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Magically-Binding Contract: Difference between revisions
combined "card games" and "tabletop RPGs" into "tabletop games", "fan fiction"->"fan works", potholes
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[[File:Contract 3442.png|link=The Little Mermaid|frame|[[Disney Owns This Trope|Now Disney owns your soul]].]]
{{quote|''Hah! You see? The contract's legal, binding, and completely unbreakable, even for [[Physical God|you]].''
|'''Ursula''', [[Disney]]'s ''[[The Little Mermaid]]''}}
In fiction, particularly fantasy fiction, normal [[Leonine Contract]]s just don't cut it. Part of the reason for this is because it's usually pretty vague what kind of government most fantasy cultures use, so nobody really knows how contracts would work anyway. Besides, we have contracts in [[Real Life]], and they're usually pretty boring. So one sure way to get some excitement is to have a character sign one that is magically binding.
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Note that another sub-trope of [[Deal with the Devil]], the [[Faustian Rebellion]], is rarely if ever presented as viable countermand to a '''Magically-Binding Contract'''. However, should the person accomplish whatever [[Impossible Task]] was provided in the contract, then the [[Lawful Evil|The Devil has to follow his part too]]. In this trope, you gotta beat 'em at their own game. [[Frequently-Broken Unbreakable Vow|Characters who break one of these]] can become [[The Oathbreaker]]. Compare [[Geas]], which is more of a spell or curse.
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'''s Kyubey makes contracts with girls to become [[Magical Girl]]s. Notably, his contracts are entirely verbal, and are without any form of fine print mentioning the downsides and side-effects, meaning that they aren't actually ''legally'' binding under most systems of law, despite being ''magically'' binding. [[Memetic Mutation|Contract?]]
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** In a reversal of the usual bindings, Fate's Contract with Arf is much more open ended. Arf is contracted with Fate to "live her life in any way that she pleases, for as long as they both live."
== Card Games ==▼
* The background of the ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' plane of Ravnica includes probably the largest example on the list: the Guildpact, a magical contract between the ten Guilds that essentially governs the entirety of the plane. The main plot of the novels {{spoiler|turns out to be a [[Gambit Pileup|convoluted attempt]] to break the Guildpact. Which eventually works due to a loophole}}. Also they have advokists and lawmages. Yes, ''lawyer mages".▼
** "Law Magic" is basically used to do two things: make the witness tell the truth, and memorize the code of laws, no matter how convoluted.▼
** Geth, Lord of the Vault, specializes in making magical tablets into which contracts can be willed. If they break the contract, Geth controls them forever. These are actually very popular, and his agents take them all over so that two parties who don't trust each other can use one of Geth's tablets and be assured that neither of them would dare break the agreement.▼
▲== Fan Fiction ==
* As mentioned below, these exist in the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series and the [[Power Perversion Potential]] naturally occurred to [[Fanfic]] writers, most famously with a case of Magical Truth or Dare in "[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3689325/1/The_Original_Naked_Quidditch_Match The Naked Quidditch Match]".
* Presented to the protagonist of ''[[Fair Vote]]'', a ''[[Dresden Files]]'' fic, by a literal Devil's Advocate.
== Film -- Animated ==
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* These are [[Rumpelstiltskin]]'s specialty in ''[[Shrek]] Forever After''.
* ''[[We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story]]'' doubles as a [[Blood Oath]] then the two kids join Screweye's circus using their blood to sign the contract.
== Film -- Live-Action ==
* In the second ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' film, Davey Jones is under a Magically-Binding Contract to ferry souls to the afterlife. (He can also draft dead sailors using contracts of his own.) His neglect of this duty is the reason he and his crew look like fish-men.
* In the film version of ''[[Ghost Rider]]'', the Devil presents Johnny with a contract for his soul in exchange for his Father's health. Where this moves beyond [[Deal with the Devil]] is that Johnny cuts himself on the contract while reading it, and the Devil takes his blood on the deal as agreement. But because he never actually agreed, Johnny eventually is able to resist Lucifer and keep the Rider's powers.
== Folklore ==
* [[Faust]]'s contract with Mephistopheles has to be signed with blood, and can't be broken.
