History Main / LockedOutOfTheFight

* At the climax of the ComicBook/{{Inferno}} storyline in ''Franchise/XMen'', the mansion blows up, leaving only Longshot conscious to face Sinister and Polaris. A bit of an aversion though, as Longshot was not the main focus of the story arc; though it was a natural extension of his luck-based powers he would be standing after an explosion. The other X-Men wake up one by one during the battle and join in, leading to a ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself showdown between Cyclops and Sinister.

->''"Meyer's good pal was Benny Siegel. Benny loved a good fight. Even a bad fight. But they wouldn’t let him in on this one."''

* ''VideoGame/TwilightPrincess'': The third phase of the final boss fight has Link and Zelda on horseback chasing after Ganondorf. Once he falls, barriers pop up separating Link from Zelda, and he has to fight him alone.

* In the ''Film/DungeonsAndDragons'' movie, after Ridley and Snails enter the castle to fight Damodar, Marrina tries to enter but a force field stops her. Norda tells her "[[ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself This task they must complete alone]]."

* ''TwilightPrincess'': The third phase of the final boss fight has Link and Zelda on horseback chasing after Ganondorf. Once he falls, barriers pop up separating Link from Zelda, and he has to fight him alone.

* If you chose to play with both Sonic and Tails, the latter will not join you for the Death Egg stage of ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2'', or the final battle of ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog3 3]]''. The only way to have Tails at either of these points is to, well, be playing only with him.

[-[[caption-width-right:299:[[FridgeLogic Why didn't he just cut through the generators]]?]]-]

* At the climax of the ComicBook/{{Inferno}} storyline in ''ComicBook/XMen'', the mansion blows up, leaving only Longshot conscious to face Sinister and Polaris. A bit of an aversion though, as Longshot was not the main focus of the story arc; though it was a natural extension of his luck-based powers he would be standing after an explosion. The other X-Men wake up one by one during the battle and join in, leading to a ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself showdown between Cyclops and Sinister.
* This happens twice near the end of the ''Reign of the Supermen'' part of the ComicBook/DeathAndReturnOfSuperman storyline. The first instance traps Superman and Steel separated from the Matrix Supergirl and forced to face Mongul alone. The second, Superman purposely seals himself, Eradicator and the Cyborg Superman in the Engine Room of Engine City to protect Supergirl, Superboy, Steel and Hal Jordan from Kryptonite Poisoning.
* As the climactic battle of ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow'' approaches, several of Superman's fellow heroes arrive to help, but are kept away by a ForceField until it's all over.

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*** And played straight during an optional encounter in the Wood Elf forest where you find a campsite which knocks out all but one of your characters who then has to fight the demon causing it by themselves. Easily subverted if you have an ability to freeze the opponent, or you're spirit healer who can revive the dead members.

** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', this can happen during the quest to rescue Feynriel from his own nightmares. Not only does it lock out any companions who are not brought along, but throughout the quest, the demons present will cause some companions who ''are'' brought along to turn on Hawke. The result is that they will have to be killed (which doesn't hurt them since everyone's dreaming - it just makes them wake up), so the party for the final battle is much smaller than when the quest began.

* In ''VideoGame/CaveStory'', on two separate occasions, Curly Brace gets knocked out just before a boss fight. (On the second occasion, after a short while she does get up and help you.)

* In ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' Sarah turns down help from her friends when she goes to face the Goblin King.

* This is kind of what happened during the big battle in ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'', which is described from the perspective of Susan and Lucy who did not take part in it like their brothers did.

* A version of this happens in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', twice! Once during the fight with the Werewolves, where the Elven elder paralyses all the powerful Werewolves and forces you to fight him with just your team, and again at the Anvil of the Void where only hostile golems can move. Subverted if you have Cleanse Area, which will free the paralyzed friendlies.
** And played straight during an optional encounter in the Wood Elf forest where you find a campsite which knocks out all but one of your characters who then has to fight the demon causing it by themselves. Easily subverted if you have an ability to freeze the opponent, or you're spirit healer who can revive the dead members.
** Also played straight during a sequence when you are attacked by a Sloth Demon and your party is locked in the Fade, usually in an AndIMustScream or LotusEaterMachine situation.

