History Main / TheThreeTrials

** In "Homestar Ruiner" Strong Bad, in order to get Homestar out of his house, must clear him of the public nudity charge against him, get him back together with Marzipan, and make him the winner of the Race to the End of the Race. Note that each of these is undoing the damage that an earlier set of Three Trials inflicted on Homestar.

* ''VideoGame/GrimFandango'' Year 2 is built around one of these. Manny must acquire unionised worker bee equipment for Glottis (and sober up his sidekick in the process), forge a maritime uninion membership for himself (and steal from a major mafia boss in the process), and finally prevent a ship's cook from showing up for work (and dig through giant kitty litter in the process).

** At Redcliffe specifically, you have to 1) save the village's ass, 2) save the lord's son's ass, then 3) save the lord's ass.

* Starting in [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0324.html strip #324]], WebComic/{{the Order of the Stick}} must go through three trials, one each of Body, Mind, and Heart. The Trial of Body is defeating a hydra, which the team does by [[spoiler:chopping off so many heads that it passed out from not having enough blood to supply oxygen to the heads that regenerated]]. The Trial of Mind is a KnightsAndKnaves riddle; [[spoiler:Haley bypasses it by shooting one of the guards in the foot and seeing how they respond]]. The Trial of Heart is [[spoiler:a medical exam]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender"": "The King of Omashu" sees the titular king hold Team Avatar captive until Aang completes three trials. Turns out [[SubvertedTrope there was one extra item at the conclusion of the trials]], where the king challenged Aang to figure out his name...which he does in a matter of minutes.

* Used in every TelltaleGames adventure ever, at least OnceAnEpisode. Flat-out {{Lampshaded}} in the ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxBeyondTimeAndSpace: Moai Better Blues''.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' has Link gather the three spiritual stones of forest, fire, and water.

** Bernard needs to find a replacement diamond. Or rather, managing to change history so that the Edisons become rich, find the safe code and get the mail order form sent before today.

* "The Trial" episode of {{Angel}} has Angel going through three DeathTrap trials in order to save Darla from dying of syphilis.

* Present in level 6 of ''DevilMayCry 3''. You are presented with three challenges, representing strength, skill and intelligence. Passing one of them gives you nothing, passing two opens the way to the end of the level and passing all three nets you the Artemis gun.

[[AC:Unsorted]]
* ''VideoGame/PeasantsQuest'': You have to stink like a peasant, dress like a peasant, and be on fire like a peasant before the knight will let you go fight Trogdor. And then there are the three guardians who ask you questions outside Trogdor's lair and give you the equipment you need.
* ''VideoGame/CrimsonSkies'': High Road to Revenge has the Three Trials of Soloho - Marksmanship, Courage and Skill.
* ''VideoGame/NetHack'' has many sets of three trials. First you must acquire the Bell of Opening, the Candelabrum of Invocation, and the Book of the Dead; to collect these items, you have to visit and kill special monsters - your role's Quest Nemesis, Vlad the Impaler, and the Wizard of Yendor. Secondly, you must travel to the bottom of the dungeon, find the vibrating square, and perform the three-part Invocation Ritual with these items. Lastly, to complete the over-arcing TheThreeTrials you must take the Amulet of Yendor up to the Astral Plane, identify your alignment's High Altar, and sacrifice it up to your deity.
* Explicitly stated in ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'', on Mickeyjunk Mountain. The guard will only let you through to meet Oswald if you pass TheThreeTrials, in the form of levels based on Oswald The Lucky Rabbit films. After that, there's an example that isn't stated, but is much broader in scope. You have to go to three different lands, and defeat the bosses of each in order to get a piece of them needed for an escape rocket.

* Present in level 6 of ''DevilMayCry 3''. You are presented with three challenges, representing strength, skill and intelligence. Passing one of them gives you nothing, passing two opens the way to the end of the level and passing all three nets you the Artemis gun.
* Used in every TelltaleGames adventure ever, at least OnceAnEpisode. Flat-out {{Lampshaded}} in the ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxBeyondTimeAndSpace: Moai Better Blues''.

* ''VideoGame/DayOfTheTentacle'', the entire game between the prologue and the endgame. Interestingly done in that each task is set in its own time period and pursued by a different character.
* ''VideoGame/PeasantsQuest'': You have to stink like a peasant, dress like a peasant, and be on fire like a peasant before the knight will let you go fight Trogdor. And then there are the three guardians who ask you questions outside Trogdor's lair and give you the equipment you need.

* Tends to show up in ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' a lot.

* ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'': "Stop. Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see."

* ''VideoGame/CrimsonSkies'': High Road to Revenge has the Three Trials of Soloho - Marksmanship, Courage and Skill.

* ''VideoGame/{{Turgor}}'' has one of the brothers announce you will be given three trials to determine your worthiness, given one after another. However, the second trial is failed before you even start it.
* In ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIII'', the rite of manhood for Uhura's tribe involves three contests: spear-throwing, a balance beam "fight", and a footrace (though there are "mini-contests" within the footrace as well).
* A staple of numerous ''Zelda'' games from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' onwards. To elaborate:
** ''Link to the Past'' had the Player collect the [[MacGuffin three pendants of virtue]] of wisdom, power, and courage.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' has Link gather the three spiritual stones of forest, fire, and water.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' has the player collect the pearls
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' requires you to collect the three fused shadows.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'' has three trials which must be passed to gain entrance to [[spoiler: the Desert Temple]].
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' has the three first Silent Realms, the three dragons' songs, the first three dungeons set in three provinces...
* ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}} II'' Act 2 and 3 require you to track down three magical artifacts to combine into a weapon that'd open the way to the endboss. Technically there were four items in the third act, but the last one was obtained right next to where you needed to use them.

