Take It to the Bridge

They didn't really have a plan to stop Hela, they were just going to cross that bridge when they got to it.

"You'll all turn to dust, but one thing is sure, boys: Branston Bridge will stand unbroken."

— Union Captain, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Bridges are seen as symbols for the crossroads of life, so therefore, it can also be the setting for an important plot point.

Bridges are often used as meeting places, places for swaps, etc., anything relative to the plot. This is sometimes done when they form the border between two territories. They can also serve as the only connection for the isolated region to the mainland. Reaching it may put you in Liminal Time.

It can also be a battlefield for two men in a duel, with the loser falling to their doom. In this scenario, underneath the bridge is a chasm, some rapids, a pit of spikes, or anything deadly. When the bridge itself is hazardous, that's Rope Bridge; when it's guarded, it's a Troll Bridge. No connection to trope The Bridge, which is about the bridge on a ship.

Unlike the misleading title, this may not always involve James Brown... or Justin Timberlake. Or that confounded Zeppelin.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• The Fate Series' Fuyuki City has a red bridge (based on the Kobe Ohashi) as a prominent backdrop for several scenes, including Rider's last stand against Gilgamesh in Fate/Zero and Saber's long-distance battle with Archer in Fate/hollow ataraxia.
• In Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, a lone bridge separates the neo-Deshima of the refugees from the capital. This is also starting point of the army/police crackdown.
• One of the Magical Princess Minky Momo OAVs ("The Bridge Over Dreams," maybe?) had a bridge with the legend that anyone who met another person on the bridge would eventually meet them there again. The catch is that it's about to be torn down—will everyone be able to get back in time?
• In Moriarty the Patriot, William asks Sherlock to meet him on the Tower Bridge in London for their confrontation in The Final Problem—and he does.
• Rurouni Kenshin: Kenshin and Misao are targeted by bandits on a wooden bridge with them in the center of it and enemies on both sides. Kenshin slices down, breaking the bridge before jumping off with his companion. With all the bandits' weight near the center, the bridge collapses and disables the bandits.
• In Saint Seiya, the way to Yamir, home of the Cloth Artisan Mu, can only be reached by crossing a bridge across a spike-lined pit. At the bottom lie the corpses of all warriors and Saints who failed to conquer the bridge, and whose restless spirits now pull any newcomers into their own deaths. Dragon Shiryu, in his quest to have Mu repair the Dragon and Pegasus Cloths, must cross this bridge.

Comic Books

• The Rainbow Bridge to Asgard (taken from mythology) is often used in Marvel's Thor comic books.
• Want to add extra wangst to your Spider-Man story? Have a callback to Gwen Stacy being thrown off a bridge.
• Gjallerbru, also from Thor. The bridge between the realm of the dead, Niflheim. This is where Skurge the Executioner made his iconic last stand against an army of the dead to buy time for his allies to escape.
• One Warhammer 40,000 comic features a battle between an ork and Chaos army, who break out increasingly bigger-guns to hold the absolutely vital bridge. By the end of the comic, only the armies' respective warlords are left duking it out... on the one part of the bridge that hasn't collapsed.

Fan Works

• Fallout: Equestria - Project Horizons: The bridge leading to The Core is an important motif in the story, as any who cross it will be killed by the machine's automatic defenses. Twice it's used as a Mercy Kill, or at least seen that way by the ones who orchestrate it. Priest allows the refugee children he cares for to cross it, believing it to be the only choice they'll have in the Wasteland. Rampage cradles a slaver's daughter atop it to end her suffering after her mother dies. Notably, Blackjack detests both of these actions and sees them as needless cruelty, due to her own history with sacrificing others.

Films — Animation

• Kung Fu Panda: The first battle against Tai Lung takes place on a bridge. It represents the turning point where Po has no choice but to face him, as every other member of Shifu's temple has fallen. Tai Lung also learns who Po is on the bridge when his name is accidentally blurted out, so by this point both side of the conflict knows who the other is and are preparing for the final battle that will decide the fate of China.
• In Puss in Boots (2011), the entrance to the town of San Ricardo is a bridge. It's on the bridge where Puss experiences his greatest moment of shame, for which he has been trying to atone for, and it's there that he and Humpty Dumpty find redemption in the climax.

