repeats the procedure in Series 2.

* In ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'': a fairy-tale princess is pushed down a well and ends up in the very ''un''-magical land of modern Manhattan.

* [[BigBad Fate Averruncus]] from ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' can use water to teleport (Evangeline and Kotaro use shadow instead).

* Creator/CSLewis's ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': The portals branching off to various worlds in The Wood Between The Worlds lie in pools scattered about the Wood. Jump into a pool, land in a world -- if you have the right magic ring, that is.
** Interestingly, pools can also lead to "empty worlds" where nothing exists yet (allowing some characters to [[spoiler:actually witness the creation of Narnia]]), though the destruction of a world causes its pool to dry up (as happened with [[spoiler:Jadis' home world]]).

* In ''Literature/TheLookingGlassWars'' (which is based loosely on ''Alice in Wonderland''), the Pool of Tears is a portal to our world and certain puddles are used to return to Wonderland.

[[folder:Mythology]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Celtic and other British isles tribes believed that lakes and other bodies of water were portals to the spirit world. Archaelogists occasionally encounter finds of worked silver cauldrons, containing many valuable artifacts, that were deliberately dropped in lakes or bogs as offerings. Both cauldrons and lakes also pop up frequently in the preserved Celtic and Welsh legends that have survived to today as portals to the underworld.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]
* Subverted in a ''Choose Your Own Adventure'' article on Magicthegathering.com. In it you journey through the horrible world of Shadowmoor, a BizarroWorld of the idyllic world Lorwyn. At one point you encounter a pond in a cave and the description suggests it might be a portal pool to Lorwyn. If you enter it however, you are promptly ripped apart by vicious Merrows, and the game calls you a naive idiot.
[[/folder]]

* The ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode ''Anne'' has a portal to a demon dimension where kidnapped street kids are taken to be worked to death that looks like a pool of used motor oil.

* In ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' Episode 4 Season 4 "Enter the Demon", a zen master can jump through any water surface (usually of a pool) to enter the plane of limbo.
* Subverted in ''Series/DoctorWho'' "The Curse of the Black Spot". The "siren" is initially thought to enter the ship through standing water so everyone hides in the driest parts of the ship. [[spoiler:She actually uses reflections to travel and she's really a misguided computer simulation doctor from an alien ship.]]
* In ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' episode set back in eighties Peter Bishop, [[spoiler:recently kidnapped from another universe]], tried to invoke this trope almost dying in progress.

* Perhaps more a stylistic similarity than PlayingWithATrope, but ''Series/StargateSG1'' simulates the rippling water for the Stargate. Needless to say, it ''does'' take you to other planets at least.
** Stargates placed horizontally have a much closer resemblance.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "The Bewitchin' Pool", the last-aired episode of the original series, two children from an affluent broken home escape through their back yard swimming pool to a rural paradise overseen by a CoolOldLady.

* The LostWorld at the bottom of the waterfall in the original ''Series/LandOfTheLost''.

* ''LightNovel/KyoKaraMaoh'': Yuuri's primary conveyance between the two worlds are bodies of water. His first trip was amusingly brought about by getting his head dunked in the toilet.

* Film/{{Constantine}} from the movie of the same name flat-out states that water "lubricates the transition between worlds" -- meaning you can get there as long as you know how, but without water, it ''literally'' hurts like hell.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' has [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-354 SCP-354]], a lake filled with a red fluid. If you lock yourself into a submarine and keep going down, and down, and down, the fluid will keep getting thicker and thicker... until you finally reach a whole new world.

* In the [[NightmareFuel highly disturbing]] (NSFW) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QFwo57WKwg music video]] for [=DyE=]'s "Fantasy", [[spoiler:the bottom of the swimming pool leads the protagonist to an alien dimension.]]

* The Mermaid Pools in ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' serve as the game's WarpWhistle.
* The entrance to the Hazy Maze Cave and Dire Dire Docks (in this case a vertical wall of water) in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''.

[[folder:Film]]

* In WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse, a journal of a long-lost researcher [[spoiler: who is also a human who was transported to the Boiling Isles long before the protagonist Luz was]] describes "wild portals" between realms that form when Titan's Blood, an extremely powerful magical substance, leaks into pools of water. [[spoiler: It's how Philip first traveled to the Isles.]]

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[[quoteright:320:[[Film/HotTubTimeMachine https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hot-tub-time-machine_9393.jpg]]]]

* In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanOnStrangerTides'', the pool of gravity-defying water in the cave is a portal to the Fountain of Youth, although at first it looks like the pool "eats" things that touch it.

