History Main / SuperDrowningSkills

* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} can't float and can barely swim because of the dense metal covering his skeleton. Same goes for Colossus in his steel form, though he at least has the advantage of not needing to breath.
* Being immersed in water is ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'''s LogicalWeakness, since the water nullifies most of his SuperSenses.
* Melaka ''ComicBook/{{Fray}}'' realizes by the end of the series that this is [[spoiler: her TreacherousAdvisor Urkonn]]'s biggest weakness, and uses it to kill him. [[spoiler: Possibly justified, since he ''is'' a demon.]]
* [[ButtMonkey Nautilator]] has always been depicted as enthusiastic but completely incompetent in the water in all continuities of ''Franchise/TheTransformers'' comics. He rusts like a '67 Fiat, has the [[NoSenseOfDirection navigational skills]] of [[Manga/OnePiece Roronoa Zoro]], and in spite of being a giant living robot with an alternate mode made to traverse the ocean, he's been defeated by ''the tides changing.'' [[TheLoad The Decepticons are hampered by just having him around]]. Inexplicably, [[WTHCastingAgency the Decepticons made him part of their main underwater strike team]] (it's suspected that they might just have been trying to get him as far away from the Decepticons' main forces as they could). He does have a limited saving grace of [[AchievementInIgnorance accidentally finding valuable resources]] just about every time he gets stuck underwater, but that's not nearly enough to stop the rest of the Seacons from detesting being stuck with him.
* Klara Prast of the ComicBook/{{Runaways}} has explicitly stated that she does not know how to swim.
* In ''[[ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders Outsiders]]'', the Outsiders manage to stop an attempted invasion by Gorilla Grodd and his army by pushing the gorilla soldiers into the water - gorillas can't swim.
* In the ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' story arc ''ComicBook/TheDominusEffect'', the Superman of 2999 cannot survive in water, as he nearly drowns to death when a torrent of water washes through Metropolis to put out the fire caused by the incendiary bomb used to take down the robots that have TurnedAgainstTheirMasters.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Diana actually has to stop her fight with Villainy, Inc. to save Eviless when she realizes the villain isn't coming back up after going into the ocean. Eviless does have the excuse of coming from a planet without large bodies of water, but she picked a fight on ''an island''.

* In chapter 3 of the ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' fic ''Fanfic/TheLegendOfZeldaTwistedFates'', Link saves Medli from drowning in the sea after she was knocked out of the sky by Seahats. As Medli explains, the [[WingedHumanoid Rito]] are meant to be in the air, not the sea, and thus none of them can swim. Also doubles as {{irony}}, since the Rito evolved from the [[FishPeople Zora]].

[[folder:Film — Animated]]
* Leafie from ''Animation/LeafieAHenIntoTheWild'' was a caged hen for most of her life, so she can't swim. This is noted several times by other characters. This causes problems as her son [[InterspeciesAdoption is a duck]], who has a natural affinity for water. Leafie nearly drowned trying to "save" Greenie when he was a baby. The other duckings mock Greenie for having a mother who can't swim.

* A line from Maui's IAmSong in ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'' suggests that he is this trope. Since he is a demi-god of the ''sea'' and he was stuck on an island for a thousand years, he's likely not joking.

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
* David in ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}'' learns that along with his superhero-like strength, he has an {{Achilles Heel}} of water. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that David both has a fear of water due to a childhood incident, and in the context of the movie, his powers are ill-defined. David is vastly healthier than normal (never getting sick, and being vastly stronger than his size indicates), but no limits are recorded (he stops measuring his strength before finding his limit, and while he is the sole survivor of a massive train wreck, he balks at trying to see if he's bulletproof). Since humans can't exactly survive underwater, either, his "weakness" may simply be panicking from his childhood combined with still needing oxygen.
* Enola in ''Film/{{Waterworld}}''. Even though the entire Earth was covered with water decades or possibly centuries ago, [[FridgeLogic this ten-year old girl can't swim]]. And people wonder why this movie bombed...
* In ''{{Film/Superstar}}'', [[spoiler:Slater]] can't swim, and still doesn't bother to learn after he almost drowns and Mary Katherine saves him the first time.

* Ironically enough, despite being an aquatic animal, the common hippopotamus is an extremely poor swimmer. Its bones are so dense that it sinks in water; instead of swimming it walks across the bottom, then hops to the surface when it needs to breath. This limitation means that it's restricted to fairly shallow rivers and lakes.

* ''Disney/LiloAndStitch'': Stitch is so dense that he will automatically sink if submerged in water. Of course, he ends up on an island in Hawaii, stymieing his inborn desire to find and destroy large population centers. Doesn't stop him entering Hawaiian Surf Competitions.
* A line from Maui's IAmSong in ''Disney/{{Moana}}'' suggests that he is this trope. Since he is a demi-god of the ''sea'' and he was stuck on an island for a thousand years, he's likely not joking.

