History Main / TrappedInTheHost

* ''Webcomic/TheGreenhouse'': The demon 'Red' was only partially summoned before getting trapped, first in a mirror, and then in main character Mica, the girl who broke it. She can't leave until an expert in blood magic cuts her out of Mica's soul, Mica completes her summoning (receiving favors of her choice in exchange for the already established price of [[spoiler:her soul]]), or Mica dies... and Red is increasingly leery of that last option, since she's not actually sure she'd survive it either.

Compare and contrast with ShapeshifterModeLock, where a [[{{Shapeshifting}} shapeshifter]] gets stuck in one form, and SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan, where an outside force traps an entity inside a person usually as a form of a RestrainingBolt. Also contrast with SupernaturalSealing and AssimilationBackfire.

* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'': Happened to the Other AKA [[spoiler:Lucrezia Mongfish]] twice. First time, the Other tried uploading themselves to Agatha (who [[spoiler:she planned to have RaisedAsAVessel]]) and took over her body for a while, but got trapped by [[spoiler:Agatha's locket]] and remained that way for most of the comic. Second time, they tried uploading themselves to Zola, who [[spoiler:had her family prepare for this and Zola was able to get all Lucrezia's ''memories'' uploaded to her instead]].

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Captain Ginyu has a technique to [[FreakyFridayFlip swap bodies]] with another person that he uses when he encounters a foe more powerful than himself. After several of these swaps, Goku manages to interrupt Ginyu in the middle of swapping into Vegeta's body and Ginyu winds up inside a harmless Namekian frog instead -- the technique requires a vocal command, and since [[RequiredSecondaryPowers frogs can't speak]], he can no longer use it. Aside from some {{filler}}, Ginyu would be stuck in said frog for the rest of the series. That is until ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' where he got to swap with Frieza's solider Tagoma, and then proceeded to immediately die in a CurbStompBattle with Vegeta…

* Devils in ''Manga/ChainsawMan'' that [[PossessingADeadBody possess human corpses]] ''usually'' can't ever leave, as it's an EmergencyTransformation that turns them into a [[ArtificialHybrid Fiend]] for the rest of their life. The only one we know to have become a full devil again [[spoiler:had her human body destroyed and left behind blood elsewhere [[FromASingleCell that she regenerated from]] as part of a contract with another devil.]].

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'': Some radical Inquisitors have been known to summon Daemons and bind them to "expendable" humans known as [[https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Daemonhost Daemonhosts]].

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Captain Ginyu has a technique to [[FreakyFridayFlip swap bodies]] with another person that he uses when he encounters a foe more powerful than himself. After several of these swaps, Goku manages to interrupt Ginyu in the middle of swapping into Vegeta's body and Ginyu winds up inside a harmless Namekian frog instead. Aside from some {{filler}}, Ginyu would be stuck in said frog for the rest of the series. That is until ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' where he got to swap with Frieza's solider Tagoma, and then proceeded to immediately die in a CurbStompBattle with Vegeta…

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Captain Ginyu has a technique to [[FreakyFridayFlip swap bodies]] with another person that he uses when he encounters a foe more powerful than himself. After several of these swaps, Goku manages to get Ginyu body swapper into a harmless Namekian frog, and aside from some {{filler}}, Ginyu would be stuck in said frog for the rest of the series. That is until ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' where he got to swap with Frieza's solider Tagoma, and proceeded to immediately die in a CurbStompBattle with Vegeta…

* ''Series/GuillermoDelTorosCabinetOfCuriosities'': In the episode "The Autopsy", Dr. Winters finds out a sapient PuppeteerParasite alien (named in the subtitles as "The Traveller") that feeds on blood has taken control of Sykes and killed all the other miners. The alien captures Winters and straps him to the autopsy table in preparation to make him its new host. However, Winters [[spoiler:stabs out his eyes, punctures his eardrums, and slits his throat before it can completely implant itself inside him to leave the alien with a hapless, dying host body.]]

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Captain Ginyu has a technique to [[FreakyFridayFlip swap bodies]] with another person that he uses when he encounters a foe more powerful than himself. After several of these swaps, Goku manages to get Ginyu body swapper into a harmless Namekian frog, and aside from some {{filler}}, Ginyu would be stuck in said frog for the rest of the series.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Angel}}'', the group exorcise a demon from a child's body, only to learn that the demon ''wanted'' them to do it because [[HorrifyingTheHorror the kid was so evil it terrified the demon]], and ever since it possessed him the demon had been stuck inside the kid, unable to escape.

[[WellThisIsNotThatTrope But there's a problem with their latest possession]]. Something has come up, whether because there is something different or unique about the person they attempted to possess, or some sort of special circumstances, and now they're stuck in the host they tried to take possession of. This may be a permanent thing, or it might be a case where they need outside help to get free, but either way this isn't going to be an easy come and go for them.

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Captain Ginyu has a technique to [[FreakyFridayFlip swap bodies]] with another person that he uses when he encounters a foe more powerful than himself. After several of these swaps Goku manages to get Ginyu body swapper into a harmless Namekian frog, and aside from some {{filler}}, Ginyu would be stuck in said frog for the rest of the series.

* ''Fanfic/TheRigelBlackChronicles'': The Dominion Jewel enters Harry's mind, to fulfil its own twisted ideas about making a deal. She wants self-control, so it will assume control over her magic and her personality. But it didn't anticipate [[spoiler:Harry's experiments in creating sentient magical constructs inside her mind. She hasn't been able to create an independently thinking being, but she ''has'' produced a shell bound to obey her and never harm her, and she stuffs the Jewel's magic inside it, resulting in it living inside her head as a subordinate instead of a master.]]

