History Main / IHaveYourWife

* In the ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/StrangersAtTheHeartsCore'', a criminal group known as The Visitors threatens to kill Edna Danvers to force her husband Fred to work for them, as well as get [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} their heroic adoptive daughter]] off their backs.

* In the ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' storyline "Kal-El Returns", Metallo is tired of fighting Superman, would rather stay in prison, and is prepared to ''kill himself'' rather than take orders from Luthor again. Luthor asks him if he's wondered why his sister missed her last visit.

* In ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/StrangersAtTheHeartsCore'', a criminal group known as The Visitors threatens to kill Edna Danvers to force her husband Fred to work for them, as well as get [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} their heroic adoptive daughter]] off their backs.

* In ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'', [[spoiler:up-and-coming supervillain Vector kidnaps Gru's adopted daughters]] and demands [[spoiler:the moon, which Gru has shrunk and removed from its orbit,]] in exchange. [[spoiler:Gru complies, but when Vector goes back on the deal, he finds himself dealing with an enraged PapaWolf.]]

* In the ComicBook/ActionComics'' storyline "Kal-El Returns", Metallo is tired of fighting Superman, would rather stay in prison, and is prepared to ''kill himself'' rather than take orders from Luthor again. Luthor asks him if he's wondered why his sister missed her last visit.

* During the Spanish Civil War, the Republicans (no, not those Republicans) captured the son of José Moscardó e Ituarte, the Nationalist commandant during the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_the_Alc%C3%A1zar Siege of Alcázar.]] The Republican forces called Moscardó on the telephone, and demanded he surrender or they would kill his son. Moscardó asked to speak to his son, whom he told: [[ScrewYourUltimatum "Commend your soul to God and die like a patriot,]] shouting [[SayYourPrayers 'Long live Christ King']] and 'Long live Spain.'" His son's reply? [[DefiantToTheEnd "That, I can do."]]

