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Orphean Rescue: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
Everyone likes Susan. She's such a [[Nice Girl]], on top of being [[Team Mom]] and [[Love Interest]] to Bob! But alas, tragedy has befallen her in the form of a very unusual "kidnapping", one where she's been removed (usually) against her will and taken some place beyond mortal ken and reckoning. It can be a physical kidnapping as she's dragged into [[The Underworld]], or even a willing one if she's [[Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence]]. Sometimes it's not the body that's gone but the mind or soul, which can happen if she suffers a [[Heroic BSOD]] and she's put into a [[Convenient Coma]] after getting lost in [[Cyberspace]] or a [[Dream Within a Dream]]. Maliciously, she may have been trapped in a [[Lotus Eater Machine]] or [[Psychological Torment Zone]], or had her [[Soul]] taken into the [[Spirit World]]. Or she could be plain old ''dead.''
Point is, she's gone in a very real sense from this physical plane, but in a way that doesn't preclude recovery.
So Bob and his allies decide to rescue Susan by going on an
On their quest, they probably have to fight [[Threshold Guardians]] appropriate to Susan's subconscious/
Once Susan wakes up, she probably won't remember anything, except as a vague distorted dream that leaves her with an urge to hug her friends and kick ass.
The Orphean Rescue is a common theme in fiction and mythology the world over. In short, someone or a group goes to the afterlife (or a good approximation thereof) to retrieve another person, probably a loved one. This process may or may not require the rescuer to die. Needless to say, this is usually dangerous. Negotiations with whoever is in charge of the afterlife are often necessary, and even if you talk them into it there's almost [[Read the Fine Print|always a catch]].
See also [[Like a Badass Out of Hell]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]]
* ''[[
* The first two major arcs of ''[[Bleach]]'' both manage to be examples of this: First Rukia is taken to Soul Society (where, in spite of it being the afterlife, she is to be executed), then Orihime is kidnapped by the Arrancar and taken to Hueco Mundo.
* ''[[Inuyasha]]'': Early in the series, Kagome doesn't ''enter'' hell, but gets very close to the entrance to save a child's soul who had died.
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* In ''[[Jack and the Witch]]'' the titular boy hero descends into a frigid cave full of growing and shifting ice to rescue the banished witch Allegra, who'd been sent there by the Harpy Queen to freeze to death. The Ice Cave and its subsequent shift into a magical battleground seem to be tied to the Queen's magic, as they fade out once her crystal ball is smashed.
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
▲== Comic Books ==
* During [[Mark Waid]]'s run, the ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]'' rescued their fallen teammate Ben Grimm in this manner.
* ''[[Sandman]]'' features at least two cases: The title character going into Hell to release an old love he'd condemned [[Woman Scorned|after she rejected him]], and his son Orpheus's trope-naming trip to retrieve Eurydice.
* A story arc of ''[[Secret Six]]'' had them doing this to rescue Scandal's lover Knockout.
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* When Sayuri's soul is trapped in the wake of an encounter with a demonic enemy of Ranma's, Ranma and Akane storm the hell dimension where it's held in [https://www.fanfiction.net/s/179718/6/Ranma-and-Akane-A-Love-Story chapter 6] of Eric Hallstrom's ''[[Ranma and Akane: A Love Story]]''. Played with slightly in that Sayuri manages her own immediate escape from captivity within the demonic fortress where she's held, but the entire process -- and indeed her final return to the mortal/living world -- follows the outline of the classic Orphean Rescue.
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[Inception]]'' had Cobb rescue Fischer and Saito from the deepest subconscious.
** Funnily enough, Limbo's closest to {{spoiler|his deepest unconscious, as he's the only one who's been down there long enough (local time) to build anything.}}
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* In ''[[What Dreams May Come]]'', the protagonist goes into hell to find his wife's soul who is trapped in her own guilt after committing suicide.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* ''[[Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator]]'' has Willy Wonka and Charlie go deep down to rescue Grandma Georgina from Minus Land, where she went after having reduced her age to below zero.
* ''[[Overdrawn at the Memory Bank]]'' has this trope, though in this case, Apallonia knows exactly where Fingal's ''mind'' is; it's his ''body'' she's having trouble finding.
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* There's a medieval narrative poem, ''Sir Orfeo'', loosely inspired by Orpheus, where King Orfeo successfully wins back his wife held captive by [[The Fair Folk]]. He plays his harp so beautifully that the king of the fairies promises him any reward he wants.
* ''[[The Friendship Song]]'' by Nancy Springer has this with Harper and Rawnie venturing to the underworld to rescue the soul of a rock singer. It's then played with as he has to choose to come back on his own.
* Christa's centuries-long quest to rescue her lover Siudb from the Sidh in ''[[Gossamer Axe]]'' is exactly this, climaxing in a battle of metal band vs. elven bard to free her.
▲== Live Action TV ==
* Seamus Zelazny Harper did this a time or two on ''[[Andromeda]]'' for the AI of the ship. It included a combo [[Journey to the Center of the Mind]] that happened to be [[Cyberspace]].
* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' two-parter "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead".
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* The third season of the UK ''[[Being Human (UK)]]'' included one of these early on. It's not without larger consequences.
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==
** [[
** Heracles did something similar when he went to the Underworld to abduct Cerberus for his Twelfth Labor. While there, his found his cousin Theseus and Theseus' friend Pirithous, who Hades had bound to a chair as punishment for trying to kidnap Persephone. Hades said he could take Theseus with back with him - if he could. Heracles managed to wrest Theseus free, but he wasn't allowed to do the same for Pirithous. (Pirithous had been the orchestrator of the plan and Theseus was only guilty by association, so Hades was willing to let him go.) As this story and the one with Orpheus seems to show, more-or-less, even attempting a rescue like this in [[Classical Mythology]] is impossible unless you have Hades' permission.
