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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Carrot:''' I hope you're not going to kill anyone.
'''Robber:''' That's up to us!
'''Carrot:''' Sorry, was I talking to you? (He's actually talking to the hostage. [[Mugging the Monster|Who happens to be a werewolf.]])|'''[[Terry Pratchett]]''', ''[[
The situation for the bad guys has gone so far sideways that the only way out is to trade hostages for transportation. This may be the true gauge of desperation, in that no degree of [[Genre Blindness]] can excuse the bad guys from knowing that this never, ever works. Ever.
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There are a few additional required characters for this scenario. A hero-wannabe hostage, for instance, whose primary job is to try something stupid and get killed. This might be a case of death by [[Genre Blindness]]. A particularly noble hostage who tells the hero not to worry about them and [[Kill Him Already|kill the bad guy anyway]]. A hostage who decides to raise the stakes by [[You Wouldn't Shoot Me|calling the bad guy's bluff]]. There may also be a hostage who just completely panics and starts screaming and flailing about in a way that frightens a bad guy into shooting them.
Things get a bit more complex if [[Bruce Wayne Held Hostage|the hero]] has been unwittingly taken as one of the hostages. Often this overlaps with its more spontaneous, desperate cousin, [[Human Shield
Also see [[Die Hard on an X]].
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This trope is so ubiquitous that it would be far more convenient simply to list its...
{{examples|Examples of exceptions, subversions, and parodies of {{PAGENAME}} include:}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'': Faye is taken hostage by some of the [[Big Bad]]'s goons. One puts a gun to her head and begins the standard [[Put Down Your Gun and Step Away|"Put down your gun"]] speech, but promptly gets one between the eyes from Spike. Cue the [[Blast Out]]. Something similar happens at the beginning of the movie where a convenience store robbery goes sour and some random thug, previously unseen, takes an old lady hostage. Spike shoots the hostage taker, after somewhat cynically remarking that he's not a cop.
** Also subverted when Faye is taken hostage and sends a message to the guys assuming they will naturally ride to her rescue. Spike tells her to talk her own way out of it and shuts off the communicator.
* In an episode of ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'': Fumoffu, Kaname Chidori is taken hostage. In order to rescue her, Sousuke Sagara the military nut tortures the messenger, identifies the ringleader of the group that has taken her (along with most of her lackeys), then takes the leader's little brother hostage, and somehow manages to tie him up in the rafters of the warehouse where Chidori was being held without anyone noticing, using remote-controlled explosives on the ropes so he could send the tyke plummeting to his death if big sis didn't cooperate. As if that wasn't insane enough, he also [[Such a Lovely Noun|made elaborate and somewhat disturbing threats against the loved ones and prize possessions of several lackeys]], including a little sister, a motorcycle, and a lovebird, thus sending the entire gang fleeing in terror. The only thing that made Sousuke look slightly less like a dangerous psychopath was that {{spoiler|the kid knew the plan all along, and went along with it in exchange for ''a radio-controlled car'' and, presumably, [[Rule of Fun|just the fun]] of being a hostage (hey, [[Fridge Horror|many kids are like that]])}}. Note that Sousuke is the same guy who drew a REAL gun on a shooting videogame earlier in the same episode, so "normal" isn't really part of the program.
* In ''[[Astro City]]'' "Confession", a villain breaks into a nightclub frequented by heroes out of costume, and takes a busboy hostage. Keeping a wary eye on the heroes gives him no time to look at his hostage, who single-handedly takes him out.
* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', a train full of people are taken hostage, including an important government official and his family. When the hostage-takers attempt to negotiate with Mustang, he makes no serious attempt to negotiate, knowing that the Elric brothers are aboard and fully expecting them to take care of the situation.
