The Exile

• Main
• All Subpages
• Create New

"Able was I ere I saw Elba."

"Run. Run away, and never return!" —Scar, to Simba, The Lion King

Bob's been caught committing a crime, caused too much property damage, or pissed the wrong people off. As punishments, he's forced to leave his city, state, or country, and never come back, often receiving a Mark of Shame in the process. In some situations, this can effectively be a death sentence, if the location from which Bob's exiled is the one safe haven in an otherwise inhospitable zone. Escaping the punishment for a crime may lead to a voluntary exile.

While being exiled can sometimes lead to Walking the Earth, it's usually more temporary than a Wandering Jew type of curse, either by Bob finding a new place to call Home, Sweet Home, or by Bob doing one specific thing to absolve himself.

Subtropes include Remittance Man, Noble Fugitive, and Locked Away in a Monastery. Related to Put on a Bus, which is a narrative tool rather than a situation. Also comparable to Kicked Upstairs, which is placing a person in a position that, at first glance seems to be prestigious, but is actually a job that barely requires any work done and lacks any real power.

Can overlap with Reassigned to Antarctica if he is ordered to leave for a specific place and stay there for tasks.

When a whole group has to become collective exiles they might decide to begin The Migration. If this is Recycled in Space exiles can become Space Cossacks.

Truth in Television, of course.

Examples of The Exile include:

Anime and Manga

• Caro of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, who was exiled from her tribe for being a too powerful dragon summoner at such a young age.

Comic Books

• The Illuminati (named after, but no relation) in Marvel Comics took it upon themselves to banish The Hulk from planet Earth, leading to World War Hulk.
• Cerebus becomes one at the end of the Form and Void arc, when he is ostracized by his hometown for failing to make it home in time for his father's funeral because he was running around with Jaka.

Film

• In Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, when the Jedi run into Jar Jar Binks, he's been exiled from Gungan society. That's right, Jar-Jar was kicked out because of him being clumsy. From what little was stated in the film, the specific reasons for his exile involved crashing Boss Nass's "heyblibber" and blowing up what was implied to be a reactor.
• In The Return of Hanuman, Maruti and his mother were not allowed to live in Bajrangpur anymore because the villagers thought that Maruti is a big threat (especially after his mega-Midnight Snack). That doesn't stop him from going to school in Bajrangpur though, as he has Super Speed.
• Thor was banished from Asgard by his father for his disobedient actions that sparked a war between Asgardians and the Frost Giants. His banishment will serve as a truce between both worlds.

Literature

• In Robert A. Heinlein's short story Coventry, the United States has used Applied Phlebotinum to put a force field wall around an area of the country. Because of the respect for human rights, it is the law that anyone may choose to go to Coventry rather than have to agree to psychological therapy for criminal or antisocial behavior. The protagonist, David MacKinnon, is a romantic idealist who imagines a paradise without the noisy interfering big government getting in the way of rugged freedom lovers.
  • The title comes from "to send someone to Coventry", a British idiom meaning to ostracize someone, usually by not talking to them. To be sent to Coventry is to be regarded as absent.
  • Coventry also featured prominently in his first book (last published) For Us, The Living: A Comedy of Customs.
• Ayla is punished in this way at the end of Clan of the Cave Bear (and for a shorter time in the middle of the book).
• Comes up a lot in the Masters of Rome series.
• Marina from the Silverwing books is banished from her colony after she receives a band from humans, which acts as a Mark of Shame until she befriends Shade, who has no prejudice against humans and even envies her band.
• At the end of the last Doctrine of Labyrinths book, Corambis, Felix comments that he must be the only person ever to be exiled from exile. (At the end of the previous book, he was exiled from Melusine for destroying the mind of his lover's murderer; in Corambis, he hasn't really done anything wrong, but the people in charge want him out of the way where he can't cause any trouble.)
• In Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian story "Rogues in the House," Murillo thinks that the ear given to him in a box might be a warning to leave for voluntary exile, but does not want to risk it. Later, Nabonidus asks him why he didn't take the warning, and Murillo retorts that he did not know he would be allowed to.
• In Robert E. Howard's "The Shadow Kingdom", Kull himself.

the name of Kull was now a word accursed among the mountains and valleys of his people, and... Kull had put them from his mind,

• In Josepha Sherman's The Shining Falcon, Malicious Slander makes Maria and her family have to flee.
• Common in The Icelandic Sagas.
• In Fate of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker is exiled for his role in training Jacen Solo, aka Darth Caedus. He's to keep away from Jedi temples and train no one for ten years, or until he can discover why Jacen became what he did. His teenaged son Ben decides to come with him.
• Sisterhood series by Fern Michaels: Charles Martin returns to the Vigilantes from his trip to England in the book Vanishing Act. He explains to them that he has been banished from England, the country he was born at, and he can never return.
• In Devon Monk's Dead Iron, LeFel's backstory. Which has the side effect of making him mortal.
• In Warriors Teller of the Pointed Stones exiles at least like 6 of his own cats, Bluestar exiles Tigerclaw because he tried to kill her, Riverclan exiles Graystripe and Stormfur and Shadowclan exiles Blackfoot, Brokenstar and Clawface.
• In Michael Flynn's January Dancer, Fa Li's assignment at the Rift is considered this.

Live Action TV

• The Fugitive is the Trope Codifier.
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Garak. In the show, his exact crime is never revealed but his former position was so powerful and important that when he's exiled, he chooses to live on Deep Space Nine because, as Sisko once observes, for a man in trouble with the highest levels of the Cardassian government, a Bajoran-owned, Federation-controlled region is very probably the safest place in the entire Alpha Quadrant for him to live.

