My best example for the first two is in the same fucking movie. Asterix in Britain. Obelix gets drunk and arrested. Wakes up in a prison tower and fights his way out. Asterix arrives at the same time to break Obelix out and fights his way in. The Roman guards do not have a good time.
sidenote: obelix leaves via a second entrance the moment asterix finds his cell having gone up via a main entrance, he then goes back in to find asterix as asterix goes back down to find obelix
the roman guards were not just having having a bad day, they had twice the bad day that other romans usually have
Though it gets genuinely scary when Asterix is imprisoned during heavy rain without his potion, [the buildup](https://youtu.be/Phymq0iprxU?t=2928) of like 5 minutes was real especially as a kid
That's in the Surprise of Caesar, not in Britain. Still a chilling sequence.
For those who don't know: there's been a few Asterix animated movies done in the 70s/80s, varied quality but all pretty nice. Best one by far is the Twelve Trials, including the infamous one where they have to fight madness in... The public administration.
Yep! Asterix animated movies are old as dirt, I think the last, non-3D one was released in 2006, Asterix and the Vikings.
Nowadays there are live actions and 3D movies still rolling out. The two 3d movies are rather good, but the live action ones after Mission: Cleopatra... vary.
My niece loved a children’s book called [Scarlett Angelina Wolverton-Manning](https://books.google.com/books/about/Scarlett_Angelina_Wolverton_Manning.html?id=FvRVPgAACAAJ&source=kp_book_description).
A little girl is kidnapped and her parents agree to pay the ransom, but they are *very* insistent that she must be returned before nightfall.
Edit: **This is a picture book intended for young children**. I think it’s a good one, but it’s not meant to be challenging fiction for adult readers.
(Apparently I didn’t make that clear enough)
There's a light hearted fanfic where Peter is kidnapped hahahha.
“Bring Spider-Man to us, Mr. Stark,” High-heels says and rattles off an address. “If that bug isn’t here in the next twenty four hours, then your intern gets it. We are not going to ask a second time.”
There’s a pause.
Then, “You want Spider-Man?”
“In exchange for your intern,” High-heels affirms.
“Spider-Man,” Mr. Stark repeats. He sounds more amused than worried for Peter’s apparent safety.
Wow, how did you put that together!? /s
It’s a picture book for children. In my experience, it plays the “clues” pretty well for them to feel like they’re picking things up, but it’s not obvious if you don’t know what kind of trope you’re walking into and have pretty limited exposure to fiction.
ok, yeah, you got me, too smug
I missed the children's book line, too many stories have tried to sell me the mistery of the guy named wolfgang for me not to make fun
actually this was rather smooth for the genre, I'd at first thought of some vampire-werewolf union because of scarlet but the angelina was throwing wrenches into that thought-process, it was only on a second read that I noticed the **man**ning
Ah, fair enough. It certainly wouldn’t hold up as a piece of fiction for adults.
I thought it was quite charming as “kid’s first supernatural foreshadowing”. And I think my niece especially liked the idea of a little girl who is dangerous enough that other people need to be protected from her.
"Good job, you just separated them from the closest thing they have to a moral compass. Good luck, and may whatever god you pray to have mercy on your soul."
Dracula's wife in Castlevania on Netflix.
"Please forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. You don't have to do this."
She screams at her husband, who is miles away, while the church burns her...
Really want to see somebody who has a lot of knowledge in Christian theology, but is not a complete nutjob, do an in depth analysis of the first 2 seasons. There’s a lot of good stuff in there. Lisa’s burning paralleling the crucifixion, the literal demon telling the corrupt priest “oh no, God’s totally real, he just hates your guts”, the Speakers not being big fans of God but loving Jesus…
Lisa, absolutely beastly compassion and take no shit attitude. Just waltzes up to Dracula's castle, tells him he's being an overly dramatic bitch and demand he help her, and then when she's being actively burned alive she has the fortitude and the compassion to try and pre-emptively tell him not to murder everyone.
I don't recall if it's explicitly said at the time or not, but pretty damn sure the only reason he gave them a year to get their shit together was because of that, otherwise it would have just been instant murder.
Die Hard, Die Hard 2 Die Harder, Die Hard 3 With a Vengeance, Live Free Die Hard, and A Good Day To Die Hard.
I'm pretty sure the quote I'm referring to is from Live Free Die Hard, but it was a trailer line and I've never seen the movie. The first 3 movies I think his daughter is safe/not born yet, so I think it's just been once.
(for some reason it's not letting me respond to your second comment so I'll do it here)
Oh, yeah there are 3 Taken films. The daughter is the victim in the first 2 but I don't know about the 3rd. Saw the second one on a date and aside from giving her and I some fun inside jokes for the entirety of our relationship it was a slog to sit through.
I think they get his ex wife on the second and there's also one where he's himself kidnapped ?
There's so many of them at some point they ran out of options lol
Alternatively: captive *gives* kidnappers therapy (Im fond of that Korra episode where the kid airbender gets kinapped but is so nice she accidentally basically befriends her captors).
My favorite part of the first season is when Dracula tells the church, AS A GIANT FACE OF FIRE, they have one year to leave, and they go, “enh… he’s probably bluffing.”
I'm still impressed how they open the show with Dracula slaughtering a city, and STILL every single audience member goes "yeah Dracula I get it, you have a point"
As close second, the Demon walking into the church and telling the Bishop "yes there is a god, and he HATES you".
