Follow TV Tropes

Following

Recap / Samurai Jack - S1 E10: "Jack and the Lava Monster"

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/samurai_jack_x_6.jpg
I AM FREE!!!

Jack and the Lava Monster

Episode numeral: X

Original air date: 11/5/01

Jack is beckoned into a a subterranean, volcanic labyrinth filled with traps by an echoing voice calling him to it. Following it takes him to a monster of lava who demands that Jack must fell him in battle or be slain, as the monster is a Viking warrior cursed by Aku to never ascend to Valhalla.


Tropes:

  • And I Must Scream: After being defeated by Aku, the Viking was sealed in an unbreakable crystal and buried beneath a mountain. Aku’s plan was to leave him there forever, and although the Viking eventually learned to manipulate the rock around him to form himself a body, he remained trapped there, immobile, for centuries at least.
  • Art Shift: The Viking's backstory is depicted in a simpler art style reminiscent of Mammen style Viking art.
  • Bittersweet Ending: The viking warrior's tale and circumstances are absolutely tragic and so many warriors met their end in the underground Death Course before Jack's arrival. However, Jack was able to defeat him and break his curse. He was carried into Valhalla by the Valkyries and stands side-by-side the fallen warriors he lost to Aku centuries ago, reunited with his friends and family.
  • Death Course: The lava monster set up an elaborate one that warriors have to pass through before facing him, including spike and arrow traps, collapsing ceilings and lava pits. Jack is the first one to have made it through.
  • Death Seeker: The Lava Monster seeks a Worthy Opponent to defeat him in battle as his Curse Escape Clause so that he can die and join his loved ones in Valhalla.
  • Died Happily Ever After: The former lava monster at the end, carried off to Valhalla as a reward for his honorable death.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Odin, at the end of the episode. His greater role in the show's story is seen in later episodes.
  • Evil Tainted the Place: The land that was once the Viking warrior's home remains parched and burned even centuries later after it was ravaged by Aku.
  • A Fate Worse Than Death: Aku's reason for sparing the Viking warrior in the past. Rather than destroy him, Aku thought it would be more amusing to deny him a warrior's end and have him suffer for eternity by imprisoning him in an unbreakable crystal and burying him deep within the mountain, where he would remain trapped and never be able to reach Valhalla. However, the Viking's will was stronger than Aku thought.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: Aku, as usual. Without him, the Lava Monster would never have been.
  • Go Out with a Smile: The Viking gives Jack a friendly smile as he dies and is carried off to Valhalla
  • I Cannot Self-Terminate: Although he wants to die, the Viking knows he has to fall in honorable combat so he can enter Valhalla.
    Lava Monster/Viking Warrior: Rise, warrior! Rise! Honorably must I be defeated! I cannot let up!
  • I Die Free: When Jack finally beats the Lava monster who is actually an imprisoned viking warrior that can only be released to Valhalla if he falls in honorable combat, the stone golem glows and shatters with the viking warrior crying out that the spell is finally broken. Jack even carves out the word "FREE" on his tombstone.
    Lava Monster/Viking Warrior: After all these centuries, my freedom has arrived. Accursed monster! Your spell is broken! I AM FREE!!
  • No Immortal Inertia: After his curse is broken, the Viking regains the dashing mortal appearance he had as a human — and then promptly ages into an old, grey-haired man over a second or so as his immense age catches up with him.
  • Rapid Aging: The Lava Monster becomes an old man and dies as time returns to him.
  • Tragic Monster: The lava monster was once a warrior not unlike Jack, until one day Aku attacked his land. The man tried to fight back to no avail since nothing he had could harm Aku. As punishment, Aku encased the man in a crystal prison and forced him to watch as he destroyed his home and killed his loved ones. Aku then placed the man within a mountain, denying him a warrior's death.
  • Trap Is the Only Option: Jack scoffs at the idea of following the warrior's voice into an obvious, spiked deathtrap... until the ceiling starts coming down on his head.
    Jack: The voice beckons me further in. Surely he takes me for a fool to follow deeper into this trap.
    The spiked ceiling begins descending.
    Jack, sprinting further into the cave: A fool I be!
  • Undying Warrior: Aku slaughters an entire Viking village and traps the only survivor in an unbreakable crystal and buries him in the mountain to prevent him from joining his loved ones in Valhalla. After forming a rock body, the warrior waits over the course of centuries for someone powerful enough to give him a warrior's death so he can be free of Aku's curse, which turns out to be Jack.
  • Valkyries: At the end of the episode, two descend to carry the Viking to Valhalla.
  • Was Once a Man: The lava monster Jack fights was once an honorable Viking warrior, before being cursed by Aku.

Top