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| 3 | %% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks! |
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| 7 | %%Image chosen via crowner in the Image Suggestion thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/ImagePickin/ImageSuggestions96 |
| 8 | %%https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1452266899092104700 |
| 9 | %%Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread. |
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| 11 | [[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/CthulhuMythos https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/armand_cabrera_cabrera_in_sunken_rlyeh_dex_cthulhu_lies_dreaming_18x24_oil_web.png]]]] |
| 12 | [[caption-width-right:350:In his dwelling in R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu lies dreaming.[[note]]Artwork by [[https://www.artstation.com/artwork/xLq0R Armand Cabrera]]]][[/note]] |
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| 14 | %%The examples on this page have been alphabetized. Please help us keep this page tidy by adding new examples alphabetically. |
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| 17 | ->''"There is no before. There will be no after. There is no place for time here among the dark, among the alien things that crawl and swim in a sea without light."'' |
| 18 | -->-- '''Black Mage''', ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' |
| 19 | |
| 20 | The ocean is mysterious. We know more about the surface of UsefulNotes/{{Mars}} than we do about our own oceans. The really deep, dark parts of the ocean are even ''more'' mysterious. The ocean floors and trenches have forms of life that are wholly alien to humans: deep sea anglerfish, {{Giant Squid}}s, gulper eels, chimera fish, to which fiction can add any bizarre variety of [[SeaMonster horrific leviathans]]. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | Until recent technological developments, no one had a chance at observing the deep sea. No ray of light can reach that depth, and DarkIsEvil. Oceanographers had almost no information to work with, and NothingIsScarier. Imagination ran wild. Some surmised that the ocean depths were a sort of LostWorld where monsters that had ages ago vanished from the surface could still be alive and hiding. [[{{Kaiju}} Great strange beasts]] that have not set foot on the shore since prehistory might be silently stomping across the silty seafloor. Creatures spawned before TheGreatFlood might be swimming down there, torpid and undisturbed -- not disturbed ''yet'', at least. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | Submersibles and [=ROVs=] have allowed closer study of the ocean depths, and oceanographers have not found any EldritchAbomination or Cthulhu in any part of the sea-floor (yet). Nevertheless, there is still some TruthInTelevision to this for a host of different reasons: the environmental conditions (low or no light, high pressure, low temperature, low oxygen, and very little food or prey compared to shallow waters) in the midnight,[[note]]"bathypelagic", around 1,000 to 4,000 meters below sea level,[[/note]] abyssal[[note]]"abyssopelagic", about 4,000 to 6,000 meters below sea level; ocean floors are included in this zone,[[/note]] and hadal[[note]]"hadopelagic", extending down to about 11,000 meters below sea level,[[/note]] zones of the ocean have led organisms to evolve traits that are completely different from creatures that evolved on land and even from some shallow water fish. For example, many creatures do not have eyes or have evolved special eyes due to the lack of light, and are usually either very dark, transparent, or bright red in color.[[note]]Most deep sea creatures have no need for thick skins to protect their organs from ultraviolet radiation from the sun, so theirs tend to be transparent. Their eyes being bright red is the result of submarine light reflecting off of the back of their eyes which illuminates blood flowing through their bodies. If you've ever seen people with red eyes in a photo that was taken with a flashing camera, you've seen this effect.[[/note]] This biome is utterly inhospitable to humans, and the logistical difficulties of conducting research in it only adds to these regions' sense of mystery. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | Compare OceanOfAdventure. Contrast AwesomeUnderwaterWorld. Not to be confused with TimeAbyss. May overlap with EldritchLocation, although the work can portray the deep ocean as relatively "normal" but just home to creepy things. Also compare SpaceIsAnOcean, as stories about exploring the deep sea may share genre conventions with space stories and portray sea life in a manner similar to aliens, and OceanMadness, the feeling of insanity after being out (or in this case, ''down'') at sea for too long. See also CreepyOldFashionedDivingSuit for another otherworldy source of horror on the ocean floor. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | ---- |
| 29 | !!Examples: |
| 30 | |
| 31 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 32 | |
| 33 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 34 | * ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'': |
| 35 | ** ''ComicBook/Aquaman1994'' has, as a recurring element, a trench so deep it supposedly leads to the Underworld and is inhabited by a creature so big all we see are its teeth. Downplayed in that ordinary deep-sea life also appears in the descent and Aquaman is fascinated and comforted by it. |
| 36 | ** Aquaman once faced off against The Trench, named for their place of origin; a race of vicious, predatory [[FishPeople anglerfish-like humanoids]] who have been isolated in the darkest depths of the ocean for thousands of years. To make things worse, [[spoiler:they are immune to Aquaman's power over marine life, probably because they are descended from Atlanteans themselves]]. |
