http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ColdIron

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One of the most commonly-seen Depleted Phlebotinum Shells and the traditional bane of The Fair Folk. Other supernatural creatures, such as werewolves and vampires, may also display a weakness to it. On occasion, this may also extend to elves.

Iron may be treated as naturally magic-disrupting or just poisonous for certain creatures. Sometimes it's supposed to suck the magic out of The Fair Folk (similar to the way it sucks heat out of the body), usually accompanied with screams about how "it burns". Sometimes it's got something to do with ferromagnetism, or related to iron's nuclear stability, or its resistance to rust.

Even when it doesn't actually harm anyone, iron may be portrayed as a magically inert substance that blocks, weakens or dampens magic, or that cannot itself be affected by it.

There's little agreement about what "cold" means in this context. Sometimes it just means that the iron, at the moment, isn't hot. Sometimes it's cold-worked iron, as opposed to hot-worked. Sometimes it's more complicated, like iron that has never been smelted, or iron that's been smelted in a magic way that doesn't involve any heat. Or it may also be a reference to the fact that heating magnets to a certain point causes them to lose their magnetism , so "cold" iron is iron that still has its magnetic (magic) power.

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Alternatively, it might just be a poetic reference to any iron (much as "cold steel" was used in later times), just because metals at room temperature feel cold thanks to heat conductivity. These instances are generally more faithful to the old folklore behind The Fair Folk, in which this trope comes up as as a particularly old form of "magic vs. technology" symbolism. The logic behind these mythos is that metallic iron, being a man-made substance never found in nature, is anathema to the nature-inclined Fae.

Thunderbolt Iron may or may not be related: meteorite alloys are usually iron-based and can be cold-worked when no fuel is available to make steel. They are good in cold climates because they don't become brittle in cold as easily as carbon steels do (if they're one of those rarities among rarities that isn't brittle at all temperatures because of impurities).

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Cold Iron may be a reason why Armor and Magic Don't Mix, as well as a form of Unobtainium in some cases.

Sub-Trope of Supernatural Repellent and Fantasy Metals. See also Silver Bullet, for another metal with anti-supernatural properties.

Examples:

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Anime & Manga

The Ancient Magus' Bride: Fairies are vulnerable to iron, and can be restrained with something as simple as a glove with iron thread woven into it.

Ushio and Tora: Highly implied: the Kouhamei sect's weapons are made of iron and used against youkai, while the Beast Spear itself is made of, possibly, Thunderbolt Iron. Even Hakumen no Mono has a tail made of iron (later upgraded in a tail made of steel blades) to specifically kill other youkai.

Card Games

Munchkin: In Munchkin Bites, Cold Iron is a trap card that only affects Changeling characters.

Comic Books

Fan Works

Films — Live-Action

Folklore

Putting a horseshoe over the doorway was considered a way to protect the home from intrusion of The Fair Folk — this has allusions to the story of the Exodus and the Passover. Sometimes burying a doornail was used this way too. Although often burying iron was a way to conceal the iron from The Fair Folk, and if you could get them to stand over it they would be trapped and bound until they agreed to your demands.

Literature

Live-Action TV

Being Human (US): Iron of any form can dissipate a ghost, sending them back to the spot where they originally died. A fireplace poker is enough to do the job most of the time, particularly in the trio's home.

Doctor Who: In the serial "The Dæmons", the Doctor successfully uses a trowel to fend off a gargoyle that merely thinks it's susceptible to Cold Iron.

The Librarians: In "The Librarians and the Hidden Sanctuary", Cassie uses iron shavings to slow a fairy down, while staging an accident to summon it. Later on, when it's freed and goes on a rampage, she and the townsfolk lure it into a wrought iron gazebo, rendering it powerless. Supernatural: Iron, including that in things like wrenches or fireplace pokers, can be used to temporarily decorporealize a ghost. It also weakens magical beings, and binding someone with steel or iron shackles can prevent them from using magic.

