Line #21 Main/AtTheCrossroads


1	%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1644417257072614100
2	%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
3	%%
4	[[quoteright:350:[[Film/ReMasteredDevilAtTheCrossroads https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/devilcrossroads.png]]]]
5	%%
6	->''"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood..."''
7	-->-- '''Creator/RobertFrost''', ''The Road Not Taken''
8
9	Just like [[TakeItToTheBridge bridges]], crossroads often feature as the setting for portentous happenings - there's something [[RuleOfSymbolism symbolic]] about the (often ancient) [[PlaceOfPower intersection of two paths]] that gets people's imaginations going. Often they are used to represent the intersection between two worlds; liminal spaces that are neither here nor there.
10
11	Crossroads also tend to represent places where a character can make a life changing decision, especially if there is [[TwoRoadsBeforeYou conflict over which path to take]].
12
13	This is very popular with {{Fairy Tale}}s - especially associated with TheDevil or TheFairFolk and Wicca, Voodoo, Hoodoo, Vodun and other occult magic circles. This is a common place for a DealWithTheDevil. The crossroads are often chosen for safety, as there's a vague idea that ghosts, sprites and demons may find them confusing to navigate. Burying a vampire at a crossroads is one of the precautions you can take to make sure he cannot rise again.
14
15	Compare TwoRoadsBeforeYou.
16
17	----
18	!!Examples:
19	[[foldercontrol]]
20
21	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
22	* In ''Manga/MeAndTheDevilBlues'' RJ sells his soul to the devil after playing the blues at the crossroads.
23	* One of the characters of ''Manga/TheVoynichHotel'' has a crossroads as a meeting place with one of the demons residing on the island. The person is [[spoiler:"Snark", the serial killer that has been terrorizing Blefuscu since before the story started and [[CuteMute Alice's]] sister. She made a DealWithTheDevil for the "[[RPGElements Demon's Claw +2]]", a set of long claws which apparently are great for killing and making cake.]] The demon is simply called Demona, and was the one who made the contract with RJ himself.
24	[[/folder]]
25
26	[[folder:Comic Books]]
27	* ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'': In issue #300, The Hulk was banished to "The Crossroads" by Doctor Strange when he was "mindless" to a) get him away from Earth and b) let him choose where he wanted to live; but he never found a place he liked and eventually he was brought back to Earth.
28	* ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'': In ''Wake the Devil'', Hellboy is tied up and left at the crossroads as an offering for the vampire Guirescu; he meets Hecate there immediately afterwards. In "The Body", Hellboy waits at a crossroads to meet a trio of TheFairFolk.
29	* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', Morpheus specifically goes to a crossroads to summon the Hecatae, because they are the goddesses of fate and, their holy places are always where choices are made.
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Fairy Tales]]
33	* In Literature/TsarevitchIvanTheFireBirdAndTheGrayWolf, the three princes find a stone at a crossroad warning of the perils on each way. Two turn back.
34	* In ''The King of England and his Three Sons'', collected by Creator/JosephJacobs, the princes part on their quest at a cross road.
35	* In ''The Three Princes and their Beasts'', collected by Creator/AndrewLang in ''The Violet Fairy Book'', the three princes separate at a crossroad, leaving marks so the others can known their fates if they retrn.
36	-->''Towards evening they came to a clearing in the wood, where three birches grew at the crossing of three roads. The eldest prince took an arrow, and shot it into the trunk of one of the birch trees. Turning to his brothers he said:\
37	'Let each of us mark one of these trees before we part on different ways. When any one of us comes back to this place, he must walk round the trees of the other two, and if he sees blood flowing from the mark in the tree he will know that that brother is dead, but if milk flows he will know that his brother is alive.'''
38	[[/folder]]
39
40	[[folder:Fan Works]]
41	* Chapter 12 of ''Fanfic/TheKeysStandAlone: The Soft World'' takes place at the Border Crossroads Inn, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin an inn at a crossroads on the border of two C'hovite provinces]].
42	* In the MagicalGirl CrisisCrossover ''FanFic/ShatteredSkiesTheMorningLights'', "The Crossroads" is the name for the center of [[InnBetweenTheWorlds the Lighthouse]], the room in which all five protagonists ([[Franchise/SailorMoon Usagi]], [[Manga/CardcaptorSakura Sakura]], [[Anime/PrettyCure Nagisa]], [[Franchise/LyricalNanoha Nanoha]], and [[Franchise/MadokaMagica Madoka]]) meet for the first time.
43	* In ''Fanfic/ForumOfThrones'', the Hammered Harp Inn is a major location in Chapter 2 and 3. It is located near a major crossroads in the western Reach, on the road between Raylansfair and Highgarden.
