History Main / SealedEvilinacan

* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'' (''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' & ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}''):

''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has had at least four examples of this in the show; unsurprisingly, it shows up quite frequently in its fanfiction as well.

* Titan from ''Fanfic/MyBravePonyStarfleetMagic'', at least till he breaks out from his dimensional prison.
* In addition to [[BigBad Discord]] (who is imprisoned as in canon at the beginning of ''Reharmonized Ponies''), the ''FanFic/PonyPOVSeries'' has several others. One is [[{{Satan}} Morning Star]], Celestia's [[FallenAngel Fallen Alicorn]] brother, who was imprisoned for trying to take over the universe after deciding he was better than [[TopGod the Elders]] and being as evil as Discord if not worse. He was released by Havoc to fight in the Alicorn/Draconequi War, where he was either killed (though considering Evil still exists, he wasn't killed as thoroughly as it's possible to kill a God) or imprisoned in Hell (Havoc's domain) after the war as part of the peace treaty between the two according to WordOfGod. Another recurring one is Grogar, a G1 ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' villain and (in this series) {{ComicBook/Darkseid}} {{Expy}} who is sealed away in another dimension. It's stated he returns every five hundred years unless stopped and has to be resealed. In his case it may be justified because, in [[BadFuture Dark World]], he's been shown to be powerful enough to go toe to toe with [[RealityWarper Discord]] and have a chance of winning. Discord shows a great deal of anger that Grogar doesn't seem all that mad about this, in direct contrast to Discord himself, who can't ''stand'' his can.

** ''D&D'' 3.5e: One example is the homebrewed [[http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=188148 Harrowed]] class. Anyone with this class is this for their own unique destructive being that they call "the monster within", which is constantly raging to get free from its host. Ironically, if the beast were to be released it would be promptly obliterated by about seven different gods at once; this won't ever happen though because plenty of greater deities have been left scratching their heads after failing to remove the beasts. This class cannot even use any of their abilities without provoking the beast and needing to make a will save or let it gain control for a few rounds of combat. If you think that the Harrowed are justified in wanting to die, they aren't. They are stuck in a constant cycle of reincarnation after they die and they always come back as another Harrowed with exactly the same homicidal beast sealed inside them. They are such a tight can that not even death or the gods can crack them open.

** Francisco Guerra has a number of powerful spirits contained in Tools. At least one is an an angry god who wishes to usher in the apocalypse and destroy all humankind. [[MundaneUtility Guerra uses it as target practice]].

-->-- '''Creator/RodSerling''', from ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'' episode [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E41TheHowlingMan "The Howling Man"]]

* In the ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'' story arc ''Great War in the Bizarre World'', the bees inhabiting the Bizarre World were able to seal the evil Dark Handsomey inside a giant egg, and consider the egg to be sacred for that reason. While Wolffy tries to cook the egg, he accidentally removes the seal on it, releasing Dark Handsomey who proceeds to get Wolffy's help in an evil scheme.

* In the comic strip ''ComicStrip/{{Wormy}}'', the title dragon owned a collection of magical orbs containing vicious demons, which a human wizard attempted to steal. This being a humor comic, Wormy used the orbs as snooker balls.

* Creator/AlexanderAfanasyev's "Literature/LittleMasterMisery": Ivan manages to imprison the embodiment of misery in a pit, covering the hole with a heavy boulder. Later, his brother foolishly releases Misery, but manages to trick him into shrink down and jump into a wheel's hub, thereupon plugging the hole and throwing the wheel into a river. The narrator concludes the tale by point out that, given the state of world, some greedy fool surely found the wheel, pulled the wedges out and set Misery free.

* ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh!'' has several monsters like this, the most memorable being Exodia (who is split up into five pieces and allows you to ''[[InstantWinCondition win the game]]'' should you have all five in your hand; in the anime, it did take a huge ritual to unseal it) and all versions of the three God Cards (Egyptian, Sacred Beasts, and "Wicked Gods", all of which need three sacrifices to bring out and have devastating power, and two of which have fusions of themselves that are even ''more'' powerful). In the anime, they are so powerful that most of them are sealed up themselves, and it's considered madness for anyone to try and duel with them in their deck.
** The [[Metaplot/YuGiOhHiddenArsenal Hidden Arsenal storyline]] has the three dragons of the Ice Barrier, sealed away long ago by a powerful sage. Unfortunately, the people of the Ice Barrier get so desperate in a war they decided to unleash them. When they got to the last, Trishula, it wound up getting them all killed. The three dragons were re-sealed, but eventually got infected by the Evilswarm and let out again.

* In the 2005 film of ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicRoundabout'', the eponymous Roundabout turns out to be the Can for Zebadee's EvilTwin brother Zeebad, a powerful [[AnIcePerson ice wizard]] who wanted to freeze the Sun and bring about EndlessWinter.

