Ring of Fire

Mai Tokiha gets all fired up.

"I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
And the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire."

— Johnny Cash, "Ring Of Fire"

A commonly seen element of a climactic battle involving The Hero and their opponent being encircled by a flaming ring. Much like a boxing ring or a gladiatorial arena with sealed exits, it is used to indicate that neither the Big Bad nor The Hero have the option of running away from the Final Battle, and the story will end with one of the two dead. Most frequently used by villains, especially Magnificent Bastards who want The Hero to be Deader than Dead, but can occasionally be enacted by The Hero when the Big Bad has run away from similar confrontations in the past. Fridge Logic tends to come into play as soon as the viewer realizes that sending the flames directly under the feet of the hero is probably a better idea on the part of the villain, but let's face it, it looks cool. The Ring of Fire is a great set up for a hero and villain to meet in a final confrontation, symbolic in that there is no escape from the fight and representative of the emotion of the scene. Expect it to be a part of the The Very Definitely Final Dungeon or any other situation where failure is not an option.

This can often indicate research failure, since natural flames have a natural aversion to forming the perfectly circular rings seen in movies, and unless a propellant has already been shaped into a ring a real fire would fill in the area where the victim is standing, and that's assuming there's no wind to change the direction of the flames. Then again... Nine times out of ten, A Wizard Did It.

Johnny Cash is considered the Trope Namer due to the song "Ring of Fire" being one of his best-known recordings. Although often mistakenly accused of being either about addiction to drugs or having a sexual connotation, the song was co-written by Cash's future wife, June Carter, during the time when she and Cash - while both still married to other people - were having an affair and the song expressed her fears regarding this.

A combination Ghost Butler and the Sphere of Power. Compare Battle Amongst the Flames.

Not to be confused with a certain tectonically active area of the Earth.

---

Examples:

Advertising

• The use of the Ring Of Fire for climactic duels was called out in a car dealership commercial wherein the customer wanted a very special discount... after they defeated the dealership's champion to prove the quality of the cars. Scary-looking MMA fighter steps into the ring of stones and the customer strikes a match to light the ring of fire.
• Subverted in a British advert for vindaloo-curry flavour Pot Noodles (Instant Ramen to Americans), in which the Ring which is on fire turns out to be a bodily part. Apparently Johnny Cash was amused by the idea, and happily allowed his song to be used in this way.

Anime & Manga

• In Bleach, ungodly powerful Head Captain Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryûsai can make fire consume an area simply with the initial release of his zanpakuto. The two captains that he fights lead him away from the execution grounds simply to keep everyone else in the area from dying.
• Fate/stay night Archer does this as a part of his reality marble "Unlimited Blade Works"
• In Fist of the North Star, Kenshiro's final battle with Jagi takes place on a rooftop. Jagi eventually reveals he led Kenshiro there because there was a huge container of oil, which he breaks and then throws on a match on. Due to how high up he is, Jagi will presumably be safe because of Convection, Schmonvection, but it quickly devolves into Kenshiro being trapped in a ring of fire. Not that it matters though. Ken just destroys the floor and falls down to the safety of the ground below.
• In My-HiME, one springs up around the main character as her full powers (flame-based, of course) manifest for the first time.
  • In the Else World sequel My-Otome, that continuity's Mai takes this to ridiculous extremes — she creates a giant version of the floating rings around her arms and legs and flies through it like a trained seal to obliterate enemies on the other side.
• Sailor Moon: Koan summons a ring of fire to prevent interference as she attempts to attack Chibiusa. Fortunately, Sailor Moon notices a nearby wall is taller than the flames, so she climbs it and is able to jump over the flames and hit Koan with a flying tackle.
• Karen has one spring up around her in the X/1999 movie, though it is her major power to manipulate and create flames.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! also has one leap up around the arena during the duel with Panik with the intent of turning Yugi into a cinder. The Gag Dub Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series plays Johnny Cash's song (quoted above) as it happens.

Comic Books

• Robin (1993): Feugo encircles her chosen target with flame when she attacks Robin, Ragman and Blue Devil alongside some other villains. Unfortunately for her she chose Blue, who remarks it takes hotter flames than those she controls to harm him.
• Wonder Woman Vol 1: When Black Canary tried to apprehend Zenna Persik, unaware that the elderly man Persik was chasing was a Nazi, Persik responded by creating a wall of fire around her and her foe to prevent Canary from advancing.

