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%%* This is a subplot of a Polish story "Academy of Pan Kleks".
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* In ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde'', this ultimately befalls Jekyll. He eventually starts changing into Hyde without his potion and needs the potion just to be Jekyll again. Then he runs out of the ingredients he needs to make more of it. Even after obtaining more of the ingredients, he cannot recreate the potion. Jekyll suspects it's because the original batch of the ingredients had some unknown contaminant that made it work in the first place, and without it the potion is ineffective. As a result, when he transforms into Hyde again, he's stuck as Hyde.
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* In ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde'', this ultimately befalls Jekyll. He eventually starts changing into Hyde without his potion and needs the potion just to be Jekyll again. Then he runs out of the ingredients he needs to make more of it. Even after obtaining more of the ingredients, he cannot recreate the potion. Jekyll suspects it's because the original batch of the ingredients one key ingredient had some unknown contaminant that made it work in the first place, and without it the potion is ineffective. As a result, when he transforms into Hyde again, after using up the last of that original sample, he's stuck as Hyde.Hyde, who [[DrivenToSuicide subsequently kills himself]].
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** You can apparently (if illogically) get out of being a ''nothlit'' if your animal form undergoes a natural metamorphosis. This becomes relevant when [[TheHeart Cassie]] gets stuck as a caterpillar--once she's a butterfly, she has two hours to demorph.
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** You can apparently (if illogically) get out of being a ''nothlit'' if your animal form undergoes a natural metamorphosis. This becomes relevant when [[TheHeart Cassie]] gets stuck as a caterpillar--once she's a butterfly, she has two hours to demorph.
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** This poem had a few other medieval copycats with the same basic plot, including ''The Lay of Melion'' (where the transformation is done by the wife's magic ring) and an Arthurian knight named Sir Marrok, who was stuck for seven years.
* Voluntary shapeshifting and other forms of {{Transhumanism}} played a big role in human society in Creator/JohnRingo's ''Literature/CouncilWars'' series until the beginning of the war imposed a Mode Lock on everyone. Results varied from unfortunate through unpleasant to instantly fatal depending upon how long the person had intended to stay transformed and how survivable the chosen form was when technology was lost. Both sides try to recruit people with useful shapes, despite the villains' purist ideology. Even though shapeshifting is a thing of the past how people deal [[TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody (or fail to deal)]] with their mode locks remains a plot point for years afterwards.
* Voluntary shapeshifting and other forms of {{Transhumanism}} played a big role in human society in Creator/JohnRingo's ''Literature/CouncilWars'' series until the beginning of the war imposed a Mode Lock on everyone. Results varied from unfortunate through unpleasant to instantly fatal depending upon how long the person had intended to stay transformed and how survivable the chosen form was when technology was lost. Both sides try to recruit people with useful shapes, despite the villains' purist ideology. Even though shapeshifting is a thing of the past how people deal [[TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody (or fail to deal)]] with their mode locks remains a plot point for years afterwards.
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* Creator/JohnRingo's ''Literature/CouncilWars'': Voluntary shapeshifting
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* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', unlike modern vampires, is not killed by sunlight. However, he can't change shape during the day except at high noon.
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* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', unlike modern vampires, ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'': The titular vampire is not killed by sunlight. However, he can't change shape during the day except at high noon.
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* Inverted in ''Literature/DragonsWinter'' when Karadur is locked in his human form (he's a dragon shapechanger). Later in the novel, Hawk is also so locked. Her alternate shape should be [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin rather easy to guess]].
to:
* ''Literature/DragonsWinter'': Inverted in ''Literature/DragonsWinter'' when Karadur is locked in his human form (he's a dragon shapechanger). Later in the novel, Hawk is also so locked. Her alternate shape should be [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin rather easy to guess]].
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* The succubus lead character in Richelle Mead's ''Literature/GeorginaKincaid'' series suffers a mode lock, along with all of the other demonic immortals in Seattle, when their supervising Archdemon goes missing [[spoiler:(summoned and bound by his lieutenant, with help)]]. Georgina is lucky enough to be in her default form when the lock begins -- another succubus is not so lucky and gets locked into a completely different body. This stasis removed definable abilities such as shape-shifting and aura perception due to their being normally 'distributed' via the Archdemon, but their connection to hell - and their immortality -- remained.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', Hermione puts Rita Skeeter, the nosy reporter who isn't above ruining people's lives by writing bald-faced lies about them, into a jar that makes her [[spoiler: unable to transform out of her animagus form, a beetle.]] The jar is just sealed and enchanted to be unbreakable -- thus, if she tries to change back... well, she'd be too big for the container.
** Also, Dumbledore has mentioned in ''Literature/TheTalesOfBeedleTheBard'' that anyone other than an animagus that tries to polymorph themselves would permanently become an animal, unable to use magic to change back.
** This also happens to Tonks although it's not too dramatic. Tonks is unable to use her metamorphmagus skills when she becomes depressed about her [[spoiler:love for Remus Lupin]] and thus gets stuck [[spoiler:looking rather like a girl version of him]].
** Hermione gets stuck as a CatGirl in ''Chamber of Secrets'', after mistakenly adding cat's hair to her dose of the Polyjuice-potion, that was meant to transform her into a Slytherin girl. The potion is supposed to work for just one hour, but since it was designed for human-transformation only, it takes several weeks of professional magical treatment to reverse the effects.
* In ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'', Daemons may manifest as any creature up until [[GrowingUpSucks their human counterpart grows up]], whereupon they "settle" on a [[AnimalMotifs highly symbolic]] permanant form.
* Used in Creator/TamoraPierce's ''Literature/TheImmortals'' quartet. A strange black hawk turns out to be a powerful mage after being given enough drugs to knock out a human - he was so sick in animal form that there was no way he could do anything, much less change back. Daine also gains the ability to shapeshift later on, but often can't shift back if she panics or forgets about her human self. Also, if she ever shapeshifted into an immortal, she would be unable to change back.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', Hermione puts Rita Skeeter, the nosy reporter who isn't above ruining people's lives by writing bald-faced lies about them, into a jar that makes her [[spoiler: unable to transform out of her animagus form, a beetle.]] The jar is just sealed and enchanted to be unbreakable -- thus, if she tries to change back... well, she'd be too big for the container.
