Everyone knows that it's Not the Fall That Kills You…, but the landing. That said, the fall ain't great either, so there's little wonder that people have been looking for ways to deal with both since time immemorial. In fiction, with the presence of magic or advanced technology, there are many fantastical methods used by characters to protect themselves from a long drop or the uncomfortable consequences thereof.
In practice, this trope generally comes in three different effects: Slow Fall, in which the fall itself is slowed down to more of a gentle float; Safety Catch, in which case the fall is as fast as usual but you're magically levitated just before you hit the ground so that the remaining fall won't cause any damage; and Damage Negation, which is most common in video games, in which case the fall and landing is as fast as usual but the Falling Damage is entirely negated, as if you only fell a few centimeters.
There may also be a difference in what causes the effect; Most common in fantasy stories are spells or magical items that target a specific person and cause one of the above effects, while science fiction stories often have large fields surrounding the base of tall buildings or similarily long drops which "catch" the falling object or person, either holding them there until they can be rescued or letting them float gently to the ground.
A variation of the trope is for a character to use something usually not intended for this purpose, such as telekinesis or blasts of force generated from their body, to slow their own fall by creating enough downward force to counter their momentum, exploiting Newton's third law.
For other methods of saving yourself when falling, see Soft Water, Pinned to the Wall, and Hit the Ground Harder. Improvised Parachute is a more mundane subtrope. In video games where some outside force intervenes to catch you before you hit the ground, it's Bottomless Pit Rescue Service, while the same trope in other media is Catch a Falling Star.
Unlike Power Floats or Not Quite Flight, the falling person generally has little to no control over where they're going when this trope is in effect; No matter how fast or slow it's going, they are still going downwards.
Not to be confused with Slow-Motion Fall, which is an out-of-universe visual effect meant to make a fall seem more dramatic, but doesn't actually do anything for the poor sod falling.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- In Final Fantasy: Lost Stranger, Shogo shoves Sara off the Mysidian clock tower to get her away from the Magus Sisters. Sara is saved by her gaelicat Lukahn, whose Levitate spell slows their fall so they land safely on the ground as Shogo intended.
- Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within: The Deep Eyes unit uses guns that can fire High Density Gas (HDG) slugs. HDG is a gel-like substance that, upon impacting the ground, expands into blob of liquid-like gas and, for a few seconds, serves as a cushion to safely brake a falling object or body's fall, before quickly dissipating. Early in the movie, the Deep Eyes use the HDG for a high-speed deployment from a helicopter, firing HDG slugs shortly before hitting the ground to land safely.
- In the anime version of Delicious in Dungeon's dragon fight, Marcille uses some kind of feather fall magic on herself, causing her to glide gently to the ground after the overpass she stood on collapses, or when she's thrown by the dragon, and it creates a small wave effect under her when she lands. It also works horizontally, as the same wave effect occurs when she runs headfirst into Laios. This is not present in the manga, where she simply doesn't stand on the building she's about to collapse.
- Lyrical Nanoha: Holding Net is a standard safety spell for magical flight instructors, designed to prevent inexperienced flying mages from crashing into obstacles or the ground. It manifests as a mesh of magical strands that dissipate incoming kinetic energy and momentum safely into the environment. E.g. in Force, Hayate casts Holding Net to save five unconscious members of her unit after the villains throw them off their airship at high altitude.
Fan Works
- Feather Fall is one of the spells Trixie in The Unchosen One can cast, using it on the other main characters to halt their fall when they infiltrate an old castle through the ceiling.
Films — Animated
- The Iron Giant mistakenly runs off the edge of a tall cliff while trying to shield Hogarth from harm. As the two plummet toward the bottom, rocket engines in the giant's legs ignite, and their thrust slows him to a gentle stop before propelling him into the sky. "You can fly?" an astonished Hogarth queries. The giant seems as surprised as Hogarth at this development, meaning he Forgot About His Powers. Therefore, the rocket legs acted as an autonomous emergency safety system designed to preclude fall damage.
Films — Live-Action
- Dune (2021): The Sardaukar use antigravity devices that bring them gently to earth in lieu of parachutes, allowing them to mount safe and precise paradrop attacks from their dropships.
