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* NiceToTheWaiter: Paul is mentioned as being always friendly to the staff at the hotel and never bothering anyone. In the novel, he gives the waiter who brings him his champagne a fifty dollar tip.
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* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:Sherff Buster in the movie version. He spends most of the movie investigating Paul's disappearance and eventually arrives at Annie's house to question her, only to get shot by Annie when Paul manages to get his attention]]
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* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:Sherff Buster in the movie version. He spends most of the movie investigating Paul's disappearance and eventually arrives at Annie's house to question her, only to get shot to death by Annie when Paul manages to get his attention]]
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* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:Sherff Buster in the movie version. He spends most of the movie investigating Paul's disappearance and eventually arrives to question Annie, only to get shot by her when Paul manages to get his attention]]
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* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:Sherff Buster in the movie version. He spends most of the movie investigating Paul's disappearance and eventually arrives at Annie's house to question Annie, her, only to get shot by her Annie when Paul manages to get his attention]]
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* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:Sherff Buster in the movie version. He spends most of the movie investigating Paul's disappearance and eventually arrives to question Annie, only to get shot by her when Paul manages to get his attention]]
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* AbhorrentAdmirer: Of a mental version rather than physically.
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* AbhorrentAdmirer: Of a mental psychological version rather than physically.
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* MarySue: Misery is an in-universe example. Paul is all too aware of this, and that is why he hates her.
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* MarySue: MarySue / CanonSue: Misery is an in-universe example. Paul is all too aware of this, and that is why he hates her.
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* AuthorExistenceFailure: If [[PenName Richard Bachman]] had not "died," ''Misery'' would have been his next book.
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--> [[spoiler: '''Paul:''': Why Not? [[HeWhoFightsMonsters I learn it from you.]]]]
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--> [[spoiler: '''Paul:''': Why Not? not? [[HeWhoFightsMonsters I learn learned it from you.]]]]
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** In the novel, it's pretty clear right off the bat that Annie is certifiably insane. From the moment Paul regains consciousness he is able to assess that Annie is mentally unstable. However, in the film, Annie is originally played off as kind and hospitable person, albeit a bit eccentric. The audience and Paul don't realize just how deeply she is disturbed until later in the movie.
*** Another example is how in the novel, Annie does no attempt to hide why she hasn't brought him to a hospital given the nigh immediate reveal of her insanity. In the movie, she claims to be keeping him in her home temporarily due to the roads being shut off from the storm.
*** Another example is how in the novel, Annie does no attempt to hide why she hasn't brought him to a hospital given the nigh immediate reveal of her insanity. In the movie, she claims to be keeping him in her home temporarily due to the roads being shut off from the storm.
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** In the novel, it's pretty clear right off the bat that Annie is certifiably insane. From the moment Paul regains consciousness he is able to assess that Annie is mentally unstable. However, in the film, Annie is originally played off as a kind and hospitable person, albeit a bit eccentric. The audience and Paul don't realize just how deeply she is disturbed she is until later in the movie.
*** Another example is how in the novel, Anniedoes makes no attempt to hide why she hasn't brought him to a hospital given the nigh immediate reveal of her insanity. In the movie, she claims to be keeping him in her home temporarily due to the roads being shut off from the storm.
*** Another example is how in the novel, Annie
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** But not before [[SherlockHolmes a popular Victorian character, killed off so the author could work on other things]], was SavedByTheFans.
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* AbhorrentAdmirer
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* AbhorrentAdmirerAbhorrentAdmirer: Of a mental version rather than physically.
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* SadisticChoice: [[spoiler: Burn the book you worked really hard on to break away from your style, or go without food and water until you do]].
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* SadisticChoice: [[spoiler: Burn the book you worked really hard on to break away from your style, or go without food food, water, and water that painkiller you're addicted to until you do]].
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* ContrivedCoincidence: Averted in ''Misery's Return'': Paul is well aware that it would come off as too much of a coincidence for two women in the same town to have been BuriedAlive, so he comes up with a way to link the two events.
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*** One clear example on that would be how in the novel, Annie does no attempt to hide why she hasn't brought him to a hospital given the nigh immediate reveal of her insanity. In the movie, she claims to be keeping him in her home temporarily due to the roads being shut off from the storm.
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*** One clear Another example on that would be is how in the novel, Annie does no attempt to hide why she hasn't brought him to a hospital given the nigh immediate reveal of her insanity. In the movie, she claims to be keeping him in her home temporarily due to the roads being shut off from the storm.
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** One clear example on that would be how in the novel, Annie does no attempt to hide why she hasn't brought him to a hospital given the nigh immediate reveal of her insanity. In the movie, she claims to be keeping him in her home temporarily due to the roads being shut off from the storm.
to:
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** One clear example on that would be how in the novel, Annie does no attempt to hide why she hasn't brought him to a hospital given the nigh immediate reveal of her insanity. In the movie, she claims to be keeping him in her home temporarily due to the roads being shut off from the storm.
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Too YMMV for a summary.
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What follows? A lot of meditation about writing, some amazingly suspenseful (and horrifying) moments, a huge {{Deconstruction}} of Fandom, the revelation of Annie's past, and some [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking cheesy romance.]]
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In 1990, a film based on the book was created starring JamesCaan as Paul and KathyBates as Annie with LaurenBacall in a minor role. A few details aside, it's very faithful to the book and was critically acclaimed. Bates' role is considered to be one of her best, and she took home the Oscar for her psychotic BitchInSheepsClothing. Was good enough to be included in Bravo's OneHundredScariestMovieMoments.
to:
In 1990, a film based on the book was created starring JamesCaan Creator/JamesCaan as Paul and KathyBates as Annie with LaurenBacall in a minor role. A few details aside, it's very faithful to the book and was critically acclaimed. Bates' role is considered to be one of her best, and she took home the Oscar for her psychotic BitchInSheepsClothing. Was good enough to be included in Bravo's OneHundredScariestMovieMoments.