In the [[RealLife real world]], a kidnapping committed for the purpose of coercing another person to commit a crime on the original criminal's behalf is called a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_kidnapping tiger kidnapping]]. Most real-life kidnappings, tiger or not, tend to end peacefully, whether or not the victim sees the kidnapper's face. This is largely due to pragmatism, as murder is a far more serious offense than kidnapping. Media usually ignores this because of the RuleOfDrama, acting like the victim will be killed the second the ransom is paid.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' episode "Lifestyles of the Sick and Twisted," Dr. Robotnik kidnaps talk show host Throbbin Screech's niece and dangles her over a LavaPit to secure a spot on his show.
** In "Pseudo Sonic," the titular mecha is being piloted by a character whose family is being held hostage by Robotnik.
* Subverted in the "April Moon" episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond''. A gang kidnaps a cybernetic doctor's wife and holds her for ransom in exchange for him performing cybernetic upgrades on them. Only it turns out [[spoiler:they didn't kidnap her, she's cheating on her husband with the gang leader and ran off with them of her own free will]]. He got his back, though; while he eventually discovered the ruse, they never found out that he did, and the leader ended up coming back still thinking the wife was leverage. The episode lets you imagine [[StrappedToAnOperatingTable how things played out from there]].
* In the ''WesternAnimation/BikerMiceFromMars'' episode "Hard Rock," Lawrence Limburger manipulates Hard Rock into doing his bidding by using his girlfriend Darla as a bargaining chip.
* ''WesternAnimation/CarmenSandiego'': In the special "Recap/CarmenSandiegoToStealOrNotToSteal", VILE takes Carmen's sidekicks Zack and Ivy hostage to force her to steal for them.
* The third ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' movie: Freakshow kidnaps his parents and sister as ransom for the [[GottaCatchThemAll Reality Gems]].
* In the ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons1983'' series, Hank the Ranger and his friend [[CuteBruiser Bobby the Barbarian]] are kidnapped by BigBad Venger, who keeps Bobby hostage and forces Hank to do his dirty work ''and'' not say a word about ''why'' is he doing it, much to the horror of the other kids in the group (especially [[ShrinkingViolet Sheila the Thief]], who happens to be Bobby's sister).
* Subverted in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' where in a flashback, Lois is captured by criminals who demand a ransom of her rich father. They put her on the line. His response: "Now honey, you know family policy, we don't negotiate with kidnappers."
** In the episode where Peter discovers he had a black ancestor, his father in law, Carter Pewterschmitt, shows his grand kinds how noble his side of the family (i.e.: their white ancestors) were, we see a picture of of one of them holding a knife to a Native American baby, while the horrified parents hand over a basket full of corn.
* The whole problem between [[TheHero Zachary Foxx]] and [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen of the Crown]] in ''[[WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers Galaxy Rangers]]''. Zach has Eliza's body in stasis. The Queen has her LifeEnergy decorating her living room as a little red crystal. Acts mostly as a subversion, as Eliza's the only human psychocrystal and just too good a tool to actually destroy. The closest it came to this was "Psychocrypt," where the Queen's relentless MindRape against both of them caused Zach to make a suicidal run to get his wife back.
* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls''. After using size-altering crystals to capture Dipper and Mabel, Lil' Gideon calls their Grunkle Stan to demand the Mystery Shack's deed in exchange for their safety. However, Stan doesn't believe the twins are in danger.
-->'''Stan:''' Oh yeah. This has gotta be your worst plot yet. I saw them playing in the yard a few minutes ago. They're fine.\\
'''Gideon:''' I have them in my possession! You don't believe me? I will text you a photo!\\
'''Stan:''' ...Text me a photo? Now you're not even speaking English! ''(Hangs up)''
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': In one episode of Season 1, [[{{Jerkass}} Mr. Cat]] takes Quack Quack, to whom Kaeloo is a ParentalSubstitute, as a hostage so she'll pay him money. It turns out that she doesn't have any [[RunningGag because of the ongoing economic crisis]]. Mr. Cat then threatens to shoot Kaeloo if Quack Quack doesn't pay him, which also fails because Quack Quack doesn't have any money. Mr. Cat is subsequently punished by Kaeloo for what he did.
* In ''[[WesternAnimation/KimPossibleMovieSoTheDrama Kim Possible: So The Drama]]'', Dr. Drakken uses Kim's new boyfriend Eric as a hostage. [[spoiler:Subversion: Eric is a synthodrone working for Drakken to distract Kim and ultimately bait her into a trap.]]
* Inverted in Season 4 ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' when [[spoiler: the heroes kidnap [[BigBad Kuvira's]] fiancé in an attempt to get her to leave Republic City alone, threatening to keep them apart forever if she doesn't back down. Kuvira decides to ShootTheHostage instead.]]
* In "Peter's Great Escape" from ''WesternAnimation/PeterRabbit'', Mr. Tod and Tommy Brock kidnap Squirrel Nutkin and take him to Rocky Island, as a means of baiting Peter Rabbit and his friends because they know he's Peter's friend and he'll come, then hopefully they can finish him off once and for all. They tell Nutkin, however, that they're having a picnic together. Despite this being BlatantLies, he believes it.
-->'''Nutkin''': They wanna have a picnic!\\
'''Mr. Tod''': And you are the guests of honor. And the main course. And dessert. And leftovers, if there are any. We can make sandwiches, but it's not your problem.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'', the MadScientist kidnaps the Robot Chicken's wife once he learns that he has escaped from his laboratory, forcing him to battle all the original Robot Chicken characters in order to get to him.
* The ChristmasSpecial ''WesternAnimation/SantaClausIsCominToTown'' has a humorous variant on this trope. Burgermeister Meisterburger forces Kris Kringle to turn himself in by capturing Kris's penguin companion.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'', it gets revealed at the end of Season 1 that [[spoiler:Mayor Jones is not actually Fred's father, but his ''kidnapper''. After forcing the original Mystery Incorporated out of town, two members -- Brad and Judy -- attempted to come back to Crystal Cove with their newborn son. Jones, paranoid that they were still trying to look for the treasure, kidnapped their son and threatened to hurt him if they returned. Ultimately, Mayor Jones ends up BecomingTheMask and having LimaSyndrome from raising Fred like his own son, and the episode implies that [[WhatYouAreInTheDark he can't bring himself to hurt him, much less kill him, because of that.]]]]
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. Homer, Lenny, and Carl are waiting for Mr. Burns to leave the parking lot. The mailman talks with Mr. Burns a bit in regards to skydiving (which is not what they wanted to see, as they really wanted to leave). Homer then gets the idea of tricking him into leaving by calling him by claiming that he kidnapped his wife... and then changing it to his brother, and then to his dog, and despite it being a fairly obvious deception, the mailman still fell for it.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E14LegacyOfMandalore "Legacy of Mandalore"]] has a case of I Have Your ''[[GenderFlip Husband]]'' -- [[spoiler:it's revealed that Sabine's father is being held on Mandalore as a hostage in all but name in order to ensure Clan Wren's cooperation]]. His status was put in jeopardy after [[spoiler:Sabine kills Imperial Viceroy Gar Saxon and starts another Mandalorian civil war. She and the rebels end up having to rescue him from a public execution in the beginning of Season 4.]]
* The penultimate episode of ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'': Omnara kidnaps Static's father. Richie, Static's best friend and sidekick, also has the tendency to get kidnapped a lot.
* The first season finale of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'', [[spoiler:Slade injects Robin's ''four'' teammates with potentially deadly nanoprobes and has his finger on the button, forcing Robin to become his sidekick. The scheme falls apart when Slade cows Robin by engaging the probes on a limited setting; the combination of this sudden inexplicable pain that seems to be under Slade's control and Robin's frantic reaction to it tips off the Titans that they are being used as hostages to control their friend. And then Robin puts the nanoprobes in himself when Slade is about to kill his friends, and since they aren't selective, he'd die too.]]
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TrippingTheRift'' had Darf Bobo tell one of the judges for his daughter's supermodel contest that he's kidnapped his wife, and if he knows what's good for her, he'll vote for his daughter. Upon seeing the picture Bobo provides for evidence, the judge tells him that's his mother-in-law, and that Bobo's free to kill her.
* ''WesternAnimation/UltimateBookOfSpells'': In "Shadow Land," the shadow creature working for Zarlak only does so because Zarlak is holding his family hostage.
* Used in the Goultard special for ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}''. The villain kidnaps Goultard's wife and children in order to lure him into a fight. [[spoiler: He kills them before Goultard arrives, and taunts him about it in order to make Goultard angrier. This is actually all part of a plan to get a parasitic demon that feeds off of rage to see Goultard as a more appetizing host and jump from the villain into Goultard. The villain doesn't get to enjoy his new found freedom for long, however, as Goultard kills him immediately afterward.]]
* Variation in ''WesternAnimation/TheZetaProject'': Agent Lee gets held hostage by a sadistic mercenary threatening to kill her unless Zeta surrenders. Zeta, who she has been chasing, hunting down and treating like he's less than a sentient being, intervenes immediately anyway because that's just the kind of person he is. Setting aside their relationship, though, the rest of the trope is played like this, right down to the mercenary calling Lee Zeta's 'girlfriend' in several dubs.
* ''WesternAnimation/IronManArmoredAdventures'': In the season one finale, Zhang threatens Pepper in order to get Tony and Gene to retrieve the fifth Makulan Ring for him. Tony is her best friend and they have mutual crushes on each other. She is also close friends with Gene, who seems to harbor some romantic feelings for her and vice versa. Zhang keeps Pepper hostage while Tony and Gene go into the temple, but she manages to escapes from him and his ninjas.
* In "Cleanliness Is Next to Impossible" from ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'', Crud demands that Christopher Robin help him make everything more dirty, lest he never see Pooh, Tigger or Piglet again. Christopher Robin, however, flat refuses and so Crud orders his guards, a pair of crayons, to take him away.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/AceCombat7SkiesUnknown'', [[spoiler:when the Usean Satellite Network is destroyed in a simultaneous A-Sat strike by Osea and Erusea, the Erusean Radicals order Dr. Schroeder to take Ionela and Alma with him to [[SpaceElevator the Lighthouse]], to ensure that their grandfather, Mihaly, continues to cooperate with them.]]
* The plot of ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'' has [[spoiler:Takuma Sakazaki forced to become Geese Howard's enforcer as the latter has Takuma's daughter Yuri held hostage]]. The [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] port slightly alters it: [[spoiler: Takuma's [[TrappedByGamblingDebts gambling debts]] lead him to work for Geese, and Yuri's kidnapping was performed to make him assassinate Jeff Bogard]].
* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'', Baron de Valois captures Bartolomeo's wife and tries to make him surrender.
** Also in ''Videogame/AssassinsCreedRevelations,'' [[spoiler: Ahmet kidnaps and threatens to kill Sofia Sarto in order for Ezio to deliver the Masyaf Keys. Ezio gives in, and Ahmet releases a girl that's dressed like Sofia, but ends up being a doppleganger. Ezio eventually finds and reaches Sofia moments before she is killed by hanging.]]
* {{Subverted}} in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII: Shadows of Amn'': Bodhi will warn you against continuing to oppose her lest you lose everything dear to you, and kidnap your love interest character, if any -- but will offer no deal not to hurt them if you yield, presumably because she knows you have no choice but to follow her anyway and because she likes to be sadistic.
* In ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'', [[spoiler:this eventually happens to Litchi Faye-Ling when Relius Clover took hostage of her boyfriend-turned-freaky... thing Arakune and told her to join NOL, or she'll never get the cure which NOL has, or even see him alive again. This plays up Litchi's LoveMartyr qualities and by the end of the series, she pulls a FaceHeelTurn and hampers Ragna's quest to destroy NOL. It's not known how she'll end up since her FaceHeelTurn shows at the CliffHanger ending.]]
* Averted in ''VideoGame/TheCaligulaEffect'', when Mirei thought that holding Kotono's boyfriend hostage would make her admit defeat. Unfortunately, Kotono absolutely ''despises'' her actually-ex-boyfriend and basically tells her to go ahead and drown him in a giant fish tank as planned.
* In ''VideoGame/ClashAtDemonhead'', Bang is told that his girlfriend has been kidnapped and instructed to meet one of the bad guys at a specific location. [[spoiler: It's a lie; she was never kidnapped.]]
* ''VideoGame/DefJamFightForNY'' has this happen to the PlayerCharacter's girlfriend, with the villainous Crow threatening her unless he wins back the territory he took for D-Mob. [[spoiler:Sadly, the protagonist's girlfriend dies.]]
* The plot of the original ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'' is about Billy and Jimmy being forced to fight their way into the Black Warriors' turf to save Billy's girlfriend Marian.
* ''Franchise/DragonAge'' uses this a few times.
** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'', a nobleman begs the Warden-Commander for assistance because a group of thugs have kidnapped his daughter and are holding her for ransom.
*** Also in ''Awakening'', you can actually use the trope ''yourself'' when deciding how to handle a group of disgruntled nobles. One of the available options for the scenario is to "invite" a member of each of the nobles' families to be a "guest" at Vigil's Keep, holding them hostage in a GildedCage in exchange for the good behavior of the nobles.
** During Act 3 of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', a rebel mage group kidnaps one of your party members. Hawke's sibling is the first choice; if both of the twins are dead, they instead kidnap Hawke's {{love interest}}. If Hawke hasn't romanced anyone (or is a female romancing Sebastian, since he's DLC exclusive), they'll go for the companion with whom Hawke has the strongest friendship. In this case they're not so much trying to demand that Hawke cooperate, but rather are using the captive as leverage to keep Hawke from coming after them. They have apparently forgotten that Hawke is the Champion of Kirkwall ''[[OneManArmy for a reason]]''.
*** Hawke's father Malcolm was in a similar situation years earlier, as revealed in the ''Legacy'' DLC. [[spoiler: Larius threatened his pregnant wife to force him to seal Corypheus with BloodMagic.]]
** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', an Avvar warrior called the Hand of Korth captures several Inquisition agents and keeps them as hostages in order to force the player character to come and fight him. As one character explains it, he wants to be able to brag that he killed the Herald of Andraste.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestI'': The Dragonlord kidnaps Princess Gwaelin to force King Lorik to surrender.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''
** The Dunmeri [[TheClan Great House]] [[TheMagocracy Telvanni]] is practically a breeding ground for {{Evil Sorcerer}}s and {{Mad Scientist}}s thanks to its rather [[MightMakesRight lax]] [[KlingonPromotion rules]]. Telvanni Mage-Lords have been known to kidnap the wives, daughters, and other family members of their rivals in order to influence them. In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', two quests involve you rescuing these family members from their Telvanni captors.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'''s ''Hearthfire'' DLC, the [[PlayerCharacter Dragonborn]] may come home from a hard day's adventuring to find a ransom note from a thug called Rochelle the Red, who has taken the hero's beloved wife/husband captive. If the ''Dawnguard'' DLC is also installed, the spouse may be abducted by vampires; the vampires may also abduct one of their in-game friends instead. As the kidnappers [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge quickly learn]], it's not a good idea to antagonize [[OneManArmy the Dovahkiin]] in such a personal manner.
*** This can lead to some FridgeLogic with some of the available spouses; While the vampires ''might'' make sense, it stretches credulity that a petty thug like Rochelle was able to kidnap, say, Aela the Huntress, an ActionGirl with years of adventuring experience who also happens to be a [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf.]]
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** Cecil's LoveInterest, Rosa, is abducted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' as soon as Golbez sees she's important to him. He doesn't actually give marching orders until a while later, but they're to bring him one of the world's {{Power Crystal}}s. Cecil complies without hesitation; Golbez goes ILied with equal lack of hesitation, but they manage to get her back anyway.
** In ''Videogame/FinalFantasyVII'', Cait Sith holds Barret's adopted daughter Marlene hostage in order to force the party to continue working with him as they head to the Temple of the Ancients, [[spoiler:at least, sort of. He ends up working with the party, and protects Marlene when Midgar is in danger on Discs 2 and 3.]]
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', Kuja pulled this off, holding the entire party hostage in order to get Zidane and the party members of Zidane's choice to go fetch the Gulug Stone from Oeilvert. (This was immediately followed up by him kidnapping Eiko, though in this case, it was for his own purposes, not because he wanted something from the party.)
** [[DoubleSubversion Double Subverted]] in ''VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII''. Bhunivelze holds Serah's (Lightning's sister) soul hostage so that Lightning will follow his orders to prepare humanity for the end of the world and [[spoiler: become the new Goddess of Death]]. Lightning eventually discovers that he doesn't have Serah at all and decides [[spoiler:to kill him for lying to her]]; however, it's later revealed that Bhunivelze ''does'' have [[spoiler:[[ImpliedLoveInterest Hope's]] soul]], which forces Lightning to continue doing God's bidding. [[spoiler:At least until she can kill him and save Hope.]]
* In the AttractMode for ''VideoGame/FinalFight'', Damnd (the Round 1 boss) calls Haggar and tells him to turn on the TV. It reveals his daughter Jessica with her hands tied behind her back.
-->'''Haggar:''' What have you done to her?!\\
'''Damnd:''' Nothing yet. But we'd enjoy the opportunity.
* Used against [[spoiler:Abel]] in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem]]''. The Archanea soldiers occupying Altea kidnap [[spoiler: Est]], forcing him to fight against Marth's army, [[spoiler: although he can be persuaded to rejoin again after speaking to either Marth or Est.]]
** In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral Genealogy of the Holy War]]'', Travant kidnaps Hannibal's adoptive son Corple to force him to fight. ''Path of Radiance'' does the We Have Your Younger Siblings, ''Radiant Dawn'' is I Have Your Milk-Sister, and ''Awakening'' does this ''twice'' with Maribelle and later Emmeryn - both ploys by Gangrel in an attempt to get the Fire Emblem all for himself.
* In ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed 2'', Darth Vader tries to force Starkiller to work for him again by kidnapping Juno Eclipse, the woman he loves.
-->'''Vader:''' Find and kill General Kota. If you refuse, the woman dies. You will return to me and give yourself to The Dark Side. If you resist, she dies. And when your training is complete, you will hunt down and execute the rebel leaders. If you FAIL, SHE DIES!
