Scarpia Ultimatum: Difference between revisions

''Or else he must not only die the death,''<br />

''But thy unkindness shall his death draw out''<br />

 

A villain has the hero in his clutches. The only person pleading for the hero is his wife/girlfriend. So the villain says, "I'll only release him if you have sex with me." And now the heroine has to choose whether her love for her husband's [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy|well-being]] overrides her sexual loyalty. Typically, she (or sometimes even he) will agree to the ultimatum, but before the two of them do the deed, a [[Take a Third Option|Third Option]] will present itself, and the sacrifice won't be needed after all. Except if it is used as a premise for an erotic story.

== [[Anime]] ==

* In ''[[Mai-Otome]]'', {{spoiler|Tomoe does this to an imprisoned Shizuru by lying that Natsuki has also been captured and insinuating that she will help free both of them if Shizuru submits to her advances. However, Shizuru received a smuggled letter from Natsuki before going through with it, so she knew this was a lie and ended up using the event as an opportunity to steal Tomoe's key to her cell. Whether this was before or after the act was left ambiguous - we only see Tomoe passed out in the bed, dressed up as a baby, while an either topless or naked Shizuru is holding the key.}}

* Daisuke Torakura, the [[Asshole Victim]] from a ''[[Detective Conan]]'' case, got to marry the prettiest girl from a village near his [[Big Fancy House]] via this, threatening to ruin her father's business and throw the family into destitution.

* Happens in the manwha ''Masca'' in which the demon lord refuses to lift the spell that [[Distressed Dude|will kill the protagonist's beloved mentor/potential love interest]] unless she sleeps with him.

* Inverted in ''[[My Immortal]]'', when [[Harry Potter|Snape]] threatens to rape Draco if Ebony doesn't kill Vampire (a.k.a. Harry Potter). Of course, considering [[So Bad It's Good|how]] [[Narm|it's]] [[Nightmare Retardant|written...]]

* In ''[[All He Ever Wanted]]'', [[Axis Powers Hetalia|Prussia]] doesn't even wait to threaten his rival Austria's beautiful ex-wife Hungary with raping her if she doesn't help him. As the "good" [[Complete Monster]] he is in the fic, he just brings her into Austria's cell and forces him to watch as he brutally beats, rapes and tortures her "for Austria's sake".

* In Lessons Learned on [[Sesame Street]], ([[Canon Defilement|yes, that Sesame Street]]) {{spoiler|Elmo, having been subject to humiliation at Maria's hands all day, does not pull out when she has him have sex with her. She gets pregnant as a result of this ([[Artistic License Biology|because monster semen is supposedly 100% accurate]]), and Elmo tells her that if she does not want him to tell her husband Luis about this, she and her daughter will have sex with him whenever he wants}}.

 

* In ''[[Casablanca]]'', there's a scene with a young Bulgarian couple trying to buy passage to Lisbon from Captain Renault. He wants either an enormous sum of money or sex with wifey. In the end, Rick helps them raise the money by letting them win at roulette. As opposed to most examples on this list, Captain Renault apparently always does keep his word, and is willing to take the money if they do happen to have it.

{{quote| '''Renault:''' I'll forgive you this time. But I'll be in tomorrow night with a breathtaking blonde, and it will make me very happy if she loses.}}

* The titular [[Villain Protagonist]] of the Nazi film ''Jud Süß'' does this to the [[Love Interest]] of one of the film's "heroes," after which his victim [[Driven to Suicide|drowns herself]]. This act ultimately leads to his undoing.

* In ''[[The Ten Commandments]]'', Dathan promises not to have Joshua executed if Lilia agrees to be his sex slave and let everyone believe it's of her own free will. As big a [[Jerkass]] as Dathan was, he actually upheld his end of the bargain.

* Done in ''[[Slumdog Millionaire]]'', though somewhat strangely. {{spoiler|Salim is pointing a gun at Jamal, threatening to kill him, and Latika agrees to sleep with Salim to preempt Jamal's further attempts to protect her. There was no spoken ultimatum, but all things considered, there might as well have been.}}

* ''[[Indecent Proposal]]'' serves up a variation of this. After a married couple blow their life savings in Vegas, a wealthy businessman offers them a million dollars if the wife will spend one night with him. The couple make a mutual decision to accept his offer.