** Also, Dumbledore has mentioned in ''Literature/TheTalesOfBeedleTheBard'' that anyone other than an animagus that tries to polymorph themselves would permanently become an animal, unable to use magic to change back.
** This also happens to Tonks although it's not too dramatic. Tonks is unable to use her metamorphmagus skills when she becomes depressed about her [[spoiler:love for Remus Lupin]] and thus gets stuck [[spoiler:looking rather like a girl version of him]].
** Hermione gets stuck as a CatGirl in ''Chamber of Secrets'', after mistakenly adding cat's hair to her dose of the Polyjuice-potion, that was meant to transform her into a Slytherin girl. The potion is supposed to work for just one hour, but since it was designed for human-transformation only, it takes several weeks of professional magical treatment to reverse the effects.
* In ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'', Daemons may manifest as any creature up until [[GrowingUpSucks their human counterpart grows up]], whereupon they "settle" on a [[AnimalMotifs highly symbolic]] permanant form.
* Used in Creator/TamoraPierce's ''Literature/TheImmortals'' quartet. A strange black hawk turns out to be a powerful mage after being given enough drugs to knock out a human - he was so sick in animal form that there was no way he could do anything, much less change back. Daine also gains the ability to shapeshift later on, but often can't shift back if she panics or forgets about her human self. Also, if she ever shapeshifted into an immortal, she would be unable to change back.
to:
* The succubus lead character in Richelle Mead's ''Literature/GeorginaKincaid'' series ''Literature/GeorginaKincaid'': The succubus protagonist suffers a mode lock, along with all of the other demonic immortals in Seattle, when their supervising Archdemon goes missing [[spoiler:(summoned and bound by his lieutenant, with help)]]. Georgina is lucky enough to be in her default form when the lock begins -- another succubus is not so lucky and gets locked into a completely different body. This stasis removed definable abilities such as shape-shifting and aura perception due to their being normally 'distributed' via the Archdemon, but their connection to hell - and their immortality -- remained.
*In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** Hermione puts Rita Skeeter, the nosy reporter who isn't above ruining people's lives by writing bald-faced lies about them, into a jar that makes her[[spoiler: unable [[spoiler:unable to transform out of her animagus form, a beetle.]] The jar is just sealed and enchanted to be unbreakable -- thus, if she tries to change back... well, she'd be too big for the container.
**Also, Dumbledore has mentioned in ''Literature/TheTalesOfBeedleTheBard'' ''Literature/TheTalesOfBeedleTheBard'': dumbledore mentions that anyone other than an animagus that tries to polymorph themselves would permanently become an animal, unable to use magic to change back.
**This also happens to Tonks although it's not too dramatic. Tonks is unable to use her metamorphmagus skills when she becomes depressed about her [[spoiler:love for Remus Lupin]] and thus gets stuck [[spoiler:looking rather like a girl version of him]].
** ''Chamber of Secrets'': Hermione gets stuck as aCatGirl in ''Chamber of Secrets'', cat girl, after mistakenly adding cat's hair to her dose of the Polyjuice-potion, that was meant to transform her into a Slytherin girl. The potion is supposed to work for just one hour, but since it was designed for human-transformation only, it takes several weeks of professional magical treatment to reverse the effects.
*In ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'', Daemons may manifest as any creature up until [[GrowingUpSucks their human counterpart grows up]], whereupon they "settle" on a [[AnimalMotifs highly symbolic]] permanant form.
* Used inCreator/TamoraPierce's ''Literature/TheImmortals'' quartet. ''Literature/TheImmortals'': A strange black hawk turns out to be a powerful mage after being given enough drugs to knock out a human - he was so sick in animal form that there was no way he could do anything, much less change back. Daine also gains the ability to shapeshift later on, but often can't shift back if she panics or forgets about her human self. Also, if she ever shapeshifted into an immortal, she would be unable to change back.
*
** Hermione puts Rita Skeeter, the nosy reporter who isn't above ruining people's lives by writing bald-faced lies about them, into a jar that makes her
**
**
** ''Chamber of Secrets'': Hermione gets stuck as a
*
* Used in
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-->Carlo began drawing the flesh in at his shoulder. He managed to shorten his arm by about a third before his body rebelled and halted the process. The prospect of bringing the afflicted hand any closer felt like ingesting something rotting and poisoned. And for all he knew, his body was right. What if it ''couldn't'' reorganize this flesh, any more than it could subdue a virulent parasite?\\
"I can't do it," he said finally. "It has to come off."
"I can't do it," he said finally. "It has to come off."
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"I
''"I can't do it," he said finally. "It has to come off.
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* Wilhelm Hauff wrote [[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/lfb/gn/gnfb05.htm "The Story of Caliph Stork,"]] where you need a magic word (and magic snuff) to transform, but will forget it if you laugh.
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* An unusual variation occurs in the ''Literature/{{Switchers}}'' series. The titular shapeshifters [[GrowingUpSucks lose their powers at 15]] (which is to say, Midnight on the morning of their fifteenth birthday) and are stuck as whatever they happen to be at the time. This issue is directly and pointedly addressed in the second book, appropriately entitled ''Midnight's Choice''.
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* An unusual variation occurs in the ''Literature/{{Switchers}}'' series.''Literature/{{Switchers}}'': Variant. The titular shapeshifters [[GrowingUpSucks lose their powers at 15]] (which is to say, Midnight on the morning of their fifteenth birthday) and are stuck as whatever they happen to be at the time. This issue is directly and pointedly addressed in the second book, appropriately entitled ''Midnight's Choice''.
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* In Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium:
** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' this happens to [[{{Satan}} Morgoth]] -- "And then he took the form he had worn as the tyrant of Utumno -- a [[EvilOverlord dark lord]], tall and terrible. And in that form he remained forever after."
** Likewise his protégé, Sauron, after the destruction of his physical body in the drowning of Númenor. Even after he regains physical form, he can no longer take on a fair-seeming appearance, and is restricted to ruling through fear rather than deception (not that he doesn't make the odd off-handed attempt, but it doesn't work out too well in a world where BeautyEqualsGoodness is nearly always the rule).
** The Wizards in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', on the other hand, are good Maiar in a voluntary ModeLock in the shape of old men -- in fact, they are placed into real flesh-and-blood bodies, instead of the usual ''fana'' shapes of Maiar. This is to encourage them to use knowledge to advise and encourage other peoples, rather than use their full abilities to grab power or cow people into submission. [[spoiler: Doesn't work with Saruman.]]
** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' this happens to [[{{Satan}} Morgoth]] -- "And then he took the form he had worn as the tyrant of Utumno -- a [[EvilOverlord dark lord]], tall and terrible. And in that form he remained forever after."
** Likewise his protégé, Sauron, after the destruction of his physical body in the drowning of Númenor. Even after he regains physical form, he can no longer take on a fair-seeming appearance, and is restricted to ruling through fear rather than deception (not that he doesn't make the odd off-handed attempt, but it doesn't work out too well in a world where BeautyEqualsGoodness is nearly always the rule).
** The Wizards in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', on the other hand, are good Maiar in a voluntary ModeLock in the shape of old men -- in fact, they are placed into real flesh-and-blood bodies, instead of the usual ''fana'' shapes of Maiar. This is to encourage them to use knowledge to advise and encourage other peoples, rather than use their full abilities to grab power or cow people into submission. [[spoiler: Doesn't work with Saruman.]]
to:
* In Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium:
''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'':
**In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' this happens to ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'': Eventually, [[{{Satan}} Morgoth]] -- "And loses his shape-shifting skills due to waste too much power:
--->''"And then he took the form he had worn as the tyrant of Utumno -- a [[EvilOverlord dark lord]], tall and terrible. And in that form he remained forever after."
"''
**Likewise his protégé, ''Literature/TheFallOfNumenor'': Sauron, after the destruction of his physical body in the drowning of Númenor. Even after he regains physical form, he can no longer take on a fair-seeming appearance, and is restricted to ruling through fear rather than deception (not that he doesn't make the odd off-handed attempt, but it doesn't work out too well in a world where BeautyEqualsGoodness is nearly always the rule).
deception.
** ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': The Wizardsin ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', on the other hand, are good Maiar in a voluntary ModeLock in the shape of old men -- in fact, they are placed into real flesh-and-blood bodies, instead of the usual ''fana'' shapes of Maiar. This is to encourage them to use knowledge to advise and encourage other peoples, rather than use their full abilities to grab power or cow people into submission. [[spoiler: Doesn't work with Saruman.]]
**
--->''"And then he took the form he had worn as the tyrant of Utumno -- a [[EvilOverlord dark lord]], tall and terrible. And in that form he remained forever after.
**
** ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': The Wizards
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* In ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde'', this ultimately befalls Jekyll. He eventually starts changing into Hyde without his potion and needs the potion just to be Jekyll again. Then he runs out of the ingredients he needs to make more of it. Even after obtaining more of the ingredients, he cannot recreate the potion. Jekyll suspects it's because the original batch of the ingredients had some unknown contaminant that made it work in the first place, and without it the potion is ineffective. As a result, when he transforms into Hyde again, he's stuck as Hyde.
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* ''Literature/TheBrotherhoodOfTheConch'': In ''The Conch Bearer'', Abhaydatta expends all his magic turning into a mongoose in order to fight Surabhanu, who is in the form of a snake. Unable to change back, he forgets that he was ever a human until the Healers manage to transform him again.
to:
* ''Literature/TheBrotherhoodOfTheConch'': In ''The Conch Bearer'', Abhaydatta expends all his magic turning into a mongoose in order to fight Surabhanu, who is in the form of a snake. Unable to change back, he forgets that he was ever a human until the Healers manage to transform him again.again.
----
----
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%%* This is a subplot of a Polish story "Academy of Pan Kleks".
* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}},'' this is part and parcel of [[MagicAIsMagicA the rules of morphing]]--stay in a morphed form for more than [[TwoOfYourEarthMinutes Two of Your Earth Hours]], and you're stuck that way. Andalites call these people "''nothlits.''"
** [[HeartbrokenBadass Tobias]] getting stuck in red-tailed hawk form is a FirstEpisodeTwist. He spends the next twelve books still managing to be surprisingly useful to the team, at which point a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien gives him back his morphing powers, as well as allowing him to morph his own human body. This leaves Tobias a difficult choice: continue fighting in the war, even though he has to remain in hawk form most of the time, or deliberately mode-lock himself back into human form forever.
** You can apparently (if illogically) get out of being a ''nothlit'' if your animal form undergoes a natural metamorphosis. This becomes relevant when [[TheHeart Cassie]] gets stuck as a caterpillar--once she's a butterfly, she has two hours to demorph.
** [[spoiler:[[SixthRangerTraitor David]]]] was deliberately lured into a pipe and then stuck there until he was trapped as a rat. He is later dropped off on a deserted island with no-one but real rats for company.
** The Andalite [[ActionGirl Aldrea]] forsook her people after the genocide of the Hork-Bajir, choosing to permanently become a Hork-Bajir and marry [[ChildProdigy Dak]], one of the survivors.
** Two Andalite characters become nothlits in ''The Andalite Chronicles'': [[spoiler:[[FireForgedFriends Arbron]]]], trapped in [[HorrorHunger Taxxon form]], and [[spoiler:[[TheAce Elfangor]]]], who deliberately becomes human and even [[spoiler:has a [[HalfHumanHybrid human kid]]]]. But the aforementioned SufficientlyAdvancedAlien later turns the latter back into an Andalite with full morphing abilities.
** In a more horrifying example, if the Animorphs reach the 2 hour mark while demorphing, they can be stuck mid demorph, as horribly deformed human animal mashups. Fortunately, each time this has happened they managed to fully demorph.
** [[DefectorFromDecadence Aftran]], [[SurvivorsGuilt Menderash]] and the [[spoiler:ENTIRE TAXXON RACE, as well as most of the Yeerks]] all end up doing this deliberately as a humpback whale, a human, and anacondas respectively.
* In Creator/MikhailAkhmanov's ''Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark'' series, the Metamorph species is able to [[VoluntaryShapeshifting voluntarily shapeshift]]. Their normal form is that of an amorphous blob. There are a few individuals who have a mutation that locks the individual into the first transformation for life. At that point, only slight changes are possible. These usually become spies among other races, able to slightly alter their appearance within the confines of the race. The observer on Earth took on the appearance of a human male. He's able to change into other males of any human ethnicity but not females due to radical physiological changes. Attempting any radical changes is likely to be fatal.