* The motivation for the protagonist in ''VideoGame/TheGetaway1''. Hilariously parodied by the [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/unskippable/520-The-Getaway Unskippable crew]]:
-->'''Charlie Jolson''': I ring you, you do the job. You don't do what I tell you, the kid dies. You don't do it where I tell you, the kid dies. You don't do it when I tell you, the kid dies! Are you getting my drift? Now you want to see your kid again, you do exactly what I say. You talk to anyone, you're late, or you let me down, your kid dies! Do I make myself clear?\\
'''Paul Saunders''' (as Mark): But what if I go skydiving?\\
'''Graham Stark''' (as Charlie): Your kid dies!\\
'''Paul''': What if I forget to bathe?\\
'''Graham''': Your kid dies!\\
'''Paul''': But what if I kill my kid?\\
'''Graham''': Your ki--touché.
* Happens in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' when [[spoiler:Trevor kidnaps [[TheCartel cartel]] boss Martin Madrazo's wife Patricia, partly as retaliation for not being paid for a job he did, and partly because he had a thing for Patricia the moment he laid eyes on her]]. In the end, the whole thing's PlayedForLaughs.
* Spoofed in ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity GTA: Vice City]]'', as demonstrated by the page quote.
* The whole point of the video game ''Kane and Lynch: Dead Men''. Kane is forced into finding his mercenary friends' lost fortune when they take his wife and daughter hostage.
** In this case, though, [[spoiler: the wife gets killed, which starts the above-mentioned RoaringRampageOfRevenge, and depending on the ending, the daughter either hates Kane forever or is killed while trying to escape. The latter is the ''good'' ending.]]
* This happens twice to Kairi in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''. She gets kidnapped by [[spoiler:Axel]], and then [[spoiler:Saix]] kidnaps her ''while'' she's already kidnapped.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', Maleficent pulls this on King Mickey, kidnapping Queen Minnie in order to try to get him to hand over the datascape. Her plans are thwarted by the timely intervention of [[spoiler:Lea]].
* This is why [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Gato Futaba]] is forced to compete in ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters The King of Fighters 2003]]''; Geese Howard threatens his estranged younger sister Hotaru so that he'll become one of his cronies. [[spoiler:As soon as her safety is assured, Gato [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere cuts his losses and runs off]] the first chance he gets.]]
* The reason for the actions of Dr. Cossack in ''VideoGame/MegaMan4'', as Dr. Wily has his daughter hostage.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' ''really'' loves using this trope:
** In the original ''VideoGame/MetalGear1'', Ellen Madnar was held hostage by Outer Heaven so her father would cooperate in developing Metal Gear.
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', the Pentagon arranges for Meryl Silverburgh to be captured by the Sons of Big Boss by deliberately sending her to Shadow Moses with full knowledge that she's being sent the same day they'll revolt. They do this in order to force Roy Campbell [[spoiler:(whom the series eventually reveals is her father)]] to not only cooperate in halting the revolt, but also in keeping secrets from Solid Snake (such as Metal Gear REX's development and [[spoiler:Snake being used as a vector for a bioweapon virus known as FOXDIE]]). In the in-game novel on the events in the sequel, ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', it's also revealed that not only were the Patriots behind the Pentagon's decision in regards to Meryl being sent, but also heavily implied that they would have had both Meryl and Roy Campbell killed if Campbell had even attempted to expose the secrets to Snake.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'' has ''two'' instances of this in the game (three, counting the aforementioned in-game novel), and the Patriots are responsible for all. The first is with Olga Gurlukovich: The Patriots kidnap her child immediately after birth, and threaten to [[WouldHurtAChild kill her child]] should Olga either disobey their orders or fail her mission (in this case, if Raiden ends up killed). The second time is to Raiden himself: Not only does he have to save Olga's child after she dies in an act of sacrifice, but must continue to live for Rosemary and his own unborn child, as they are holding her hostage, and she's pregnant, and it is implied that even after Raiden succeeds in the exercise, they are still holding them hostage.
** Something similar is revealed to be the reason why The Sorrow and The Boss fought to the death in Dolinovodno: They had to fight due to The Boss's failure and her unauthorized usage of the Philosopher's spy network; otherwise, the Patriots would have murdered [[spoiler:Ocelot - who is the son of The Sorrow and The Boss]].
* Used in ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheUnwoundFuture'', where the BigBad kidnaps [[spoiler:Layton's adopted daughter]] in order to make absolutely sure that Layton will pursue him. The irony is that Layton, being Layton, would have gone after him anyway -- all this trick did was [[PapaWolf make him]] ''[[BerserkButton mad]]''.
** Appears again in ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheLastSpecter''. The BigBad holds [[spoiler:Clark]]'s wife hostage to force him to cooperate.
* The freeware RPG Game ''Quintessence - The Blighted Venom'': Lunair kidnapped Reivier's wife Serai to Aeria under orders of the Duke, but after finding out that her own family betrayed her, struck a deal with Reivier that she would bring Serai back if he gets her the cure to the Quintessence's aftermath.
* The plot of ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' is kicked off by the hero's wife (and child) being held hostage by a KnightTemplar.
* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil''
** In the first ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' game, [[BigBad Wesker]] blackmails Barry to do his bidding by using the latter's family as leverage - if Barry doesn't do what Wesker says, his family will die.
** In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'', Helena Harper is forced to work under Simmons because he took hostage her sister Deborah to use as bargaining chip. [[spoiler:Tragically, shortly after being rescued it turns out Deborah was infected with the C-Virus, forcing Leon and Helena to kill her. Naturally Helena is pissed and for the second half of the game goes RoaringRampageOfRevenge on Simmons to avenge her]].
* Sophitia Alexandra in ''VideoGame/SoulCalibur 4'' is a sacred woman, a loving mother, and a holy fighter. Then her children get infected with the evil sword Soul Edge, and it tells her to destroy all its enemies, or else her kids will die. Sophitia's MamaBear qualities drive her to betray everything for which she stands in order to save her children. [[spoiler:She gets better... thanks to [[BigBad Algol]] suddenly growing sympathy for her and helping her destroy Soul Edge.]]
* In ''VideoGame/TheSpaceBar'', the police detective main character's partner is kidnapped and held hostage by the criminal they're chasing, and the BigBad regularly calls the main character's PDA to taunt him with his partner's potential fate. Since the two seem to be good friends as well as work partners, it ends up being a rather significant motivation.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsBX'', the SMS are forced to work for Marder because he held the Macross Quarter crew captive.
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny'', the reason why Leon Magnus betrays Stahn is because his BrainwashedAndCrazy father Hugo Gilchrist took hostage of Leon's favorite maid/mother figure Marian; [[spoiler: forcing him to fight Stahn off and the surrounding circumstances ended up killed him.]]
* Eddy Gordo in ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' is mostly a normal guy, who does love his mentor. In ''5''. mentor goes out of jail, but is sickly. He fought in the 5th tournament to get the cure, failed to win. Then, Jin Kazama, after apparently having a FaceHeelTurn as the new boss of Mishima Zaibatsu, moved his mentor to his hospital and offered Eddy the cure if he works for him in the upcoming war with the world. Eddy reluctantly accepted, but in the end, he found out that Jin was lying and his mentor is dead. Even though Jin turns out to be executing ThePlan for a greater good, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere that's the last straw for Eddy and he quits the Zaibatsu]].
* Inverted in ''VideoGame/WingCommander II'', the traitor attempts to hold Spirit's fiancée for ransom. It doesn't quite work.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TwentyFour'' managed to carry one off, very successfully, for 8 episodes of season one, as Jack's wife and daughter were kidnapped. Among other things, Jack was forced to shoot his friend Nina (but set it up so she'd survive). Her later revelation as TheMole caused some rather rapid {{Retcon}}.
** ''24'' also used this trope in season three with Tony's wife Michelle being kidnapped. And then in season four, they reversed it as Tony was kidnapped and Michelle was forced to work with the bad guy.
** ''24'' loves this trope so much it was parodied [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Bc0mG5omTo by Derrick Comedy]].
* ''Series/{{The 100}}'' has a rare case of the ''hero'' doing this: Clarke threatens to kill Cage's father unless he releases the captive Sky People. [[spoiler:He doesn't, and she follows through on her threat.]]
* ''Series/AgathaRaisin'': In "Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet," the killer abducts Agatha's cat Podge and threatens to kill him if Agatha does not stop her nosing about.
* In the Season One finale for ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', Cybertek manages to recruit several people to participate in their cyborg program with an "incentive" program, the incentive being, "Do as we say and your wife/husband/kids may survive." [[spoiler: Garrett also has Mike Peterson's son hostage, forcing Peterson to serve HYDRA as Deathlok. When Skye reveals to Peterson that his son is safe, Peterson turns on Garrett.]]
* ''Series/AlexRider'': [[spoiler: Alex's duplicate attacks Tom, breaking his arm, and threatens to kill him unless Alex comes to him for a showdown. He also plans to kill Ayisha and Jack.]]
* In ''Series/{{Alias}}'' series 2, in order for Sark to give her an antidote to save Vaughn from a deadly illness, Sydney was forced to assassinate (or rather attempt, it turned out to be a ploy for the two to work together) Arvin Sloane. This is a slight variation on the scenario.
* ''{{Series/Arrow}}''
** After discovering his daughter Laurel is helping the Arrow, Detective Quentin Lance tries to arrest him during one of their meetings. He escapes, but the incident tips off a mobster that there's a connection between the Arrow and Laurel Lance, so he kidnaps her to force the Arrow into a trap. Quentin is then forced to team up with the Arrow to rescue her.
** In Season 2, Count Vertigo catches Felicity Smoak snooping around, then calls Oliver Queen from her phone, guessing correctly that he's the Arrow and telling him to ComeAlone for a confrontation. Even though Oliver has recently made a ThouShaltNotKill rule, [[BerserkButton he makes an exception in Vertigo's case]].
** In Season 3, Oliver Queen does this himself after becoming a brainwashed member of the League of Assassins by kidnapping Diggle's wife [[ActionMom Lyla]]. [[spoiler:He's actually NotBrainwashed, but it's a while before Diggle forgives him for this, even though Lyla accepts Oliver's action as a NecessarilyEvil to fool the League.]]
* ''Series/BabylonBerlin'': Greta is coerced into changing her statement saying it wasn't Nazis who had her assassinate Benda, but Communists, by her [[spoiler:infant son]] being held with the threat of death.
* ''Series/{{Badger}}'': Wilf is abducted in "The Price of a Daughter."
* In ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' Admiral Adama threatens to have Cally Tyrol put up against a bulkhead and shot, to force Chief Tyrol to end a refinery workers' strike. And this is the '''good guy''' to one of his own men.
* ''Series/BreakoutKings'': In "Queen of Hearts," Lilah Tompkins escapes from prison by claiming to have had an accomplice kidnap a guard's son, and threatening to kill him unless the guard cooperates. She shows the guard a photo of his son on a mobile phone in order to convince him [[spoiler:She was bluffing, but the guard had no way of knowing that.]]
* After playing it straight multiple times, there is a spot of LampshadeHanging on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS5E2RealMe Real Me]]". Harmony claims to have the perfect plan to defeat Buffy, but when Spike outlines the above plan as a guess, she steals the idea. It fails miserably.
* On ''Series/BurnNotice'', this is Brennen's M.O. He does it in every episode he appears in; in his ''first'' episode, he actually [[MoralEventHorizon strapped a bomb to a child]] to prevent anyone from rescuing him before he'd gotten the MacGuffin he wanted.
** In another episode, he has a henchman with Michael's brother. They manage to get him to back off by making him believe they have someone ready to kill - [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes his daughter.]]
* ''Series/ControlZ'': María is informed by one of the drug dealers that her sister Natalia has been kidnapped and demands that the owed money be paid by tonight, threatening to kill her should Maria say a word to the authorities.
* ''Series/{{CSI}}'': A particularly convoluted example is used in "Buzz Kill." A woman's brother is kidnapped and she is forced to deliver a message to the owner of a marijuana dispensary, showing that his wife and children have been kidnapped, and demanding he turn over all the cash in the shop.
* Happens to Mac when Christine is kidnapped in ''Series/{{CSINY}}'''s "Seth and Apep." It's actually a relief to Mac in one sense - hearing Christine's voice proved that the [[FingerInTheMail severed tongue]] Mac was sent earlier was not Christine's and that she was still okay.
* Also happens in an episode of ''Series/{{CSI Miami}}''. A man is forced into participating in the robbery of the bank truck he drives, which results in the death of his partner, because his younger sister is being held hostage. [[spoiler:As it turns out, his sister is ''in on it'' and in fact came up with the plot because she knew this trope would work on her big brother.]]
* ''Series/DCIBanks'': In "Bad Boy," Banks' daughter Tracey is kidnapped in an attempt to get him to remove a gun being held in the evidence store.
* ''{{Series/Delete}}'': General Overson is coerced into helping the AI by its threat to kill his daughter, who has a heart implant which it can hack. After he gets it removed, Overson immediately stops helping the AI, which then kills him.
* ''Series/TheDoctorBlakeMysteries'': In "Lucky Numbers," the wife of a lottery winner is kidnapped, with the kidnapper demanding 50,000 pounds.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E2ToothAndClaw "Tooth and Claw"]]: The werewolf-worshipping monks force Sir Robert [=MacLeish=] to go along with their EvilPlan against Queen Victoria by holding his wife Isabel hostage.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E12TheSoundOfDrums The series]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E13LastOfTheTimeLords 3 finale]]:
*** The Master kidnaps Martha's entire family bar her brother. He never actually uses them as leverage against her, however, suggesting he's just doing it [[ForTheEvulz to be a dick]].
*** Professor Docherty is TheMole for the Master because he's holding her son hostage.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E5TimeHeist "Time Heist,"]] the Teller is coerced into working for the bank because they have its mate chained up in the private vault.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E2TheGhostMonument "The Ghost Monument"]]: The scientists who worked in the AbandonedLaboratory the Doctor and company find left a message behind explaining that they were forced to create horrible weapons for their captors because their families were held hostage.
* The short-lived series ''Series/Drive2007'' used this to force Alex Tully into the race, with the implication that they would release her only if he won.
* Neatly [[DefiedTrope defied]] in the ''Series/DueSouth'' episode "The Vault." Ray and Fraser are trapped in a vault with armed robbers outside. The robbers capture Ray's sister Francesca, and call a phone located inside the vault. They inform the heroes that they have Francesca, and Fraser immediately responds by disabling the phone before the robbers have a chance make any demands. Fraser correctly reasons that if the robbers cannot communicate with them, they have no way to threaten them and no reason to harm Francesca.
* ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'': A recurring trope, played most often with Boss Hogg and his wife, Lulu. As Lulu was overweight and homely, her being kidnapped averted the usual "damsel in distress" convention of a stark-raving beauty being kidnapped... often because the criminals knew that Boss held Lulu dear to his heart and that they could exploit this to get him to give in to their demands.
* In ''Series/{{Elementary}},'' after [[ProfessionalKiller Moran]] helps Holmes take down two of Moriarty's minions, Moriarty sends him a coded message reading "Moran, [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes you never told me you had a sister]]. She dies or you do. Your choice. M." Moran bashes his own head in.
** Sherlock's former drug dealer steals a lot of money from some very bad people and they kidnap his daughter to get it back. The man already spent the money so he goes to Sherlock for help.
** Moriarty kidnaps the child of a Greek businessman and forces him to kill the son of a prominent Macedonian politician. The idea was to cause a major political rift between the two countries and then cash in through a currency manipulation scheme.
** Some of Moriarty's former henchmen kidnap [[spoiler: Moriarty's daughter]] to force the mother to transfer over valuable property to them. It ends up being a very bad idea and when a pissed off Moriarty catches up to them, one of the kidnappers willingly goes to his death because otherwise Moriarty would go after ''his'' family.
** A group of French mobsters kidnap [[spoiler:Joan Watson]] so that Sherlock and Mycroft obtain valuable information for them.
* ''Series/EnemyWithin'': This was how Tal got Erika working for him. His minions picked up her daughter and he then threatened her life. She's returned unharmed after she gives him the names of her operatives, but he clearly shows it could happen.
* In the ''Series/EmeraldCity'' episode [[Recap/EmeraldCityS1E4ScienceAndMagic "Science and Magic"]], the Wizard forces a local rebel to denounce magic by threatening his pregnant daughter with death.
* ''Series/TheFlash2014'': For a part of Season 2, [[BigBad Zoom]] holds Harry's daughter Jesse hostage in order to force Harry to do his bidding and help him steal some of Barry's speed for himself. Eventually, however, Harry's conscience can't take it anymore and he confesses everything to Team Flash, who help him rescue Jesse.
* ''Series/{{Flashpoint}}'' doesn't have as many of these as one might expect given that hostage negotiation is a major SRU skill,[[note]]hostage situations in general happen on a fairly regular basis, but this particular scenario is uncommon[[/note]] but it does come up a few times.
** In "Never Kissed A Girl," a wrongfully-convicted man holds Ed and a security guard hostage to demand the evidence that would exonerate him.
** In both "Remote Control" and "No Promises," the apparent antagonist turns out to be acting under this type of duress.
** "Grounded" has a group of airline passengers being held hostage by hijackers who want their leader released from prison. [[spoiler:The only fatality, apart from the hijackers, is a guy who tried to play BadassBystander; all the other hostages are rescued alive and mostly unharmed.]]
** In "Blue On Blue," Sam's sister Natalie is held hostage to force Spike, who had been casually dating her, to help them break into a secure building. Luckily, they underestimate Spike's ability to engineer a rescue despite the circumstances.
** This appears to be the issue at stake (and is to some degree) in "The Cost Of Doing Business," but it turns out to be more complicated than that. [[spoiler:The hostage taker]] was also a victim of this.
* ''Series/FatherBrown'':