--> This destination is on a relatively flat section of the Sea of Rains on the lunar surface. [[WeHaveReserves Through vast expenditure of money and D-class personnel]], a small outpost has been established there, and is considered one of the Foundation’s safest locations.

* ''Webcomic/{{Erma}}'': Erma and her mother, as StringyHairedGhostGirls, can use disconnected pools of water as portals to quickly travel from one place to the next, including [[https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/erma/erma-unacceptable/viewer?title_no=170650&episode_no=92 kitchen sinks]], though this can result in unexpected messes.

* In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'', [[spoiler: the ocean of Davy Jones' Locker acts as a one-way PortalPool that leads BackFromTheDead, but only if you're in an upside-down boat, and only at sunset (which is sunrise in the living world). And anything that sucks you underwater from this end -- waterfalls, whirlpools, humongous invertebrate cephalopods -- can take you over.]]

* In ''Film/PoltergeistIII'', an oil slick in a parking deck turns into a portal pool, with monstrous hands reaching out of it to abduct Carol Anne, as well as her cousin and the cousin's boyfriend. The rest of her family later finds the other two chilled to the bone but otherwise unharmed [[spoiler: ...at least, [[{{Doppelganger}} so it seems]]]].

* In ''Literature/EmeraldPrince'', Julien [[spoiler: always]] wakes up in water when summoned to Thyreia.

* In ''Literature/ImpliedSpaces'', ''Pools of Life'' are pretty much equivalent to 'save points' in games -- you can enter a pool to have a snapshot of your memories stored and/or your body plan altered and/or have yourself deconstructed then reassembled at another location [[spoiler: with or without your consent]].

* In the [[NightmareFuel highly disturbing]] (NSFW) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QFwo57WKwg music video]] for [=DyE=]'s "Fantasy", [[spoiler: the bottom of the swimming pool leads the protagonist to an alien dimension.]]

* While not literal, Sora's dream sequence in the beginning of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'' evokes the same sort of imagery as he plummets into the ocean and lands in a surreal, foreshadowing, tutorial sequence.
** It also happens to [[spoiler: Roxas]] and [[spoiler: Ventus]] in the opening movie cutscenes for ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' and ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' respectively.

--> This destination is on a relatively flat section of the Sea of Rains on the lunar surface. [[InferredHolocaust Through vast expenditure of money and D-class personnel]], a small outpost has been established there, and is considered one of the Foundation’s safest locations.

* The ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'' episode "The Laughing Puddle": people are disappearing one by one into a creepy laughing puddle, until Chicken is the only one remaining. With great trepidation he jumps inside -- and [[spoiler: lands in a bar where Boneless Chicken is doing a stand-up (pun definitely not intended) show.]]

* [[BigBad Fate Averruncus]] from ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' can use water to teleport (Evangeline and Kotaro use shadow instead).

* In ''Manga/XxxHOLiC'', purified water, such as that from an old well, can link to a pool on the mountain that the Zashiki-Warashi lives on.

* ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'': The hot spring at Duel Academia turns out to be a portal to the Duel Monsters' world. Fortunately for the boys, the wayward trip comes with instant wardrobe replacement.
* ''LightNovel/KyoKaraMaoh'': Yuuri's primary conveyance between the two worlds are bodies of water. His first trip was amusingly brought about by getting his head dunked in the toilet.
* ''Manga/InuYasha'' has a portal ''well''. However, it's ''empty'', so be sure you meet the requirements for transport, 'cause if you don't make it across, it's gonna hurt.

* The manga series ''Manga/ShinobiLife'' has first Kagetora, and then others, sent back and forth between the modern era and the time period Kagetora's from, via falling into a lake. However, arriving back in our time somehow results in appearing right above and a little to the left of a large skyscraper. Good thing he's a ninja.
* ''Manga/GirlsBravo''
* [[BigBad Fate Averruncus]] from ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' can use water to teleport (Evangeline and Kotaro use shadow instead).
** [[spoiler:Akira]]'s Artifact lets her get in on the act, too.
* In ''Manga/XxxHOLiC'', purified water, such as that from an old well, can link to a pool on the mountain that the Zashiki-Warashi lives on.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Swordquest}}: Fireworld'', the [[PlotCoupon Chalice of Light]] grows to enormous size, and the water within it becomes a gate to Waterworld.

