"What is that strange rattling sound?" I blurted out.
"Your knees rattling together," was his simple and unflattering answer.
"Your knees rattling together," was his simple and unflattering answer.
In many forms of media, there are scenes that express a character's fear, whether it be from heights, or from entering an abandoned mansion. It is worth noting that at times, those characters will, as a result, tremble. Though it can be considered on the note of serious terror, once the sound effect of trembling is implemented, or once you notice that characters are shaking in the most exaggerated way possible, it seems as though those scenes are there for comedic effect. As a result, characters will often joke about the other character "shaking like a leaf", with the portrayal of one's teeth chattering or knees banging together adding to the comic relief (most prominent in Scooby-Doo).
A common feature for a Nervous Wreck. Compare Security Cling.
Examples:
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Advertising
- A '90s Little Caesar commercial depicted a class getting ready to take an exam, and one of the kids was shaking rapidly when he was about to take it.
Anime and Manga
- The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You: In Coach Rentarou's Hot'n'Loving Training (Ch.34), bookish Shizuka trembles in fear when Mei is set to throw her a baseball. Mei takes pity on her and sends her a roller instead.
- At the beginning of the second chapter of Asteroid in Love (animated right after the opening credits in the first episode), Ao trembles in fear as she gets overwhelmed by Mira's texts.
- Monaka in Dragon Ball Super. He is so terrified to fight Hit that his teeth chatter and his knees shake.
- Eighty-Eight Divided by Two: Kanade has a psychological complex about playing the piano, and she refuses to do it in the present day. Her roommate Mitsuru ropes her into it, but when Kanade tries, her hands shake so much she physically can't bring them down to the keys ... unless Mitsuru plays a duet with her.
- Megumi from Food Wars! is known to always shake violently when anxious.
- Bocchi Hitori in Hitoribocchi no OO Seikatsu does this when she is anxious, as her legs tend to cramp under stress. And since she has a severe case of social anxiety, this happens pretty often.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- Diamond is Unbreakable: Hayato spends a moment quaking inside a chest after nearly getting caught and discovering Yoshikage Kira is impersonating his father.
- Golden Wind: As Bucciarati is escorting Trish to meet with her father, she suddenly shakes upon pondering all the recent events that have happened and is concerned something worse will come after her.
- Stone Ocean: In the final fight, Emporio is momentarily quaking with fear as he's the only remaining hero left after everyone else has been killed by Pucci, who is approaching to kill him. He gets over this by gathering his courage to fight back.
- Steel Ball Run: Lucy Steel falls into shivering fear once backed into a room where not only Funny Valentine discovers her, but also has an encounter with the Holy Corpse.
- JoJolion: Once Josuke informs Karera that Kira has died, she immediately stops her movements, develops chattering teeth, and starts uncontrollably shaking as she realizes the threat that targeted Kira is still around.
- My Hero Academia:
- All Might tries to stop his legs from shaking due to the trauma of training with his past teacher.
- Izuku Midoriya also subverts this trope on a couple of occasions, mainly whenever he is nervous to fight and his legs won't move.
- Naruto:
- In the episode "The Cursed Warrior", Naruto tries to convince Lady Tsunade that he isn't scared of ghosts, but his knees are visibly trembling in front of her.
- Ino experiences this is as well due to being afraid of helping Sakura fight the sound village in episode 32.
- Shio Ogura from Nobunagun. In the very first episode, she experiences a life-threatening situation that causes her knees to knock together in fear. She tries to stop them from knocking by holding them, but it doesn't work.
- Usopp in One Piece. Even though he claims that he is not afraid, his shaking legs always tend to give it away.
- In the Pokémon: The Original Series episode "Clefairy and the Moon Stone", the professor tries to protect the Clefairy from Team Rocket, but Team Rocket note that his knees are shaking, thus making a loud noise.
- Shino Amakusa from Seitokai Yakuindomo. She is afraid of heights, and her shaky knees portray that. However, she tries to cover it up by saying she's shaking with excitement.
- Karen from Shomin Sample. Her legs start to shake when Kimito attempts to dominate her in regards to what clothes she wants to wear.
- Keith from Zatch Bell!. After losing the fight between Kiyo Takamine and Zatch Bell in chapter 196, his legs shake so hard that he notes that they are practically laughing at him.
Fan Works
- Bandit's Belt:
- Socks shakes in fear after Chilli lashes out at her and tries to make her eat broken glass.
- The younger Wendy shakes in fear when Stripe threatens to tell her parents that she broke a portrait.
- One dog shakes in fear upon seeing an infected dog.