* In ''[[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/11501748/1/Funeral-of-A-Madman Funeral Of a Madman]]'' Half a millennia ago, a warmonger general committed outrageous war crimes during his reign to which led his execution, the souls of his army, sealed away by dark prophet; hoping to ensure the people of Europe and China mainly, that he never returns.

* ''Fanfic/{{Eugenesis}}'' has Unicron still [[ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel sealed inside the Matrix]], which proves to have been a bad decision all round. Not only does it weaken Rodimus just to hold the Matrix, it means he can't even use it for fear of letting Unicron lose. As the follow-up stories show, Unicron's mere presence proves corruptive, subverting the mind of an Autobot who came too close to an invalid Rodimus, and turning the Matrix Flame [[PaintItBlack black]].

Compare PutOnAPrisonBus, when a character (usually a villain) gets arrested instead of being magically sealed away. Contrast with TrappedInTheHost, where an entity (usually but not always evil, or at least predatory) gets stuck in a body or object they had possessed. Not to be confused with MonstrousSeal. That trope refers to ''animal'' seals.

* ''Fanfic/CodePrime'': In Chapter 29 of ''R2 - Revolution'', [[spoiler: Cera lures Megatron into the Sword of Akasha, then uses a pair of Groundbridges to trap him in a Shadowzone, before then having the last Thought Elevator destroyed in order to cut the Sword off from Earth, thus making it impossible to reach Megatron]]. The author's notes for the chapter compare it to being locked in an air-tight vault and then tossing it into the ocean.

* ''Series/FraggleRock'': In the episode "Wembley and the Mean Genie," Wembley lets a JackassGenie out of a bottle. The genie refuses to grant any wishes, and instead breaks things, insults people, and tries to turn Wembley against his friends. At the end, he hypnotizes everyone but Wembley. When Wembley finally stands up for himself and demands his wishes (which apparently the Genie can't twist), he gets them and uses them to free his friends.

* ''Series/FraggleRock'': In the episode "Wembley and the Mean Genie," Wembley lets a JackassGenie out of a bottle. The genie refuses to grant any wishes, and instead breaks things, insults people, and tries to turn Wembley against his friends. At the end, he hypnotizes everyone but Wembley. Wembley finally stands up for himself, gets his wishes (which apparently the Genie can't twist) when he demands them, and uses them to free his friends.

* ''Series/FraggleRock'': In the episode "Wembley and the Mean Genie," Wembley lets a JackassGenie out of a bottle. The genie refuses to grant any wishes, and instead breaks things, insults people, and tries to turn Wembley against his friends. At the end, he hypnotizes everyone but Wembley. Wembley finally stands up for himself, gets his wishes when he demands them, and uses them to free his friends.

* ''Series/FraggleRock'': In the episode "Wembley and the Mean Genie," Wembley lets a JackassGenie out of a bottle. The genie refuses to grant any wishes, and instead breaks things, insults people, and tries to turn Wembley against his friends. At the end, he hypnotizes everyone but Wembley. Wembley finally stands up for himself, getting his wishes when he demands them, and uses them to free his friends.

* ''Series/FraggleRock'': In the episode "Wembley and the Mean Genie," Wembley lets a JackassGenie out of a bottle. The genie refuses to grant any wishes, and instead breaks things, insults people, and tries to turn Wembley against his friends. At the end, he hypnotizes everyone but Wembley. Wembley finally stands up for himself, gets his wishes, and uses them to free his friends.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': Jafar becomes one after he wishes to become a genie, and he gets trapped in a dark lamp. He gets freed in ''WesternAnimation/{{The Return of Jafar}}'' by Abis Mal, and goes back to Agrabah to get his revenge on the heroes.

Compare PutOnAPrisonBus, when a character (usually a villain) gets arrested instead of being magically sealed away. Not to be confused with MonstrousSeal. That trope refers to ''animal'' seals.

The hero occasionally [[NiceJobBreakingItHero breaks the seal themselves]] due to, [[AccidentalIncantation ignorance]], lack of information, or [[FalseInnocenceTrick active manipulation by the villain]].

The hero occasionally [[NiceJobBreakingItHero breaks the seal themselves]] due to lack of information or [[FalseInnocenceTrick active manipulation by the villain]].

* According to Islam, Dhu'l-Qarnayn, or "He of the Two Horns" (a lesser prophet who appeared long before Muhammad) encountered a race of monsters (split into two tribes, the ''Yahjuj'' and ''Mahjuj'', or Gog and Magog of Biblical fame) that were harassing the people, so he built a giant wall to keep them enclosed. They won't be able to escape until Allah says so, which will be during the lead-up to ''Yawm al-Qiyāmah'' ([[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the Day of Judgment]]).