44	* In ''Fanfic/ResonanceDays'', the AntiVillain Annabelle Lee dreams that she is pursuing Kyoko Sakura through a forest when she comes to a crossroads. One road leads up a mountain, and one road leads into a warm, claustrophobic tunnel, and on a rock sits the {{Seer\|s}} Elsa Maria, who asks Annabelle Lee who she's seeking. Annabelle Lee answers that she's seeking Kyoko Sakura, but Elsa Maria says she's wrong. She asks why Annabelle Lee is trying to catch Kyoko, and Annabelle Lee answers that she wants to hand her over to [[BigBad Oblivion]] so Oblivion will [[WhoWantsToLiveForever finally kill her]], which Elsa Maria finds unsatisfactory. Nevertheless, Elsa Maria tells her that she will find Kyoko if she goes down the tunnel, but if she climbs the mountain, she will find who she truly seeks. Annabelle Lee is conflicted for a moment, longing for the cold, free mountaintop, but ultimately walks into the suffocatingly warm cave.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
48	* It is in a crossroad that not only Buster and Fred meet in ''WesternAnimation/TheFearlessFour'', but also where the arrows indicating the direction to Paris and Bremen are switched, driving thus the plot of the story.
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
52	* This is where the brothers meet [[EyepatchOfPower Big Dan Teague]] in ''Film/OBrotherWhereArtThou'' as well as Tommy Johnson after he made a DealWithTheDevil.
53	* Near the end of ''Film/{{Castaway}}'', the intersection is symbolic.
54	* The 1986 Creator/RalphMacchio movie ''Film/{{Crossroads}}'' mirrors the Music/RobertJohnson legend, and hinges on this trope.
55	* In Soviet propaganda film ''Film/Earth1930'', Khoma Bilokin kills Vasyl at the crossroads, symbolizing the choice that Ukranian peasantry has to make, between collectivization and sharing the land between everyone (what Vasyl wants), and to resist change and selfishly hold on to private land (the Bilokin family won't give up their land to the collective).
56	* In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'', Indy and his father arrive at a crossroads, debating whether they should head to Berlin to get his father's grail diary back, or to Venice, to go to Alexandretta to save Marcus from the Nazis. Given the theme of the movie, there's great emphasis upon the term "cross".
57	* Appropriately enough, in ''Film/{{Faust}}'', the rather serious choice to summon the Devil must take place at a crossroads. (As noted below in the Mythology section traditional European folklore holds that evil spirits or Satan must be summoned at a crossroads.)
58	* ''Film/TheBloodOfJesus'': When Martha starts her AdventuresInComaland, the angel tells Martha to bear right at the crossroads if she wants to go to Heaven. Sure enough, there's an actual crossroads, with a cross in the middle. The left side of the cross is labeled "to Hell", and there's a jazz band performing there. The right side is labeled "to Zion". Martha doesn't actually take a turn; instead she collapses at the foot of the cross and the blood of Christ redeems her.
59	[[/folder]]
60
61	[[folder:Literature]]
62	* Creator/CharlesDeLint has a character based on the legend of the guitarist at the crossroads.
63	** Also, in ''Seven Wild Sisters'', Bess and Laurel meet one of TheFairFolk at a crossroads made by deer paths. Bess remembers the trope but not in time to get away.
64	* Tamora Pierce's series of books set in the Tortall universe has the big gods, like Mithros (war and justice), and the Goddess (fertility, women, agriculture), but it also has minor gods like Weiryn (god of the hunt for a small mountainous area), and rather hilariously a god of crossroads, NOT a god of travelers, just a god of ACTUAL crossroads.
65	* Alan Gordon's medieval mystery ''An Antic Disposition'' (a retelling of the Ur-Hamlet) begins with two people meeting by chance at a crossroads. The narration says, "A crossroads, properly designed, reminds you that you are making a choice."
66	* Dean Koontz' novella "Literature/StrangeHighways" has the protagonist, Joe Shannon, change his life when he returns to a crossroads where one of the roads, destroyed 20 years before, is there again. Naturally this is the one he takes.
67	* Happens rather a lot in ''Literature/TalesOfTheFiveHundredKingdoms'', naturally enough as there's a force in this world that tries to make things happen the way they do in fairy tales, we see several [[SecretTestOfCharacter secret tests of character]] at a crossroads from the POV of both the testee and the tester.