Films — Live-Action

• The Bridges of Madison County, that were covered so passerbys wouldn't interrupt all the sex.
• Subverted in The Bourne Identity when Bourne arranges a meeting on Pont Neuf but doesn't actually go. (He's merely using the rendezvous as a ploy to draw out the agents chasing him.)
• In The Movie of Prince Caspian, the Beruna Bridge becomes this.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. In The Film of the Book, Arwen gives the Evenstar to Aragorn on an obviously symbolic bridge.
• Connor Macleod and Sunda Kastagir meet in the first Highlander film on a bridge in Central Park.
• In The Matrix, Neo is picked up by Trinity and the others under the Adams Street bridge.
• Spider-Man Trilogy:
  • In Spider-Man, Goblin dumps Mary Jane (and a gondola full of Boy Scouts) off a bridge. Ditto for the comic book story it was based on.
  • Mary Jane dumps Peter on a footbridge in Spider-Man 3.
• Star Wars:
  • The Empire Strikes Back: That structure Luke fled onto before having his hand cut off and getting hit with a paternal revelation isn't a bridge, but it certainly looks like one. Notably, the part he's trapped on is a dead end.
  • The Force Awakens: Toward the end of the film, Han Solo encounters Kylo Ren on an incredibly thin bridge over a large chasm inside Starkiller Base, with no handrails preventing anyone from falling over the side.
• Bridge to Terabithia, linking our world with the world of Jesse and Leslie. Jesse built it to replace the rope he and Leslie used through most of the work.
• Indiana Jones
  • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom features Indy, Short Round and Willie trapped in the middle of a rope bridge with the bad guys surrounding them. Indy: "Oh shit."
  • In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the invisible bridge (a trick of perspective) that connects the inner chambers of Alexandretta with the Grail's Tomb is devised as the ultimate test of the seeker's faith.
• Frantic. The second attempt at a Hostage for MacGuffin exchange takes place beneath the pont de Grenelle. Justified as the protagonist can threaten to throw the MacGuffin into the river if his wife isn't returned to him.
• In Show Me Love (or Fucking Åmål if you prefer), Agnes and Elin share their first real kiss on a bridge.
• The final battle in Balls of Fury takes place, in part, on a bridge.
• The final test of the student's skill at the beginning of Bulletproof Monk.
• Volunteers deals with a Peace Corps unit's building of a bridge near a small Thai village and attempts by several factions to use it to take control of the region.
• The Serbian war film, Most (literally The Bridge) revolves around a unit of Partisans attempting to destroy a bridge which is used by the Nazis as a key checkpoint. The final shootout is a lengthy, exciting battle on the bridge itself, culminating in one of the main characters blowing himself together with said bridge with an entire platoon of Nazis.
• Robin Hood: Men in Tights parodies a famous scene told in Robin Hood's tales and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. In this movie, the "river" is a tiny creek that one can straddle with no effort and the bridge is just a six-foot work over a 3-inch drop. In this one, Robin won and John feared drowning in the "river" when he lands in it.
• Sort-of done in The One, where the climactic Mirror Match between Gabe and Yulaw starts on a narrow catwalk above a factory floor. The fight then moves down to the floor itself, though.
• Bridge of Spies is named after the bridge where the climactic prisoner trade takes place (Glienicke Bridge, which also carries that nickname in Real Life).
• Thor: Ragnarok: The final battle is centered almost entirely around the Bifröst Bridge. The heroes have to hold the bridge from Hela and her forces while evacuating Asgardian civilians.
• Die Another Day: When James Bond is released from captivity in North Korea, he's sent out alone onto a mist-shrouded bridge across the Demilitarized Zone. He realizes it's a Prisoner Exchange when The Dragon emerges from the mist in the other direction; they have a terse exchange in the middle, out of sight from both sides.
• Very common in old wuxia movies made by Shaw Brothers. Movies like The New One-Armed Swordsman,The Heroic Ones, Delightful Forest, Ambush, The Deadly Duo and several others have large battle scenes where the heroes fights against hordes and hordes of mooks on a narrow bridge.
• The martial arts movie Redress has one one of its many action set pieces being one of the heroes — originally an Inspector Javert that later join the heroes after a change of heart — pulling a Hold the Line against an army of mooks on a bridge over a valley. He kills plenty of enemies, and after being overwhelmed, he then jumps off the bridge in what was implied as a Better to Die than Be Killed scene... except in actuality, he instead grabs a set of vines under the bridge, then swings across the valley while hacking the structure's lower pillars, resulting in the bridge collapsing sending over twenty remaining mooks falling to their deaths.
• Perhaps in a possible attempt to emulate the various Shaw Brothers examples above, Wrath Of The Sword also has a massive fight scene on a bridge filled with plenty of faceless mooks. Especially notable when the film stars multiple Shaw Brothers alumni in its cast.
• In the Indian movie Magadheera, the hero fights 100 enemies on a narrow bridge atop a Bottomless Pit.
• The final fight between Optimus Prime and Sentinel Prime, and the former's executions of the latter and Megatron, in Transformers: Dark of the Moon occurs on the La Salle Street Bridge in Chicago.
• Romeo & Juliet (2013): Tybalt's public challenge to the Montague faction, which results in Mercutio's death, is made on a bridge.

