History Main / LeonineContract

* ''Literature/ReignOfTheSevenSpellblades'': {{Defied}} in volume 3 ([[Recap/ReignOfTheSevenSpellbladesS1E12Possibility episode 12 of the anime]]). Katie offers to let MadScientist upperclasswoman Miligan examine her brain like she wanted to in volume 1, in exchange for her help rescuing Pete. Oliver is furious and tries to withdraw the offer on her behalf, but [[HeelFaceTurn Miligan has had a sincere change of heart]] and never intended to accept the offer anyway. She makes the much more reasonable counterproposal of Katie becoming her research partner and ''de facto'' apprentice rather than her guinea pig, which the Sword Roses accept (Katie enthusiastically, Oliver and Chela grudgingly).

* "Literature/TheGhoul1934": The ghoul wants to eat Amina's corpse and has the strength to get his way. Noureddin wants Amina's corpse to be left intact and can't stop the ghoul by force. Therefore, Noureddin promises with weighty oaths whatever the ghouls wants if he leaves Amina's grave untouched, at which point the ghoul has even more of a hold on any potential deal.

* In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Darth Vader lands troops on Cloud City and forces Lando to betray Han and Leia in exchange for the freedom of his city. However, Vader repeatedly altered the deal, and told Lando to "-pray I do not alter it further." Lando ultimately realizes Vader has no intention of keeping his word and helps Leia and company escape.

* [[Characters/GravityFallsBillCipher Bill Cipher]] of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' pulls this on Dipper in the episode "Sock Opera". He tries to make a [[DealWithTheDevil deal]] with Dipper for information on the password to unlock a laptop. Dipper ''doesn't'' immediately agree, because he's too smart for that. However, Bill later returns to try and make a deal again, and the second time around Dipper's facing a laptop that will delete all its data in five minutes unless he enters the correct password. [[spoiler:Bill offers Dipper a "hint" in exchange for a "puppet". Glancing at some nearby sock puppets, Dipper agrees... and Bill uses ExactWords to both take Dipper as his [[DemonicPossession "puppet"]] and to outright destroy the laptop. Technically the insides of the laptop did contain a hint (just not the hint Bill implied he was offering).]]

* In ''Manhwa/TheTarotCafe'', when Pamela's mother proves too smart to make a DealWithTheDevil in exchange for promises of wealth, the demon gets her to agree by saying it's the only way to save her daughter from a violent death. Technically he does not lie, but [[WhoWantsToLiveForever Pamela still]] [[DeathSeeker ends up miserable]]. [[spoiler:It's then subverted when it's revealed that because Pamela's mother made her deal out of love, her contract with the demon was rendered null and void and she ended up in heaven.]]

** ''ComicBook/TheKMetalFromKrypton''John Manners discovers his uncle's business partners, Gizzard and Buzzard, forged his uncle's will to con him out of his inheritance, but he has not enough money to sue. The duo offer $4,000 if John drops all charges, and he is about to sign when Clark and Lois arrive and reveal he owns a gold mine worth millions. Immediately John drops the pen and declares he will sue every single cent out of them.

* [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Bill Cipher]] of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' pulls this on Dipper in the episode "Sock Opera". He tries to make a [[DealWithTheDevil deal]] with Dipper for information on the password to unlock a laptop. Dipper ''doesn't'' immediately agree, because he's too smart for that. However, Bill later returns to try and make a deal again, and the second time around Dipper's facing a laptop that will delete all its data in five minutes unless he enters the correct password. [[spoiler:Bill offers Dipper a "hint" in exchange for a "puppet". Glancing at some nearby sock puppets, Dipper agrees... and Bill uses ExactWords to both take Dipper as his [[DemonicPossession "puppet"]] and to outright destroy the laptop. Technically the insides of the laptop did contain a hint (just not the hint Bill implied he was offering).]]
* How [[KnightTemplar Kuvira]] is taking over the Earth Kingdom in Season 4 of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''; her army is the only cohesive force active in the nation after the Earth Queen's death, so she offers provinces military protection in exchange for resources and their loyalty. She disingenuously calls them "[[InsistentTerminology Generous Offers]]".

* In ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'', warlock party member/PlayerCharacter Wyll was forced to make a DealWithTheDevil in his backstory in order to save the titular city he resided in from an ApocalypseCult trying to summon the GodOfEvil [[Characters/DungeonsAndDragonsScalykindDeities Tiamat]]. In exchange for eldritch power, his patron Mizora spent the next seven years tormenting him [[ReadTheFinePrint through the fine print]] [[KickTheDog for her amusement]].
* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' DLC ''Dragonborn'', [[EldritchAbomination Hermaeus Mora]] engineers one by letting his wayward minion [[TheParagonAlwaysRebels Miraak]], the First Dragonborn, run rampant over Solstheim. His aim? Acquire the shamanistic secrets (which are functionally worthless save that Mora does not know them) of the [[HiddenElfVillage Skaal]], who live on Solstheim. His offer? The only means to stop Miraak; a [[MakeMeWannaShout Thu'um]] that [[CompellingVoice bends the will of even dragons]] to the shouter's will, given to the [[PlayerCharacter Last Dragonborn]].

* In ''Literature/TheDaVinciCode'', Bishop Aringarosa tries to get a pilot to change landings to a different country, which is in violation of customs. When he offers the pilot one of the bearer bonds, worth about 10,000 Euros, the pilot only sees it as a piece of paper. However, the pilot is very interested in the Bishop's ring...

