"Welcome to my retirement party. The rules are: No attacking the hosts. No leaving early. No calling the police. I see one cop, I kill three of you. I see two cops, six people die. You can do the math. Now, mess up my party by breaking one of my rules... you can expect me to overreact."
— Burn Notice, "Bad Breaks"
The situation for the bad guys has gone so far sideways that they're trapped by law enforcement, and the only way out is to trade hostages for a means of transportation and free passage. In virtually all situations where hostages are actually released, old people are the first ones let go. The true gauge of their desperation, that no degree of Genre Blindness can excuse the bad guys from knowing, is that their demands for a helicopter or jet plane are never met by the police. They sometimes used a Hostage Video to make their demands known to the public to get coverage/publicity.
In spite of this, most city police forces on TV employ a negotiator specializing in these situations who has the job of convincing the bad guys that this time it could all turn out differently, if they are only judicious and fair in the way they release hostages. The negotiator's primary assistance in perpetrating this lie will be a wild-eyed SWAT team leader who is panting for a chance to go in with More Dakka and kill all the bad guys. A really unhinged SWAT leader might muse about nuking the building from orbit.
A few additional characters are required for this scenario. A hero-wannabe hostage, for instance, whose primary job is to try something stupid and get killed. This might be a case of death by Genre Blindness. A particularly noble hostage who tells the hero not to worry about them and kill the bad guy anyway. A hostage who decides to raise the stakes by calling the bad guy's bluff. There may also be a hostage who just completely panics and starts screaming and flailing about in a way that frightens a bad guy into shooting them.
Things get a bit more complex if the hero has been unwittingly taken as one of the hostages, and both complex and ironic if the hostages were taken to lure in the hero who has been unwittingly taken hostage. Often this overlaps with its more spontaneous, desperate cousin, Human Shields.
In some instances, the hostage crisis could be used as a smokescreen or distraction for other plans by The Syndicate. Or (one of) the hostages is secretly working with the bad guys.
Also see "Die Hard" on an X and Caught Up in a Robbery. Frequently involves Put Down Your Gun and Step Away. An ... unorthodox solution to this is to Shoot the Hostage, while only someone with Improbable Aiming Skills could try to Shoot the Hostage Taker. Contrast Baby as Payment, which is when a baby is taken permanently to pay for something else, and Political Hostage which is the "polite" version of this used by polities throughout history as a form of alliance, subjugation and suzerainty. If the hostage-taker specifically wants to trade their hostage(s) for something, see Hostage for MacGuffin. See Stop, or I Shoot Myself! for when the hostage and hostage taker are the same person.
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Anime & Manga
- Air Gear: Sora brainwashes his girlfriend, Rika Noyamano, into fighting Kilik and the Sleeping Forest team, which Rika used to be a member of. The kicker, and what makes this specially mean? Rika is pregnant, and HE is the baby's father. The subversion comes when Kilik manages to deploy a Batman Gambit to get Rika restrained without actually landing a hit on her, then unleashing his and the Sleeping Forest's Air Regalia. And then it's further suverted when Sora actually counterattacks with his own gambit and shoots back at them.
- Bleach: Zommari takes control of Rukia's unconscious body and threatens to have her slit her own throat unless Byakuya surrenders. Byakuya promptly responds by using Kidou to restrain Rukia's movements.
- Happens with alarming frequency in Case Closed, since this is a manga about mysteries and crimes. It gets to the point that more than one whole Non-Serial Movie has this as its plot.
- Happens a few times in City Hunter. As one example among several, a thug takes a young woman hostage in a restaurant. Knowing how powerful Ryo's gun is, the thug positions himself in front of a window leading to a crowded street, so that any shot will go right through the thug and injure or kill an innocent civilian. This leaves Ryo with a Sadistic Choice: Either don't shoot and let the thug run off with his hostage, or risk shooting and injuring or killing a bystander. Ryo decides to Take a Third Option; he slows the bullet down by shooting through his own hand, so as to merely hit the thug and not injure anyone else.
- Code Geass has an infamous example of this trope in play during the eighth episode of the first season, with a Japanese terrorist group staging one against many Britannians - including Lelouch's school friends.
- Cowboy Bebop:
- In "Ballad of Fallen Angels", Faye is taken hostage by some of the Big Bad's goons. One puts a gun to her head and begins the standard "Put down your gun" speech, but promptly gets one between the eyes from Spike. Cue the Blast Out. Something similar happens at the beginning of Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door when a convenience store robbery goes sour and some random thug, previously unseen, takes an old lady hostage. Spike shoots the hostage taker, after somewhat cynically remarking that he's not a cop.
- Also subverted when Faye is taken hostage and sends a message to the guys assuming they will naturally ride to her rescue. Spike tells her to talk her own way out of it and shuts off the communicator.
- Cromartie High School: a couple of hijackers give up on jacking a plane due to the students of Cromartie being all menacing-looking. Yutaka Takenouchi, who gets motion sickness, accidentally persuades the hijackers to get everyone else off the plane and then carry out the hijacking, resulting in him being stranded in America and one of the hijackers impersonating him back at Cromartie.
- In Deadman Wonderland, all of Scar Chain is taken hostage so that Genkaku can force Nagi to join Undertaker. Of course, the hostage plan fails miserably when Crow decides to come by.