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--> [[spoiler: '''Annie:''': Paul You can't!]]
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--> [[spoiler: '''Annie:''': Paul You you can't!]]
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--> [[spoiler: '''Annie:''': You can't!]]
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--> [[spoiler: '''Annie:''': Paul You can't!]]
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--> [[spoiler: '''Paul:''': I can. [[HeWhoFightsMonsters I learnt that from you.]]]]
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--> [[spoiler: '''Paul:''': I can. Why Not? [[HeWhoFightsMonsters I learnt that learn it from you.]]]]
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* AmbiguousDisorder: Annie displays traits associated with an array of mental illnesses (bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, a severe personality disorder with paranoid and borderline features, and likely some sort of schizophrenic- or schizoaffective-spectrum disorder). In a special feature on the collector's edition DVD, a forensic psychologist described Annie as a 'virtual catalog of mental illness."
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* AmbiguousDisorder: Annie displays traits associated with an array of mental illnesses (bipolar (at the very least, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, a severe personality disorder with paranoid and borderline features, and likely some sort of schizophrenic- or schizoaffective-spectrum disorder). In a special feature on the collector's edition DVD, a forensic psychologist described Annie as a 'virtual "virtual catalog of mental illness."
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* AmbiguousDisorder: Annie displays traits associated with an array of mental illnesses (bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, a severe personality disorder with paranoid and borderline features, and likely some sort of schizophrenic- or schizoaffective-spectrum disorder). In a special feature on the collector's edition DVD, a forensic psychologist described Annie as a 'virtual catalog of mental illness."
* BewareTheSillyOnes: Annie has a cheery facade, uses ridiculous childish expressions like "cockadoodie," and has a retreat somewhere up the mountain she calls her "laughing place"... where she [[spoiler: hides the body of a state trooper she murdered with a lawnmower]].
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''Now my tale is told.''
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''Now my tale is told.''
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** To the point that, in the novel, it's revealed that he'd only burned the ''cover-sheet'' for the book to trick Annie into trying to save it. He'd kept the rest of the novel hidden so he could publish it after his escape.
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-->"If you can get into that chair all by yourself, Paul," she said at last, "then I think you can fill in your own fucking n's."
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-->"If you can get into that chair all by yourself, Paul," she said at last, "then I think you can [[PrecisionFStrike fill in your own fucking n's."]]"
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* PsychopathicManchild: Annie.
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* PsychopathicManchild: PsychopathicWomanchild: Annie.
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* ClusterFBomb: When Paul begins typing on his new typewriter, only one word comes to mind.
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* FocusGroupEnding: Focus groups were extremely unhappy with [[FridgeLogic Paul walking normally at the end of the film]], so the ending was re-shot with Paul needing a cane to walk.
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* FocusGroupEnding: Focus groups were extremely unhappy with [[FridgeLogic [[spoiler:[[FridgeLogic Paul walking normally at the end of the film]], film]]]], so the ending was re-shot with Paul [[spoiler:Paul needing a cane to walk.walk]].
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** It's also interesting to note that in the novel, it's pretty clear right off the bat that Annie is certifiably insane. From the moment Paul regains consciousness he is able to assess that Annie is mentally unstable. However, in the film, Annie is originally played off as kind and hospitable person, albeit a bit eccentric. The audience and Paul don't realize just how deeply she is disturbed until later in the movie.
* AffablyEvil / EvillyAffable: Annie Wilkes
* AffablyEvil / EvillyAffable: Annie Wilkes
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** It's also interesting to note that in In the novel, it's pretty clear right off the bat that Annie is certifiably insane. From the moment Paul regains consciousness he is able to assess that Annie is mentally unstable. However, in the film, Annie is originally played off as kind and hospitable person, albeit a bit eccentric. The audience and Paul don't realize just how deeply she is disturbed until later in the movie.
* AffablyEvil /EvillyAffable: FauxAffablyEvil: Annie Wilkes
* AffablyEvil /
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* AdaptationalAttractiveness: To a small degree. While Annie, as played by Kathy Bates in the movie, isn't what most people would call a looker, she was at least clean and well-groomed, a '''far''' cry from how she was in the novel; a huge blob of a woman who dressed dumpily and stank of dirt and poor-quality cosmetics.
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/misery.jpg]]
--> "''The book Creator/StephenKing wrote in an attempt to keep other people from becoming authors.''"
--->--[[http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2011/12/books-from-dreamhaven/ Patrick Rothfuss]]
''Misery'' is a 1987 novel by Creator/StephenKing.
Novelist Paul Sheldon is trapped in the snow after driving to get his latest work published. Thankfully, he is rescued by Annie Wilkes, a former nurse. She claims that she is his No. 1 fan and loves his ''Misery'' novels, as well as their main heroine Misery Chastain. However, the next Misery novel is released while he's in her care, and Annie finds out that Misery dies at the end. She becomes enraged, and forces Paul to write a new novel that undoes Misery's death. Paul, being too injured to leave her house, is totally dependent on Annie, and so begins his fight to find a way to write Misery back to life, all while Annie subjects him to all kinds of elaborate and gruesome humiliations.
What follows? A lot of meditation about writing, some amazingly suspenseful (and horrifying) moments, a huge {{Deconstruction}} of Fandom, the revelation of Annie's past, and some [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking cheesy romance.]]
In 1990, a film based on the book was created starring JamesCaan as Paul and KathyBates as Annie with LaurenBacall in a minor role. A few details aside, it's very faithful to the book and was critically acclaimed. Bates' role is considered to be one of her best, and she took home the Oscar for her psychotic BitchInSheepsClothing. Was good enough to be included in Bravo's OneHundredScariestMovieMoments.
In 2009, Lifetime released an original movie with a plotline somewhat similar to ''Misery'' called ''Homecoming''.
