"Those children are powerful... too powerful... In truth, there's nothing stopping the girl from just running away... Or the boy from conjuring himself a way to escape[.] The other girl is...incentive. As long as they believe her life is in danger, they'll do anything to keep her from harm. Including serving me. Once I've trained them into complete obedience, we can get rid of her."
— Drago Bludvist, The Dragon and the Butterfly: Whiteout, "Chapter 13: New Jobs"
Times where a loved one is taken hostage in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- The Dragon and the Butterfly Saga:
- One of Astrid's plans to get Hiccup to come back to Berk in The Dragon and the Butterfly 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.
- When flattery fails, Drago falls back to threatening Peep if Karla and Pedro don't cooperate with him in The Dragon and the Butterfly: Whiteout.
- In Manehattan's Lone Guardian, a group of enemy agents kidnap Gray's family before her eyes and tell her to turn herself over by noon of the next day, or risk not seeing her family again. The scheme backfires the next day when Gray calls their bluff.
- In Raise Your Voice Against Liars, Bob Roth plans to kidnap Juleka, extort a ransom from their family, and then sell them off to somebody in Germany.
- Shed Some of This Black Light to Surrounding Towns: While Seto and Yuugi are visiting I-Island, Mokuba gets kidnapped with the intent of forcing Seto to bail off from his upcoming investments.
- Traitor's Face: Suki's older sister Kirai suffers from Chronic Backstabbing Disorder, and is used against Suki several times. In particular, Azula targets her in a Poison and Cure Gambit in an effort to Blackmail Zuko into cooperating with her in Book 3.
- Invoked in Dance with the Demons. 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."
- Jim Rhodes helps with the Program in 72 Hours because his family is being held hostage by the government.
- Zoo Coup Riot has Froggy 2 and Adelaide kidnapped in order to try and blackmail Sid into releasing all of the zoo animals.
- Danganronpa 2/3 Redux: Return Unto Death:
- 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 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 Danganronpa: The Immersive Learning Program, 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). It's later revealed that Junko was shown her boyfriend Yasuke Matsuda, though she can't remember who he is.
- Inverted in Forest Of Despair, where one motive offers the potential to see the person you despise most killed.
- Never Say Never 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.
- In Zero 2: A Revision, 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 soon to be wife Nancy for his Digivice, desperate to enter the Digital World. However, after Cody's grandfather gives him a harsh word beating, Oikawa breaks down and releases the hostage, finally realizing what he has done.
- In The Lion King Adventures, 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.
- Skyhold Academy Yearbook flips the trope around by having the bad guys kidnap 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.
- In Brilliancy, the second part of the Elemental Chess Trilogy, the trope is turned upside down. Roy knows his wife has been taken - he just doesn't know who did it, or why.
- In The Peace Not Promised, 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.
- And Shine Heaven Now: Walter. In the original series, he pulls a Face–Heel Turn which is never adequately explained. Here, the bad guys have his daughter, Maggie (imported from Read or Die). How far he will go to keep her safe remains to be seen.
- Save My Life: Can You Save Me Now?
features 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.
- All He Ever Wanted. In one of the most polemic parts of the fanfic, the Big Bad keeps the Action Girl's Non-Action Guy ex-husband hostage and uses this not just to have her pull a Face–Heel Turn, but to actually torture and rape her in front of him to show off his power.
- 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 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. He didn't stand a chance.
- Dark Legacy features Zorpox being returned to action when he tricks Global Justice into turning Ron back into him. When he infiltrates the Possible house posing as Ron, Wade is confused when Zorpox only takes Kim's favourite Cuddle Buddy stuffed toy "hostage" rather than any of her family, but Kim points out that taking the doll is more symbolic than anything, considering that Zorpox's very nature means that he already has Ron himself as a "hostage" to lure Kim in.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
- One of the villains in The Private Diary of Elizabeth Quatermain forces the title character's cooperation by taking her best friend hostage. Unfortunately for him, the rest of the True Companions find out...
- In A Piece of Rebellion, President Business has Ma and Pa Cop guest star on one of Emmet's broadcasts in order to let GCBC know that his parents are unwittingly being held hostage.
- Infinity has a disturbing example. 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 Enlil views it as a beneficial partnership and fails to understand why Precia (and the protagonists, when they find out) are so upset.
- In 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 Miranda playing the part, and Mordin hamming it up for all it's worth.