* ''Disney/LiloAndStitch'': Stitch is so dense that he will automatically sink if submerged in water. Of course, he ends up on an island. Doesn't stop him entering Hawaiian Surf Competitions.

* In chapter 3 of the ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' fic ''[[FanFic/TheLegendOfZeldaTwistedFates Twisted Fates]]'', Link saves Medli from drowning in the sea after she was knocked out of the sky by Seahats. As Medli explains, the [[WingedHumanoid Rito]] are meant to be in the air, not the sea, and thus none of them can swim. Also doubles as {{irony}}, since the Rito evolved from the [[FishPeople Zora]].
* In ''[[FanFic/TheArianaBlackSeries Ariana Black]]'', while swimming to escape an underwater base, Ariana gets caught up in completely mundane seaweed and drowns. And while magic doesn't work to revive her, CPR ''[[CPRCleanPrettyReliable does]]''.

* ''Anime/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': Upon learning the Carmia Island has a Dragon Hourglass, and a Wave is due to come in a little over two days, Ren tries to bow out. When questioned why by the others, he shouts that [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial of course he can swim, why would you even ask that]]? Completely deadpan, Motoyasu and Itsuki proceed to grab him, frogmarch him outside and toss him into shallow water to test the obvious conclusion. He's drowning in less than waist high waters.

* [[ButtMonkey Nautilator]] has always been depicted as enthusiastic but completely incompetent in the water in all continuities of ''Franchise/TheTransformers'' comics. He rusts like a '67 Fiat, has the [[NoSenseOfDirection navigational skills]] of [[Manga/OnePiece Roronoa Zoro]], and in spite of being a giant living robot with an alternate mode made to traverse the ocean, he's been defeated by ''the tides changing.'' [[TheLoad The Decepticons are hampered by just having him around]]. Inexplicably, [[WTHCastingAgency the Decepticons made him part of their main underwater strike team]]. He does have a limited saving grace of [[AchievementInIgnorance accidentally finding valuable resources]] just about every time he gets stuck underwater, but that's not nearly enough to stop the rest of the Seacons from detesting being stuck with him.

* Gorillas cannot swim. This was even referenced in the remake of ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes''.
** This applies to all of the great ape species aside from humans. In addition to a more tall, thin body design (granting a more efficient stroke), humans have a higher percentage of body fat and larger lungs in proportion to mass than other large primates, giving them greater buoyancy. Humans are ''still'' poorly equipped for swimming in comparison to many mammals, and very skinny humans often have trouble swimming efficiently because their legs and feet tend to sink. Humans still have remnants of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammalian_diving_reflex mammalian diving reflex]], but it isn't very helpful most of the time.
** Another reason is gait: most mammals are quadrupedal, and even with no prior swimming experience a mammal that falls into a body of water will attempt to mimic the gait it uses on land. That's why quadrupeds like horses, elephants, tigers, bears, and rats are able to swim, and why dogs are able to "doggy paddle." Great apes are not quadrupedal, so their response is less "a walking motion that translates to paddling" and more "flailing and drowning."

* Before actual swimming techniques were developed, a lot of people could easily commit suicide by wading into a lake until the water level went over their heads.
** Pirates avoided learning how to swim to avoid a drawn out death, [[http://pirates.hegewisch.net/Pestilence_Pain.html#Drowning not that you could expect other sailors]] to know how to either.

** To get an idea of what is going on under the Strid's surface, google "How Steens Gorge, Nidderdale, Harrogate". Those rock formations? That deep cleft? Same processes. Now, imagine getting grated along those walls at speed.

* The [[http://www.yorkshire-dales.com/strid.html Bolton Strid]] in Yorkshire, England, part of the River Wharfe and not [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire part of any family]] [[Series/GameOfThrones of murdering Trolls]]. It may look like a gentle brook, but it holds the amount of water one would expect from an enormous, raging river being squeezed like a tube of toothpaste by the local geology. How? The river's ''really'' deep, for all it's not that wide, making the flow ''really'' intense below the calm-looking surface. The result? It has an unusually high lethality rate... as in, 100% deadly. Yes, that means falling in is a very, ''very'' bad idea, forget deliberately going for a dip. You'll be lucky if your body even shows up downstream, since it's more likely to be ground into paste against the rocks, what with the water pressure.

** A debatable example would be Ash Ketchum himself. Ash has been known to find himself in a watery situation more than once. Despite having an impressive lung capacity for a ten-year-old, he tends to be extremely reckless when swimming, [[TooDumbToLive often diving deeper than he should, or coming into some other form of trouble]]. A good amount of the time, he needs to be rescued after losing consciousness.

