I Have Your Wife: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Military Commander:''' Tim, they've got your wife!
'''[[Action Hero|Tim:]]''' But I'm not married!
'''Military Commander:''' You are now... To '''[[Eagle Land|AMERICA!]]'''
|''[[Grand Theft Auto Vice City]]'', "Exploder" commercial on ''[[GTA Radio|V-Rock]]''.}}
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.
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# Villain tells hero that he is being watched. If he doesn't obey orders and/or informs the authorities, then he will kill the significant other.
# The hero will then have to a) steal something, b) deliver something, or c) kill someone.
# The hero will try at least once to get a message to friends and usually succeeds (eventually). The friends in turn usually figure out what is going
# Eventually, the significant other will be released, either by completion of mission or [[Big Damn Heroes|rescue]] by the hero (in a [[Roaring Rampage of Rescue]]) or [[The Cavalry]]. A [[Reverse Mole]] is sometimes involved.
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A common variant used with lone heroes (in which case 6 on the list is not exactly an option) has the hero reluctantly doing what the villain orders him to do, only to be screwed over when the villain [[The Cake Is a Lie|reneges on his promise]] [[You Said You Would Let Them Go|to let the loved one go]], usually before killing the loved one in question in a nasty [[Kick the Dog]] moment. The result, for many action heroes, is often a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] that usually culminates in [[Storming the Castle]] and handing the villain the mother of all asskickings for daring to mess with the loved one in the first place. Alternatively, a [[Roaring Rampage of Rescue]] ending in the rescue of the loved one may also take place.
Sometimes, a villain will do this as a plot to get a hero to betray his friends, only to have him [[Rewarded
Can't blame many a hero for [[
Sometimes, of course, the intended target may feel that [[You Can Keep Her]], in which case the whole thing is moot by [[Threat Backfire]].
If this is the reason why the villain is doing it, then it's a case of [[The Commies Made Me Do It]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Griffith from ''[[
** Guts also had a habit of doing this when he was in full [[Jerkass]] mode.
* Ichigo from ''[[
* Subverted in ''[[
{{quote|
'''{{spoiler|Raye Penber}}:''' ...No! You're holding ''her'' hostage? ("her", being {{spoiler|Naomi Misora, Penbar's fiancée}})
'''Kira:''' (smirks to self) That's right, and I'll kill her unless you do what I say. }}
** It's later played straight when {{spoiler|Mello kidnaps Light's little sister Sayu. Their father happens to be the head of the team working on the Kira case. Mello specficially mentions that it would be pointless to tell him not to contact the police, because he's in the police. But he does ask him to stop it spreading further.}}
** The movie has an odd variation. {{spoiler|Naomi takes (Light's girlfriend) Shiori hostage, intending to get him to reveal himself as Kira. It turns out to be a [[Plan]] on Light's behalf, with him planning a "murder-suicide" scenario.}}
* The ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (
* In ''[[
** The series soon tops it by {{spoiler|having the badly injured Gakushuu and Koukin being held hostage by ''Saji'', the [[Sixth Ranger Traitor]], so Hakufu goes face him after defeating and killing Toutaku}}. And it seems the writers ''love'' that, since in ''Dragon Destiny'' {{spoiler|Kan'u surrenders herself to Kyoushou High when told by the Three Pillared Gods that her teammates (including her [[Les Yay]] [[Love Interest]] and leader, Ryuubi) are cornered by practically ''every'' Kyoushou fighter.}}
* [[Action Girl|Sango]] from ''[[
* Mamoru Chiba is kidnapped a couple of times over the course of ''[[
** 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.
* Interesting subversion in ''[[
* In ''[[Wolf Guy
* This is used quite a bit in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (
* Done in ''[[Full Metal Panic
* In ''[[Gate 7]]'', [[Reincarnation|Tokugawa]] [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing|Iemitsu]] kipnapped the twin sister of one of the Urashichiken's members.