* In ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', Belgarath mentions that sorcerers can't spend too much time in animal form without changing back, as the longer you spend as said animal, the more you begin to think and feel like that animal, and too much time in one form can bring the very real possibility that you simply won't want to change back ever.
* ''Literature/BewareOfChicken'': [[spoiler:Tigger/"Tigu" the cat]] goes through a painful and dangerous Tribulation in order to achieve a human form, and is quite happy with the results -- but then discovers that she's unable to change back into a animal. The other animals suspect that the problem is that deep down, she doesn't really want to; she much prefers how she is now. [[spoiler:She eventually succeeds when life-or-death circumstances force her to, but returns to human at the first opportunity, confirming that she doesn't like being a cat anymore.]]
* ''Literature/{{Bisclavret}}'' is about a baron who is a [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf]]. For three days each week he [[ShapeshiftingExcludesClothing takes off his clothes]], turns into a wolf and then [[TransformationTrinket turns back when he puts them on again]]. Unfortunately, his wife takes this news badly, begins an affair with a knight and has him steal the baron's clothes, trapping him in wolf form. He's stuck that way for a year before he gets free.
** This poem had a few other medieval copycats with the same basic plot, including ''The Lay of Melion'' (where the transformation is done by the wife's magic ring) and an Arthurian knight named Sir Marrok, who was stuck for seven years.
* Voluntary shapeshifting and other forms of {{Transhumanism}} played a big role in human society in Creator/JohnRingo's ''Literature/CouncilWars'' series until the beginning of the war imposed a Mode Lock on everyone. Results varied from unfortunate through unpleasant to instantly fatal depending upon how long the person had intended to stay transformed and how survivable the chosen form was when technology was lost. Both sides try to recruit people with useful shapes, despite the villains' purist ideology. Even though shapeshifting is a thing of the past how people deal [[TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody (or fail to deal)]] with their mode locks remains a plot point for years afterwards.
* ''Literature/CurseOfTheWolfgirl'' reveals that werewolves are unable to shift out of their human forms if there is a lunar eclipse. Then things get worse when the BigBad of the book finds a spell that can simulate an eclipse and conspires with a bunch of hunters.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** "Yennorks" are werewolves born with permanent mode-lock. Angua had a sister Elsa who was unable to turn into a wolf and her brother Andrei passes himself off as a sheepdog because of his inability to take human form. She makes it clear to Carrot that this doesn't make them a human and a wolf, they're both still werewolves, just werewolves unable to change.
*** Also used more conventionally within the series: Angua frequently worries about the psychological effects of becoming a wolf, fearing that if she stays in wolf form too long, she will forget how to be human.
*** Shown with her father, in particular, who is slowly forgetting how to be human. Mentioned also that the human/reasoning side becomes less powerful the longer they're in Werewolf form, while the senses fade in human form.
*** Angua herself is locked into her wolf form and unable to return to human form when a wily adversary gets a silver collar onto her.
** Borrowing can also cause this, in a way; if a witch borrows an animal's mind and stays there for too long, she'll forget she was ever human and it'll take a powerful witch to bring her back.
* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', unlike modern vampires, is not killed by sunlight. However, he can't change shape during the day except at high noon.
* ''Literature/DragonlanceTheNewAdventures'': In the spinoff book ''Black Dragon Codex'', the titular dragon Septimus is trapped as a human without any of his magic powers for most of the novel.
* Inverted in ''Literature/DragonsWinter'' when Karadur is locked in his human form (he's a dragon shapechanger). Later in the novel, Hawk is also so locked. Her alternate shape should be [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin rather easy to guess]].
* In ''Literature/TheFeyAndTheFallen'', HalfHumanHybrid Liam attempts to control his [[EnemyWithin fey magic]] by undergoing hypnosis treatment. The result is that the violent "beast" inside him is asleep, but he can no longer shapeshift.
* There's a German children's book (main character's named Agathe) which involves witches, shapeshifting into cats and a "stay-a-cat-powder".
* The succubus lead character in Richelle Mead's ''Literature/GeorginaKincaid'' series suffers a mode lock, along with all of the other demonic immortals in Seattle, when their supervising Archdemon goes missing [[spoiler:(summoned and bound by his lieutenant, with help)]]. Georgina is lucky enough to be in her default form when the lock begins -- another succubus is not so lucky and gets locked into a completely different body. This stasis removed definable abilities such as shape-shifting and aura perception due to their being normally 'distributed' via the Archdemon, but their connection to hell - and their immortality -- remained.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', Hermione puts Rita Skeeter, the nosy reporter who isn't above ruining people's lives by writing bald-faced lies about them, into a jar that makes her [[spoiler: unable to transform out of her animagus form, a beetle.]] The jar is just sealed and enchanted to be unbreakable -- thus, if she tries to change back... well, she'd be too big for the container.
** Also, Dumbledore has mentioned in ''Literature/TheTalesOfBeedleTheBard'' that anyone other than an animagus that tries to polymorph themselves would permanently become an animal, unable to use magic to change back.
** This also happens to Tonks although it's not too dramatic. Tonks is unable to use her metamorphmagus skills when she becomes depressed about her [[spoiler:love for Remus Lupin]] and thus gets stuck [[spoiler:looking rather like a girl version of him]].
** Hermione gets stuck as a CatGirl in ''Chamber of Secrets'', after mistakenly adding cat's hair to her dose of the Polyjuice-potion, that was meant to transform her into a Slytherin girl. The potion is supposed to work for just one hour, but since it was designed for human-transformation only, it takes several weeks of professional magical treatment to reverse the effects.
* In ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'', Daemons may manifest as any creature up until [[GrowingUpSucks their human counterpart grows up]], whereupon they "settle" on a [[AnimalMotifs highly symbolic]] permanant form.
* Used in Creator/TamoraPierce's ''Literature/TheImmortals'' quartet. A strange black hawk turns out to be a powerful mage after being given enough drugs to knock out a human - he was so sick in animal form that there was no way he could do anything, much less change back. Daine also gains the ability to shapeshift later on, but often can't shift back if she panics or forgets about her human self. Also, if she ever shapeshifted into an immortal, she would be unable to change back.
* The title villain of ''Literature/{{IT}}'' by Creator/StephenKing can be forced into one form if several people all think of it that way at once. [[spoiler:Like a GiantSpider.]]
