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Sealed Evil in a Duel: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:Raava grappling Vaatu.png
{{quote|'''Barbossa:''' So what now, Jack Sparrow? Are we to be two immortals locked in an epic battle until Judgment Day and trumpets sound, hm?
'''Jack:''' Or you could surrender.
|''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]: The Curse of the Black Pearl''}}
Sometimes, the [[Big Bad]] is just too darned evil to be [[Sealed Evil in a Can|Sealed in a Can]]. Perhaps he already was, and it didn't work. After hammering him time and again, our hero eventually realizes that [[It's Up to You|It's Up to Him]], and carries out the [[Heroic Sacrifice]] [[Fate Worse Than Death|Worse than Death]]: Trapping themselves in [[Yin-Yang Clash|a duel with the bad guy for all eternity]], thus effectively "sealing" their opponent with themselves as the plug.
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May invoke [[Someone Has to Do It]]. On the other hand, sometimes only their conscience is keeping them on the job.
{{deathtrope}}
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime
* The plot of ''[[Naruto]]'' commences with the Fourth using a variant of a sealing technique which summons a shinigami that devours both him and his opponent, damning them to do battle in its belly for all eternity. However, he used another technique with it that made the target (or maybe just half of it) instead become [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]. One wonders how the battle is going between The Third Hokage and Orochimaru's ''arms''.
* ''[[Getter Robo]]''
** At the end of ''Getter Robo Armageddon'', the original Getter heroes join an entire ''interdimensional legion'' of warriors dedicated to this. Though, considering that this iteration of the Getter team are pretty much a gaggle of [[Blood Knight]]s, for them it's not so much Hades as Valhalla.
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* ''[[Xam'd: Lost Memories]]'' ends with Nakiami sealing herself in the Quickening Chamber for a thousand years to offset the darkness of the Hiroken Emperor.
* In ''[[Code Geass]]'', it is {{spoiler|subverted. Lelouch seals himself and the Emporer in the Sword of Akasha. It works out pretty well, with Charles having just gained immortality... until Suzaku arrives. Then it culminates with Lelouch destroying his mother and father.}}
**
* ''[[Dragon Ball]]''
** In ''[[Dragonball Z]]'', when Gotenks says he won't be able to defeat Buu (actually a trick to distract Buu and a failed attempt at making himself look cooler in front of Piccolo by being a showoff and defeating him at the last second), Piccolo destroys the only door leaving the [[Year Inside, Hour Outside]] [[Pocket Dimension]] they're all in. Subverted in that Buu escapes by ''yelling'' and creating a space rip, and afterwards so do Piccolo and Gotenks by doing the same.
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* Used in ''[[Tayutama]]''. Mashiro seals herself along with the Tayutai to be there should they escape to recapture them all. The Tayutai aren't exactly evil (well, some are) but more playful and mischevious making them dangerous if let go.
▲== Comics -- Books ==
* The [[Justice Society of America]] did this when they fought the Norse Gods, to prevent [[Adolf Hitler]] from destroying the world with the Spear of Destiny. [[Justified]] as the battle was Ragnarok, which ended like this.
* Once, after Doctor Doom came within an inch of wiping out the [[Fantastic Four]], Reed decided the only way to keep his family safe from Doom for good was to trap the two of them in an inescapable pocket dimension. Knowing the team would never allow him to do this, Reed tried to distract them and push them away emotionally, but they managed to stop him anyway (unwittingly letting Doom escape). The kicker? Doom was ''already in Hell'' when Reed resorted to this—with Doom's record, he didn't trust the devil to hold him.
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** Another FF storyline, when they faced Reed's time traveling evil grandson Hyperstorm, ended with Hyperstorm trapped in a pocket dimension with Galactus, constantly blasting him with his own limitless energy to keep him at bay, but with Galactus feeding off the blasts. At the time, the FF assumed the two might be stuck that way forever, with Ben commenting that it was an awful fate even for a crumb like Hyperstorm. However, Galactus has since reappeared, which implies that Hyperstorm either found a way to escape or else Galactus ate him.