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* ''[[Transmetropolitan]]'' makes use of this with Spider Jerusalem's wife's cryogenically preserved head. Mostly subverted in that Spider does not actually ''care'' about his ''ex''-wife, much to the consternation of those who have her. Spider then completely subverts this by {{spoiler|throwing his wife's cryogenically preserved head into the river. Since she was the one who had angered the kidnappers in the first place, they then calm down and leave.}}
* Bungled by Fink and Mean Machine Angel in ''[[Judge Dredd]]'' when they abduct Dredd's landlady assuming she is his wife.
* ''[[X
== [[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* In the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' fanfic ''[[
▲* In the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' fanfic ''[[Interstitium (Fanfic)|Interstitium]]'', Wrex and Shephard have to set this up in order to convince the other krogan to let Mordin take care of some personal business on their planet. Since Mordin doesn't ''have'' a wife, however, they have to fake it. With {{spoiler|Miranda}} playing the part, and Mordin [[Large Ham|hamming it up]] for all it's worth.
== [[Film]] ==
* Gary Oldman ups this trope's usual ante in ''[[Air Force One (
** Only Tim Curry could have delivered that line any better.
* Bayard the bloodhound, in [[Tim Burton]]'s ''[[Alice in Wonderland (
* Played with in ''[[Austin Powers]]''. When Austin is about to capture Dr. Evil, Alotta appears holding Vanessa at gunpoint, telling Austin to let him go. At this point Scott walks in, so Austin grabs and holds ''him'' at gunpoint in exchange for Vanessa. Dr. Evil is, of course, [[Parental Abandonment|completely indifferent]].
* In ''[[The Big Lebowski]]'' the (non-Dude) Jeffrey Lebowski's wife, Bunny, is "kidnapped" and held for one million dollars ransom.
* In ''[[Bon Cop, Bad Cop]]'', the villains kidnap the French cop's daughter in similar fashion.
* The initial premise of Schwarzenegger's ''[[Commando (
* In ''[[Capricorn One]]'', the astronauts are told the safety of their families is contingent on their willingness to cooperate with the fake moon landing.
* ''[[
** The fourth movie has the villains capturing his daughter instead. Instead of even feigning that he'll cooperate, he just tells them he's going to kill them all and take her back.
*** And when they try to emotionally manipulate him by putting her on the line with him? [[Little Miss Badass|She tells her dad exactly how many bad guys are left.]]
* Speaking of [[The Coen Brothers|Coen Brothers]] films, the plot of ''[[Fargo]]'' revolves around a basic plot of
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Despicable Me]],'' {{spoiler|up-and-coming supervillain Vector kidnaps Gru's adopted daughters}} and demands {{spoiler|the moon, which Gru has shrunk and removed from its orbit,}} in exchange. {{spoiler|Gru complies, but when Vector goes back on the deal, he finds himself dealing with an enraged [[Papa Wolf]].}}
* The ''[[Firewall]]''-esque [[Lifetime Movie of the Week]] ''[[Exactly What It Says
* Subverted and then played straight in [[Akira Kurosawa]]'s ''High and Low'': kidnappers tell a wealthy industrialist they have his son, except they grabbed the his servants' son by mistake. After a lot of conscience
* The movie ''[[Hostage]]'': Bad guy kidnaps Bruce Willis' family to force Bruce to get a DVD that incriminates him from a hostage situation going on elsewhere. After resolving the hostage situation and getting the DVD, he manages to kill the bad guy and save his family.
* Just about every post-''[[
** Pointed out humorously in the parody/mash-up [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9GwtRsOYSI Wife Force One].
** Subverted in ''[[Indiana Jones and
* In the Marvel ''[[Spider-Man (
* In ''[[The Karate Kid]] Part II,'' the villain Chozen forces Daniel to fight him by threatening to kill Kumiko, the Japanese girl Daniel loves. He doesn't actually kidnap her, but he does capture her in the middle of a ''festival'' and hold a knife to her throat in front of the entire village, so it counts.
* The film version of ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'' has a variation that might be called I Have Your {{spoiler|You. The [[Big Bad]] steals [[Dorian Gray]]'s portrait -- yes, that one -- and uses it as leverage for his cooperation}}. Interestingly for a villain, he actually honors their agreement once his victim holds up his end of it.
