History Main / HumanSacrifice

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

** In the sixth season, Stannis consents to having [[spoiler: his own daughter sacrificed]], so they can life the winter storm that's stopping their march on Winterfell. His wife later [[spoiler: killed herself in remorse over suggesting it.]]

* In ''Film/ReadyOrNot2019'', the Le Domas family's ancestor was said to have made a bargain with a Mr. Le Bali in exchange for his successful tabletop empire, on the terms that whenever someone new married into the family, they would play a randomly selected game, and if said game is Hide and Seek, the initiee must be found and sarcificed before dawn, otherwise Le Bali would come and claim their lives. There is a bit of skepticism amongst members of the family who wonder if they really need to commit murder, but it was too risky not to take chances. [[spoiler:At the end of the movie, Gracie survives to daybreak and the Le Domas panic...[[BaitAndSwitch only for nothing to happen to them]], leading them to believe they had indeed [[AllForNothing been sacrificing people for nothing]]...but then it gets DoubleSubverted as they start exploding into LudicrousGibs one by one, proving that Le Bali was RealAllAlong]].

* ''Film/WalledIn'': An architect named Joseph Malestrazza believes this method was used in the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza so, in order to preserve his latest apartment building, he has 16 innocent people (including at least one child) buried alive in cement.

* ''Literature/FightingFantasy'': ''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids House of Hell]]'' features a demonic cult that carries out human sacrifices. One of the illustrations in the original edition of the book depicted cultists ready to sacrifice a nude woman upon an altar; this got yanked in subsequent printings.

* ''ComicBook/TheMythologyClass'': The class very nearly became this for Sitan—tied up to stakes awaiting his waking—but they're saved thanks to supernatural intervention from some of the team left at Gina's house (including Gina, Mrs Enkanta, Edward, Aili and Nuno).

* Several demons in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''Series/{{Angel}}'' are after human sacrifices.
** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E1WhenSheWasBad When She Was Bad]]", the blood of the four people who were nearest to the Master at the time of his death is needed to bring him back - those people being Jenny, Giles, Cordelia, and Willow.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E6TheAztecs "The Aztecs"]], naturally. Barbara, posing as the god Yetaxa, attempts to halt the Aztecs' human sacrifice, but it doesn't take.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E4TheKrotons "The Krotons"]], the Doctor rejects this on the grounds they are too civilized.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E1TheMasqueOfMandragora "The Masque of Mandragora"]], Sarah Jane is nearly sacrificed by the Cult of Demnos.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E5TheHornsOfNimon "The Horns of Nimon"]], the cargo are human sacrifices, in the same manner as the Athenians in the legend of Theseus.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS18E2Meglos "Meglos"]], the Doctor is offered up to Ty — almost.
** Donna nearly gets stabbed by the priestesses in a Roman temple in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E2TheFiresOfPompeii "The Fires of Pompeii"]].

* ''Series/KolchakTheNightStalker'' episode "Legacy of Terror". An ancient Aztec cult is performing human sacrifice to bring back their deity.

* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': The killings in "Murder by Magic" ultimately centre around an ancient human sacrifice, and someone's attempt to recreate in the present day.

** In "The Beacon", the people of Mellweather believe that a lighthouse called the Beacon chooses one of them to be sacrificed every year. If the chosen one does not die, [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident an "accident"]] is arranged to ensure that the Beacon is satisfied.
** In "The Last Defender of Camelot", Myth/{{Merlin}} compelled Lancelot to bring Tom to the cave in Cornwall so that he could restore his full powers by sacrificing Tom in the true Stonehenge, which exists in the land between the worlds.

A subtrope of OfferingsToTheGods.

* In the chilean comic''Zombies en la Moneda'', the protagonists save a person from being devoured by zombies, who comments to them very casually that in times past “Human beings were sacrificed in order to obtain the favor of the gods and avoid major catastrophes.” And in a later story we find the same individual... as the leader of a cult that has kidnapped children in order to sacrifice them and thus stop the ZombieApocalypse.