| 37 | ** The Creator/DCBlackLabel graphic novel ''ComicBook/AquamanAndromeda'' revolves around [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_of_inaccessibility#Oceanic_pole_of_inaccessibility Point Nemo]], a spot in the Pacific Ocean known for being the furthest away from any land surface on the planet and a submarine crew going down to it to investigate a strange signal that also draws Aquaman to itself. |
| 38 | * In ''ComicBook/SubMarinerTheDepths'', Atlantis is depicted as a dark, lost city in the deepest part of the ocean, instead of the bustling country it usual is in Marvel. Namor himself is a silent HumanoidAbomination who guards the city and ruthlessly kills anyone searching for it. [[spoiler:One panel even implies that Namor's humanoid appearance is just AFormYouAreComfortableWith, and his true form is something similar to a Deep One.]] |
| 39 | [[/folder]] |
| 40 | |
| 41 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 42 | * ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': A very toothy, ugly deep sea fish is described: |
| 43 | -->''A tiny deep sea fish investigated the probe from up close, startling Ami by filling the screen with a set of fangs that even Rabixtrel would have envied.'' |
| 44 | [[/folder]] |
| 45 | |
| 46 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 47 | * In ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', Marlin and Dory accidentally swim into deep waters and encounter an anglerfish, which almost eats them. |
| 48 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'', Ursula's lair is in a deeper, darker part of the ocean (as she was exiled from Atlantica for being, well, a witch) and inside a creepy-looking prehistoric animal skeleton. The whole atmosphere should tell you she's ObviouslyEvil. |
| 49 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie'', [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick make their way into a deep ocean trench with horrific monsters. {{Subverted|Trope}} when the monsters [[DarkIsNotEvil take a liking to them]] after they show off their impressive dance skills. |
| 50 | [[/folder]] |
| 51 | |
| 52 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 53 | * ''Film/TheAbyss'' features a United States SEAL team trying to salvage a destroyed nuclear submarine in the deep ocean, and encountering strange creatures dwelling there. It [[FollowTheLeader kickstarted]] a whole wave of this type of movie, including ''Deep Star Six'', ''The Evil Below'', ''Lords of the Deep'', ''Leviathan'', and ''The Rift'', all of which are listed below, and came out in 1989 and 1990. Unlike the subsequent ripoffs, [[spoiler:the creatures living in the Abyss are benevolent and are persuaded not to attack humanity thanks to ThePowerOfLove]]. |
| 54 | * The AlwaysChaoticEvil creatures who reside in the Trenches in ''Film/Aquaman2018'' are all horrific monsters. They actually [[TheMorlocks evolved from original Atlanteans into what they are]] because of the natural environment of trenches. Going even deeper, we eventually find a tropical LostWorld with LivingDinosaurs. |
| 55 | * ''Film/DeepRising'': The cruise ship accidentally strays into the territory of giant predatory worm-like {{Sea Monster}}s [[spoiler:(actually one gargantuan, octopus-like beast)]] that dwelt on the ocean floor. This is driven home by the opening shot of the film showing numerous whale skeletons and sunken ships littering the seabed. |
| 56 | * ''Film/DeepStarSix'' has an underwater military outpost attacked by a big worm-like SeaMonster. |
| 57 | * ''Film/{{Dagon}}'' ends with the protagonist [[spoiler:growing gills and traveling into an underwater abyss to meet the EldritchAbomination that spawned him and his sister]]. |
| 58 | * ''The Evil Below'' is about a cursed shipwreck, guarded by a SeaMonster. |
| 59 | * ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' has a sequence in the UnderwaterRuins of an ancient, Godzilla-worshiping city deep within the Hollow Earth. The ruins are infused with radiation from the Earth's core, making it Godzilla's preferred place to rest and heal after a fight. |
| 60 | * ''Film/ItCameFromBeneathTheSea'' opens with a submarine exploring a deep ocean trench, where they have their first encounter with the [[TentacledTerror giant octopus]]. Unfortunately, it is not content to stay down there. |
| 61 | * ''Film/Leviathan1989'' is about an underwater mining crew 15,000 feet below the surface that slowly dwindles due to attacks by a mutant creature. |
| 62 | * ''Film/LordsOfTheDeep'' is about a deep sea research station crew encountering mysterious psychic creatures. |
| 63 | * ''Film/LifeOfPi'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1PfSsp166o The dream sequence]] where the camera goes ever deeper in the ocean features a sperm whale attacked by a giant squid then exploding into zoo animals, a hideous anglerfish/squid hybrid, and the sunken cargo. |
| 64 | * In ''Film/TheMeg'', scientists accidentally release a megalodon shark[[note]]Extinct, and thought to be a shallow-water predator[[/note]] from the Marianas Trench. According to the original novel, megalodons are explained to have evolved into an abyssal species but are no less horrifying or {{threatening|Shark}} for it. One of the characters is also attacked by a GiantSquid, but is inadvertently saved [[AlwaysABiggerFish when a megalodon eats the squid]]. |