** In a more straightforward example from the same film, the [[Big Bad]] forces the cooperation of the scientists he kidnapped by holding their wives and children in prison cells.
* The movie ''[[Ransom]]'' is a complete subversion of this trope. Instead of paying the ransom for his son, he offers the amount of 2 million bucks to anyone who can find and rescue his son instead, because he assumes his son is either 1. already dead, or 2. the kidnappers have no intention of returning his son anyway.
* In ''[[
* ''[[Red Eye (
* The kidnappers in ''[[Ruthless People]]'' threaten to kill Sam Stone's wife. Turns out, however, that he was going to kill her, and the kidnappers appear to have saved him the trouble.
* In the [[Made for TV Movie]] ''[[San Francisco International Airport|San Francisco International]]'' (another proud ''[[
* The first ''[[Saw]]'' plays this pretty straight with Dr. Gordon's family. In an interesting subversion, in the second movie Detective Matthews's son is taken hostage, but, in order to get him back, Matthew's is ordered not to steal/kill/etc. but... to do nothing. He fails miserably in one of the best twist endings ever.
* Subverted (possibly inverted) in the movie ''[[Se7en]]'': Less "I have your wife" and more {{spoiler|"You have your wife's head."}}. The idea is still to use this to get the hero to do what the villain wants.
* In ''[[Space Mutiny]]'', the villainous Elijah Kalgan kidnaps the commander's [[Mystery Science Theater 3000|"daughter-mother"]].
* In ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[The Usual Suspects]]'' has a "flashback" of how Keyser Soze came to power. Low-level thugs take his wife and children hostage while he's out on business. He comes home to find them under guard and with guns pointed at them. He then {{spoiler|shoots his wife, multiple thugs and his kids}}. He tells the only remaining thug still alive to tell his bosses what happened.
* ''[[Shooter]].'' The bad guys kidnap Sarah, which makes Bob realize how much he cares for her.
{{quote|
Bob Lee Swagger: Neither did I... until they took her. }}
== [[Literature]] ==
* [[Complete Monster|High Lord Kalarus]] in the ''[[Codex Alera]]'' likes this tactic. When he rebels against Gaius, he kidnaps the High Lady Placida and other people who were loved ones of important nobles. But the most despicable example was probably holding Rook's daughter hostage to ensure her cooperation... and then locking her in the same room as Placida, with his security systems set to go for the kid first if she tried to escape. Placida is a [[Person of Mass Destruction]] in her own right so she probably could have escaped on her own, but she wouldn't be powerful enough to protect the kid ''and'' herself.
* In the book, play and movie ''The Desperate Hours'', three escaped cons take the protagonist's family hostage in their own home.
* It happens in a quite interesting way in ''[[The Devil to Pay In The Backlands]]'', because it's the [[Anti-Hero|heroes]] who kidnap [[Devil in Plain Sight|Hermógenes]]'s wife to use her as bait. Eventually, she [[Badass Adorable|becomes Diadorim's friend]].
* [[Doc Savage]] gives this as the reason why he doesn't form relationships. Of course that hasn't stopped people from speculating that the 1930's hero has [[Ho Yay|other reasons...]].
{{quote|
Mona: "But why, Doc?"
Savage: "There was a girl once. We were to be married. She was kidnapped by the men I had been pursuing--they threatened to kill her if I didn't drop the chase. I gave in. I had to. Later, when she was returned safely to me, I realized there could never be a future for us. [[
* This is why Wellington Yueh betrays the Atreides in ''[[Dune]]'', with a twist: the Harkonnens have Yueh's wife Wanna (of course), and they are torturing her. Constantly. Yueh's deal with the Baron is that the Baron will ''kill'' Wanna, putting an end to her miserable existence. {{spoiler|This is why Yueh also sacrifices his life to assassinate the Baron; the plan fails, but it's kind of sweet.}}
* In ''Fangs of K'aath 2: Guardians of Light'', the villain Tzu-Khan has the good Shah Raschid's wives kidnapped. With them in his clutches, he makes contact to the Raschid through a magic mirror about how he intends to have them horrifically [[Cold-Blooded Torture|tortured]] and yet [[And I Must Scream|unable to die]] unless the Shah surrenders. However, the heroic wives break free just long enough to reveal the location of the villain's army and instruct their husband both to break his mirror to cut off contact for more threats, and "Kill the bastards!" Well aware of what his wives are sacrificing sending that message, Raschid wastes no time to honour those demands. Fortunately, a combination of cunning and [[The Power of Friendship]] allows the wives to not only individually escape, but to join the fight against the villain.