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: When the Dementors attack a Quidditch match, causing Harry to pass out and fall off his broom, Dumbledore casts a spell called Arresto Momentum on him right as the screen fades to black. When Harry wakes up in the infirmary, he's fine apart from the usual Dementor after-effects, so the spell presumably slowed his fall to a safe speed.
Literature
- I've Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level: Azusa's Flight magic triggers automatically while she's unconscious in the air, floating her gently down to the ground — although given her Complete Immortality, it's more for the ground's sake than hers.
- Pale: The boon of the Stuck-In Place is surviving what would be otherwise lethal falls from any height, as Avery finds out when the Path drops her back to Earth from at least hundreds of feet up after solving it.
- Reign of the Seven Spellblades: The spell Elletardus slows a falling person it's cast on. This spell is commonly used by the "catchers" in broomsports to rescue their designated Flying Broomstick riders in the event they're unhorsed during a match: Oliver is drafted as Nanao's catcher after using the spell to catch her on impulse during her tryout for the Wild Geese team.
- Saintess Summons Skeletons: Sofia would have liked to purchase an item to allow true flight, but on a tight budget she instead settles for a slow-falling ring. The salesperson advises that when constantly infused with mana, it's "Something like two or three seconds to fall down a meter," and that they're typically used as safety precautions for high-altitude workers. Sofia, on the other hand, mostly wants it for staying in the air long enough to charge her angelic lightning bolts.
- Sorcery! has the appropriately-named FAL spell, which makes the spellcaster's body light as a feather allowing them to float to the ground if caught in a deep fall.
- In Star Wars expanded universe materials, Force users can use the Force to levitate themself off the ground or lessen the impact of a landing or fall after jumping or falling downwards. They can also catch others falling down and levitate them safely onto the ground. Though both require concentration.
- Wax and Wayne: Wax's Feruchemical power lets him increase and decrease his weight, so he can blunt a fall just by becoming light enough for air resistance to slow him. It pairs well with his Not Quite Flight abilities.
Live-Action TV
- Thunderbirds: In the episode "Move and you're dead", Alan and Grandma are rescued from a high bridge by having them jump on to a giant fan, which breaks their fall.
Tabletop Games
- Dungeons & Dragons:
- No campaign with a lot of verticality is complete without the trusty Feather Fall spell, which slows the fall of up to five creatures (including the caster) to 60 feet per round, and lets them land on their feet if they land before the one-minute timer runs out. Since each round is six seconds, this means that the fall can be about 180 meters, which is usually more than enough (especially since it can be cast mid-air). Some magic items can also replicate this effect, either repeatedly or as a single-use thing, usually carried by NPCs who are expected to spend a lot of time high in the air.
- Basic Dungeons & Dragons supplement The Book of Marvelous Magic
- The Leaf of Falling is a magic item that prevents the owner from taking damage while falling less than 60 feet.
- The Net of Landing is a magic item that absorbs a total of up to two hundred Hit Points of damage to its owner from falling, then becomes non-magical.
- In Eberron, disposable Feather Fall Talismans are commonplace in the skyscraper-filled city of Sharn. They're cheap (50 GP in 3E), but only function for one round so the user has to be careful about when they activate them.
Video Games
- Assassin's Creed: Odyssey: The protagonist starts with an ability that makes it impossible to die from falling damage (presumably this is how they survived getting tossed off a cliff as a child), and a later upgrade makes them simply immune.
- Baldur's Gate III features a potion/ Level 1 transmutation spell that grants immunity to fall damage for ten turns.
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution: One of Jensen's augmentations, the Icarus Landing System, uses technology to achieve this. The augment automatically activates when it detects the user is going into freefall and generates electromagnetic force focused downwards against the Earth's gravity, slowing their descent. Jensen can also discharge the energy upon landing to create a shockwave to shock and knock out anyone nearby.
- Disney's Pocahontas: By helping a nest of little birds, the player gains the ability to fall from great heights without losing health: Pocahontas floats down gently to the ground. The more feathers the player has, the longer the drop.
- The Elder Scrolls:
- The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind: The "Slowfall" spell effect slows your fall speed and negates fall damage. Not to be confused with the "Feather" spell effect, which instead reduces your encumbrance.