== [[Literature]] ==

* The novel ''Bread and Wine'' plays this straight. A wanted criminal is hiding at his wife's house when the police come by. He hides on the roof while the police search the home. When they're about to search the roof, his wife pleads for them to stop. They are only willing to do so if she sleeps with them, which she does.

* In [[The Hunger Games]], this is more or less how {{spoiler|Finnick began his career as a Capitol Casanova.}} Eventually, he decided that it would be less painful just to go with it and pretend that it was his idea.

* In one of the ''[[Anita Blake]]'' novels, the villain says he will stop torturing the two teenage hostages if Jason (the group's pet werewolf) has sex with his two female minions. Subverted in that Jason ''does'' agree, and seems to be enjoying it -- until the minions start ''rotting''.

* Implied in Emma Bull's ''[[Bone Dance]]'', although the victim is in fact the protagonist, [[Pronoun Trouble|zie]] isn't in a romantic relationship with the character whose well-being was at stake (who's female), and the perpetrator didn't have any specific designs on the victim. He's just opportunistic. And it's only really implied; you seriously could read it as just a savage beating.

* A scene in [[Dave Barry]]'s surprisingly dirty novel ''Big Trouble'' featured a woman who offers herself to an armed thug if he will spare her daughter. She is never forced to go through with it.

* In the novel ''[[Blindness]]'' by José Saramago, a gang of blind inmates led by the only man with a gun takes over the quarantined abandoned asylum, threatening the other residents, and stealing and hoarding all the food supplies. Eventually they demand payment in valuables, and then in women. {{spoiler|The women volunteer to go, as a group, in order to save the lives of all the other people living there.}}

* In "L'Ingénu" by Voltaire, the title character is sent to prison without reason and his lover, Miss Saint Yves, decides to free him. {{spoiler|She pleads her case before a bishop who agrees in exchange for... well, you know. She does it, and gets her man back, but dies soon after without having told the truth}}.

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* Female example: In ''The Way We Live Now'', the evil American woman pulls one of these on Paul. She will reveal the fact that he has previously slept with her to his fiancee if he doesn't give her one last night. And there is no Third Option. Then again, it's hard to feel sorry for him when all he needs is to decide to ''not'' trick a woman into marriage on false premises.

* ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'': In the beginning of Season 3, Ellen Tigh sleeps with a Cylon to get her husband out of jail. He's released, but {{spoiler|it was only a test. Now that it's established she'd do anything for him, the real condition to release him is to have her agreeing to spying on him while he catches up with the rebels. But as soon as her husband believes his rebel friends that she must be spying on him, he kills her after saying he would rather still be tortured in prison that having her spying on him. So not only did she agree to be raped for nothing, it got her killed by the very man she agreed to be raped for in the first place. Can't be more Greek tragedy that that}}.

** Yes it can: {{spoiler|Ellen is later [[Oedipus Complex|revealed to be Cavil's mother figure]], and she created him in the image of her father. [[Squick|Cavil knew all of this at the time]].}}

** And {{spoiler|we find out that Ellen and Tigh are both Cylons.}}

{{quote| ''' Crais:''' Aeryn Sun - are you offering yourself?<br />

'''Aeryn:''' You take what you want Crais and I won't stop you. }}

{{quote| '''Spike:''' Anything, will you?<br />

'''Harmony:''' Oh, you mean will I have sex with you? [[The Ditz|Sure!]] }}

* A version appears, and is then averted, in the third season of ''[[Gossip Girl]]''. Chuck's [[Evil Uncle|uncle Jack]] has taken Chuck's hotel and offers Blair that he will return it in exchange for a night with her. After she initially refuses he sends her a dress and a note saying: "''One last chance to save your man.''" The whole thing turns into an aversion of the trope, since {{spoiler|Blair does indeed go to Jack to have sex with him in return for Chuck getting his beloved hotel back... only to find out that Chuck was in on it the whole time and even bought the dress Jack sent her. Need I say that Chuck was single when the episode ended?}}

* In [[Hispania]], Nerea discovers her fiancé Paulo is going to be crucified, so she goes to ask Praetor Galba and tells him Paulo is her brother, asking him to free him. Galba decides to take the chance to finally have sex with her - which he hasn't been able to do due to several circumstances - but before he gets her naked, Nerea blurts out that his wife Claudia and general Marco are conspiring to kill him. Paulo gets sent to the jail again.

