Tropes about being stuck in a location, to/with an object, or to/with a person/being.
For related indexes (which may overlap with this one), see Prison Tropes, A Restrained Index, Sealed Index in a Can, A Sticky Index, and This Index Is in the Way. Also see Death Trap and its listed subtropes, as many death traps involve confinement.
Stuck in location
- Anti-Interference Lock Up: A character is locked up to prevent them from interfering with a plan.
- Birdcaged: Stuck in a birdcage.
- Buried Alive: Being stuck in a coffin or other space underground.
- Cabin Fever: Being stuck in an isolated space for an extended period of time has adverse psychological effects.
- Cat Up a Tree: A cat is stuck in a tree.
- Caught in the Rain: Two love interests are stuck together taking shelter from the weather.
- Claustrophobia: May be triggered by being stuck in a confined space.
- Closed Circle: Characters are confined to an area by the plot.
- Closet Punishment: A child is locked in a closet/cupboard/etc. as punishment.
- Cryo-Prison: Stuck in ice.
- Crystal Prison: Stuck in a crystal.
- Drowning Pit: Being locked in a room that's filling with water.
- Elevator Failure: May involve characters being stuck in an elevator.
- Enclosed Space: An enclosed setting to which the characters are confined.
- Escape from the Crazy Place: Being stuck in a World Gone Mad and tasked with escaping.
- Explosive Leash: A device attached to or inside of someone that will explode if the person tries to escape.
- Fold-Spindle Mutilation: Death or mutilation induced by forcibly getting someone stuck in a space too narrow to accommodate them.
- Gilded Cage: Imprisoned in a luxurious place.
- Girl in the Tower: Stuck in a tower.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: Being stuck in a time loop.
- Hammered into the Ground: Partially stuck in the ground.
- "Help! Help! Trapped in Title Factory!": Someone trapped in a factory puts a message for help in the outgoing products.
- Help, I'm Stuck!: Being stuck in a tight spot.
- Hiding from Embarrassment: A character is stuck hiding because being seen to leave would be socially awkward.
- Locked in a Freezer: Being stuck in a freezer.
- Locked in a Room: Characters with animosity or tension between them are stuck in a room together.
- Locked Up and Left Behind: Someone is imprisoned/restrained and abandoned.
- Locking MacGyver in the Store Cupboard: Locking a prisoner in a place that contains all the items needed to escape.
- The Maze: Stuck in a place that's intentionally difficult to navigate.
- Mobile Maze: Stuck in a place that continually reconfigures itself to keep you inside.
- Naked People Trapped Outside: Being stuck outside without clothes.
- Phantom-Zone Picture: Being imprisoned in a picture or painting.
- Possessive Paradise: Stuck in a paradise that won't let you leave.
- Quicksand Sucks: Being stuck and/or sinking in quicksand.
- Robinsonade: A plot in which one or more characters are stuck outside of civilization.
- Sauna of Death: Being stuck in a sauna or steam room and endangered by the heat.
- Sealed Evil in Another World: Where the bad guy is sent to another world to protect this one.
- Sealed Room in the Middle of Nowhere: An isolation-based Death Trap.
- Snowed-In: Getting trapped inside a building due to heavy snowfall.
- "Stuck at the Airport" Plot: Being stuck somewhere due to issues with transport.
- Stuck in the Doorway: Getting stuck in a doorway that's too small for the person trying to get in.
- Stuck on a Ski Lift: Getting stuck on a ski lift.
- Teleport Interdiction: Can be used to keep someone from teleporting out of a location.
- Ten Minutes in the Closet: Two characters are Locked in a Room by someone to work out their romantic feelings.
- Thrown Down a Well: Character is imprisoned someplace remote, isolating, and probably impossible to escape by yourself.
- Time Loop Trap: Character is intentionally trapped within a time loop.
- Timmy in a Well: Animal fetches help; often involves the rescuee being stuck somewhere.
- Trapped in Another World: Getting transported to another world and being stranded there.
- Trapped in a Sinking Car: Getting trapped inside a car which has been plunged into water.
