Line #68 Main/WarElephants


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14	[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/ReignOfDragons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/olyphant_5.png]]]]
15	[[caption-width-right:350: "The bray is no trumpet, the pound is not drums, the siege engine that walks."]]
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21	->''"Imagine you're a provincial Roman farmer. The most you've seen of the world is maybe the length of Italy if you're really well-traveled. Now imagine that through the sleets and the mist you see a great grey lumbering bulk begin to emerge. Imagine you see this creature two-and-a-half times as tall as you, at ''least'' a chariot-length long, with glistening white tusks and a distended snout, its eerie trumpeting carrying across to you faintly on the wind. This is probably the closest that human beings ever got to legit fighting ''monsters'' -- fighting something so alien and gargantuan that there was no frame of reference for them."''
22	-->-- ''WebAnimation/ExtraCredits'' describing [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Trebia the Battle of the Trebia]] in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf0-Yki5p40&list=PLhyKYa0YJ_5BQmw4cp7mmwtyEc4tBMUhX&index=2 the second part of their series on the Punic Wars]]
23
24	If you want to make an army look exotic and threatening, give them War Elephants. These towering, huge beasts with armor and spikes will strike fear in the enemy's hearts.
25
26	Trained war elephants have been used by some historical nations, but fairly sporadically, and usually by ones fighting against the Roman, European or Chinese cultures that most modern writers are descended from (although these cultures [[PowerCopying eventually used war elephants too]], it's just not so often). Thus, war elephants' presence in an army easily establishes it as foreign and unusual. Elephants also have a domineering presence on the battlefield, smashing apart shieldwalls and light fortifications and trampling over regular troops, and their sheer fearsome bulk presents them as an obvious threat that will be very difficult to deal with. These creatures are typically be used by the EvilArmy or TheHorde, but if they're on the heroes' side then they might be used by foreign allies to indicate the army's exoticness.
27
28	In battle, elephants are mostly used for their fear factor, intimidating enemy troops while rallying yours, and as breakthrough troops with which to smash through enemy lines. They're typically provided with heavy armor to improve their staying power, and spikes or blades attached to their tusks are also a fairly common touch. It's also common for howdahs to be mounted on their backs, typically carrying additional soldiers, ranged troops to take advantage of the raised vantage point, or even whole cannons. More pragmatically, the beasts can also be used to haul around siege weaponry, supplies or mobile fortifications. The main downside to these creatures is the possibility of them stampeding if something scares them, at which point they'll usually trample their way through friend and foe alike; indeed, a common strategy employed by armies facing war elephants is to try to get them to stampede before battle is joined, ideally in the enemy's own camp.
29
30	[[DomesticatedDinosaurs War Mammoths]] work too, especially when used by armies coming from the endless cold of [[GrimUpNorth the northlands]] or in [[MammothsMeanIceAge the distant past]]. [[CallARabbitASmeerp Fantasy elephant equivalents]] can also serve this purpose, in order to further emphasize the exoticness of the army or world in question. In these cases, the elephants' size tends to be super-sized to the point where they almost qualify as war-barges with tusks. They may also be accompanied by other large animals like rhinos or, if the writer is more fantastically inclined, even dinosaurs.
31
32	This trope was TruthInTelevision, as kingdoms in North Africa, the Middle East, and southeastern Asia have weaponized pachyderms at various points in history, and their enemies sometimes adopted them too. Elephants are huge, strong, tough, terrifying, and highly trainable animals capable of carrying multiple riders on their backs, whether they be officers wanting a better view of the battlefield, archers, or even artillerymen firing a ballista or cannon from a howdah. Horses were also generally terrified of them and wouldn't go near them, so a few elephants in front of your army could make enemy cavalry charges useless. However, [[AwesomeButImpractical they could easily panic in battle]], [[HoistByHisOwnPetard trampling friend or foe]], and their sensitive hearing made them even more prone to panic when loud firearms became widespread. They were also highly costly to maintain, due to the near-impossibility of breeding them and their large appetites--though for some rulers, this might actually be seen as a bonus, as [[ConspicuousConsumption any ruler with wealth and logistics enough to maintain an elephant corps must be a great one indeed]].
