History Main / BeastInTheMaze

* In ''Literature/WatershipDown'' story "The Story of the Comical Field," El-Ahrairah goes into a maze where an undescribed horror turns out to live.

[[folder: Anime And Manga ]]

* In ''Anime/YuGiOh'', the three-part duel with the Paradox Brothers is all about this.

[[folder: Comic books ]]

* One of Creator/AndreFranquin's ''Comicbook/IdeesNoires'' comics is about a prisoner sent to a maze that [[spoiler:turns out to be a planetoid]]. In a sequel comic, penitentiary officials appear in an helicopter, tell the perp that his sentence has been worsened, and proceed to airdrop a live tiger into the labyrinth.

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV ]]

[[folder: Mythology ]]

* The TropeCodifier is the legendary [[ALoadOfBull Minotaur]] of [[Myth/ClassicalMythology King Minos]] who kept him within a gigantic labyrinth.

[[folder: Other Sites ]]

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-432 SCP-432 ("Cabinet Maze")]]. The inside of SCP-432 is an extra-dimensional labyrinth made up of a complex maze of corridors. It is haunted by an unseen monster similar to the Minotaur of Myth/ClassicalMythology.

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* Two ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' modules had a minotaur with its lair inside a maze.
** B2 Keep on the Borderlands. The minotaur has a cave complex inside the Caves of Chaos. Its caves have a spell on them that causes intruders to lose all sense of direction.
** S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. Somewhere in the Caverns is a teleportation trap that sends victims to other planes of existence. One possible destination is a giant labyrinth with two minotaurs riding bulls. They will hunt down and kill anyone inside the maze.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Game ]]

[[AC:Anime And Manga]]

[[AC:Comic books]]

[[AC:Literature]]
* The mysterious beast in ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'' stalks the explorers of the house, which quickly reveals itself to be an EldritchLocation that twists and changes around them. What the beast is is left ambiguous, with various theories in and out of universe calling it a (or maybe ''the'') minotaur, a personification of the house, or an AnimalisticAbomination.

[[AC:Live-Action TV]]

[[AC:Mythology]]

[[AC:Other Sites]]
* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-432 SCP-432 ("Cabinet Maze")]]. The inside of SCP-432 is an extra-dimensional labyrinth made up of a complex maze of corridors. It is haunted by an unseen monster similar to the Minotaur of Myth/ClassicalMythology.

[[AC:Tabletop Games]]

[[AC:Video Game]]

* Monsters wander five of the six mazes of ''VideoGame/EscapeFromTheMindmaster''. They're just trying to find their way out just like you, but if you bump into one, you lose a chance.

The types of monsters to reside in the labyrinths vary. It can be the classic [[ALoadOfBull Minotaur]], a being of [[BigCreepyCrawlies the giant insect family]], something reptilian like a giant serpent or dragon, and even a sea monster if the lair is underwater. The beast is almost always an AnimalisticAbomination, but can be an EldritchAbomination as well.

* ''3-D Monster Maze'' on the Sinclair [=ZX81=] deposits the first-person player in a labyrinth with a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The objective: escape before you become Rex's lunch.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-432 SCP-432 ("Cabinet Maze")]]. The inside of SCP-432 is an extra-dimensional labyrinth made up of a complex maze of corridors. It is haunted by an unseen monster similar to the Minotaur of GreekMythology.

* In ''Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth'', one of ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'''s manga stories, one chapter has Reisen and Tewi getting lost in the basement of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, which is where the mentally unstable, highly dangerous Flandre happens to be locked up.

* The TropeCodifier is the legendary [[ALoadOfBull Minotaur]] of King Minos who kept him within a gigantic labyrinth.

* [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-432 SCP-432 ("Cabinet Maze")]]. The inside of SCP-432 is an extra-dimensional labyrinth made up of a complex maze of corridors. It is haunted by an unseen monster similar to the Minotaur of GreekMythology.

* Two ''TabletopGames/DungeonsAndDragons'' modules had a minotaur with its lair inside a maze.