- The soldiers shake in fear upon seeing the infected Nana Chris.
- In Mirai SMP, when Techno comes across him and Travis, Cooper is trying to act brave, standing in front of Travis holding a tiny dagger, but Techno notices that his arms are shaking, giving away how scared he is.
- Patchwork (FFVII): After Aerith and Sephiroth are held captive by Shinra and forced to produce a child together, Tseng manages to track them to the small village they've been hiding out in, prompting a panic attack from Aerith, who is terrified of them coming and hauling them all back. The morning after, she's a nervous wreck, her arms trembling so much she can barely feed her son to the point that Seph takes over for her. He eventually realizes she's waiting for Shinra to show up and haul them away again.
- Wacky Racing (gelefant): Subverted. Jermaine shakes like a leaf not out of fear but because he's nervous about meeting and trying to talk with Penelope.
Films — Animation
- The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. Ichabod is absolutely terrified when traversing the woods due to the probability that the Headless Horse Man could appear. The smallest of sounds are enough to make his legs tremble like crazy.
- Back to the Outback: Maddie trembling in fear after a surprise encounter with Chazzie, who is also trembling in fear, is what clues him in on her being Not Evil, Just Misunderstood.
- Bedknobs and Broomsticks: A kangaroo, an ostrich, a hippo, and a fox's legs are all shaking in fear due to them facing a soccer team filled with a lion, a rhino, and a hyena.
- Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs: When Coal Black gets startled by the voices of the sebben dwarfs, her knees are shown knocking in rapid succession.
- In Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, the camera points to Kei Amemiya's legs shaking when she is confronted by Fuse in the sewers.
- In the original Kung Fu Panda 1, Shifu's messenger Zeng visibly quakes when Vachir gives him a friendly slap on the back while he's looking below, seeing how far he is from the ground in Chorh Gom Prison.
- The Little Mermaid (1989): When being grilled by King Triton over Ariel being in love, Sebastian notices his legs shaking with fear and sheepishly covers them.
- Make Mine Music:
- In "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met", Willie the Whale imagines himself portraying Mephistopheles, appearing onstage as a huge fire-breathing demon. Just offstage is a group of firemen at the ready, trembling at his fiery performance.
- One of the pitchers in "Casey at the Bat" also does this before throwing the ball.
- Mushu from Mulan trembles at the knees in fear for his life when he accidentally destroys the Great Stone Dragon.
- In My Little Pony: Equestria Girls 1, Twilight Sparkle's human legs quiver in fear due to being the goalie against Rainbow Dash in a soccer game.
- Scary Godmother when the kids get spooked by Scary Godmother's crew in the haunted house.
- In The Secret of NIMH, Jeremy's knees are knocking loudly as he drops Mrs. Brisby off at the entrance to the Great Owl's lair.
- In the opening of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, when Bowser emerges from his ship to face the penguin king, one of the former's Koopas is so scared that he's hiding in his shell, quivering. Though he stops quivering and sighs in relief once he sees what they're up against.
- Woody from Toy Story 1 when he encounters Sid's horrifying house.
- In Turning Red, Mei trembles in mortification as her mother confronts Devon at the Daisy Mart.
Films — Live-Action
- Jurassic Park (1993): Lex's enjoyment of a spoonful of jelly('jello') is interrupted by the terrifying sight of a Velociraptor. Her shaking in fear is emphasized by the spoonful of dessert consequently jiggling.
- 13 Tzameti: In the final Russian Roulette duel, veteran player 6 is calm while the protagonist 13 is soaked in sweat and trembling with fear.
- Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: In the opening sequence, when Wayne confronts a bug.
- Raiders of the Lost Ark: Colonel Dietrich starts quivering and recoiling in wide-eyed terror when one of the spirits that emerge from the Ark puts on a Nightmare Face.
- In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Eddie and Roger are at Maroon Studios to talk to R.K. Maroon about the sale of the studio to Cloverleaf. Eddie accuses Roger of wanting to leave because he's too scared. Roger says "Me, scared? Don't be ridiculous!", followed by him chattering his teeth in an exaggerated manner appropriate for a cartoon character like him.
- In The Wizard of Oz, the main cast trembles comedically when facing the Wizard.
Literature
- Casey at the Bat: The pitcher was so nervous his knees begin to shake.
- Magic Hour: Jermaine shakes like a leaf after he accidentally wakes up Dragonia and her family at the beginning of "Dragon Hoard."
- Princesses of the Pizza Parlor: In the first episode, Cassie was so worried about being caught in wrong-doing that her "knees were trembling".