33
34	Subtrope of BeastOfBattle. Compare HorseOfADifferentColor. See CruelElephant for violent and dangerous elephants in general.
35
36	----
37	!!Example subpages:
38	[[index]]
39	* WarElephants/VideoGames
40	* WarElephants/RealLife
41	[[/index]]
42
43	!!Other examples:
44	[[foldercontrol]]
45
46	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
47	* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': The [[MysticalIndia Kushan Empire]] uses large numbers of war elephants in their invasion of Midland, equipped with armor and carrying platforms for warriors and archers. The exotic animals seem like unstoppable monsters to their enemies, and we are treated to graphic depictions of hapless infantry being trampled beneath their feet, though Rakshas also demonstrates that they can be easily terrified and made to stampede over their own forces. As if the regular elephants weren't enough, Daiba and his sorcerers have also provided the Empire with bipedal elephant-headed monsters armed with equally enormous weapons. Emperor Ganishka certainly prizes elephants as a sign of royal power, since we see him riding to and from Charlotte's prison on an elephant, and he commands the siege of Vritannis from a palace on wheels drawn by no fewer than sixteen elephants and surrounded by an escort of elephant cavalry.
48	* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'': In the various iterations of the franchise, Mammothmon are usually used in this fashion. The final battle of ''Anime/DigimonFusion'', which featured hundreds of the things serving under [=DarknessBagramon=], stands out in this regard.
49	* ''Literature/TheHeroicLegendOfArslan'': A feature of Shindra's army, they can also be drugged into an even more dangerous berserker state (predictably, they up being just as dangerous to Shindran troops).
50	* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': [[{{Robeast}} Mechanical Beast]] Elephant γ3 is a bipedal elephant with long, curvy tusks, {{Arm Cannon}}s, and big ears that shot heat rays.
51	* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Jack from the Beast Pirates and one of Kaido's CoDragons ate the Zou Zou no Mi, Model: Mammoth, giving him the ability to turn him into a massive mammoth (and he is already huge from the start). He tramples through the battlefield like a [[{{Pun}} calamity]] and he's also extremely endurable coupled with very high stamina, making him TheJuggernaut. Untypical for this trope, Jack is actually in charge of many of Kaido's troops, thanks to his status as one of Kaido's right-hand men.
52	** Zunisha, the [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever colossal]] elephant that [[TurtleIsland carries the island of Zu on its back]], is ''not'' one of these normally, though it mentions that it committed some sin in the past for which it carries the island on its back. But if you try attacking it- as [[StupidEvil the afore-mentioned Jack]] does- then it ''will'' defend itself and its island- [[spoiler:and it straight-up knocks Jack into the sea!]]
53	** Spandam tries to invoke this through Funkfreed, his Devil Fruit-powered sword, which can turn into an elephant [[WeaponizedAnimal with a huge blade for a trunk]]. Unfortunately, while it's strong enough to damage [[ImmuneToBullets Franky]] while he is blocking, it's not really combat-trained, nor is [[SuperWeaponAverageJoe its master]], and was easily intimidated just by Franky pointing a gun in its face; most of the time it serves as more of a RightHandCat for Spandam, giving him someone to monologue to.
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:Card Games]]
57	* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': Elephants -- a creature type that also includes mastodons, mammoths and fictional proboscideans -- feature as a recurring creature type. In addition to the assumed implication that cards represent creatures the player has summoned to fight for them, some are explicitly trained for this role in-universe -- [[https://scryfall.com/card/tpr/200/trained-armodon Trained Armodon]] is one such examples, while the Abzan Houses of Tarkir include [[https://scryfall.com/card/ktk/179/ivorytusk-fortress elephants]] and [[https://scryfall.com/card/m20/312/siege-mastodon mastodons]] among the giant creatures they use as beasts of battle and to pull their moving fortresses.
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Comic Books]]
61	* ''ComicBook/AlanFord'': Parodied when "His Excellency" the Number One tells the story of Pyrrhus and his war against the Romans. The infamous victory is attributed to the fact that while the elephants proved decisive to win the battle, they still trampled 3000 roman soldiers and ''18000'' of Pyrrhus' own forces.