----
!!Tropes included:
* AbhorrentAdmirer
* AdaptationDistillation: The movie forgoes any of the new novel nor the analogies to writing. Paul's ankles are also crushed, instead of his foot cut off; his thumb remains happily on his hand, and Paul's addiction to his pain medication is left out.
** It's also interesting to note that in the novel, it's pretty clear right off the bat that Annie is certifiably insane. From the moment Paul regains consciousness he is able to assess that Annie is mentally unstable. However, in the film, Annie is originally played off as kind and hospitable person, albeit a bit eccentric. The audience and Paul don't realize just how deeply she is disturbed until later in the movie.
* AffablyEvil / EvillyAffable: Annie Wilkes
* AloneWithThePsycho: Buster in the movie, and Paul in a broader sense.
* AntagonistTitle: Paul hates ''Misery'' but the character's popularity precludes him from being a more serious writer.
* ArcWords: Can You?, Africa, goddess, "Now I must rinse..."
* [[AscendedFanboy Ascended Fangirl]]: What Annie Wilkes ''thinks'' she is...
** AxCrazy: ...what she actually is...
* {{Autocannibalism}}: Annie cuts off Paul's thumb, uses it as a candle on a birthday cake, and threatens to make him eat it.
* BackFromTheDead: The whole [[FirstLawOfResurrection reason]] why [[ShowWithinAShow Misery's Return]] started to be written.
* BadSamaritan
* BattleaxeNurse: Annie is a registered nurse, and a violent and psychotic one. Also, she's wielded hammers, so her having an actual battleaxe may not be too far off.
** In the novel, it was an axe instead of a hammer. And a blowtorch to cauterize the wound.
* BerserkButton: By the end of the story, Paul knows better than to correct Annie. Also, swearing also makes Annie really mad.
--> '''Paul''': ''Dom ''Perig-non'' it is.''
* BigBad: Annie Wilkes. Rather fitting since she's described as being a ''huge'' woman in the novel.
* BigEater: A rare, non-comic version of this. When Annie gets into her 'moods', she basically binges like crazy.
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The rare ''in-universe'' example. At the very end of the book, after his hallucination at the restaurant, Paul sees a small child going by with a skunk in a shopping cart, The oddness of the entire image inspires him to write a novel speculating on what the heck was going on with the kid.
* BigGuyLittleGuy: Wicks (short and slim) and [=McKnight=] (huge and muscular), two cops that show up to question Annie. Paul of course doesn't know their names when he first sees them through the bedroom window, so he dubs them David and Goliath respectively.
* [[ShowWithinAShow Book Within A Book]]: ''Misery's Return'', of course. The reader gets to see bits of it, particularly passages that mirror Paul's situation.
* TheCaretaker: The whole reason for this plot is because Annie Wilkes decided to take it upon herself to be this for Paul rather than calling 911 or taking him to the hospital herself. It does not go well.
* CatScare: [[spoiler: Paul [[KindheartedCatLover adopts a cat]] at the end of the book and it startles him by popping out from behind the couch. He thinks it's Annie at first and that she's invincible. ]]
* CliffhangerCopout: Annie accuses Paul of this, when he first attemts to revive Misery by simply rewriting the end of the last book so that she never died. She brings up an example of her favorite childhood serial ''Rocket Man''. In one episode, the Rocket Man was locked into his car, which then fell off a cliff and exploded. The next episode showed the Rocket Man jumping out of his car in the last minute, which made Annie extremely angry, because "that wasn't what happened last week!"
* CreatorBacklash: Paul really hates Misery, and quite happily kills her off.
* DeadpanSnarker: Paul, in the film. After Annie puts him in the wheelchair for the first time:
-->'''Annie:''' Now isn't this nice?!
-->'''Paul:''' Yeah. I always wanted to visit the other side of the room.
* DeusExMachina: Discussed. Paul realizes that Annie knows it in all but name.
* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler:Annie, in the movie.]]
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The novel is a parable for writing. For example, the amputation of body parts are analogous to the author having to cut parts of a book they like.
** In On Writing, King notes that Annie Wilkes is a metaphor for his drug addiction. "Annie was (drugs and booze) and I was tired of being Annie's pet writer." With, of course, the dependence and isolation and exhaustion that go with addiction.
* DeathByChildbirth: Paul had to pay big for making Misery have this fate.
* TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler: When seeing he's likely doomed to die at her hand either way, Paul finally turns on Annie, destroying the script in front of her very eyes. When she naturally [[VillainousBreakdown gets rather upset over this]], he fends her off and gives her a good taste of her own physical punishment before knocking her out.]]
* EarnYourHappyEnding
* TheEndOrIsIt: [[spoiler: Subverted! After Paul is found by the police, they tell him that Annie's body is not in the bedroom where he left it, and the window was open. The book then jumps forward in a time skip, and it is explained that eventually they did find Annie, who only made it as far as the barn before succumbing to her wounds. He still has nightmares about her, and at one point at the end, hallucinates her jumping up from behind the couch in his darkened apartment, brandishing an axe.]]
** In the film version, [[spoiler: Paul is having a conversation with someone concerning his time with Annie and, as with the book version, ends up hallucinating Annie, coldly walking towards him, brandishing a butcher's knife. It's just a waitress bringing his dinner, who cheerfully tells him that she's his biggest fan. Not surprisingly, Paul comes across as a bit nervous about this.]]
* EnfanteTerrible: Annie. See SerialKiller below.
* [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas Even Bad Women Love Their Mamas]]: She keeps a framed portrait of her mother in her parlor and in the book, says that her mother was the only person to stick up for her.
* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: No, seriously. Annie owns a little model of a penguin on a pedestal. It becomes surprisingly memorable. [[spoiler:Five words: "NOW MY TALE IS TOLD!"]]
* EvilOverlooker: The poster above.