- In Fairy Tail, Evergreen retorts: "If you don't surrender and undo your armor, then everyone who got petrified will be destroyed!!" Erza's answer? "If you think that winning or losing is more important than your life, so be it. I'll take your life to avenge those crumbled maidens". With her most menacing armor on, full intent to kill and Death Glare. No wonder Evergreen goes shit. The bonus? "And that's how you do a real bluff"
- Fullmetal Alchemist:
- A train full of people are taken hostage, including an important government official and his family. When the hostage-takers attempt to negotiate with Mustang, he makes no serious attempt to negotiate... because he knows that the Elric brothers are aboard and is fully expecting them to take care of the situation.
- Also, in later manga chapters/towards the end of the Brotherhood series, to keep Ed and Mustang in line Bradley subtly threatens the safety of Winry and Riza Hawkeye, making them both unable to (visibly) go against him.
- Attempted by Envy after being reduced to slug form. Unfortunately, the victim Envy used was Yoki, and most of the cast convinces Envy that they don't care.
- And then there's a big subversion in chapter 100 / right before the end of Brotherhood — when Roy refuses to perform human transmutation and open the Gate, one of the gold tooth alchemist's mooks immediately slits Riza's throat without warning in an attempt to force him. The dying Riza tells Roy not to do it, then May Chang arrives and saves her... but Roy ends up forced into opening the Gate anyway.
- In Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), Winry and a very depressed Edward who's still reeling from the horrible incident with Tucker and Nina are kidnapped by the still human Barry the Chopper, who takes Ed's automail away and gets him bound while also having Winry chained in Unwilling Suspension. Edward has to fight for both his and Winry's lives to get the two away from Barry more or less safely.
- In an episode of Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, Kaname Chidori is taken hostage. In order to rescue her, Sousuke Sagara the military nut tortures the messenger, identifies the ringleader of the group that has taken her (along with most of her lackeys), then takes the leader's little brother hostage, and somehow manages to tie him up in the rafters of the warehouse where Chidori was being held without anyone noticing, using remote-controlled explosives on the ropes so he could send the tyke plummeting to his death if big sis didn't cooperate. As if that wasn't insane enough, he also made elaborate and somewhat disturbing threats against the loved ones and prize possessions of several lackeys, including a little sister, a motorcycle, and a lovebird, thus sending the entire gang fleeing in terror. The only thing that made Sousuke look slightly less like a dangerous psychopath was that the kid knew the plan all along, and went along with it in exchange for a radio-controlled car and, presumably, just the fun of being a hostage (hey, many kids are like that). Note that Sousuke is the same guy who drew a REAL gun on a shooting video game earlier in the same episode, so "normal" isn't really part of the program.
- In Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Aramaki is taken in a hostage during a botched burglary. He soon realizes the burglars have been tricked by their employer and that the police outside are actually trying to kill them. He then takes charge to get them all out of a government cover-up alive.
- GTO: The Early Years: The Yokohama Cavalry knock Kamata out with a stun gun, then inject him with alcohol to keep him incapacitated. They try to use him as a hostage against Natsu, but Natsu pretends he doesn't care. Later on, they threaten to slit his throat if the Oni-Baku don't step down, but by then Kamata has recovered enough to stab one of them with a ballpoint pen.
- The vampire Alucard subverts this in the first part of the manga/anime Hellsing by not only just shooting the hostage-taker but by shooting the hostage to do it. Through the chest, leaving a big gaping hole. The hostage (Seras Victoria) is however offered the choice of just dying, or dying but getting to be a vampire too.
- Hunter × Hunter:
- Gon and Killua are taken as hostages by the Phantom Troupe twice:
- First was the time they tailed Nobunaga and Machi, unaware that they were also being tailed by the other members to draw out their stalkers. They were able to escape by themselves the first time when Gon remembers Zepile's advice.
- Second time was they let themselves get caught due to Kurapika's recklessness, but Kurapika was able to kidnap Chrollo while they were trying to escape again. Kurapika makes a deal with the Troupe for an exchange of hostages, but he puts a chain in Pakunoda and Chrollo's hearts so they cannot interact with the rest of the Troupe anymore. Paku transfers her memories to the rest of the troupe so they'd know what happened, killing her in the process, while Chrollo is Put on a Bus thanks to this.
- Gon, who's not mentally well during the palace invasion, takes Komugi hostage to force Pitou to come with him to Peijing to heal Kite, threatening to kill her if she doesn't comply to his demands, much to his teammate's shock and confusion. This forces Pitou to wait until Pouf pretends that Komugi's safe, but it's too late as Gon fell into despair after hearing the truth and gave up his power to pretty much pound Pitou into paste.
- Gon and Killua are taken as hostages by the Phantom Troupe twice:
- Played for Laughs in episode 10 of Is the Order a Rabbit?, when Aoyama holds up Tippy with the water gun Megu gives her during the water gun fight.
- Jujutsu Kaisen: The Disaster Curses and their human allies take Shibuya hostage and trap hundreds of people within a barrier, setting things up so that only Satoru Gojo may enter. When he does, Jogo, Hanami and Choso try to fight him by surrounding him with muggles, hoping that this way Gojo will restrain himself. Eventually, Gojo decides that he doesn't care and ignores Jogo when he threatens to kill a bunch of humans if he doesn't stop trying to kill Hanami. Jogo realizes that Gojo is not messing around anymore and focuses on buying more time by running from Gojo. Then Mahito brings a train full of transfigured humans, which then start killing more humans, and then even more humans are dropped in from the upper levels of the subway station. Driven to the edge, Gojo expands his Domain for 0.2 seconds and paralyzes the Disaster Curses, the transfigured humans and the civilians, after which he spends the next ten minutes slaughtering the transfigured humans. Unfortunately, all of the above went exactly according to Geto's plan, who uses the Prison Realm to seal Gojo while he's too stunned from seeing his old friend in the middle of the whole debacle to prevent its activation.
