I Have Your Wife: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Military Commander:''' Tim, they've got your wife!

'''[[Action Hero|Tim:]]''' But I'm not married!

 

The [[Big Bad]] tries to get the hero (or someone else) to [[An Offer You Can't Refuse|do his bidding]] by taking someone precious from him and essentially holding them to ransom. It's often a significant other, frequently a wife or girlfriend.

 

If this is the reason why the villain is doing it, then it's a case of [[The Commies Made Me Do It]].

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* Griffith from ''[[Berserk]]'' does this with one of the Queen's mooks in order to blackmail him into helping Griffith kill the Queen, only the hostage is the mook's young daughter.

** Zoisite ''loves'' this strategy in the anime. Zoisite has his youma kidnap Naru in order to threaten Nephrite, as he's figured out Nephrite is obsessed with her, and tries to ransom her for the Black Crystal using three powerful youma. Nephrite just proceeds to beat up the youma and take Naru back, though Zoisite ends up killing him a little while later anyway. Later in the season, Zoisite uses Naru ''again'' to threaten Sailor Moon into giving up the only rainbow crystal the Sailor Senshi have collected, this time by having a youma suffocate her until Sailor Moon gives up and hands it over (though he ''initially'' planned to just turn Naru into a youma and threaten her that way, but he missed his attack and hit a [[Power Ranger]] parody instead.) Finally, Zoisite captured the Sailor Senshi through a convoluted scheme in order to force Tuxedo Mask to give up the rainbow crystals which ''he'' had collected. This is the only time he actually failed because Sailor Venus made her first appearance in this episode, thus avoiding his trap...though he still got information on Tuxedo Mask's true identity in the process.

** Rubeus captures all four of the Guardian Senshi during ''Sailor Moon R'' and demands Sailor Moon arrive in his UFO to hand over Chibiusa and the ginzuishou if she wants them back.

* In ''[[Wolf Guy|Wolf Guy Wolfen Crest]]'', with a [[Complete Monster]] like Haguro in charge, it's less about having the wife and move about {{spoiler|kidnapping the [[Hot Teacher]] that is the [[Anti-Hero]]'s [[Morality Chain]], violently torture and rape her for several hours, videotaping this and threaten said [[Anti-Hero]] with sending copies of said sexual acts to completely smear her fame.}}

* This is used quite a bit in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (anime)|Yu-Gi-Oh]]''. Pegasus takes Yugi's grandfather's soul to make him compete in his tournament. Then there's the Joey anchor duel. [[Rule of Three|Then]] Duke Devlin humiliates Joey and makes Yugi duel to get him out of the dog suit. I'm sure there's more.

 

 

* ''[[All He Ever Wanted]]''. In one of the most polemic parts of the fic, the [[Complete Monster]] [[Big Bad]] keeps the [[Action Girl]]'s [[Non-Action Guy]] ex-husband hostage and uses this not just to have her pull a [[Face Heel Turn]], but to actually ''torture and rape her in front of him to show off his power''.

* ''[[And Shine Heaven Now]]'': {{spoiler|Walter. In ''[[Hellsing]]'', he pulls a [[Face Heel Turn]] which is never adequately explained. Here, the bad guys have his daughter, Maggie (imported from ''[[Read or Die]]''). How far he will go to keep her safe remains to be seen.}}

** ''24'' loves this trope so much it was parodied [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Bc0mG5omTo by Derrick Comedy].

* In ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'' series 2, in order for Sark to give her an antidote to save Vaughn from a deadly illness, Sydney was forced to assassinate (or rather attempt, it turned out to be a ploy for the two to work together) Arvin Sloane. This is a slight variation on the scenario.

* After playing it straight multiple times, there is a spot of [[Lampshade Hanging]] on ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. Harmony claims to have the perfect plan to defeat Buffy, but when Spike outlines the above plan as a guess, she steals the idea. Of course, it fails miserably.

* In the ''[[Burn Notice]]'' episode "End Run", Michael is controlled by threats against his brother who, ironically, is completely unaware of his danger {{spoiler|right up until Brennen ''shoots him''.}}

* In ''[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood|Assassin's Creed Brotherhood]]'', Baron de Valois captures Bartolomeo's wife and tries to make him surrender.