** This applies to pretty much all of the great ape species aside from humans. In addition to a more tall, thin body design (granting a more efficient stroke), humans have a higher percentage of body fat and larger lungs in proportion to mass than other large primates, giving them greater buoyancy. Humans are ''still'' poorly equipped for swimming in comparison to many mammals, and very skinny humans often have trouble swimming efficiently because their legs and feet tend to sink. Humans still have remnants of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammalian_diving_reflex mammalian diving reflex]], but it isn't very helpful most of the time.

** A debatable example would be Ash Ketchum himself. Ash has been known to find himself in a watery situation more than once. Despite having impassive lung capacity for a ten-year-old, he tends to be extremely reckless when swimming, [[TooDumbToLive often diving deeper than he should, or coming into some other form of trouble]]. A good amount of the time, he needs to be rescued after losing consciousness.

* in ''Literature/CheaperByTheDozen'', Mother sinks like a rock every time that Dad tries to teach her how to swim. The failures are so frequent and so complete that at one point Dad accuses her of deliberately resisting.

* The Bumble in ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer'' sinks like this.

* In chapter 3 of the ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' fic ''[[FanFic/TheLegendOfZeldaTwistedFates Twisted Fates]]'', Link saves Medli from drowning in the sea after she was knocked out of the sky by Seahats. As Medli explains, the [[WingedHumanoid Rito]] are meant to be in the air, not the sea, and thus none of them can swim.
** Also doubles as {{irony}}, since the Rito evolved from the [[FishPeople Zora]].

** Even better, in the ''Sonic X'' episode "Sonic vs Knuckles", Sonic gets knocked into water by Knuckles. He instantly has a panic attack, splashing wildly and yelling. It takes him a few seconds to realise [[StopDrowningAndStandUp he's barely ankle deep]], with Knuckles looking on at him with an annoyed look.

* In ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'', Sonic plays this trope straight. Towards the end of the comic's run, though, Sonic is shown to have overcome this weakness by taking swimming lessons off-panel.
* ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'' did this in reverse. This was mostly because the early comics was done with RuleOfFunny in full effect and a lot of the game canon wasn't put in until later on.

** Even better, in the ''Sonic X'' episode "Sonic vs Knuckles", Sonic gets knocked into water by Knuckles. He instantly has a panic attack, splashing wildly and yelling. It takes him a few seconds to realise he's barely ankle deep, with Knuckles looking on at him with an annoyed look.

Swimming isn't easy to animate in a video game. First of all there's the complexity of underwater effects. Then there's the freedom of movement in three dimensions, which is neat for the player, but a real pain to achieve in third-person games in terms of achieving an intuitive interface and a fluid camera. Then there's the problem of water meeting land -- it's easy enough to have your character jump or fall into water, but to get them out again you'd need ladders, shores, so forth, so you're going to have to do your art direction with that in mind. And to be even slightly realistic you'll need to think about the character's [[OxygenMeter oxygen supplies]]. Basically, having your character be able to swim means adding an entirely new form of gameplay that's usually [[AtlantisIsBoring boring]], [[ScrappyLevel annoying]] and [[DownTheDrain nowhere near worth it]].

Some games have decided that it ''is'' worth it, and thus attempt more realistic solutions, with varying degrees of effectiveness. ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'', an early example, would deal damage to your health if you were underwater too long. However, armor protects against this damage -- meaning you can stay underwater longer if you wear full body armor. Earlier still, the ''VideoGame/UltimaUnderworld'' or ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsArena'' games didn't let you go underwater--swimming was essentially the same as walking except you bobbed up and down more and couldn't use a weapon, but after some amount of time your health would start taking a battering. The ''Tomb Raider'' games and the later ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' have {{Oxygen Meter}}s that would deplete as you swam, with running out causing lots of damage to be dealt, resulting in swift death. Other techniques have also been used to increase realism and decrease the prevalence of this trope.

[[http://kotaku.com/5306343/sink-or-swim-the-game-designers-conundrum Interviews with developers]] note that this trope exists to avoid a few other tropes, such as InsurmountableWaistHeightFence or BorderPatrol as water is a more "logical" method than a fence or invisible wall. Additionally it removes the need for extra assets taking up inventory slots that don't get used a lot. Sometimes, an item that allows one to swim will be presented - usually to keep the player from [[SequenceBreaking going places they shouldn't be able to yet]].