- Scaled up in Mobile Suit Gundam Wing episode 10, where Lady Une threatens to attack the space colonies with self-defense missile satellites unless the Gundam Pilots surrender. Heero takes a third option and self-destructs his Gundam, which is what really kicks off the main plot by sparking the ideological divide within OZ between the noble soldiers and the ruthless and corrupt.
- Happens several times in Negima! Magister Negi Magi, most obviously when Chigusa uses Konoka as a hostage and when Fate threatens to wipe out a crowd of people if Negi doesn't listen to him. The former backfires horribly, as hurting Konoka is something Setsuna's takes very seriously, and in the latter, Negi ultimately decides to attack Fate anyway, relying on his partners to prevent collateral damage.
- One Piece:
- A flashback in the Enies Lobby arc reveals that CP9 agent Rob Lucci was once sent to a kingdom in order to resolve a situation where attacking pirates managed to take the kingdom's army hostage. How did Lucci deal with it? He allowed himself to be captured, was shoved into the room housing the captive soldiers, and then he massacred all 500 soldiers to the last man under the reasoning that they were too weak to protect their country if they allowed themselves to be captured; only then did he wipe out the pirates, who weren't too happy to see what Lucci had done.
- In Fishman Island, after Madam Shyarly predicts that a man in a straw hat (assumed to be Luffy) will destroy the island, the Neptune Army tries to take the Straw Hats into custody in order to investigate the matter properly, starting with the ones already in the Ryugu Palace. Naturally the Straw Hats don't feel like being imprisoned for such a reason and fight back, taking King Neptune, the Ministers of the Right and Left, and the Neptune Army hostage in order to negotiate for safe passage and leave the island before things can escalate. They go out of their way to not harm their prisoners since doing so would make them actual terrorists, but when Hody Jones and the New Fishman Pirates attack the palace and injure some of the soldiers, Zoro immediately releases everyone since they can no longer return their prisoners safe and unharmed. Convinced that the Straw Hats are not an enemy, King Neptune helps them and the soldiers escape the palace while Zoro keeps Hody occupied, though they both end up captured in the process.
- In Wano Country, Bepo, Shachi and Penguin end up being captured and used as hostages by Hawkins in order to convince Law to surrender in exchange for their freedom. Law accepts, but he later ends up breaking free with X Drake's help.
- In the Egghead arc, the Straw Hats end up taking York hostage right as the island is surrounded by a Marine fleet that's ready to deploy a Buster Call. The only reason this (initially) works is because the Five Elders want York alive in order to replicate the Mother Flame, something no one else is both willing and able to do. It buys them only enough time to get their own defenses ready before everything goes to hell. Rather ironically, Morgans had an article printed that same morning stating that Luffy had taken Vegapunk hostage, and when he taps into the Marine comms he's shocked to learn that he ended up being right (just not in the way he thinks).
- In Elbaph, the Holy Knights capture several giant children and threaten to kill them one by one unless the giants bend the knee to the World Government and burn the local school and library, as they seek to also erase their new paficist culture and their history which they feel will become unnecessary once the giants become the World Government's slaves. Upon hearing their plans, an outraged Nami asks Sommers if he is insane, as not even the vilest of criminals across the world would ever think of taking children hostage.
- Osomatsu-san had a segment in Episode 4, where Karamatsu Matsuno is strung up for ransom by an unknown assailant and his family is contacted to extort money form them in exchange for his life. Not only do they not care that he's been captured, they actively ignore the threats and continue having a good time without him. Even by the end of the episode they haven't come back for him.
- Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V: Kurosaki’s plan to get his sister Ruri back from the Professor is to kidnap the latter’s son Reiji and enact one of these. It never gets particularly far, due to Reiji pointing out that his dad isn’t an active part of his life, and probably wouldn’t place any value on the situation. The pair then embark on a more pragmatic plan to rescue her.
Comic Books
- Animal Man: In the first issue of Animal Man (2011), a group of kids with cancer are taken hostage at a hospital by a grieving dad who refuses to accept that his little girl is dead and thinks the hospital is hiding her somewhere. Animal Man intervenes.
- Astro City: In "Confession", a villain breaks into a nightclub frequented by heroes out of costume, and takes a busboy hostage. Keeping a wary eye on the heroes gives him no time to look at his hostage, who single-handedly takes him out.
- Quantum and Woody: One of Quantum and Woody's first cases as a superhero team was against a crazed gunman holding a woman hostage. After a brief shouting match, Cowboy Cop Woody shoots the hostage in the chest while Quantum tackles the gunman. Woody then helps the hostage to her feet, demonstrates his usage of paint pellets by shooting a few more at Quantum, and asks her what she's doing Friday night.
- Robin (1993):
- Tim is able to call the rest of the Batfamily and get a hostage taker who almost escaped as one of his own hostages captured when he's grounded and notices what's about to happen by watching the news and recognizing the perpetrator.
- Tim becomes scarily violent when he arrives to deal with a hostage situation at the Gotham Plaza Hotel only to find a young girl had to watch the hostage takers murder her father before Tim arrived. That really angers him, besides he'd already been thinking about his own parents' murders that evening so it didn't take much to get him worked up.
- Runaways:
- In the "New Pride" arc, the New Pride kidnaps Molly ostensibly to get the Runaways to leave them alone, not realizing that their leader Geoffrey Wilder intends to sacrifice her to the Gibborim.