** In "The Jackdaw's Revenge," the murderer kidnaps Bunty and threatens to kill her if Father Brown does not resign from the priesthood.
** In "The Menace of Mephistopheles", a pair of criminals abduct Inspector Mallory's wife and children to force to plant eveidence against the man they are framing for murder, and get him to imcriminate himself for the FrameUp.
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': "Objects in Space." The bounty hunter Jubal Early tries to force Simon at gun point to either reveal where River is or help him capture her. Simon would rather die than betray his sister, so Jubal points out that Simon's smart enough to play along with a view to taking advantage of any slip-up Jubal might make. Simon remains unimpressed so he then reveals that he has captured Kaylee (Simon's UnresolvedSexualTension LoveInterest) and will rape her to death if Simon doesn't comply. At this point, Simon takes the "seeking advantage" option.
* ''Series/AFrenchVillage'': Müller regularly detains people's relatives, then uses threats against them so they'll talk.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** Theon is kept as a ward/hostage at Winterfell for a decade to prevent his father Balon from rebelling against the Iron Throne again. This is a completely acceptable part of Westerosi society.
** After Ned's execution and Arya's escape, Sansa is essentially used as leverage by the Lannisters against Robb, and is physically and emotionally abused by Joffrey for her brother's victories. Meanwhile, Jaime has been captured by the Starks, who plan to use him as a hostage against Cersei. However, Sansa and Jaime counteract each other's value for this trope. Neither side will truly harm their prisoner for fear of the consequences to their loved one. In the books, this is also the reason why The Mad King kept Jaime in the capitol during Robert's Rebellion, even though all the other White Swords were sent out to fight — Ser Barristan Selmy, Ser Jonothor Darry, and Prince Lewyn Martell of Dorne to the ruby ford, where the latter two died alongside Rhaegar Targaryen; and Ser Oswell Whent, Ser Arthur Dayne, called "Sword of the Morning," and Lord Commander Gerold Hightower, the White Bull himself, to the Tower of Joy in Dorne, where Eddard Stark and his companions slew them whilst trying to rescue Lyanna. Aerys's plans were very straightforward: if House Lannister were to raise its banners in rebellion, Aerys could easily have Jaime killed. The Mad King had already made this threat to Prince Doran Martell — "I have your brother in the Kingsguard AND your sister as my daughter-in-law" — which is why Dorne fought for House Targaryen.
** Cersei takes Ros (mistaking her for his mistress) as hostage in "The Prince of Winterfell" to mollify her fears that Tyrion is plotting a UriahGambit for Joffrey in the coming battle.
** Averted with Martyn and Willem Lannister, because they are rather worthless hostages when compared to Sansa.
** Rhaegar Targaryen's kidnapping of Robert Baratheon's betrothed, Lyanna Stark, is (probably in combination with his father's penchant for burning his vassals) what started Robert's Rebellion. He hid her in a tower in Dorne and appointed a retinue of Kingsguard knights to guard the tower and prevent anyone from entering. In reality, Lyanna fled to Dorne with Rhaegar willingly to get away from Robert, whom she never loved in the first place. Robert, meanwhile, was utterly oblivious to the fact that Lyanna preferred Rhaegar, going so far as to marry him and bear his child. When Rhaegar left to face Robert on the Trident, the Kingsguard were ordered to the Tower of Joy to protect ''Princess'' Lyanna Stark and their newborn son, the infant Aegon Targaryen (later Jon Snow). So it wasn't really a case of I Have Your Wife, but more like a secretive I Have '''My''' Wife, Please Leave Us Alone, Thank You.
* Practically a weekly event on the ''{{Series/Highlander}}'' TV show. Evil immortals really like to lure Mac in with this one.
* In an episode of ''Series/HogansHeroes'', a French scientist is brought to the prison camp to conduct research to develop a weapon for the German war effort. Lebeau, a representative of the [[LaResistance French Resistance,]] is assigned to help the scientists. When they are together, Lebeau chastises the scientist for helping the Nazis, but the scientists confesses that he hates the idea of helping their nation's conquerors, and outright refused the first time they asked, but prior to being brought to the prison camp, Gestapo agents arrested his daughter and told him he will conduct research for the Nazi war machine [[AnOfferYouCantRefuse or else.]]
* ''Series/InSecurity'': The Dutch kidnap Burt's parents and force him to steal N.I.S.A. technology to ensure their safety.
* In ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'', this was done in the Accel movie. Akiko is kidnapped by the Commander Dopant, who believes that killing her will cause Ryu to become consumed by vengeance and "cleanse" the city of evil. The plan fails due to Ryu being [[LoveRedeems changed by Akiko's love]], and he instead takes down Commander Dopant as Kamen Rider Accel.
* ''Series/{{Intergalactic}}'': Rebecca gets Wendell to cooperate by taking his son into custody, threatening that the boy will get sent offplanet into a penal colony as a terrorist if he doesn't give up all he knows on ARC.
* At the end of the miniseries ''Series/TheKillPoint'', WorthyOpponent Mr. Wolf [[spoiler:takes negotiator Horst Cali's wife hostage to force him to slip Wolf and his team out of the police standoff. To his credit, Wolf doesn't seem happy to do it and, when one of his men decides not to let her go, he gives Cali a gun and covering fire to go to her rescue]].
* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': In "The Bank Shot Job," Nate and Sophie are caught in the middle of the bank robbery being staged by a military vet. He is doing so because meth dealers have kidnapped his wife and are threatening to kill her if he doesn't pay his son's debts.
* In ''Series/{{Lost}}'' one of Widmore's [[PsychoForHire psycho's for hire]] Keamy tries to get Ben by holding his daughter at gunpoint. Ben then tries to double bluff Keamy by pulling a BreakHisHeartToSaveHim bluff, claiming she means nothing to him and is therefore a pointless hostage to try to get to him... [[spoiler: It doesn't work]]
** Also in the episode "The Hunting Party," after Jack tells Kate to stay behind while he, Sawyer and Locke search for Michael, she follows them and gets captured by the Others. Jack was not too happy.
* In the ''Series/MacGyver1985'' episode "Hearts of Steel," disgruntled steel mill workers attempt to kidnap the daughter of the industrialist who put them out of work, but end up abducting his housekeeper's daughter instead.
* ''Series/MadamSecretary'': Russian Foreign Minister Anton Gorev and the [=McCords=] make this a DefiedTrope in season 2. When Russian President Ostrov dies in "The Doability Doctrine," Gorev tells them to look after his daughter Olga, who was one of Henry's students at Georgetown. In "The Long Shot," Maria Ostrova tries to have her abducted by Russian Intelligence as leverage during her power grab, but Henry, having been warned by his mole Captain Petrov, gets there first.
* Spoofed in a ''Series/{{MADtv}}'' skit where the bad guys keep doing this to the hero, ending with "I have your ''goldfish!''"
* ''Series/TheMagician'': In "The Vanishing Lady," a singer is kidnapped and a million dollar ransom demanded from her agent/boyfriend.
* ''Series/MidnightSun2016'': The killer kidnaps Kahina and Anders' children to blackmail them into not stopping his final plot, putting them in harm's way as extortion.
* ''Series/MidsomerMurders: In "Faithful Unto Death," the wife of a local businessman is kidnapped. Her husband is sent photographs of her bound to a chair and looking bruised and battered along with ransom demands (and the usual exhortation not to contact the police). [[spoiler:The wife is actually the mastermind of the scheme, and is using it to extract cash from her husband before he is murdered.]]
* ''Series/MissionImpossible'': A recurring aspect of many episodes, where the villain uses a loved one to coerce a victim into doing his bidding.
** In "The Wall," the villain kidnaps the daughter of a key negotiator in order to sabotage a set of diplomatic talks.
** In "The Bunker," a missile scientist works for an enemy state because they have captured his wife.
* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' does this in "See No Evil," until [[spoiler:it turns out the officer pulled it on himself to get $2m from the Pentagon]].
** Also, the Mexican drug cartel's have Gibbs' [[spoiler: heterosexual life partner, Franks]].
* This trope is the reason why the human rights commission agent in ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'' uncharacteristically attempted to kill the defected sister of the Sudanese dictator in transit before she could testify against her brother: A French CEO kidnapped his wife and daughter, and he threatened to have them killed if he didn't assassinate her.
* ''Series/TheNewAvengers'': In "Hostage," a gang of villains abduct Purdey and hold her hostage to ensure Steed's compliance.
* ''Series/NoughtsAndCrosses'': The Liberation Militia kidnap [[spoiler:Sephy]] in the season one finale, and coerce [[spoiler:Kamal]] then into resigning as Prime Minister using threats to her.
* This happens at least once per season in ''Series/{{NUMB3RS}}''. The FBI usually intervenes before anyone can be seriously hurt.
** "Prime Suspect": A mathematician's daughter is kidnapped because the kidnappers want him to give them a formula to break internet encryption.
** "Better Or Worse": A jewelry store owner's wife and daughter are kidnapped to use as collateral in a robbery. Subverted when it turns out [[spoiler:the owner arranged the kidnap and robbery to cover a gambling debt.]]
** "Rampage" has a variation: the bad guy forces another guy to attack the FBI by threatening his family, but rather than kidnap them outright (which might draw attention), he uses photos and other information to show the guy how easy it would be to find them and hurt them. The same guy appears to be pulling a straight version of this when he kidnaps another family, but it turns out it's a trap; he never had any intention of releasing them, but rather was using them to lure the target to his location (on the pretext of letting him see the hostages to ensure they're okay) in order to kill him, and planned to kill the hostages as well [[HeKnowsTooMuch so they couldn't lead anyone back to him]].
** "Backscatter": Two bank employees are kidnapped to force their TeamDad boss to give a crime syndicate access to the bank to carry out a scheme.
** "Spree": Crystal Hoyle takes the cake on this one; she ''kidnaps a federal agent'' to extort the FBI. It does turn out [[spoiler:there was a little more to it than that; in addition to a hostage, she also swiped the agent's credentials to look up some classified information.]]
** "One Hour": A child is kidnapped to extort a ransom from his multi-millionaire father.
** "Tabu" appears to be another case of a rich parent's child kidnapped for ransom, but [[spoiler:it turns out the "victim" was actually the mastermind.]]
** "End Game": A disgraced former Marine captain wants information from one of his subordinates, so he kidnaps the man's father and sister to force him to give it up.
** "Jacked" has the stranger-as-hostage variation. [[spoiler:It turns out to be mostly illusion.]]
** The bad guy in "Shadow Markets" threatens his rival's elderly aunt to force the rival to meet him so he can take his revenge.
* ''Series/TheOutpost'': [[spoiler:Naya]] spies on Gwynn for the Prime Order because they had threatened to kill her mother and sister, who were living in the Capitol.
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''
** A surgeon's spouse who's working in a public area is covered by a sniper to force the surgeon to 'accidentally' kill a high-profile patient while he's on the operating table. What makes this invocation so noteworthy is that it is one of the first examples (possibly ''the'' first on network television) of this trope being used on a same-sex couple.
** Also, Finch faked his death to his fiancee, Grace, specifically so she wouldn't be endangered by this trope. [[spoiler:It turns out not to matter for [[TheSociopath Root]], who cheerfully informs him that Grace thinks she's a children's book author, and he can either help her with her scheme or... she can go [[DeadlyEuphemism get coffee]] with Grace.]]
** Used against [[AffablyEvil Elias]], of all people, by [[StrawNihilist Dominic]]. [[spoiler:In chasing him down, Dominic's gang manage to shoot and capture [[TheDragon Scarface]]. The rest of the episode is a conflict between Reese, who is trying to get Elias out alive because he is a more palatable candidate than Dominic for leader of New York's organized crime, and Elias, who [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes is willing to turn himself over to Dominic for the chance they'll let Scarface go free]].]]
** In "Sotto Voce," a locksmith's wife is kidnapped so that he will assist in a crime. [[spoiler:Subverted when the 'locksmith' turns out to be the VillainOfTheWeek -- the wife is just an actress he's hired to fool our heroes.]]
** Finch, of all people, does this having crossed his own MoralEventHorizon in Season 5. [[spoiler:He forces a soldier to let him escape by using information gathered by the Machine. The soldier's daughter is waiting for a heart transplant and a compatible donor has just died... or the Machine can put her at the back of the queue and she'll die in a few weeks.]]
* ''Series/ThePlotAgainstAmerica'': Evelyn claims [[spoiler: Lindbergh only enacted antisemitic policies and keeping America neutral because his son was really kidnapped by the Nazis rather than killed, and used to coerce him into doing so.]] Like in the book, it's left unknown if that's true or simply an excuse she cooked up herself.
* In the finale of ''Series/PowerRangersSPD'', Emperor Gruumm reveals that he has Doggie Kruger's long-thought-dead wife Isinnia in his possession (although the trope itself technically doesn't apply as Grumm never revealed Isinnia's presence until the very end of the series, at which point Kruger is in no position to do anything for Grumm even if he believed Grumm would let him go afterwards)..
* In the third season of ''Series/PrisonBreak'', [[TheGovernment the Company]] {{blackmail}}s the brothers into working for them by kidnapping the remaining people they care about. When the seemingly impossible task set by the villains forces the brothers to make a desperate attempt at a rescue, one of the captives is [[spoiler: [[AnyoneCanDie executed]]]] as an object lesson.
* ''{{Series/Pure}}'': The cartel leader coerces Anna into running operations for him in Canada, holding Isaak prisoner to insure she'll obey.
* Done by the villain in the ''Series/RizzoliAndIsles'' episode "My Own Worst Enemy" is order to ensure the cooperation of an importer.
* In ''Series/RoboCopTheSeries'', a villain kidnaps Robo's wife from his old life, i.e. Mrs. Alex Murphy. The item he is to steal is a ray gun that causes heart attacks, called the Heartbreaker. Initially, his built-in RestrainingBolt stops him, using ObstructiveCodeOfConduct three, "uphold the law." As soon as Robo pictures his wife in danger, directive two -- "protect the innocent" -- overrides this.
* ''Series/ShakespeareAndHathawayPrivateInvestigators'': In "This Promised End," Mr. R and Mr. G uses threats against Peter Quintus' wife to prevent him from going to the police. [[spoiler:It is actually an elaborate scheme engineered by the wife.]]
* This is subverted in an episode of ''Series/{{Sharpe}}'', when a villainous Frenchman tells his more noble countryman he won't plead for the release of his English wife. Sharpe promptly walks over and helps the English wife mount a horse behind her husband.
* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'':
** An inversion in "The Great Game," Moriarty strapped bombs to people Sherlock had never met and gave him a time limit to solve several mysterious crimes. Sherlock was mostly dispassionate towards the hostages and only cooperated because he found the mysteries amusing. When the final victim was [[spoiler: [[HeterosexualLifePartner John Watson]]]], however, Sherlock no longer found the game fun and attempted to appease Moriarty with valuable government information. [[spoiler: This turned out not to be Moriarty's object after all!]]
** In the final episode of series two, John, Mrs. Hudson, and Lestrade are all threatened, but ''especially'' John. Sherlock has to fake his death for all of them.
** And John gets captured and thrown in a bonfire in Season 3 episode 1.
** And ''both'' Mary and John are being screwed with by Magnussen.
* In the first season finale of ''Series/LosSimuladores'', their leader Santos is kidnapped in exchange for helping a mob boss being set free.
* ''Series/SpartacusBloodAndSand'' plays with this. Sura isn't exactly kidnapped, she's captured and sold as a slave, but Batiatus promises Spartacus to search for her, buy her and reunite them in exchange for Spartacus behaving well. When Spartacus, after some minor hiccups, behaves and is victorious in the arena, Batiatus is true to his word, buys Sura and brings her to the ludus. [[spoiler: Then he orders her killed right before they reunite, so she dies in Spartacus' arms.]]
* Done to [[ButtMonkey Miles O'Brien]] on ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. The twist: the villain was actually a Pah Wraith (a noncorporeal being) ''[[DemonicPossession possessing]]'' his wife, and could kill her instantaneously. The only solution was to figure out a way to kill the Wraith even ''more'' instantaneously, without letting it catch on to the plan.
* ''Series/StrangersFromHell'': Moon-jo captures Jong-woo's girlfriend to entice him to come back to Eden, setting up for the finale.
* Seems to happen a few times in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', though it's more like [[DistressedDude "I have your brother."]] This is discussed a few times, with others saying that Sam and Dean are each others' AchillesHeel, since they would do almost anything to save each other.
* ''Series/TeenWolf'' has the villain going for Scott's [[HeterosexualLifePartner best friend]] Stiles instead of his girlfriend, when [[spoiler: Gerard takes Stiles because he knows that's the best way to hurt Scott. Playing with the trope, Gerard doesn't give Scott a chance to bargain for Stiles's safety or the opportunity to rescue him, just beats Stiles within an inch of his life and then releases him as a warning for Scott to back down before he hurts him again.]]
--> [[spoiler: Gerard: You have a knack for creating a vivid picture, Mr. Stilinski. Let me paint one of my own. Scott [=McCall=] finds his best friend bloodied and beaten to a pulp. How does that sound now?]]
* ''Series/{{Tehran}}'': Faraz frequently threatens people's relatives who he has in custody or can get to for cooperation from them. Later he suffers this himself when his wife is kidnapped by Mossad, and then inflicts it on Tamar to get her back by kidnapping her father.
* Gwen's mother, husband and daughter are held hostage by Olivia Colasanto in ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay'' to blackmail Gwen into kidnapping Jack for her.
* This is a favourite tactic of [[TheConspiracy The Network]] in ''Series/{{Utopia}}'' for blackmailing people by reminding them they can get to their loved ones at any time. "[[FauxAffablyEvil Jen's great, really great. It'd be such a shame to see her raped.]]"
* ''Series/{{V1983}}'': Robert is coerced into giving up the site of the rebel camp to the Visitors with a threat of harm against his daughter Robin, who they're holding prisoner. The V commander who makes the deal promises his wife and their second younger daughter (who are still there in the camp) will have a chance to leave before they attack (naturally, [[ILied he lied]]).
* ''{{Series/Vikings}}'': Erlendur tries to coerce Torvi into killing Bjorn by threatening her son, who is in the custody of his people. She [[TheDogBitesBack kills Erlendur instead]] though.
* ''Series/WhiteCollar'': In the cliffhanger ending of the third series mid season finale, [[spoiler:Keller has kidnapped Peter's wife, El.]]
** Keller likes this one; in "Payback" he kidnaps Peter to force money out of Neal.
* Toyed with on ''Series/TheWire'': Brother Mouzone kidnapped and tortured Omar's boyfriend Dante for information, and then held him hostage, agreeing to release him to Omar on the condition that Omar work with him to take out [[spoiler:Stringer Bell]]. Omar and Dante were on the outs anyway, Omar was unimpressed by the fact that Dante had given up information on him, and Omar had been looking for a chance ever since [[spoiler:Stringer]] had his previous boyfriend tortured and killed two years prior; Dante is released to Omar, but they then part ways.
* ''Series/TheXFiles'':