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* A very cruel one happens in [[Air Gear]], when {{spoiler|[[Magnificent Bastard]] / [[Complete Monster]] Sora brainwashes his [[Retired Badass]] girlfriend, Rika Noyamano, into fighting Kilik and the Sleeping Forest team, which Rika used to be a member of.}} The kicker, and what makes this specially mean? {{spoiler|''[[Moral Event Horizon|Rika is pregnant, and HE is the baby's father]]''.}} The subversion comes when {{spoiler|Kilik manages to deploy a [[Batman Gambit]] to get Rika restrained without actually landing a hit on her, then unleashing his and the Sleeping Forest's Air Regalia.}} And then it's further suverted when {{spoiler|Sora actually ''counterattacks'' with his own gambit and shoots back at ''them''.}}
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* One of [[Quantum and Woody]]'s first cases as a superhero team was against a crazed gunman holding a woman hostage. After a brief shouting match, [[Cowboy Cop]] Woody ''[[Cutting the Knot|shoots the hostage in the chest]]'' while Quantum tackles the gunman. Woody then helps the hostage to her feet, demonstrates his usage of paint pellets [[Vitriolic Best Buds|by shooting a few more at Quantum]], [[Casanova Wannabe|and asks her what she's doing Friday night]].
* An issue of ''[[Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' had Princess Sally Acorn kidnapped and held for ransom; at one point, she manages to trick her captors into lowering their guard and knocks them all unconscious.
== [[Film]] ==
== Films -- Live-Action ==▼
* Similarly subverted for comic effect in [[Mel Brooks]]' movie ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'': When the entire town of Rock Ridge draws its guns on Bart, he draws his own gun, holds it to his head, and plays both the hostage and the hostage-taker using two different voices. As the townspeople immediately fall for this trick, he drags himself off to the town jail, where, in an inspired bit of mime, he yanks himself inside by the neck just as he's making another plea for help.
{{quote|
* When an impromptu hostage situation breaks out in the movie ''[[Airheads]]'', the protagonists make a series of increasingly bizarre demands, including nude photos of Bea Arthur, which the negotiators successfully supply them with.
* In ''[[The Fifth Element]]'' the mooks' leader takes Father Cornelius hostage and demands that negotiations start. Bruce Willis agrees, walks into the room, puts one right through the leader's forehead, and politely asks if anyone else wants to negotiate.
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* In ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'', after the shoot out/brawl in [[The Picture of Dorian Gray|Dorian's]] house, the last remaining [[Mook]] tries to take [[Dracula|Mina Murray]] hostage, [[Our Vampires Are Different|bad idea]].
* Parodied in several ways in ''[[Loaded Weapon 1]]'':
{{quote|
'''Luger''': I don't have one.
'''Jigsaw''': You're not carrying a weapon?
'''Luger''': I don't believe in them.
[Jigsaw kicks a spare pistol over to Luger]
'''Jigsaw''': Pick up the gun.
[Luger looks confused, picks the gun up]
'''Jigsaw''': Drop the gun, Mr. Luger! }}
* Blake taking a hostage and Styles saving her is what kicks off the main conflict in ''[[Ricochet]]''.
* In a rare case of the ''victim'' taking a hostage to coerce the ''villain'', the senator's daughter in ''[[The Silence of the Lambs]]'' gets ahold of Buffalo Bill's poodle and threatens to break its neck if he doesn't let her phone for help.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* Subverted in [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' ''City Watch'' novels, where Angua is taken hostage on at least two occasions, neither of which are taken seriously by the rest of the Watch (one constable actually laughed during the first one). And with good reason: [[Mugging the Monster|taking a werewolf hostage]] is a classic example of a Very Bad Idea™.
* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[Gaunt's Ghosts]]'' novel ''First & Only'', Flense captures Gaunt's [[The Medic|medic]], Dorden, and a wounded trooper to get Gaunt to where he could kill him. (Getting him there worked. Killing him didn't. Indeed, at one point, when Flense threatens to shoot Dorden if Gaunt mocks him, Dorden urges Gaunt to mock him, so [[Get It Over With|Flense will shoot him and he won't have to listen]].)