* In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'', [[spoiler: the ocean of Davy Jones' Locker acts as a one-way PortalPool that leads BackFromTheDead, but only if you're in an upside-down boat, and only at sunset (which is sunrise in the living world). And anything that sucks you underwater from this end - waterfalls, whirlpools, humongous invertebrate cephalopods - can take you over.]]

* In ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'': a fairy-tale princess is pushed down a well and ends up in the very ''un''-magical land of modern Manhattan.
* Film/{{Constantine}} from the movie of the same name flat-out states that water "lubricates the transition between worlds" - meaning you can get there as long as you know how, but without water, it ''literally'' hurts like hell.
* The 1997 movie ''Film/WarriorsOfVirtue'' consisted of this when the protagonist falls into a whirlpool and is teleported to the land of Tao.

* The horror movie ''Film/{{House}}'' has several portals connected to one another through different parts of the house. The portal pool effect comes into play when Roger explores the abyss behind the bathroom mirror, and ends up falling into a black ocean that leads down into a river in his Vietnam-based MentalWorld. Diving into the river again causes him to surface in the swimming pool behind the house, which was the same PortalPool that his son got lost in several years before.
* ''The Water Babies''.
* ''Film/TheBlairWitchProject'' - Ten-year-old Eileen Treacle went to the first annual Wheat Harvest Picnic near Tappy East Creek. During the picnic, Eileen wandered off to wade in ankle deep water. Eleven eye-witnesses claimed to have seen a ghostly white hand reach up out of the water and pull her in under the surface. No body was ever recovered. Later, the creek mysteriously became clogged with oily bundles of sticks, rendering the water useless for thirteen days.

* This is how Music/TheBeatles escape capture in ''Film/{{Help}}'': They jump into a hidden hatch within the Main/BigBad 's temple, and wind up in the swimming pool of a nearby hotel.
* {{Parodied|Trope}} rather niftily in ''Film/DeathstalkerIIDuelOfTheTitans''. After failing to defeat the Deathstalker, one {{Mook|s}} contacts [[BigBad his master, Jarek]], through a nearby boiling pond by dumping a few coins in it, which magically allows the two to view and communicate with each other (Jarek is speaking through a MagicCauldron) as if it were some kind of magic video payphone. Jarek proceeds to [[YouHaveFailedMe off the mook for his failure]] by [[ReachingBetweenTheLines jamming his sword through his cauldron and into the mook's chest on the other side]], then goes through the portal to his location to finish the job himself.

* Dian Curtis Regan's ''Princess Nevermore'' (much like ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'') features a princess from a magical land who travels to the "real" world by way of a magical pool.

* In ''Literature/ImpliedSpaces'', ''Pools of Life'' are pretty much equivalent to 'save points' in games - you can enter a pool to have a snapshot of your memories stored and/or your body plan altered and/or have yourself deconstructed then reassembled at another location [[spoiler: with or without your consent]].
* To a powerful watercrafter in ''Literature/CodexAlera'', any body of water becomes one of these.

* In ''The Iron Grail'' by Robert Holdstock, Merlin descends to the otherworldly interior of a hill (the hill fort Taurovinda) by way of a well. This is a well sacred to the Celtic god Nodons, into which offerings are placed (see Real Life section below).
* In ''Bones of Faerie'', Liza pulls her mother, Matthew, and Allie through the lake in Faerie to get back to their village, though the lake is only a portal because Liza has the power to turn reflective surfaces into portals (into the past, present, and future).
* In Lev Grossman's ''Magicians'' trilogy (which is partly a TakeThat to Narnia) the portals are fountains in an empty city.
* In ''Literature/EmeraldPrince'', Julien [[spoiler: always]] wakes up in water when summoned to Thyreia.
* The titular character in ''The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha'' (by Creator/LloydAlexander) is sent to the kingdom of Abadan by being dunked in a pail of water by a traveling magician.

* Perhaps more a stylistic similarity than PlayingWithATrope, but ''Series/StargateSG1'' simulates the rippling water for the Stargate. Needless to say, it ''does'' take you to other planets at least.
** Stargates placed horizontally have a much closer resemblance.
* The LostWorld at the bottom of the waterfall in the original ''Series/LandOfTheLost''.
* The eponymous ''Catweazle'', a bumbling wizard, casts a spell in the 11th century to escape from invading Normans, jumps into a lake, and finds himself transported to the 20th century. He goes back in the last episode of series 1, but repeats the procedure in series 2.

* In ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' episode 4 season 4 "Enter the Demon", a zen master can jump through any water surface (usually of a pool) to enter the plane of limbo.