| 65 | * ''Film/{{Megalodon}}'': The film is kicked off when a new experimental deep sea oil-drilling rig penetrates through the ocean floor off the coast of Greenland, revealing a LostWorld hidden for millions of years inhabited by prehistoric sea life. Among these is [[TagLine sixty-feet of prehistoric terror]], a full-grown megalodon that quickly turns the drilling expedition into a fight for survival. |
| 66 | * ''Film/PacificRim'': The Breach from which the monstrous {{kaiju}} come from is located at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, and there is an extended underwater fight scene as the PPDC tries to get closer and close it. |
| 67 | * ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'': The core of the planet Naboo holds vast subterranean oceans, which are inhabited by titanic dinosaur and eel-like creatures. Jar Jar believes a trip through the Core would be a SuicideMission, but the main characters survive with only minor incident. |
| 68 | * In the horror-survivor film ''Film/{{Sweetheart}}'', the waters immediately surrounding the deserted island are sparkling, clear and shallow ...except for an impenetrably dark, perfectly round, and seemingly-bottomless black pit [[spoiler:from which a [[MonstrousHumanoid monstrous]], [[SharkMan shark-like]] predator of unknown origin emerges each night.]] |
| 69 | * ''The Rift'' is about a submarine crew on a doomed rescue mission to an underwater rift full of monsters. |
| 70 | * ''Film/{{Underwater}}'' follows a deep-sea drilling team who [[DugTooDeep dig too deep]] and end up under attack by a horde of monstrous fishmen [[spoiler:and their progenitor, Cthulhu. Yes, ''the'' [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Cthulhu]].]] |
| 71 | [[/folder]] |
| 72 | |
| 73 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 74 | * ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'' is an early instance of this trope. Mostly, it emphasizes the idea of the ocean as a place of wonderful nature, but in the deeper parts, the ''Nautilus'' crew encounter some very strange things, including a GiantSquid and the UnderwaterRuins of {{Atlantis}}. |
| 75 | * ''Literature/BookOfTheNewSun'': The oceans are the domain of Erebus and Abaia, titanic alien beings who represent Satan in the series' pseudo-Christian narrative, and who are prophesied to one day devour the continents. |
| 76 | * Creator/HPLovecraft, creator of the ''Franchise/CthulhuMythos'', [[http://chrisperridas.blogspot.com/2006/11/lovecraft-and-hatred-of-seafood.html found the sea and most sea life intensely creepy]], leading to many of his {{Eldritch Abomination}}s bearing traits of aquatic creatures, and many of his threats coming from the ocean's depths. |
| 77 | ** ''Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth'': The ocean floors are inhabited by the Deep Ones: [[TheAgeless Ageless]], cultish, artistically-inclined FishPeople who gather in [[UnderwaterCity Underwater Cities]] to worship {{Eldritch Abomination}}s from beyond the stars and receive strange powers in return. They also seem to find human beings [[MarsNeedsWomen extremely sexy]]. The story ends with [[spoiler:the narrator, realizing that [[TomatoInTheMirror he's the product of such a union]], deciding to embrace his inhuman heritage and join them under the sea]]. The Deep Ones also have some part to play in bringing about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, but it's implied ("...some day, if they remembered, they would rise again for the tribute Great Cthulhu craved.") that they're not especially enthusiastic about it. |
| 78 | ** ''Literature/TheCallOfCthulhu'': The "nightmare corpse-city" of R'lyeh lies at the floor of the remote South Pacific. In it, the Great Old One Cthulhu [[SealedEvilInACan lies in deathless slumber]], waiting for {{the Old Gods}}' return. |
| 79 | ** ''Literature/TheTemple'': The crew of a German U-Boat during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI succumb to what is either OceanMadness or the influence of whatever lurks in the UnderwaterRuins they find at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. |
| 80 | * ''Literature/{{Deeplight}}'': The Undersea, a sub-ocean created by human fear and populated by {{Eldritch Abomination}}s. The water is breathable and the crushing pressure that ought to exist in the depths is absent. You can swim around with no equipment, but the environment messes with your mind and may leave you with "Marks" (small mutations, a tentacle here, a patch of shell there)... |
| 81 | * ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': |
| 82 | ** The Gorunna Trench, mentioned a number of times in the series, is the deepest part of the Disc's seas and home to horrific things -- according to some, horrors from the Dungeons Dimensions still lurk within it. ''Literature/TheColourOfMagic'' notes that even {{kraken|AndLeviathan}}s only go through it in pairs, and deep-sea fish keep their lights doused to avoid attracting attention to themselves. |
| 83 | ** ''Literature/GoingPostal'' proposes the notion of areas deep enough that the pressure surpasses the density of sunken objects, causing ghost ships that float on seas-under-seas. |
| 84 | * ''Literature/IntoTheDrowningDeep'' features killer mermaids which inhabit the darkest and deepest parts of the Marianas Trench. These mermaids kill and feast upon anything that enters this territory and are armed with sharp teeth and fangs. They also despise light hence their affinity for the darkness of the trench. |
| 85 | * ''Literature/JackelianSeries'': In ''From the Deep of the Dark'', the invading [[HordeOfAlienLocusts sea-bishops]] originally emerged from a portal at the bottom of a deep ocean trench, and are conspiring to re-open it so their countless fellows can join them. |
| 86 | * In Creator/AlfredLordTennyson's poem "The Kraken", [[KrakenAndLeviathan the monster in question]] lurks in such a location. This poem was, unsurprisingly, a big influence on ''Literature/TheCallOfCthulhu'', listed above. |