* In the ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' comic books, this is how the planet Cybertron and the [[Planet Eater|planet-eater]] [[God of Evil|Unicron]] came to be—he and Primus were elder gods who battled across several planes, with the single-mindedly destructive Unicron winning the battle. As a last resort, Primus led Unicron from the astral plane into what is our dimension and directly into two metal asteroids, trapping both of them for eternity. While Primus turned his asteroid into the planet Cybertron, Unicron managed to turn his asteroid into a [[Eldritch Abomination|transforming planet-sized robot.]]
* In [[Marvel Comics]]'s [[What If]] of their crossover ''[[Atlantis Attacks]]'', Set the Serpent God succeeds in freeing himself from interdimensional exile and returns to Earth, killing most superhumans and converting the rest (as well as regular humanity) to serpent people. One by one the remaining heroes and villains fall, and all hope seems lost, until [[Quasar (comics)|Quasar]] arrives on the scene, having just escaped Set's dimension (where he'd been lost since the Serpent God escaped). He's been granted the [[Captain Universe]] power, which combined with his Quantum Bands to make him Set's equal. He opens the recently deceased [[Doctor Strange]]'s [[Amulet of Concentrated Awesome|Amulet of Agamotto]], using it to pull them both into a pocket dimension where the two of them will battle forever. Unfortunately, although Set has been removed from the equation, [[Downer Ending|he's had time to reproduce...]]
* During the prestige format run of ''[[The Legion of Super Heroes]]'', the Legion finally "defeated" the Time Trapper (the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of the Cold Universe cosmic model) by unleashing the Infinity Man (the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of the Cyclical Universe cosmic model) on him. The two end up locked in eternal combat with each other.
* An Elseworlds posits that [[Batman]] and the Joker will be fighting each other in one form or another for eternity. ''[[Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker]]'' also supports this notion, {{spoiler|at least until Terry kills him}}.
* This is how Palpatine is ultimately defeated in the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]: Empatojayos Brand {{spoiler|sacrifices himself so he can carry Palpatine's spirit away from the universe and in the custody of every Jedi who has ever lived, never to be resurrected again}}. He doesn't have to undergo [[Fate Worse Than Death]] himself, fortunately, but the effort of carrying away a spirit of pure evil does cause his own spirit a great deal of suffering.
== Fan Works ==
* Subverted in the ''[[Hunter: The Vigil]]'' fanfic [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2769469/1/How_I_Learned_To_Hate_Hiking "How I Learned to Hate Hiking"]. One character thinks that his yearly battle against a nature spirit is all that keeps... something bad from happening. Except that the enemy is the Spirit of [[Humans Are
==
* Used as a [[Backstory]] in ''[[The Sorcerers Apprentice]]'' with both the Grimhold (with Morgana and Veronica) and with the Chinese vase in which Balthazar and Hovard get locked for 10 years.
** It's implied that Balthazar and Horvath didn't fight in the vase, as Horvath claims he was ''extremely'' bored, reading the same (poorly-written) essays on Napoleon over and over. You don't really have time to do that if you're busy fighting. At least Balthazar had his Incantus.
* One of the many alternate endings for ''[[Freddy vs. Jason]]'' had the pair locked in eternal battle in an arena in Hell.
* The ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' quote above lampshades it, but the duel itself manages to end when {{spoiler|Barbossa becomes mortal again.}}
== Literature ==
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* In [[The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel|The Sorceress]], Aoife willingly triggers this to stop Coatlicue from rampaging across the myriad worlds.