68	* Several significant events in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' happen at The Inn at the Crossroads (between the Kingsroad running north-south, the "river road" west to the Riverlands, and the Highroad east to the Vale of Arryn). Catelyn Stark encounters Tyrion Lannister there and decides to arrest him, triggering war between House Lannister and Stark/Tully. Arya Stark and Sandor Clegane have a fight with the Mountain's Men, causing them to part after Sandor is seriously wounded. And Brienne of Tarth is captured by the Brotherhood Without Banners, leading to a choice between ConflictingLoyalties.
69	** The Inn at the Crossroads has had a quiet, mostly unsung and dismissively recorded impact on Westerosi history for quite a while. Before Harrenhal went up, it was the major notable establishment with elbow room to spare to be found in the region for everything from "meet and muster up" to leaving messages to "missed the boat/ lost a wheel" to surprise over-wintering or just to celebrate something either major or minor, despite not being a traditional keep with a lord attached. And even since, it's not lost import. Take a guess where Rhaegar and Lyanna headed to first on their... elopement... for instance. Or where various other Targaryen princes and princesses repeatedly got up to politics-impacting shenanigans when in the Riverlands, for that matter.
70	** King's Landing was specifically built to be ''the'' city straddling (and monitoring) the crossroads of trade. Partly to take that title from Oldtown, but also to simplify things. Oldtown grew over the years into a trade-hub, and was/is anything but efficient at it, given the embedded power blocs.
71	* Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
72	** In ''Literature/SmallGods'', one example of a small god is cited as "the spirits of places where two ant trails cross"
73	** ''Literature/ReaperMan'' uses the burial part of the myth. The wizards are trying to send a zombie on to the afterlife and, after checking out the relevant myths, decide that burying him on a crossroad is worth a try. As it turns out, using the intersection of the two busiest roads in Ankh-Morpork will probably keep down even the most energetic zombie, but the carriage drivers are not all that happy about the wizards digging during rush hour.
74	* Crossroads are important in several fantasy works by Creator/SeananMcGuire, but especially in the ''Literature/GhostRoads'' series, and by extension the ''Literature/InCryptid'' [[CanonWelding series]]. In that verse, the Crossroads itself is an entity, an EldritchAbomination responsible for many of the events in both series.
75	* ''Literature/WatershipDown''. General Woundwort meets Bigwig (who will play a key role in his downfall) at the Crixa, the crossing point between two bridle paths (though Woundwort's TwoRoadsBeforeYou decision takes place [[LastSecondChance later]] and elsewhere).
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
79	* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
80	** The inn where Tyrion and Catelyn collide in "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things" is actually called the "Inn At the Crossroads" in the novels since it sits at the main crossroads of the realm's northern half.
81	** In "Mockingbird", Brienne and Pod debate the fork in the road leading either north to the North or east to the Vale. Ironically, they choose the Vale but end up heading north in the next season anyway.
82	* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', deals with "crossroads demons", the ones that actually make deals that both parties are bound to, have to be made [[ShapedLikeItself at crossroads]] (usually on backroads, but recurring character Crowley is introduced making a deal under a highway cloverleaf interchange). These demons can be summoned with some personal effects, a bag of graveyard dirt, a black cat's bone, and a few other things. Once you've summoned the demon, just BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor when you make your DealWithTheDevil. You'll get ten years to enjoy it, upon which time you'll be mauled to death by the demon's pet {{Hellhound}} and your soul will be DraggedOffToHell.
83	* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Turn Left", Donna's decision whether to turn left or right at a road intersection determines the path her whole life will take and eventually affects the fate of the entire universe.
84	* Parodied in ''Series/WhatWeDoInTheShadows2019''. Laszlo claims that he once went to a crossroads to make a DealWithTheDevil in order to become a better guitarist, but accidentally showed up at one in ''California'' instead of in Mississippi, where Robert Johnson's encounter with Satan supposedly took place.
85	* ''Series/TheSandman2022'', "[[Recap/TheSandman2022S01E02ImperfectHosts Imperfect Hosts]]": Lord Morpheus performs a SummoningRitual to confer with [[TheHecateSisters the Three-in-One]] at a crossroads in [[DreamLand the Dreaming]], along with [[EyeOfNewt other offerings]]. Being the Lord of Dreams, he plucks a suitable crossroad out of a human's dream with [[TheHandIsGod one gigantic hand]].
86	* ''Series/StationEleven'''s final scene is of [[spoiler:Kirsten and Jeevan]] parting at a crossroads after their big reunion.