* FanDumb: A very mixed in-universe example. Annie was extremely pissed when she found out about the new book Paul was writing, ''Fast Cars'', which was (in short) about a guy who stole cars. Essentially she was saying, "How ''dare'' you write anything but what I want you to write!!!" This is also emphasized later on when [[spoiler: she tries to save the burning script she screams: "''My'' Misery!"]] However, there are some aversions, particularly where she tears down Paul's CliffhangerCopout in the first draft of ''Misery's Return'', and also when Paul realizes that ''Fast Cars'' really was kind of pretentious, while ''Misery's Return'' might be the best thing he's ever written.
* FilmOfTheBook: Starring James Caan as Paul and Kathy Bates as Annie.
* {{Fingore}}: Annie [[spoiler: cuts off Paul's thumb, and uses it as a candle in a cake.]]
* FocusGroupEnding: Focus groups were extremely unhappy with [[FridgeLogic Paul walking normally at the end of the film]], so the ending was re-shot with Paul needing a cane to walk.
* TheGhost: Annie's mom, a great influence in the story despite being dead for who knows how long before it.
* GoodIsNotDumb: Buster, the amiable local sheriff who figures the puzzle out. He only appears in the movie.
* GoshDarnItToHeck: Annie doesn't like it when your characters are dirty birds who use use cockadoodie foul language...
* GroinAttack: [[spoiler: See the NoKillLikeOverkill example. In the film she also does one to Paul in in their struggle, perhaps the one point she is on the defense.]]
* GrowingTheBeard: An in-universe example with ''Misery's Return''. Paul goes as far as to consider that it might be the best book he's ever written.
* HairTriggerTemper: Annie Wilkes
* HandicappedBadass: [[spoiler: In the climax, Paul fights and knocks out Annie, a psychopathic murderer (not to mention in the midst of a VillainousBreakdown) and chokes her with the remains of her own book, after already having his legs shattered and arm shot.]]]
* {{Hikikomori}}: Except to purchase food (and the next copy of Misery's romantic escapades, of course), Annie rarely if ever leaves her secluded cabin.
* IShouldWriteABookAboutThis: Paul's agent pitches him the idea of writing a non-fiction book regarding his experience, he elegantly disregards it as a cheap shenanigan.
* ImYourBiggestFan
* IWasQuiteALooker: When Paul reads Annie's collection of newspaper clippings (called 'Memory Lane') he sees that she was "startlingly pretty" when she was young.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Annie is killed by Paul's typewriter after being choked by paper.]]
* TheKindnapper: Annie Wilkes, who, upon finding Paul Sheldon, the protagonist and her favorite author, at the scene of a car accident, decides to take him home with her rather than ''at least attempt'' to call the hospital or for other emergency help. She's figured that since she's a trained nurse, she could take care of Paul herself! [[LoonyFan And she loves him,]] [[AbductionIsLove so surely he'll love her, too, once he gets to know her]]...
* LargeHam: There's a reason why Kathy Bates is nowaday best known as Annie Wilkes in the movie.
* LoonyFan: Guess.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Not that Annie wasn't [[SerialKiller evil to begin with]], mind you.
* LoveMakesYouDumb
* MadDoctor: Annie, killer nurse.
* MarySue: Misery is an in-universe example. Paul is all too aware of this, and that is why he hates her.
* MercyKill: Paul theorizes that Annie sees most of her murders as examples of this. She mostly kills old and sick people - that's why she gets away with it - whom she sees as "poor, poor things", and thinks she's doing them a favor. Later, when she gets more psychotic, she starts to see babies like that, and it turns into a murderous MunchausenSyndrome.
** She basically sees people as either "poor, poor things" or "dirty birdies", and thinks that both are better off dead.
* MoneyDearBoy: Why Paul puts up with writing the torrid rag of a Victorian airhead whom he has grown to ''hate'' for so long: to put braces on his daughter's teeth and put her through private school and college, of course.
* MoodSwinger: Annie can be pleasant one minute and angry the next.
** FridgeBrilliance: {{invoked}} by Stephen King in his memoir ''On Writing''. He subscribes to the ShowDontTell school of work, and does not spell out that Annie is manic-depressive, preferring that readers work it out for themselves.
* MoodWhiplash: Annie spouting phrases like "kaka-poopie-''doopie''!" in the middle of her "moods" is either [[PsychopathicManChild utterly terrifying]] or [[GoshDangItToHeck darkly hilarious.]]
* MostWritersAreWriters: Paul Sheldon is the author of a best-selling series of Victorian-era romance novels surrounding the heroine character Misery Chastain. This trope is the premise of the entire plot.
* MunchausenSyndrome: Specifically, Muchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Not a good trait in a nurse.
* MythologyGag: When Annie is talking to Paul about her "good news and bad news," she mentions a hitchhiker who was sketching pictures of an old hotel whose caretaker had gone crazy and burned it down. "[[Literature/TheShining Famous old hotel called the Overlook]]."
** When he was a kid, Paul lived across the street from [[{{It}} the Kaspbraks]]
* NoKillLikeOverkill: When it looks as if Paul is saved when a state trooper shows up, [[spoiler: Annie stabs the guy with a gravemarker in the chest, in the [[GroinAttack groin]], and in the ''butt'' among other places....and when it turns out he's ''still alive'', '''she runs him over with a riding lawnmower.''']]
** Kathy Bates [[NightmareFetishist was gleefully looking forward to filming that last part and was disappointed when it was cut.]] Kathy Bates is ''awesome''.
** WordOfGod says that scene was cut because the director worried it would be {{Narm}} rather than scary.
* OhCrap: Every time Paul realizes that Annie is in a mood switch. Especially when she swears.
-->"If you can get into that chair all by yourself, Paul," she said at last, "then I think you can fill in your own fucking n's."
* OneParagraphChapter: Taken UpToEleven. "Rinse."