** Mulder makes it very clear very early on in the series that the only way to hurt him is to hurt Scully, and that he'll [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl go to great lengths to get her back.]] So, Scully falls victim to this quite a lot. But as the bad guys quickly figure out, this never has the desired effect. If anything, it makes Mulder even more resistant to dealing with them and he [[TookaThirdOption gets her back in his own way,]] plus the RoaringRampageOfRevenge that goes along with this. This trope makes up about half of the 1998 movie ''[[Film/TheXFilesFightTheFuture Fight the Future]]''.
** It works the other way around, too. And if anything, Scully is even ''more'' frightening when Mulder is taken. In season 8, Mulder is missing and she unleashes hell on whoever gets in her way. Never mind that she's pregnant. It takes Skinner pointing out that Mulder wouldn't want her to risk her life and the baby's to get her to even take a breath.
* ''Series/ZeroZeroZero'': Stefano tries to stage a coup against his grandfather Don Minu, leader of their 'Ndrangheta clan, but when push comes to shove, he secretly spares his grandfather. When Stefano's men learn of Stefano's conflicted loyalties, they kidnap his wife and daughter to force him to kill Don Minu.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' the villains kidnap a husband in order to invoke this trope. However, [[spoiler: it fails, as one of his wives has infiltrated the lower class criminals hired to do the job. So it is more of a "your sister has her husband, and we are trying to get them both."]]
* High Lord Kalarus in ''Literature/CodexAlera'' likes this tactic. When he rebels against Gaius, he kidnaps the High Lady Placida and other loved ones of important nobles in order to insure that they stay neutral in the civil war. He even took Rook's, his own chief spy and assassin, daughter hostage to ensure her cooperation and locked her in the same room as Placida. Placida is a PersonOfMassDestruction in her own right so she probably could have escaped on her own, but Kalarus set the security systems to go for the kid first if she tried to escape, since he knew that she would not sacrifice a child for her own freedom.
* In the book, play and movie ''The Desperate Hours'', three escaped cons take the protagonist's family hostage in their own home.
* It happens in a quite interesting way in ''Literature/TheDevilToPayInTheBacklands'', because it's the [[AntiHero heroes]] who kidnap [[DevilInPlainSight Hermógenes's]] wife to use her as bait. Eventually, she [[BadassAdorable becomes Diadorim's friend]].
* Franchise/DocSavage gives this as the reason why he doesn't form relationships. That hasn't stopped people from speculating that the 1930s hero has [[HoYay other reasons...]].
-->'''Savage:''' Ah, there's no room in my life for love, Mona.\\
'''Mona:''' But why, Doc?\\
'''Savage:''' There was a girl once. We were to be married. She was kidnapped by the men I had been pursuing--they threatened to kill her if I didn't drop the chase. I gave in. I had to. Later, when she was returned safely to me, I realized there could never be a future for us. [[ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies I realized if I were to do what I had chosen with my life, there could never be a loved one who could be used against me. Or harmed because of me. Do you understand?]]
* This is why Wellington Yueh betrays the Atreides in ''Literature/{{Dune}}'', with a twist: the Harkonnens have Yueh's wife Wanna, and they are torturing her. Constantly. Yueh's deal with the Baron is that the Baron will ''kill'' Wanna, putting an end to her miserable existence. [[spoiler:This is why Yueh also sacrifices his life to assassinate the Baron; the plan fails, but it's kind of sweet.]]
* In ''Literature/TheFangsOfKaath 2: Guardians of Light'', the villain Tzu-Khan has the good Shah Raschid's wives kidnapped. With them in his clutches, he makes contact to the Raschid through a magic mirror about how he intends to have them horrifically [[ColdBloodedTorture tortured]] and yet [[AndIMustScream unable to die]] unless the Shah surrenders. However, the heroic wives break free just long enough to reveal the location of the villain's army and instruct their husband both to break his mirror to cut off contact for more threats, and "Kill the bastards!" Well aware of what his wives are sacrificing sending that message, Raschid wastes no time to honor those demands. Fortunately, a combination of cunning and ThePowerOfFriendship allows the wives to not only individually escape, but to join the fight against the villain.
* A Creator/GregEgan short story changes this to I Stole A Copy Of Your Wife's [[BrainUploading Brain Upload]].
* In ''Literature/{{The Guardians|MeljeanBrook}}'', demons are fond of this tactic to coerce humans into a DealWithTheDevil. [[spoiler: Deacon]] betrays his friends and gets several of them killed trying to ensure his lovers' safety. [[YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo It was all in vain.]]
* ''Franchise/HarryPotter'':
** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'': Voldemort fools Harry into believing that he has taken Sirius, Harry's beloved godfather, in order to lure Harry into the Department of Mysteries.
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows The Deathly Hallows]]'', Luna is taken prisoner to force her father to rat out the trio.
* The premise of Creator/DeanKoontz's novel ''The Husband''. "We have your wife. You can get her back for two million cash."
* In ''Night Over Water'' by Ken Follett, Eddie the mechanic must help hijack the airship because the bad guys are holding his pregnant wife hostage.
* ''Literature/NightOfTheNecromancer'' have the sibling version, where the hero, the Warrior-Lord of Valsinore Castle, must save his younger sister, Orianna, who was captured to be sacrificed by the titular Necromancer in exchange for permanent immortality.
* In ''Literature/TheScarletPimpernel'', Chauvelin gets Marguerite to help him because he has taken her brother, Armand.
** In one of the sequels, ''Eldorado'', Armand betrays the Pimpernel to Chauvelin in exchange for the freedom of Armand's lover, Jeanne L'Ange, who had been arrested for helping him elude capture; ironically, the Pimpernel [[spoiler:has already freed Jeanne from prison]].
* ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror'':
** This was a favorite tactic of Dayless the Conqueror, who routinely threatened the family and loved ones of his enemies to keep them in line, and was more than willing to [[WouldHurtAChild follow through]] if they rebelled against him.
** [[SkyPirates Captain Blackheart]] is a master blackmailer as well, creating [[PowerCrystal sunucles]] that he can use to kill the people they're linked to at any time. He holds Sain [[MadeASlave captive]] this way by threatening his mother.
* The third ''Soldiers of Barrabas'' (a HeroesRUs series by Gold Eagle) novel had enemies of Nile Barrabas from his Vietnam days kidnapping his girlfriend and saying "You've got 48 hours before we kill her. [[BringIt Come and get her]]." The BigBad thinks his jungle fortress surrounded by booby traps and ambushes will take care of Barrabas and his men, but they kill an ambush squad and infiltrate up their hidden retreat path, which is free of booby traps. Even so the girlfriend only escapes with her life because TheDragon doesn't execute her as ordered, knowing Barrabas would spend the rest of his life hunting him down.
* In the third book of the ''Literature/{{Spaceforce}}'' series, the BigBad Minty Mazata taunts Jay with this when she is arrested. It works - he [[RoaringRampageOfRescue storms off to save her.]]
* Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat's wife was once held hostage by the tax office to get him to pay his arrears. She went quietly so as to give him time to think of something. Normal thugs are [[DarkActionGirl not advised to attempt this]]. Really.
** Happens all the time actually, though it's not always shown how. There's usually a mention later of a number of mooks being bumped off in the process by Jim's armed and psychopathic wife.
* ''Literature/TheStrain'': The Master hides in Eph's apartment to await his return to tell him "I have your pig wife."
* In the ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' novel ''The Last Days of Krypton'', the villain kidnaps the hero's wife. It's a two-for-one hostage since his wife is '''pregnant'''.
* In the ''Literature/{{Elenium}}'' trilogy by Creator/DavidEddings, one of Sparhawk's brother knights confesses to trying to murder him repeatedly. He explains that the BigBad has effectively worked a kind of DemonicPossession on the woman whom the knight loves, and is forcing his cooperation in this way. [[spoiler:When the woman figures out what's going on, she kills herself to save him, and the knight does likewise, making the confession on his deathbed.]]
** In the sequel trilogy ''Literature/TheTamuli'', the new BigBad sends TheDragon to kidnap Sparhawk's wife. Seeing as 1) Sparhawk has a handful of assorted gods who like him and are willing to help him out, and 2) there's nothing in the world he loves more than his wife, this can only be considered a Very Bad Idea in the long run.
* In ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', James blackmails Bella to sneak away from the Cullens by pretending he has her mother as a hostage: in reality, he just played a recording of her voice over the phone.
* In ''Literature/{{Grunts}}'', Ashnak uses the threat their mother's life to "encourage" Will and Ned Braindiman to steal [[spoiler: nullity talismans from the Visible College]] for him.
* Gender flipped in ''[[Literature/TheHungerGames Mockingjay]]'' where President Snow kidnaps and tortures [[spoiler:Katniss's]] husband as one step in foiling the revolution. It's a pretty interesting example since [[spoiler:Katniss and Peeta aren't ''actually'' married, Peeta just claimed that they were married and pregnant in the hopes of gaining sympathy and sponsors for Katniss in the Quarter Quell. They are engaged, but that's kind of on the fake side too.]]
** What turns it into FridgeHorror is when she realizes that [[spoiler:Snow insisting that she convinces him that her feelings for Peeta are genuine had nothing to do with quelling the riots in Panem, as Katniss originally thought, and everything to do with this trope. Being no idiot, Snow knows that Peeta's value to him is in direct proportion to how much Katniss cares about him. Unfortunately for Peeta, Snow figures out that Katniss is in love with him before she herself realizes it.]]
** In a way this trope applies to all Hunger Games victors. Unless they stay in line and do whatever Snow asks of them (like prostituting themselves), their families will pay the price. [[spoiler:Johanna Mason]] and [[spoiler:Haymitch]] learned this the hard way.
* Lieutenant Vulpes forces Mehitabel to spy for the Bastion by threatening her lover Hallam Bellamy with torture in ''Literature/DoctrineOfLabyrinths''.
* In ''The Tombs'' by Creator/CliveCussler and Thomas Perry, this is attempted. [[spoiler:It fails miserably. The husband, Sam Fargo, mounts a rescue while his wife Remi plots a daring escape. For good measure, they set fire to the kidnapper's house on the way out.]]
* In ''Literature/CityOfFallenAngels'', [[spoiler:Lilith]] tells Simon that [[spoiler:she]] has his girlfriend. Due to the fact that he [[spoiler:had just broken up with Maia and Isabelle,]] he does nothing, assuming that it's an empty threat, until he discovers that [[spoiler:Maureen has been killed due to her crush on him]].
* Very common practice in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', with [[GreyAndGrayMorality both heroes and villains doing this and often for similar reasons]]. Families often send children off to live with other families as wards or squires, but this requires coercion or a huge amount of trust. Some people get KickedUpstairs where they can be watched, like Harys Swift, [[spoiler:whom Cersei named Hand of the King]]. Some people are unable or unwilling to negotiate for their loved ones because the terms of release are too demanding (at least to them) or they don't actually care about that person. In other cases, the party holding the hostage has no intention of letting them go regardless. [[TruthInTelevision This reflects real life medieval]] {{Realpolitik}}.
** Daenerys takes children from many powerful families in Meereen, but grows fond of them and refuses to punish them for the crimes of their parents, which her advisors consider to rather defeat the point of the exercise.
** The Sons of the Harpy, [[LaResistance a group opposing Daenerys' conquest of Meereen]] [[spoiler: kidnap the nine year old daughter of a caterer, then force him to poison food that will be served to Daenerys, promising to return his daughter when Daenerys is dead. After the assassination attempt fails, the Sons return the girl's body cut into nine pieces]].
* In ''Literature/HalfBad'', Mercury uses Annalise as leverage to get Nathan to do what she wants.
* After Kasia (TheNotLoveInterest) is taken by the Wood and saved from it in ''Literature/{{Uprooted}}'', Prince Marek orders Agnieszka and Sarkan to go on his fool's errand to save his decades-imprisoned mother from its deepest depths... otherwise he'll have Kasia executed under the law for TheCorruption. Then he brings her to the capital with the EmptyShell of a queen to keep up the threat, because proving the Queen is clear will save Kasia's life too.
* In ''Literature/{{Relativity}},'' August Moon captures Ravenswood's wife, Melody. Unfortunately for Moon, Melody's a good fighter. He finally manages to subdue her, but he's still in a foul mood about it when Ravenswood shows up to rescue her.
* In the ''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'' series, I Have Your [[DragonRider Captain]][[note]](either by imprisoning them on the ground or capturing them via boarding action[[/note]] is standard operating procedure in the West for capturing hostile dragons and keeping them under control as they will do a great deal to [[BondCreatures keep their]] [[ThisIsMyHuman human from harm]]. Of course this is hazardous as ''killing'' the captain [[BerserkButton has rather]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge the opposite effect]] and being too hamfisted with threats of harm can backfire.
* The ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' trilogy has this, complete with a formal note - though in this case the wife is a badass winner of the SuperpowerLottery.
* ''Literature/AlexRider'': In ''Eagle Strike'', [[spoiler:Damian Cray]] kidnaps Sabina Pleasure to force Alex's cooperation and prevent him from going to [=MI6=] with the flash drive.
* Near the end of the fifth book in the ''Literature/AgeOfFire'' series, [[AntiVillain RuGaard]] is ousted as [[TheEmperor Tyr]] in a coup and sent into [[TheExile exile]]. To ensure that he stays gone, the plotters take his mate Nilrasha hostage, threatening to execute her if he ever enters their territory again.
* In ''Literature/WhileTheClockChimes'', two weavers are ordered to prepare the fabric for new invisibility caps, which will be used for provoking a war with the neighboring kingdom. The weavers refuse adamantly – until the king tells them he holds their little sister captive. [[spoiler:Then they TakeAThirdOption and rescue their sister just before she is executed, exposing the king's lying nature to the populace on the way]].
* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' book ''A Forest Divided'', a rogue named Slash kidnaps Clear Sky's mate Star Flower, saying that the forest cats need to hunt prey for them like the strays that lived there used to.
* ''Literature/CradleSeries'': Jai Long's sister Jai Chen is an IllGirl who he is completely devoted to, so she gets taken hostage multiple times to force his cooperation. In the middle of his revenge against the Jai clan, Jai Long immediately gives up (under the assumption that he'll be executed) when he discovers that they captured his sister. Lindon also considers threatening her in order to get out of his impossible duel with Jai Long, but Yerin talks him out of it. Later, Lindon [[spoiler:instead heals Jai Chen of her disorder. While this doesn't get him out of the duel, it does save his life, as Jai Long refuses to kill the man who saved his sister]].
* In ''Literature/TheMouseWatch'', Jarvis says that he and his siblings only worked for R.A.T.S. because the NebulousEvilOrganization was holding their parents hostage. [[spoiler:At least, that's what R.A.T.S. told them. In reality, Jarvis' parents had already been killed for refusing to join.]]
* ''Literature/TheOutside'': When ColdBloodedTorture fails to convince Yasira to [[spoiler:kill everyone affected by the Outside on Jai]], the angels abduct Yasira's girlfriend Tiv and threaten to hurt her even worse.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* ''Film/AntMan1'': Darren Cross holds Scott's daughter, Cassie, hostage in her bedroom to draw out her dad.
* ''Film/ThirteenMinutes'': The Nazis immediately round up all of Elser's relatives and Elsa, his former fiancée, once he's been arrested. It's the threat to her which gains his confession.
* ''Film/ActOfValor'': Miller shows Christo a recording of the latter's daughter during his interrogation, with this implied. Then immediately subverted; he is not threatening Christo's daughter, he's just showing him his daughter to remind him of what he will lose if he doesn't cooperate and gets sent to prison for the rest of his life. When Christo asks if Miller will leave his family alone, he emphatically replies that he would ''never'' harm Christo's family. It's a brilliant piece of subtext without a direct threat, because you know Christo was wondering how in the hell this guy got footage of his daughter.
* Gary Oldman ups this trope's usual ante in ''Film/AirForceOne'': "When you talk to the President, you might remind him that I am holding his wife, his daughter, his chief of staff, his national security advisor, his classified papers - ''[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and his baseball glove]]''!" And it's that last part that really pisses everyone off. Only Creator/TimCurry could have delivered that line any better.
* Bayard the bloodhound, in Creator/TimBurton's ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010'', reluctantly serves the Red Queen because she's holding his wife and their pups in her dungeon.
* Anne kidnaps [[spoiler:Pierre]]'s wife Molly, and leaves a note pinned to the wall with a knife to emphasize the point in ''Film/AnneOfTheIndies''.
* The event of ''Film/ArtemisFowl'' are kicked off by Opal Koboi calling the young Artemis Fowl and telling him that she has his father and if he wants him back, he has to secure the Aculos for her. At the end of the film, when [[spoiler:Artemis doesn't bring her the Aculos, she tries to finish off Artemis Fowl Sr. with magic, but Holly Short uses the Aculos's power to bring him back to Fowl Manor before the deed can be completed]].
* Done twice in ''Film/AssassinationGames'', once with the girl in Brazil's apartment — he tells them that he doesn't care — and once with Flint's comatose wife.
* Played with in ''Film/AustinPowers''. When Austin is about to capture Dr. Evil, Alotta appears holding Vanessa at gunpoint, telling Austin to let him go. At this point Scott walks in, so Austin grabs and holds ''him'' at gunpoint in exchange for Vanessa. Dr. Evil is [[ParentalAbandonment completely indifferent]].
* In ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' Lex Luthor, has [[spoiler: Lois Lane kidnapped to get Superman's attention and once Superman shows up and confronts him, Luthor reveals he knows who Superman is and has also kidnapped Martha Kent, intending to force Superman to kill Batman as part of his plan to discredit Superman. Once Batman learns what's going on, he goes and rescues Martha. Luthor's reaction is to release [[HeroKiller Doomsday]].]]
* ''Film/BestSeller''. The CorruptCorporateExecutive has the protagonist's daughter brought to him by two policemen as a demonstration of his power. He says she is free to leave with her father, as he's now demonstrated that [[WeAreEverywhere his men can reach her at any time]].
* In ''Film/TheBigLebowski'' the (non-Dude) Jeffrey Lebowski's wife, Bunny, is "kidnapped" and held for one million dollars ransom.
* Probably the first film example is ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWRq2EHHFQY The Black Hand]]'' (1906), where three mobsters kidnap the daughter of a butcher in order to press him for $1,000.
* In ''Film/BlueVelvet'', local crime boss Frank Booth kidnaps Dorothy's husband and son in order to force her to be his sex slave, and even [[FingerInTheMail cuts off said husband's ear just to intimidate her further]]. She is periodically allowed to talk to them on the phone, and is usually frantically desperate to do so.
* In ''Film/BonCopBadCop'', the villains kidnap the French cop's daughter in similar fashion.
* The Monster in ''Film/BrideOfFrankenstein'', on Dr. Pretorius' orders, kidnaps Elizabeth so that her husband will co-operate in making a bride for him.
* In ''Film/CapricornOne'', the astronauts are told the safety of their families is contingent on their willingness to cooperate with the fake Mars landing.
* In ''Film/ChaiLaiAngelsDangerousFlowers'', Dragon's gang abducts Rose's fiancé Gus in an attempt to force the Chai Lais to back off.
* In ''Film/CityHeat'', Murphy's girlfriend Caroline is kidnapped by Pitt's gang to force Murphy to hand over the missing records.