62	* ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'': In [[ComicBook/TheAvengersKurtBusiek Kurt Busiek's]] and George Perez' run, Red Sonja's nemesis Kulan Gath transmutes a couple of tanks into war elephants that nearly trample ComicBook/IronMan before he is saved by teammate Triathlon. ComicBook/SheHulk tells them "Back off, Jumbo" and flattens one with a punch while swinging the other one through the air by its trunk. Even war elephants don't stand a chance against the Emerald Amazon.
63	* ''ComicBook/GhostRider'':
64	** The prehistoric Ghost Rider is a caveman who rides a woolly mammoth ''on fire''.
65	** The Indian Ghost Rider Shoba Mirza rides a flaming skeletal Asian elephant. Coupled with her four arms in Rider form, she ends up resembling a raging Hindu god.
66	* ''ComicBook/RedSonja'': In Marvel's 1970s run, Sonja allied herself with the young ruler of a kingdom whose major military strength was its war mammoths.
67	* ''ComicBook/WarOfTheRealms'': The Dark Elf soldiers ride creatures resembling moss-covered woolly mammoths.
68	[[/folder]]
69
70	[[folder:Fan Works]]
71	* ''Fanfic/AnEmpireOfIceAndFire'': The Golden Company makes use of them, as per canon. During the Battle of Winterfell, they supplement their regular elephants with mammoths from North of the Wall.
72	* ''Fanfic/EquestriaDivided'': House Everfree can field both elephants and [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings gigantic oliphaunts]], mounting howdahs on their backs to carry warriors into battle. Boars, rhinos and hippos are also used as less powerful but cheaper alternatives for the same purpose.
73	* ''Fanfic/IAmSkantarios'': The Byzantines fights these in their wars, and eventually gets a herd of their own.
74	* ''Fanfic/ThePriceOfFlight'': After coming to an Arrangement with the God of Evolution, Olga orders six Osibisi, super-heavy flying elephants that are borne aloft on scaled-up Pegasus wings. Hanna von Strafenburg remarks that with the standard fighting castle strapped to their backs and lots of repeating crossbows, the Air Watch now has flying fortresses. The Osibisi become the nucleus of the spectacular Heavy Squadron.
75	* ''LetsPlay/AScotsmanInEgypt'': The final major battle of the fic against the Timurids features their war elephants. Of course, the Timurid hordes didn't count on being: a) ''outnumbered'' and b) facing [[BraveScot Scotsmen]]. [[TheBerserker Angus the Mauler]] gets a special mention for going batshit insane ([[BloodKnight moreso than usual]]) at the sight of them, not calming down until he's finally killed one. Singlehandedly.
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
79	* ''WesternAnimation/EarlyMan'': The Bronze Age civilization uses armored mammoths to bulldoze over the Stone Age tribe, ignore the anachronism.
80	* ''WesternAnimation/TheJungleBook1967'': Referenced when the elephants act like heroic ([[IdiotHero if dimwitted]]) British army officers.
81	* ''WesternAnimation/KhanKluay'', known as ''The Blue Elephant'' in the USA, has the protagonist grow up into a war elephant, complete with a war elephant battle at the climax.
82	[[/folder]]
83
84	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
85	* ''Film/ThreeHundred'': Xerxes' army uses elephants against the Spartans, but they can't break the Spartans' phalanx and fall to their deaths off a cliff. Keeping in line with the "exotic nature" of this trope, the Persians also have a [[RhinoRampage war rhinoceros]].
86	* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBaronMunchausen'': The Grand Turk uses elephants to propel his war machines. The Baron gets them to back off with the strategic use of [[ElephantsAreScaredOfMice mice]], which sends the whole herd into a panicked stampede through the Turkish camp.
87	* ''Film/{{Alexander}}'': Alexander's army faces "elephant monsters" at the Battle of Hydaspes, including an [[RuleOfSymbolism East vs. West shot]] of Alexander's horse rearing as it faces a war elephant, which also rears in response.
88	* ''Film/KingArthurLegendOfTheSword'': [[EvilSorcerer Mordred]] summons gigantic war elephants with his BlackMagic and tears through the kingdom of Camelot with them. They are very much a KeystoneArmy, as one single strike of Excalibur by King Uther Pendragon on their summoners is enough to cause them to collapse into dust.