- Limitless Potential: Sigma plans to use Chiyo as a bargaining chip in order to force Dr. Fujiwara's cooperation. When this doesn't work out as he intended, he decides to dispose of them both.
- Mastermind: Strategist for Hire: In an effort to force Mastermind/Izuku to join him, Overhaul threatens his mother Inko. It doesn't end well for him.
- We're Not Friends Kacchan discusses the possibility of Ochako getting targeted by All for One and the League of Villains if she and Izuku become an Official Couple.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- During Loved and Lost, Jewelius has the parents of Twilight Sparkle captured shortly after the Changeling invasion to be used as leverage in case 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.
- The Negotiations-verse: In the AU Fallen, Princess Celestia reveals that she's captured Fluttershy's human lover Martin, keeping him imprisoned and tortured.
- RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse: Longest Night, Longest Day sees Corona taking a bevy of hostages from Ponyville in order to force their compliance. She also did this to her Day Court in the past.
- A Growing Affection has the Fire Daimyo's daughter kidnapped by the Big Bad. The price for the girl's safety? That the Fire Nation and Hidden Leaf Village stay out of the coming war.
- Naru-Hina Chronicles:
- In Chapter 6, Rokuro grabs Hinata with a giant hand and threatens to squeeze her if Naruto doesn't give him his fox power.
- In Chapter 76, Karin tells Sasuke and Naruto that she stabbed Sakura and took her hostage. She's willing to tell Sasuke and Naruto where Sakura is if they will let her and Evil Sasuke go. As a result, Naruto lowers his kunai from Evil Sasuke's neck, giving the latter an opportunity to leave with Karin. However, right before Evil Sasuke and Karin could leave, Sakura appears, having healed her injury thanks to the Souzou Saisei, and proceeds to beat the crap out of Karin.
- In Chapter 111, after Sasuke is attacked by his evil clone, the latter grabs Sakura by her throat and her arm. He then threatens to harm her if the real Sasuke doesn't come inside one specific room.
- In Nightingale, Orochimaru holds Hinata hostage, and the ransom note he sends to her father says, word for word, "I have your daughter."
- Son of the Sannin has two examples, though in both cases the victims were also chosen because 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 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.
- Unchained (Umei no Mai):
- Izuna forces Tobirama to become her concubine by revealing that she's also abducted his cousin Touka; refusing her would seal Touka's fate.
- Izuna also intends to use Tobirama as a bargaining chip against Hashirama, forcing him to surrender to the Uchiha clan and accept their rule by holding his brother and any children they have hostage.
- 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.
- Operation GEAR: In order to force Professor Elm to cooperate, Ghetsis threatens his wife and son.
- In 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 Will They or Won't They? 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.
- Kabaton takes away Mepple and Mipple's egg and demands 134840 yen in return for it.
- Lost to Dust: Cinder Fall reveals that Neo obeys her because she threatened Neo's friend Roman Torchwick.
- The Mountain and the Wolf: The Wolf reveals that he has Missandei, and if Grey Worm wants to see her again, he'll do exactly as the Wolf says... which is to come fight him (the Wolf being concerned that Grey Worm planned to sail away to foreign shores after Daenerys' death).
- Little Rebellions offers an Anti-Hero example when Blue Pearl blackmails Blue Diamond into helping them quell the riots started in the wake of the New Rebellion taking over. They do this by showing them that they've got Yellow and White Diamond as prisoners.
- In Daughter of Fire and Steel, General Zod gets Lois Lane abducted to ensure Kal-El's cooperation. When Kara points out that holding his lover hostage is guaranteed to alienate him, Zod just brushes off her concerns.
- In The Day After You Saved the Multiverse, an unnamed Mafia Boss tries to coerce 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 Awakening, 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 Black Crayons 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.
- Mikaela Banes is kidnapped by Dylan Gould and Soundwave to force Sam Witwicky into being The Mole for the Decepticons.
- Collateral Damage (Worm): The CUI tried to kidnap Annette to get leverage over Danny. Unfortunately for everyone, they messed up and killed her instead, upon which Danny set out to wipe China off the map.
- With This Ring: Richard Simpson tries to make a deal with John Constantine's niece, to give her anything she wants in exchange for being held captive for a few days, just to distract John with searching for her so that John won't interfere with Simpson's plans.Simpson: Nothing personal, but I'm in the middle of something important and I don't want John getting involved. So I'm going to stick you somewhere out of the way and feed him clues about where you are until I'm finished.