* PetPeeveTrope: InUniverse-Annie's are CliffhangerCopout and ClusterFBomb.
* PoliceAreUseless: Subverted and zigzagged, at first the sheriff Buster (he only appears in the movie) seems to be just a rustic old man warming a chair, but he turns out to be quite competent and thorough despite a bickering [[CluelessDeputy deputy]] who doubles as his wife. In the end he is however [[spoiler: taken by surprise and killed, but not in vain.]]
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Annie Wilkes in the book, with her usage of the N-word to refer to the character Hezekiah in Paul Sheldon's Misery series
** In the movie, she refers to "that Dago" who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
* PrecisionFStrike: When Annie tells Paul to "fill in his own fucking n's", he and the audience know [[OhCrap things are going to go bad.]]
** [[spoiler: Also used against her as Paul shoves the burnt remains of her precious novel down the "sick twisted FUCK's" throat.]]
** Also later in the book (and the only time Annie actually swears in the film): [[spoiler: "I'M GONNA KILL YOU, ''YOU LYING COCKSUCKER!!!''"]]
* PsychopathicManchild: Annie.
* RasputinianDeath: [[spoiler: Annie's death could be considered this. Paul throws the typewriter at her, then starts choking her with the burning "manuscript" (which of course burns her). She looks dead for a moment, then gets back up, and then trips over the typewriter and hits her head. Then she gets up ''again'' (Paul's locked in the bathroom at this point) and crawls to the barn to get her chainsaw... and finally, she dies. Phew.]]
* {{Retcon}}: Annie isn't happy that Paul killed off Misery and forces him to write a book that brings her back to life.
** And Annie isn't happy when Paul's first attempt at ''Misery's Return'' retcons the ending of the previous book, considering it "cheating".
* SadisticChoice: [[spoiler: Burn the book you worked really hard on to break away from your style, or go without food and water until you do]].
** [[spoiler: In the movie, it's burn the book you worked really hard on to break away from your style, or ''burn yourself'']].
* SavedByTheFans: Misery herself. In-universe
* SelfMadeOrphan: Annie killed her father when she was 14, by putting a heap of clothes to the stairs so he'd fall off.
* SerialKiller: Annie Wilkes
** [[spoiler:Made even more creepier when the reader learns that Annie committed her first murders when she was all of 11 years old]]
* ScheherezadeGambit: Paul compares himself to Scheherezade, in that as long as he keeps writing, Annie won't kill him before seeing how ''Misery's Return'' ends. [[spoiler: And he's right.]]
* SlippingAMickey: Paul tries it, but Annie accidentally knocks the glass over.
* TheSociopath: Annie in spades.
* SoundtrackDissonance: A great example in the film: "Moonlight Sonata" starts to play as [[spoiler: Annie breaks Paul's feet.]]
* StealthPun: In the book, Annie killed a young deputy. In the film, Annie [[BobMarley shot the sheriff, but she did not shoot the deputy]].
** Why does Annie kidnap Paul? Because MISERY loves company.
** Also, those [[spoiler: patients?]] She thought she was [[spoiler: putting them out of their MISERY]].
* StylisticSuck: Paul's first attempt at ''Misery's Return'' is this. Later, as he becomes more attached to the story, it's not quite ''sucky'', per say, but it's quite distinguishable from King's usual style.
* SweetTooth: Annie loves ice cream, cookies, and soda.
* TakeThat: To crazy fans, FanDumb, cheesy romance lovers, writers who use deus ex machina...It's more subtle, but the novel also takes this view with the opposite idea, that the mentality of writing "serious" books to amaze critics and win awards isn't much better.
* TearsOfJoy: [[spoiler:When Paul finds himself starting to write a new novel at the end, after everything he's been through, he starts to weep with joy.]]
* TrustMeImAnX: In the novel when Annie [[spoiler: is about to cut off Paul's leg to punish him, she]] says: "Don't worry. I'm a trained nurse." She is, but that doesn't make it much better.
* UnbuiltTrope: Both the book and the film were made well before the darker side of the FanDumb was exposed via the internet.
* UnusualEuphemism: Annie uses many bizarre and childish words to compensate for profanity.
** [[spoiler: She finally snaps and subverts this after Paul burns her novel: "I'M GONNA KILL YOU, YOU LYING ''COCKSUCKER''!!!"]]
* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler: Annie, though pretty unhinged by this point anyway, completely goes off the deep end when Paul burns the novel in revenge. Granted by this point, [[TheDogBitesBack he wants her blood just as much]].]]
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Paul wonders what [[AxCrazy Annie]] would've been like if all the chemicals would've formed right in her brain.
* WhosLaughingNow: [[spoiler: After realising escape is impossible, Paul finally snaps and delivers a rather brutal last laugh to Annie.]]
--> [[spoiler: '''Annie:''': You can't!]]
--> [[spoiler: '''Paul:''': I can. [[HeWhoFightsMonsters I learnt that from you.]]]]
* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler:Annie's first victims were kids she babysat. Later she began killing newborns at the hospital where she worked.]]
* {{Yandere}}: Oh dear lord, Annie.
----
''Now my tale is told.''
--> "''The book Creator/StephenKing wrote in an attempt to keep other people from becoming authors.''"
--->--[[http://blog.patrickrothfuss.com/2011/12/books-from-dreamhaven/ Patrick Rothfuss]]
''Misery'' is a 1987 novel by Creator/StephenKing.
Novelist Paul Sheldon is trapped in the snow after driving to get his latest work published. Thankfully, he is rescued by Annie Wilkes, a former nurse. She claims that she is his No. 1 fan and loves his ''Misery'' novels, as well as their main heroine Misery Chastain. However, the next Misery novel is released while he's in her care, and Annie finds out that Misery dies at the end. She becomes enraged, and forces Paul to write a new novel that undoes Misery's death. Paul, being too injured to leave her house, is totally dependent on Annie, and so begins his fight to find a way to write Misery back to life, all while Annie subjects him to all kinds of elaborate and gruesome humiliations.