** Another possible example of this Trope regarding Heracles — depending on the version — was the story where when he wrestled [[The Grim Reaper| Thanatos]] to rescue the soul of Alcestis, a brave woman who sacrificed herself so her husband Admetus (a good friend of Heracles) could live. Whether this fits the Trope or not is disputed, because some versions say the battle did, indeed happen in the Underworld, while others suggest that Thanatos had not left Earth yet; but since the myth always claims that Thanatos had already taken Alcestis' soul, it is possible. Whatever the case, Heracles was successful this time too.
* Similar to Orpheus is Izanagi, creator-god in [[Japanese Mythology]]. His wife Izanami died giving birth to the fire-god Kagutsuchi and fell to [[The Underworld]], The Yomotsu. Izanagi traveled down the cavernous realm of the dead, [[Values Dissonance|only to be repulsed by his wife who is]] [[Body Horror|now an eternally decaying, maggot-ridden corpse]]. He fled the underworld as fast as he can while being chased by the local demons and Izanami throwing lightning at him. Eventually, he made it to the surface, and closed the way to the underworld with a huge boulder.
** Subverted by the tale of Persephone.
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* Izanagi tried to retrieve his wife Izanami in the Shinto religion.
▲== Tabletop RPG ==
* ''[[Champions]]'' Organization Book 1 ''The Circle and M.E.T.E.'': One of the adventure seeds for the Circle is having Oeramm attack the Circle, capture Aureole or a [[PC]] and take them back to his home plane, from which they will have to be rescued.
* You can actually bring back dead people from [[The Underworld]] in ''[[Geist: The Sin Eaters]]'', but not without paying some (very terrible) price to the Kerberoi.
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* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' has a card called "Rescue From the Underworld". The mechanics and name of the card represent this trope<ref>http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/268</ref>, but the card is lacking in flavor text.
== [[Video Games]] ==▼
▲== Video Games ==
* This seems to be {{spoiler|the entirety}} of [[Drawn to Life]]. {{spoiler|The creator (seemingly the player character and the force behind the protagonist) is actually Heather, who in the real world was Mike's older sister. In the real world, Mike and Heather were in a devastating car crash which put Mike in a coma and killed their parents. Heather's imagination plus [[The Power of Love]] sent Mike into the world of [[Drawn to Life]]. '''The Next Chapter''' consists of getting everything together so that Mike can wake up again.}}
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' sets up about 7 or so of these in [[Birth By Sleep]]. Interesting because all 7 are important characters whose growth, contribution to the plot, and tragic downfall took up about the space of a full game each, and each of them went in a completely different way. So it's a bit of a task for [[The Hero]] to bring them all back, especially since he only has the barest hints that there is any saving that needs to be done.
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* ''[[Fatal Frame]] 2'': Mio shoots her way ([[First-Person Snapshooter|with a camera!]]) through a village worth of hordes of vengeful ghosts to save her [[Video Game Caring Potential|little sister Mayu]]. Bonus point for (in Best Ending route) [[To Hell and Back|going down into Abyss]] to retrieve her back. She didn't come out unscathed from the whole ordeal, but at least she's now closer to Mayu than ever.
* Happens in some route in the [[Yuri Genre]] [[Visual Novel]] ''[[Aoi Shiro]]''. {{spoiler|These are the bad ends.}}
* [[Deconstruction|Deconstructed]]
** Note that the MC's initial persona ''is'' Orpheus.
* However, this is basically the entire plot of ''[[Persona 4]]'' in a nutshell.
** And
* Gwendolyn rescues Oswald from the underworld in ''[[Odin Sphere]]''. {{spoiler|Odin rescues her when she has problems leaving again.}}
* ''[[City of Heroes]]'' has a Valentine's event story arc in the middle of which the player has to partially improvise a ritual to resurrect a dead villain. Although nothing was ever actually ''seen'', at least one phase of the ritual was a symbolic version of the Orphean Rescue, involving having enough ancient coins to pay Charon for a round trip across the Styx (for the player) plus a one-way trip (for the resurrected villain).
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Sinfest]]'' [
* ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'' has something like this for Church following Tex {{spoiler|into the capture unit}} at the end of Season 8 and into Season 9, followed by the rest of the squad trying to save him as well throughout the present timeline of Nine. {{spoiler|Church is eventually saved... after he [[Wham! Line|comes to peace with Tex's death and erases his memory of her.]]}}
==
▲* ''[[Sinfest]]'' [http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3667 seemed] to be going in this direction after [[Hollywood Nerd|Criminy]] started digging his way to hell in search of [[Reluctant Monster|Fuchsia]], but it led to a [http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3675 subversion].
▲* ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'' has something like this for Church following Tex {{spoiler|into the capture unit}} at the end of Season 8 and into Season 9, followed by the rest of the squad trying to save him as well throughout the present timeline of Nine. {{spoiler|Church is eventually saved... after he [[Wham! Line|comes to peace with Tex's death and erases his memory of her.]]}}
* ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' has Robin do this for Raven in the Season Four finale.
* In Disney's ''[[Hercules (
* In ''[[Adventure Time]]'', Finn and Jake do this ''for a plant''.
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[[Category:Plots]]
[[Category:Orphean Rescue]]
[[Category:Example as a Thesis]]
[[Category:Tropes on a Trip]]
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