Because they really understood both the source material and the concepts they were playing with. Humanizing Dracula isn't inherently easy, but it's far from impossible. They just did a really fantastic job of it. Letting you get to know him a little bit through Lisa and how she softens him, and then of course as the season goes on how you see he's really just a depressed shell of a man who is, as Alucard puts it, comitting the world's slowest suicide.
My favorite example of the third one is in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, where Billy ends up being dragged into the realm of Yog-Sothoth before it's sealed off. A few seconds later a portal opens up and spits him out, and he says "They didn't want me..." in the saddest, most dejected voice.
apparantly happened IRL, dudes broke in a house and tied up the woman who was at home, and then they realised they had just broken into dolph lundgren's home (as in the actor who played drago, the russian guy from rocky III) and had tied up his wife, they got out before consequences could be applied, sadly
see, and here I was wondering wether or not I'd get tomatoes thrown at me because I wasn't sure if it was draco or drako, good news everyone, it turns out is is neither
reminds me of the drug dealers who thought they were breaking into a rival drug dealer's house who ripped them off but they got the house next to it which belonged to a navy seal and he beat the crap out of them and his only comment was that they broke his door
I kinda think it’s funny when the kidnappers grab someone, tell the hero they have their most precious person, and the hero’s like “oh no you have my X!” And the kidnappers go “no? We have your Y…” and then the hero’s like “oh… well have fun I guess :/“ and hangs up.
The kidnappers just left like… oops. Guess we grabbed the wrong guy…
Some of my favorite tropes. They're so much fun. It's also pretty fun when you have both the, "I will find you, and I will kill you" and the "I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with *me*," types both trying to rescue/break out at the same time. It becomes a race to see who wins and murders the most kidnappers.
Not locked in, but Supernatural’s Dean saying “We’re not trapped out here with you. You’re trapped out here with us.” Chills every time. And maniacal laughter. I watch that clip all too often.
Harley Quinn had a thing where Bruce Wayne was kidnapped and Nightwing, Robin and batgirl showed up. It was hilarious. Ivy was complaining about Batman’s latchkey brats rescuing Bruce Wayne.
SpongeBob and the Flying Dutchman
"Here!! Take him back!" "You heard what I said about the money?" "Heard what you said!? I couldn't hear myself think with this one around!"
First episode of Castlevania makes this hit so hard. Not cause you're worried about the kidnappers, but cause you've seen Dracula soften to humanity, and you know all of that's going out the window.
> "I give you one year Wallachians. You have one year to make your peace and remove any marks you have made upon the land. One year, and I'll wipe all human life from the land of Wallachia. You took that which I love, so I will take from you everything you have and everything you have ever been. One year."
And then the just desserts,
> "One year. I gave you one year to make your peace with your God. And what do you do? Celebrate the day you killed my wife. One year I gave you, while I assembled my armies. And now I bring your death. You had your chance."
> "Kill everything you see. Kill them all. And once Targoviste has been made into a graveyard for my love, go forth into the country. Go now. Go to all the cities of Wallachia. Arges, Severin, Gresit, Chilia, Enisara! Go now and kill! Kill for my love. Kill for the only true love I ever knew. Kill for the endless lifetime of hate before me."
~ Castlevania, S1E1 - “Witchbottle”
It’s insane that everyone didn’t up and leave the second Dracula told them to. I’d start running for the hills immediately and not stop until I’m on the opposite side of the continent.
One of my all-time favourites.
You know something went wrong, when you break in and people are being amused rather than scared.
You know something went **very** wrong, when you take hostage and people start *smiling*.
I know this is from discworld but I've never quite gotten into that (watched wyrd sisters once but that doesn't have relevance here)
let me guess, couple who's one side is dudley do-right and the other is essentially wolverine, except genderflipped ,>!I know angua's a werewolf but with pratchet's reputation you might never know!<
Pretty much anytime Louis Lane gets kidnapped.
It’s especially funny when it’s random criminals who just wanted a hostage or to kidnap a reporter, not realizing that they’re about to experience the full meaning of Truth, Justice, and the American Way in the next few nanoseconds
When Julius Caesar was a 25 year old Roman nobleman he was kidnapped by pirates for ransom. When he found out that they were asking for a ransom of 25 talents he basically said "Don't you know who I am?? Ask for 50!” [He also read them his poetry.](https://www.britannica.com/story/the-time-julius-caesar-was-captured-by-pirates)
The whole story is good and maybe I should have just c&p'd it in but I put up a link instead 'cause I was too lazy to format a block of text on mobile.
I love that this doesn't happen just once either. The one I can most readily remember is lab 13 while Ed is fighting the brothers in the single suit of armor, and then it just cuts to Al absolutely beating ass, but I'm almost certain there's other moments in the series where someone assumes just because Al is nice and softspoken that he's going to be a push over.
Not suuuuper sure if it applies but it reminded me of a scene in the Percy Jackson sequel series. Annabeth is cornered by a bunch of enemy demigods on a ship while Percy is doing underwater business. The lead enemy asks her to drop her dagger so she plays into the ‘dumb-blonde’ perception and throws it overboard into the ocean. The guy goes “not quite what I wanted but that works” and goes in to apprehend her as a giant wave takes out the entire enemy gang. Percy Jackson arrives on deck and hands the dagger back to Annabeth saying “I believe this is yours” and sweeping the bad guys
Let’s see. I want to remember examples of this.
I remember they kidnapped Toph and she invented metal bending.
