tvtropes.org

Mole Miner - TV Tropes

  • ️Thu Dec 30 2010

Mole Miner (trope)

Moles, the denizens of the underground, digging their tunnels. Often living in a Tunnel Network and in miner attire, no doubt Tunnel Kings. Also included are gophers and other burrowing rodents. (Note that moles, which are not rodents, are often portrayed with prominent, rodent-like incisors, something they don't have in reality). See also Mole Men, who are very similar to this trope, but more humanoid.

Not to be confused with The Mole. See also Drill Mole.

Sub-Trope of Animal Occupation Stereotypes.

Examples:

open/close all folders 

Eastern European Animation 

  • The Little Mole: The main character Krtek a.k.a. Krteček (meaning "mole" and "little mole" respectively), invented by the Czech animator Zdeněk Miler, is a cute little mole and is often seen with a shovel in his hands.

Films — Animation 

  • The Lion King (1994): A gopher delivers "news from the underground". (Note that gophers aren't found in Africa. The character is possibly a mole-rat).
  • In The Rescuers, one of the bayou dwellers is a mole with a miner's cap.
  • In Strike, Mungo Morrison is a mole who is expected to work at his father's gold mine, but would rather be a footballer.

Literature 

  • Mole from The Animals of Farthing Wood tunnels his way to safety when the animals are trapped in a shed, allowing them to escape.
  • The books based on CBBC's 1980s mascot Gordon T. Gopher made much of his burrowing skills, which generally didn't come up when he was squeaking at Philip Schofield between Bananaman and Grange Hill.
  • The Chronicles of Narnia has several examples of talking moles especially given to digging.
  • Redwall: All moles are experts at tunneling. Even Axtel Sturnclaw, who wanders around smashing vermin with a giant hammer.
  • The Wind in the Willows: Moley, who likes nothing better than the cozy safety of his burrow.

Puppet Shows 

  • Momfer, from De Fabeltjeskrant used to be a miner before he moved to the forest. He has a constant cough. In the Dutch original, he speaks in a Limburg accent.

Toys 

  • The Moles from Whack-A-Mole all wear miner's helmets.

Video Games 

  • Age of Wonders:
    • Giant moles are just animals, but they are domesticated by Dwarves to serve as both mounts and tunnel-diggers.
    • In Age of Wonders 4, races with the Mole-kin form are Mole Men and by default get the Underground Adaptation trait, meaning their starting city is underground and they can dig tunnels without needing to research.
  • Animal Crossing: Mr. Resetti is a mole in a miner outfit who chews out the player every time they reset the game.
  • Arknights has Shana Moleman, a zalak (based on rodents) using the code name Cement. She's a defender operator who runs her own construction company in Rim Billiton, the equivalent of Australia.
  • Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard: The kingdom's mole population was the previous owners of the Mole Mines, though they abandoned it sometime prior to the game's events. One of the moles eventually provides Finn and Gwen with the means of crossing the ocean via an old boat the moles used to transport minerals from the mines.
  • Dokapon Kingdom: Mitch Digger is a variation on this trope, being a mole with a jackhammer. He can use it to attempt to dig a hot spring near one of your towns, increasing its value if he succeeds.
  • Donkey Kong Country Returns: Mole miners appear in the Mine World, and attack with pickaxes. Mole Miner Max is the boss of that world as well.
  • Dragon Quest has Mischievous Moles and variations thereof as common enemies. They all attack with a wooden shovel they carry in their hand. At one point in Dragon Quest VIII, you have to travel through a system of their tunnels.
  • EarthBound (1994) has friendly moles as well as evil ones.
  • Fallout 76: The hostile race known as "mole miners" are actually severely mutated humans from the pre-War era that were trapped deep in subterranean mines dug out in Appalachia, eventually fusing with the very mining suits they used in their former occupations. Despite their condition, almost all of their cognition and human-like behavior remains, with mole miners frequently carrying things they considered important in a previous life, such as keys to their old mining lockers. The particular cause of their significant degeneration is unclear, whether it is caused by radiation, the toxic atmosphere of their underground dwellings in the Ash Heap region, or a combination of both. However, it is significant enough to prevent them from breathing normally without respirators and breathing apparatuses. Mole miners are highly communal and are rarely (if ever) encountered outside of their organized groups. Their hierarchy follows the organizational structure of pre-War mining operations, with the actual miners (including scrapers, diggers, and rockbreakers) led by foremen and supervisors, a testament to their pasts as coal miners.
  • Last Scenario: One dungeon, the Possessed Mine, contains these as random encounters.
  • Little Nemo: The Dream Master features one of these as an animal Nemo can feed candy to and take control of to dig through the earth. He comes complete with mining helmet.
  • In McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure, in the Circus Train level, these are present as enemies in the coal cars. They are dressed in mining helmets and goggles, and attack Ronald with their pickaxes.
  • Monty Mole: The titular character works as a miner.
  • Rolo to the Rescue: The mole's special ability is tunneling through ground with a spade. Miner's helmet? Check.
  • Shovel Knight: An Ambiguously Human example (given the presence of Funny Animals in the setting), Mole Knight is a mole-themed knight that can fast-tunnel through the ground and has a personal goal to excavate the Lost City.
  • Spyro the Dragon:
    • Spyro: A Hero's Tail has Blink the Mole, the Professor's nephew, a hyperactive, "fresh-air-a-phobic" sidekick with great digging abilities. The Professor himself isn't a mole miner, though; just a scientist who happens to be an anthropomorphic mole.
    • The Legend of Spyro: The Manweersmalls are a species of intelligent moles who detest being aboveground and much prefer living below the surface, and are talented miners and excavators.
  • Suikoden II: He's supposed to be a groundhog, but Bonaparte, despite being some kind of horrible monster, is effectively a mole with a glandular problem.
  • Super Mario Bros.:
    • Super Mario World: Monty Moles are mole-like enemies who burrow underground before popping up to attack Mario.
    • Super Mario Bros. 3 featured Rocky Wrenches, which resemble reptilian moles that threw wrenches at either Mario or Luigi.
    • Super Mario RPG has the anthropomorphic moles of Moleville. Most of the mole men work in the mines, but when you first arrive, a Star Piece crashing into the Mines has caused a cave-in, trapping Pa Mole, and his children Dyna & Mite. After Mario saves the children (and the Star Piece) one of the moles digs a shortcut to the Mine Cart Madness mini-game.
  • In Toe Jam And Earl, the Mole enemies who burrow underground and steal the titular duo's presents are dressed in mining helmets.
  • In Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise, Profitamoles can enter the mine to dig up items such as coins or even a Dragonache egg.