* In ''Film/{{Clockstoppers}}'', the BigBad kidnaps Zak's father to ransom back Zak's hypertime watch.
* ''Film/CodeOfSilence'': The Comachos kidnap Diana Luna to force Sergeant Cusack to deliver mafia guy Tony Luna (Diana's father) to them. When Luna is killed along with his uncle (thus making the deal impossible, as the Colombians wanted him alive), Cusack arranges a fake hostage exchange so he can take out the whole Comacho gang single-handedly.
* The ExcusePlot of Schwarzenegger's ''Film/{{Commando}}'' is that the baddies have kidnapped his daughter to force him into doing their bidding. It becomes clear straight away that this isn't going to work.
-->'''Diaz:''' (''[[TooDumbToLive waving Jenny's "I Love You Daddy" Father's Day card in Matrix's face]]'') If you want your kid back then you gotta cooperate, right?\\
'''Matrix:''' Wrong. (''shoots Diaz'')
* ''Film/TheCommuter'': Joanna tries to coerce Michael into doing her bidding through getting his wife and son abducted, with the threat of them being killed if he doesn't obey. [[spoiler:Despite the threat, he refuses to murder an innocent person, and they're rescued by the FBI.]]
* ''Film/TheConspiracy'': [[spoiler:The Tarsus Club buys Aaron's silence by threatening his wife and child.]]
* ''Film/{{Criminal}}'': Xavier forces Bill/Jericho to give him the Wormhole program by holding Jill and Emma hostage.
* In ''Film/TheCriminal'', the gang initially kidnaps Suzanne because they think she knows where the money is hidden. When it turns out she doesn't, they instead hold her as a bargaining chip to force Johnny to lead them to the loot.
* In ''Film/{{Deewaar}}'', a corrupt businessman kidnaps union leader Anand's wife and his two sons, and forces him to sign a document with conditions highly unfavourable to the striking workers in exchange for their safe release.
* ''Franchise/DieHard'':
** ''Film/DieHard'' plays around with this. [=McClane=]'s wife is among the hostages taken by Hans's crew, but Hans is completely unaware of this until late in the movie. And once he does find out and radios [=McClane=] to tell him about it, he can't reach him because he's already fighting TheDragon.
** ''Film/LiveFreeOrDieHard'' has the villains capturing [=McClane=]'s daughter instead. Instead of even feigning that he'll cooperate, he just tells them he's going to kill them all and take her back. And when they try to emotionally manipulate him by putting her on the line with him? [[LittleMissBadass She tells her dad exactly how many bad guys are left.]]
* ''Film/DontSayAWord'': The villain holds the main character (Creator/MichaelDouglas)'s wife at gunshot in their home, forcing him to cooperate with him.
* The plot of ''Film/{{Fargo}}'' revolves around a basic plot of I Have Your wife. [[spoiler:Just as we planned.]]
* Spoofed in ''Film/TheFiendishPlotOfDrFuManchu'' when the hero's [[CompanionCube lawnmower]] is kidnapped by Fu Manchu's minions.
* ''Film/FletchLives''. Fletch confronts the BigBad with evidence of his EvilPlan, saying that his LoveInterest is ready to hand over everything he knows to the media if something happens to him.
-->'''Villain:''' You're bluffing, Fletch.\\
'''Fletch:''' No, I'm not.\\
'''Villain:''' You think you're not... but you are. ''[TheDragon drags in Fletch's girlfriend at gunpoint]''
* ''Film/FromBeyondTheGrave'': Evil occultist Sir Michael Sinclair, from "The Door", found the secret of immortality; constructing his own personal room behind an ornate door, Sinclair lures those who come into possession of the door to the room to murder them and [[YourSoulIsMine take their souls]] in order to [[ImmortalityImmorality extend his life]]. Targeting young William Seaton and his wife Rosemary, Sinclair kidnaps Rosemary to lure in Seaton, plotting to harvest them both, as "two souls are better than one".
* ''Film/Hercules2014'': [[spoiler:Cotys]] threatened his grandson's life to ensure his daughter's cooperation while he has her enlist Hercules to his side. He earlier also did this to force into accepting his rule.
* Subverted and then played straight in Creator/AkiraKurosawa's ''High and Low'': kidnappers tell a wealthy industrialist they have his son, except they grabbed the his servants' son by mistake. After a lot of conscience wrestling -- close a major deal or save someone's child -- he pays the ransom. The rest of the movie follows the cops trying to track down the kidnappers, and the kidnappers reasons for their crime.
* ''Film/{{Hostage}}'': Bad guy kidnaps Bruce Willis's family to force Bruce to get a DVD that incriminates him from a hostage situation going on elsewhere. After resolving the hostage situation and getting the DVD, he manages to kill the bad guy and save his family.
* Every post-''Franchise/IndianaJones'' Harrison Ford movie features this plot, such as 2006's ''Film/{{Firewall}}''.
** Pointed out humorously in the parody/mash-up [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9GwtRsOYSI Wife Force One]].
** Subverted in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' in which Indy finds himself in a version of this situation and promptly gives in, only to discover [[spoiler:that his girlfriend Elsa is TheMole]].
* ''Film/JackReacher'' proves himself to be clever when the female attorney he's working with is kidnapped. "You'll bounce me around to make sure I'm not followed, then walk me into an ambush and kill me." He then goes on to be the first action hero in history to not only {{def|iedTrope}}y but ''{{invert|edTrope}}'' it -- He's got all the evidence he needs, so unless ''they'' give up their location so ''he'' can come try and kill ''them'' when he is ''damn'' good and ready, he'll just cut his losses and hand everything to the FBI.
* Happens more than once in ''Film/JupiterAscending''. [[spoiler:Stinger's daughter is ailing, compelling him into handing Jupiter and Caine over to Titus in exchange for the money to afford a 'recode'. Balem does this with Jupiter's entire family, in order to convince her to abdicate so he can take Earth for his own]].
* In ''Film/TheKarateKidPartII,'' the villain Chozen forces Daniel to fight him by threatening to kill Kumiko, the Japanese girl Daniel loves. He doesn't actually kidnap her, but he does capture her in the middle of a ''festival'' and hold a knife to her throat in front of the entire village, so it counts.
* A rare protagonist example in ''Film/{{Kate}}'' when she kidnaps a teenage girl to draw out the girl's yakuza relatives.
* The ''Film/{{Firewall}}''-esque LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Kidnapping]]'' has Judd Nelson kidnap a bank employee's daughter (and her babysitter, whom they promptly kill when she tries to escape with the kid) to get her to give them access to a specific safe-deposit box.
* ''Film/KillerElite''. A RetiredBadass is forced to do OneLastJob when his mentor tries fleeing with the money rather than taking on the dangerous assignment. After completing the job, he's retired to his home when he gets an unexpected phone call from his employer saying he still has to kill one more person, and implying that he has the hitman's girlfriend. He rushes to her room only to find she's sleeping peacefully. Then he finds a cartridge case tucked into her hair.
* The film version of ''Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' has a variation that might be called I Have Your [[spoiler:You. The BigBad steals Dorian Gray's portrait -- yes, [[Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray that one]] -- and uses it as leverage for his cooperation]]. Interestingly for a villain, he actually honors their agreement once his victim holds up his end of it.
** In a more straightforward example from the same film, the BigBad forces the cooperation of the scientists he kidnapped by holding their wives and children in prison cells.
* In ''Film/TheManWhoCouldCheatDeath'', Georges Bonnet imprisons Dr. Gerrard's beloved Janine and holds her hostage to compel Gerrard into operating on him.
* ''Film/TheManWhoKnewTooMuch'' sees Dr. Ben [=McKenna=] receive warning about the impending assassination of a prime minister. The people in charge of the plot try to prevent Ben from telling the police by holding his son hostage.
* InvokedTrope in ''Film/MechanicResurrection''. When Creator/JasonStatham's character saves Creator/JessicaAlba from an abusive boyfriend, he quickly realises the BigBad is trying to set up a RescueRomance in preparation for this scenario. Despite this everything about the trope gets played straight.
* In ''Film/OnceUponASpy'', BigBad Marcus Valorium ensures Dr. Webster's cooperation in programming the X-2 computer by holding Webster's daughter hostage.
* The movie ''Film/{{Ransom}}'' is a complete subversion of this trope. Instead of paying the ransom for his son, he offers the amount of 2 million bucks to anyone who can find and rescue his son instead, because he assumes either 1. his son is already dead, or 2. the kidnappers have no intention of returning his son anyway.
* In ''Film/{{Red}}'' the CIA [[spoiler: captures Frank's love interest, Sara]]. When [[InspectorJavert Cooper]] tries [[spoiler:to use this to get Frank to turn himself in, the CIA runs a phone trace. As it turns out, Frank was in Cooper's house at the time while Cooper's wife and kids were outside; Cooper is shocked and promises that Sara would not be hurt]].
* ''Film/RedEye'': Jackson kidnaps Lisa's father and threatens to kill him unless Lisa cooperates with him to kill a politician.
-->'''Jackson:''' Right now, our guy is parked outside your dad's house, listening to a little smooth jazz while he sharpens his 12-inch K-Bar. That's a knife.
* In ''Film/TheRibaldTalesOfRobinHood'', Prince John coerces Marian into cooperating with his scheme to trap Robin by holding her father hostage.
* ''Film/RiotGirls'': The Titans repeatedly use threats against people's abducted loved ones to get what they want.
* This backfires badly in ''Film/{{Ronin}}''. Gregor reveals that he has a sniper who is currently aiming at the girlfriend of the Russian faction's leader to ensure his leaving with the money after their exchange. Unfortunately [[RuthlessForeignGangsters they're entirely willing to let her die]] just to kill Gregor and take back their money.
* The kidnappers in ''Film/RuthlessPeople'' threaten to kill Sam Stone's wife. Turns out he was already plotting to kill her, and the kidnappers appear to have saved him the trouble.
* In the MadeForTVMovie ''Film/SanFranciscoInternationalAirport'' (another proud ''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]]'' alumnus), a group of thieves do this to an airline pilot to force him to keep his flight for the day grounded, as part of a EvilPlan to smuggle the proceeds of a bank robbery out of town. (Their leader also kidnaps a female airport employee for another stage of the plan.)
* ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'':
** The [[Film/SawI first film]] plays this pretty straight with Zep keeping Lawrence's family hostage.
** ''Film/SawII'' has an interesting subversion. Eric's son Daniel is taken hostage, but, in order to get him back, John instructs Eric not to steal/kill/etc. but... to talk to him. Eric fails miserably when the climax comes, which is explicitly shown in the ending's twist.
* In ''Film/SeanceOnAWetAfternoon'', PhonyPsychic Myra Savage hatches a scheme to boost her profile as a medium by having her husband Billy kidnap the daughter of a wealthy industrialist so she can offer her services to locate the missing child. However, she says they need to make it appear the "kidnappers" mean business, so she has Billy cut out words from a magazine to put together a ransom note demanding £25,000 (which she plans to return once she becomes famous as a medium) with instructions for how to co-ordinate the money handover.
* Subverted (possibly inverted) in the movie ''Film/{{Se7en}}'': Less "I have your wife" and more [[spoiler:"You have your wife's head."]]. The idea is still to use this to get the hero to do what the villain wants.
* In ''Film/SherlockHolmes1932'', Moriarty kidnaps Alice and holds her hostage to compel Faulkner into giving him the details of the safety deposit boxes and not reporting the robbery from the bank until after he and his gang are well away.
* ''Film/{{Shooter}}.'' The bad guys kidnap Sarah, which makes Bob realize how much he cares for her.
-->'''Nick Memphis:''' I didn't know you had a woman.
-->'''Bob Lee Swagger:''' Neither did I... until they took her.
* In ''Film/SpaceMutiny'', the villainous Elijah Kalgan kidnaps the commander's [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 "daughter-mother"]] (thanks to some bad makeup work on the lead female actor who was 34 at the time of the film's release).
-->'''Crow:''' I have your mother!
* In the Sam Raimi ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy'' films, this happens to Peter Parker ''all the time''— Mary Jane is held hostage in some manner by supervillains at least ''four times''; as is Aunt May, twice; and so are quite a number of innocent civilians throughout the trilogy. In the second movie, it's done by a villain who doesn't even know that Peter is Spider-Man. Interestingly, in the comics [[ComicBook/MaryJaneWatson Mary Jane]] actually very rarely gets kidnapped.
* In ''Star Wars Episode V: Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Darth Vader captures and tortures the rebels with the intent of luring Luke to rescue them - and either turn him to the dark side or hand him over to The Emperor. The rebels try to warn Luke that it's a trap, [[spoiler: Leia and Chewie get away because [[HeelFaceTurn Lando has a conscience]], [[DownerEnding Han's taken prisoner by a bounty hunter, and Luke needs rescuing himself after Vader schools him in a lightsaber duel]].]]
* ''Film/SuicideSquad2016''. When the Joker and his goons shoot their way into the laboratory that makes the ExplosiveLeash, there's a technician locked behind bulletproof glass. The Joker simply puts a computer notebook up against the window, showing a live image of the technician's wife being held with a knife at her throat, begging him to just do whatever they ask.
* ''Film/SupermanII''. Ursa has the 3 Kryptonian supervillains take Lois Lane along with them to the Fortress of solitude with the intent of using her as a hostage against Superman.
* ''{{Film/Switchback}}'': The killer kidnapped [=LaCrosse=]'s son, but doesn't coerce him into stopping the hunt. Rather, he left [=LaCrosse=] a note saying he can only save his son by killing him, as a challenge. Most everyone believes his son is already dead, though [=LaCrosse=] says he has to keep believing otherwise.
* In ''Film/SympathyForLadyVengeance'', Mr. Baek coerces Geum-ja into making a FalseConfession to the murder of Won-mo by holding her daughter hostage.
* ''Film/UnderSiege2DarkTerritory'': When the terrorists discover that Casey Ryback is taking them out one by one, they figure out that his niece is traveling with him from the passenger manifest so they can use her as bait.
* ''Film/UniversalSoldierTheReturn'': SETH kidnaps Deveraux's daughter Hillary to force him to give up the code that will prevent his own program from shutting down. However, when SETH notices that she's sick, he decides to turn her into a Unisol to "fix" her.
* ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'' has a "flashback" of how Keyser Soze came to power. Low-level thugs take his wife and children hostage while he's out on business. He comes home to find them under guard and with guns pointed at them. He then [[spoiler:shoots his wife, multiple thugs and his kids]]. He tells the only remaining thug still alive to tell his bosses what happened.
* In ''Film/ValdezIsComing'', Valdez abducts Tanner's woman and plans to send her back to him in exchange for the $100. After the lengthy chase, Gay Erin is hoping that Tanner will make the exchange: not because she wants to to return to Tanner, but because she is convinced Valdez is in the right.
* ''Film/WelcomeToThePunch'' (2013). A ProfessionalKiller goes to [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas visit his grandmother]], only to find the CowboyCop and VillainProtagonist sitting on either side of her, posing as his old army mates who've come to visit. Unknown to grandma, a third man standing right behind her is pointing a pistol at her head. They make it clear the killer is to come out "for some drinks" while one of them waits with grandma to ensure his co-operation. The killer calls their bluff.
-->"You think that keeping a hostage is going to force me into a corner? But none of you have [[ShellShockedVeteran been where I have, seen what I've seen]]. None of you have the selfless commitment. And not one of you possesses what it takes... to actually put a bullet through the back of that woman's head." ''(shootout ensues)''
* In the 1982 thriller ''Who Dares Wins'' (aka ''The Final Option''), the protagonist is an ex-SAS man sent to infiltrate a terrorist group as a FakeDefector. However the terrorists suspect he may be lying to them, so they send a team to hold his family hostage while they carry out their main plan.
* In ''Film/PromisingYoungWoman'', Cassie abducts Dean Hudson's daughter and tells Dean Hudson that she has left her in the same dorm room where Nina was raped; adding that she is certain that the boys who currently reside there will undoubtedly realize that she is underage, and treat with all the respect that Al Munroe showed Nina. An increasingly desperate Dean Hudson demands to know the room number, only for Cassie to say that if she had investigated Nina's case as thoroughly as she claimed then she would remember the number. [[spoiler:Cassie is lying, and has left the daughter waiting at a diner for a boy band who will never show up.]]
* ''Film/AReasonToLiveAReasonToDie'': It is eventually revealed that the reason why Col. Pembroke surrendered Fort Holman without firing a shot was because Maj. Ward had his son and was threatening to hang him. After Pembroke surrendered, Ward kept his word and did not hang his son. [[ExactWords He shot him.]]
* In ''Film/VigilanteDiaries'', Andreas decides decides that the best way to get the Vigilante to cease hostilities against the Armenian mob is to kidnap his lover Jade ([[PregnantHostage who is pregnant]]) and hold her hostage.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* Jim Rhodes helps with the Program in ''Fanfic/SeventyTwoHours'' because his family is being held hostage by the government.
* ''Fanfic/AllHeEverWanted''. In one of the most polemic parts of the fanfic, the BigBad keeps the ActionGirl's NonActionGuy ex-husband hostage and uses this not just to have her pull a FaceHeelTurn, but to actually ''torture and rape her in front of him to show off his power''.
* ''Webcomic/AndShineHeavenNow'': [[spoiler:Walter. In ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'', he pulls a FaceHeelTurn which is never adequately explained. Here, the bad guys have his daughter, Maggie (imported from ''Anime/ReadOrDie''). How far he will go to keep her safe remains to be seen.]]
* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/9821669/chapters/22053209 Awakening]]'', [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Strika]], Elita's servant, kidnaps the sparkling of Starscream's servant Nightwish in order to force Nightwish to poison Starscream.
* In one of the installments in the ''Fanfic/BlackCrayons'' series, ''A Child's Innocence'' has two examples:
** Annabelle Lennox is kidnapped by Laserbeak and Starscream so that the Autobots will be distracted with trying to get her back.
** [[spoiler:Mikaela Banes is kidnapped by Dylan Gould and Soundwave to force Sam Witwicky into being TheMole for the Decepticons.]]
* Invoked in ''Batman'' fanfic ''Fanfic/DanceWithTheDemons''. Ra's Al Ghul very calmly explains that if he wanted to hurt Batman through Catwoman, he wouldn't kill her; he'd hold her hostage until the Dark Knight met his pre-release conditions.
-->'''Ra's Al Ghul:''' "Now, as to the matter of your wife. If I wished to use her against you, Detective, I can assure you of this: I would kidnap her. Oh, yes, I would. I would make certain that she was alive and that you knew it, but that you also knew that I had power over her. And thus I would have power over you. But I would not kill her. Not unless it presented great advantage to me, or unless all else was lost and it was the last stroke I could play. I promise you, Detective, I am far away from my last stroke."\\
'''Batman:''' "You may be closer than you think."\\
'''Ra's Al Ghul:''' "Death follows close behind us all, Detective. But in most cases, I am the one who pushes its hand. No. I am not lying to you. I had nothing to do with the attempt on your wife's life. Now, if someday your wife should be taken by brigands, there is the possiblity, and no more than that, that I may be behind it. That will be if I need your help, and you refuse a polite request. Should you perform that request, she will be freed unharmed. This would be done, certainly."
* ''Fanfic/Danganronpa23ReduxReturnUntoDeath'':