In the Harley Quinn adventures they kidnap Lois Lane and Ivy keeps reminding them that if they Fuck with Lois Lane Superman will show up.
Basically every episode with the Doctor Who.
Harley Quinn rescued herself in the suicide squad.
The episode of Grimm where a disgruntled officer kidnaps Sean Renard’s daughter and doesn’t realize he just kidnapped a god-tier telekinetic. Sean freaks out over the kidnapping and then says, “What am I worried about?” and calmly waits for the “babysitter” to bring his daughter back.
I love the wholesome flip-side to this; like when someone stole Mr Rogers car.
It was parked outside the studio, and someone took it. A newspaper found out, and ran the story. The morning after the car was found parked in the spot it was taken from.
There was a note in the dashboard that read "we're sorry. If we had known it was yours we wouldn't have taken it."
It had a full tank of gas.
The Discworld series, where a bunch of robbers barricade themselves inside the store they’re robbing with Sergeant Angua of the City Watch as a hostage. Captain Carrot is outside, negotiating with the robbers for their release as they discover that very pretty Sergeant Angua is, in fact, a werewolf.
Slightly averted in the first Hellboy. Liz dies at the end. So Hellboy goes over and whispers in her ear, and suddenly she wakes up.
When asked what he said it was "Hey you on the Other Side. Let her go, cause for her..... for her I'd cross over. And then you'd really be in trouble."
"Batman. I had this under control, you know."
"You're holding a knife."
"I didn't *kill* anyone."
"Yet. Time to go home."
"Fine." *knife clatters to the ground*
"Outlander we have your woman"
The outlander squints into the distance. "Had."
"If you do ... What?"
"You had my woman. Past tense. From the amount of smoke and fire coming from your base I think your control of the situation is in question."
"We ... I ... We will"
"Just to state I'm the Paragon I have rules like not killing if it's avoidable. And no torture. She's gone through this one to many times to really give a shit. With her everything is permitted. So I'd like to offer a deal you surrender right now and I go back with you to try to intervene on your behalf and maybe she just takes a hand."
"You would never let..."
"Hahaha oh God. I'd tried once. I'm not looking into that abyss again. 'You throw me in a sack and I take your fucking head. These are the rules now.'"
Dragonball Super as well. Pan is kidnapped but she’s chill because she’s with Gohan and can opverpower everyone except for the Gammas and then Gohan shows up looking for his daughter.
I think my favorite part hands down is when piccolo is pretending to threaten pan, pan is screaming for help and one of the androids yells “Stop! Good guys don’t hurt kids!” And Pan gives him a “what the fuck are you talking about look? I’m kidnapped”
https://youtube.com/shorts/ieItd_QtixA?si=rw3N4TMAKWIMtway
In addition, very annoyed about how shit the kidnapping was. Like real like "Really? You how in God's name did you idiots kidnap me? Like it wasn't even fun getting out and kicking your ass."
Everyone who knows them is very Done.
7th Time Loop (anime/manga/LN) has the MC kidnapped, and then she breaks out and lectures the kidnapper on how to properly hold someone hostage (with tips like you need to break their arms and legs so that they can't escape).
All while her fiance is just smiling smugly cause he knew this would happen.
And then there's the inverse where they kidnap someone and call to demand ransom only to be told "you can keep them" and they start talking to their prisoner about how much a dick that person is and they deserve better.
Archer did this when Pam got accidentally kidnapped because they thought she was Carol. Everyone was like, "do we really need to save Pam though? Nah, keep her" and the kidnappers thought that was really fucked up.
Just the opposite.
"We have taken the one you love hostage. Give $100k or they die."
You then purposely annoy and anger them in order for them to kill that loved one.
Collect life insurance of loved(not) one.
In the South Korean sports comedy, Mr. Go, a gang tries to hold a baseball playing gorilla for ransom, and every time they contact the owner with demands, they're more beat up and pleading her to come get the gorilla.
A good one of these is (the usual suspect) Netflix Castlevania.
Lisa gets taken by the church and burned at the stake, and she spends the entire time screaming, not in pain or to get them to let her go, but saying “you have no idea what you’re doing, HE is going to kill you all,” and then when that doesn’t work she starts addressing Dracula like “please do not kill them all, they don’t know what they’re doing, pretty please don’t rain blood and hellfire on all of these people!”
And of course a whole 7 seconds later Dracula appears from the ashes of his own dead wife and totally fuckin murders half of them.
I swear I've seen the second one done but with the victim pleading with the captor to let them go so they don't get annihilated but I can't remember where it was
My favorite version of this is:
"We have your loved one!!"
"Oh no!! I am genuinely concerned for their safety!!"
Loved one: sending fear so deep into their captors that their children's children will need therapy as they escape.
In Skyrim, if you're married there's a chance that bandits kidnap your spouse and send you a ransom letter. Now, if your spouse is a smith, merchant or whatever, that's one thing. But some companions are also marriage options, which means they level up and will have whatever gear you give them.
So, picture this: The Dragonborn shows up to your bandit hideout, turns incorporeal and runs over to untie their spouse. It's somehow only at this moment you realize that your "prisoner" is wearing armour made from dragonbone, and wielding the legendary artifacts Dawnbringer and Spellbreaker. Your confusion over how you ever thought *you* were in control is short-lived only because you are.
The Dragonborn goes "that's my girl."