[[folder:Comics]]

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Disney/LiloAndStitch'':
** Stitch is so dense that he will automatically sink if submerged in water. Of course, he ends up on an island. Doesn't stop him entering Hawaiian Surf Competitions.
* David in ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}'' learns that along with his superhero-like strength, he has an {{Achilles Heel}} of water. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that David both has a fear of water due to a childhood incident, and in the context of the movie, his powers are ill-defined. David is vastly healthier than normal (never getting sick, and being vastly stronger than his size indicates), but no limits are recorded (he stops measuring his strength before finding his limit, and while he is the sole survivor of a massive train wreck, he balks at trying to see if he's bulletproof). Since humans can't exactly survive underwater, either, his "weakness" may simply be panicking from his childhood combined with still needing oxygen.
* Enola in ''Film/{{Waterworld}}''. Even though the entire Earth was covered with water decades or possibly centuries ago, [[FridgeLogic this ten-year old girl can't swim]]. And people wonder why this movie bombed...
* In ''{{Film/Superstar}}'', [[spoiler:Slater]] can't swim, and still doesn't bother to learn after he almost drowns and Mary Katherine saves him the first time.
* After being knocked off his boat, the killer in ''Terror at Tenkiller'' quickly drowns, despite being a marina worker. The FinalGirl has no trouble swimming to shore.
* The famous 3-breasted cat-woman in ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier''. She leaps onto Kirk's back, is airplane-spun for a half-turn, then just gently tossed face-down onto a table where a variation of billiards is played, with a quarter-inch of water covering the playing field. She then just lays there, presumably insta-drowned.
* Played with in ''Film/RobinHoodMenInTights''. Robin Hood and Little John duel on a log bridge and are down to just slapping what's left of their shattered staves as if they were pencils. Robin gets the upper hand and boots Little John... into an itsy-bitsy stream, causing the man to flail and panic as if he's drowning. Robin can't help but [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall look at the camera in disbelief]] before "helping" the man.
* The above is a parody of a scene in ''Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves'' which plays the trope straighter; Robin and Little John have a more dramatic stave fight which ends with Robin knocking John into an actual river... at which point he discovers John can't swim. Robin rescuing John earns John's gratitude and loyalty, and ends their battle.

--> Maui: "And I'm gonna need that boat/I'm sailing away, away/You're Welcome!/Cause Maui can do anything but float!"
* Film "Billion Dollar Brain"; Thinking that his agents in the Soviet Union have successfully spread a debilitating virus, General Midwinter leads his private army in a charge across the frozen Gulf of Finland, intending to invade (and "liberate") Latvia; however, his "agents" never existed: and a Soviet Airforce bomber drops a massive "Blockbuster" bomb on the ice; and the entire army, including the General, die horribly, in an "hommage" to Sergei Eisenstein's "Alexander Nevsky".
* ''Film/TheLastLeprechaun'': Tommy has to save Finn from drowing in a tub of water.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', [[DamselInDistress Lana]] manages to drown in less than 15 seconds. Don't worry, [[{{Superman}} Clark]] saves her with some mouth-to-mouth.
* In ''Series/RupaulsDragRace'', one challenge involved an underwater photoshoot, but not all the drag queens could swim. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity ensued.]]

* In one KoreanDrama (I believe it was called ''Hi School: Love On''), a character was helping another get a pendant they had lost in the pool. They wound up flailing about trying to swim, until another character told them to '''stand up'''.
* In the ''Series/{{Quantum Leap}}'' episode The Wrong Stuff, the episode's antagonist falls into a water-filled ditch that can't be more than three or four feet deep, and Sam has to save him from drowning. This rescue naturally leads to the antagonist's change of heart, which resolves the episode's conflict.
* In ''Series/{{Lexx}}'', Kai is too dense to swim as a result of the decarbonization process that made him an immortal undead assassin. In Season 3 which alternates between a [[SingleBiomePlanet water world and desert world]], falling into the ocean wouldn't destroy him, but he'd be stuck a hundred kilometers underwater til the end of time.

[[folder:RealLife]]

->''"This guy can go all over fighting hordes of evil monsters... but he can't even fucking swim!?"''
-->-- '''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd''' reviewing ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest''

* The [[http://www.yorkshire-dales.com/strid.html Bolton Strid]] in Yorkshire, England, part of the River Wharfe and not [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire part of any family]] [[Series/GameOfThrones of murdering Trolls]]. It may look like a gentle brook, but it holds the amount of water one would expect from an enormous, raging river being squeezed like a tube of toothpaste by the local geology. How? The river's ''really'' deep, for all it's not that wide, making the flow ''really'' intense below the calm-looking surface. The result? It has an unusually high lethality rate... as in, 100% deadly. Yes, that means falling in is a very, ''very'' bad idea, forget deliberately going for a dip. You'll be lucky if your body even shows up downstream.

* [[Literature/TheBelgariad Garion]] had acquired this skill ever since he was hit by a log on a pond while attempting to swim.

* In ''Fairy Dust And The Quest For The Egg'' by Gail Carson Levine, it is mentioned that if a fairy's wings got wet, they'd become heavy and drag the fairy underwater.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Toph. Justified in that she's blind.