** The first motive Monokuma reveals is that he's taken sixteen hostages, each of whom is the loved one of one of Monoville's unwilling residents. He then randomly distributes videos of them to each participant, 'linking' them together: if the resident is killed, their hostage will survive. If three days pass without any of the residents getting murdered, then ''all'' of the hostages will be executed.
** His second motive, by contrast, has him revealing that he's captured individuals that each of the residents has [[ItsPersonal personal reasons to despise]]. In this case, he's offering the chance for {{Revenge}}: murder somebody, and the person you hate most will be killed as well.
* In ''Fanfic/DanganronpaTheImmersiveLearningProgram'', the motive video of the second chapter is for the most part similar to the first visual novel, such as Hiro with his mom, Sonia with her country, and Korekiyo with his sister. However, they also show some students individuals they cannot remember (Ex: Kaede with Shuichi, Kaito with Maki, Nekomaru with Akane).
** The sequel ''Academy of Discontent'', is similar, with students like Junko and Peko being shown familiar faces like Mukuro and Fuyuhiko respectively while students such as Shuichi and Chiaki being shown people they don't recognize (Kaede and Miss Chisa Yukizomi respectively).
* In ''Film/ManOfSteel'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/DaughterOfFireAndSteel'', General Zod gets ComicBook/LoisLane abducted to ensure [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Kal-El]]'s cooperation. When [[ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} Kara]] points out that holding his lover hostage is guaranteed to ''alienate'' him, Zod just brushes off her concerns.
* In ''Fanfic/TheDayAfterYouSavedTheMultiverse'', an unnamed Mafia Boss tries to coerce ComicBook/{{Superboy}} into working for him by kidnapping his parents. Though, Superboy makes the next counteroffer: the Boss gives him his parents back and keeps his mouth shut concerning his secret identity, and Superboy will not go after him. The Boss takes it up.
* In ''Brilliancy,'' the second part of the ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' ''Fanfic/ElementalChessTrilogy'', the trope is turned upside down. Roy knows his wife has been taken - he just doesn't know who did it, or why.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12783281/1/A-Feline-s-Birdy-Love A Feline's Birdy Love]]'' Chapter 8, Night Ninja abducts Connor/Catboy after brutalizing him severely and taunts Amaya/Owlette, who is in the middle of G-Rated WillTheyOrWontThey with Connor, about how much he knows this will hurt her emotionally. Interestingly for this trope, while Night Ninja taunts Amaya and Greg (Connor's best friend who's equally distressed by the kidnapping) that he dares them to try a rescue, he also claims that it's going to end badly whether they attempt a rescue or leave Connor to Night Ninja's whims.
* Film/PokemonDetectivePikachu fic [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/36328930/chapters/90569485 Harry’s Past]]: the events are kicked off when Harry’s son, Tim, is kidnapped by his old friend turned foe from detective school in a plan to ruin Harry’s life. Tim is his prisoner for most of the fic.
* ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11886910/1/Gankona-Unnachgiebig-Unità Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità]]'': The ''only'' reason Germany and Japan didn't beat the homophobe within an inch of his life when they saw him brutalizing Italy and he threatened to make it worse if they go any closer. Not that they didn't want to. However, the moment [[AttemptedRape the homophobe was about to rape Italy]], Germany and Japan tackled him to the ground before proceeding to beat the living crap out of him. [[CurbStompBattle He didn't stand a chance]].
* ''Fanfic/AGrowingAffection'' has the Fire Daimyo's daughter kidnapped by the BigBad. The price for the girl's safety? That the Fire Nation and Hidden Leaf Village stay out of the coming war.
* ''Fanfic/{{Infinity}}'' has a disturbing example. [[spoiler:Precia is forced to work for the Infinite Empire because Enlil is possessing Alicia's corpse, essentially holding her body hostage with the promise that she'll properly revive her once she gets what she wants. Played with, because [[LackOfEmpathy Enlil]] views it as a beneficial partnership and fails to understand why Precia (and the protagonists, when they find out) are so upset.]]
* In the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Interstitium}}'', Wrex and Shepard have to set this up in order to convince the other krogan to let Mordin take care of some personal business on their planet. Since Mordin doesn't ''have'' a wife, however, they have to fake it. With [[spoiler:Miranda]] playing the part, and Mordin [[LargeHam hamming it up]] for all it's worth.
* In ''Fanfic/TheLionKingAdventures'', the Royal Reaper breaks this to Simba in quite a chilling way.
-->'''Simba:''' What have you done with Nala?\\
'''The Royal Reaper:''' Oh, she's safe. For now. I'm taking ''good'' care of her. Very good care indeed.\\
'''Simba:''' If you hurt her, then--\\
'''The Royal Reaper''': I'm afraid it's too late for warnings now, Simba. I've already... injured Nala to a certain extent, so she won't be running away from the location where I've held her captive. Was it necessary? Yes. Was it fun? Yes. Will I do it again? Yes.
* ''Fanfic/LostToDust'': Cinder Fall reveals that Neo obeys her because she threatened Neo's friend Roman Torchwick.
* During ''Fanfic/LovedAndLost'', [[spoiler:Jewelius]] has the parents of Twilight Sparkle captured shortly after the Changeling invasion to be used as leverage in case [[spoiler:he loses his grip over their manipulated daughter. He uses this threat when Twilight finally realizes how evil Jewelius is, but it's soon made null when Raven Inkwell (actually a disguised Changeling) helps Twilight by releasing her parents so they can all escape to Ponyville]].
* ''Fanfic/TheMountainAndTheWolf'': The Wolf reveals that he has [[spoiler:Missandei]], and if [[spoiler:Grey Worm]] wants to see her again, he'll do exactly as the Wolf says... [[BloodKnight which is to come fight him]] (the Wolf being concerned that [[spoiler:Grey Worm]] planned to sail away to foreign shores after [[spoiler:Daenerys' death]]).
* ''Fanfic/NeverSayNever'' has an interesting variation on this: When the students begin complaining about Monokuma changing the rules during the third trial, the bear threatens to kill them all and restart the Killing Game with their hostages from the first motive as mentioned below in the "Visual Novel" folder.
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Nightingale}}'', Orochimaru holds Hinata hostage, and the ransom note he sends to her father says, word for word, "I have your daughter."
* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfic ''Fanfic/ThePeaceNotPromised'', Voldemort sets a trap for Snape by kidnapping Lily, whom Snape would do anything for. And then tests Snape's loyalty by ordering him to kill her.
* One of the villains in ''Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' fanfic series ''Fanfic/ThePrivateDiaryOfElizabethQuatermain'' forces the title character's cooperation by taking her best friend hostage. [[spoiler:Unfortunately for him, the rest of the TrueCompanions find out...]]
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13471897/1/Save-My-Life-Can-You-Save-Me-Now Save My Life: Can You Save Me Now?]]'' features [[Series/HenryDanger several Swellview villains]] abducting Henry to blackmail Captain Man into releasing all the villains he and Henry put away. Interestingly, the villains don't try to have Henry speak directly to Captain Man until he's unable to get the Toddler released, at which point they try to get Henry to tell Captain Man to release ''all the villains'', which he refuses to do.
* ''Fanfic/SkyholdAcademyYearbook'' flips the trope around by having the bad guys kidnap [[VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition Cullen]]'s girlfriend. Since he's been on the verge of proposing, he actually blurts out that "They have my wife!" - even though she isn't.
* ''Fanfic/SonOfTheSannin'' has two examples, though in both cases the victims were also chosen because [[XanatosGambit the kidnappers were hoping to take advantage of their unique abilities should they fail to be rescued]]:
** In the counterpart to canon's Sausuke Retrieval Arc, Orochimaru has the Sound Five kidnap Kaida and Hagane during his invasion to force [[BigBrotherInstinct Naruto]] to launch a rescue attempt where he'd run right into a trap set by Akatsuki.
** When Danzo is marked for treason and Jiraiya brings a battalion of Konoha ninja to arrest him, he has his men kidnap the loved ones of several high ranking Konoha ninja to split their attention while he makes his escape.
* In ''Fanfic/Zero2ARevision'', when Oikawa's pleading of Demon to teleport him to the Digital World ends up being met with deaf ears from the Digimon, he decides to threaten original Digidestined Hiroaki's ex-wife [[spoiler: soon to be wife]] Nancy for his Digivice, desperate to enter the Digital World. However, after Cody's grandfather [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech gives him a harsh word beating]], Oikawa breaks down and releases the hostage, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone finally realizing what he has done]].
* One of Astrid's plans to get Hiccup to come back to Berk in ''Fanfic/TheDragonAndTheButterfly'' is to kidnap Mirabel and use her to bait him back. Considering she doesn't account for the idea that her house is alive and won't let her near the girl, going after Mirabel by force fails spectacularly.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/TwentiethCenturyBoys'': Subverted. The bad guys kidnap the daughter of a scientist whose help they need; however [[spoiler: over his ensuing years of work, she becomes converted to their side, and is a minor villain throughout the rest of the series]].
* Griffith from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' does this with one of the Queen's mooks in order to blackmail him into helping Griffith kill the Queen, only the hostage is the mook's young daughter.
** Guts also had a habit of doing this when he was in full JerkAss mode.
* Ichigo from ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' has this done to him twice with Orihime as bait. Though, it was more of a 'We have your friend/ potential LoveInterest' moment.
* Subverted in ''Manga/DeathNote'', with an exchange that goes something like this (he wasn't holding anyone hostage)
-->'''Kira:''' Guess who I'm holding hostage.\\
'''[[spoiler:Raye Penber]]:''' ...No! You're holding ''her'' hostage? ("her" being [[spoiler: Naomi Misora, Penbar's fiancée]])\\
'''Kira:''' (smirks to self) That's right, and I'll kill her unless you do what I say.
** It's later played straight when [[spoiler: Mello kidnaps Light's little sister Sayu. Their father happens to be the head of the team working on the Kira case. Mello specifically mentions that it would be pointless to tell him not to contact the police, because he's in the police. But he does ask him to stop it spreading further.]]
** The movie has an odd variation. [[spoiler:Naomi takes (Light's girlfriend) Shiori hostage, intending to get him to reveal himself as Kira. It turns out to be a {{plan}} on Light's behalf, with him planning a "murder-suicide" scenario.]]
* The BigBad Nadil kidnaps Lykouleon's wife in ''Manga/DragonKnights'' more than once. It always works.
* Minerva pulls off a twisted version in ''Manga/FairyTail'' when she tells Sting, her ''ally'', that she's holding his closest companion Lector hostage. Because she's just saved Lector's life as well, Sting would already do whatever she wanted - she's just adding the extra punch in the gut to try and make him fight for higher stakes.
* Done by the AntiHero ''protagonist'' Kiritsugu Emiya in ''LightNovel/FateZero'', via AnOfferYouCantRefuse; victim must "exit the stage," so to speak, but both parties sign a magical contract that state said hero cannot harm either wife or husband. He lets her go eventually. [[spoiler:[[LoopholeAbuse This is when Kiritsugu's assistant shows up with a machine gun]].]]
* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' is in love with this trope, at least metaphorically. When Ed and Roy step out of line in the middling chapters, the BigBad crew hold [[spoiler: Winry and the Mustang Team hostage, respectively. Ed's able to engineer Winry's escape with Scar's help, but Roy can't do much for his men. Riza is taken hostage, as she now works in close proximity with the BigBad crew, and if Roy does anything they don't like her life is forfeit. The others are also in varying sorts of danger.]] Dr. Marcoh is constantly forced to do the BigBad crew's bidding due to their hostage-taking. It gets so bad that he expresses the desire for death over having to work within the constraints any longer. Toward the endgame, Roy retaliates for the loss of his subordinates by taking a hostage of his own. [[spoiler:King Bradley, I have your wife.]] However, this is later subverted when [[spoiler:it turns out that taking Mrs. Bradley hostage was part of a BatmanGambit designed to make her realize that her husband and his top generals considered her as expendable as any member of Mustang's crew, followed by a promise from Mustang to keep her safe - which he does.]]
* Done in ''Anime/FullMetalPanicFumoffu'' when someone tells Sousuke that they have Chidori kidnapped. So before showing up to make a deal with the bad guys he kidnaps or threatens EVERY SINGLE [[{{Mook}} MOOK'S]] MOST PRECIOUS SIGNIFICANT OTHER to force them to give up Chidori. [[spoiler:Of course the only one he actually took hostage (the gang leader's little brother) had actually been bribed to play along.]]
* In ''Manga/Gate7'', [[{{Reincarnation}} Tokugawa]] [[BitchInSheepsClothing Iemitsu]] kidnapped the twin sister of one of the Urashichiken's members.
* ''Manga/GunsmithCats'': Buskie kidnaps Alan Scott's daughter to force Scott to deliver Rally into an ambush unarmed.
* In ''Manga/IkkiTousen'', Toutaku wants Hakufu to [[spoiler: kill Ryoufou for him]]. What does he do when she says no? [[spoiler: He grabs Hakufu's friend and teammate [[TheLancer Ryoumou]] and chokes her, telling Hakufu he'll kill her if she keeps refusing]].
** The series soon tops it by [[spoiler: having the badly injured Gakushuu and Koukin being held hostage by ''Saji'', the SixthRangerTraitor, so Hakufu goes face him after defeating and killing Toutaku]]. And it seems the writers ''love'' that, since in ''Dragon Destiny'' [[spoiler: Kan'u surrenders herself to Kyoushou High when told by the Three Pillared Gods that her teammates (including her LesYay LoveInterest and leader, Ryuubi) are cornered by practically ''every'' Kyoushou fighter.]]
* ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'':
** Sango was occasionally coerced with threats against, or promises to release, her BrainwashedAndCrazy brother Kohaku. After the first couple of times she finally seemed to get that ''Naraku is a liar'' and stopped going along with it.
** Also early in the series, Kagome is kidnapped by the Thunder Brothers. She convinces them to let her live so they can force Inuyasha to give up the Shikon Jewel shards for her as a ransom. This was a bluff, as her relationship with Inuyasha was still fairly antagonistic at this point, and it leads to this exchange:
--->'''Inuyasha:''' Let me get this straight, you and I are supposed are supposed to be lovers?\\
'''Kagome:''' This is no time to get all shy!\\
'''Inuyasha:''' You actually think I'd hand over the jewel shards as a ransom to get you back?!\\
'''Kagome:''' Of course you would! Cause that's what a lover would do!
* ''Manga/{{Judge}}'' reveals this to be the reason why [[spoiler: Kazuhiko Asai]] agreed to become TheMole, after being given a cellphone with instructions and a picture of their mother, whom they haven't seen in years due to personal reasons, held at gun-point and told to follow the instructions lest she be killed.
* In the anime of ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'', Inouva takes Ferio captive and tells Fuu to give up being a Magic Knight or Ferio will be killed. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain It backfires hugely]], since Fuu's refusal to go along with it is what proves her heart to Windam.
* In the finale of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWingEndlessWaltz'', Heero needs only one last shot from Wing Zero to destroy the ElaborateUndergroundBase, but [[BigBad Dekim Barton]] reminds him through broadcast that Relena was inside the base, making Heero hesitate from pulling the trigger. Although, it's hard to tell if Dekim thinks Heero wouldn't harm Relena either because she's a major political figure or because Dekim knows she's Heero's LoveInterest.
* In ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', it's revealed that TheMole the heroes had been hunting for several arcs is none other than [[spoiler: Yuga Aoyama]], who only went along with it because [[GreaterScopeVillain All For One]] was holding his parents hostage.
* Mamoru Chiba is kidnapped a couple of times over the course of ''Franchise/SailorMoon''. Usually this isn't for any purpose except to [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwash him to fight the good guys]], though twice in the [[Anime/SailorMoon original anime]], his kidnapping is actually used to get the heroes to act. In the first example, during ''Sailor Moon S'', Kaolinite figures out Usagi's true identity as Sailor Moon and traps Tuxedo Kamen in glass after taking Usagi's compact. She then demands Usagi meet her at the Tokyo Tower if she wants him back. In reality, she's just baiting a trap to get an opportunity to take Usagi's pure heart, which she believes to have a talisman. Later in the series, Nehellenia possesses Mamoru via a glass mirror shard [[EyeScream in his eye]], and kidnaps him in order to lure Usagi into her realm.
** Zoisite ''loves'' this strategy in the original anime. Zoisite has his youma kidnap Naru in order to threaten Nephrite, as he's figured out Nephrite is obsessed with her, and tries to ransom her for the Black Crystal using three powerful youma. Nephrite just proceeds to beat up the youma and take Naru back, though Zoisite ends up killing him a little while later anyway. Later in the season, Zoisite uses Naru ''again'' to threaten Sailor Moon into giving up the only rainbow crystal the Sailor Senshi have collected, this time by having a youma suffocate her until Sailor Moon gives up and hands it over (though he ''initially'' planned to just turn Naru into a youma and threaten her that way, but he missed his attack and hit a Power Ranger parody instead.) Finally, Zoisite captured the Sailor Senshi through a convoluted scheme in order to force Tuxedo Mask to give up the rainbow crystals which ''he'' had collected. This is the only time he actually failed because Sailor Venus made her first appearance in this episode, thus avoiding his trap...though he still got information on Tuxedo Mask's true identity in the process.
** Rubeus captures all four of the Guardian Senshi during ''Sailor Moon R'' and demands Sailor Moon arrive in his UFO to hand over Chibiusa and the ginzuishou if she wants them back.
* In ''Anime/TigerAndBunny'', [[spoiler:Maverick tries this with Kotetsu's daughter, Kaede. Not only does it serve to piss [[PapaWolf Kotetsu]] off, but Kaede reveals herself to be a DamselOutOfDistress who manages to save her own life and that of ''every other superhero'' trapped by Maverick's subordinate, Rottwang.]] HoistByHisOwnPetard at its finest!
* In ''Manga/WolfGuyWolfenCrest'', with Haguro in charge, it's less about having the wife and move about [[spoiler: kidnapping the HotTeacher that is the AntiHero's MoralityChain, violently torture and rape her for several hours, videotaping this and threaten said AntiHero with sending copies of said sexual acts to completely smear her fame.]]
* This is used quite a bit in ''Anime/YuGiOh''. Pegasus takes Yugi's grandfather's soul to make him compete in his tournament. Then there's the [[LastNameBasis Jonouchi]] / Joey anchor duel. [[RuleOfThree Then]] Ryuji Otogi / Duke Devlin humiliates Jonouchi / Joey and makes Yugi duel to get him out of the dog suit. There's probably even more.
** [[DesignatedVictim Mokuba.]] He is kidnapped or placed in some sort of mortal peril (or both) at least once a season because the villain has an agenda against his brother.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Manga/GakuenBabysitters'' when one of Ryuuichi's classmates wanted to submit a video of the toddlers for a contest and proceeded to "kidnap" Ryuuichi and Kamitani so he could film the toddlers "saving" them. In order to rescue their babysitters, the children would have to do certain tasks - namely, having them conquer their fears or things they were bad at.
* ''Manga/ShonanJunaiGumi'': Fumiya kidnaps Ayumi and threatens to have her gang-raped if Ryuji attacks him. He orders Ryuji to ComeAlone to Enojima Station to find out where she is (though he mentions [[AxCrazy he'll kill Ryuji even if he doesn't show up]]).
[[/folder]]