| 87 | -->''Below the thunders of the upper deep''\ |
| 88 | ''Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea'' |
| 89 | * ''Literature/MagicMetahumansMartiansAndMushroomCloudsAnAlternateColdWar'': The Husa are a race of sentient coral living in the depths off the coast of Australia, who have spent centuries abducting and converting humans into a brainwashed hybrid race that can then conquer the rest of Earth for them. They finally launch their invasion in 1981, starting with an attack on New Zealand... which combined ANZUS forces [[CurbStompBattle quickly repel]] after being warned by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Holt Harold Holt]] (one of the Husa's victims who managed to retain his mind), before they then obliterate the Husa's main habitat. |
| 90 | * ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'': When Lucy peers over the gunwales and views deep-sea merfolk settlements beneath the crystal clear water, she notes that the towns and castles are all on sea mounts and other high peaks. She surmises that deeper, darker, colder waters must be considered undesirable or even scary places by the sea-dwellers, in an inversion of how steep, icy mountaintops aren't much favored by humans. |
| 91 | [[/folder]] |
| 92 | |
| 93 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 94 | %%* The Sundering Seas in ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'' is a dangerous huge sea with violent storms and the home of mysterious dangerous sea creatures such as the Wyrm, a SeaSerpent. |
| 95 | * In the show ''Series/TheRig'', the Northern Sea is portrayed homing a several millions old ancient sentient parasite species that has been unleashed from the ocean floor and can infect the rig crew members to experience behavioural changes. |
| 96 | %%* ''Series/Siren2018'': The North Pacific Ocean is the home to sirens, a predator aquatic humanoid race which is capable of transitioning into a form with legs when they have to come on land. The sirens are guilty of many mysterious deaths inciting the imagination ignorant about the ocean. |
| 97 | [[/folder]] |
| 98 | |
| 99 | [[folder:Podcasts]] |
| 100 | * ''Podcast/TheMagnusArchives'' features the fear of eldritch ocean abysses being part of the Vast, which also encompasses the fear of space and freefall (and anything involving Agoraphobia, really). The ocean abyss isn't given too much focus, featuring in only one statement, but according to [[spoiler:Simon Fairchild, the primary Avatar of the Vast, he attempted to build fear of the ocean heavily during the Victorian Aquarium craze, and had a grand ritual that involved dropping a large group of people in a bathysphere into an impossible abyss]]. |
| 101 | * A recurring motif in ''Podcast/OnTheThreshold'', with several characters in altered mental states (recurrently dreaming, subjected to non-consensual neurosurgery, etc.) [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm explaining their experiences]] in terms of descending into the ocean and encountering or being pursued by unseen or incomprehensible entities |
| 102 | [[/folder]] |
| 103 | |
| 104 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 105 | * ''TabletopGame/ChroniclesOfDarkness'': |
| 106 | ** The infinite black ocean Oroboros at the furthest edge of [[DreamLand Astral Space]] represents the end of reality. Anything that enters it [[CessationOfExistence ceases to be]]; anything that crawls out of it is an EldritchAbomination trying to become real. |
| 107 | ** The Ocean of Fragments is an endless expanse at the bottom of TheUnderworld. Creatures who enter can [[SuperNotDrowningSkills breathe]] and see unimpeded, but slowly lose their memories as they sink deeper and deeper, ultimately disappearing to an unknown fate when [[BlankSlate everything is gone]]. Its only denizen is the Leviathan, a titanic, inscrutable UndeadAbomination. |
| 108 | * In ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', there is a sea comprised entirely of different types of oil. It's part of the vast mechanical body of [[EldritchAbomination Autochthon]], and embodies his madness with occasional bubbles of Void-tainted oil that sabotages any purpose it's put to. It's also patrolled by mechanical servitors and guardian spirits (guardians of the god, not of human life). But the worst part is that it holds so many resources that [[CityOnTheWater Loran]]'s people must dive into it ''anyway''. The alternative is slow starvation. |
| 109 | [[/folder]] |
| 110 | |
| 111 | [[folder:Toys]] |
| 112 | * ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' has The Pit, a great prison used by the Order of Mata Nui to imprison those who were considered to have committed unpardonable crimes. These prisoners included the Barraki, ancient warlords cast down when the Makuta were still loyal. After the Great Cataclysm, these dangerous prisoners escaped, mutating into water-breathing monstrosities hunting for the Mask of Life to regain their powers. On top of the Barraki, there are also other horrifying beings, including the big-mouthed Gadunka, the scorpioid Hydruka, and the Takea sharks. |
| 113 | [[/folder]] |
| 114 | |
| 115 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 116 | * ''VideoGame/{{Barotrauma}}'' is an indie game involving a submarine navigating the abyssal depths of Europa's frozen oceans, which contain nightmarish deep-sea predators as well as the remnants of a mysterious alien civilization. |