Myths & Religion

Podcasts

In Metamor City "cold iron" refers to cold-worked iron, and Damascus steel is produced at low enough temperatures to qualify.

Radio

Big Finish Doctor Who: Used against the "marsh weans" (a disembodied intelligence believed to be evil spirits in 1950s Orkney) in the audio drama The Revenants. The Technobabble explanation is that ferrous metal "presumably disrupt[s] the electromagnetic force that keeps it together". (In a Doing In the Wizard twofer, the local streams are heavy with iron ore, which is why they can't cross running water.)

Roleplay

CDT Adventure: This is the reason why Sindar (a fairy) insists on the barkeep at the restaurant serving his ale in a non-metal glass. One of many tools in Seenarnha's cursebreaking arsenal is a pair of cold iron tongs which she uses for handling magical items (or snakes) that shouldn't be touched with bare hands.

In Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues, the cold steel of a fire extinguisher is shown to be the only thing able to affect the other incorporeal snake apparitions that attack the main characters. The next day, Hyeon stocks up on fire extinguishers just in case they attack again.

Tabletop Games

7th Sea: The Sidhe are vulnerable to cold iron. The second edition defines cold iron as iron which has been cold-worked, i.e. hammered without heating to make it stronger, and wrought iron (i.e. smelted worked iron) doesn't work on them. It's commonly used to make everyday tools, but rarely weapons; there's no reason given for the vulnerability.

Anima: Beyond Fantasy: (Normal) iron as well as its alloys are the bane of the Duk'zarist, the dark elves note very likely taken from the Final Fantasy IV dark elf as detailed below

Beyond the Pale: Many creatures, including fey, are vulnerable to this substance. Its effects increase inversely to the degree to which it's worked — raw iron ore is the most potent variant, while steel has almost no effects whatsoever.

Champions: In the adventure The Coriolis Effect, Ch'andarra and her daughter the Black Enchantress take damage when touched by raw (cold) iron.

Dungeons & Dragons: The "Fool's Gold" spell makes copper coins look like gold, but it fails when the false gold touches iron. Depending on the edition, demons that could normally only be harmed by magical weapons could also be harmed by iron weapons. 3e+ has Cold Iron as a special material (like mithril or adamantine) for metal weapons. The rule of thumb is that you need this to harm (or at least, do full harm) to Fey or chaotic outsiders. The downside? It's one of the flimsier special metals (although just as strong as steel), and there's a static price that must be paid in order to enchant it, doubling the price of the lowliest weapon enhancement (at least in 3e based systems). Still, it's arguably one of the best special materials for weapons. Fluff-wise, the Dungeon Master's Guide for 3E explains it as a special form of iron that is mined deep underground and cold-worked to preserve its properties. Even as early as 2nd Edition, some undead took double damage from cold iron weapons.

Exalted: Iron weapons likewise deal enhanced damage to The Fair Folk and dispels their glamours. Name "cold iron" in this case references just the burning cold it feels to them, not any specific way of making it — any iron will do (note that most cultures use bronze or steel). Although protagonists rarely bother with such measures and generally just stab them with the same gigantic swords of magical gold they use on everything else.

Faerys Tale allows you to implement cold iron, though it's optional. Under the game's take, cold iron is simply wrought iron (as opposed to cast iron), and although it can't truly kill faeries ( nothing can kill faeries), the merest touch of it will send a faery into a deep sleep for anywhere from hours to weeks.

can kill faeries), the merest touch of it will send a faery into a deep sleep for anywhere from hours to weeks. GURPS: The 4th Edition version of GURPS Fantasy discusses cold iron, and multiple different ways of implementing it. The default is that it's simply a descriptive term for regular iron.

Pathfinder: Cold iron is a specific form of iron minded deep underground, which does additional damage to fey and demons. Linnorms, a breed of ancient, primal dragons, are also vulnerable to cold iron weapons, something presumably linked to their close ties with the First World and the fey.