== Literature ==
* In [[Tamora Pierce]]'s ''[[Tortall Universe|Tortall]]'' books, breaking an oath signed in blood will result in one's blood boiling in one's veins.
* Used in ''[[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire|Harry Potter]]''. When the Goblet says Harry has to compete, well, Harry has to compete. Even though ''he didn't enter himself for consideration as a contestant'', he has to compete, rather than the forger who put his name in the Goblet (although it's explained earlier that they're technically nominating someone, it just so happened no one was expected to nominate someone other than themselves).
** Introduced in ''[[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince|Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]]'' is the "Unbreakable Vow", which kills you if you attempt to break it.
** In the fifth book, Hermione turns the "member's list" of the DA into one. The result being that when {{spoiler|one of the members rats them out, she ends up with the word "SNEAK" written across her face in pimples.}} [[Your Mileage May Vary]] on whether she [[Disproportionate Retribution|went too far]], although [[Word of God]] states that the effect wore off eventually (J.K. Rowling claims to hate traitors, so she presumably likes this trope).
* In ''The [[Wheel of Time]]'', any oath taken by a mage while passing her magic through a tool called "the Oath Rod" is magically binding, though it can be removed by the same object. When created in [[Crystal Spires and Togas|the Age of Legends]] the rod was simply called a "binder", and was only used against intractably criminal mages (understandably, given the side effects - also now forgotten) to seal their powers.
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* In ''[[The Guardians]]'', this is how [[Deal with the Devil|bargains and wagers]] are enforced. If they are broken, that person or demon is damned to [[Nightmare Fuel|the field of frozen faces]] when they die.
* The heroine of ''[[The Assassins of Tamurin]]'' learns towards the end that a character has been bound by this all along.
* Madam Morrible does this to Nessarose, Elphaba and Glinda in ''[[Wicked (novel)|Wicked]]''.
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' TOS episode "Escape Clause". A hypochondriac signs a [[Deal with the Devil]] to live forever. {{spoiler|Then he kills his wife, is not afraid of the death penalty obviously so mocks the proceedings, but his smart lawyer manages to get a life sentence. The man is horrified by the prospect of an eternity (literally) in prison, and uses the "escape clause" from the contract, dying of a heart attack in his cell. He should have known [[The Devil]] has ways of subverting contracts.}}
* In the ''[[Charmed]]'' episode
* In ''[[Angel]]'', contracts with Wolfram and Hart are often magically enforced. High level employees sign away their lives ''and afterlives'' to work for the firm. After being killed by Darla, Holland Manners continues to serve the Senior Partners, and the same happens to Lilah Morgan after being killed by Jasmine. Wesley attempts to free Lilah from her contract by retrieving it and burning it. It simply reappears back where he found it.
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' is positively drowning in these.
* In ''[[The Tenth Kingdom]]'', Wolf binds himself to do the queen's biddings, in return for his release from prison. He first accepts the contract eagerly, only later getting second thoughts, after it's too late to renege.
== Music ==
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** They accomplished this by making the contract on the back of a page from the Bible. When in doubt, use Holy© for all your binding-contract needs!
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''
** Spells ''geas / quest'' and ''mark of justice'' can be construed to be a type of contract without paper, as well. Also, people don't have to agree to it, so you can just use it to force people to do your bidding. Though it has a ten minute cast time, so unless they're restrained you'll be long dead before you finish casting it.
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** The Perfect of Paragon can make these contracts as well. In fact, he requires them of anyone who wants to live in his city.
** The [[The Fair Folk|raksha]], thanks to a quirk in their nature, must abide by their sworn word, or be cursed. They know this full well, and are very, /very/ good at exploiting loopholes. The raksha can also make adjurations, oaths that empower a raksha who swears to them, so long as the raksha fulfills their conditions.