| 117 | * ''VideoGame/BeyondTwoSouls'': A late-game chapter is set in and around a pseudo-Chinese deep-sea base where the Chinese military is conducting experiments on a nearby Infraworld portal. Since precious little in poor Jodi's life ever goes right, things spiral out of control quickly until the portal starts unleashing swarms of hostile Entities that proceed to lay waste to the facility and everyone in it, thus truly turning the place into an eldritch horror scenario. |
| 118 | * ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'': PlayedWith. In the BackStory, the [[ExtranormalInstitute Byrgenwerth]] scholars had originally discovered evidence of the [[EldritchAbomination Great Ones]]' existence in the old underground labyrinth of Pthumeru, but their first actual encounter with a Great One in the flesh took place in the [[Literature/TheShadowOverInnsmouth Innsmouth]]-like Fishing Hamlet where a Great One named Kos washed up ashore. From this one discovery, the scholars have jumped to the false conclusion that ''all'' Great Ones are linked to great bodies of water, and subsequently focused much attention on the ocean. Lady Maria, in particular, after cutting her ties to Byrgenwerth and joining Laurence's newfound Healing Church, spearheaded the research into human ascension by having Research Hall subjects imbibe sea water until their heads turned into fleshy blobs, then extracting "brain fluid" from said heads, and feeding it back to them until [[BodyHorror only the head blobs remained]]. Needless to say, this was a dead end, and Maria [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone committed suicide after realizing it]]. It wasn't until after the Choir was formed to take over her research that the Church realized that while ''Kos'' dwelt in the ocean, ''most'' Great Ones actually reside in the cosmos above their heads. |
| 119 | * ''VideoGame/{{Debris}}'' is set in the depths of the Arctic Seas, where a meteorite landing in it have resulted in marine life growing to monstrous proportions. And you're trapped in the trenches, with only a drone and your AI companion as guide. |
| 120 | * ''VideoGame/{{Dredge}}:'' You captain a trawler in the remote Gray Isles. The deeper you trawl, and the later you stay out, the more eldritch the things you bring in. |
| 121 | * ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin'': The original game features the benevolent Asterite, the oldest living creature on Earth, which lives in a deep-sea cave, and appears as a massive DNA helix. Even further down can be found the ruins of Atlantis, including a library filled with mystical crystals and a time machine. [[spoiler:The game's climax eventually brings Ecco to the oceans of an ''alien world'', where he battles the monstrous Vortex and their Queen.]] |
| 122 | * ''VideoGame/EndlessOcean'': Both games have levels themed around diving into deep ocean trenches and meeting animals such as goblin sharks and sperm whales. |
| 123 | * ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' has the Great Sea Trench. Although the dungeon is located underwater, the characters can breathe in it. Likewise, the enemies are not aquatic, but still grotesque-looking, such as brain-like blobs, large worms, and lumps of bones attached to the ceiling, all of them known as "Unknown". |
| 124 | * ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'': Implied, although the deepest sea is never shown in game. The depths of the Unending Ocean are occupied by the Deep Sea Dragon, an EldritchAbomination who's sent the other residents packing. Such residents include the Krait, an AlwaysChaoticEvil race of snake-people, and the Largos, a mysterious race of creepy (though not necessarily evil) humanoids with VaderBreath. |
| 125 | * ''VideoGame/IronLung'' takes place entirely at the bottom of an uncharted ocean on an alien moon where who-knows-what is living down there. And to make things even worse, it's an ocean apparently made up of ''[[RiversOfBlood blood]]''. And to make it even worse, this is the ''fourth'' blood ocean moon they've found. And to make it ''[[RuleOfThree even worse]]'', you're not alone down there. |
| 126 | * ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'': There are a number of decidedly Lovecraftian encounters that can be had when searching for two of the Sea Monkees on [[UnderTheSea the Sea Floor]]. |
| 127 | ** In the [[UnderwaterCity mer-kin deepcity]], you can come face to face with -- [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu and also kill]] -- the two gods of the mer-kin: Shub-Jigguwatt, Elder God of Violence, and Yog-Urt, Elder Goddess of Hatred. The father Sea Monkee is found at the end, hooked up to a machine that opens a portal to... somewhere that ''might'' be outer space but is likely something far more alien. |
| 128 | ** The Caliginous Abyss is themed entirely around being a horrific, alien place in the deepest part of the ocean. When the player heads there to look for the mother Sea Monkee, they face several surreal non-combat encounters -- such as fish with twisted human faces, incongruous mother-hen messages carved into rock walls or written out of glowing sea life, areas of the seafloor carved by the passage of hundreds and hundreds of tentacled somethings -- and combat encounters against things such as [[FacelessEye enormous eyes staring out of the darkness]], slithering armored things, a twisted parody of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Peanut Mr. Peanut]] and a group of carnivorous things referred to simply as a "school of many". |
| 129 | --->''Within the darkness there are fish, and things that are not fish, and things that are not anything a land-dweller was ever meant to see. This is a school of one such creature, and it doesn't look friendly. It looks mostly like teeth and hiveminded appetite.'' |
| 130 | * ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' has this theme to the Forgotten Depths skin line, which recasts Fizz, Kassadin, Kog'Maw, Malphite, Nami, Nautilus, Syndra, and Thresh in a Lovecraftian ''The Shadow over Innsmouth''-esque light. |