* Several people in the ''Literature/KieshaRa'' series by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes have had their animal forms "bound" so that they can't transform, some intentionally as punishment. It's not a pleasant process.
** Though none have appeared in published canon, WordOfGod says that a shapeshifter who spends an extremely long period of time in his or her animal form can get modelocked as the animal. This is referred to as going feral.
* {{Discussed}} in ''Literature/TheLostYearsOfMerlin''--Merlin is given the ability to turn into a deer [[VoluntaryShapeshifting at will]]. However, the power will naturally wear off after a while, and if he's still in deer form when it does, well, tough cookies. Fortunately, it doesn't happen.
* ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'':
** Treach, [[WarGod the Tiger of Summer]], originally a [[VoluntaryShapeshifter Soletaken]] [[PhysicalGod Ascendant]], is said to have been stuck in his tiger form for at least the last 500 years prior to the series and to have become little more than a crazed, mindless beast due to losing his rational thought to the tiger's instincts.
** The unnamed god of the Forkrul Assail is seen only as a [[OneToMillionToOne D'ivers]] in the present-day of the story and is broken up into ''every lifeform'' in the Glass Desert -- so largely bugs and butterflies, since there is nothing to feed upon in the Glass Desert for any other animals. It is considered lost by the Forkrul Assail, but the last book reveals that [[spoiler:they drove it to this by turning their endless hunger to judge everything onto their own god and finding it wanting]].
** The seven [[{{Hellhound}} Deragoth]], or [[CanisMajor Hounds of Darkness]], are said to be the [[OneToMillionToOne D'ivers]] form of Dessimbelackis, the Emperor of the human First Empire, who sought to teach his subjects a lesson about respecting nature by turning them into beast shapeshifters. He took on the forms of the seven Deragoth in order to flee the [[DemBones T'lan Imass]] retribution for the mess he had created, then lost himself and became the Hounds of Darkness for good.
* In ''[[Literature/MagicShop The Monster's Ring]]'', Russell gets a ring from TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday that lets him transform into a HornedHumanoid by twisting it on his finger but its instructions warn him to not twist it three times and to ''never'' use it on a full moon. When he accidentally does both of these on the same night, he transforms into a full monster and finds that he can't change back. [[spoiler:Fortunately, he returns to being human when the night is over. Unfortunately, he learns a month later that he's now doomed to transform into the same monstrous form every full moon.]]
* ''Literature/OliverTwisted'': [[spoiler:Bullseye]] is a werewolf who was born with the inability to shift into human form, and thus appears as the pet of [[spoiler:Bill Sikes. He's the only one who can understand him because they are brothers.]]
* Creator/GregEgan's ''Literature/{{Orthogonal}}'' trilogy features a relatively minor example. When {{Shapeshifting}} StarfishAlien Carlo's hand starts spasming uncontrollably during the light experiment, he tries to reabsorb it into his body, but can't. It's implied that he was just so [[BodyHorror viscerally repulsed by the phenomenon]] that he couldn't ''make'' himself absorb the hand, rather than actually being physically incapable of doing it, but it still qualifies.
-->Carlo began drawing the flesh in at his shoulder. He managed to shorten his arm by about a third before his body rebelled and halted the process. The prospect of bringing the afflicted hand any closer felt like ingesting something rotting and poisoned. And for all he knew, his body was right. What if it ''couldn't'' reorganize this flesh, any more than it could subdue a virulent parasite?\\
"I can't do it," he said finally. "It has to come off."
* In the ''Literature/{{Outernet}}'' books by Steves Barlowe and Skidmore, the shapeshifter-characters Sirius and Vega are trapped in the forms of a cat and dog, respectively. This remains throughout the whole of the series (with two brief exceptions).
* In ''Literature/ProsperosChildren'' by Jan Siegal, a sorceress with the ability to turn into a wolf would use her form to hunt humans for sport. One day she met a wizard who cursed her to remain in wolf form permanently until she could repent for her evil ways. After several years, she sought out the wizard so that she could show him that she had changed, but the wizard no longer had the power to change her back.
* In ''Literature/{{Renegades}}'', Danna can transform into a [[OneToMillionToOne swarm of butterflies]], but cannot change back into a human unless every single one of them is either dead or clustered together. The Anarchists use this to [[spoiler:hide Nova's identity when they discover Donna spying on them, trapping one butterfly in a jar.]]
* ''Literature/RetiredWitchesMysteries'': In book 3, the witches use a special enchanted water to force a shapeshifter back into human form and stop her from changing back.
* Mikey [=McGill=] in ''Literature/TheSkinjackerTrilogy'' gets stuck in his hideous monster form whenever his negative emotions overwhelm him, and it usually takes some sort of trigger to bring him back to normal.
* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' has two similar species, the parshmen and the Parshendi (a human term, meaning, "parshmen who think."). The lively Parshendi call themselves Listeners and can change forms with each Highstorm. The parshmen cannot, permanently stuck in the docile "dullform," [[spoiler: until the Parshendi invoke the GodOfEvil at the end of book 2.]]
* Wilhelm Hauff wrote [[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/lfb/gn/gnfb05.htm "The Story of Caliph Stork,"]] where you need a magic word (and magic snuff) to transform, but will forget it if you laugh.
* An unusual variation occurs in the ''Literature/{{Switchers}}'' series. The titular shapeshifters [[GrowingUpSucks lose their powers at 15]] (which is to say, Midnight on the morning of their fifteenth birthday) and are stuck as whatever they happen to be at the time. This issue is directly and pointedly addressed in the second book, appropriately entitled ''Midnight's Choice''.
* In ''Literature/ThisIsNotAWerewolfStory,'' which is loosely based on ''Literature/{{Bisclavret}},'' Raul [[VoluntaryShapeshifting turns into a wolf]] each weekend and spends time with a [[WhiteWolvesAreSpecial white wolf]] which he believes is his MissingMom. He doesn't know how she got trapped in wolf form and is thus very careful to always follow the transformation formula carefully. [[spoiler:Raul is then trapped in wolf form himself for several months after his friend Vincent betrays his secret to the villain who trapped his mom]].
* In Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium:
** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' this happens to [[{{Satan}} Morgoth]] -- "And then he took the form he had worn as the tyrant of Utumno -- a [[EvilOverlord dark lord]], tall and terrible. And in that form he remained forever after."