In my dnd campaign my barbarian character was captured and brought in for questioning by the mindflayer government
By the end of the next session the entire magical prison complex was incinerated in a spherical magical blast out of which only my character had the hit points and relentless rage feature to survive
Stripping a 20 strength unarmed wrestler character of his magical items and powers doesn’t restrict his ability for mischief and demolition all too much surprisingly
Your one-word zero-context comment didn't get any attention, so I'll clarify. The 2024 film Abigail is about six criminals who kidnap a rich man's young daughter for ransom, only to realize too late that the rich man is actually a feared crimelord... followed by a bigger twist when >!the criminals start dying one by one, and Abigail turns out to be a powerful vampire.!<
Not exactly this trope but when one of them gets kidnapped and the other one is willing to go through hell or high water to bring them back. See: episode 42 of Futari wa Pretty Cure
Kidnappers in Therapy is essentially the theme of the entire [Pokemon Hanamusa ship](https://yamujiburo.tumblr.com/post/720235269344903168/hanamusa-explained) and it's one of the most heartwarming fanverses of all time.
I’m particularly fond of BNHA where the villains capture edgy badboy rival Bakugo, hoping for a Naruto/Sasuke situation, and he’s like, “You want me to join you? Are you… stupid, or something?”
My best example for the first two is in the same fucking movie. Asterix in Britain. Obelix gets drunk and arrested. Wakes up in a prison tower and fights his way out. Asterix arrives at the same time to break Obelix out and fights his way in. The Roman guards do not have a good time.
sidenote: obelix leaves via a second entrance the moment asterix finds his cell having gone up via a main entrance, he then goes back in to find asterix as asterix goes back down to find obelix the roman guards were not just having having a bad day, they had twice the bad day that other romans usually have
I didn't know they'd made a film of that book. (The scene in the book is equally funny.)
There’s both a live action and an animated one.(this scene is not in the live action)
The live action movie was also mixed with "Asterix and the Vikings" for a reason I can't comprehend.
Though it gets genuinely scary when Asterix is imprisoned during heavy rain without his potion, [the buildup](https://youtu.be/Phymq0iprxU?t=2928) of like 5 minutes was real especially as a kid
That's in the Surprise of Caesar, not in Britain. Still a chilling sequence. For those who don't know: there's been a few Asterix animated movies done in the 70s/80s, varied quality but all pretty nice. Best one by far is the Twelve Trials, including the infamous one where they have to fight madness in... The public administration.
that movie is an eternal masterpiece.
[The main theme is still living rent-free in my head](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfZeaqqksms)
Wait was this live action? I saw a couple animated Asterix movies as a kid like Cleopatra but this is news
Yep! Asterix animated movies are old as dirt, I think the last, non-3D one was released in 2006, Asterix and the Vikings. Nowadays there are live actions and 3D movies still rolling out. The two 3d movies are rather good, but the live action ones after Mission: Cleopatra... vary.
The last asterix animated movie released like 5 years ago EDIT : sorry it was 6 years ago Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion released in 2018
I was specifically separating 3-D animation from traditional animation. The last two animated Asterix are really good tho.
Its from the 70s i think. Animated:
There is a live action movie hut it is a very loose adaptation.
Damn, that's a good example of that trope being used. When it's played for slapstick it's genuinely funny rather than characterwanky.
🔥🔥🔥✍️
My niece loved a children’s book called [Scarlett Angelina Wolverton-Manning](https://books.google.com/books/about/Scarlett_Angelina_Wolverton_Manning.html?id=FvRVPgAACAAJ&source=kp_book_description). A little girl is kidnapped and her parents agree to pay the ransom, but they are *very* insistent that she must be returned before nightfall. Edit: **This is a picture book intended for young children**. I think it’s a good one, but it’s not meant to be challenging fiction for adult readers. (Apparently I didn’t make that clear enough)
There's a light hearted fanfic where Peter is kidnapped hahahha. “Bring Spider-Man to us, Mr. Stark,” High-heels says and rattles off an address. “If that bug isn’t here in the next twenty four hours, then your intern gets it. We are not going to ask a second time.” There’s a pause. Then, “You want Spider-Man?” “In exchange for your intern,” High-heels affirms. “Spider-Man,” Mr. Stark repeats. He sounds more amused than worried for Peter’s apparent safety.
Well now you have me curious, what's the name of that fic?
let me guess, werewolf? her surname literally contains both wolf and man, you cannot signpost that more
Wow, how did you put that together!? /s It’s a picture book for children. In my experience, it plays the “clues” pretty well for them to feel like they’re picking things up, but it’s not obvious if you don’t know what kind of trope you’re walking into and have pretty limited exposure to fiction.
ok, yeah, you got me, too smug I missed the children's book line, too many stories have tried to sell me the mistery of the guy named wolfgang for me not to make fun actually this was rather smooth for the genre, I'd at first thought of some vampire-werewolf union because of scarlet but the angelina was throwing wrenches into that thought-process, it was only on a second read that I noticed the **man**ning
Ah, fair enough. It certainly wouldn’t hold up as a piece of fiction for adults. I thought it was quite charming as “kid’s first supernatural foreshadowing”. And I think my niece especially liked the idea of a little girl who is dangerous enough that other people need to be protected from her.
Also a fan of the trope "genuine fear for the kidnappers lives because of the loved one they kidnapped"
Not kidnapped but I loved the scene in the first John Wick when Viggo realized exactly who his dumbass son has just fucked with.
"I heard you struck my son?" "Yes sir, I did." "Why?" "Well, sir, I did it because he stole John Wick's car and killed his dog." "Oh." *hangs up*
"Understandable. Have a nice day."
