Sealed Good in a Can/Playing With

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Basic Trope: A good being has been sealed away.

  • Straight: A good guy gets sealed away.
  • Exaggerated: A legion of 777 noble and powerful angels, any one of which could resolve the conflict alone, are sealed away.
  • Justified: The Big Bad was either not powerful enough to kill her, or otherwise doesn't have the power to do so, and so decided to do the next best thing: Seal the hero away and try to make sure that no one ever finds him/her.
    • The hero realized that the bad guy had only been taken out temporarily, and would eventually return. So the hero seals him/herself away so he/she will still be around when the bad guy does return.
  • Inverted: Sealed Evil in a Can
    • Alternatively: The Big Bad sends the hero into exile, then builds a barrier to keep him out
  • Subverted: The good guy sealed away discovers by accident that they could get out any time, but didn't realize the box wasn't locked.
    • The Ragnarok Proofing didn't work, and by the time the new heroes find it, the good that was sealed away is now dead and/or useless.
  • Double Subverted: ...and then it turns out that the room the box was in is in itself a much stronger seal.
  • Parodied: A five-year-old discovers a legendary hero trapped in one of those plastic containers you get from gumball machine-type dispensers.
  • Deconstructed: Anything evil enough to seal away this force of good would make sure it's not just a sort of peaceful eternal sleep. The force of good has been living in a nightmare world that would make Cthulhu wet himself in terror for the last thousand years, and has gone completely insane as a result. When the heroes do let it out, it eats them and goes on a murderous rampage before realizing what it's done - and kills itself.
  • Reconstructed: Anything evil enough to seal away this force of good would make sure it's not just a sort of peaceful eternal sleep. The force of good has been living in a nightmare world that would make Cthulhu wet himself in terror for the last thousand years, and has been severely traumatized as a result. When the heroes let it out, it babbles incoherently and hugs them before breaking down in tears.
  • Zig Zagged: The utterly benevolent entity was sealed inside the magical can because, unbeknownst to him/her, he/she is actually, matryoshka-style, the Person-Shaped Can for some horrible evil. Specifically, something so abominable that even the villain that sealed him/her in is scared of it.
  • Averted: There is no Sealed Good in a Can
  • Enforced: "These guys are too low powered to take on the Big Bad. They'll need backup. Send them after it as a MacGuffin and let them do some Level Grinding on the way."
    • The heroes can't beat the God of Evil, let the have a God of Good on their side.
  • Lampshaded: "Dude, maybe Sir Goodnik got sealed away with the same spell. We find him, and maybe we can shove the evil wizard back into the box?"
  • Invoked: "Let's seal away that righteous do-gooder in that trash can!"
  • Defied: Just as the Big Bad attempts to seal the good guy away, The Lancer comes swooping in and pulls off a Conveniently-Timed Attack From Behind.
  • Discussed: ???
  • Conversed: ???

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