** In ''His Last Command'', when a commissiar is trying to execute him and his men out of hand, Gaunt takes him hostage; he attempts to reason, [[If I Wanted You Dead...|pointing out that he didn't just kill him]], but then he uses him to force his junior to contact higher-ups. When he and his team are transported in a cargo pod, they escape, and Gaunt takes a general hostage to [[I Gave My Word|get him to give his word for their safety]].
* In Lee Lightner's [[Warhammer
* Averted in the fifth ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' novel where the titular protagonist hands herself over to be the hostage. {{spoiler|However much to the hostage-takers eventual surprise she has not one but three [[plant
* From ''[[Skulduggery Pleasant]]: The Faceless Ones''.
{{quote|
'''Fletcher:''' (nods) So it's all about how many double-crosses you have.
'''Tanith:''' Exactly, and the side with the most double-crosses wins.
'''Fletcher:''' How many double-crosses do we have?
'''Skulduggery:''' Two. }}
* ''[[Vorkosigan Saga]]:'' Hostage rescues are one of Miles Vorkosigan's specialties.
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* Richard does this in the [[Sword of Truth]] ''to himself'' when he's in the care of the Sisters of the Light, by going into a forest that's enchanted to kill people and refusing to come out until they meet his demands. (Nobody has ever survived being in there after sunset.) On his first day living in the Palace of the Prophets. He likes to make impressions, and doesn't do things by halves.
* Subverted in ''[[Firefly]]'': When Agent Dobson takes River hostage in the pilot episode, {{spoiler|Mal simply shoots him in the head as he boards the ship, without even breaking stride}}.
* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' [[Made for TV Movie]], in a way that showed the main character's role as [[The Messiah]]. Stopped by a cop, the Doctor manages to [[Kleptomaniac Hero|get his gun away]] and point it at... himself, and says, "Now, would you stand aside before I shoot myself?"
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* An episode from the last season of ''[[Burn Notice]]'' had Michael and [[Jerkass|Agent Bly]], who were blackmailing each other, trapped in a private bank during a robbery. Bly initially tried to steal a gun from one of the robbers but got shot, afterwards the two cooperated on Michael's usual combination of [[Batman Gambit]] and [[Indy Ploy]] to save the hostages.
** And next season, Sam and Michael get turned into the hostage takers, when a slightly deranged client takes a charity-robbing scumbag hostage while they're in the building. {{spoiler|Naturally, the good guys aren't arrested, and the [[Monster of the Week|Scumbag of the Week]] gets framed for the deed.}}
* Happens too often in ''[[Flashpoint (TV series)|Flashpoint]]'', where at least every episode has one of these.
* [[The X-Files|Mulder]] exchanges himself for hostages while pretending to be an EMT to get close to Duane Barry, who Mulder thinks is an alien abductee. This episode (aptly named "Duane Barry") kicks off the Scully Abduction arc.
* ''[[Leverage]]'' had an episode where Nate and Sophie are trapped in a bank when a robbery turns into a
* Hilarously subverted in an otherwise serious situation in ''[[Boom Town]]''. After being outed, a corrupt cop takes an [[The Scrappy|internal affairs investigator]] hostage. One of the detectives quips that "If Thumper (the IA investigator) gets shot during the firefight, the saddest thing to be heard will be "Oops!"".
* In a season five episode of ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'', House, Thirteen, and several clinic patients are taken hostage by a man who wants House to diagnose him. He also makes House give Thirteen all medications first {{spoiler|causing her kidneys to shut down.}}
* ''[[Lie to Me]]'' did this in season two. Cal, Gillian, Loker, and Torres are taken hostage by someone who claims he was framed for his wife's murder and wants Cal to prove his innocence.
* Ari's first appearance is when he's taking Ducky, Gerald, and Kate hostage in the autopsy room in season one of ''[[NCIS]]''.
* There are plenty of hostage situations and kidnappings on ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' and most of the main characters have been held hostage at one point or another (mostly Reid).
* In a season four episode of ''[[Castle]]'', Castle and Martha are taken hostage during a bank robbery by a crew of robbers disguised as TV doctors. Beckett was on the outside negotiating. Of course it turned out to be a distraction from something much bigger.