What follows? A lot of meditation about writing, some amazingly suspenseful (and horrifying) moments, a huge {{Deconstruction}} of Fandom, the revelation of Annie's past, and some [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking cheesy romance.]]
In 1990, a film based on the book was created starring JamesCaan as Paul and KathyBates as Annie with LaurenBacall in a minor role. A few details aside, it's very faithful to the book and was critically acclaimed. Bates' role is considered to be one of her best, and she took home the Oscar for her psychotic BitchInSheepsClothing. Was good enough to be included in Bravo's OneHundredScariestMovieMoments.
In 2009, Lifetime released an original movie with a plotline somewhat similar to ''Misery'' called ''Homecoming''.
----
!!Tropes included:
* AbhorrentAdmirer
* AdaptationDistillation: The movie forgoes any of the new novel nor the analogies to writing. Paul's ankles are also crushed, instead of his foot cut off; his thumb remains happily on his hand, and Paul's addiction to his pain medication is left out.
** It's also interesting to note that in the novel, it's pretty clear right off the bat that Annie is certifiably insane. From the moment Paul regains consciousness he is able to assess that Annie is mentally unstable. However, in the film, Annie is originally played off as kind and hospitable person, albeit a bit eccentric. The audience and Paul don't realize just how deeply she is disturbed until later in the movie.
* AffablyEvil / EvillyAffable: Annie Wilkes
* AloneWithThePsycho: Buster in the movie, and Paul in a broader sense.
* AntagonistTitle: Paul hates ''Misery'' but the character's popularity precludes him from being a more serious writer.
* ArcWords: Can You?, Africa, goddess, "Now I must rinse..."
* [[AscendedFanboy Ascended Fangirl]]: What Annie Wilkes ''thinks'' she is...
** AxCrazy: ...what she actually is...
* {{Autocannibalism}}: Annie cuts off Paul's thumb, uses it as a candle on a birthday cake, and threatens to make him eat it.
* BackFromTheDead: The whole [[FirstLawOfResurrection reason]] why [[ShowWithinAShow Misery's Return]] started to be written.
* BadSamaritan
* BattleaxeNurse: Annie is a registered nurse, and a violent and psychotic one. Also, she's wielded hammers, so her having an actual battleaxe may not be too far off.
** In the novel, it was an axe instead of a hammer. And a blowtorch to cauterize the wound.
* BerserkButton: By the end of the story, Paul knows better than to correct Annie. Also, swearing also makes Annie really mad.
--> '''Paul''': ''Dom ''Perig-non'' it is.''
* BigBad: Annie Wilkes. Rather fitting since she's described as being a ''huge'' woman in the novel.
* BigEater: A rare, non-comic version of this. When Annie gets into her 'moods', she basically binges like crazy.
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The rare ''in-universe'' example. At the very end of the book, after his hallucination at the restaurant, Paul sees a small child going by with a skunk in a shopping cart, The oddness of the entire image inspires him to write a novel speculating on what the heck was going on with the kid.
* BigGuyLittleGuy: Wicks (short and slim) and [=McKnight=] (huge and muscular), two cops that show up to question Annie. Paul of course doesn't know their names when he first sees them through the bedroom window, so he dubs them David and Goliath respectively.
* [[ShowWithinAShow Book Within A Book]]: ''Misery's Return'', of course. The reader gets to see bits of it, particularly passages that mirror Paul's situation.
* TheCaretaker: The whole reason for this plot is because Annie Wilkes decided to take it upon herself to be this for Paul rather than calling 911 or taking him to the hospital herself. It does not go well.
* CatScare: [[spoiler: Paul [[KindheartedCatLover adopts a cat]] at the end of the book and it startles him by popping out from behind the couch. He thinks it's Annie at first and that she's invincible. ]]
* CliffhangerCopout: Annie accuses Paul of this, when he first attemts to revive Misery by simply rewriting the end of the last book so that she never died. She brings up an example of her favorite childhood serial ''Rocket Man''. In one episode, the Rocket Man was locked into his car, which then fell off a cliff and exploded. The next episode showed the Rocket Man jumping out of his car in the last minute, which made Annie extremely angry, because "that wasn't what happened last week!"
* CreatorBacklash: Paul really hates Misery, and quite happily kills her off.
* DeadpanSnarker: Paul, in the film. After Annie puts him in the wheelchair for the first time:
-->'''Annie:''' Now isn't this nice?!
-->'''Paul:''' Yeah. I always wanted to visit the other side of the room.
* DeusExMachina: Discussed. Paul realizes that Annie knows it in all but name.
* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler:Annie, in the movie.]]
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The novel is a parable for writing. For example, the amputation of body parts are analogous to the author having to cut parts of a book they like.
** In On Writing, King notes that Annie Wilkes is a metaphor for his drug addiction. "Annie was (drugs and booze) and I was tired of being Annie's pet writer." With, of course, the dependence and isolation and exhaustion that go with addiction.
* DeathByChildbirth: Paul had to pay big for making Misery have this fate.
* TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler: When seeing he's likely doomed to die at her hand either way, Paul finally turns on Annie, destroying the script in front of her very eyes. When she naturally [[VillainousBreakdown gets rather upset over this]], he fends her off and gives her a good taste of her own physical punishment before knocking her out.]]
* EarnYourHappyEnding
* TheEndOrIsIt: [[spoiler: Subverted! After Paul is found by the police, they tell him that Annie's body is not in the bedroom where he left it, and the window was open. The book then jumps forward in a time skip, and it is explained that eventually they did find Annie, who only made it as far as the barn before succumbing to her wounds. He still has nightmares about her, and at one point at the end, hallucinates her jumping up from behind the couch in his darkened apartment, brandishing an axe.]]
