History Main / SupernormalBindings

* In NorseMythology, the gods had the dwarves create a magical chain called Gleipnir to bind the mighty wolf Fenrir. To make Gleipnir impossible to break (at least until Ragnarok), it was made of six impossible things: the sound of a cat's footfall, the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, the sinews of a bear, the breath of a fish and the spittle of a bird.

** In the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' setting the gods bet [[AnimalisticAbomination Kezef the Chaos Hound]], an {{expy}} of [[NorseMythology Fenrir]], that they could forge a chain that would hold him. Gond, god of craftsmen, forged the chain and buried its anchor miles deep in the rock of Pandemonium, and Mystra, goddess of magic, wrapped him in a self-repairing magical curtain. The two traps successfully held Kezef for millennia until he was freed by one of Cyric's plots.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Digger}}'', the dead god underground is bound by chains made by dwarfs of impossible things, in a probable shout out to NorseMythology. In order to make sure the chains are also proof against mundane threats such as earthquakes or lockpicks, [[spoiler: a wombat]] is also hired as a consultant.

* ''MagickChicks'': Faith invites [[spoiler: [[EerieCuties Layla]]]] back to her place, [[GirlOnGirlIsHot looking to score.]] But when [[spoiler: Layla]] vamps out on her, Faith ends up using her telekinesis [[http://www.magickchicks.com/strips-mc/like_an_amateur to psychically restrain her.]]

* On each mission of ''[[Franchise/CarmenSandiego Carmen Sandiego: The Great Chase Through Time]] ''the [[PlayerCharacter detective]] is given a set of time cuffs. It's never really specified why special cuffs are needed but they need to be activated before nabbing the perp. Presumably they keep them from drifting off into the timestream, or something.

* On ''{{Fate Stay Night}}'' and ''{{Fate Zero}}'' one of Archer's Noble Phantasms is Enkidu, a special chain that was created to restrain the gods. Its strength is proportional to the divinity of his opponent, making it unbreakable when used on a god but merely exceptionally strong when used on a mortal.

* Rather common in ''Comicbook/{{Hellboy}}'' and ''{{BPRD}}'' when dealing with demons. When attempting a summoning, anyone with half an ounce of sense will use some magical binding or words of power to prevent the demon from leaving the summoning circle. (Of course, anyone with a full ounce of sense wouldn't be summoning demons in the first place, because [[EvilIsNotAToy things always manage to go wrong]] even with these barriers in place.)

* In the StarTrekExpandedUniverse series ''The Q-Continuum'', an old enemy of Q's is unleashed and traps him aboard the ''Enterprise'', which manifests itself as a pair of leg irons. Later he finds himself in the ship's hydroponics bay trying to pick them with a cactus needle.

* An episode of the animated ''Bibi Blocksberg'' had the eponymous witch attempt to conjure a set of ropes to capture an evil wizard, but he [[AttackReflector sends her spell right back at her]], leaving her wrapped up in her own ropes which, being magical, can't be untied by hand, they have to be burned off.

* An episode of ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' has handcuffs with kryptonite in them which are used on Kara Kent.

* In ''TheSlayers'' universe, captive magic-users are bound with special circlets that zap them with electric shock if they try to cast spells.

* In ''[[Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus The Son of Neptune]]'', Thanatos, god of death, has been captured and bound with chains. The only thing that can break them is [[spoiler: the flame of life, meaning Frank has to [[CastFromHitPoints burn off part of his life force]] to cut through them]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Centurions}}'' had Cassandra the witch being captured by her EvilTwin and bound with mystic chains. Ace had to use a magic rose she'd given him to enchant a sword to be able to cut through them.

Most likely some form of AppliedPhlebotinum, probably as a PowerNullifier, and chances are you'll find something like this in a TailorMadePrison, but may just as well be used outside them.
%% NOTE TO EDITORS: Please keep an eye out for EXTRANORMAL PRISON (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=d7f7mp038kvdyb8dazbxufur).

* An episode of ''Series/''Smallville'' has handcuffs with kryptonite in them which are used on Kara Kent.

* In the third arc of ''ComicBook/{{WITCH}}'' the a Bashee is shown to be bound with something that looks like vines and which can only be undone by the one who imprisoned her, [[spoiler: but Will is able to break them with the Heart of Kandrakar's power]].

* On ''{{Fate Stay Night}}'' and ''{{Fate Zero}}'' one of Archer's Noble Phantasms is Enkidu, a special chain that was created to restrain the gods, its strenght is proportional to the divinity of their oponent, so while it can easily overpower gods, when used against normal person, it simply acts as a tough chain.

* Obi-Wan Kenobi, when captured by Count Dooku in ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/AttackOfTheClones'', is held captive, suspended in midair in a containment field that also rotated him slowly. It has several features designed to make Jedi less able to use the Force to escape.

Most likely some form of AppliedPhlebotinum, probably as a PowerNullifier, and chances are you'll find something like this in a TailorMadePrison or [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=d7f7mp038kvdyb8dazbxufur Extranormal Prison]], but may just as well be used outside them.

!Examples