Film - Animated

• Aladdin: Jafar creates one of these to trap Aladdin with his breath so that Aladdin can't attack him with a sword. Of course, Jafar then puts out the flames when he turns into a gigantic cobra.
• Parodied in Finding Nemo- it's bubbles. And doesn't work at first.
• The Lion King II: Simba's Pride: Played with when a dim-witted villain surrounds himself in one of these.

Film - Live-Action

• In The Beastmaster the final battle is in a ring of fire - the hero set up trenches of fuel to block the enemy from circling around his group.
• Slightly subverted in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) has Van Helsing create one to protect himself and Mina from the bad guys, rather than the standard final duel setup. He also manages to do it simply by chanting Latin and drawing a circle around them on the ground with a flaming brand.
• Downplayed in Eden Lake: after Jenny breaks free of her binding to the burning stake, she grabs a container of petrol, pours some between her and the gang, and lights it, making a chase difficult.
• Happens in Free Willy 2 after the oil slick catches fire and something blows up. Jesse is only able to escape by diving underwater holding onto Willy's dorsal fin.
• The Harry Potter series:
  • Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: At the end, Voldemort stops Harry from running away with the Stone by summoning one. In the book magical ropes were used, but Rule of Cool prevails in the movies.
  • Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Bellatrix creates one around the Burrow to keep the other wizards from going after Harry to help.
• Killer Constable have a big fight scene in a burning circle, between the three heroes and loads of mooks.
• Monk Ti Tan from Legendary Weapons of China can summon a ring of fire around him by making a circle around with his sash and setting it alight with his chi.
• In Predators, Royce prepares a circle on the ground with gasoline or something else, then when the Berserker Predator attempts to attack him, he drops a torch to set it ablaze and surround them with fire. This blinds the Predator, as it only sees in infrared.
• The Jet Li movies Romeo Must Die and Cradle 2 the Grave have climactic fights in a ring of fire.

Literature

• In the 1632 series, the Mass Teleportation effect which transports the entire town of Grantville into the past takes on this form and is even called the "Ring of Fire" in-universe.
• The Dresden Files:
  • In Changes, Harry and Susan battle the Ick (and its Red Court handlers) in the Erlking's court. Said duel takes place in a Ring Of Fire with screaming faces floating in it.
  • The trope makes another appearance in Ghost Story. Fun fact about fire? It burns magic, too. The bad guys trap Sir Stuart inside one so he can't Mortimer Lindquist when they abduct him. Although part of the restraining effect probably comes from the circular shape.
  • In Peace Talks, we learn that the White Council forbids spellcasting within a ring of fire; doing so can supercharge spells, but it also makes them chaotic and unpredictable. Harry and Ebenezer create such a ring in order to banish a group of Outsiders.
• The castle of The Faerie Queene's evil enchanter is protected not by a gate, but a massive wall of sulphuric fire. Britomart is fierce enough to cut through the flames, but sad Scudamour is not so powerful.

Live Action TV

• The "Ring Of Trust" from an episode of Burn Notice.
• Game of Thrones: In "The Door", the Children of the Forest summon one to prevent the Wights from invading their home. Unfortunately, the White Walkers are unaffected by fire and walk through it. Then the Wights tunnel under it.
• Highlander:
  • In "Homeland," Duncan MacLeod and Kanwulf face off within a ring of fire.
  • In another episode, Horton's followers capture a pair of immortals. When they kill one of the pair, her Quickening produces a ring of fire that drives the captors back and helps the second immortal escape.
• In the Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger episode "Changing Courage into Magic", Captain Marvelous and Don encounter one of these set up by a few Magirangers as part of their test of character. Marvelous' idea of an escape plan... is to run right through it (and throwing Don through the fire first). Amazingly enough, it works.
• When testing gasoline fire myths, the Mythbusters made a Ring Of Fire in the workshop. It soon turned up to be really hot inside it.
• In the finale of Spartacus Gods Of The Area the surviving gladiators are all brought into the arena, and a ring of fire is set about them. Likely as an in-universe invocation of Rule of Cool. The Romans overseeing it explain that anyone who falls/gets thrown outside the ring is disqualified, anyone who falls inside the ring dies. Gneaus later uses it to set his net on fire, and then throw it on someone. Crixus, Ashur, and Gneaus are all thrown outside the ring, Ashur burning himself in the process.
• In Supernatural, Castiel reveals (and is later a victim of) the fact that flame circles made with a certain sort of holy oil will contain an angel until the fires burn out.
• Ultraman Ace have Alien Hipporito capturing the TAC crew in the aftermath of their doomed retaliation attempt, cornering them in two rings of flames which gets progressively narrower. Before they're completely incinerated though, cue Father of Ultra's arrival.
• Xena: Warrior Princess: In the episodes "The Ring" and "Return of the Valkyrie", Gabrielle is put in an enchanted sleep and surrounded by a ring of fire that the Valkyrie Brunhilda turned herself into to protect her. Only Gabrielle's soulmate, Xena, could safely pass through the flames to rescue her.