- During the Secret Invasion crossover with the Young Avengers, Xavin's former mentor Chrell takes the entire team hostage to get Xavin to hand over Teddy Altman. Unfortunately for Chrell, he makes Klara cry.
- The "Rock Zombies" arc opens with the hopelessly moronic Retching Pigs taking a hapless employee at their former label hostage because he sent them an e-mail informing them that they'd been dumped. The Runaways beat them so quickly that Victor doesn't even have time to park the Leapfrog.
- Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics): One issue had Princess Sally Acorn kidnapped and held for ransom; at one point, she manages to trick her captors into lowering their guard and knocks them all unconscious.
- Superman:
- In a Supergirl (2005) Annual, a bank full of people are taken hostage, and Supergirl has to slip into the building and take the bank robbers down without letting anybody spot her.
- Kryptonite Nevermore gives two examples:
- As Lois Lane is getting a story in South America, a group of bandits capture her and her pilot to force a group of Government troops chasing them to back off.
- A band of pirates take over a Government sea facility. The leader demands money in exchange for hostages.
Quig: I want ten million dollars in gold delivered here — fifty hostages to insure you'll try no tricks — plus a hydrogen bomb! Should you refuse — my men will blast the drill hole! And you know what that would mean!
- The Strange Revenge of Lena Luthor: When Supergirl reveals she has discovered his ploy, Mind-Bomber holds her friend Lena hostage and slinks back into an abandoned subway station, where he expects to take advantage of the darkness to take Supergirl out using his psychic powers.
- "The Unknown Legionnaire": After managing to get Cosmic Boy capture, villain Norm Eldor holds him hostage to prevent the Legion of Super-Heroes from ruining his plans.
- Computo the Conqueror: Each Computroid -walking super-A.I.s- created by Computo kidnaps and imprisons a human scientist by putting him inside its mechanical body, threatening to blow themselves up together with the hostages if the Legion of Super-Heroes tries to attack them.
- The Tomb of Dracula: In issue #33, Quincy manages to incapacitate Dracula and has him at his mercy. Just as he's about to finish him off, he suddenly gets a phone call from two of Dracula's brides who're holding his daughter, Rachel, hostage. The brides warn Quincy to free Dracula or Rachel dies.
- Transformers: More than Meets the Eye: "Interiors" features Fortress Maximus pulling one of these demanding that the ship be returned to Cybertron so that he can confront Prowl. He is ultimately stopped when shown footage of his own torture and comforted by his one of his captives. Then an incompetent sniper shoots said captive in the head.
Comic Strips
- Superman: In "The Youth Serum", a crimelord called Blin kidnaps the Daily Planet's whole staff -including Lois-, plus a bunch of other newspapers' reporters, to coerce Superman into disclosing the place where he has hidden the scientist who has discovered the youth serum. Superman agrees to lead them to the place as long as they release the kidnappers reporters. Blin sets the journalists free, so that Superman takes them to the place, and they learn the hard way that Superman built an underground maze around the scientist as a crook-proof measure.
Literature
- Acid Row: When a mob of youths attack the Kelowski house, Franek takes Dr. Sophie Morrison — who was visiting him as her patient — hostage to guarantee the police will rescue them. Sophie spends much of the book trying to reason with Franek and his son, and attempting to protect herself from Franek, who is just as much a danger to her as the mob outside.
- The Asterisk War: In volume 5, Dirk Eberwein takes Julis's maid and childhood friend Flora Klemm hostage against Ayato having his Empathic Weapon Ser Veresta sealed (meaning he can never use it again). The group instead fakes having it sealed in order to buy time to rescue Flora.
- Axtara: Banking and Finance: Narrowly avoided in the climax. As Fendall Derin is holding Axtara, King Adrick, Queen Majesty, and Princess Mia at gunpoint after they went to confront him over his secret tax skimming, he initially plans to shoot Axtara because her ability to fly means she would have the easiest time chasing him during his escape from Elnacier. When the other three threaten to rush onto him the moment he spends his shot, he instead orders Mia to come along with him as collateral so that no one will try to hamper his escape. Axtara convinces him not to do this by emphatically promising that she will not tail him.
- Beast Tamer: This is the modus operandi of Edgar Fromware, son of the local lord. If someone interferes with what he wants, he'll threaten bystanders or loved ones to force cooperation while his father uses his power to cover up any problems that arise. In order to get Rein to hand over Sora and Runa, he holds his entire town hostage and threatens to kill them and Rein if the girls aren't handed over. Rein uses his magic to stand down by setting Edgar's guards non-fatally aflame. He also captured Nina by threatening the people of her town.
- The Color of Distance: In Through Alien Eyes, a desperate father grabs Juna and threatens to slit her throat if Unkatonen doesn't heal his gravely ill daughter. It's a very sudden hostage situation, and the father knows this will put him in jail until after his daughter is grown.
- During the beginning of the Time of Troubles arc of the Deverry novels, Prince Mael of Eldidd spent twenty years as a hostage. He was captured in his campaign in the war, and then his captors decided that the military advantage of having a secure border thanks to a royal hostage during a three-way war was more valuable than the coin they'd get by returning him.
- Discworld: Subverted in the City Watch novels, where Angua is taken hostage on at least two occasions, neither of which are taken seriously by the rest of the Watch (one constable actually laughed during the first one). And with good reason: taking a werewolf hostage is a classic example of a Very Bad Idea™.