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: The Boots of Springheel Jak are a pair of boots that fortify the wearer's Acrobatics skill, allowing for higher jumps. They factor into a Thieves' Guild quest where you must wear them to survive a steep drop, though they're destroyed in the process.
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: The "Become Ethereal" Dragon Shout puts you into an ethereal form, in which you cannot deal nor take any damage. It didn't take long for players to realize this includes fall damage, using it to survive high jumps.
- EverQuest: The Levitate spell acts this way. Players can't actually fly with it, but will slowly descend off high areas until they're hovering a couple inches off the ground.
- EverQuest II: Feather Fall can be found on certain cloaks, which greatly aids players who don't have a Safe Fall skill. The Cloak of the Harvester is the most noteworthy example, as it is obtained through the Proof of the Pudding tradeskill questline rather than relying on luck to have a similar cloak obtained from loot drops or the Legends of Norrath loot packs. Erudites, Dark Elves, Fae, and Arasai also have racial versions of feather fall that only work when they're not riding on a mount.
- Fallout 4: The Freefall Legs are a unique pair of combat armor legs that have the Acrobat legendary effect, which negates all fall damage incurred when worn. The employee who developed them in-universe, Jack Rockford, is likely a Company Cross References to Springheel Jak from The Elder Scrolls.
- In Final Fantasy XIV, everyone inside the Tower of Zot is at risk of falling to their deaths as it collapses following the destruction of its core. G'raha Tia saves the Scions as well as the countless captives inside with timely use of a levitation spell, cushioning their fall so everyone arrives on the ground unharmed.
- Final Fantasy XIII has "gravity bombs". A grenade-like object that you throw down before jumping from an aircraft or elevated location (designed to be used by the military when jumping from airplanes). Upon hitting the ground the grenade generates a localized forcefield that negates the inertia of an object falling into it, then gently drops the object to the ground.
- FromSoftware:
- Dark Souls II has the Silvercat Ring, which reduces fall damage by 75%. Useful in a game with a lot of long drops, especially since one of these drops is right outside the place where you can buy it, and it lets you skip almost directly to one of the game's Climax Bosses. It also stacks with a number of leggings that have similar effects (though you can only wear one of those at a time).
- The silvercat ring returns in Dark Souls III, this time negating fall damage outright, though, unlike in the previous game, you will still die if the fall is enough to kill you. The Ringed City DLC also includes a few long drops with a circle of writing at the bottom that, unlike the ring, actually does save you from death by falling.
- Elden Ring, being in many ways a Spiritual Successor to Dark Souls, also has its own cat-themed item for this purpose, the Longcat Talisman, which, like the Dark Souls III version, renders the player completely immune to fall damage. Also like that version, this does not mean it renders you immune to dying by falling, and since the gap between "take damage" and "die" is so small in this game, it's functionally useless. Given that it's found on a dead body at the bottom of a deep pit, this may be an intentional Joke Item from the developers.
- Genshin Impact: Xiao has the unique ability to negate any Fall Damage he takes whenever he performs a Plunge Attack, no matter how high his initial altitude was.
- Glory of Heracles IV: Gift from the Gods: Usually, your party can fall from high places and just walk it off thanks to being immortals. However, when you get a mortal party member, Moirae bring you a relic that negates damage from these falls. They still have to fall face-first on the ground, though.
- The Glide Armor The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom grants Link complete immunity to fall damage as a Set Bonus (in addition to each individual piece giving you greater horizontal movement while skydiving).
- Minecraft has two variants;
- Feather Falling is an enchantment unique to boots that reduces fall damage, though the fall remains otherwise the same.
- Slow Falling is a status effect caused by a specific potion that does Exactly What It Says on the Tin, slowing a fall for a set period of time.
- Portal has the Advanced Knee Replacement and Long Fall Boots, both developed by Aperture Science, which completely negate any damage caused by falling long distances, which is useful when experimenting with portals that can be placed on any surface including the ceiling. Chell can even achieve terminal velocity by falling through two portals placed against each other and still land perfectly safe when one of them closes. They also apparently have some function that makes sure the wearer always lands on their feet.
