Conveniently-Placed Sharp Thing: Difference between revisions

{{examples}}

== Basic Implementation ==

* In an episode of [[Spice and Wolf]], some thugs beat up Lawrence, tie him up, then leave him in the woods to die. Lawrence uses the embers of his camp fire to escape, but he does burn his arms in the process.

 

* [[Older Than Feudalism]] example: One of [[Aesop's Fables]], "The Lion and the Mouse".

* Frequently averted, subverted, and lampshaded in ''[[Discworld]]''. Particularly noteworthy is in ''Feet of Clay'': "Sometimes, and against all common sense, people inconsiderately throw their bound enemies into rooms totally devoid of nails, handy bits of sharp stone, or even, in extreme cases, [[Locking MacGyver in the Store Cupboard|enough pieces of old junk and tools]] to [[The A-Team|make a fully functional armored car]]."

* In the second ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' novel, Merry and Pippin are captured and tied up by [[Our Orcs Are Different|Orcs]]. There are two Orc factions present, and they start fighting over where to take the prisoners... one dead Orc falls on Pippin with his sword in convenient reach of the hobbit's bonds.

* In Edmond Hamilton's ''Star Kings'', the main hero, while prisoner on the enemy ship, manages to escape and draw his own side ship's attention. The bad guys are victorious in the battle, and they tie him up in a chair. However, the battle forces a crash landing, which cracks the chair just enough for the hero to saw through his bindings after half a day or so.

'''Jorian:''' So much the worse for them. }}

 

* Parodied in ''[[Police Squad!]]!'', where a kidnapped woman begins sawing away at her bonds on the requisite sharp object, wipes her forehead with her hand from the strain of it all, and then puts her hand back into the ropes to continue sawing away.

* Subverted on ''[[NCIS]]''. Jenny, while tied to a chair, spends considerable effort edging a flat shard of metal towards her with her foot. Then the guy kicks her out of range. (Yes, kicks ''her'' out of range, not the convenient sharp object. Ouch)

* ''[[Nightshade]]'' on the NES has this or a variant in a couple points. Right at the start of the game, you use a Conveniently Placed Candle (The game even notes it's there "For no explainable reason" when you examine it) to free yourself from a chair. Later, one of the continue scenarios has you use some sharp metal protruding from the wall as part of your escape.

* The first ''[[Max Payne (series)|Max Payne]]'' has an unusual variant; the protagonist is tied to a particularly flimsy and battered chair, and simply pulls steadily on his bonds until it breaks.

 

* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'', it is [[Chekhov's Gun]]-ed and [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040227 Subverted]:

{{quote|'''Othar:''' I escaped using naught but my wits!

* ''Mindstar Rising'', a sci-fi novel by Peter F. Hamilton, has the protagonist and his fellow captive stomping their hands to crush the bones so they can pull them through the handcuffs. Even though he can create neurohormones to dull the pain, it still severely squicks them both.

 

* How [[Dexter]] escapes the Skinner in season 3 - rocking the table over to land on his hand.

* [[The Sarah Connor Chronicles|Sarah Connor]] manages to be even ''more'' [[Badass]]: after breaking her hand bones, she ''bites her wrist open'', giving her the necessary slipperiness.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Bound and Gagged]]

[[Category:Action Adventure Tropes]]