Literature

• Oliver Twist. After Nancy goes to meet Rose Maylie and warn her about the plot against Oliver, they arrange to meet again on London Bridge on Sunday night. The bridge serves as neutral territory, and also a metaphor for the fact that the meeting represents the beginning of a great change in both their lives.
• Bridge to Terabithia: Jesse builds a bridge from the ordinary world to Terebithia to replace the rope he and Leslie originally used.
• Older Than Print: Robin Hood first met Little John when they fought with quarterstaves over a bandit toll John had posted on a bridge. Robin lost, but John was impressed enough with his sportsmanship and abilities that he became Robin's right-hand man.
• The Princess and the Cowherd
  • One version is about two lovers who were forever separated by the Milky Way, except for on the seventh day of the seventh month, when a bridge of magpies forms for them to be together.
  • Another version, often told at Tanabata, is the lovers were banned from seeing each other for a year, since they were not getting their work done due to overly-enjoying each other's company. They were promised they could see each other, if rain didn't block off the bridge of stars. When it did, the magpies formed the bridge of their wings so that the lovers could be together for that one night. Tanabata, rainy or not, tends to be the only night they may spend together.
• In The Lord of the Rings, it is at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm where Gandalf the Grey fights the Balrog, and falls.
• The Lost World (1912) features a huge tree which the heroes use as a bridge onto the plateau. Predictably, it gets destroyed, leaving them with no choice but to go forward.
• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Crossing the covered bridge is the only way to escape the Headless Horseman. Local reports differ, but it appears that Ichabod never made it.
• The third Skulduggery Pleasant book has a scene on Dublin's Liffey Bridge, where the heroes have to trade Fletcher, the only person in the world who can open the gate for the Faceless Ones, to the Diablerie in exchange for Grand Mage Thurid Guild. Naturally, they all double-cross each other multiple times. The Diablerie wins.
• The Ice Palace has a notable chapter midways through the book, called "bridges under snow" - implying the problems of communication between people, especially the main characters. One of them freezes to death because of this (symbolical) impassable bridge.
• Smiley's People, third of John le Carre's The Quest for Karla trilogy, has its climactic scene set on an unnamed bridge across divided Berlin, the culmination of George Smiley's final victory against Karla, by blackmailing him into defecting to the West. It's the second time in the series, and the only time outside of Smiley's flashback in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, that he meets his nemesis face-to-face; the bridge is heavily implied to be the famous "Bridge of Spies", the Glienicke Bridge.
• In The Bridge of San Luis Rey, the How We Got Here moment is a bridge collapse that kills five. Notably, four of the five people who plunged off the bridge, all but little Don Jaime, had reached major turning points in their lives. And the last lines of the novel characterize love as a bridge between the living and the dead.
• In the climax of The Sight, Larka and Morgra confront each other on a bridge on a citadel which collapses and kills them both.
• In The Girl from the Miracles District, the third act of the story is kicked off by Robin and Nikita crossing a cursed bridge that leads from Wars to Sawa. It's also where the readers get to learn a bit more about Robin and get their first glimpse of Ernest.