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This is done when writers want their main character to be accompanied through the plot by some friends and allies, but also want their main character to fight a bad guy one-on-one, without being helped. For one thing, it increases the sense of danger, especially if the method of incapacitating the allies leaves them in trouble if the protagonist loses. It also allows a protagonist to demonstrate toughness and skill more effectively than if it's a team effort - defeating the villain can seem a bit less heroic if you gang up on him in a six-to-one fight. And sometimes, it's just thematically or narratively appropriate that the protagonist defeats the villain alone. Locking characters out of the fight an option which allows this.

There are several related tropes which can be used instead of this one. Instead of a using contrived coincidence, you can make it deliberate by saying that ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself, having the villain order his mooks to LeaveHimToMe, or having everybody agree to CombatByChampion. Or instead of locking the support staff out of the fight, make them [[WeAreTeamCannonFodder just plain useless in it]] or establish a [[OnlyICanKillHim a reason why the hero is the only one capable of victory]]. And of course, if there's an extremely powerful supporting character who needs to be kept well away, you may be forced to [[DeusExitMachina kick them out of the story for a while]], which may or may not take the form of an extended invocation of this trope. You can also avoid the issue altogether by having the character deliberately not bring allies at all, because IWorkAlone.

** In the early days of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' players found a way to use these barriers to their ''advantage''.[[note]]This troper stopped playing around patch 2.3, so it's possible the mechanic has change dramatically to prevent this in the 2 expansions that have passed since.[[/note]] The barriers not only locked out players, but trash mobs as well. Speed Runs relied on tanks aggroing and training all trash to the boss area and standing in such a manner that when the barrier went up upon boss pull by a dps, the barrier would lock out the trash. This dropped all aggro on them and allowed the group to bypass killing anything but bosses. Square attempted to put in locked doors and key mobs to prevent this behavior, but savvy groups learned which specific mobs held the keys and still speed through with minimal killing.

* During one battle of the Dark Tournament in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', some finagling by those in charge locked Hiei and Genkai out of one round, leaving Team Urameshi with three people (one critically wounded). They still won, in part due to Kuwabara earning a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.

** One got the feeling, through Mr. Miyagi's actions during the fight, that he didn't step in because he felt Daniel could handle it, not that he was incapable of finding a way across the gap. The notable question about it is why nobody else in the area deigned to find a way to help Daniel, even to the point of throwing things at Chozen.
** This is most likely so not to take the risk of hitting Daniel.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts 1'': When Sora is rushing up the stairs to fight Riku/Ansem in Hollow Bastion, he passes the top of the stairs safely but Goofy (and shortly afterwards, [[DonaldDuck Donald]]) are blocked out from the arena by an invisible wall. The same thing happens when he fights some of the end-game bosses. What the hell, this trope is used ''every time'' Sora fights alone in the series
** Also in ''[=KH2=]'' in the {{cutscene}} against Roxas, the card fight against Luxord, the one-on-one match with Xehanort's Nobody, etc., etc.

* Done in several different ways in "Boston Brawl" in the WhateleyUniverse. Phase is the only one who ends up in the sewers (not by choice, either) and so has to face the zombie army by herself. At the same time, Bladedancer insists on facing Vamp alone, locking Carmilla out of the fight... but this get subverted when Bladedancer gets her ass kicked and Carmilla has to step in anyway.

* In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn]]'', one of the last missions separates your party's leader and the enemy's party's leader from their armies via a magical barrier for a one on one duel. On the other side of the barrier, the rest of the characters still fight, but both sides are incapable of interfering with the duel.

* This is stock fare in WoW, barriers generally go up once a raid boss is engaged, sealing players in so they can't run, and sealing people out if they weren't ready.