- The Dresden Files: In Peace Talks, Harry manages to set one up by accident. He needs to rescue the severely injured Thomas Raith on the eve of a major battle between multiple supernatural factions, so he takes Thomas and seals him inside one of the prison crystals on the island of Demonreach. This will keep Thomas alive despite his injuries, and the island's defenses will protect him from all but the greatest powers of the world. However, this also means that Harry, as the Warden of Demonreach, is the only one who can get Thomas out of his prison. So if the Raith clan ever want to see Thomas again, they need to make sure that Harry survives the upcoming battle.
- One of the major twists in the later parts of This Inevitable Ruin, book 7 of Dungeon Crawler Carl, is that Lucia Mar is somehow connected to over 120,000 children on the surface of Earth; if she dies, the children die. This massive complicates Carl's immediate plans as he was about to kill Lucia, and also turns him very strongly against the remnants that set up the hostage situation in the first place. Not that he was enamored of them to begin with.
- Averted in the sixth Honor Harrington novel when the titular protagonist hands herself over to be the hostage. However, much to the hostage-takers eventual surprise, she has not one but three plants in the works and kills all but one of the hostage-takers in the process.
- In the Jack Ryan series, the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team is featured from time to time.
- Their first print appearance is in Patriot Games, for the rescue of Ryan and the Prince and Princess of Wales.
- In The Cardinal of the Kremlin, they're called in to rescue a US scientist kidnapped by the KGB.
- The elite counter-terrorist unit Rainbow in Rainbow Six often handles this kind of event.
- The New Jedi Order: In Star by Star, the Yuuzhan Vong take a flotilla of ships carrying millions of war refugees hostage, demanding that the New Republic reveal the location of the Jedi Order's secret base. Two thirds of the way through the book, the Republic mounts a successful rescue.
- Overlord (2012): In the Men in the Kingdom arc, Sebas ends up picking a dying girl named Tsuare off the streets and nursing her to health for reasons that escape him. Unbeknownst to Sebas, Tsuare was a Sex Slave belonging to the Eight Fingers, who don't take kindly to their product vanishing. When they send a Dirty Cop to extort Sebas, he responds by raiding one of their brothels with Brain Unglaus and Climb, whom he happens to meet and befriend while pondering what to do. The Eight Fingers retaliate by kidnapping Tsuare and demanding that Sebas go to one of their safehouses alone, planning to have the Six Arms (their security division) kill him. This has the unfortunate side effect of incurring Ainz's wrath, as he had just agreed to let Tsuare stay in Nazarick under his protection. Suffice to say, the end result of the ensuing Roaring Rampage of Rescue is the Six Arms being personally wiped out by Sebas and the Eight Fingers absorbed into Nazarick's infrastructure.
- In A Song of Ice and Fire, nobles who bend the knee after being defeated sometimes send their children to the victorious family. Ostensibly, the child is a ward of the other family. Everyone involved knows that the child is a glorified hostage meant to keep their family in line. Theon Greyjoy spent most of his life as Ned Stark's ward after his father Balon's rebellion was crushed. And despite knowing that Ned in theory would have killed him if Balon ever got out of hand, Theon still eventually came to see Ned as more of a father than Balon ever was.
- Star Trek Novel 'Verse: In Best Defense, Ambassador Sarek gets taken hostage when the peace talks he is leading with some particularly belligerent Klingons goes off the rails. Though he is rescued by the Enterprise team, the Vulcan diplomat is somewhat annoyed as he claims to have been on the point of talking his way out (being Sarek, this is quite possible), and the Fleet intervention undermined his authority.
- Survivor Dogs: In the third book, Darkness Falls, the Fierce Dogs invade the Wild Pack's territory to get their pups back. In her rage, Blade clamps her jaws around Daisy's neck and threatens to kill her if she isn't given "her" pups back ASAP.
- Sword of Truth: Richard does this to himself when he's in the care of the Sisters of the Light, by going into a forest that's enchanted to kill people and refusing to come out until they meet his demands. (Nobody has ever survived being in there after sunset.) On his first day living in the Palace of the Prophets. He likes to make impressions, and doesn't do things by halves.
- Vorkosigan Saga: Hostage rescues are one of Miles Vorkosigan's specialties.
- Especially noteworthy in The Vor Game where Miles rescues Emperor Gregor by taking him hostage.
- At the climax of Komarr, Ekaterin and Helen are held hostage by terrorists, who place them in a space station airlock and threaten to flush them out into space if provoked. Miles overrules a plan to sneak around the outside of the station and get them out that way because he suspects (correctly, as it turns out) that the outer door of the airlock will have been booby-trapped.
- Warhammer 40,000:
- Gaunt's Ghosts:
- In First & Only, Flense captures Gaunt's medic, Dorden, and a wounded trooper to get Gaunt to where he could kill him. (Getting him there worked. Killing him didn't. Indeed, at one point, when Flense threatens to shoot Dorden if Gaunt mocks him, Dorden urges Gaunt to mock him, so Flense will shoot him and he won't have to listen.)
- In His Last Command, when a commissiar is trying to execute him and his men out of hand, Gaunt takes him hostage; he attempts to reason, pointing out that he didn't just kill him, but then he uses him to force his junior to contact higher-ups. When he and his team are transported in a cargo pod, they escape, and Gaunt takes a general hostage to get him to give his word for their safety.
- Space Wolf: In Sons of Fenris, Commander Cadmus takes Gabriella hostage, in order to compel the Space Wolves to fight the Dark Angels. What do they do? Join forces.