Live-Action TV

• The 1985 adaptation of Blott on the Landscape changed the title character to an East German soldier who accidentally ends up on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain. He's taken to the usual bridge to be returned to his country, only to stop and look back at the British officer who's brought him there. It's implied he changed his mind about returning, and the officer is Lady Maud's father who brought him back to his estate where he now works as a handyman.
• Heroes. "Company Man." Noah shoots his former partner off one.
• Doctor Who. In "The Last of the Time Lords", the Doctor and Martha say goodbye to Jack on a bridge in Cardiff. It's there that they learn that Jack is The Face of Boe.
• The Bridge (2011) revolves around a body being dumped on the Øresund bridge that links Copenhagen, Denmark with Malmö, Sweden, exactly on the Dano-Swedish border, causing Jurisdiction Friction between the two cities' police forces.
• The Bridge (US), the American remake of the Dano-Swedish series prominently features a bridge. This one is the bridge over the Rio Grande between the US and Mexico at El Paso/Ciudad Juarez. The bridge is also a metaphor for the cultural divide between the two countries. The premise is that a body was dumped exactly on the border to create Jurisdiction Friction.
• The Tunnel is exactly the same premise but with The Chunnel between France and Britain.
• Game of Thrones. After several episodes of Snark-to-Snark Combat, Jaime and Brienne finally go at each other for real while crossing a bridge. They're also captured on that same bridge, being unable to quietly fade into the undergrowth when the men searching for them come riding up.
• In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Rocks and Shoals" has a prisoner swap on an isthmus on a barren world.
• Person of Interest. In "Beta", the Jefferson Bridge is used for a prisoner exchange because it's too exposed for any treachery, especially with all the cameras accessed by both the Machine and Samaritan.
• Luke Cage: In the sixth episode of season 2, Luke proposes a showdown with Bushmaster at high noon atop the High Bridge.^note A former aqueduct that has been open since 2015 as a pedestrian walkway between Highbridge in the Bronx and Washington Heights in Manhattan Bushmaster, being a fan of Westerns, takes him up on the offer. Luke has the upper hand most of the fight, until Bushmaster uses a paralytic agent that paralyzes Luke's muscles, allowing him to kick Luke over the railing and plummet several hundred feet to the Harlem River below.
• Intimate: A comedy example. In the pilot, Emil observes two guys diving off a bridge into a river and gets the idea that he can win his ex-girlfriend back by spreading the rumor that he died while pulling a similar stunt, thinking that her discovering he's alive will make her realize she still loves him. It all falls apart in typical Cringe Comedy fashion, but works towards a Series Establishing Moment at the end when he and his friends jump off the bridge for real, a stunt that represents the characters' (and by extension, the show's) carefree and irreverent attitude.

Theatre

• The infamous footbridge in The Music Man. It's indecent, too.