* A [[Greg Egan]] short story changes this to I Stole A Copy Of Your Wife's [[Brain Uploading|Brain Upload]].
* In ''[[The Guardians]]'', demons are fond of this tactic to coerce humans into a [[Deal
* ''[[Harry Potter|Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]]'': Voldemort fools Harry into believing that he has taken Sirius, to lure Harry into the Department of Mysteries.
** In ''The Deathly Hallows'', Luna is taken prisoner to force her father to rat out the trio.
* The premise of Dean Koontz's novel ''The Husband''. "We have your wife. You can get her back for two million cash."
* In ''Night Over Water'' by Ken Follett, Eddie the mechanic must help hijack the airship because the bad guys are holding his pregnant wife hostage.
* In ''[[The Scarlet Pimpernel (
** In one of the sequels, ''Eldorado'', Armand betrays the Pimpernel to Chauvelin in exchange for the freedom of Armand's lover, Jeanne L'Ange, who had been arrested for helping him elude capture; ironically, the Pimpernel {{spoiler|has already freed Jeanne from prison}}.
* The third ''Soldiers of Barrabas'' (a [[Heroes-R-Us]] series by Jack Hild) novel had enemies of Nile Barrabas from his Vietnam days kidnapping his girlfriend and basically saying "You've got 48 hours before we kill her. Come and get her." The [[Big Bad]] thinks his jungle fortress surrounded by booby traps and ambushes will take care of Barrabas and his men, but they kill an ambush squad and infiltrate up their hidden retreat path, which of course is free of booby traps.
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* In ''[[Superman]]'' novel ''The Last Days of Krypton'', the villain kidnaps the hero's wife. It's a two-for-one hostage since his wife is '''pregnant'''.
* The [[Big Bad]] of the ''Tamuli'', the sequel trilogy to the ''[[Elenium]]'' by [[David Eddings]], sends [[The Dragon]] to kidnap the knight Sparhawk's wife. Seeing as 1) Sparhawk has a handful of assorted gods who like him and are willing to help him out, and 2) there's nothing in the world he loves more than his wife, this can only be considered a Very Bad Idea in the long run.
* In ''[[Twilight (
* Standard peacekeeping method in [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Westeros]]. Defeated nobles send their children to live with the victors as hostages/wards. The kids are typically treated well, but there's the ever lingering threat that the children will be killed if the defeated lords misbehave. Most prominent example in the series: Theon Greyjoy.
* In ''[[Grunts
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[
** ''24'' also used this trope in season three with Tony's wife Michelle being kidnapped. And then in season four, they reversed it as Tony was kidnapped and Michelle was forced to work with the bad guy.
** ''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.
* In ''[[Battlestar Galactica
* 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''.}}
* The
* Neatly averted in the ''[[Due South]]'' episode "The Vault". Ray and Fraser are trapped in a vault with armed robbers outside. The robbers capture Ray's sister Francesca, and call a phone located inside the vault. They inform the heroes that they have Francesca, and Fraser immediately responds by disabling the phone before the robbers have a chance make any demands. Fraser correctly reasons that if the robbers cannot communicate with them, they have no way to threaten them and no reason to harm Francesca.
* ''[[
* At the end of the miniseries ''[[Kill Point]]'', [[Worthy Opponent]] Mr. Wolf {{spoiler|takes negotiator Horst Cali's wife hostage to force him to slip Wolf and his team out of the police standoff. To his credit, Wolf doesn't seem happy to do it and, when one of his men decides not to let her go, he gives Cali a gun and covering fire to go to her rescue}}.
* In the ''[[Lost]]'' episode "The Hunting Party", after Jack tells Kate to stay behind while he, Sawyer and Locke search for Michael, she follows them and gets captured by the Others. Jack was not too happy.