- Trapped In a Tanning Bed: Being trapped in a tanning bed.
- Trapped in Containment: Someone is trapped in an area that's been sealed off for safety.
- Trapped in the Past: Travelling back in time, then getting stranded in the past with no way to return.
- Trapped in TV Land: Getting trapped inside a TV (or at least some form of media).
- Trapped on the Astral Plane: Getting stuck in another plane of existence.
- Trapped-with-Monster Plot: Getting trapped inside a building with a monster roaming around.
- Trapped with the Therapy Session: This argument doesn't involve you, but you're stuck here while it happens.
- Unable to Retreat: Going somewhere and discovering you can't leave.
- Unending End Card: A game sticks on its ending screen upon completion with no way out.
- Unnaturally Looping Location: Trying to leave this location takes you right back to it.
Stuck to/with object
- And I Must Scream: Being stuck forever. Not even death is an escape. Frequently caused by an Artifact of Doom, Forced Transformation into an immobile form, or an immortal getting stuck, but this can happen in many more ways.
- Ass Shove: Stuff stuck up your butt is not always easy to retrieve.
- Bring the Anchor Along: When you can't physically detach yourself from something, so you take it with you.
- Cape Snag: Characters get their cape stuck somewhere.
- Ceiling Corpse: A dead body or parts thereof is somehow stuck to the ceiling.
- Cement Shoes: Attaching someone to a weight to drown them in a body of water.
- Chained to a Bed: Someone gets tied up to a bed, romantically or not.
- Chained to a Railway: The classic silent film scenario: getting tied up to a train track.
- Chained to a Rock: Getting chained to a rock and being left for dead.
- Clingy Costume: Clothing you can't remove.
- Clingy MacGuffin: A Plot Device you can't get away from, e.g. you can't remove it from your body or it keeps coming back to you.
- Clutching Hand Trap: When your hand is stuck in a container because you're holding onto something inside.
- Gelatinous Encasement: A character gets trapped in a mass of slime/ooze/jello.
- Giving Them the Strip: A character is stuck to an area by a piece of their clothing, persuading them to escape by removing the article of clothing and leaving it there.
- Handcuffed Briefcase: A briefcase is handcuffed to its carrier.
- Jammed Seatbelts: Seat belts tend to lock up after an accident.
- Left Stuck After Attack: After attacking, your weapon/appendage is stuck in whatever it struck.
- Object Ceiling Cling: An object is stuck to the ceiling. Often a food item.
- Parachute in a Tree: When your parachute gets stuck on something, leaving you dangling.
- Pinned to the Wall: Being pinned to a wall by pointy objects piercing your clothes or body.
- Sticky Bomb: A bomb that sticks to its target.
- Sticky Situation: Misadventures with adhesive.
- Strapped to a Bomb: Getting tied to a bomb or an otherwise explosive device.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: Getting tied to an operating table and getting experimented on.
- Strapped to a Rocket: Getting tied to a rocket that's about to blast off.
- Stripping Snag: A piece of clothing gets stuck and usually ends up snagged away.
- Suspender Snag: Someone who wears suspenders gets them stuck on an object or in another person's grasp.
- Tongue on the Flagpole: Someone's tongue getting stuck to a frozen object.
Stuck with a person/being
- The Cat Came Back: You can't get away from this person; they just keep coming back.
- Caught in the Rain: Two love interests are stuck together taking shelter from the weather.
- Chained Heat: Two characters chained together must cooperate.
- Locked in a Room: Characters with animosity or tension between them are stuck in a room together.
- Romance Ensues: Being stuck with someone, allowing for the development of Unresolved Sexual Tension.
- Ten Minutes in the Closet: Two characters are Locked in a Room by someone to work out their romantic feelings.
- The Thing That Would Not Leave: A guest that will not leave.
- Trapped-with-Monster Plot: There's something out to get you, and you're trapped in the same place with it.
- Trapped with the Therapy Session: This argument doesn't involve you, but you're stuck here while it happens.
- Working on the Chain Gang: A group of prisoners chained together.