* For most of ''Film/BeingJohnMalkovich'', entering a portal allows someone to temporarily enter the head of (a fictional version of) famous actor Creator/JohnMalkovich, and see life through his eyes. However, the portal can only be used until a "vessel" is a certain age, and then it switches to a new person. At the very end of the movie one of the main characters tries to jump into the portal too late, and winds up permanently stuck in the new vessel, [[AndIMustScream whom they have no control over and cannot effect or even do anything to make people know that they're inside the vessel]].

* In the Merlin focused books from ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfAmber'', Merlin is followed by a Ty'iga demon, a bodiless spirit that often possesses the bodies of people around him as it attempts to protect and keep tabs on him. At one point the Ty'iga goes to possess Nayda, who is the half-sister of Coral, one of Merlin's LoveInterests. The problem is that Nayda had long suffered from serious health problems and suddenly died just as the Ty'iga was starting to possess her, and this left the Ty'iga trapped in Nayda's body. Due to the Ty'iga's spirit inhabiting it Nayda's body is carrying on normally, but the Ty'iga isn't able to BodySurf and jump from body to body as she has in the past.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Angel}}'', the group exorcise a demon from a child's body, only to learn that the demon ''wanted'' them to do because [[HorrifyingTheHorror the kid was so evil it terrified the demon]], and ever since it possessed him the demon had been stuck inside the kid, unable to escape.
* ''Series/{{Crusade}}'' episode ''Appearances and Other Deceits'' has an alien entity possessing various crew members. The entity was isolated to a deck, but was using the possessed crew members as hostages in order to control the ship. When the oxygen to the deck was cut, the entity escaped from all but one host, who then searched around for a new body, finding one in a space suit -- said new body was paralyzed from a shot earlier in the episode. Said body was ejected into space and fired upon.
* ''Series/GuillermoDelTorosCabinetOfCuriosities'': The episode "The Autopsy", Dr. Winters finds out a sapient PuppeteerParasite alien (named in the subtitles as "The Traveller") that feeds on blood has taken control of Sykes and killed all the other miners. The alien captures Winters and straps him to the autopsy table in preparation to make him its new host. However, Winters [[spoiler:stabs out his eyes, punctures his eardrums, and slits his throat before it can completely implant itself inside him to leave the alien with a hapless, dying host body.]]

* In the first episode of ''Podcast/{{Malevolent}}'', when the entity/[[spoiler:John Doe]] explains their particular situation to Arthur, he describes it as Arthur having accidentally cursed both of them by binding them together. Later in the series, he remarks not enjoying being trapped in Arthur's body. Though they do eventually grow to appreciate each other, ultimately [[spoiler:John wants his own body, separate from Arthur, and that's a long term goal for the characters as the series progresses]].

* ''WebAnimation/SpookyMonth'': After spending two years in the attic because Skid and Pump refused to release him, the demon Moloch posseses Dexter, an exterminator Lila hired, to escape and get revenge on the two. When Skid expresses doubt that it's actually Moloch, Pump suggests he [[ExorcistHead turns his head around]] to prove he's a demon. Moloch does so... and [[NeckSnap breaks Dexter's neck]]. While it initially seemed to outright kill him, later episodes reveal that Dexter's body survived in a paralyzed state, and Moloch was now trapped in it.

[[/folder]]

-->--''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS29E4TreehouseOfHorrorXXVIII The Exor-sis]]"

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Films - Live Action]]

* ''Series/{{Crusade}}'' episode ''Appearances and Other Deceits'' has an alien entity possessing various crew members. The entity was isolated to a deck, but was using the possessed crew members as hostages in order to control the ship. When the oxygen to the deck was cut, the entity escaped from all but one host, who then searched around for a new body, finding one in a space suit - said new body was paralyzed from a shot earlier in the episode. Said body was ejected into space and fired upon.

* ''Fanfic/TheRigelBlackChronicles'': The Dominion Jewel [[spoiler:enters Harry's mind, to fulfil its own twisted ideas about making a deal. She wants self-control, so it will assume control over her magic and her personality. But it didn't anticipate Harry's experiments in creating sentient magical constructs inside her mind. She hasn't been able to create an independently thinking being, but she ''has'' produced a shell bound to obey her and never harm her, and she stuffs the Jewel's magic inside it, resulting in it living inside her head as a subordinate instead of a master.]]

* ''Series/GuillermoDelTorosCabinetOfCuriosities'': The episode "The Autopsy", Dr. Winters finds out a sapient PuppeteerParasite alien (named in the subtitles as "The Traveller") that feeds on blood has taken control of Sykes and killed all the other miners. The alien captures Winters and straps him to the autopsy table in preparation to make him its new host. However, Winters [[spoiler:stabs out his eyes, punctures his eardrums, and slits his throat before it can completely implant itself inside him to leave the alien with a hapless, dying host body. His consciousness then informs the alien that [[EngineeredPublicConfession he recorded the entire exchange]] and scrawled a message on his chest in blood to [[BurnTheUndead burn his body]] to the next person who comes across it, and there's nothing it can do about it.]]

There are all kinds of [[PuppeteerParasite aliens]], [[PsychicLink psychics]], or [[DemonicPossession spirits and demons]] that can take over or possess someone. And for the entity doing the possessing, and it's often portrayed as easy to get in and get out, comfortably {{Body Surf}}ing wherever they want to go.