Video Games

• Chrono Trigger''s Zenan Bridge looks out over the ocean. When the game starts, the enemy forces have already demolished it. It's hastily rebuilt and must be protected from another siege. This area plays host to a number of important cutscenes from the past and future.
• Mario Party 7: The minigame Bridge Work puts two dueling characters in a wooden bridge over a river where several Cheep Cheeps are swimming, but many of which are jumping over the bridge. The objective for both players is to avoid being hit by the Cheep Cheeps to avoid losing, and as time passes more and bigger Cheeps will arrive. The last player standing wins, but the minigame ends in a tie if both resist during 30 seconds.
• Metal Gear:
  • Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty opens with Solid Snake bungee-jumping off the George Washington bridge NW of Manhattan Island.
  • Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Naked Snake is betrayed and left for dead by his beloved mentor, The Boss, just as he has retrieved his target from imprisonment and they're crossing the rope bridge towards their recovery point. The confrontation ends with her breaking his arm and throwing him off the bridge.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Link and Saria have a poignant goodbye on the bridge between Kokiri Forest and Hyrule Field, as he leaves the forest for the first time to go on a quest.
  • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: The rope bridge on Outset Island leading to the Fairy Woods is the one that Link's sister Aryll gets snatched off of by the Helmaroc King.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: The Bridge of Eldin is where Link engages in a mounted duel with King Bulblin. The same bridge is also a stage in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild:
    • Inogo Bridge, the first stop on the path to Zora's Domain, is where Link first meets Prince Sidon, who is looking for a shock-resistant Hylian who can help save the Zora.
    • As Link goes along the path, Sidon checks up on him at another bridge, Luto's Crossing, where a Moblin sneaks up on Link.
    • At Proxim bridge in central Hyrule east of the Great Plateau there is an NPC named Brigo. He is guarding the bridge and, after first talking with him, should Link move to jump off the side of the bridge, Brigo will think he is about to commit suicide. Brigo then talks Link out of it.
• Garcian meets with Christopher Mills, his contact for the jobs taken by Killer7, on an overpass. Close enough.
• Mortal Kombat has "The Pit", where the Kombatants fight on a bridge over a pit of spikes or just the cold hard floor. Although in Deception, it is made to be a huge square tile on a giant pillar.
• Final Fantasy:
  • The famous Cornelian Bridge in Final Fantasy, built to connect the peninsula of Cornelia to the rest of the Southern Continent as reward for the triumph of the Warriors of Light over Garland and their rescue of Princess Sarah.
  • The battlefield variation of this trope is subverted in Final Fantasy II, where a bridge is a possible background for random encounters, but not boss fights.
  • In Final Fantasy IV, the Tower of Bab-Il is surrounded by a moat of magma, and thus the only access is via a suspension bridge from solid ground. After the Light Warriors disable the Super Cannon, Golbez retaliates by destroying the bridge right from under them, forcing Cid to catch them on the deck of the Enterprise.
  • Final Fantasy V features the Big Bridge, a grand structure across the ocean which connects the continents of the West (allied) and the East (Exdeath's domain.) When Galuf crosses this bridge, alone, to rescue his captive friends, he's met by Gilgamesh and the famous Battle On The Big Bridge theme plays, which became so iconic of the battle it has become Gilgamesh's personal theme song.
  • In Final Fantasy VI, Locke the treasure hunter was on another treasure quest, this time with his lover Rachel tagging along. As they crossed a bridge deep within a cave, Rachel fell to her death, and a grief-stricken Locke preserved her body in suspended animation until he could find a way to revive her.
  • In Final Fantasy VII, similar to the above incident, Tifa and her friends were sneaking out of their village and into Mt. Nibel, with Cloud following close behind, when the rope bridge going across a gorge collapsed. Tifa was severely injured and all blame was placed on Cloud, inspiring him to try to become stronger so he could protect her. Thus his desire to join SOLDIER was born.
  • In Final Fantasy VIII, one of Squall's major Not So Stoic moments takes place on the Horizon Bridge when he pours his heart out to the unconscious Rinoa during the hike along the bridge to Esthar.
  • In Final Fantasy X, there is one final bridge between the holy cloisters of the Temple of Bevelle and an escape route out of the city. While the party flees, Kimahri insists on staying behind to hold off their pursuers. After a brief pause to realize what they're doing, the party goes back to help him and then they all escape together.