89	* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'': The Oliphants, as in the books, are used by the Haradrim forces allied with Sauron. They're portrayed as fantastical [[DireBeast dire elephants]] with eight tusks (four large and four small), and are even bigger than in the books, being roughly fifty to sixty feet at the shoulder. There are also some unnamed rhino-like creatures pulling the siege engines that the orcs bring to the Battle of Minas Tirith.
90	[[/folder]]
91
92	[[folder:Literature]]
93	* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'': Rachel and her elephant morph. True, she's only one elephant, but the "army" is the rest of the group. [[BloodKnight She manages to get in]] [[OneManArmy plenty of damage on her own anyway.]] Cassie, Ax and Tobias also acquire elephants in book 22, but they never use them other than that one mission.
94	* ''Literature/TheBlackCompany'': War elephants are used during during the Battle at Charm and Dejagore, and it is mentioned that they come from the Jewel Cities.
95	* ''Literature/{{Conqueror}}'': Jelaudin's army uses elephants extensively. They backfire when the [[TheHorde Mongols]] shoot them in the knees, causing a panic.
96	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Battle elephants are mentioned in ''Literature/{{Pyramids}}''. According to the protagonist, they're useless, since all they do is trample on their own troops when they inevitably panic. The military responded to this setback by breeding bigger elephants.
97	* ''Literature/TheExecutioner'': In ''Tiger War'', Mack Bolan has to defend a village from a punitive expedition sent to punish them for aiding Bolan. He waits for the column to move past, then charges an elephant (used by the villagers for carrying logs) up their rear, panicking the soldiers and causing them to flee to the sides of the trail where the villagers have placed [[SpikesOfDoom punji sticks]]. One of the villains shoots the mahout, where upon the elephant rips off the man's limbs and tramples him underfoot.
98	* ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'': Camp Jupiter has a resident war elephant named Hannibal. Somewhat ironic, since his human namesake was an enemy of Rome.
99	* ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'': The nomadic communities of the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Green Martians]] often include enormous beasts called zitidars that Carter, in his role as narrator, repeatedly compares to mastodons, suggesting an elephantine aspect to them.
100	* ''Literature/TheJungleBook'': In "The Queen's Servants", Kipling gives the camp-animals archetypical army personalities. The cavalry horse is a gung-ho BloodKnight, the mountain-gun mules are {{Old Soldier}}s, and the siege-gun elephant is a DirtyCoward.
101	* ''Literature/{{Leviathan}}'': While the Darwinists have created a number of elephant- and mammoth-derived beasts, these are not used for war and are instead mostly employed as supersized draft animals. What ''is'' an example is the elephant-shaped walking machines used by the Ottoman Empire, outfitted with gun emplacements on their backs and used to guard the Sultan.
102	* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': The Haradrim ride to battle on "Oliphaunts" (as the hobbits call them) or ''mûmakil'' (as they're referred to by the Men of Gondor). They are described as being far larger than modern elephants, and are nearly impervious to arrows (unless they get hit in the {{eye\|Scream}}). Sam is an awe-struck witness when a strikeforce of Gondorian Rangers ambushes a Haradrim force on its way to join Sauron's armies, causing one of these animals to go mad and trample Rangers and Haradrim alike as it rampages. Others are seen in the siege proper, first hauling SiegeEngines and towers and then being used to sow destruction among the Gondorian ranks.
103	* ''Literature/MiksMammoth'': Mik uses his mammoth friend Rumm as one to save his tribe from another tribe.
104	* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
105	** Crossing this trope with HorseOfADifferentColor, the giants who live north of the Wall ride woolly mammoths into war like men ride horses. Several mammoth-mounted giants are seen within Mance Rayder's Wildling army.
106	** The finest and most disciplined sellsword army in the series, the Golden Company, has a unit of elephants, though [[spoiler:in the voyage to Westeros to support the claim of the apparently-still-alive Aegon Targaryen, most of them are lost or late making landfall; only three are mentioned to be present at Griffin's Roost]]. Their captain frequently laments not having them available.
107	** Daenerys [[spoiler:acquires several elephants after her conquest of Meereen]], and her generals are divided on whether to use them in battle.
108	* ''Literature/{{Spellsinger}}'': One of the novels includes an armor-wearing warrior rhinoceros, who's as sentient as any other mammal in the Warmlands. An equally-sentient tickbird acts as his squire and companion.