** Likewise his protégé, Sauron, after the destruction of his physical body in the drowning of Númenor. Even after he regains physical form, he can no longer take on a fair-seeming appearance, and is restricted to ruling through fear rather than deception (not that he doesn't make the odd off-handed attempt, but it doesn't work out too well in a world where BeautyEqualsGoodness is nearly always the rule).
** The Wizards in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', on the other hand, are good Maiar in a voluntary ModeLock in the shape of old men -- in fact, they are placed into real flesh-and-blood bodies, instead of the usual ''fana'' shapes of Maiar. This is to encourage them to use knowledge to advise and encourage other peoples, rather than use their full abilities to grab power or cow people into submission. [[spoiler: Doesn't work with Saruman.]]
* In ''Literature/VoidCity'', one of the magical properties of the bullets fired by the gun ''El Alma Perdida'' is to prevent all forms of shapeshifting. John Paul Courtney would use it to prevent werewolves he killed from reverting to their human forms upon death, thus making it apparent that he had killed monsters rather than men.
* In ''Literature/AWizardOfEarthsea'' by Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin, wizards who spend too much time shapeshifted into animal forms can forget their humanity, especially when distracted by the animal's power of ''{{flight}}'' or ability to freely range the oceans. A sufficiently powerful wizard can bring them back, though in the only case that happens onscreen the wizard also had access to the shapeshifter's [[IKnowYourTrueName Name]], which may have helped.
* ''Literature/TheBrotherhoodOfTheConch'': In ''The Conch Bearer'', Abhaydatta expends all his magic turning into a mongoose in order to fight Surabhanu, who is in the form of a snake. Unable to change back, he forgets that he was ever a human until the Healers manage to transform him again.
* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}},'' this is part and parcel of [[MagicAIsMagicA the rules of morphing]]--stay in a morphed form for more than [[TwoOfYourEarthMinutes Two of Your Earth Hours]], and you're stuck that way. Andalites call these people "''nothlits.''"
** [[HeartbrokenBadass Tobias]] getting stuck in red-tailed hawk form is a FirstEpisodeTwist. He spends the next twelve books still managing to be surprisingly useful to the team, at which point a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien gives him back his morphing powers, as well as allowing him to morph his own human body. This leaves Tobias a difficult choice: continue fighting in the war, even though he has to remain in hawk form most of the time, or deliberately mode-lock himself back into human form forever.
** You can apparently (if illogically) get out of being a ''nothlit'' if your animal form undergoes a natural metamorphosis. This becomes relevant when [[TheHeart Cassie]] gets stuck as a caterpillar--once she's a butterfly, she has two hours to demorph.
** [[spoiler:[[SixthRangerTraitor David]]]] was deliberately lured into a pipe and then stuck there until he was trapped as a rat. He is later dropped off on a deserted island with no-one but real rats for company.
** The Andalite [[ActionGirl Aldrea]] forsook her people after the genocide of the Hork-Bajir, choosing to permanently become a Hork-Bajir and marry [[ChildProdigy Dak]], one of the survivors.
** Two Andalite characters become nothlits in ''The Andalite Chronicles'': [[spoiler:[[FireForgedFriends Arbron]]]], trapped in [[HorrorHunger Taxxon form]], and [[spoiler:[[TheAce Elfangor]]]], who deliberately becomes human and even [[spoiler:has a [[HalfHumanHybrid human kid]]]]. But the aforementioned SufficientlyAdvancedAlien later turns the latter back into an Andalite with full morphing abilities.
** In a more horrifying example, if the Animorphs reach the 2 hour mark while demorphing, they can be stuck mid demorph, as horribly deformed human animal mashups. Fortunately, each time this has happened they managed to fully demorph.
** [[DefectorFromDecadence Aftran]], [[SurvivorsGuilt Menderash]] and the [[spoiler:ENTIRE TAXXON RACE, as well as most of the Yeerks]] all end up doing this deliberately as a humpback whale, a human, and anacondas respectively.
* In Creator/MikhailAkhmanov's ''Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark'' series, the Metamorph species is able to [[VoluntaryShapeshifting voluntarily shapeshift]]. Their normal form is that of an amorphous blob. There are a few individuals who have a mutation that locks the individual into the first transformation for life. At that point, only slight changes are possible. These usually become spies among other races, able to slightly alter their appearance within the confines of the race. The observer on Earth took on the appearance of a human male. He's able to change into other males of any human ethnicity but not females due to radical physiological changes. Attempting any radical changes is likely to be fatal.
* In ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', Belgarath mentions that sorcerers can't spend too much time in animal form without changing back, as the longer you spend as said animal, the more you begin to think and feel like that animal, and too much time in one form can bring the very real possibility that you simply won't want to change back ever.
* ''Literature/BewareOfChicken'': [[spoiler:Tigger/"Tigu" the cat]] goes through a painful and dangerous Tribulation in order to achieve a human form, and is quite happy with the results -- but then discovers that she's unable to change back into a animal. The other animals suspect that the problem is that deep down, she doesn't really want to; she much prefers how she is now. [[spoiler:She eventually succeeds when life-or-death circumstances force her to, but returns to human at the first opportunity, confirming that she doesn't like being a cat anymore.]]
* ''Literature/{{Bisclavret}}'' is about a baron who is a [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent werewolf]]. For three days each week he [[ShapeshiftingExcludesClothing takes off his clothes]], turns into a wolf and then [[TransformationTrinket turns back when he puts them on again]]. Unfortunately, his wife takes this news badly, begins an affair with a knight and has him steal the baron's clothes, trapping him in wolf form. He's stuck that way for a year before he gets free.
** This poem had a few other medieval copycats with the same basic plot, including ''The Lay of Melion'' (where the transformation is done by the wife's magic ring) and an Arthurian knight named Sir Marrok, who was stuck for seven years.
* Voluntary shapeshifting and other forms of {{Transhumanism}} played a big role in human society in Creator/JohnRingo's ''Literature/CouncilWars'' series until the beginning of the war imposed a Mode Lock on everyone. Results varied from unfortunate through unpleasant to instantly fatal depending upon how long the person had intended to stay transformed and how survivable the chosen form was when technology was lost. Both sides try to recruit people with useful shapes, despite the villains' purist ideology. Even though shapeshifting is a thing of the past how people deal [[TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody (or fail to deal)]] with their mode locks remains a plot point for years afterwards.