* In the ''[[MacGyver]]'' episode "Hearts of Steel", disgruntled steel mill workers attempt to kidnap the daughter of the industrialist who put them out of work, but end up abducting his housekeeper's daughter instead.
* Spoofed in a ''[[Mad TV]]'' skit, were the bad guys keep doing this to the hero, ending with "I have your ''goldfish!''"
* ''[[NCIS]]'' does this in "See No Evil", until {{spoiler|it turns out the officer pulled it on himself to get $2m from the Pentagon}}.
** Also, the Mexican drug cartel's have Gibbs' {{spoiler|heterosexual life partner, Franks}}.
* In the current third season of ''[[Prison Break]]'', [[The Government|the Company]] [[
* In the ''[[
* This is subverted in an episode of ''[[Sharpe]]'', when a villainous Frenchman tells his more noble countryman he won't plead for the release of his English wife. Sharpe promptly walks over and helps the English wife mount a horse behind her husband.
* In the first season finale of ''[[Los Simuladores]]'', their leader Santos is kidnapped in exchange for helping a mob boss being set free.
* Done to [[Butt Monkey|Miles O'Brien]] on ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]''. The twist: the villain was actually a Pah Wraith (a noncorporeal being) ''[[Demonic Possession|possessing]]'' his wife, and could kill her instantaneously. The only solution was to figure out a way to kill the Wraith even ''more'' instantaneously, without letting it catch on to the plan.
* Seems to happen a few times in ''[[Supernatural]]'', though it's more like [[
* Gwen's mother, husband and daughter are held hostage by Olivia Colasanto in ''[[Torchwood: Miracle Day]]'' to blackmail Gwen into kidnapping Jack for her.
* ''[[White Collar]]'': In the cliffhanger ending of the third series mid season finale, {{spoiler|Keller has kidnapped Peter's wife, El.}}
* Toyed with on ''[[The Wire]]'': Brother Mouzone kidnapped and tortured Omar's boyfriend Dante for information, and then held him hostage, agreeing to release him to Omar on the condition that Omar work with him to take out {{spoiler|Stringer Bell}}. Of course, Omar and Dante were on the outs anyway, Omar was unimpressed by the fact that Dante had given up information on him, and Omar had been looking for a chance ever since {{spoiler|Stringer}} had his previous boyfriend tortured and killed two years prior; Dante is released to Omar, but they then part ways.
* On ''[[The X
** It totally works the other way around, too. And if anything, Scully is even ''more'' frightening when Mulder is taken. In season 8, Mulder is missing and she unleashes hell on whoever gets in her way. Never mind that she's pregnant. It takes Skinner pointing out that Mulder wouldn't want her to risk her life and the baby's to get her even take a breath.
* An inversion in BBC's ''[[
* This trope is the reason why the human rights commission agent in ''[[NCIS: Los Angeles]]'' uncharacteristically attempted to kill the defected sister of the Sudanese dictator in transit before she could testify against her brother: A French CEO kidnapped his wife and daughter, and he threatened to have them killed if he didn't assassinate her.
* Done by the villain in the ''[[Rizzoli and Isles]]'' episode "My Own Worst Enemy" is order to ensure the cooperation of an importer.
== Newspaper Comics ==
* ''[[Modesty Blaise (
== Theatre ==
* In ''[[Oedipus
== [[Video Games]] ==
* In ''[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
* [[Subverted]] in ''[[
* In the most recent development of ''[[
* In ''[[Clash
* 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.
* At one point in ''[[Dragon Age II]]'', a rebel mage group kidnaps one of your party members - usually your love interest or sibling, but if neither of those are available, they'll go for the companion you have maximum friendship with - and demands you aid them to secure their safe return.
* Done by the [[Anti-Hero]] ''protagonist'' in ''[[Fate
* In the [[Attract Mode]] for ''[[Final Fight]]'', Damnd (the Round 1 boss) calls Haggar and tells him to turn on the TV. It reveals his daughter Jessica with her hands tied behind her back.