109	* ''Literature/TalesOfKaimere'':
110	** Munarak Aramu Bhatugal, the son of a banished Qajar lord, gathered an army of 70 mammoths and Drenduga plus 500 men to invade Qajar, fighting the various lords and bringing the peninsula together into the modern Qajar Republic. Notably, these elephants were all willing volunteers and Munarak would invest heavily into things like armor for them to keep them alive.
111	** While not elephants, the war ghlanos, giant chalicotheres, were very similar in application. The Shu would accomplish this by both gelding young male ghlanos and having them imprint on their herds of horses so as to make them easier to train. They would also be fitted with armor and use their massive claws to help tear down castle walls.
112	* ''Literature/ThaisOfAthens'': Seleucus (one of UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat's generals) gathers a whole unit of battle elephants while campaigning in India. It never sees much action in the novel, but Thais gets to ride one in Babylon.
113	* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': The [[TheEmpire Seanchan]] (who have [[BeastOfBattle weird animal]] husbandry as one of their [[PlanetOfHats hats]]) use [[CallARabbitASmeerp "s'redit"]], which are described as very much like elephants, in battle and for labor. One character who is unfamiliar with the animals dubs them [[MixAndMatchCritters "boar-horses"]].
114	* ''Literature/TheWindupGirl'': War megodonts (genetically-engineered giant elephants) have carbon fibre armour, [[WeaponizedAnimal blades attached to their tusks and machine-gun cages]] on their backs.
115	[[/folder]]
116
117	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
118	* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
119	** The Wildling army led by Mance Rayder use the mammoth variant in the Season 4 episode "The Watchers on the Wall".
120	** The sellsword army the Golden Company, first mentioned in Season 7, is stated to have elephants in their army. However, when they arrive in Westeros in Season 8, SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome as they found it too difficult to ship them across the Narrow Sea and had to leave them in Essos.
121	* ''Series/HorribleHistories'' did its own take on Hannibal, of course, with a fake trailer for ''Elephants on a Plain'', starring Hannibal as a '[[MilitaryMaverick maverick Carthaginian general]]' (complete with a Southern accent).
122	* ''Franchise/KamenRider'': As with Sentai, multiple series use elephant or mammoth monsters as the MonsterOfTheWeek.
123	** ''Series/KamenRiderBlade'': A non-mecha example comes from Leangle's ''Fusion Elephant'' card that he uses to transform into his Jack form, although with the lack of a Rouze Absorber, he doesn't use it at all in the TV series and at best used it once to unseal Daichi/Elephant Undead for help in battle.
124	** ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'': ''Movie War 2010'' featured Super Shocker's Mammoth Mecha that attacked the Heisei Riders up until Decade decimated its beam cannon eyes, with Double taking control of it, thus turning it into [=HardMammother=]. It then got destroyed by Double as they crashed it into the Super Crisis Fortress to also destroy it.
125	** The title character of ''Series/KamenRiderOOO'' uses O Medals to transform. One of his gray medals is the Zou [[note]]Elephant[[/note]] Medal, which grants him [[EarthquakeMachine Seismic]] [[ShockwaveStomp stomps]].
126	** ''Series/KamenRiderZeroOne'': One of Aruto's Progrise Keys includes Breaking Mammoth, which was converted from the broken Mammoth Zetsumerise Key by Yua. Unlike his other forms, Breaking Mammoth is essentially a TransformingMecha that includes a part of satellite Zea detached from it to its jet form and then Zero-One enters it to complete the transformation. ZAIA Enterprise also has their knockoffs with A.I.M.S.' Gigers that got at least one hacked by [=MetsubouJinrai.net=] then destroyed by Zero-One Breaking Mammoth.
127	* ''Series/{{Rome}}''. After their defeat at Thapsus in Africa, Cato and Scipio contemplate a dying war elephant.
128	-->'''Cato:''' They sleep standing up, you know. Elephants. On account that [[DespairEventHorizon once laid down they cannot rise again.]]
129	* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' and its U.S. counterpart ''Franchise/PowerRangers'':
130	** ''Series/KyoryuSentaiZyuranger'' / ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'': Guardian Beast [=ZyuMammoth=] / Mastodon Dinozord. Huge, tough, and snorts a freezing mist.