* [[Subverted]] in ''[[Baldur's Gate]] II: Shadows of Amn'': Bodhi will warn you against continuing to oppose her lest you lose everything dear to you, and kidnap your love interest character, if any—but will offer no deal not to hurt them if you yield, presumably because she knows you have no choice but to follow her anyway and because she likes to be sadistic.

* In ''[[Clash at Demonhead]]'', Bang is told that his girlfriend has been kidnapped and instructed to meet one of the bad guys at a specific location. {{spoiler|It's a lie; she was never kidnapped.}}

* The plot of the original ''[[Double Dragon]]'' is about Billy and Jimmy being forced to fight their way into the Black Warriors' turf to save Billy's girlfriend Marian.

* In ''[[The Force Unleashed]] 2'', Darth Vader tries to force Starkiller to work for him again by kidnapping Juno Eclipse, the woman he loves.

{{quote|'''Vader''': Find and kill General Kota. If you refuse, the woman dies. You will return to me and give yourself to The Dark Side. If you resist, she dies. And when your training is complete, you will hunt down and execute the rebel leaders. If you FAIL, SHE DIES! }}

{{quote|'''Charlie Jolson''': I ring you, you do the job. You don't do what I tell you, the kid dies. You don't do it where I tell you, the kid dies. You don't do it when I tell you, the kid dies! Are you getting my drift? Now you want to see your kid again, you do exactly what I say. You talk to anyone, you're late, or you let me down, your kid dies! Do I make myself clear?

'''Paul Saunders''' (as Mark): But what if I go skydiving?

* A [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] takes Lilah hostage in ''[[Ctrl+Alt+Del]].'' To get her back, Ethan must surrender his crown as the King of Wintereenmas. In what can only be regarded as his personal [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], Ethan throws the crown on the floor before the guy can finish making the demand.

* The Fallen tries this in the ''[[Insecticomics]]'', kidnapping Lazorbeak in order to manipulate Kickback. Kickback simply waits for Lazorbeak to rescue herself, which she does with great glee.

 

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

 

 

* Subverted in an episode of ''[[Family Guy]]'' where in a flashback, Lois is captured by criminals who demand a ransom of her rich father. They put her on the line. His response: "Now honey, you know family policy, we don't negotiate with kidnappers."

* The whole problem between [[The Hero|Zachary Foxx]] and [[God Save Us From the Queen|Queen of the Crown]] in ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers|Galaxy Rangers]]''. Zach has Eliza's body in stasis. The Queen has her [[Life Energy]] decorating her living room as a little red crystal, and a one-sided case of [[Foe Yay]]. Acts mostly as a subversion, as Eliza's the only human psychocrystal and just too good a tool to actually destroy. The closest it came to this was "Psychocrypt," where the Queen's relentless [[Mind Rape]] against both of them caused Zach to make a suicidal run to get his wife back.

* The penultimate episode of ''[[Static Shock]]'': Omnara kidnaps Static's father. Richie, Static's best friend and sidekick, also has the tendency to get kidnapped a lot.

* The first season finale of ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'': {{spoiler|Slade injects Robin's ''four'' teammates with potentially deadly nanoprobes and has his finger on the button, forcing Robin to become his sidekick. The scheme falls apart when Slade cows Robin by engaging the probes on a limited setting; the combination of this sudden inexplicable pain that seems to be under Slade's control and Robin's frantic reaction to it tips off the Titans that they are being used as hostages to control their friend. And then Robin puts the nanoprobes in himself when Slade is about to kill his friends, and since they aren't selective, he'd die too.}}

** For the curious, Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu (founding the Han Dynasty in the process), and Liu's father didn't get the least bit boiled.

* Another historical example, this time from 12th century England, concerns King Stephen threatening to hang the small son of one John Marshal if he doesn't surrender his castle. John replies, rather crudely, that he still has the hammer and anvil to make even better sons. In justice to John, King Stephen was a marshmallow (sweet and soft) and everybody knew it. Little William Marshal was ''not'' hanged and grew up to be the most famous knight in England and France.

 

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