* ''[[In Nomine]]'' has the Lilim, demons with the ability to read people's Needs (which really means wants most often) by looking in their eyes; if the Lilim can
** ''[[In Nomine Satanis/Magna Veritas|In Nomine Satanis
*** In one notable published scenario, Lilith and Marc make a deal with one another!
* ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]'' has a borderline case with Pledges, supernaturally-enforced deals Changelings (and the True Fae) can strike with others. While the Pledge doesn't supernaturally force others to obey, most Pledges offer significant penalties, called Sanctions, which afflict an oathbreaker. These Sanctions can range from a -1 to all rolls, to owing the other party a favor, to death.
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{{quote|'''Q''': […] would it be considered a betrayal to have a Manipulatory Manifestation run into a group of enemies and detonate a bomb?
'''A''': No, it isn't- a Manipulatory Manifestation doesn't care in the slightest whether it gets blown up or not, [[Exact Words|being "heedless of the consequences"]], so blowing it up in the process of having it manipulate something doesn't qualify as harm to it. It's okay with the concept, the same way that a war-Shadow is okay with getting killed in battle.}}
▲* The background of the ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' plane of Ravnica includes probably the largest example on the list: the Guildpact, a magical contract between the ten Guilds that essentially governs the entirety of the plane. The main plot of the novels {{spoiler|turns out to be a [[Gambit Pileup|convoluted attempt]] to break the Guildpact. Which eventually works due to a loophole}}. Also they have advokists and lawmages. Yes, ''lawyer mages".
▲** "Law Magic" is basically used to do two things: make the witness tell the truth, and memorize the code of laws, no matter how convoluted.
▲** Geth, Lord of the Vault, specializes in making magical tablets into which contracts can be willed. If they break the contract, Geth controls them forever. These are actually very popular, and his agents take them all over so that two parties who don't trust each other can use one of Geth's tablets and be assured that neither of them would dare break the agreement.
== Video Games ==
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** In ''Throne of Bhaal'', {{spoiler|Sarevok}} tells you that, in exchange for getting to join you, he can swear a special oath to stay loyal, which done in the Demiplane would due to the nature of the place act like a ''geas''.
== Web Comics ==
* Spoofed in the "Torg Potter" parody in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''. Anything the Goblet says is magically binding. Even when the commands are completely irrational and have nothing to do with the Tournament. Once Torg figures out how to manipulate the Goblet with Muggle methods, he's able to get it to make a contract saying that Gandledorf has to sit on a cactus for the tournament's entire duration.▼
▲* Spoofed in the Torg Potter parody in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''. Anything the Goblet says is magically binding. Even when the commands are completely irrational and have nothing to do with the Tournament. Once Torg figures out how to manipulate the Goblet with Muggle methods, he's able to get it to make a contract saying that Gandledorf has to sit on a cactus for the tournament's entire duration.
** Worse yet, a wizard's name in itself is a magical binding contract, compelling the wizard in question to do whatever their name implies, which is why many wizards tend to change their name. Gandeldorf's name was allegedly Grad-fondle.
* In ''[[Wake the Sleepers]]'', the Assassin Madoc enters into a contract to {{spoiler|assassinate Locke}}, which when bound by a ''[[Blood Oath]]'' binds him to complete the task.
== Web Original ==
*
** Conversely, Carmilla wriggles out of another student's attempt to hold her to a similar contract via the loophole that what she put underneath the document wasn't her actual signature, and was in fact a disguised 'Hell No' and she fully intended to screw the other party over to begin with.
*** Note that Carmilla's was actually the related '[[Deal with the Devil]]' trope, and it's repeatedly pointed out that Jobe should have gotten someone else to look over the contract. It's stated he got
** Sorcerer's contracts can be formed by literally just shaking hands, and can be verbal. This has the same problem as the Aes Sedai above.
** The problem with '
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[The Fairly
** Flappy Bob signed a contract with the Pixies to restore the Learn-a-torium and make the world dull and boring while the Pixies took over Fairy World. When Flappy learned the Pixies were manipulating him all that time, he exploited a loophole in the contract to make everything back to normal. The contract stated Earth should be safe and happy "as defined by Flappy Bob". Flappy changed his definition to "everything being the way it's supposed to be". The Pixies then had no choice but to remove the boredom from everywhere in Dimmsdale (except the school) and return Fairy World to fairy control.
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