* According to ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3'' and ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilTheDarksideChronicles'', this is what happened to Leon after the events of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2''; the government threatened to imprison him and to experiment on Sherry, the only known carrier in the world for the G-Virus and the Devil Vaccine unless he agreed to become their elite anti-Bioterror operative. Then, as revealed in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'', they went ahead and experimented on Sherry ''anyway''.

* In ''ComicBook/NthManTheUltimateNinja'', Alfie cures the dying Sgt. Levin in return for a future service. [[spoiler:Unfortunately for him, when he tries to collect by having her assassinate John Doe, she tells him to take it back, and he is apparently no longer in a strong position.]]

* After Draal in ''Fanfic/BecomingTheMaskTrollhunters'' finds out Jim is a Changeling, Jim cuts Draal with a poisoned knife and offers him the antidote in exchange for his silence.

* In ''Fanfic/FleetOfTheHomewardBound'', the United States of ''Franchise/{{Stargate}}'' Earth makes a deal with [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Chimaera]] for planetary shielding after the battle with Anubis. Yes, they're aware it means likely putting cultural information in the hands of [[TheChessmaster Grand Admiral Thrawn]], but the Earth had already had a close call during the battle, when Babylon 5 ''mostly'' defended Europe from bombardment by a squadron of Ha'Taks.

-->'''John Manners:''' ''"I tell you-- I've uncovered evidence that definitely proves you two scoundrels bilked me out of my inheritance!"''\\
'''Gizzard:''' ''"You have, eh? Lot of good it will do you!"''\\
'''Buzzard:''' ''"Remember-- Court trials are costly. And money happens to be something you possess very little of!"''\\
'''Gizzard:''' ''"Tell you what we'll do. We'll give you $4,000 if you'll drop all charges against us."''\\
'''Buzzard:''' ''"Just sign here!"''\\
'''John Manners:''' ''"You've got me under a barrel. There's nothing else I can do."''

* Payday lenders are often seen as this, with more than a little justification. It's for this reason that many jurisdictions have been able to go after payday lenders to stop them and get restitution for injured borrowers.[[note]]Payday lenders offer extremely short-term loan contracts, intended to be repaid within, at most, 14 days. As a result, they charge absolutely ''exorbitant'' interest rates, with the low end being ''800%'' (the high end? '''''3500%'''''). By comparison, a standard loan will have a rate around 20% at the high-end, and usually closer to 5-10%. Keeping a payday loan for ''any'' length of time means you will pay incredibly high amounts of interest, which, if you're getting a payday loan in the first place, you probably can't afford. Payday lenders have been prosecuted for usury (basically semi-legal extortion), but they just keep finding ways to come back (well, not in New York, where the practice has been all but banned).[[/note]]

* ''ComicBook/TheKMetalFromKrypton''John Manners discovers his uncle's business partners, Gizzard and Buzzard, forged his uncle's will to con him out of his inheritance, but he has not enough money to sue. The duo offer $4,000 if John drops all charges, and he is about to sign when Clark and Lois arrive and reveal he owns a gold mine worth millions. Immediately John drops the pen and declares he will sue every single cent out of them.

* In ''Manga/SakuraGari'', Souma offers to pay off Masataka's brother's massive debt if Masataka continues to work for him. [[spoiler: He made the offer when he catches Masataka trying to run away in the middle of the night after he had '''raped him'''. Masataka cannot refuse because otherwise his brother will be killed by the {{Yakuza}}.]]

* ComicBook/ActionComics #176, "Muscles For Money" is all about Superman suddenly deciding to do this to people, forcing people about to die to sign contracts handing over their entire life savings to him before he'll save them. [[spoiler:He was actually just trying to lure out a master thief who only goes after millionaires, and gave all the money back once he was done.]]

* ''LightNovel/TheAsteriskWar'': When Priscilla Urzaiz was discovered via a childhood accident to be a rare [[HealingFactor Regenerative]], talent scouts from the MadScientist Allekant Academy turned up and offered her impoverished parents a contract for Priscilla to attend Allekant... under terms that reduced her to a lab rat with no rights. She ran away with her elder sister Irene instead, who was contacted shortly thereafter by Le Wolfe student body president Dirk Eberwein. Eberwein agreed to buy out the contract [[WorkOffTheDebt in exchange for Irene working as his catspaw for the foreseeable future]].

* "Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}" and [[https://web.archive.org/web/20200130070205/http://surlalunefairytales.com:80/rumpelstiltskin/other.html its variants]]: the girl will be killed if she doesn't get his help, which gives her no way to haggle when he demands her child.
* In comparison, the heroine of "[[https://web.archive.org/web/20200217195726/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com:80/rumpelstiltskin/stories/3spinners.html The Three Spinners]]" and "Literature/TheThreeAunts" is in much the same situation, but the spinners only ask for [[HonoraryUncle Honorary Aunt]] status and an invitation to the wedding.

* One episode of ''Series/Adam12'' involves a black-market adoption racket--sans paperwork--that obtained at least one child through a "bargain" straight out of ''Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}'': We'll help you pay the bills and you give us the child. ''Series/AdamTwelve'' being fiction based on the real world, SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome; a friendly lawyer is helping the mother out, and Malloy offers to connect her with other resources.