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Mythology]]
90	* The OlderThanFeudalism Ur-example and TropeMaker is probably the goddess Hecate of Myth/ClassicalMythology who was goddess of the crossroads as well as her prominent realms of the dead, ghosts, magic, night and moonlight (if you didn't live in a region big on Artemis or Selene). Like other deities of paths such as Hermes or the Roman Janus, her offerings would be placed at the crossroads so she would control the evil spirits that walked along them. The Romans had a comparable deity Trivia (though one a bit DarkerAndEdgier) so this aspect continued strongest. This rite survived for quite a while into the Christianisation of Europe which leads to religious figures specifically demonising the practice which leads to the strong DealWithTheDevil associations throughout Western Civilisation.
91	* In Myth/BrazilianFolklore, a werewolf does not turn during a full moon, but during Fridays at midnight. The cursed goes to a crossroads to transform, and returns to the same crossroads when morning dawns to become human again. Crossroads are also common places to leave offerings to appease or bargain with spirits and creatures of the forest, such as the Saci-Pererê, Curupira and Caipora.
92	** Also,a slight variation in the myth of Iara, in that she transformed from human to a mermaid (sorta), when she was thrown at the convergence of two rivers and left to drown.
93	* Voodoo in particular has a fascination with the crossroads as symbolism. Papa Legba is the lwa of the crossroads that serve as the boundary between the living and the dead. Kalfou, his evil side is also associated with them.
94	* There are old legends that vampires and other supernatural creatures must be buried at a crossroads.
95	* Also, folklore tells us vampires get disoriented (or even driven mad) at crossroads, and cannot tell one direction for another. Urban vampires seem to have developed a strong resistance to this weakness, especially those that frequent downtown districts.
96	* There was an old German folk belief that a man can turn into a werewolf if he goes at a full moon's night to a crossroad, wearing nothing but a belt made of a wolf's pelt. At midnight, the transformation will happen.
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder:Music]]
100
101	* Many folk songs, e.g. The Devil Went Down To Georgia, and Widdecomb Fair.
102	* Music/RobertJohnson's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD2jXjV9Z8A Cross Road Blues]]," while ostensibly about a failed attempt to hitch a ride, is often linked to the legend that Johnson made a DealWithTheDevil for the ability to play music (a legend more supported by his "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MCHI23FTP8 Me and the Devil Blues]]").
103	** Robert wasn't even the first blues musician named Johnson to claim to have sold his soul - his predecessor, Tommy Johnson, made similar claims. The film ''Film/OBrotherWhereArtThou'', as described above, features a fictionalized version of Tommy with aspects of Robert - namely, setting his DealWithTheDevil at a crossroads.
104	* ''Driving South'' by Music/TheStoneRoses on their album ''Second Coming'' makes reference to both the crossroads and Johnson's song.
105	* Miwa Gemini's song "Crossroads" references the myth in its lyrics: "Don't go to the crossroad / a ghost is there, waiting for you", and "Don't sell your soul to the Devil / you know I love you so much".
106	[[/folder]]
107
108	[[folder:Other]]
109	* The {{Ancient Egypt}}ians valued the symbolism highly enough that the hieroglyph representing a city, town, or settlement was a crossroad shape.
110	[[/folder]]
111
112	[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]
113	* In ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' there's a road-making demon, Jacinth, but he can't make his roads cross with each others. Going under or over is fine. If there is a crossroad, then it's not made by Jacinth.
114	* One remote crossroads in the world of ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'' is the home of Ephram, a wandering penitent who stopped for a rest and came to realize that he wasn't aging and somehow knew how to give directions to any passer-by. It's also easy to find by people who are lost, impossible to reach by people who are looking for it, and saturated with holy power.
115	* ''TabletopGame/HoodooBlues'' is a horror rpg based on Southern folklore, where one of the main character types is a "Crossroader". Someone who has made a literal DealWithTheDevil for supernatural abilities, usually at a crossroads.
116	[[/folder]]
117
118	[[folder:Theatre]]
119	* ''The Well of the Saints'', a play by Irish writer J M Synge about a blind man who is cured, partially takes place at a crossroads to represent the boundary between reality and the supernatural and between blindness and sight.
120	* Theatre/OedipusRex has an encounter at a crossroads that ends violently and then a bunch of other stuff happens.
121	* ''Music/TheBlackRider'', a musical by Music/TomWaits and Creator/WilliamSBurroughs and adapted from the Weber opera ''Theatre/DerFreischutz'', features this at the site of its DealWithTheDevil. There's even a song called "Crossroads".
122	[[/folder]]
123
124	[[folder:Video Games]]
125	* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'', pirates go to the Crossroads when they die. There's also some nice symbolism at the end when [[spoiler: Guybrush uses a spell to get back to the land of the living]].
126	* There is a crossroads in front of Castle Oblivion in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories''. Inside, Sora [[spoiler: chooses to forget everything from Castle Oblivion, including his new friend Namine, in order to regain his older memories]].