RuneQuest: Iron is poison to elves and trolls, because the dwarves who invented it — not "found", not "refined", they invented a metal — designed it as a weapon against them.

Warhammer: Cold iron, defined as iron worked without the use of fire, can create weapons capable of harming spirits and other ethereal creatures.

White Wolf games: In Changeling: The Dreaming, cold iron wounds do aggravated damage to changelings — and if they're killed with it, their fae soul will never reincarnate, effectively becoming a ghost. The only reason steel doesn't screw up the Kithain is because a changeling pulled a Heroic Sacrifice back in the day to ensure that it wouldn't. In Changeling: The Lost, "cold iron" is anything that has a 95% iron content, and it negates any defense wrought by fae magic. The main book emphasizes that in the modern era, you'll rarely get anything like that unless it's a specialty work or from an earlier era. note Stainless steel, which makes up a lot of modern consumer goods, generally contains at least 10-15% chromium On top of that, you've got hand-forged iron, which is iron that's never been heated by human hands or means. This means most hand-forged iron weapons are rough and blocky, but they do hideous amounts of damage to the True Fae. There are many given accounts on why this is, but the most common one is that the Gentry once had a Contract with Iron; they got power for it in return for making sure it remained unshaped. Then humans discovered smelting, the Contract broke, and Iron is pissed. In the second edition, the effects are as above but acquiring iron and cold iron is slightly easier. Iron is defined as "what the average person would think of as iron" (so an iron gate or frying-pan would count, but not a steel sword or stainless-steel utensil), while Cold Iron is iron which was hand-forged, not cast or created by machines or magic. It's also mentioned that iron can never be manipulated, blocked, or affected by fae magic, this includes the basic effects of being a Changeling (so, for example, Changelings cannot use their escape artist powers if bound by iron shackles). Werewolf: The Forsaken: The idigam Ansar-zalag cannot harm anyone carrying a piece of meteoric iron.



Video Games

In Ancient Domains of Mystery, playing as a Mist Elf will make you suffer damage with each turn you are in contact with iron or steel items. Equipping a cursed or autocursing iron item, with no way of uncursing it to get rid of it, is one of the million possible ways to die in the game.

Battle for Wesnoth: The dialogue in The South Guard reveals that elves have a weakness to cold iron, which gets more severe with age. While the novices find the sensation only mildly uncomfortable, an elven sage would suffer unbearable searing pain. You are told so by Mebrin, who was tortured this way.

Final Fantasy IV: The Dark Elf is vulnerable to iron and has enchanted his cave to be heavily magnetic, requiring you to reach him without wielding anything metallic. When you reach him, at first it's a Hopeless Boss Fight, but if you talked to Edward in the castle, he gives you a harp which breaks the spell, allowing you to wield metal . Alternatively, you can go to the one town that sells silver (i.e. non-magnetic) equipment beforehand. It's a bit of a trip, but worth it .

. Alternatively, you can go to the one town that . In Pokémon, Steel-type attacks are super effective against Fairy-type Pokémon, and Steel-type Pokémon resist Fairy-type attacks. Prior to the introduction of the Fairy-type, most Pokémon based on Fairies were Normal-types, which are also resisted by Steel. Of course, that makes sense when thinking how throwing your body against, or simply lashing out at, a piece of metal would indeed be woefully ineffective, but they resist even energy attacks like Swift and Hyper Beam.

Princess Maker 2: In the adventure section of the game, there is an NPC Elf that can change your daughter's statistics. However, he will run away if your daughter is equipped with iron weapon or armor.

Tomb Raider Chronicles: During the segment set in Ireland (when Lara was 15 and therefore without weaponry) she is attacked at several points by small imp-like creatures. Throwing a piece of iron at them reduces them to a smoking puddle.

Web Comics

Web Original

Web Videos

Tales from My D&D Campaign: Little One wields a Cold Iron sword. Per standard D&D rules, it cuts through the defenses of any sort of Fey creature, which saves the party more than once.

Western Animation

Real Life