| 131 | * ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': In the ''Leviathan'' DLC, Shepard investigates some mysterious orbs with MindRape capabilities and ends up descending into the depths of the ocean inside a specially-built mech. [[spoiler:At the bottom are the ''[[AbusivePrecursors creators of the Reapers]]''. Shepard ends up browbeating them into helping with the war effort.]] |
| 132 | * ''VideoGame/SaltAndSanctuary'': Implied to be the case. The monsters of the world, referred to as Kraekan, all believed to originate from the sea, and many even boast aquatic features even though they appear to be terrestrial. [[spoiler:The ending further implies that the island, itself an EldritchLocation, exists within the depths of the ocean.]] |
| 133 | * ''VideoGame/{{SOMA}}'': While most of the game takes place in the Pathos-II UnderwaterBase situated on a huge plateau, the last third of the game involves taking a 4000-meter elevator ride down into the Abyss. To reach sites Tau and Phi, you have to follow a path of barely visible lights while enduring a powerful ocean current [[spoiler:and rabid sea creatures mutated by [[MutagenicGoo Structure Gel]], including a GiantSquid and an enormous angler fish.]] |
| 134 | * ''VideoGame/{{Subnautica}}'' and its sequel ''Below Zero'' thrive on this. The "starter" biomes near the map's center -- the reefs of the Safe Shallows, the Kelp Forests, the Grassy Plateaus, even the giant undersea Mushroom Forests -- are all familiar enough and bathed in comforting sunlight during daytime, but the deeper you go, the more dangerous and twisted the landscape becomes, and the more lethal the local wildlife. |
| 135 | ** The Underwater Islands biome consists of several huge chunks of rock suspended between the surface and the ocean floor some 500 meters below, given buoyancy by colonies of Floater organisms. Navigating them successfully requires three-dimensional thinking and going over the edge of one of the islands can be unnerving as you see nothing but dark waters beneath you. |
| 136 | ** The Bulb Zone is a murky stretch of seabed characterized by enormous, bulbous, purple sea plants studded with bioluminescent spots. It's also located right between two biomes inhabited by the fearsome [[SeaMonster Reaper leviathans]], while the Bulb Zone itself is home to plenty of [[ThreateningShark Bonesharks]] and [[PsychoElectricEel Ampeels]] to make exploration difficult. |
| 137 | ** The Blood Kelp Zone is a near-lightless area filled with Bloodvines that glow with a sickly white-green luminescence and are studded with viscous red Blood Oil pustules. Most of the zone's fauna is hostile and seems to make horrible screaming noises as it hunts you, which only adds to the ambience. And it comes in a Blood Kelp Trench variant that goes even deeper down and adds claustrophobia to the mix. |
| 138 | --->'''[[MissionControl PDA]]:''' This ecological biome matches 7 of the 9 preconditions for stimulating terror in humans. |
| 139 | ** The Grand Reef is the deepest of the standard surface biomes and approaching it from a neighboring biome involves watching the sea floor suddenly fall away in a vertigo-inducing drop. There's little to see in the depths but occasional glowing Membrane Trees and bizarre spherical Anchor Pods tied to the side of the cliffs by creepers, which means the local Ghost Leviathans are nearly invisible until they scream and come charging out of the gloom to try and ram you. It has a cave system, the Deep Grand Reef, that goes even further down. |
| 140 | ** The Lost River is a vast cave system featuring a "river" of glowing green acidic brine that's heavier than normal seawater, and which flows through the fossilized remains of truly ''gargantuan'' [[SeaMonster leviathan]] lifeforms. Which is not to say there aren't living leviathans lurking in the dark, murky tunnels. |
| 141 | ** The Inactive Lava Zone is a deep, dark stretch of hardened lava tunnels, with flowing magma on the very bottom of the caverns to help you know which way is down. Follow the passages deep enough and you reach a bizarre "Lava Castle" formed from cooling magma, the bones of surface sea monsters that the local Sea Dragon Leviathans drag down to cook and eat, as well as an entrance to the ''Active'' Lava Zone. |
| 142 | ** The game takes place in the crater of an ancient undersea supervolcano, whose sides have eroded away over the millennia. This means the Crater Edge zone is where the sea floor falls away into an abyssal black void where there is absolutely nothing to see, down to a depth that will crush every vehicle in the game like a tin can no matter how many upgrades you give them. Worse, entering the zone will spawn [[BorderPatrol swarms of irate Ghost Leviathans]] intent on chasing you out of their hunting grounds. |
| 143 | ** While the previous game placed your starting lifepod in shallow, sunny, pleasant waters, ''Below Zero'' starts right on the edge of the Twisty Bridges, a biome of undersea trenches overgrown with bizarre twisting strands of glowing coral. Not only are there Brute Sharks in the upper section, even from the shallows you can hear the echoing roars of the Squidsharks lurking in the cave system at the bottom of the trenches. |
| 144 | ** The Purple Geysers area is characterized by fumaroles blasting a mix of volcanic gasses, whose iodine content gives them their distinctive hue. The eruptions are capable of damaging explorers, and the hot waters are populated by packs of snarling Cryptosuchus, and worse, the [[GiantEnemyCrab Chelicerates]] that prey on them. |