131	** ''Series/HyakujuuSentaiGaoranger'' / ''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'': Gao Elephant / Elephant Wild Zord, the first MechaExpansionPack for the series (it turns into a sword and shield).
132	** ''Series/NinpuuSentaiHurricaneger'' / ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm'': Super Karakuri Beast Revolver Mammoth / Mammothzord. The resident Carrierzord, which is even more enormous.
133	** ''Series/JukenSentaiGekiranger'' / ''Series/PowerRangersJungleFury'': [=GekiElephant=] / Elephant Animal Spirit, another MechaExpansionPack for the series (it turns into an EpicFlail).
134	** ''Series/EngineSentaiGoOnger'' / ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'': Engine Kishamoth / Paleozord. The main portion of the final mecha combination introduced, armed with freezing mist like [=ZyuMammoth=].
135	** ''Series/TensouSentaiGoseiger'' / ''Series/PowerRangersMegaforce'': The Elephant Headder / Elephant Zord, part of an auxiliary zord that made its Sentai debut in a movie and later one appearance in the series, with Megaforce adapting only the later appearance.
136	** ''Series/ShurikenSentaiNinninger'' / ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaSteel'': Paonmaru / Rumble Tusk Zord, yet another MechaExpansionPack that can [[TransformingMecha assume its own humanoid mode]] and arms Shurikenjin with twin axes.
137	** ''Series/DoubutsuSentaiZyuohger'': Cube Elephant, the personal mecha of Zyuoh Elephant and the first ''modern'' elephant mecha to be a core one rather than a MechaExpansionPack. It can fire energy beams or a cooling mist to put out fires.
138	** In addition, multiple series use elephant or mammoth monsters as the MonsterOfTheWeek.
139	[[/folder]]
140
141	[[folder:Music]]
142	* Music/ThemCrookedVultures: These are apparently the types of "Elephants" referred to in the song of the same name, since the lyrics specifically refer to "lepers riding atop pachyderms full of germs."
143	[[/folder]]
144
145	[[folder:Religion]]
146	* Literature/TheBible: The Seleucid general Antiochus Epiphanes fields war elephants against the Maccabees.
147	* Literature/TheQuran: One verse mentions the story of Abrahah, a general marching with his army of war elephants to destroy Kaaba, the Islamic holy site. They were thwarted when God sent a flock of birds carrying brimstone from Hell, pelting Abrahah and his men to death.
148	[[/folder]]
149
150	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
151	* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Frost giants are known to train mammoths for use as mounts and ride them into battle.
152	* ''TabletopGame/SeventhSeaTheEast'': These are the preferred mounts of Nagaja's warriors. The commoners boast that the reason the Khazars never tried to invade their realm is the prowess of their war elephants in battle. They may find out if that's true very soon, when the Khans [[StormingTheBeaches set sail]].
153	* ''TabletopGame/{{Chess}}'': The Bishop used to be called the Elephant, and could only move ''exactly'' two diagonal squares. In some languages, they are still called Elephants. Other games of the same family, like ''TabletopGame/{{Xiangqi}}'', and ''TabletopGame/{{Makruk}}'', still use the old Elephant piece, though, at least in Xiangqi, their offensive use is limited by their not being able to cross the river in the middle of the board. Some editions of chess also design the Rook (castle) unit to be an elephant with a howdah on its back.
154	* ''TabletopGame/GodsOfTheFall'': A group of mushroom growers ride elderly war elephants, patrolling the main road through the Dead Wood and bordering fungi fields. Many once served as mounts of Corso's cavalry before the Fall.
155	* ''TabletopGame/IronKingdoms'': Titans (which can be described as small, trunkless, bipedal, four-armed elephants) and their larger cousins, the mammoths, are widely used as warbeasts by skorne warlocks.
156	* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'':
157	** The Realm of the Mammoth Lords is an inhospitable tundra inhabited by mighty-thewed {{Barbarian Hero}}es who ride mammoths and other enormous mammals into battle.
158	** There are many ways for a player to get an elephant or mammoth friend, but the one that most specifically invokes this tropes -- and is clearly intended for the above Mammoth Lords -- is the prestige class Mammoth Rider.