Music

• Johnny Cash's "Ring Of Fire" (co-written by his future wife, June Carter) is the Trope Namer and describes a metaphorical "fire ring". Frank Zappa covered the song on his album The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life.

Mythology

• Older Than Print: The Valkyrie Brynhildr in Norse Mythology was imprisoned in one of these after deciding the outcome of a battle against Odin, the King of the Gods. The flames were enchanted so that only someone with no fear could pass through them safely. This ended up being Sigurd/Siegfried, who rescued her.
  • Also figures prominently in the operatic version by Richard Wagner, Die Walküre.

Professional Wrestling

• The Puerto Rican version of the World Wrestling Council (WWC) is commonly referred to as the first professional wrestling promotion to use fire as hazard during matches, eventually developing the concept into a "Ring Of Fire" match, where flames would shoot up under the bottom rope if someone tried to exit the ring.
• In perhaps the single biggest argument against garbage, Tarzan Goto and Atsushi Onita had a barbed wire match(another gimmick WWC pioneered, although this was in FMW) Sabu and The Sheik where Sheik tried to burn Goto and Onita with a flaming stick and ended up setting the wire on fire. The wrestlers panicked and bailed under the bottom "ropes" when they realized the ring was starting to melt.
• As part of Gangrel's entrance in the WWF, a ring of fire would appear on the stage, and he would rise up through a trapdoor in the center of it.
• The Inferno match involves a ring of fire, with the object being to push your opponent into source till he (or his clothing) catches.
• In 2014-2015, there was a possibly unintentional detailing of WWC' history with fire, as the feud between Mighty Ursus and Carlito Caribbean Cool started with lighter fluid and escalated to a full on ring of fire.
• During his entrance at WrestleMania XL Night 1, The Rock stood in a flaming version of his Brahma Bull symbol.

Tabletop Games

• Dungeons & Dragons has the Wall of Fire spell, which creates a 20-foot-high wall of fire in either a line or a ring. For extra fun, a Wall of Fire can be subjected to a Permanency spell.
• Princess: The Hopeful: One Swords Charm allows a Princess to challenge a worthy opponent to single combat (and grant her allies a morale bonus if she wins the duel). As part of this Charm, a ring of fire forms around the combatants, thus simultaneously preventing outside interference and preventing either the Princess or her enemy from fleeing the fight.
• West End Games' TORG had a mechanic that generated a Ring Of Fire that went up to 11. The game is based around variant realities, and when two "possibility-rated" characters (read: PCs and important villains) from different realities face off, they can invoke a 'reality storm' that separates them from any other interference so that they can get down to the business of forcefully shoving their realities down each other's throats.