* In ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' episode set back in eighties Peter Bishop, [[spoiler:recently kidnapped from another universe]], tried to invoke this trope almost dying in progress.
* Subverted in ''Series/DoctorWho'' "The Curse of the Black Spot". The "siren" is initially thought to enter the ship through standing water so everyone hides in the driest parts of the ship. [[spoiler:She actually uses reflections to travel and she's really a misguided computer simulation doctor from an alien ship.]]

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "The Bewitchin' Pool", the last-aired episode of the original series, two children from an affluent broken home escape through their back yard swimming pool to a rural paradise overseen by a CoolOldLady.
* ''Series/TheMagicians2016'': The Neitherlands is just many fountains leading to different worlds.

* In Myth/CelticMythology, the entrance to Annwn - the Otherworld - could be located in a number of places and appeared or disappeared on a whim. One of these is a real island off of Ynys Gwales that only appears when the tide lowers in just the right way. In the Second Branch of the Literature/{{Mabinogion}}, another portal is located in a lake in Ireland. The giant Llasar Llaes Gyfnewid and his even more gigantic wife, Cymidei Cymeinfoll, emerge from here carrying the Cauldron of Rebirth.

* The entrance to the Hazy Maze Cave and Dire Dire Docks (in this case a vertical wall of water) in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64''.
** The entrance to the Metal Cave in Hazy Maze Cave, which turns out to be [[MindScrew behind the suspicious waterfall outside the castle.]]

* In ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'' the Well of Urd, is one of the many ways of reaching the underworld that you encounter through the game, and the one you use in the nordic campaign.

* In ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'', a pool in Neverwinter Wood allows access to the realm in which the forest's guardian spirit dwells. Rather than simply jumping in, however, the player must acquire a special knife and then it ''stab it into his/her own heart'' while kneeling therein.
* Sort of present in ''VideoGame/HalfLife''. Glowing pools in the "border-world" Xen are capable of literally teleporting you from alien point to alien point.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Lunar}}'' series employs this with Springs of Transmission which teleport the player between locations. ''VideoGame/LunarEternalBlue'' even involves discovering that the huge star-shaped pool in front of the palace in Pentagulia is a Spring of Transmission in disguise, with the [[NoSocialSkills alien demi-goddess/love interest]] blasting the railing off the balcony and leaping in, followed by the rest of your party.
* Not exactly the same thing, but old-school hilarious adventure game ''VideoGame/EricTheUnready'' featured a magical banana which could be summoned out of any body of water by speaking a magic word.
* The Jade Passage in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII''.
* ''VideoGame/CliveBarkersUndying'' uses an enchanted pool to teleport the player between the modern-day ruins of an ancient monastery, and the medieval monastery itself. Bonus points for each side of the pool reflecting the other: in the present day, the pool's reflection shows the past, and vice versa.
* Your first trip through one in ''VideoGame/TheGameOfTheAges'' kills you if you lack protection. You later find two further pools.
* This sets the plot in motion for ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVII'', as the pond in the Daventry castle gardens somehow magically transports Rosella and Valanice to the realm of Eldritch.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' parodies the Twilight Zone episode in "Puddle Jumpers", when Grim's scythe turns Billy's inflatable pool into a "cosmic sinkhole" that leads to several different worlds, including a bayou inhabited by a kindly old grandmother... except [[ImAHumanitarian she wants to bake Billy into a pie]].
* The ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'' episode "The Laughing Puddle": people are disappearing one by one into a creepy laughing puddle, until Chicken is the only one remaining. With great trepidation he jumps inside -- and [[spoiler: lands in a bar where Boneless Chicken is doing a stand-up (pun definitely not intended) show.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'': "Queen of the Black Puddle" featured a sea witch of sorts who used puddles of rainwater to transport back and forth in between her magical lair, to which she tried to lure Eustace so she could eat him.

* Subverted in a ''Choose Your Own Adventure'' article on Magicthegathering.com. In it you journey through the horrible world of Shadowmoor, a BizarroWorld of the idilic world Lorwyn. At one point you encounter a pond in a cave and the description suggests it might be a portal pool to Lorwyn. If you enter it however, you are promptly ripped apart by vicious Merrows, and the game calls you a naive idiot.

* ''Fanfic/{{Adjacency}}'': As shown in the end of [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/144314/4/adjacency/chapter-4-linked-by-an-endless-thread "Chapter 4: Linked by an Endless Thread"]], and the beginning of [[Linked by an Endless Thread "Chapter 5: Scattered"]], magic Twilight and Trixie did connected a MagicMirror that was already a teleportation device, to a fountain as its new other side.