| 145 | ** The Lilypad Islands are a stretch of clumps of rock hanging off the sea floor, caught up in the stems and roots of titanic lilypads that are large enough to support a habitat. The harmless Glow Whales that swim through the waters are counterbalanced by the local Squidsharks, and the area sports a long cave system filled with glowing, cotton-like flora. |
| 146 | ** The Tree Spires is a deep, dark biome that gets its name from its bizarrely tree-shaped geothermal vents. It's also home to the Ventgardens, truly alien leviathans that anchor themselves over those vents and use the hot gases to support an entire ecosystem within their membranes. |
| 147 | ** Beneath Sector Zero are the Crystal Caves [[spoiler:and Fabricator Caverns]], a cave network dominated by enormous, faintly glowing crystal columns and strangely geometric mineral formations. They're home to the Shadow Leviathans, the most aggressive and persistent sea monsters in the series thus far. |
| 148 | ** Once again, trying to leave the game area will involve plunging into the pitch-black ocean abyss of the World Edge, inhabited by albino Chelicerates [[BorderPatrol that exist solely to encourage you to turn back to safer waters.]] |
| 149 | * ''VideoGame/SunlessSea'' revolves around exploring the "Unterzee", a colossal, ever-shifting, underground expanse of water full of dangers and oddities. Late-game dialogue crosses this with SpaceIsAnOcean, serving as a SequelHook for ''VideoGame/SunlessSkies''. The ''Zubmariner'' expansion lets you submerge and visit the abysses themselves. The zeefloor is already an EldritchLocation of the highest calibers, but the abysses are where [[HumanoidAbomination the Lady in Black]] lives. |
| 150 | -->''"One day, you'll sail another ship, on another sea more sunless. One day."'' |
| 151 | * ''VideoGame/TerrariaCalamity'' replaces one of your world's oceans with the Sulfurous Sea, an ocean full of HollywoodAcid for water and a large pit leading to the Abyss, a dark, tight biome full of aggressive predators. It also circumvents most means of breathing in water, instead just having them increase how long you can stay down there before you start drowning, with the sole exception of Amidias' Blessing, which instantly wears off as soon as you take damage. And don't think about mining open an air pocket, because you'll just [[MortonsFork start taking damage from the toxic air]]. As you go deeper in the Abyss, you use more air in less time and it becomes harder to see, and more dangerous monsters make their presence known, including the mod's most dangerous boss as of yet, the [[{{Superboss}} Eidolon Wyrm]], and teleporting with the Rod of Discord or Normality Relocator [[NoFairCheating has it attack you almost instantly]]. However, there are useful items down there that will make your trip worth the while, such as weapons that can be useful against the Slime God and [[DiscOneFinalBoss Wall of Flesh]], and materials for later on in the game. At the very bottom of the Abyss is the Terminus, an item that allows you to play through the mod's BossRush, but Yharon also drops it. [[spoiler:For killing the Eidolon Wyrm, you also get the Halibut Cannon, which used to drop from every enemy in the Abyss at a very low drop rate.]] |
| 152 | * ''VideoGame/TerrorOfTheDeep'' (one figures there are only so many possible combinations of "deep" and "terror") has you descend in a steampunkish bathysphere into Loch Ness -- meaning, not an ocean, but Administrivia/TropesAreFlexible -- in order to defeat the monsters living in it. The oxygen slowly runs out, they may come from any direction, and you can only look through one window at a time. |
| 153 | * ''VideoGame/WaterWombWorld'' is a short indie game involving a Christian scientist hunting for the supposed true origin point of man in Gaspar's Zone, a remote location in the middle of the ocean. Outside his sub in pitch darkness he finds [[TimeAbyss ancient species of fish]], mysterious coral, and [[spoiler:the actual being man evolved from, then becomes one himself]]. |
| 154 | * ''VideoGame/WeNeedToGoDeeper'' is an indie game involving a submarine crew navigating a labyrinth of tunnels while fending off giant sharks and whales. Later updates to the game, however, have added increasingly Lovecraftian monsters. |
| 155 | * ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': The [[EldritchAbomination Old God]] N'zoth was chained at the bottom of an oceanic trench by the Titans. Since then, he has corrupted the surrounding sea life, creating the [[PuppeteerParasite zoatroids]] and mutated fish through which he can communicate. The Naga city of Nazjatar and Azshara's Eternal Palace lead to the abyss where players inadvertently free N'zoth. Before N'zoth, there's the underwater super zone of Vashj'ir filled with multiple demigods that take the form of crustaceans the size of cities, faceless ones, and several elites that will oneshot any player foolish enough to attack them. |
| 156 | * ''VideoGame/XComTerrorFromTheDeep'' is about an independent military force funded by the world's governments that battles ancient alien invaders originating from deep within the Earth's oceans. The game borrows heavily from [[Creator/HPLovecraft Lovecraftian]] influences, going so far as the BigBad being a [[EldritchAbomination sleeping ancient evil]] that the X-Com forces must keep the aliens from awakening. |
| 157 | [[/folder]] |
| 158 | |
| 159 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 160 | * {{Subverted|Trope}} in ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'': [[https://www.nuklearpower.com/2006/07/25/episode-724-somewhere-beyond-the-sea-my-elder-god-stands-on-golden-sands/ Despite Black Mage's impressive narration about the horrors of the deeps,]] they don't actually encounter anything particularly mind-breaking. |