** In the film version, [[spoiler: Paul is having a conversation with someone concerning his time with Annie and, as with the book version, ends up hallucinating Annie, coldly walking towards him, brandishing a butcher's knife. It's just a waitress bringing his dinner, who cheerfully tells him that she's his biggest fan. Not surprisingly, Paul comes across as a bit nervous about this.]]
* EnfanteTerrible: Annie. See SerialKiller below.
* [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas Even Bad Women Love Their Mamas]]: She keeps a framed portrait of her mother in her parlor and in the book, says that her mother was the only person to stick up for her.
* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: No, seriously. Annie owns a little model of a penguin on a pedestal. It becomes surprisingly memorable. [[spoiler:Five words: "NOW MY TALE IS TOLD!"]]
* EvilOverlooker: The poster above.
* FanDumb: A very mixed in-universe example. Annie was extremely pissed when she found out about the new book Paul was writing, ''Fast Cars'', which was (in short) about a guy who stole cars. Essentially she was saying, "How ''dare'' you write anything but what I want you to write!!!" This is also emphasized later on when [[spoiler: she tries to save the burning script she screams: "''My'' Misery!"]] However, there are some aversions, particularly where she tears down Paul's CliffhangerCopout in the first draft of ''Misery's Return'', and also when Paul realizes that ''Fast Cars'' really was kind of pretentious, while ''Misery's Return'' might be the best thing he's ever written.
* FilmOfTheBook: Starring James Caan as Paul and Kathy Bates as Annie.
* {{Fingore}}: Annie [[spoiler: cuts off Paul's thumb, and uses it as a candle in a cake.]]
* FocusGroupEnding: Focus groups were extremely unhappy with [[FridgeLogic Paul walking normally at the end of the film]], so the ending was re-shot with Paul needing a cane to walk.
* TheGhost: Annie's mom, a great influence in the story despite being dead for who knows how long before it.
* GoodIsNotDumb: Buster, the amiable local sheriff who figures the puzzle out. He only appears in the movie.
* GoshDarnItToHeck: Annie doesn't like it when your characters are dirty birds who use use cockadoodie foul language...
* GroinAttack: [[spoiler: See the NoKillLikeOverkill example. In the film she also does one to Paul in in their struggle, perhaps the one point she is on the defense.]]
* GrowingTheBeard: An in-universe example with ''Misery's Return''. Paul goes as far as to consider that it might be the best book he's ever written.
* HairTriggerTemper: Annie Wilkes
* HandicappedBadass: [[spoiler: In the climax, Paul fights and knocks out Annie, a psychopathic murderer (not to mention in the midst of a VillainousBreakdown) and chokes her with the remains of her own book, after already having his legs shattered and arm shot.]]]
* {{Hikikomori}}: Except to purchase food (and the next copy of Misery's romantic escapades, of course), Annie rarely if ever leaves her secluded cabin.
* IShouldWriteABookAboutThis: Paul's agent pitches him the idea of writing a non-fiction book regarding his experience, he elegantly disregards it as a cheap shenanigan.
* ImYourBiggestFan
* IWasQuiteALooker: When Paul reads Annie's collection of newspaper clippings (called 'Memory Lane') he sees that she was "startlingly pretty" when she was young.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Annie is killed by Paul's typewriter after being choked by paper.]]
* TheKindnapper: Annie Wilkes, who, upon finding Paul Sheldon, the protagonist and her favorite author, at the scene of a car accident, decides to take him home with her rather than ''at least attempt'' to call the hospital or for other emergency help. She's figured that since she's a trained nurse, she could take care of Paul herself! [[LoonyFan And she loves him,]] [[AbductionIsLove so surely he'll love her, too, once he gets to know her]]...
* LargeHam: There's a reason why Kathy Bates is nowaday best known as Annie Wilkes in the movie.
* LoonyFan: Guess.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Not that Annie wasn't [[SerialKiller evil to begin with]], mind you.
* LoveMakesYouDumb
* MadDoctor: Annie, killer nurse.
* MarySue: Misery is an in-universe example. Paul is all too aware of this, and that is why he hates her.
* MercyKill: Paul theorizes that Annie sees most of her murders as examples of this. She mostly kills old and sick people - that's why she gets away with it - whom she sees as "poor, poor things", and thinks she's doing them a favor. Later, when she gets more psychotic, she starts to see babies like that, and it turns into a murderous MunchausenSyndrome.
** She basically sees people as either "poor, poor things" or "dirty birdies", and thinks that both are better off dead.
* MoneyDearBoy: Why Paul puts up with writing the torrid rag of a Victorian airhead whom he has grown to ''hate'' for so long: to put braces on his daughter's teeth and put her through private school and college, of course.
* MoodSwinger: Annie can be pleasant one minute and angry the next.
** FridgeBrilliance: {{invoked}} by Stephen King in his memoir ''On Writing''. He subscribes to the ShowDontTell school of work, and does not spell out that Annie is manic-depressive, preferring that readers work it out for themselves.
* MoodWhiplash: Annie spouting phrases like "kaka-poopie-''doopie''!" in the middle of her "moods" is either [[PsychopathicManChild utterly terrifying]] or [[GoshDangItToHeck darkly hilarious.]]
* MostWritersAreWriters: Paul Sheldon is the author of a best-selling series of Victorian-era romance novels surrounding the heroine character Misery Chastain. This trope is the premise of the entire plot.
* MunchausenSyndrome: Specifically, Muchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Not a good trait in a nurse.
* MythologyGag: When Annie is talking to Paul about her "good news and bad news," she mentions a hitchhiker who was sketching pictures of an old hotel whose caretaker had gone crazy and burned it down. "[[Literature/TheShining Famous old hotel called the Overlook]]."