- Gaunt's Ghosts:
- In The Witchlands, Warrior Monk Lizl decides at one point that the best way to claim the outstanding bounty on the Raider King's head is to kidnap his kid, who just so happens to be one of the protagonists.
- In Worm, Villain Protagonist Skitter is cornered inside a high school cafeteria by Dragon and the Cyborg hero Defiant. Skitter notes that she could potentially resolve the situation by taking any of the three hundred students in the room hostage with her powers (one of whom is one of The Bullies who caused her Traumatic Superpower Awakening), but then realizes that this is actually part of their superiors' plan, in order to make them seem justified in going to such extremes to catch her. Instead, she uses her status as a Villain with Good Publicity to convince the students to side with her.
Manhua
- School Shock has one to kick off the main plot, resulting in the main characters' first encounter. The female protagonist saves the male one from being shot and dropped from a high building.
Pinball
- One of the Video Modes of Mac Attack requires the player to navigate a building and rescue a hostage.
Tabletop Games
- Sentinels of the Multiverse has this vibe when the heroes battle The Dreamer. The twist is that the Dreamer is both the hostage and captor, as her psychic powers went into overdrive during a nightmare of hers. Gameplay wise, if the Dreamer hits 0 HP, the heroes kill her and lose. In order to win, the heroes must destroy enough projections to get her to flip from her "The Dreamer Dreams" side to her "Roused From Slumber" side, then destroy more projections to calm her down and wake her up. Since attacks that hit all villain targets will also hit the Dreamer, who only has 6 HP, the team must decide if shooting the hostage is worth it. In her Challenge Mode, you cannot afford to hurt her, as her Challenge Mode rules ensure any damage dealt to her is fatal.
- On a smaller scale, "Hostage Situation" is also a card in the Megalopolis environment deck, preventing the Heroes from playing cards from their hand while active. Getting rid of it requires the entire hero team to skip their Power phase for a turn, thematically having to stop fighting the actual villain for a moment to defuse the situation.
- The Van Ryder Games game Hostage Negotiator has you as the titular negotiator, trying to save as many hostages as possible and either talk their abductor into surrendering or eliminate them. The base game has three Abductors (Arkayne, a terrorist leader who wants his men released; Donna, a college professor who took her class hostage after being denied tenure; and Edward, a desperate man who took a hospital hostage to get medical care for his son). Expansions introduce new mechanics, like a pair of Abductors (who can potentially be turned against each other) or hostages suffering Stockholm Syndrome.
- 7TV: One of the Action-genre Tropes represents this; it replaces the usual objectives with NPC captives, who the attacking cast has to recover safely.
Video Games
- Batman: Arkham Knight: Practically everyone, save for Alfred, who is close to Batman gets to be a hostage by different villains. Not to mention the 17 firemen hostages scattered throughout Gotham. And this all happened in a single night.
- BlueSkies 2: Chancellor Rhetz forces the party to support his plan to Take Over the World by threatening the lives of the Calbane clan, who he is holding prisoner in Gemeid.
- Call of Duty:
- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare: At the finale of the Brutal Bonus Level "Mile High Club", the terrorist leader takes a hostage, and you must kill him with a pistol headshot (in slow motion) to save him. The real subversion comes in the beginning: You are the hostage, the deposed President of Qurac, and the game forces you to watch in first person as you are dragged across town and finally executed for an audience.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops: At the end of the first level, you burst into Castro's bedroom to assassinate him. He takes his mistress hostage, which barely slows you down as you simply shoot him in the head. Then the mistress grabs his gun and opens fire herself. Then it turns out that you killed a decoy.
- The classic Choplifter! has the player rescue 64 United Nations representatives who've been taken prisoner by the evil Bungeling Empire.
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert: The Aftermath has a Soviet mission where they save hostages fro renegade Soviets threatening to release a chemical weapon.
- Danger Girl has the third and fourth missions, "Rigged to Blow" and "Caution: Curves Ahead", in which an oil rig in the Baltic Sea has been captured by the Hammer Empire, and they're threatening to execute the workers and staff if their demands are not met. The players are assigned to infiltrate the rig and diffuse the situation, and should four or more hostages die they'll have to restart.
- Detroit: Become Human starts with one, as Connor is sent in to negotiate with a deviant android who's killed his owner and taken his owner's daughter hostage. There are multiple ways to get Connor killed, and it's possible for the hostage to die, but no matter what, the deviant can't be saved.
- Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening lets you "invite" some nobles to the Vigil's Keep in order to keep their relatives from plotting against your character.
- Dragon's Dogma: Before you fight the Dragon, it kidnaps your beloved (whoever you have the highest affinity with at that point) and then presents you with two options: to face it in battle knowing that you will not come out alive should you fail to slay it, or to give up whom you hold most dear in exchange for power and wealth, as well as the Dragon leaving the land undisturbed for the time being. Duke Edmun chose the latter many years prior and became ruler of Gransys; so does the player if they sacrifice their beloved.
- Deus Ex Universe:
- You have to resolve one in Deus Ex. As the game is an RPG, there is almost no penalty if you mess up (well, only some cash bonus and good feeling). The only advice you get is "Do what you can, but show them that human shields won't protect them." Yeah. If you manage to skip it entirely, you will get scolded for it, but nothing more.
- A hostage situation also shows up in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. However, you can screw this up — either by having the hostage leader shoot a hostage, failing to disarm a bomb or just wasting time.