127	** At the end of [[spoiler:[[AnotherSideAnotherStory Reverse/Rebirth]], Riku's decision on the crossroads is different. He chooses to follow [[TakeAThirdOption neither the road to light nor the road to darkness]], but rather [[YinYangBomb the road to dawn]]]].
128	* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': There's a bar named The Crossroads where the protagonist makes a deal with a shady tabloid journalist who represents the Devil arcana in the Confidants.
129	* In ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3'', the SatanicArchetype [[spoiler: Gaunter O'Dimm]] often makes his [[DealWiththeDevil deals]] with his victims at a crossroads.
130	[[/folder]]
131
132	[[folder:Webcomics]]
133	* ''Webcomic/TheNoob'' {{lampshade\|Hanging}}s the trope, [[http://thenoobcomic.com/comic/225/ mixing it]] with PatchworkMap.
134	* ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'' uses it in a symbolic sense. At the moments when a person is making a decision that has a major impact on their fate, seers refer to them as the crossroads.
135	* Parodied in ''{{Webcomic/Rhapsodies}}'' when Dielle finds herself sitting next to a Music/RobertJohnson expy after she mistakes it for a [[http://rhapsodies.wpmorse.com/comic/08172010/ bus stop]]. Fortunately, someone else shows up before midnight.
136	[[/folder]]
137
138	[[folder:Web Original]]
139	* The Website/SCPFoundation's SCP-[[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-023 023]] is a spectral hound, based on the mythological [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_shuck black shuck]], who can only be contained in crossroads and other intersections, such as the intersection of two corridors.
140	* ''WebVideo/TheHire''. The film "Beat the Devil" has a variation; a young Music/JamesBrown is shown making his DealWithTheDevil where the road intersects a railway track, foreshadowing the GameOfChicken later on when he tries to renegotiate his contract by challenging the Devil to a road race. The hotel where the older Brown makes this challenge is called Crossroads.
141	* ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'' ends with the sole survivor struggling with [[AmbiguouslyEvil possibly being possessed or cursed]] and driving away. Before the camera cuts out, the character turns it forward to point out the windscreen, revealing an approaching crossroad.
142	[[/folder]]
143
144	[[folder:Western Animation]]
145	* In the AnimatedAdaptation of ''Literature/SoulMusic'', Buddy is standing at the crossroads where the road from Llamedos forks to Quirm and Ankh-Morpork when he swears that one day ''everyone'' will know he's the greatest musician in the world, thereby allowing [[ThePowerOfRock Music With Rocks In]] into this reality. (In the book, choosing which road is an important choice, but beyond that the crossroads isn't significant.)
146	* In an episode of ''{{WesternAnimation/Metalocalypse}}'', the band members are urged by one Mashed Potato Johnson (an obvious reference to the Music/RobertJohnson legend) to sell their souls to the Devil in exchange for the ability to play blues music. They go to a crossroads to do so, and hilarity ensues when their negotiations result in the contract being significantly in their favor.
147	[[/folder]]
148
149	[[folder:Real Life]]
150	* According to legend, Music/RobertJohnson [[DealWithTheDevil sold his soul to the devil for the ability to play guitar]] at a crossroads. Many other uses of crossroads (like on ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'') are based on this legend.
151	* Another blues singer, Tommy Johnson, is also said to gone to the crossroads to sell his soul. He is the blues singer depicted in ''Film/OBrotherWhereArtThou'' and often confused with Robert Johnson, due to their similar last name.
152	* Criminals were sometimes executed at crossroads, then buried there. Likewise, people who committed suicide and were therefore unqualified to enter Heaven were buried at a crossroads when available. Certainly those suspected of being vampires (also unqualified) were. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And until the 1800s]], [[TheWickedStage so were actors]].[[note]]At least according to Creator/DavidMamet.[[/note]]
153	** The rationale for this was that the unquiet spirit would not know which of the roads to follow in order to seek vengeance on the living.
154	* Note that in the ages before exact maps, standardized road signage, Google Earth and GPS systems, crossroads indeed had an inherent danger: Take the wrong road, and you end up hundreds of miles away from where you wanted to go. (Of course, in some cases this may have led to a better life for the people involved.) Still not surprising that people started to associate crossroads with fear.
155	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsujigiri Tsujigiri]] is the samurai tradition of trying out a new sword or fighting technique on a person encountered at a crossroads. In medieval times, this would have been a formalized duel between samurai, but in the Sengoku period this degraded to murdering a hapless passerby.
156	[[/folder]]
157
158	----
159	->''And that has made all the difference.''
160

Context Main / AtTheCrossroads