Live-Action TV
- Interview with the Vampire (2022):
- "In Throes of Increasing Wonder...": In the climax, Louis de Pointe du Lac is visibly trembling with terror when Lestat de Lioncourt growls, "I'm not the Devil. You were wrong about that." Louis doesn't understand yet that Lestat is a vampire, but he still knows that he isn't human, and Louis being Catholic means that he naturally assumes that a supernatural creature who mauls a priest to death with his fangs must be demonic.
- "A Vile Hunger for Your Hammering Heart": Claudia, whose leg has just been broken by Bruce, is shaking like a leaf in the last shot we see of her before the scene cuts.
- "Don't Be Afraid, Just Start the Tape": In 1973, Daniel Molloy sometimes quivers with fright while the vampire Armand manipulates his body like he's an action figure.
- Legion: In "Chapter 22", while operating Cerebro, Charles Xavier trembles with fright after he makes contact with Amahl Farouk's mind.
Music
- In the music video for "Not Your Fault" by AWOLNATION, a guy's legs shake either from the cold or from being in a spooky cave.
Theatre
- Coppélia: A ballerina is pressured to check what's behind the closet. After seeing Coppelia in there, she hides and makes her legs tremble in an exaggerated manner.
- Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 1:
Ophelia: Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other; and with a look so piteous in purport as if he had been loosed out of hell to speak of horrors, he comes before me.
Video Games
- ANNO: Mutationem: In one side-mission at Skopp City, Ann locates a missing suspect shaking with fear and Blue with Shock after being trapped on a Missing Floor for several hours. In the Mysterious Console DLC, Noni becomes shaken with unease after her encounter with the second dungeon boss once it leaves it's shell behind.
- Buckshot Roulette has the player do this when picking up the shotgun. Granted, considering that they're literally about to play Russian Roulette but with a shotgun, but they stop doing this upon taking aim at the dealer, since they wouldn't have to worry much about getting hurt by shooting the dealer.
- Free Realms includes a cower emote that consists of this.
- Mr. Zero, the race commentator of F-Zero GX, is absolutely trembling when he has to interview evil or intimidating racers like Black Shadow and Blood Falcon, cowering away from them and holding out his microphone with a shaking arm.
- Haunting Starring Polterguy: As the title character frightens the Sardini family more and more, they'll quiver and become knock-kneed (complete with clattering sounds) as one of their reactions to the supernatural phenomena around them.
- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: Gossack, a timid man who lives in Windfall Island, will rapidly shiver upon sensing a strong noise or shaking. Link can making him shiver by rolling onto a wall in the Windfall Café. In a case of Cruelty Is the Only Option, doing that and then quickly taking a photo picture of Gossack while he's shivering is necessary to progress in a First-Person Snapshooter sidequest involving Lenzo.
- Pirates of the Burning Sea has a cower emote that consists of this.
- Super Mario Bros.: Luigi in spades. Fits hit Cowardly Lion status nicely.
- Luigi's Mansion has this as his default animation whenever he enters an area that's completely dark.
- Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time: Luigi's legs shake in a comedic fashion when UFOs attack the Mushroom Kingdom.
- Cirno from Touhou Project, after realizing the stakes at hand when Yuuka confronts her to battle.
- Yandere Simulator includes a nervous emote that consists of this.
Web Animation
- Happy Tree Friends: In "Don't Yank My Chain", Handy is seen quivering when he has to rely on The Mole to use a sledgehammer to free them from their chains.
Webcomics
- Sticky Dilly Buns sort-of-inverts the trope here
, when Ruby's knees shake due to lust rather than fear.
Web Original
- Can You Spare a Quarter?: Jamie trembles from fear when Graham extends his arm to him, and when he first meets Frank who reminds him of his father.
- In the fan film Deadpool: The Musical 2, the Moana song parody includes Deadpool singing these lines to lampshade the terrified reactions of the grunts:
Deadpool: [singing] You're face-to-mask with Deadpool and you're scared
You feel your knees start to shake— [spoken] Did you just piss?!
Web Videos
- Dolly And Friends: Whether it be Dolly, her brother, or some of her friends, there are a few moments when the characters legs will shake from fear.
- Pierry Radrik: Brazilian animation channel on YouTube named Pierry Radrik uploaded a video called "Buttercup And Spider", where her legs were shaking due to her fear of spiders. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ay-1sMoy0o
Western Animation
- The 3-2-1 Penguins! episode "Moon Menace on Planet Tell-a-Lie"'s musical segment told the story of Galaxy Gus. When high noon was approaching and the town of Gamma Gulch ran off. Galaxy Gus starts to shake in his boots, chatter his teeth and bite his gloved hand as the outlaw Honcho Villa approaches him for a showdown.
