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{{trope}}
[[File:Raava grappling Vaatu.png|link=The Legend of Korra|thumb|400px|[[False Innocence Trick|Please, save me! She has tormented me]] for the past [[Time Abyss|10,000 years]]!]]
{{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''}}▼
'''Jack:''' Or you could surrender.
▲
Sometimes, the [[Big Bad]] is just too darned evil to be [[Sealed Evil in
If they aren't strong enough, the baddy will escape, possibly [[Enemy Within|using its would-be impediment]] as a [[Soul Jar]].
This can also be used as a [[Backstory]], with the release of the [[Big Bad]] [[Sealed Good in
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
* ''[[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
** In ''New Getter Robo'' at the very end it's implied this version of Ryoma also joined them.
* The Jewel of Four Souls in ''[[Inuyasha]]'' turns out to be the souls of many demons locked in battle with the soul of a [[Miko]]. Kagome, the heroine of the series, nearly ends up trapped in the same situation, but manages to figure out the way to not only avoid that fate but also unmake the jewel and release the miko's soul.
* ''[[
* 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.}}
**
* ''[[
** 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.
** In the movie ''Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon'', the antagonist convinces the heroes to gather the dragon balls to wish that a special music box he brought with him will be opened. He states that it has a trapped hero inside who will foretell of the coming of a great evil. This is all true, but he fails to mention that the great evil was bound to this hero, and by releasing the hero the evil is also released.
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]''
** Pharaoh {{spoiler|Atem}} seals himself in the {{spoiler|Millennium Puzzle}} with {{spoiler|Zorc Necrophades}}. Played literally as the two of them spend the next 3,000 years jousting over the most complex RPG known to man: {{spoiler|human history!}}
** It is strongly implied that Yugi and Kaiba will keep on reincarnating and dueling against each other for all of eternity. Summed up in [[Yu-Gi-Oh!:
{{quote|
* At the end of ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'', {{spoiler|Madoka makes a wish to destroy every witch before they are born. In a strange sequence, she's told that she'll be locked in an endless battle with every possible witch.}} This is largely an [[Informed Ability]], since we never actually see this happen - {{spoiler|Madoka just causes magical girls to vanish before becoming witches. In fact the only witches we see her destroy are Walpurgis Night and her own witch.}} Notably, the manga adaptation seemed to change the line.
* ''[[Claymore]]'' does it twice: once for Luciela, a former top warrior of the Organization-turned-Abyssal one, who is sealed away by her sister Raphaela (the two of them eventually become the Destroyer); the second time when {{spoiler|dying Clare}} uses her last strength to seal both the Destroyer and Priscilla in a giant flesh cocoon, trapping them in a battle of willpower... for how long? No one is certain yet.
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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
** and he was right! The comic shows Reed interrupting Doom in hell just as Doom was beginning to put a plan in motion.
** 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
* 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 ''[[
==
* 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
* 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 ==
* ''[[Star Trek:
* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]''
** 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
== Tabletop Games ==
* In [[Magic:
* ''[[
* This is the origin of the Calim desert in the Forgotten Realms ''[[Dungeons
* Sisyphus shows up in the [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink]] that is ''[[
* ''[[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
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep]]'' reveals in the secret ending that Terra is doing this with Master Xehanort as of the end of the story, both of them fighting for control of Terra's heart. Of course, a year or so later [[Fan Nickname|Terranort]] splits in two, his heart becoming [[The Heartless|False Ansem]] and his body becoming Xemnas; what they've been doing since then is anyone's guess.
** Probably still that. Neither of his incarnations use a Keyblade or show any sign that they actually remember being Master Xehanort, in full detail. However, the trailer for Dream Drop Distance implies that both of those are about to change....
* Blizzard Entertainment likes this trope.
** It begins in ''[[Diablo (
** In ''[[Diablo (
{{quote|
''(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.
* ''[[Persona 3]]'': At the end, the Main Character [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrifices himself]] to transform [[Barrier Maiden|into a barrier]] that keeps the two resident [[Eldritch Abomination
* In the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Expanded Universe]], Jedi Master [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Hoth_%28Jedi%29 Lord Hoth] uses this method to defeat the Sith Lord Kaan; forcing Kaan to activate a superweapon that trapped their spirits, and those of their followers, in eternal conflict and torment. Until [[Dark Forces Saga|Kyle Katarn]] released them, at least. This is all the result, though, of a [[Xanatos Gambit]] by Darth Bane, who sought to destroy Kaan's followers in order to remake the Sith in a superior form. Killing Hoth and numerous other Jedi was just a bonus, and they would be dead regardless of the initial fight's result.
* In the ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'' series, Raziel, who wields the Soul Reaver wraith blade, discovers that the blade's soul is actually his own, and learns that he is destined to play out a [[Stable Time Loop]] for all eternity where he absorbs himself into the sword, is shattered and binds with himself, time and time again. The rest of the series' story involves him attempting to escape this predicament.
* In one of the books based on ''[[City of Heroes]]'', [[The Cape (trope)|Statesman]] and [[Big Bad|Lord Recluse]] compare themselves to Sisyphus and the rock. Statesman wonders which one is which...
* In ''[[Lost Odyssey]]'', this is the fate [[Big Bad|Gongora]] wanted to avoid, cue the 30 years long [[Evil Plan]]. Of course, in the end, making 4 powerfull immortals very pissed backfire at the end.
* As described by [[The Spoony Experiment
* In ''[[Castlevania]]: Symphony of the Night'', this is a brainwashed Richter Belmont's motive for reviving Dracula:
{{quote|
:: The motivation seems slightly different; as the above quote shows, Richter doesn't want to do this to trap Dracula (vs. letting him free); he wants to do this to continue the fight (vs. the fight being over).
* Towards the end of ''[[Breath of Fire]] II'', it turns out that the sleeping, giant dragon near the village of Gate is actually a Dragon Clan member, and Ryu's mother at that, who turned herself into that form to keep the game's [[Hell Gate]] closed and prevent the release of Death Evan. Slightly subverted in that you ''must'' relieve her of this task by going through the [[Hell Gate]] and defeating the [[Big Bad]]. If you choose not to, Death Evan immediately overwhelms her defenses and bursts to the surface, resulting in a [[Nonstandard Game Over]]. Even after Death Evan is defeated, demon gods don't just die. The [[Hell Gate]] has to be closed again to guard against his future return. If you failed to unlock the flying Township, Ryu himself has to take his mother's place. If you did unlock it? Turns out that a giant airship works just as well as a giant dragon for sealing a hole.
* {{spoiler|Shurelia}}'s [[Heroic Sacrifice]] in ''[[Ar
* [[
== Western Animation ==
* The 90s ''[[Spider
** [[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.
* ''[[
* One episode of ''[[The Fairly
* ''[[
{{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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