{{quote|
'''Damnd:''' Nothing yet. But we'd enjoy the opportunity. }}
* 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|
* The motivation for the protagonist in ''The Getaway''. Hilariously parodied by the [https://web.archive.org/web/20120514185058/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/unskippable/520-The-Getaway Unskippable crew]:
{{quote|
'''Paul Saunders''' (as Mark): But what if I go skydiving?
'''Graham Stark''' (as Charlie): Your kid dies!
'''Paul''': What if I forget to bathe?
'''Graham''': Your kid dies!
'''Paul''': But what if I kill my kid?
'''Graham''': Your ki--touché. }}
* Spoofed in ''[[Grand Theft Auto Vice City|GTA: Vice City]]'', as demonstrated by the page quote.
* Pretty much the whole point of the video game ''Kane and Lynch: Dead Men''. Kane is forced into finding his mercenary friends' lost fortune when they take his wife and daughter hostage.
** In this case, though, {{spoiler|the wife gets killed, which starts the above-mentioned [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]], and depending on the ending, the daugheter either hates Kane forever or is killed while trying to escape. The latter is the ''good'' ending.}}
* This happens twice to Kairi in ''[[
* The reason for the actions of Dr. Cossack in ''[[
* ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]'' did this in the last case of the second game, only with the hero's beloved assistant Maya rather than his significant other.
** Whether Maya happens to be Phoenix's significant other or not is up for debate, as the ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' fandom happens to be one of the fiercest with its absurd amount of pairings for the [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] that show up in the series. A majority of the heterosexual [[Shipping|shippers]] tend to go with Maya being Phoenix's girlfriend, so the trope would be perfectly valid here.
* Used in, of all things, ''[[Professor Layton and
** Appears again in ''[[Professor Layton and
* The freeware RPG Game ''Quintessence - The Blighted Venom'': Lunair kidnapped Reivier's wife Serai to Aeria under orders of the Duke, but after finding out that her own family betrayed her, struck a deal with Reivier that she would bring Serai back if he gets her the cure to the Quintessence's aftermath.
* The plot of ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'' is kicked off by the hero's wife (and child) being held hostage by a [[Knight Templar]].
* In the first ''[[Resident Evil]]'' game, [[Big Bad|Wesker]] blackmails Barry to do his bidding by using the latter's family as leverage - if Barry doesn't do what Wesker says, his family will die.
* Sophitia Alexandra in ''[[Soul Calibur]] 4'' is a sacred woman, loving mother and a holy fighter. Then her children get infected with the evil sword Soul Edge and it told her to destroy all its enemies, otherwise her kids die. This drives Sophitia's [[Mama Bear]] qualities that she ends up betraying everything she stood for to protect her kids. {{spoiler|She gets better... thanks to [[Big Bad|Algol]] suddenly growing sympathy for her and helping her destroy Soul Edge.}}
* In ''[[
* Eddy Gordo in ''[[Tekken]]'' is mostly a normal guy, who does love his mentor. In ''5''. mentor goes out of jail, but is sickly. He fought in the 5th tournament to get the cure, failed to win. Then, Jin Kazama, after apparently having a [[Face Heel Turn]] as the new boss of Mishima Zaibatsu, moved his mentor to his hospital and offered Eddy the cure if he works for him in the upcoming war with the world. Eddy reluctantly accepted, but in the end, he found out that Jin was lying and his mentor is dead. Even though Jin turns out to be executing [[The Plan]] for a greater good, [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here|that's the last straw for Eddy and he quits the Zaibatsu]].
* Inverted in ''[[Wing Commander (
* In ''[[
* ''[[Metal Gear]]'' ''really'' loves using this trope:
** In the original ''[[Game]]/MetalGear'', Ellen Madnar was held hostage by Outer Heaven so her father would cooperate in developing Metal Gear.
** In ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'', the Pentagon arranges for Meryl Silverburgh to be captured by the Sons of Big Boss by deliberately sending her to Shadow Moses with full knowledge that she's being sent the same day she'll revolt in order to force Roy Campbell to not only cooperate in halting the revolt, but also keep secrets from Solid Snake (such as Metal Gear REX's development and {{spoiler|Snake being used as a vector for a bioweapon virus known as FOXDIE}}). In the in-game novel on the events in the sequel, [[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]], its also revealed that not only were the Patriots behind the Pentagon's decision in regards to Meryl being sent, but also the implication that they would have Meryl and Roy Campbell killed should Campbell even attempt to expose the secrets to Snake.
** ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'' has ''two'' instances of this in the game (three, counting the aforementioned in-game novel), all of which the Patriots were responsible of doing: The first is with Olga Gurlukovich: The Patriots kidnapped her child during birth, and they threatened to [[Would Hurt a Child|kill her child]] should Olga either disobey their orders or fail her mission (in this case, if Raiden ends up killed). The second time is to Raiden himself: Not only does he have to save Olga's child after she died in an act of sacrifice, but now he has to live for Rosemary and his unborn child, as they are holding her hostage, and she's pregnant, and it is implied that even after Raiden succeeded in the exercise, they are still holding them hostage.
** Something similar is revealed to be the reason why The Sorrow and The Boss fought to the death in Dolinovodno: They had to fight due to The Boss's failure and her unauthorized usage of the Philosopher's spy network or else they would murder Ocelot.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* A [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] takes Lilah hostage in ''[[Ctrl
* 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]] ==
* The ''[[Loading Ready Run]]'' episode "[https://web.archive.org/web/20130117023535/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/loadingreadyrun/3327-Ransom Ransom]" took it to its illogical extreme. The villain kidnaps the hero's girlfriend and calls him with the demands. The hero counters by kidnapping the villain's henchmen. The villain escalates by kidnapping the hero's mother which the hero counters by capturing the villain's deaf brother. All this takes place in the span of five minutes with the hero and villain still engaged in the original phone conversation. The villain tries to end things by kidnapping the hero but the hero responds by kidnapping the villain (while still tied up in the villain's lair).
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Nastily subverted in the "April Moon" episode of ''[[
* The third ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' movie: Freakshow kidnaps his parents and sister as ransom for the [[Gotta Catch Them All|Reality Gems]].
* In the ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (
* Subverted in an episode of ''[[
* 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
* The [[Christmas Special]] ''[[Santa Claus
* 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 (
* An episode of ''[[Tripping the Rift]]'' had Darf Bobo tell one of the judges for his daughter's supermodel contest that he's kidnapped his wife, and if he knows what's good for her, he'll vote for his daughter. Upon seeing the picture Bobo provides for evidence, the judge tells him that's his mother-in-law, and that Bobo's free to kill her.
* Used in the Goultard special for ''[[
* Variation in ''[[The Zeta Project]]'': Agent Lee gets held hostage by a sadistic mercenary threatening to kill her unless Zeta surrenders. Zeta, who she has been chasing, hunting down and treating like he's less than a sentient being, intervenes immediately anyway because that's just the kind of person he is. Setting aside their relationship, though, the rest of the trope is played like this, right down to the mercenary calling Lee Zeta's 'girlfriend' in several dubs.
* Parodied in ''[[The Simpsons (
== Real Life ==
* At some battle during the [[Ancient China|Chu-Han War]] after the collapse of the [[Dynasties From Shang to Qing|Qin Dynasty]], the King of Chu, [[Hot
** 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.
* During the Spanish Civil War, the Republicans, (no, not those republicans), captured the son of José Moscardó e Ituarte, the Nationalist commandant during the [[
* Hostage taking was normal practice in the times of dynastic politics as a guarantee of peaceful behavior. It was so much worked into the noble's code of honor, that it was treated as routine and hostages were considered normal courtiers until their kin broke their word.
* In [[World War 2]] the Nazis revived the practice (which had been defunct for some time) and being Nazis did not carry it out with such style as princely warriors and rulers had. This could include such logical extensions as indulging in massacres whenever the Resistance blew something up, or torturing captured couples to death in each other's sight (which is why the [[SOE]] never sent married agents on the same mission). In point of fact this made the Resistance far less effective than legend paints except in such regions where the Germans [[Kill'Em All|made sure]] there was nothing to lose, or except with Communists who were rather bloody minded about the whole thing anyway.
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