  • In Final Fantasy XII, the ancient, mystical city of the Gods, Giruvegan, is joined to the far more ordinary (for fantasy standards) realm of Ivalice by an enormous bridge across the sea, protected by a seal at the entrance and a headless guardsman at the end.
    • Gilgamesh also appears as an optional boss with the first of his two battles on a bridge. He tries to introduce himself as dramatically as possible, but he winds up jumping a little too far and bouncing over the edge before flying back up to initiate the battle.
  • Final Fantasy XIV has the Steps of Faith, a massive stone bridge connecting the city-state of Ishgard to the Eorzean mainland where adventurers contend with a dragon near the end of the A Realm Reborn story quests as well as Niddhog in the Heavensward postgame MSQ. Also in Coerthas is Griffin Crossing, the site of the trial titled "Battle on the Big Bridge", which sees adventurers square off with — who else? — Gilgamesh. In the expansion Stormblood, there is also the Kugane Dori bridge, where players square off with the mercenary ronin Yojimbo. ...who is actually Gilgamesh in disguise.
  • In Final Fantasy Type-0, Big Bridge serves as the border between the (initial) territory of the Dominion of Rubrum and the Milites Empire. As the name implies, Gilgamesh is fought here at the end of the Battle for Big Bridge.
  • World of Final Fantasy also has a Big Bridge - in this case, a trans-continential bridge that is actually a summoned Alexander. It normally functions as more of a diagonal elevator, but there are walkways to either side of the lifts. Which come in handy when the summoner manning the joint gets kidnapped halfway up the first portion. Expectedly enough, Gilgamesh shows up on this one, too.
• Marvel Super Heroes: Wolverine's level is a wooden bridge over a raging river. Slam your opponent into the ground enough times (or get slammed by them) and the bridge breaks, with the portion the combatants are on falling into the river and becoming a raft.
• Dusky Bridge in case 4 of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations.
• Arcanum had it for a quest to pick up alcohol to a tavern in the really bad part of Tarrant's bar on the bridge. Unsurprisingly, there is an ambush waiting for you.
• In ICO, the Queen's Castle rests atop a mountain jutting out from the ocean. Therefore, its only connection to the mainland is either by boat, or via an enormous stone bridge. When Ico and Yorda first try to escape, the Queen appears to bar their way and close the way to the bridge. When they return and succeed in opening the gate, the Queen retracts the bridge, stranding Yorda in the castle and causing Ico to fall into the misty depths of the chasm.
• Shadow of the Colossus has a massive bridge connecting the mainland to the Shrine of Worship in the Forbidden Lands. Due to the surrounding cliffs (Read: edges of the map), the bridge is the only way to enter or exit the Lands. In the end, the bridge collapses, trapping all left within the land.
  • The 16th and final Colossus rests atop a mountain temple, and the only way to enter is via a smaller stone bridge that crosses a very deep ravine. However, it's so ancient and decayed that even the weight of Wander will collapse it. ...unless he approaches fast enough, as in, riding a horse at full gallop. Unfortunately not even Agro is fast enough to escape the collapse herself, and she tosses Wander off her back and onto safe ground at the last second, plummeting into the chasm while her master screams for her. This makes it the game's Point of No Return.
• In Dragon Quest, bridges serve as the boundaries between areas with monsters of differing power- cross a bridge, and you'll be facing difficult fights soon. Also, the hero spends most of the quest trying to create a rainbow bridge to reach the Big Bad's castle.
• Half-Life 2 has a memorable sequence where Gordon Freeman has to get across the underside of a bridge to shut off a force field. When you finally get to cross the bridge on the surface it's not half as dramatic, apart from almost getting run over by a train.
• Super Street Fighter II: Cammy's stage is a bridge across the battlements of a castle in England.
• Chief Thunder's stage in Killer Instinct is another Fighting Game example. Notable in that it's made of wood and rope, and actually bends under the characters' weight, making it one of the most unique stages.
• Bridges are vital defensive choke points in Medieval II: Total War, since a battle taking place over one forces the aggressor to take their entire army over the narrow path, turning their ordered ranks into a shapeless mass. An enterprising player can take advantage of this if they are playing as factions like England — by placing a few units of infantry directly in front of the bridge to block off their path forward, and using copious numbers of archers, the defending army can inflict more than 1500 casualties while suffering less than 50. Entire factions can be militarily humbled or broken entirely from a couple of these battles. Demonstrated by the Scots in A Scotsman in Egypt where the Mongols hordes are eradicated over the course of two battles on bridges thanks to well-prepared formations, siege weapons, and Scotsmen being Scotsmen.