- Prince of Persia: A unique potion near the end of Level 7 allows the Prince to fall slowly for a limited time. This renders him immune to any Falling Damage, allowing him to safely drop to the exit door, which is at the bottom of a drop that takes a block of life at best and all of it at worst.
- In Saints Row: The Third, fully upgrading your resistance to Falling Damage makes you completely impervious to harm from any height, including one high enough for instant death, removing the need for a parachute outside of precision landing.
- Terraria: You can craft Featherfall Potions using harpy feathers and some magic herbs. They reduce your falling speed and make you immune to fall damage for ten minutes, and you can control the speed of your descent with the arrow keys.
- World of Warcraft:
- The Mage spell Slow Fall and the Priest spell Levitate cause the target to fall slowly, although Levitate will also cause them to hover off the ground and Walk on Water while Slow Fall has no other benefits. The icon for Slow Fall is even a feather.
- Falling damage is classified as physical damage that ignores any attempt at reduction, but not outright negation. Paladins have access to two spells that completely negate physical damage, meaning its entirely possible for them to fall distances that would be lethal for anyone else, and activating either just before impact, walking away from what would've been a pancaking fall without a scratch. The ground probably isn't feeling too great though.
Web Animation
- Dork Souls 3: Seasoned Knight, being based on Dark Souls III, has the same circle of writing that saves the Ashen One from dying when they hit the ground (listed under Video Games). Unlike in the game, the Demon From Below simply drags some dirt over the writing, cancelling it out just as the Ashen One hits the ground.
Webcomics
- In Darths & Droids, the GM explains the absence of safety railings on Coruscant by saying there are gravity field generators that help the buildings stay up, and slow any falling object or person to safe speeds. This comes back to bite them in the next campaign, as Obi-Wan has absolutely no fear of jumping the window of a skyscraper since he knows he'll be fine, removing any actual threat from the situation — so the GM throws a river of lava at the bottom of the fall.
- In Grrl Power, Halo's flight orb eventually unlocks what she calls Featherfall, causing her to float gently to the ground when she falls from high places. Unlike her orbs' other abilities, this one is a "passive" that works even when she's not holding it.
- The Order of the Stick: After vampire Durkon mind-controls Belkar into jumping off the side of an airship, twice, Belkar buys a cloak with a permanent Feather Fall effect on it.
- The Orphan Webcomic Persona Animus has Elise Bowen and Moira Glendwyr sent as emissaries of the Jewel Kingdom to negotiate with renegade Baron Aquila. En route, they are attacked by a feral tiger, and plummet off a cliffside trying to escape the beast. Moira is sure they'll meet their doom upon impact, but Elise evokes "Wind and Sky" air magic to create an air cushion beneath them. Elise and Moira come to ground with a mild thump on page 12, while the tiger fares much worse, and dies upon impact nearby. Viewable here
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- Bjorn in Table Titans engraves a few coins with Willed Runes that negate gravity, initially as part of a plan to capture a carriage, but when he's later thrown down a very deep pit, he uses one on himself to halt his fall. The last meter or so still hurts, though.
Web Original
- 17776: By the year 17776, a global Nanomachine network protects people from environmental hazards, including cushioning anyone who falls from a height — or, in one case, who runs into an F5 tornado and gets flung miles away during a cross-country football game. Humanity has Complete Immortality, but presumably they appreciate the comfort.
Western Animation
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: Airbenders and firebenders often make use of the Newton's Third Law variant of this trope, firing off jets of air or fire underneath them as they're falling to slow their momentum.
- Numberjacks: In one episode, Five is about to fall from a high height, and so the Numberjacks fire brain gain (a type of Applied Phlebotinum made from the combined thoughts of the Numberjacks, agents, and the viewers) to make her fall slowly.
- In The Owl House, one of the glyph combinations Luz discovers is the Safety Hover, which causes a falling object or person to hover for a few seconds before they hit the ground.
- Steven Universe: Steven can make himself weightless in the air, which not only allows him to jump extremely high, it also allows him to safely float to the ground.
Real Life
- Parachutes are a mundane version of this, a device carried on your back that, when activated, reduces the speed at which you're falling to the point where you can make a relatively safe landing. Instead of magic or advanced sci-fi technology, it uses a large piece of sturdy cloth to create as much air resistance as possible, slowing the fall.