* Another AdventureGame example from ''VideoGame/TheJourneyDown'': to get your Seaplane running in the first chapter, you need to get three components.
* ''VideoGame/TheMatrixPathOfNeo'' has the Merovingians three trials that Neo has to pass to escape the chateau. The first is escaping an M.C. Escher type maze, the second trial is fighting your way through a club of vampires and the third is a fight with the Witch Queen to finally escape.

** ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge'' has a variation in four trials per act. To get a Voodoo Doll you need four items - "something of the head, something of the thread, something of the body and something of the dead". You have to do this twice in the game, once early on for Largo so you can leave Scabb Island, and once towards the end for LeChuck so you can escape the basement (using different items in different areas). Between these, you also have to get the four map pieces, which is way more convoluted than it sounds.

* Used in every TelltaleGames adventure ever, at least OnceAnEpisode. Flat-out {{Lampshaded}} in the SamAndMax episode "Moai Better Blues".

* ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'' lives this trope. Every episode has three obstacles to get past before they reach their goal.

* CrimsonSkies: High Road to Revenge has the Three Trials of Soloho - Marksmanship, Courage and Skill.
* In [[Film/MortalKombat Mortal Kombat: Annihilation]] Nightwolf tells Liu Kang he must pass three tests before he can defeat Shao Kahn. The first test is courage, which apparently involves having a hatchet thrown at your head to induce a "dream-state." [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse We never learn what the other two tests were.]]

* ''NetHack'' has many sets of three trials. First you must acquire the Bell of Opening, the Candelabrum of Invocation, and the Book of the Dead; to collect these items, you have to visit and kill special monsters - your role's Quest Nemesis, Vlad the Impaler, and the Wizard of Yendor. Secondly, you must travel to the bottom of the dungeon, find the vibrating square, and perform the three-part Invocation Ritual with these items. Lastly, to complete the over-arcing TheThreeTrials you must take the Amulet of Yendor up to the Astral Plane, identify your alignment's High Altar, and sacrifice it up to your deity.
* ''{{Turgor}}'' has one of the brothers announce you will be given three trials to determine your worthiness, given one after another. However, the second trial is failed before you even start it.
* In ''QuestForGloryIII'', the rite of manhood for Uhura's tribe involves three contests: spear-throwing, a balance beam "fight", and a footrace (though there are "mini-contests" within the footrace as well).

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Diablo}} Diablo II]]'' Act 2 and 3 require you to track down three magical artifacts to combine into a weapon that'd open the way to the endboss. Technically there were four items in the third act, but the last one was obtained right next to where you needed to use them.
* Explicitly stated in EpicMickey, on Mickeyjunk Mountain. The guard will only let you through to meet Oswald if you pass TheThreeTrials, in the form of levels based on Oswald The Lucky Rabbit films. After that, there's an example that isn't stated, but is much broader in scope. You have to go to three different lands, and defeat the bosses of each in order to get a piece of them needed for an escape rocket.
* In ''Series/LostInOz'', to open Horn's Gate, the heroes must answer three riddles. Selina answers the first two and Alex answers the third.
* In almost every ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' book, someone will go to the Good Magician's castle to get information, where they will have to get past three challenges of varying nature before he will see them.
** Typically, the first challenge is something chosen to keep out anybody but his expected visitor and is harmless except to somebody willfully stupid, the second is a static barrier with a hidden way in, and the third (now that it's just as hard to get out again) is something picked to be lethal to anybody who makes it this far but in an environment which can be used against it.

* In the first episode of ''Hector: Badge of Carnage'', Hector meets the three demands of the terrorist: fixing the clock tower, destroying the porn shop, and funding the town beautification project.
* Tends to show up in ''BaldursGate'' a lot.

* [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail "Stop. Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see."]]

* ''DoraTheExplorer'' lives this trope.

** ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge'' has a variation in four trials per act. To get a Voodoo Doll you need four items - "something of the head, something of the thread, something of the body and something of the dead". You have to do this twice in the game, once early on for Largo, and once towards the end for LeChuck (using different items in different areas). Between these, you also have to get the four map pieces, which is way more convoluted than it sounds.

** FridgeBrilliance: [[spoiler: So the Trial of Body was outsmarted, and the Trial of Mind was brute-forced. And the Trial of Heart was reduced to a punchline.]]
*** This was lampshaded in the comic.

** Done several times in ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'':
*** First you need to:
**** Find a map
**** A ship
**** A crew in the second act (with three individuals to recruit)
*** Then in the fourth act you need to find:
**** A ring
**** A diamond
**** And a way to remove a cursed ring (hand lotion, if you're curious)
::: Each object demands a lengthy expedition and perilous adventure -- yes, even the hand lotion.