• God of War: In Athens Kratos comes across a bridge shaped like a massive sword that is held by a giant statue of Athena. Said bridge comes into play again in the final battle since it is the weapon Kratos wields to defeat Ares after losing the Blades of Chaos.
• God of War II: Three-quarters of a way through the game, Kratos comes across a massive bridge leading over a large valley leading to the Temple of The Sisters of Fate, which falls to pieces as he makes his way across it. Fortunately, he "borrows" some wings from Icarus just before he got there.
• In The Elder Scrolls Online, you cannot swim across the Niben River due to slaughterfish killing you; you are forced to cross it at one of three bridges. These create natural chokepoints where many battles occur, particularly at Alessia Bridge.
• In Medal of Honor: Vanguard, the objective of Operation Neptune is to destroy bridges and crossroads in order to disrupt German logistics during the Battle of Normandy.
  • A Hold the Line section also happens on a bridge in 'Requiem', where the path is blocked by a barricade on the bridge, which is defended by two overlooking MG42s and snipers on both sides of the bridge. The player is required to hold off German infantry trying to reinforce the barricade until a supply drop containing a Bazooka arrives, allowing the player to breach the barricade and proceed with the mission.
  • 'Haunted' has a section where the player has to fight their way across the Waalbrug Bridge in order to destroy the second Anti-Air Gun, which is on a bunker on the other side of the bridge.
• Ninja: Shadow of Darkness: Bridges are among the numerous obstacles you'll need to cross in several levels, and more often than not you risk falling off its side into Bottomless Pits. The bridge in the ghost city has the massive claws of some unseen subterranean monster periodically stabbing at anyone who tries to cross it (that means you), while the underground caverns have rope bridges over chasms with spiked pendulums swinging on it.
• Ghostbusters: The Video Game: Winston says this for no apparent reason during the Museum level, prompting a confused Ray to ask over the radio, "Did Winston just say 'take it to the bridge?' What are you guys doing out there?"
• The Great Bridge of Yharnam in Bloodborne spans the Yharnam valley and connects Central Yharnam (where you start the game) with the Cathedral Ward (where you must go to progress). It is the first thing you see when you escape Iosefka's clinic and the place where you fight your first boss... except that said boss is optional, as the Healing Church has blocked off the Great Bridge long ago, abandoning the rest of Yharnam to the Scourge and forcing you to look for another way. Symbolically, the Great Bridge stands for the Church's two-faced nature: on the one hand, it sponsors grand, good-looking infrastructure projects in Yharnam, but on the other, it abandons the common people at the drop of a hat when things get dicey.
• One of the defining moments in the backstory of Pillars of Eternity was the battle at Evon Dewr Bridge, where Saint Waidwen, the avatar of the god of light and redemption Eothas, was slain by the Godhammer. In Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire The Beast of Winter, one of the souls trapped in Rymrgand's Void is Waidwen himself. His personal domain is a recreation of his last moments at Evon Dewr Bridge frozen in time.
• The first Animus segment in Assassin's Creed II starts with Ezio and Vieri de'Pazzi facing off with their respective supporters in a brawl on the Ponte Vecchio in Florence.
• In League of Legends
  • The Howling Abyss map is the stage for the game's "All Random All Mid" game mode, consolidating the three lanes and jungle of the usual Summmoner's Rift map into a single lane. Taking place in the Freljord, the stone bridge is one of many over an abyss that was previously the fighting ground against the Frozen Watchers thousands of years ago, featuring signs of gradual decay foreshadowing their potential (if not inevitable) return.
  • The Butcher's Bridge is an occasionally-appearing pirate-themed reskin of the map, taking place within the bustling inland of Bilgewater.
• Death Stranding has quite a bit of bridge symbolism:
  • The organization responsible for unifying the United Cities of America is called BRIDGES.
  • In-game, bridges can be constructed to allow people and vehicles to cross large gaps in the terrain where a simple ladder won't suffice. The Director's Cut adds "chiral bridges" which are more material-efficient and can be disabled to prevent MULEs from crossing but won't function in timefall.
  • A flashback shows Higgs and Fragile underneath a bridge in the ruins outside South Knot City, with the latter being forced to make a Sadistic Choice between allowing the city to be destroyed by a nuke or carrying said nuke away while exposed to timefall.
  • Sam Bridges himself. He effectively acts as a bridge for the remnants of civilization by making deliveries and bringing America onto the chiral network, which is further emphasized by Cliff calling him mankind's "bridge to the future" in his dying moments.