* ''Literature/CurseOfTheWolfgirl'' reveals that werewolves are unable to shift out of their human forms if there is a lunar eclipse. Then things get worse when the BigBad of the book finds a spell that can simulate an eclipse and conspires with a bunch of hunters.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** "Yennorks" are werewolves born with permanent mode-lock. Angua had a sister Elsa who was unable to turn into a wolf and her brother Andrei passes himself off as a sheepdog because of his inability to take human form. She makes it clear to Carrot that this doesn't make them a human and a wolf, they're both still werewolves, just werewolves unable to change.
*** Also used more conventionally within the series: Angua frequently worries about the psychological effects of becoming a wolf, fearing that if she stays in wolf form too long, she will forget how to be human.
*** Shown with her father, in particular, who is slowly forgetting how to be human. Mentioned also that the human/reasoning side becomes less powerful the longer they're in Werewolf form, while the senses fade in human form.
*** Angua herself is locked into her wolf form and unable to return to human form when a wily adversary gets a silver collar onto her.
** Borrowing can also cause this, in a way; if a witch borrows an animal's mind and stays there for too long, she'll forget she was ever human and it'll take a powerful witch to bring her back.
* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', unlike modern vampires, is not killed by sunlight. However, he can't change shape during the day except at high noon.
* ''Literature/DragonlanceTheNewAdventures'': In the spinoff book ''Black Dragon Codex'', the titular dragon Septimus is trapped as a human without any of his magic powers for most of the novel.
* Inverted in ''Literature/DragonsWinter'' when Karadur is locked in his human form (he's a dragon shapechanger). Later in the novel, Hawk is also so locked. Her alternate shape should be [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin rather easy to guess]].
* In ''Literature/TheFeyAndTheFallen'', HalfHumanHybrid Liam attempts to control his [[EnemyWithin fey magic]] by undergoing hypnosis treatment. The result is that the violent "beast" inside him is asleep, but he can no longer shapeshift.
* There's a German children's book (main character's named Agathe) which involves witches, shapeshifting into cats and a "stay-a-cat-powder".
* The succubus lead character in Richelle Mead's ''Literature/GeorginaKincaid'' series suffers a mode lock, along with all of the other demonic immortals in Seattle, when their supervising Archdemon goes missing [[spoiler:(summoned and bound by his lieutenant, with help)]]. Georgina is lucky enough to be in her default form when the lock begins -- another succubus is not so lucky and gets locked into a completely different body. This stasis removed definable abilities such as shape-shifting and aura perception due to their being normally 'distributed' via the Archdemon, but their connection to hell - and their immortality -- remained.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotter'', Hermione puts Rita Skeeter, the nosy reporter who isn't above ruining people's lives by writing bald-faced lies about them, into a jar that makes her [[spoiler: unable to transform out of her animagus form, a beetle.]] The jar is just sealed and enchanted to be unbreakable -- thus, if she tries to change back... well, she'd be too big for the container.
** Also, Dumbledore has mentioned in ''Literature/TheTalesOfBeedleTheBard'' that anyone other than an animagus that tries to polymorph themselves would permanently become an animal, unable to use magic to change back.
** This also happens to Tonks although it's not too dramatic. Tonks is unable to use her metamorphmagus skills when she becomes depressed about her [[spoiler:love for Remus Lupin]] and thus gets stuck [[spoiler:looking rather like a girl version of him]].
** Hermione gets stuck as a CatGirl in ''Chamber of Secrets'', after mistakenly adding cat's hair to her dose of the Polyjuice-potion, that was meant to transform her into a Slytherin girl. The potion is supposed to work for just one hour, but since it was designed for human-transformation only, it takes several weeks of professional magical treatment to reverse the effects.
* In ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'', Daemons may manifest as any creature up until [[GrowingUpSucks their human counterpart grows up]], whereupon they "settle" on a [[AnimalMotifs highly symbolic]] permanant form.
* Used in Creator/TamoraPierce's ''Literature/TheImmortals'' quartet. A strange black hawk turns out to be a powerful mage after being given enough drugs to knock out a human - he was so sick in animal form that there was no way he could do anything, much less change back. Daine also gains the ability to shapeshift later on, but often can't shift back if she panics or forgets about her human self. Also, if she ever shapeshifted into an immortal, she would be unable to change back.
* The title villain of ''Literature/{{IT}}'' by Creator/StephenKing can be forced into one form if several people all think of it that way at once. [[spoiler:Like a GiantSpider.]]
* Several people in the ''Literature/KieshaRa'' series by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes have had their animal forms "bound" so that they can't transform, some intentionally as punishment. It's not a pleasant process.
** Though none have appeared in published canon, WordOfGod says that a shapeshifter who spends an extremely long period of time in his or her animal form can get modelocked as the animal. This is referred to as going feral.
* {{Discussed}} in ''Literature/TheLostYearsOfMerlin''--Merlin is given the ability to turn into a deer [[VoluntaryShapeshifting at will]]. However, the power will naturally wear off after a while, and if he's still in deer form when it does, well, tough cookies. Fortunately, it doesn't happen.
* ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'':
** Treach, [[WarGod the Tiger of Summer]], originally a [[VoluntaryShapeshifter Soletaken]] [[PhysicalGod Ascendant]], is said to have been stuck in his tiger form for at least the last 500 years prior to the series and to have become little more than a crazed, mindless beast due to losing his rational thought to the tiger's instincts.
** The unnamed god of the Forkrul Assail is seen only as a [[OneToMillionToOne D'ivers]] in the present-day of the story and is broken up into ''every lifeform'' in the Glass Desert -- so largely bugs and butterflies, since there is nothing to feed upon in the Glass Desert for any other animals. It is considered lost by the Forkrul Assail, but the last book reveals that [[spoiler:they drove it to this by turning their endless hunger to judge everything onto their own god and finding it wanting]].
** The seven [[{{Hellhound}} Deragoth]], or [[CanisMajor Hounds of Darkness]], are said to be the [[OneToMillionToOne D'ivers]] form of Dessimbelackis, the Emperor of the human First Empire, who sought to teach his subjects a lesson about respecting nature by turning them into beast shapeshifters. He took on the forms of the seven Deragoth in order to flee the [[DemBones T'lan Imass]] retribution for the mess he had created, then lost himself and became the Hounds of Darkness for good.