* In ''Riddle of the Seven Realms'' by [[Lyndon Hardy]], Astron can only stop {{spoiler|Palodad}} from destroying the multiverse by pushing the [[Big Bad]] into the flame that's tearing a hole in the daemonrealm, then [[Heroic Sacrifice|jumping through himself]] and pulling the source of flame in after him. {{spoiler|Subverts this trope, as Nimbia is able to create a new pocket-world within the Void to encase Astron, then retrieve him.}}
* This is how the [[Dungeons
* This is how Superman wins against Saturn, The Devil's Agent on Earth in the novel ''[[Miracle Monday]]'': by threatening to spend ''every second'' of the rest of his life fighting him and undoing all his evil deeds. ({{spoiler|Actually, the book makes clear that Saturn could've won easily and destroyed the Earth if he wanted- but neither of those were his goals; he wanted to break Superman's spirit and end the hope he inspires in humanity. But just the realization that Superman would ''never'' give up effectively caused his defeat due to the laws that govern demons}}.)
== Live-Action TV ==
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** After season eight, Oma Desala vs. Anubis.
** Used again in ''[[The Movie|The Ark of Truth]]'': Morgan le Fay vs. Adria.
* A nod to this trope was seen in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Last of the Time Lords". After the decisive defeat of [[The Master (trope)|The Master]], the Doctor was not willing to execute the only other member of his species in existence. So he volunteered to live up to this trope, keeping the Master confined in the TARDIS for all eternity or he reformed. The Master prevented this by committing suicide (or at least refusing to come back from the dead).
* In the season 5 finale of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' Sam combines this with [[Sealed Evil in a Can]] by inviting Lucifer to possess him, then trying to keep control of his body long enough to jump into the Can they have no chance of getting Lucifer into otherwise. {{spoiler|Sam does end up jumping into the cage, with Michael (In Adam) falling in with him.}}
== Tabletop Games ==
* In [[Magic: The Gathering]]'s ''Innistrad'' pack, the whole plot is driven by the fact the archangel Avacyn got herself trapped in the Helvault alongside her demon nemesis Griselbrand.
* ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'' does this with Hida and his son, and later with Iuchi Karasu and Kuni Yori.
* This is the origin of the Calim desert in the Forgotten Realms ''[[Dungeons
* Sisyphus shows up in the [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink]] that is ''[[Scion]]'', and his specific case is subverted - when the Titans broke out, a rock took out the top of the mountain, letting him finally finish the job. As a result, he is now [[Nigh Invulnerable]], possesses great power... and has no clue which side to sign on with. (If the Titans win, the world is screwed; on the other hand, three thousand years of pushing a boulder is a ''long'' time...)
* ''[[Warhammer
** To stop the Thirteenth Black Crusade, Eldrad Ultharan had to trap his soul in a battle with the Chaos spirit powering Abbadon's Planet Killer. There is significant disagreement about whether he is dead or not, but being the most badass psyker in the entire setting he's probably still on that ship fighting it.
** Similarly, an Ork vessel once crashed on a planet in the Eye of Terror. Everyday, umpteen million Orks awaken and wage unending battle against countless hordes of demons until they die horribly, only to reawaken the next day. The Demon Lord in charge of the planet uses this to train and harden his army, except they keep getting killed and weakened; the Imperium thinks of this as a [[Fate Worse Than Death]]; the Orks consider this ''paradise''.
* On the ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' fantasy side, Caledor Dragontamer and his disciples have been trapped in the Vortex on the Isle of the Dead, where they have been stuck for at least 3000 years, ceaselessly performing a magic ritual designed to pull the excess magic out of the world and prevent (or at least massively delay) the victory of the Chaos Gods. In an interesting variation, the Chaos Gods are not on, or even touching the world near the Isle of the Dead (the closest being the overlap between the "real" world and the Realm of Chaos at the north and south poles), nor is any champion of Chaos present. It just happened to be where Caledor chose to set up his world-spanning spell.
== Video Games ==
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** It begins in ''[[Diablo (series)|Diablo]]''. This is what the protagonist attempts after slaying Diablo's current avatar. Needless to say, it didn't work.