159	** Behemoth golems are shaped like pachyderms or other giant quadrupeds with a castle attached to their backs, which can be manned like a howdah.
160	* ''TabletopGame/TheStrange'': The scarbacks of Mesozoica sometimes ride mammoths when they hunt.
161	* ''TabletopGame/WargamesResearchGroup'': War Elephants are the most powerful (and most expensive) units in the DBA, DBM and DBMM game systems. They are vulnerable to shooting and light troops, however.
162	* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'':
163	** The Norscans use giant Warp-mutated mammoths. The Arabyans also use war elephants, but theirs are normal beasts trained for combat instead of monsters like the ones used by the Norscans.
164	** The Ogre Kingdoms also have the vaguely mammoth-like Thundertusks, so enormous that they can carry two ogres at a time, and true mammoths that can carry four.
165	* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': The Orks come closest to this trope with their [[http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Squiggoth Squiggoths]]; tusked, dinosaur-like beasts fitted with howdahs filled with guns, artillery or howling Orks, and driven into battle to rampage their way through the enemy army. Squiggoths native to icy worlds, which develop mammoth-like fur and tusks, come particularly close.
166	[[/folder]]
167
168	[[folder:Theater]]
169	* ''Theatre/TheKingAndI'': The King planned to send war elephants to help UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln. See the RealLife section below.
170	[[/folder]]
171
172	[[folder:Web Comics]]
173	* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': During the goblin's siege of Azure City, the goblin cleric Redcloak summons a fiendish mammoth and uses it as a steed to lead a charge against a breach in the city walls.
174	[[/folder]]
175
176	[[folder:Web Original]]
177	* ''Blog/HamstersParadise'': The Bruteriders gain the upper hand in the Second Great Harmster World War with the use of rakatusks: twenty-ton, four-tusked mammoth-like herbivores that, like every other vertebrate on the planet, are [[ItMakesSenseInContext actually hamsters]]. They put them to excellent use a living siege weapons due to them being [[GiantEqualsInvincible damn near unstoppable]] until the Bruteriders encounter the more technologically advanced Rockcookers, who use long-ranged artillery weapons to blow the rakatusk's heads off before they can even get close. This completely pulls the rug out from under the Bruteriders as they aren't able to replace them due to only having a limited number of them and the process of catching and training rakatusks being a long and difficult one.
178	* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-3813 SCP-3813]] is the wreckage of a HumongousMecha (375 meters tall) in the shape of a war elephant, built by Carthage to assault Rome in the Second Punic War.
179	[[/folder]]
180
181	[[folder:Western Animation]]
182	* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' has an [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Ancient Psychic Tandem War Elephant]].
183	* WesternAnimation/BugsBunny: In "Prince Violent", [[HornyVikings Viking]] Yosemite Sam uses an elephant to assault Bugs' fortress. After the "stupid packy-derm" does Sam more harm than good, Sam chases him off... only for the elephant to [[HeelFaceTurn wind up helping Bugs]].
184	* ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'': Hannibal Hogarty, the villain of the episode "One of Our Stately Homes is Missing," has an army of elephants who guard the Duke of Bedbug mansion which he's stolen and will attack incursions at Hogarty's command. DM, of course, outwits them.
185	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': In "[[Recap/FuturamaS7E8FunOnABun Fun on a Bun]]", Neanderthals riding woolly mammoths attack Oktoberfest.
186	* ''WesternAnimation/JasonAndTheHeroesOfMountOlympus'': In an apparent nod to this, Mars, the Roman God of War, was reimagined as an anthropomorphic elephant.
187	* ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'': The song "A Meticulous Analysis of History" mentions Hannibal of Carthage's war elephants.
188	-->'''Brain:''' Hannibal, our book confirms,\
189	Tried conquering Italy with pachyderms.\
190	Just why he failed, nobody tells,\
191	But he never could get past the Roman sentinels.\
192	'''Pinky:''' And he couldn't find his weapons in the peanut shells.
193	* ''WesternAnimation/Primal2019'': The Babylonian army has several massive war elephants -- enormously oversized ones, notably, larger even that the extinct ''Palaeoxodon namadicus'' -- who can carry several archers on their backs.
194	[[/folder]]
195

Context Main / WarElephants