* In ''[[Literature/MagicShop The Monster's Ring]]'', Russell gets a ring from TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday that lets him transform into a HornedHumanoid by twisting it on his finger but its instructions warn him to not twist it three times and to ''never'' use it on a full moon. When he accidentally does both of these on the same night, he transforms into a full monster and finds that he can't change back. [[spoiler:Fortunately, he returns to being human when the night is over. Unfortunately, he learns a month later that he's now doomed to transform into the same monstrous form every full moon.]]
* ''Literature/OliverTwisted'': [[spoiler:Bullseye]] is a werewolf who was born with the inability to shift into human form, and thus appears as the pet of [[spoiler:Bill Sikes. He's the only one who can understand him because they are brothers.]]
* Creator/GregEgan's ''Literature/{{Orthogonal}}'' trilogy features a relatively minor example. When {{Shapeshifting}} StarfishAlien Carlo's hand starts spasming uncontrollably during the light experiment, he tries to reabsorb it into his body, but can't. It's implied that he was just so [[BodyHorror viscerally repulsed by the phenomenon]] that he couldn't ''make'' himself absorb the hand, rather than actually being physically incapable of doing it, but it still qualifies.
-->Carlo began drawing the flesh in at his shoulder. He managed to shorten his arm by about a third before his body rebelled and halted the process. The prospect of bringing the afflicted hand any closer felt like ingesting something rotting and poisoned. And for all he knew, his body was right. What if it ''couldn't'' reorganize this flesh, any more than it could subdue a virulent parasite?\\
"I can't do it," he said finally. "It has to come off."
* In the ''Literature/{{Outernet}}'' books by Steves Barlowe and Skidmore, the shapeshifter-characters Sirius and Vega are trapped in the forms of a cat and dog, respectively. This remains throughout the whole of the series (with two brief exceptions).
* In ''Literature/ProsperosChildren'' by Jan Siegal, a sorceress with the ability to turn into a wolf would use her form to hunt humans for sport. One day she met a wizard who cursed her to remain in wolf form permanently until she could repent for her evil ways. After several years, she sought out the wizard so that she could show him that she had changed, but the wizard no longer had the power to change her back.
* In ''Literature/{{Renegades}}'', Danna can transform into a [[OneToMillionToOne swarm of butterflies]], but cannot change back into a human unless every single one of them is either dead or clustered together. The Anarchists use this to [[spoiler:hide Nova's identity when they discover Donna spying on them, trapping one butterfly in a jar.]]
* ''Literature/RetiredWitchesMysteries'': In book 3, the witches use a special enchanted water to force a shapeshifter back into human form and stop her from changing back.
* Mikey [=McGill=] in ''Literature/TheSkinjackerTrilogy'' gets stuck in his hideous monster form whenever his negative emotions overwhelm him, and it usually takes some sort of trigger to bring him back to normal.
* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' has two similar species, the parshmen and the Parshendi (a human term, meaning, "parshmen who think."). The lively Parshendi call themselves Listeners and can change forms with each Highstorm. The parshmen cannot, permanently stuck in the docile "dullform," [[spoiler: until the Parshendi invoke the GodOfEvil at the end of book 2.]]
* Wilhelm Hauff wrote [[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/lfb/gn/gnfb05.htm "The Story of Caliph Stork,"]] where you need a magic word (and magic snuff) to transform, but will forget it if you laugh.
* An unusual variation occurs in the ''Literature/{{Switchers}}'' series. The titular shapeshifters [[GrowingUpSucks lose their powers at 15]] (which is to say, Midnight on the morning of their fifteenth birthday) and are stuck as whatever they happen to be at the time. This issue is directly and pointedly addressed in the second book, appropriately entitled ''Midnight's Choice''.
* In ''Literature/ThisIsNotAWerewolfStory,'' which is loosely based on ''Literature/{{Bisclavret}},'' Raul [[VoluntaryShapeshifting turns into a wolf]] each weekend and spends time with a [[WhiteWolvesAreSpecial white wolf]] which he believes is his MissingMom. He doesn't know how she got trapped in wolf form and is thus very careful to always follow the transformation formula carefully. [[spoiler:Raul is then trapped in wolf form himself for several months after his friend Vincent betrays his secret to the villain who trapped his mom]].
* In Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium:
** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' this happens to [[{{Satan}} Morgoth]] -- "And then he took the form he had worn as the tyrant of Utumno -- a [[EvilOverlord dark lord]], tall and terrible. And in that form he remained forever after."
** Likewise his protégé, Sauron, after the destruction of his physical body in the drowning of Númenor. Even after he regains physical form, he can no longer take on a fair-seeming appearance, and is restricted to ruling through fear rather than deception (not that he doesn't make the odd off-handed attempt, but it doesn't work out too well in a world where BeautyEqualsGoodness is nearly always the rule).
** The Wizards in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', on the other hand, are good Maiar in a voluntary ModeLock in the shape of old men -- in fact, they are placed into real flesh-and-blood bodies, instead of the usual ''fana'' shapes of Maiar. This is to encourage them to use knowledge to advise and encourage other peoples, rather than use their full abilities to grab power or cow people into submission. [[spoiler: Doesn't work with Saruman.]]
* In ''Literature/VoidCity'', one of the magical properties of the bullets fired by the gun ''El Alma Perdida'' is to prevent all forms of shapeshifting. John Paul Courtney would use it to prevent werewolves he killed from reverting to their human forms upon death, thus making it apparent that he had killed monsters rather than men.
* In ''Literature/AWizardOfEarthsea'' by Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin, wizards who spend too much time shapeshifted into animal forms can forget their humanity, especially when distracted by the animal's power of ''{{flight}}'' or ability to freely range the oceans. A sufficiently powerful wizard can bring them back, though in the only case that happens onscreen the wizard also had access to the shapeshifter's [[IKnowYourTrueName Name]], which may have helped.
* ''Literature/TheBrotherhoodOfTheConch'': In ''The Conch Bearer'', Abhaydatta expends all his magic turning into a mongoose in order to fight Surabhanu, who is in the form of a snake. Unable to change back, he forgets that he was ever a human until the Healers manage to transform him again.