Video Games

• Bloons Tower Defense: Tack Shooters can be upgraded to shoot rings of fire around it instead, gaining increased area coverage and pierce.
• Brütal Legend allows the player to create one. By Double Teaming with a Fire Baron, they can share a motorcycle, crack open a Molotov Cocktail, and burn a trail of fire. If the player completes a circle, it will enclose, burning enemies inside. It's meant to be a Herd-Hitting Attack.
• This is one stock Fire attack in City of Heroes, used by a number of powersets. The ring of fire actually has effect of immobilising the target, trapped in a circle of damage-inflicting flames.
• The battle with Sticky Fingaz in Def Jam: Fight For NY takes place inside of a ring as the player tries to get their girlfriend back from him. In addition to the usual win conditions, you can win the fight by throwing your opponent into the flames.
• In Kingdom Hearts II during the battle between Axel and Roxas, Axel sets the stage on fire in an attempt to defeat and eliminate Roxas. The Data Org fight with him has the floor catch fire, continuously reducing your HP unless you use an Action Command to put it out (which you have to do anyway because Data Axel can't be killed while the floor is burning).
• King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder!. Mordack becomes a ring of fire in the final battle to burn Graham to ashes. The correct answer is to turn into a rainstorm and extinguish him.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Link's final showdown with Ganon takes place in a ring of fire. He knocks Link's sword outside of the ring first. And during the escape part preceding it, a ring of fire surrounds Zelda, forcing Link to battle two Stalfos to get rid of it.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask:
    • Odolwa, the boss of the Woodfall Temple, occasionally starts a large ring of fire around Link. Frustratingly enough though, he can go right through it without being harmed. Despite being ridiculously invulnerable to his fire, you can kill him with two fire arrows.
    • Fights with the Garos, mysterious Ninja-esque enemies in Ikana, take place in a ring of fire that randomly appears.
  • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: The Mini-Boss battle against the two Mighty Darknuts who challenge Link in the basement of Hyrule Castle after Zelda's kidnapping due to Ganondorf is encased within a ring of fire that surrounds the area with the Master Sword's former pedestal. It dissipates after Link defeats his two enemies.
• In the prequel to Dissidia Final Fantasy, Dissidia 012, Feral Chaos's EX Burst is to teleport himself and his opponent into a giant arena surrounded by flames so he can issue a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown when they have nowhere to hide or run.
• Mario Party 5: During the second phase of the Final Boss battle in Story Mode, Bowser will send three rings of fire onto the battlefield, forcing the player to dodge them by jumping carefully and quickly while the rings shrink, enlarge and move in various patterns (including mutual overlaps); their behavior becomes more efficient and dangerous in the higher difficulty levels. After surviving for 30 seconds, the rings leave the battlefield and the next phase of the fight begins.
• Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae's final battle takes place at a ruined shrine on fire, where the arena is surrounded in flames.
• In the original Pokémon games, the move Fire Spin would trap the opponent in a circle of fire for 2-5 turns, preventing them from attacking. This was later changed to just damaging them every turn, but it still prevents them from switching out or running.
• The Axe and Sword twins in Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones fight you in one, and both you and the twins can take damage if you get too close to the fire.

Webcomics

• Kary uses one of these to keep the Light Warriors from escaping from her in 8-Bit Theater.

Web Original

• Sapphire: Daisuke creates a green ring of fire during his duel with Michiru. She defeats him by teleporting out of the ring, then leaps back into it and skewers him.

Western Animation

• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • In the episode "The Chase", Azula does this to Aang by setting a building on fire, though she can actually control the flames as she's doing it, somewhat justifying it.
  • In the series finale, the heroes are captured in a ring of fire when they're caught near the camp of the Order of the White Lotus.
  • In the final part of the finale, Aang creates one in his elemental sphere.
• A joke version occurs in Drawn Together when Toot tries to protect her adopted Nicaraguan "baby" in one.
• The Legend of Korra: In "Beginnings, Part 1" Avatar Wan creates one for a brief moment shortly after obtaining fire from the lion turtle, during his raid on the Chou's compound, but lets it die down after he's unmasked and hesitates in actually harming someone. He creates another one in the second part, this time in an elemental sphere to trap Vaatu.
• Mister T: Mister T is trapped in one of these in the episode "The Fortune Cookie Caper" by a villain called the Firebug. Hilariously, the bad guy set up the circle of flames so that there was a fire hydrant inside it. Cue Mr. T awesomeness.
• The Simpsons:
  • In an episode, a prison warden prevents an escape using a whip to create one of these, earning applause from the prisoners because of the amount of skill with which it was done.
  • Another example is in the episode with the Radioactive Man movie, where the movie producer flashes back to the 1960s TV series, in which Radioactive Man and Fallout Boy fight The Scoutmaster's henchmen, and one of them creates a ring of fire by rubbing two sticks together.
• Occurs in the climax of The Smurfs Christmas Special.

---