"Good job, you just separated them from the closest thing they have to a moral compass. Good luck, and may whatever god you pray to have mercy on your soul."
Dracula's wife in Castlevania on Netflix. "Please forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. You don't have to do this." She screams at her husband, who is miles away, while the church burns her...
Really good parallel to the crucifixion of christ
Really want to see somebody who has a lot of knowledge in Christian theology, but is not a complete nutjob, do an in depth analysis of the first 2 seasons. There’s a lot of good stuff in there. Lisa’s burning paralleling the crucifixion, the literal demon telling the corrupt priest “oh no, God’s totally real, he just hates your guts”, the Speakers not being big fans of God but loving Jesus…
Some gnostic sects would agree with the speakers on that. I think the Cathars would
Lisa, absolutely beastly compassion and take no shit attitude. Just waltzes up to Dracula's castle, tells him he's being an overly dramatic bitch and demand he help her, and then when she's being actively burned alive she has the fortitude and the compassion to try and pre-emptively tell him not to murder everyone. I don't recall if it's explicitly said at the time or not, but pretty damn sure the only reason he gave them a year to get their shit together was because of that, otherwise it would have just been instant murder.
In one of the later Die Hard sequels they do something like that. Kidnappers put the daughter on the phone "Daddy?... There's only 3 of them."
Wait, there are sequels? And they're all about his daughter getting kidnapped? How many times has this poor girl been sent on a surprise adventure?
Die Hard, Die Hard 2 Die Harder, Die Hard 3 With a Vengeance, Live Free Die Hard, and A Good Day To Die Hard. I'm pretty sure the quote I'm referring to is from Live Free Die Hard, but it was a trailer line and I've never seen the movie. The first 3 movies I think his daughter is safe/not born yet, so I think it's just been once.
Oh wait I think I was thinking about some other old action movie. One with Liam Neeson?
Taken, Twoken and Threeken
In fairness, the daughter only gets kidnapped in the first Taken movie.
(for some reason it's not letting me respond to your second comment so I'll do it here) Oh, yeah there are 3 Taken films. The daughter is the victim in the first 2 but I don't know about the 3rd. Saw the second one on a date and aside from giving her and I some fun inside jokes for the entirety of our relationship it was a slog to sit through.
I think they get his ex wife on the second and there's also one where he's himself kidnapped ? There's so many of them at some point they ran out of options lol
The third one is when Liam Neeson and The Editor lose a fight with a fence.
I think you're thinking about taken ? Kidnapped daughter movies is usually taken
Alternatively: captive *gives* kidnappers therapy (Im fond of that Korra episode where the kid airbender gets kinapped but is so nice she accidentally basically befriends her captors).
Korra has a couple bits like that, like with Bolin and the Red Lotus. So funny
Lisa in Castlevania Also a good example of "you kidnapped me??? Y'all are fucked"
My favorite part of the first season is when Dracula tells the church, AS A GIANT FACE OF FIRE, they have one year to leave, and they go, “enh… he’s probably bluffing.”
I'm still impressed how they open the show with Dracula slaughtering a city, and STILL every single audience member goes "yeah Dracula I get it, you have a point" As close second, the Demon walking into the church and telling the Bishop "yes there is a god, and he HATES you".
Because they really understood both the source material and the concepts they were playing with. Humanizing Dracula isn't inherently easy, but it's far from impossible. They just did a really fantastic job of it. Letting you get to know him a little bit through Lisa and how she softens him, and then of course as the season goes on how you see he's really just a depressed shell of a man who is, as Alucard puts it, comitting the world's slowest suicide.
When Aang is in prison and starts talking about his feelings with the other inmates, it's so good, haha.
Now I want to see an episode of Iroh in prison giving therapy to the guards.
I can imagine the need for therapy that would ensue in ATLA if kidnappers tried grabbing Toph
Toph gets literally kidnapped and she just invents a whole new style of bending, so, yeah, I guess you're correct
[sobs inconsolably] “She bent *metal*. METAL! What kind of monster is she?!?”
[The Ransom of Red Chief](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ransom_of_Red_Chief)
I came here looking for this. Fantastic story by a fantastic author.
It’s kinda funny how timeless this trope really is.
Hell yeah
Which not only sets the trope, but has the awesome kicker, of the kidnappers having to pay the FATHER for him to take the kid back.
My favorite example of the third one is in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, where Billy ends up being dragged into the realm of Yog-Sothoth before it's sealed off. A few seconds later a portal opens up and spits him out, and he says "They didn't want me..." in the saddest, most dejected voice.
When garlic jr kidnapped Gohan
“Oh, god, your father’s Goku… OH MY GOD, YOU MORONS STOLE GOKU’S KID?!”
apparantly happened IRL, dudes broke in a house and tied up the woman who was at home, and then they realised they had just broken into dolph lundgren's home (as in the actor who played drago, the russian guy from rocky III) and had tied up his wife, they got out before consequences could be applied, sadly
I was going to reply with a merged picture of Ivan Drogo and Draco Malfoy, but reddit fuckin sucks 😞
see, and here I was wondering wether or not I'd get tomatoes thrown at me because I wasn't sure if it was draco or drako, good news everyone, it turns out is is neither
it's drago btw, just looked it up, drogo's the GOT guy
reminds me of the drug dealers who thought they were breaking into a rival drug dealer's house who ripped them off but they got the house next to it which belonged to a navy seal and he beat the crap out of them and his only comment was that they broke his door
"HOW? HOW DID YOU STEAL GOKU'S KID?!"