Webcomics 

  • Digger: Protagonist Digger is a wombat, a kind of Australian animal that could be loosely described as a marsupial badger. Digger and her fellow wombats make their livings as miners, and she digs her way into the story after encountering a patch of hallucinogenic gas in one of her tunnels. She's as strong as you would expect a miner-creature to be, her weapon of choice is a pickaxe, and many of her lines have something to do with geology, mining, or other mining animals. Ed the hyena finds out just how strong Digger is when he tries to sneak up on her while she's asleep.

    Digger: Man, don't you know not to mess with a sleeping wombat? We swing pickaxes for twelve hours a day. We're like biceps with feet.

Western Animation 

  • Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog:
    • Spelunk from "Subterranean Sonic'' is one of these, and he doesn't take kindly to outsiders stealing his treasure. While Sonic and Tails don't have any intention of doing so, Dr. Robotnik certainly does.
    • In "Honey, I Shrunk the Hedgehog", Sonic and Tails work alongside an entire team of these in a coal mine. McMole is their leader.
  • Alfred J. Kwak: Alfred's adoptive father Henk, while almost never shown working, is some kind of a mining expert. His clothing, with the blue overalls and yellow safety helmet, is intended to invoke a typical miner outfit.
  • CatDog has a gopher living under their house, who claims that everything that ends up underground belongs to him.
  • Classic Disney Shorts: A gopher often pesters Pluto the Pup. In one cartoon, he uses Pluto's buried bones as support beams for his tunnels. In another, he ends up trapped inside Minnie's house and tunnels under the shag carpeting.
  • Danger Mouse: In "Planet of the Cats", when Danger Mouse and Penfold are going through the sewers, they meet up with a mole who wears a miner helmet and speaks with a Yorkshire accent.
  • Redwall: There are mole denizens of Redwall, and the work of digging generally rests on them. For instance, during a siege, the moles dug a tunnel from the Abbey's basement to outdoor sources of water, providing the refugees enough water to bathe as well as enough to drink.
  • Roobarb: Roobarb encounters a mole digging on his quest to find water for the pond, and the mole guides him to the residence of the frog Dr Limestone.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987): One minor villains is a mutant mole named Dirtbag, who dresses like a miner and is armed with a pickaxe.
  • Winnie-the-Pooh: Gopher is an anthropomorphic, well, gopher usually depicted as living in a system of mineshafts dug beneath the Hundred-Acre Wood and acting like a stereotypical, pickaxe-toting and helmet-wearing miner.