!!Examples:

* ''Manga/TwentiethCenturyBoys'': Subverted. The bad guys kidnap the daughter of a scientist whose help they need; however [[spoiler: over his ensuing years of work, she becomes converted to their side, and is a minor villain throughout the rest of the series.]]

** The [[Film/SawI first film]] plays this pretty straight with Zep keeping Lawrence's family hostage, which includes his wife Alison.

* ''Franchise/{{Saw}}''
** The first ''Film/SawI'' plays this pretty straight with Dr. Gordon's family.
** In an interesting subversion, in the [[Film/SawII second movie]] Detective Matthews's son is taken hostage, but, in order to get him back, Matthew's is ordered not to steal/kill/etc. but... to do nothing. He fails miserably in one of the best twist endings ever.

* When ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'' villain "Dodge" realizes the fellow villains he's rounded up to humiliate Robin intend to murder the young hero and he decides he wants no part in their plans one of the others quickly informs him that if he leaves or tries to inconvenience them his family will pay the price.

* ''Series/FatherBrown'': In "The Jackdaw's Revenge," the murderer kidnaps Bunty and threatens to kill her if Father Brown does not resign from the priesthood.

* Film/PokemonDetectivePikachu for [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/36328930/chapters/90569485 Harry’s Past]]: the events are kicked off when Harry’s son, Tim, is kidnapped by his old friend turned foe from detective school in a plan to ruin Harry’s life. Tim is his prisoner for most of the fic.

* Film/Antman: Darren Cross holds Scott's daughter, Cassie, hostage in her bedroom to draw out her dad.

* Film/PokemonDetectivePikachu for [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/36328930/chapters/90569485 Harry’s Past]]: the events are kicked off when Harry’s son, Tim, is kidnapped by his old friend turned foe from detective school in a plan to ruin Harry’s life. Tim is his prisoner for most of the fic.