* One level of ''VideoGame/SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus'' appropriate titled "Lair of the Beast" involved Sly sneaking through a swamp were one of the Fiendish Five was housing a giant serpent, with Sly [[AdvancingBossOfDoom needing to keep a head of it]] once it appeared onscreen.

Used a couple of times in the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' series:

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', during the Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament, the Champions have to enter a magical maze with several dangerous beasts in it, including a GiantSpider, a RiddlingSphinx and a [[HybridMonster Blast-Ended-Skrewt]]. The [[Film/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire film adaptation]] [[AdaptedOut leaves the monsters out]], and instead makes the maze hedge attack the champions with its branches and roots.

* Used a couple of times in the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' series:
** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' has the Basilisk which resides within the titular chamber, and able to traverse the piping system within the whole castle.
** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', during the Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament, the Champions have to enter a magical maze with several dangerous beasts in it, including a GiantSpider, a RiddlingSphinx and a [[HybridMonster Blast-Ended-Skrewt]]. The [[Film/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire film adaptation]] [[AdaptedOut leaves the monsters out]], and instead makes the maze hedge attack the champions with its branches and roots.

* In ''Anime/{{Yugioh}}'', the three-part duel with the Paradox Brothers is all about this.

* One of ''Creator/AndreFranquin''[='s=] ''Comicbook/IdeesNoires'' comics is about a prisoner sent to a maze that [[spoiler:turns out to be a planetoid]]. In a sequel comic, penitentiary officials appear in an helicopter, tell the perp that his sentence has been worsened, and proceed to airdrop a live tiger into the labyrinth.

** ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets The Chamber Of Secrets]]'' has the Basilisk which resides within the titular chamber, and able to traverse the piping system within the whole castle.
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire The Goblet Of Fire]]'', during the Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament, the Champions have to enter a magical maze with several dangerous beasts in it, including a GiantSpider, a RiddlingSphinx and a [[HybridMonster Blast-Ended-Skrewt]]. The [[Film/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire film adaptation]] [[AdaptedOut leaves the monsters out]], and instead makes the maze hedge attack the champions with its branches and roots.

* The ''Franchise/LegendOfZelda'' series is made up of these, with the player character having to traverse labyrinth-like dungeons to find one of the {{BIg Bad}}'s lead monsters.

* In ''Manga/{{Kakurenbo}}'', five demons hunt the group of children through a maze-like Ghost City in a twisted game of Hide and Seek until only one child is left. Four are straightforwardly monsterous in appearance and methods of hunting; their leader, the fifth, is far more subtle and horrifying.

* The mysterious beast in ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'' stalks the explorers of the house, which quickly reveals itself to be an EldritchLocation that twists and changes around them. What the beast is is left ambiguous, with various theories in and out of universe calling it a (or maybe the) minotaur, a personification of the house, or an AnimalisticAbomination.

* ''VideoGame/MonsterMaze'' on the Sinclair [=ZX81=] deposits the first-person player in a labyrinth with a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The objective: escape before you become Rex's lunch.

* ''VideoGame/{{3-D Monster Maze}}'' on the Sinclair [=ZX81=] deposits the first-person player in a labyrinth with a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The objective: escape before you become Rex's lunch.

* ''VideoGame/{{ThreeD Monster Maze}}'' on the Sinclair [=ZX81=] deposits the first-person player in a labyrinth with a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The objective: escape before you become Rex's lunch.

* ''VideoGame/{{3D Monster Maze}}'' on the Sinclair [=ZX81=] deposits the first-person player in a labyrinth with a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The objective: escape before you become Rex's lunch.

* ''VideoGame/3DMonsterMaze'' on the Sinclair ZX81 deposits the first-person player in a labyrinth with a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The objective: escape before you become Rex's lunch.

* ''3D Monster Maze'' on the Sinclair ZX81 deposits the first-person player in a labyrinth with a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The objective: escape before you become Rex's lunch.