- The first scenario of Gods Will Be Watching, where the Xenolifers, a group of revolutionaries, hijack a ship containing data about the Medusea virus. In this case, you are the hostage taker. The scenario is played in turns - you need to make sure the data is downloaded, the hostages neither get so uppity nor so desperate that they attempt to escape or attack, any shot hostages don't bleed out and the security forces don't storm the room.
- The 1988 computer game Hostages deals with a hostage situation in an embassy in Paris. The player controls a 6-man GIGN (akin to SWAT) team and has to complete three parts to beat the game: Get the men in position while evading seachlights and snipers set up by the terrorists, controlling a sniper and shooting bad guys hiding in the building, and clearing the building room by room. The 1992 sequel Alcatraz had a similar plot but adds hidden explosives on the former prison island.
- The entire point of Hostages/Rescue: The Embassy Mission is to rescue a bunch of hostages kidnapped by generic terrorists at a generic embassy in Paris.
- Jailbreak (1986): The warden's captured by the armed inmates after the jailbreak.
- Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga: Halfway through the game, Bowletta kidnaps Princess Peach and demands that the Mario Bros. find the pieces of the Beanstar, reassemble it and deliver it to her at Joke's End in exchange for Peach's return. Given that Peach's voice is needed to awaken the Beanstar, it quickly becomes clear that Bowletta is absolutely not going to hold her end of the bargain. When Fawful quickly sees through the fake Beanstar and steals the real one from Luigi, the Mario Bros. come up with an alternative plan: disguise Luigi using Peach's spare dress that Toadsworth packed for them and convince Bowletta that she got the wrong princess. The plan goes off without a hitch: Bowletta falls for the deception, furiously drops Peach, nabs Luigi and flies off. Once she realizes she's been duped, Luigi manages to escape her clutches and retrieve the Beanstar.
- Mass Effect:
- At the end of the "Bring Down the Sky" DLC for Mass Effect 1, the leader of the batarian terrorist group tells you he'll kill the hostages he's captured unless you let him go unharmed. Since this is Mass Effect, you have the option of sacrificing the hostages and capturing/killing him anyways. But if you do, you can't get him or the batarians as war assets in Mass Effect 3.
- Another two sidequests have Shepard sent to defuse hostage crises, one involving biotics seeking reparations for injuries and illnesses suffered as a result of their training, another involving a cult.
- In the "Lair of the Shadow Broker" DLC for Mass Effect 2, a character you're chasing takes a hostage and tells you to back off. In a Call-Back moment, both Renegade and Paragon players can throw their rep in her face to intimidate her. Meanwhile Thane's loyalty mission ends with one with a twist, as Shepard and Thane care more about the hostage taker's well being than the actual hostage.
- PAYDAY: The Heist and PAYDAY 2 lets you invoke this. Taking civilians hostage has its benefits; police will wait longer between assaults, giving you more time to work, and if one of your crewmates is taken into custody, you can trade a hostage for their return. In PAYDAY 2, the "Holdout" gamemode is a straighter version of this. Your crew takes a VIP hostage, and defends them from increasingly strong waves of police trying to free them. After each wave, the ransom offer increases, and you can choose to accept the offer or play another wave. The game continues until the hostage is freed, the crew accepts a ransom offer, or the crew completes nine waves (after which the ransom is automatically accepted).
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies: In the fifth case, Aura Blackquill uses the robots and electronic devices at the space center to take everyone who was inside at the time as hostages, which includes Phoenix's adopted daughter Trucy. She does this in order to force a retrial of a past case that she hopes will prove the innocence of her brother Simon, who is only a day away from execution.
- Relooted: In Chapter 7, Mark Grey uses Cryptic as a hostage in order to force the crew to steal the Cullinan diamonds for him.
- In Sonic Adventure 2, Eggman holds a gun towards Amy and tells Sonic that he'll shoot her if Sonic doesn't hand over his Chaos Emerald.
- The fourth stage
of Sunset Riders is this since, right after defeating the third boss Dark Horse, a girl is violently thrown out of the saloon right behind. The hero or heroes tend to her and she says that the Smith Brothers and their goons have taken over, keeping three other dancers as hostages. Then she begs the hero or heroes to save the other girls, the hero/heroes go inside, and the stage proper begins.
- The final mission of Syphon Filter 3 is a Locomotive Level where Gabe rescues hostages.
Webcomics
- Ansem Retort: Xemnas kidnaps Sora and travels back in time, soon followed by Axel, Zexion, Riku, and Marluxia. He asks Axel how he plans on stopping him and saving Sora. He didn't think of this though: figuring that Xemnas needed Sora alive for his plans, Axel just kills Sora himself.
- In episode 31 of Comic Shorts: Spriteoverse LE-37 tries to hold Label Buddy hostage, but his plan hits a snag: nobody even likes Label Buddy.
- Cyanide and Happiness: In this comic, a bad guy has another man held hostage at gunpoint and promises to release him if the cops bring him money.
- The Dragon Doctors: A shapeshifting thief impersonating one of the main characters takes said character's girlfriend hostage at gunpoint. She even says she's holding a special gun modified to go off if she's disabled in any way. Sarin blasts the both of them with an "Equipment Failure" spell that disintegrates the gun (and all their clothing).
- Girl Genius: Gil tries to protect Agatha by putting himself in Heterodyne Castle, so his father will not attack. She rejects this as holding him hostage.
- Most students on Castle Wulfenbach were there to keep their families in line. Agatha ended up in a similar situation, when the Baron mistakenly believed her to be Moloch von Zinzer's lover.