** In ''[[Diablo (series)|Diablo II]]'': In the backstory (actually already in the first game's manual), Tal Rasha used his own body as an extension of a soulstone to imprison Baal. He is [[Grand Theft Me|possessed]], and has to be tied up and magically bound in a tomb, his spirit fighting Baal's for eternity. Or until Marius came along in the second game and tugged on the ringpull [[No Good Deed Goes Unpunished|in an attempt to rescue Tal Rasha.]]
{{quote|'''Tyrael:''' [[Don't Touch It, You Idiot!|No! Don't do it!]]
''(pop goes the soulstone)''
'''Tyrael:''' Fool! [[Oh Crap|You have just ensured the doom of this world!]] }}
** In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', [http://www.wowpedia.org/Arellas_Fireleaf Arellas Fireleaf], a minor character of whom we only know what is written on a statue, is said to be "Locked in eternal combat with the Necromancer Diesalven".
** A far more important example, if it is one: At the end of the Icecrown Citadel raid, Bolvar Fordragon dons the helmet of the Lich King to contain its power. This may mean that he's in there together with the original Lich King, Ner'Zhul, or that Ner'Zhul was destroyed or weakened to insignificance too and Bolvar is only keeping the armies of the Scourge at bay through his new control over them.
* The cancelled ''[[Ultima]] X: Odyssey'': When The Avatar sealed himself and his [[Enemy Without]], The Guardian, behind a wall of life to destroy them both with an armageddon spell, The Guardian managed to merge with him. They then struggle for dominance with [[The Power of Friendship]] backing them up.
* Blue's ending in ''[[
* ''[[Quest for Glory]] IV'' has this with Erana and Avoozl. {{spoiler|Ultimately, the hero's reason for being summoned is to finish summoning Avoozl, breaking the stalemate in favor of the [[Eldritch Abomination]], only to free Erana who, now unbound, can banish Avoozl properly.}}
* ''[[Freedom Force]] vs. The Third Reich'': Manbot and the Wraiths of Chaos.
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* {{spoiler|Shurelia}}'s [[Heroic Sacrifice]] in ''[[Ar tonelico]]'', to seal the [[Big Bad]] Mir. {{spoiler|You get the chance to [[Defied Trope|defy]] this. If you do, both Shurelia and [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|Mir]] get better.}}
* [[Mega Man Battle Network]] 6 has an interesting twist: There were ''two'' great beasts ravaging the world, so they enticed the beasts into fighting ''each other'' and then blocked off the battleground as best they could so noone would interfere or get caught in the crossfire (obviously that didn't work).
== Western Animation ==
* The 90s ''[[Spider-Man: The Animated Series]]''
** [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]] and the Red Skull. Eventually, {{spoiler|Electro joins them}}.
** From the same series, a sort-of-reformed Venom ends up jumping into a portal after his [[Evil Counterpart]], Carnage, and since the portal closes after that, it's implied that this will be their fate. A [[Sequel Series]] saw them on another planet/dimension, though.
* ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]'' ends with this, as the fifth season's [[Big Bad]] Drago (using the powers of all eight demon sorcerers) and his father Shendu (the [[Big Bad]] of the entire SERIES, using all twelve of his talismans) are sealed within another realm to duel for all eternity. Neither of them takes their fate very seriously. They spend their time bickering: Shendu chastising Drago for being an impudent child playing with his father's world (yes, Shendu still thinks Earth is his for the taking), while Drago whines about Shendu never being there for him because he's always busy fighting wizards.
* One episode of ''[[The Fairly
* ''[[Adventure Time]]'' has {{spoiler|Goliad, Princess Bubblegum's genetically engineered heir who'd gone mad with power and tried to take over the Candy Kingdom with her mind control powers, ultimately defeated by Stormo, another Candy Spinx created using Finn's DNA, sacrificing himself by locking her in a psychic duel with himself.}}
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Narrative Devices]]
[[Category:Sealed Index in A Can]]
[[Category:Dueling Tropes]]
[[Category:Just for Pun]]
[[Category:Heroic
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