* In the ''[[Supernatural]]'' episode "The Monster at the End of This Book", Lilith offers to refrain from bringing forth the Apocalypse if Sam Winchester will have sex with her and let her kill him and his brother afterward. Sam takes the opportunity to try to kill her.

== [[Opera]] and [[Theater]] ==

* The [[Trope Namer]] is Scarpia, the chief of police in Puccini's opera ''[[Tosca]]''. Scarpia offers to arrange a mock execution of Cavaradossi (Tosca's lover, who has been jailed for treason) by firing squad, and allow Cavaradossi and Tosca to safely flee the country, if Tosca will have sex with Scarpia. [[Break the Cutie|Tosca agrees]], but murders Scarpia before he can rape her. Unknown to Tosca, [[You Said You Would Let Them Go|Scarpia had secretly gone back on his word]], and Cavaradossi is actually executed by a real firing squad. In despair and cornered by guards who had just discovered Scarpia's body, [[Driven to Suicide|Tosca throws herself from the tower]].

* Also used in ''[[Il Trovatore]]'', by Count Di Luna. Who wants female lead Leonora to marry him in exchange for the freedom of Gypsy troubadour Manrico (who is [[Luke, I Am Your Father|his long-lost brother]], but the count has no idea.) This being opera, it ends [[Tear Jerker|in tears]] and one huge [[Ironic Hell]].

* Toward the end of ''[[Hedda Gabler]]'', Judge Brack very ambiguously blackmails Hedda into this, which is odd, because she seemed attracted to him. She [[Driven to Suicide|shoots herself]], not because she doesn't want to sleep with him, but because she doesn't want to be ''forced'' to do anything.

== [[Video Games]] ==

* In ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV]]'', {{spoiler|Niko's first girlfriend, Michelle, is being threatened with prison by the UL Paper Company manager unless she maintains a relationship with Niko. For most players, this will include sexual encounters.}}

** Also {{spoiler|Dante himself, in one of his many crimes during the Crusades. A female prisoner offers to sleep with him in exchange for setting her brother free.}} Unfortunately, she lied. {{spoiler|It wasn't her brother, it was her HUSBAND. He murders Dante's father and Beatrice in revenge....after killing Dante.}}

* Rather weird subversion happens in ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins'' if the player character is female and romancing Alistair. {{spoiler|Without going into too much detail, the Warden or Alistair will die automatically if either kills the last boss. And they are the only ones who can do it (in fact, it's part of the reason only they can). One of your party, Morrigan, however offers you a way out - a ritual that happens to involve a Grey Warden getting Morrigan pregnant, something that the player character obviously can't if female. Which leaves Alistair, who happens to hate Morrigan. Did I mention it's up to the Warden to convince her boyfriend to impregnate Morrigan?}} Although not exactly a villain, she definitely uses the 'death or sex' coercion to make her point.

** To summarize: there is one character that uses "have sex with me or die", but the sex bit is necessary to keep the death part from happening, and not something she demands as payment.

 

 

* In ''[[Candy Candy]]'', {{spoiler|Neil Legan}} attempts to get Candy to marry him through this. {{spoiler|He fails.}}

* In ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'' Shin agrees to spare Kenshiro if his fiance Yuria will love him. This is G-rated because although she does follow Shin, she never actually loves him, nor does Shin ever attempt to ''force'' Yuria to love him, hoping to make her willingly change her mind.

 

== Comic Books ==

 

== Film ==

* Rare male version: In ''[[The Matrix]]: Reloaded'', Persephone refuses to help the rebels unless Neo gives her a passionate kiss, as he would to Trinity. Trinity is not amused.

** She does this again in the ''Enter the Matrix'' videogame with the main character, whether you chose Ghost...[[Girl-On-Girl Is Hot|or Niobe]].

 

== Live Action TV ==

 

== Theatre ==

{{quote| "His life is now the prize that you must earn. So, do you end your days with me, or do you send him to his grave?"}}

 

 

== Western Animation ==

** In the first episode he appeared (Operation BEACH) he tries to marry Numbuh 3 for real and says its okay if she's 10 years old because he's "always liked older woman" before ''purring''.

* The ''[[Super Mario Bros Super Show]]'' episode "Do You Princess Toadstool Take This Koopa...?", whose title speaks for itself.