Web Comics

• The bridge to Gillitie Wood from Gunnerkrigg Court, Chapter 7: "Something is wrong. I shouldn't be here."
• The epic duel on the bridge version of this trope is subverted in this strip of El Goonish Shive. The stage is set for a Justin vs the dragon battle on the bridge, but the dragon simply flies away.
• The Letters Of The Devil opens on a bridge, and Cedric meets with Ira on the same bridge.
• In Stand Still, Stay Silent the Øresund bridge marks the end of the Known World. Made almost symbolic by it being shrouded in mist with other end invisible, as the Silent World is a mystery.

Western Animation

• Invoked in the Ed, Edd n Eddy episode "Dueling Eds". Rolf digs up his own pit and creates his own bridge by lifting a tree from the root so he could duel Eddy on it.
• In the Heavy Metal episode "Harry Canyon", the exchange for the Loc-Nar occurred at the Brooklyn Bridge.
• The Transformers features an iconic duel sequence between Optimus Prime and Megatron in part two of the "More Than Meets The Eye" pilot mini-series. The two leaders fight atop Sherman Dam as the dam's waters churn below, substituting their normal firearms with wrist-mounted Energon melee weapons - Optimus wields an Energon axe, Megatron an Energon mace/flail. The duel ends when Optimus Prime is distracted by Spike's jeopardy, enabling Megatron to strike a blow that sends Optimus off the dam and into the rapids below.
  • The second episode of Beast Wars also features a bridge battle, this time a land bridge, with the battle being between Optimus Primal and Dinobot for leadership of the Maximals.
• Dinotrux features a suspension bridge built over a bottomless chasm in the 4th season finale, which not only represents a great feat in teamwork and friendship, but also manages to be host to several major battles.
• In Tales of Arcadia, climactic fights are repeatedly taken to the bridge over the entrance to Heartstone Troll Market. This is lampshaded by Toby during the Final Battle of 3Below.
  Why do we keep having fights on the bridge? There's no production value.

Real Life

• The real-life Glienicke Bridge in Berlin used for three spy-swaps.
  • Has also appeared in fiction, such as Funeral in Berlin.
• Similarly, there is the former "Bridge of No Return" in the Joint Security Area of Panmunjeom, where POW and other prisoner exchanges (such as the freeing of the crew of USS Pueblo, captured in 1968, the last men to cross the bridge) have been held since the armstice that has paused the Korean War. It was called "The Bridge of No Return" because once one crossed the bridge, they could never change their mind later on. It was officially decomissioned in 1976, and has been in disrepair ever since.
  • Said bridge is depicted, inaccurately, in the prisoner exchange in Die Another Day.
• These kinds of real life incidents are marvellously parodied in The Beiderbecke Connection, which has "a dissident being smuggled over the Yorkshire-Lincolnshire border" via the Humber Bridge.
• Venice has many bridges; one of particular fame connects the Doge's Palace, where suspected criminals were interrogated and judged, to the prison. Prisoners would walk across it and get their last glimpse at the beauty of Venice before being locked away, leading to the poetic name "The Bridge of Sighs".
• Bridges are the site of many historical battles, due to their value as "choke points" that an enemy must file through slowly. The Battle of Stirling, depicted in the movie Braveheart as a battle on an open field, was really the Battle of Stirling Bridge. Notably, the Scots waited until a third of the English soldiers were over -a small enough group to easily clobber, a large enough group their loss really hurt the English. The English didn't help themselves by not securing a proper bridgehead on the other side.
• Ancient Rome had its hero, Horatius Cocles with Spurius Lartius and Titus Herminius Aquilinus defending Rome against its Celtic enemies in 509BCE. In 1842, the battle was commemorated in the poem Horatio At The Bridge by Thomas Macauly.
• Likewise, 12th Century Japan has the tale of the warrior monk Benkei who stood at Gojō Bridge in Kyoto, disarming passing swordsmen, and reputedly fought 999 samurai, taking their swords, only to be defeated by the 1000th he faced, Minamoto no Yoshitsune. He followed Yoshitsune for two years, eventually dying at another bridge while defending against an army, giving Yoshitsune time to commit seppuku.

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