The worst part about being lost in a maze is sometimes not the fact that it has so many twists and turns [[CutAndPasteEnvironments that look identical]] and at times seem to [[MobileMaze shift its corridors]]. What can really make them troublesome is that sometimes, they are the home of a vicious monster. A creature that prowls the labyrinth in search of prey, the entire maze its giant lair. Often, the creature [[NothingIsScarier isn't seen onscreen]], with the only hints that something is living in there the bones of its victims, giant footprints, claw marks on the walls, {{Shadow Discretion Shot}}s, and the occasional roar of something nearby. In many cases, this is to intensify the suspense of the one lost in the labyrinth, culminating in TheReveal [[RevealShot Shot]] in which TheHero finally comes face to face with the monster.

* The ''Franchise/LegendOfZelda'' series is made up of these, with the player character having to traverse labyrinth-like dungeons to find one of the {{BIg Bad}}'s lead monsters.

The worst part about being lost in a maze is sometimes not the fact that it has so many twists and turns [[CutAndPasteEnvironment that look identical]] and at times seem to [[MobileMaze shift its corridors]]. What can really make them troublesome is that sometimes, they are the home of a vicious monster. A creature that prowls the labyrinth in search of prey, the entire maze its giant lair. Often, the creature [[NothingIsScarier isn't seen onscreen]], with the only hints that something is living in there the bones of its victims, giant footprints, claw marks on the walls, {{Shadow Discretion Shot}}s, and the occasional roar of something nearby. In many cases, this is to intensify the suspense of the one lost in the labyrinth, culminating in TheReveal [[RevealShot Shot]] in which TheHero finally comes face to face with the monster.

The worst part about being lost in a maze is sometimes not the fact that it has so many twists and turns [[CutAndPasteEnviroment that look identical]] and at times seem to [[MobileMaze shift its corridors]]. What can really make them troublesome is that sometimes, they are the home of a vicious monster. A creature that prowls the labyrinth in search of prey, the entire maze its giant lair. Often, the creature [[NothingIsScarier isn't seen onscreen]], with the only hints that something is living in there the bones of its victims, giant footprints, claw marks on the walls, {{Shadow Discretion Shot}}s, and the occasional roar of something nearby. In many cases, this is to intensify the suspense of the one lost in the labyrinth, culminating in TheReveal [[RevealShot Shot]] in which TheHero finally comes face to face with the monster.

The worst part about being lost in a maze is sometimes not the fact that it has so many twists and turns that look identical and at times seem to [[MobileMaze shift its corridors]]. What can really make them troublesome is that sometimes, they are the home of a vicious monster. A creature that prowls the labyrinth in search of prey, the entire maze its giant lair. Often, the creature [[NothingIsScarier isn't seen onscreen]], with the only hints that something is living in there the bones of its victims, giant footprints, claw marks on the walls, {{Shadow Discretion Shot}}s, and the occasional roar of something nearby. In many cases, this is to intensify the suspense of the one lost in the labyrinth, culminating in TheReveal [[RevealShot Shot]] in which TheHero finally comes face to face with the monster.

* On of ''Creator/AndreFranquin''[='s=] ''Comicbook/IdeesNoires'' comic is about a prisoner sent to a maze that [[spoiler:turns out to be a planetoid]]. In a sequel comic, penitentiary officials appear in an helicopter, tell the perp that his sentence has been worsened, and proceed to airdrop a live tiger into the labyrinth.

!!!Examples:

Can be used in a TrappedWithMonsterPlot. Similar to a DragonHoard if the beast is guarding a vast treasure within the labyrinth. Similar to AbandonedMine, especially if the beast's presence is a result of DugTooDeep. Can be a variation of SealedEvilInACan, especially if the beast itself is searching for a way out. If the beast within the maze is a KingInTheMountain, be careful not to invoke AwakenTheSleepingGiant. For beasts that ''are'' mazes, see MobileMaze and LivingStructureMonster.