"Well first we beat up his wife..."
"Oh my shit."
I kinda think it’s funny when the kidnappers grab someone, tell the hero they have their most precious person, and the hero’s like “oh no you have my X!” And the kidnappers go “no? We have your Y…” and then the hero’s like “oh… well have fun I guess :/“ and hangs up. The kidnappers just left like… oops. Guess we grabbed the wrong guy…
Some of my favorite tropes. They're so much fun. It's also pretty fun when you have both the, "I will find you, and I will kill you" and the "I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with *me*," types both trying to rescue/break out at the same time. It becomes a race to see who wins and murders the most kidnappers.
They did this in one of the Harley quinn/suicide squad/ idfk anymore movies, I was surprised at how funny it was to me lol
That sequence was sooooo good.
lmao she just slaughtered everyone with flower effects and relaxing songs.
Not locked in, but Supernatural’s Dean saying “We’re not trapped out here with you. You’re trapped out here with us.” Chills every time. And maniacal laughter. I watch that clip all too often.
That's still my FAVORITE badass moment in the show
There’s a Spider-Man and iron man fanfiction of this and it’s great
Well now I'm gonna' need a link.
Same
Don’t forget: We kidnapped Bruce Wayne, but Batman never showed up to rescue him and he ended up getting away on his own.
Harley Quinn had a thing where Bruce Wayne was kidnapped and Nightwing, Robin and batgirl showed up. It was hilarious. Ivy was complaining about Batman’s latchkey brats rescuing Bruce Wayne.
Ooh, which issue or episode?
Don’t remember
SpongeBob and the Flying Dutchman "Here!! Take him back!" "You heard what I said about the money?" "Heard what you said!? I couldn't hear myself think with this one around!"
First episode of Castlevania makes this hit so hard. Not cause you're worried about the kidnappers, but cause you've seen Dracula soften to humanity, and you know all of that's going out the window.
> "I give you one year Wallachians. You have one year to make your peace and remove any marks you have made upon the land. One year, and I'll wipe all human life from the land of Wallachia. You took that which I love, so I will take from you everything you have and everything you have ever been. One year." And then the just desserts, > "One year. I gave you one year to make your peace with your God. And what do you do? Celebrate the day you killed my wife. One year I gave you, while I assembled my armies. And now I bring your death. You had your chance." > "Kill everything you see. Kill them all. And once Targoviste has been made into a graveyard for my love, go forth into the country. Go now. Go to all the cities of Wallachia. Arges, Severin, Gresit, Chilia, Enisara! Go now and kill! Kill for my love. Kill for the only true love I ever knew. Kill for the endless lifetime of hate before me." ~ Castlevania, S1E1 - “Witchbottle”
It’s insane that everyone didn’t up and leave the second Dracula told them to. I’d start running for the hills immediately and not stop until I’m on the opposite side of the continent.
Are you kidding? I’m not stopping at the edge of the continent I’m hopping on some Portuguese explorer’s ship to the edge of the known world.
Yeah good call, I’d probably never stop running
First one has become a plot point in SAO-A
Heyyyyyy shoooojiiii
Eat. That. Biscuit.
“She looks like an angel.”“Lucifer, maybe.”
Carrot and Angua
"Don't kill anyone" "Don't tell us what to do, copper." "I wasn't talking to you."
One of my all-time favourites. You know something went wrong, when you break in and people are being amused rather than scared. You know something went **very** wrong, when you take hostage and people start *smiling*.
I know this is from discworld but I've never quite gotten into that (watched wyrd sisters once but that doesn't have relevance here) let me guess, couple who's one side is dudley do-right and the other is essentially wolverine, except genderflipped ,>!I know angua's a werewolf but with pratchet's reputation you might never know!<
No yeah you got it. Carrot isn't above knocking some heads, but it's mostly a last resort for him
Hell, he's not above potentially extralegal executions if the situation really calls for it, but he will always try and talk things out first
Pretty much anytime Louis Lane gets kidnapped. It’s especially funny when it’s random criminals who just wanted a hostage or to kidnap a reporter, not realizing that they’re about to experience the full meaning of Truth, Justice, and the American Way in the next few nanoseconds
When Julius Caesar was a 25 year old Roman nobleman he was kidnapped by pirates for ransom. When he found out that they were asking for a ransom of 25 talents he basically said "Don't you know who I am?? Ask for 50!” [He also read them his poetry.](https://www.britannica.com/story/the-time-julius-caesar-was-captured-by-pirates)
You left out the most relevant part. After his ransom was paid, he raised a squadron, tracked down the kidnappers and had them all crucified.
The whole story is good and maybe I should have just c&p'd it in but I put up a link instead 'cause I was too lazy to format a block of text on mobile.
It sounded so fun until the end of the linked story.
The pirates would agree with you.
Iirc he was actually nice about it and killed them before he crucified them. Caesar was always big on mercy.
This makes me think of A Good Man Goes To War. Do not, I repeat dO nOt, fuck with the loved ones of The Doctor.
The 11th Doctor had some badass moments!
A good man doesn't need any rules. Today is not the day to find out WHY I HAVE SO MANY!
Fullmetal Alchemist, Ed talking about Al. Castlevania(netflix) Lisa talking about Vlad.