** When he was a kid, Paul lived across the street from [[{{It}} the Kaspbraks]]
* NoKillLikeOverkill: When it looks as if Paul is saved when a state trooper shows up, [[spoiler: Annie stabs the guy with a gravemarker in the chest, in the [[GroinAttack groin]], and in the ''butt'' among other places....and when it turns out he's ''still alive'', '''she runs him over with a riding lawnmower.''']]
** Kathy Bates [[NightmareFetishist was gleefully looking forward to filming that last part and was disappointed when it was cut.]] Kathy Bates is ''awesome''.
** WordOfGod says that scene was cut because the director worried it would be {{Narm}} rather than scary.
* OhCrap: Every time Paul realizes that Annie is in a mood switch. Especially when she swears.
-->"If you can get into that chair all by yourself, Paul," she said at last, "then I think you can fill in your own fucking n's."
* OneParagraphChapter: Taken UpToEleven. "Rinse."
* PetPeeveTrope: InUniverse-Annie's are CliffhangerCopout and ClusterFBomb.
* PoliceAreUseless: Subverted and zigzagged, at first the sheriff Buster (he only appears in the movie) seems to be just a rustic old man warming a chair, but he turns out to be quite competent and thorough despite a bickering [[CluelessDeputy deputy]] who doubles as his wife. In the end he is however [[spoiler: taken by surprise and killed, but not in vain.]]
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Annie Wilkes in the book, with her usage of the N-word to refer to the character Hezekiah in Paul Sheldon's Misery series
** In the movie, she refers to "that Dago" who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
* PrecisionFStrike: When Annie tells Paul to "fill in his own fucking n's", he and the audience know [[OhCrap things are going to go bad.]]
** [[spoiler: Also used against her as Paul shoves the burnt remains of her precious novel down the "sick twisted FUCK's" throat.]]
** Also later in the book (and the only time Annie actually swears in the film): [[spoiler: "I'M GONNA KILL YOU, ''YOU LYING COCKSUCKER!!!''"]]
* PsychopathicManchild: Annie.
* RasputinianDeath: [[spoiler: Annie's death could be considered this. Paul throws the typewriter at her, then starts choking her with the burning "manuscript" (which of course burns her). She looks dead for a moment, then gets back up, and then trips over the typewriter and hits her head. Then she gets up ''again'' (Paul's locked in the bathroom at this point) and crawls to the barn to get her chainsaw... and finally, she dies. Phew.]]
* {{Retcon}}: Annie isn't happy that Paul killed off Misery and forces him to write a book that brings her back to life.
** And Annie isn't happy when Paul's first attempt at ''Misery's Return'' retcons the ending of the previous book, considering it "cheating".
* SadisticChoice: [[spoiler: Burn the book you worked really hard on to break away from your style, or go without food and water until you do]].
** [[spoiler: In the movie, it's burn the book you worked really hard on to break away from your style, or ''burn yourself'']].
* SavedByTheFans: Misery herself. In-universe
* SelfMadeOrphan: Annie killed her father when she was 14, by putting a heap of clothes to the stairs so he'd fall off.
* SerialKiller: Annie Wilkes
** [[spoiler:Made even more creepier when the reader learns that Annie committed her first murders when she was all of 11 years old]]
* ScheherezadeGambit: Paul compares himself to Scheherezade, in that as long as he keeps writing, Annie won't kill him before seeing how ''Misery's Return'' ends. [[spoiler: And he's right.]]
* SlippingAMickey: Paul tries it, but Annie accidentally knocks the glass over.
* TheSociopath: Annie in spades.
* SoundtrackDissonance: A great example in the film: "Moonlight Sonata" starts to play as [[spoiler: Annie breaks Paul's feet.]]
* StealthPun: In the book, Annie killed a young deputy. In the film, Annie [[BobMarley shot the sheriff, but she did not shoot the deputy]].
** Why does Annie kidnap Paul? Because MISERY loves company.
** Also, those [[spoiler: patients?]] She thought she was [[spoiler: putting them out of their MISERY]].
* StylisticSuck: Paul's first attempt at ''Misery's Return'' is this. Later, as he becomes more attached to the story, it's not quite ''sucky'', per say, but it's quite distinguishable from King's usual style.
* SweetTooth: Annie loves ice cream, cookies, and soda.
* TakeThat: To crazy fans, FanDumb, cheesy romance lovers, writers who use deus ex machina...It's more subtle, but the novel also takes this view with the opposite idea, that the mentality of writing "serious" books to amaze critics and win awards isn't much better.
* TearsOfJoy: [[spoiler:When Paul finds himself starting to write a new novel at the end, after everything he's been through, he starts to weep with joy.]]
* TrustMeImAnX: In the novel when Annie [[spoiler: is about to cut off Paul's leg to punish him, she]] says: "Don't worry. I'm a trained nurse." She is, but that doesn't make it much better.
* UnbuiltTrope: Both the book and the film were made well before the darker side of the FanDumb was exposed via the internet.
* UnusualEuphemism: Annie uses many bizarre and childish words to compensate for profanity.
** [[spoiler: She finally snaps and subverts this after Paul burns her novel: "I'M GONNA KILL YOU, YOU LYING ''COCKSUCKER''!!!"]]
* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler: Annie, though pretty unhinged by this point anyway, completely goes off the deep end when Paul burns the novel in revenge. Granted by this point, [[TheDogBitesBack he wants her blood just as much]].]]
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Paul wonders what [[AxCrazy Annie]] would've been like if all the chemicals would've formed right in her brain.
* WhosLaughingNow: [[spoiler: After realising escape is impossible, Paul finally snaps and delivers a rather brutal last laugh to Annie.]]
--> [[spoiler: '''Annie:''': You can't!]]
--> [[spoiler: '''Paul:''': I can. [[HeWhoFightsMonsters I learnt that from you.]]]]
* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler:Annie's first victims were kids she babysat. Later she began killing newborns at the hospital where she worked.]]
* {{Yandere}}: Oh dear lord, Annie.
----
''Now my tale is told.''