- "Camp Lakebottom": Gretchen's legs shake in 2 episodes. From fear in Cheeks of Dread, and from the cold in Undies Cover of the Night.
- In the Daffy Duck cartoon "What Makes Daffy Duck", Daffy's legs tremble in quick succession when hiding from duck season.
- Danger Mouse: In "Where There's a Well, There's a Way," DM and Penfold are traversing a dark cavern when DM hears some rapid knocking. Penfold (as he describes as it's pitch black except for the heroes' eyes) lowers his head and the knocking stops. He's got his head between his knees to keep them from knocking together.
- In the 1938 short "Ferdinand", everyone is afraid of Ferdinand, and the matador is portrayed with his knees knocking against each other.
- The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: In the episode "Crushed", Mandy has an Out of Character moment of falling in love, including sweaty palms and weak knees.
- In Growing Up Creepie, best friends Carla and Melanie's legs shake while being frightened in Creepie's house in the episode "Night of Fright".
- Hazbin Hotel:
- "Dad Beat Dad": After Alastor nearly goes all-out and threatens Husk with a Fate Worse than Death for knowingly pushing his Berserk Button, Husk is left on the floor visibly shaking in fear.
- "Hazbin Hotel: Behind Closed Doors": After Charlie finishes screaming at Emily's news, she sits still on the couch for a couple seconds, legs shivering with nerves.
- The Huckleberry Hound Show: In one episode, Huckleberry Hound takes the role of a lion tamer. The narrator states that once the lion notices any sign of fear in the lion tamer, it starts to make its pursuit. Consequently, the camera pans to Huck's knees knocking together.
- Andy from Maya & Miguel experiences this when he tries to hit on Esmeralda in the episode "The Letter''.
- Marvin the Tap-Dancing Horse: In two episodes of the show, the titular main character, Marvin The Tap Dancing Horse, had moments where his knees were knocking. Those episodes are Marvin's High Dive, and Stripe's World Tour.
- Mickey Mouse: Mickey's legs are shown shaking on multiple occasions in the 1929 "Haunted House" episode.
- Monica's Gang: There are a few moments where the characters will shake in fear. One of the most notable is with Monica herself. In the episode, Courage Ring, she has a crush on a boy she likes, but gets visibly nervous when she sees him. When her best friend, Maggy, pushes her closer to the boy, her knees start shaking and she stutters, not knowing what to say.
- Mr. Men and Little Miss: At the end of the episode Little Miss Shy Goes To The Fair, an owl spooks both Little Miss Shy, and Mr. Quiet, and their legs shake in fear.
- The Mr. Men Show: In a lot of Mr. Nervous' appearances, he is shown as anxious, nervous, scared, and whenever that happens, his knees start shaking.
- Fluttershy from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic tends to get in a nervous wreck where she trembles, hence her name.
- PAW Patrol: In Tracker Joins The Pups, Skye, Rubble, Tracker and Carlos hear a knocking sound. Then it's revealed that the sound was coming from Marshall, whose knees were shaking.
- Pixel Pinkie: In the season 1 episode, "Dare to Be Scared", Emily, Nikki, and Suzi's legs were shaking due to the haunted house.
- In the Porky Pig cartoon "The Case of the Stuttering Pig", Porky tells Petunia that he's not afraid, as the camera cuts to a close-up of his shaking knees.
- The Raggy Dolls: Lucy, just in general. Whenever she gets scared, she either falls into pieces, or her knees start knocking.
- In the episode "The Boy Who Cried Rat" of The Ren & Stimpy Show, Mrs. Pipe stands on top of a couch with her knees shaking because of her fear of mice.
- Scooby and Shaggy from Scooby-Doo. It's so prominent in the series that the theme song of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! notes that we can see how Scooby shakes and shivers.
- Tom and Jerry: Tom's knees bang together from behind the blankets while being told a scary story in the episode "Fraidy Cat".
- Mandy from Totally Spies!. The camera focuses on her knees knocking together when she is afraid to perform in front of a crowd in the episode "Black Widow". She was shaking in her boots!
- Vicky the Viking: There are many moments when a character's legs would shake, usually from fear, and always from the male characters.
- Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!: In "Wubbzy in the Woods", when Wubbzy ends up getting lost in the forest, he shakes in fear when he thinks he hears the sounds of dangerous forest creatures.