Multi-media

• Bionicle: Takua (but he's later allowed back), Malum, and Strakk

Tabletop Games

• A possible punishment in the Dungeons and Dragons Al-Qadim campaign setting.

Theater

• Romeo from Romeo and Juliet was banished from Verona for killing Tybalt.
• Elphaba in Wicked becomes one after faking her death, as she can never return to Oz.

Video Games

• The main character of Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords is called 'The Exile' no matter what name you pick for him/her. Getting to the bottom of the circumstances around the main character's exile makes up most of the game's story.
• General Azimuth in the Ratchet and Clank Future series.
• Tali's sidequest in Mass Effect 2 has her accused of treason against the Migrant Fleet, and can end with her being convicted and exiled.
  • One of the quarians in the book, Mass Effect: Ascension was an exile. Though in his case, unlike Tali, there were very good reasons.
• The Vault Dweller from Fallout is exiled from Vault 13 at the end of the game, since the Overseer believes he/she has been changed too much by the outside world.
  • In the third one, the Lone Wanderer gets kicked out permanently because he's a bad influence.
• Lloyd and Genis in Tales of Symphonia get exiled from their hometown, Iselia, after it gets burned down by the Desians because they went to the nearby Human Ranch, a forbidden act according to the non-agression pact made between Iselia and the Desians.
• Most of the main characters in Dragon Age II fall into this category in one form of another. The Hawke family had to leave Ferelden after the destruction of Lothering, Aveline is the daughter of a exiled-in-disgrace Orlesian Chevalier, Varric's family was stripped of their Noble status and exiled from Orzammar for fixing Provings, Fenris is an escaped slave on the run from Tevinter Magisters, Merrill is a Pariah amongst the Dalish and may end up exiled from her clan, while Prince Sebastian Vael was sent to the Chantry.

Webcomics

• In the MS Paint Adventures story Homestuck, a major storyline revolves around four Exile characters who live After the End: Wayward Vagabond, Peregrine Mendicant, Aimless Renegade and Windswept Questant. The reasons for their exiles have been vaguely hinted towards in their storyline, but they've been revealed in the present day as "Warweary Villein", "Parcel Mistress", "Authority Regulator" and "White Queen".
  • Another Exile, the Writ Keeper, has been mentioned. Yeah, he's the "White King".
  • There's also Expatriate Darkleer, who was banished for taking pity on the Disciple and letting her escape, and Grandma English (also known as Alpha Jade), who ran an unsuccessful revolution against Betty Crocker.
• In Vattu, Seri is expelled from the tribe because one of her lies caused Hunter's death.
  • Another Overside story, "Waiting In Surya", features Calabash exiled to the titular Place Worse Than Death.
• In Our Little Adventure, Stratus's Planeshift brought him to a place he is not leaving.

Web Original

• Obviously, all of the Outcasts in Tasakeru.
• Parodied in Kickassia, when The Nostalgia Critic dramatically exiles The Cinema Snob from Kickassia for treason, intending for him to walk in shame and solitude across the desert. Since the nation is question is not too far from a nearby town (complete with comfy hotel), the Snob has his phone to call for a cab and things in Kickassia are beginning to get a bit crazy thanks to the Nostalgia Critic going mad with power, the Snob isn't as bothered by this as the Critic would probably like. Not to mention the fact that the intended gravitas is lost when everyone's waving goodbye behind his back.
• Several characters in The Gungan Council have been exiled for several reasons:
  • Abigail Taylor was tried and exiled from the Chiss Ascendancy for no real reason other than no one could defend her against a hostile judge.
  • Ti'Cira, Je'gan, and Caleb were exiled by the Jedi Council for beginning a massive crusade that ended up killing everyone on Taris.
  • All Nightsisters from Dathomir

Western Animation

• One episode of South Park involved Stan refusing to vote on the new school mascot (the choices were a giant douche and a turd sandwich) and being banished from the town in a ritual involving being tied to a donkey and spat upon. An Animal Wrongs Group finds him and complains about the mistreatment of the donkey.
• Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender, banished from the fire nation by his father the Fire Lord until he finds and defeats the Avatar. Also his mother, Ursa, was banished for killing the previous Fire Lord to save Zuko's life.
• Wonder Woman from the Justice League was exiled from Themyscira, because she had broken the law that forbade anyone from bringing men onto the island (which she did to save her mother and her fellow Amazons).
• In the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toon, part of Krang's backstory was that he had been exiled from Dimension X.
• In Aladdin, Jasmine threatens to get rid of Jafar when she's Queen, and he mentions at first that she'll exile him. Depending on where Agrabah is, and whether other cities would be willing to let an exile in (a traitorous vizier being the kind of exile most cities would not want to let in), being banished would likely lead to death.

Real Life

• In Ancient Athens politicians could be "ostracized" by vote, or ordered to leave town. In this case it was not a punishment and did not necessarily imply social infamy. Nor did the victim have his property officially seized. It was simply a declaration that "Athens can't afford to have you in town right now and is frankly afraid that you will cause a bloody civil war. Leave for a few years and then come back and we'll see. Nothing Personal old chap."
• Several British Royal and Noble families who on the losing end of a power struggle, most famously the Stuarts.
• The Jewish People as a whole after the Jewish Revolts.
• Napoleon Bonaparte had this happen to him twice. The first time, in 1814, he was imprisoned on the isle of Elba after being overthrown. His response was to escape and take control again. After the Battle of Waterloo, his enemies sent him further away to St. Helena. This time, it stuck.
• After Hastings, large numbers of the Anglo Saxon aristocracy and their carls(personal soldiers) fled to Constantinople and took service with the the Byzantine Emperor. Others went North and Saxonized parts of Scotland.