| 161 | -->'''Black Mage:''' We have always lived in the ocean. There is no ''before''. There will be no after. There is no place for time here among the dark, among the alien things that crawl and swim in a sea without light. We are one of them now. [[CosmicHorrorStory We have]] ''[[CosmicHorrorStory always]]'' [[CosmicHorrorStory been one of them]].\ |
| 162 | '''Red Mage:''' Black Mage? You're narrating again.\ |
| 163 | '''Black Mage:''' My companions succumbed to sea madness weeks ago.\ |
| 164 | '''Thief:''' [[NotSoDire Dude, it's been two and]] ''[[NotSoDire a half]]'' [[NotSoDire hours]].\ |
| 165 | '''Black Mage:''' I alone maintain a glimmer of humanity. I fear it is fading fast.\ |
| 166 | '''Red Mage:''' What kind of dark wizard in league with nameless forces of primordial evil ''are'' you that you can't even make a successful sanity check versus ''boredom''?\ |
| 167 | '''Black Mage:''' I ignored the pitiable babbling that issued from their misshapen lips. Their wet gurgles, a noise that had once been words, came to an end when one of the ''things'' outside assaulted our craft. I welcome death. |
| 168 | * All ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' trolls are dangerous, but the worst are the "seadweller" trolls. Insanely strong and isolated from others, they are driven by fear of the psychic EldritchAbomination nursing their queen. If they fail to keep "Gl'bgolyb" fed, it will scream...and that scream will kill everyone on the planet. Life on the surface is an unending atrocity of oppression, bombing and HuntingTheMostDangerousGame, but it is still ''safer'' than the depths where Gl'bgolyb lives. |
| 169 | * ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': Scripture teaches that the ocean floor -- which is cut off from the BackgroundMagicField and therefore from the afterlife as they understand it -- is where the Gods built {{Hell}}, for the souls of the damned to be trapped in the frigid, crushing dark for all eternity. |
| 170 | [[/folder]] |
| 171 | |
| 172 | [[folder:Web Originals]] |
| 173 | * [[https://i.pinimg.com/474x/ac/a3/f8/aca3f835653a81946f2e919e5227b885--deep-blue-sea-under-the-sea.jpg This picture of the contents of the ocean,]] which gets more terrifying the lower you scroll, with the absolute bottom of the ocean containing [[spoiler:as [[AntiClimax a joke]], ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'']]. |
| 174 | * ''WebVideo/GeminiHomeEntertainment'': "The Deep Blue" portrays the "Demisia Tunnel", a fictional offshoot of the Marianas Trench, as a cave of unknown depth that is inhospitable to all life. [[spoiler:Not including the glowing-eyed, tentacled EldritchAbomination seen at the end.]] |
| 175 | [[/folder]] |
| 176 | |
| 177 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 178 | * The animated short ''The Deep'' features a dark deep-sea ocean full of fish and sea creatures made from various mechanical parts, accompanied by eerie ambient music. |
| 179 | * The town of Rock Bottom in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS1E17ArrghRockBottom Rock Bottom]]" is populated by numerous deformed-looking fish that terrify [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick. |
| 180 | * Played with in the ''WesternAnimation/WildKratts'' octopus episode, when what ''seems'' like a gargantuan deep-sea horror to the explorers is actually a normal octopus turned MixAndMatchCritter by a Power Suit malfunction. Averted in the double-length hydrothermal vent episode, in which the weirdness of the local sea-bottom life forms merely evokes the team's wonder and admiration. |
| 181 | [[/folder]] |
| 182 | |
| 183 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 184 | * The ocean in real life is home to strange stuff, especially deep down in the trenches. |
| 185 | ** Creatures born without what we would see as vital to living, pillars of sulfur belch toxic superheated smoke, the pressure so intense even thick steel can be crushed easily; and that's just scraping the surface of what's down there. Supposedly, there's more undiscovered species down there than there are extinct species. |
| 186 | ** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undersea_lake Brine lakes]]. They are, for all intents and purposes, lakes under the ocean, complete with a shoreline. Even more [[MindScrew mind screw-y]], the density of the brine lake's surface means that any submarine that visits it can "float" on top of the denser brine lake surface. While already underwater. That's right, [[Music/TalkingHeads there is water at the bottom of the ocean]]; scientists found [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants Goo Lagoon]]! |
| 187 | ** There is also the phenomenon of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep-sea_gigantism deep-sea gigantism]], as well. For unknown reasons, with theories ranging from greater energy conservation, to protection against the pressure and cold of the deep sea, several animal species grow several times larger than relative species in other parts of the ocean. Such creatures include [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_isopod giant isopods]], ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alicella Alicella]]'', [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_spider_crab the Japanese spider crab]] and various forms of giant mollusk, such as the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven-arm_octopus seven-arm octopus]] and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_squid giant squid]]. While many of these creatures are more or less larger versions of animals found elsewhere, it only adds to the strangeness of the abyssal ocean. |
| 188 | [[/folder]] |
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