- Metompsychosis Union: The plot kicks off when Tilo opens the door to a mysterious man whose face is obscured on all the security cameras, and is immediately held at gunpoint.
Web Originals
- This piece from McSweeney's presents the events of Die Hard 1 from the perspective a Nakatomi employee, who questions whether this is "a Christmas hostage situation or a hostage situation that just happens to occur during Christmas?" They ultimately conclude that since Christmas created the conditions for the hostage crisis and Holly and John end up getting back together, it counts as a Christmas hostage situation.
Web Videos
- Crossed Lines: In episode 8, "Kindred Spirits", Killian Hardgraves decides to hijack Levi while Mr. Traverse and Mr. Reginald are on his coach. He then announces over the Waterdown Railway's intercom that he'll return them safely if they turn Ember over to him. Ember decides to turn herself over to him, though Mr. Hardgraves announces that he never intended to take her alive, wherein he rams her with Levi, sending them both down the line.
- Memeator Nixon: In Nixon's second FNAF: Killer in Purple 2 video, chamane kidnapped some of Nixon's followers and is demanding a billion dollars for their release. This is the reason he needs to become a billionaire in the game without killing.
Western Animation
- American Dad!:
- Parodied in "A Jones For A Smith" with everyone but the negotiator being realistic:
[Stan has hostages, a negotiator turns up and immediately phones him]
Hathaway: I just want to talk.
Stan: I have nothing to say!
[Hathaway hangs up and sighs]
Hathaway: Get him $50,000 in unmarked bills.
Cop: Uh, sir, he didn't ask for money.
Hathaway: Then make it $500,000! - Later, after Stan has clearly left the area completely:
Hathaway: [The hostages] are clear! Take your shot!
Cop: Wait, what?
Hathaway: Take the shot!
[The cop panics and shoots the already free hostages]
- Parodied in "A Jones For A Smith" with everyone but the negotiator being realistic:
- Batman: The Animated Series: The episode "Pretty Poison" provides a rather unorthodox example. Batman, weakened/delirious from Poison Ivy's kiss earlier, dangles from the ledge of her cacti pit trap as Ivy stands over him, wrist mounted crossbow aimed at his head, forcing him to reveal he has her cherished Wild Thorny Roses in tow, threatening to drop them unless she surrenders the antidote for her lipstick.
- In Beast Wars "Code of Hero", Megatron takes one of the protohumans hostage to make Dinobot stand down. That this tactic works shows just how much Dinobot has changed. Megatron mocks him for his newfound compassion.
- In the aptly named Code Lyoko episode "Ultimatum", XANA possesses the school principal and abducts Odd and Yumi. He then threatens to "liquidate" them if Aelita doesn't turn herself over to him.
- The Dick Tracy Show: Stooge Viller and Mumbles are holding Hemlock Holmes' charges the Retouchables (also the episode's title) hostage for $50,000. Hemlock rushes to the rescue with gusto.
- The Dragon Prince: Invoked in 'Bloodthirsty' by Prince Callum when he and his brother's attempt to rescue Rayla from imprisonment ends with them surrounded by troops led by his Aunt Amaya and he informs her that the scary Moonshadow Elf assassin will kill the princes and drink their blood if the soldiers do not back off. Problem was, of course, that the purported hostage taker was totally blindsided by this gambit and not only did it place un-needed strain on their tentative working relationship, but Rayla was well out of position and obliged to fend off a flight of arrows before she could place her blades at the appropriate throats.
- In He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021), Kronis and Evelyn capture He-Man's allies in Castle Grayskull. Keldor orders He-Man to unlock the power of Grayskull and give it to him or else he would use the power of Havoc to turn them into monsters. He-Man is able to stall long enough for Teela to pick the lock on her cuffs and free the others.
- Parodied in the Hey Arnold! episode "Curly Snaps", where Curly holes himself in the principal's office with the gym's dodgeballs The whole situation is treated like a hostage situation, with Arnold acting as negotiator.
- In Book (season) 3 of The Legend of Korra, the Red Lotus take the new Air Nation hostage to use as leverage against Korra, threatening to wipe them out if Korra doesn't hand herself over to the Red Lotus.
- Parodied in the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode "Bird in the Hoof": Rarity is not making threats, she'd just afraid of damaging her dress.
Rarity: "Stay right where you are! All I want is a clear path to the exit. Nobody move, and my dress won't get hurt!"
- Parodied in the South Park episode "Fun With Veal". Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Butters steal 23 baby calves and hide them in Stan's room. An FBI negotiator treats it exactly like a hostage situation. However since the job of negotiating goes to Manipulative Bastard Cartman, the FBI guy does appallingly badly. Cartman bargains like a pro and the boys end up negotiating some heavy-duty weaponry, a ballistics missile and for eventual transportation, Michael Dorn playing Mr. Worf has to drive their truck. Despite this they eventually talk the boys into coming out without anyone getting hurt.
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars:
- "Destroy Malevolence": Count Dooku and his master attempt to create one to prevent the destruction of the Malevolence, the Separatists' prize warship, by luring Senator Padmé Amidala to the battlefield under false pretenses. It doesn't work, in large part because Action Girl Padmé sets her ship to blow up after she's tractor beamed into the Malevolence's hangar and sneaks off to contact the pursuing Republic fleet.
- "Hostage Crisis" naturally features one: Bounty Hunter Cad Bane breaks into the Senate building and takes several senators hostage, as well as having his cracker lock down the entire building, in order to have crime lord Ziro the Hutt released from prison. He succeeds.