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** Happened again later, in a case where Mac was taken prisoner inside a bank.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* At the end of the Bring Down the Sky DLC for ''[[Mass Effect]]'', the leader of the Batarian terrorist group tells you he'll kill the hostages he's captured unless you let him go unharmed. Since this is ''[[Mass Effect]]'', you have the option of [[Anti-Hero|sacrificing the hostages and capturing/killing him anyways]].
** In the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, a character you're chasing takes a hostage and tells you to back off. In a [[Call Back]] moment, both Renegade or Paragon players can throw their rep in her face to intimidate her.
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** The real subversion comes in the beginning: ''You'' are the hostage, the deposed President of [[Qurac]], and the game forces you to watch in first person as you are dragged across town and finally executed for an audience.
* ''[[Call of Duty: Black Ops|Call of Duty Black Ops]]''. At the end of the first level, you burst into {{spoiler|Castro's bedroom to assassinate him. He takes his mistress hostage, which barely slows you down as you simply shoot him in the head.}} Then {{spoiler|the mistress grabs his gun and opens fire herself.}} ''Then'' {{spoiler|it turns out you killed a decoy.}}
* Hostages/Rescue: The Embassy Mission. The entire point of the game is to rescue a bunch of hostage kidnapped by generic terrorists at a generic embassy in Paris.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'': Gil tries to protect Agatha by putting himself in Heterodyne Castle, so his father will not attack. She [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090209 rejects this] as holding him hostage.
* ''[[The Dragon Doctors]]'': A shapeshifting thief impersonating one of the main characters takes said character's girlfriend hostage at gunpoint. She even says she's holding a special gun modified to go off if she's disabled in any way. Sarin blasts the both of them with an [[Clothing Damage|"Equiment Failure"]] spell that disintegrates the gun (and [[The Nudifier|all their clothing]]).
* [[The Dreamland Chronicles]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20120622063629/http://www.thedreamlandchronicles.com/the-dreamland-chronicles/todays-dreamland-chronicles-520/ Joey mentions he's related to Alex and things turn bad.]
* [[Pibgorn]] [http://www.gocomics.com/pibgorn/2009/06/18/ Trying it with Nat Bustart]
* In ''[[Nip and Tuck]]'', the [[Show Within a Show]] ''Rebel Cry'' features [https://web.archive.org/web/20120528043251/http://www.rhjunior.com/NT/00696.html a claim that our hero took a hostage].
* In episode 31 of ''[[Comic Shorts]]'':Spriteoverse LE-37 tries to hold Label Buddy hostage, but his plan hits a snag: [[Butt Monkey|nobody even likes Label Buddy]].
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', when Percy took Bally, and Pooch got Yarny, [
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[American Dad]]'' parodies this in "A Jones For A Smith" with everyone ''but'' the negotiator [[Genre Savvy|being realistic]]:
{{quote|
'''Hathaway''': I just want to talk.
'''Stan''': I have nothing to say!
''[Hathaway hangs up and sighs]''
'''Hathaway''': Get him $50,000 in unmarked bills.
'''Cop''': Uh, sir, he didn't ask for money.
'''Hathaway''': ''Then make it $500,000!'' }}
** Later, after Stan has clearly left the area completely:
{{quote|
'''Cop''': Wait, what?
'''Hathaway''': '''''Take the shot!'''''
''[The cop panics and [[Shoot the Hostage|shoots the already free hostages]]]'' }}
* In the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Fun With Veal", Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Butters steal 23 baby calves and hide them in Stan's room. An FBI negotiator treats it ''exactly'' like a hostage sistuation. However since the job of negotiating goes to [[Manipulative Bastard]] Cartman, the FBI guy does appallingly badly. Cartman bargains like a pro and the boys end up negotiating some heavy-duty weaponry, a ballistics missile and for eventual transportation, Michael Dorn playing [[Star Trek|Mr. Worf]] has to drive their truck.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:I Have Your Index]]
[[Category:Narrative Devices]]
[[Category:
▲[[Category:Hostage Situation]]
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