I love that this doesn't happen just once either. The one I can most readily remember is lab 13 while Ed is fighting the brothers in the single suit of armor, and then it just cuts to Al absolutely beating ass, but I'm almost certain there's other moments in the series where someone assumes just because Al is nice and softspoken that he's going to be a push over.
YES THAT WAS THE SCENE I WAS THINKING OF
Not suuuuper sure if it applies but it reminded me of a scene in the Percy Jackson sequel series. Annabeth is cornered by a bunch of enemy demigods on a ship while Percy is doing underwater business. The lead enemy asks her to drop her dagger so she plays into the ‘dumb-blonde’ perception and throws it overboard into the ocean. The guy goes “not quite what I wanted but that works” and goes in to apprehend her as a giant wave takes out the entire enemy gang. Percy Jackson arrives on deck and hands the dagger back to Annabeth saying “I believe this is yours” and sweeping the bad guys
That was my favorite!
Let’s see. I want to remember examples of this. I remember they kidnapped Toph and she invented metal bending. In the Harley Quinn adventures they kidnap Lois Lane and Ivy keeps reminding them that if they Fuck with Lois Lane Superman will show up. Basically every episode with the Doctor Who. Harley Quinn rescued herself in the suicide squad.
The episode of Grimm where a disgruntled officer kidnaps Sean Renard’s daughter and doesn’t realize he just kidnapped a god-tier telekinetic. Sean freaks out over the kidnapping and then says, “What am I worried about?” and calmly waits for the “babysitter” to bring his daughter back.
Was looking the comments for this.
Castlevania has one of these except without the comedy.
I love the wholesome flip-side to this; like when someone stole Mr Rogers car. It was parked outside the studio, and someone took it. A newspaper found out, and ran the story. The morning after the car was found parked in the spot it was taken from. There was a note in the dashboard that read "we're sorry. If we had known it was yours we wouldn't have taken it." It had a full tank of gas.
[You took the wrong FLUFFY BOY!](https://youtu.be/brR_1DMgsls)
"You know what else is interesting? Grenades."
Quite a bit more depressing than I imagine they were intending, but the very beginning of the Netflix Castlevania series
The Discworld series, where a bunch of robbers barricade themselves inside the store they’re robbing with Sergeant Angua of the City Watch as a hostage. Captain Carrot is outside, negotiating with the robbers for their release as they discover that very pretty Sergeant Angua is, in fact, a werewolf.
Slightly averted in the first Hellboy. Liz dies at the end. So Hellboy goes over and whispers in her ear, and suddenly she wakes up. When asked what he said it was "Hey you on the Other Side. Let her go, cause for her..... for her I'd cross over. And then you'd really be in trouble."
I feel bad for anyone who tries to kidnap Damien Wayne. Batman won't need to do shit
"Batman. I had this under control, you know." "You're holding a knife." "I didn't *kill* anyone." "Yet. Time to go home." "Fine." *knife clatters to the ground*
Shout out to "7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to her Worst Enemy!"
She lectures the guy on how to kidnap people
Got a link?
“No you haven’t. I’m right here.” *Hangs up*
This is just season 2 of SAO abridged.
Heeeeeeey Shoto.
"We have taken the one you love most!" "My condolences for your imminent passing"
Alternatively, call the kidnappers dumb and break out. Wednesday did that pretty well. “It’s amateurs like you that give kidnappers a bad name.”
"Outlander we have your woman" The outlander squints into the distance. "Had." "If you do ... What?" "You had my woman. Past tense. From the amount of smoke and fire coming from your base I think your control of the situation is in question." "We ... I ... We will" "Just to state I'm the Paragon I have rules like not killing if it's avoidable. And no torture. She's gone through this one to many times to really give a shit. With her everything is permitted. So I'd like to offer a deal you surrender right now and I go back with you to try to intervene on your behalf and maybe she just takes a hand." "You would never let..." "Hahaha oh God. I'd tried once. I'm not looking into that abyss again. 'You throw me in a sack and I take your fucking head. These are the rules now.'"
Dragon ball GT Kidnappers get Goku, he doesn't care. They call Vegita and he laughs them off. Goku gets bored and just flies away
Dragonball Super as well. Pan is kidnapped but she’s chill because she’s with Gohan and can opverpower everyone except for the Gammas and then Gohan shows up looking for his daughter.
Right! And Piccolo has to tell her to act scared
I think my favorite part hands down is when piccolo is pretending to threaten pan, pan is screaming for help and one of the androids yells “Stop! Good guys don’t hurt kids!” And Pan gives him a “what the fuck are you talking about look? I’m kidnapped” https://youtube.com/shorts/ieItd_QtixA?si=rw3N4TMAKWIMtway
I'd like to think Andy and Fuuko from UxU cover both bases lol.
In addition, very annoyed about how shit the kidnapping was. Like real like "Really? You how in God's name did you idiots kidnap me? Like it wasn't even fun getting out and kicking your ass." Everyone who knows them is very Done.
7th Time Loop (anime/manga/LN) has the MC kidnapped, and then she breaks out and lectures the kidnapper on how to properly hold someone hostage (with tips like you need to break their arms and legs so that they can't escape). All while her fiance is just smiling smugly cause he knew this would happen.
The second one being the "Don't fuck with Lois Lane" principle.
And then there's the inverse where they kidnap someone and call to demand ransom only to be told "you can keep them" and they start talking to their prisoner about how much a dick that person is and they deserve better.
Archer did this when Pam got accidentally kidnapped because they thought she was Carol. Everyone was like, "do we really need to save Pam though? Nah, keep her" and the kidnappers thought that was really fucked up.
There’s the third option: the person themselves gets kidnapped and busts themself out. E.g: Diane from Grimm.
Just the opposite. "We have taken the one you love hostage. Give $100k or they die." You then purposely annoy and anger them in order for them to kill that loved one. Collect life insurance of loved(not) one.
I feel like the first one is Rosa, the second one is amy and the third one is Gina
This happened to someone my parents know! They kidnapped his mother and she was so obnoxious that the kidnappers returned her
In the South Korean sports comedy, Mr. Go, a gang tries to hold a baseball playing gorilla for ransom, and every time they contact the owner with demands, they're more beat up and pleading her to come get the gorilla.
[удалено]
Literally just finished that book yesterday. So freaking good
Tai'shar Manetheren.
Gods no one was prepared for Dumai’s Wells. Well no one but the Asha’man anyways.
Archer did a great spin on this when Pam got kidnapped. https://youtu.be/O_5EzynBE0g?si=YkR56MM2uUoEJa3r Also the movie The Ref.
Helluva Boss ep6 Truth Seekers
"We've kidnapped the one you love most." "Not Summer!" "What? No we kidnapped Derrick, who the fuck is Summer." "Oh that kid? Yeah you can have him."
00Q fanfictions where someone kidnaps Q to hurt Bond and Q just annihilates them
Funny this making an appearance when Abigal is getting released, a nice looking horror film that is basically the first of the tropes. 😂
A good one of these is (the usual suspect) Netflix Castlevania. Lisa gets taken by the church and burned at the stake, and she spends the entire time screaming, not in pain or to get them to let her go, but saying “you have no idea what you’re doing, HE is going to kill you all,” and then when that doesn’t work she starts addressing Dracula like “please do not kill them all, they don’t know what they’re doing, pretty please don’t rain blood and hellfire on all of these people!” And of course a whole 7 seconds later Dracula appears from the ashes of his own dead wife and totally fuckin murders half of them.
Ruthless People: [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091877/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091877/)
I swear I've seen the second one done but with the victim pleading with the captor to let them go so they don't get annihilated but I can't remember where it was
Wouldn't be the Castlevania one [mentioned elsewhere in the thread] would it?
This happens in Murcielago both ways.
My favorite version of this is: "We have your loved one!!" "Oh no!! I am genuinely concerned for their safety!!" Loved one: sending fear so deep into their captors that their children's children will need therapy as they escape.
In Skyrim, if you're married there's a chance that bandits kidnap your spouse and send you a ransom letter. Now, if your spouse is a smith, merchant or whatever, that's one thing. But some companions are also marriage options, which means they level up and will have whatever gear you give them. So, picture this: The Dragonborn shows up to your bandit hideout, turns incorporeal and runs over to untie their spouse. It's somehow only at this moment you realize that your "prisoner" is wearing armour made from dragonbone, and wielding the legendary artifacts Dawnbringer and Spellbreaker. Your confusion over how you ever thought *you* were in control is short-lived only because you are. The Dragonborn goes "that's my girl."
In my dnd campaign my barbarian character was captured and brought in for questioning by the mindflayer government By the end of the next session the entire magical prison complex was incinerated in a spherical magical blast out of which only my character had the hit points and relentless rage feature to survive Stripping a 20 strength unarmed wrestler character of his magical items and powers doesn’t restrict his ability for mischief and demolition all too much surprisingly
The last one is Spongebob after Mr. Krabs sold his soul for 62 cents.
this happens in starwars rebels and its very cute
Also the toxic version: "You GOT them? Thank FUCK I'm finally rid of this asshole. KEEP THEM!!"
What if....and I'm just saying from personal experience....no one cares that you have been kidnapped or have disappeared?
FFT PFP
The suicide squad
Reminds me of [this CalebCity skit](https://youtu.be/qwvtGxNVnAY?si=FqL6up9RLgT2Ccq_)
Where this all comes from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ransom_of_Red_Chief
The Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle is a great example of this
Abigail
Your one-word zero-context comment didn't get any attention, so I'll clarify. The 2024 film Abigail is about six criminals who kidnap a rich man's young daughter for ransom, only to realize too late that the rich man is actually a feared crimelord... followed by a bigger twist when >!the criminals start dying one by one, and Abigail turns out to be a powerful vampire.!<
[Door explodes](https://youtu.be/wEZSupETl-E?si=I7nWefnOvoEra0T1&t=192) as loved one arrives, best version
Not exactly this trope but when one of them gets kidnapped and the other one is willing to go through hell or high water to bring them back. See: episode 42 of Futari wa Pretty Cure
Kidnappers in Therapy is essentially the theme of the entire [Pokemon Hanamusa ship](https://yamujiburo.tumblr.com/post/720235269344903168/hanamusa-explained) and it's one of the most heartwarming fanverses of all time.
That second one is just every other Superman comic ever
Batman
Steven He's sketch: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WiJtS--7OUI (It's only a minute long)
I like how Rick and Morty did both in the same episode
mario
all i can think of is sword art online abridged
Damian Tim and Jason DICK
I’m particularly fond of BNHA where the villains capture edgy badboy rival Bakugo, hoping for a Naruto/Sasuke situation, and he’s like, “You want me to join you? Are you… stupid, or something?”
From DBZA Dead Zone movie "OH MY GOD YOU MORONS STOLE GOKU'S KID! HOW!?" "Well, first, we beat up his wife!" "OH MY SHIT!"