%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1592155313051794400
%% Previous thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1504438488098544700
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
%%
[[quoteright:303:[[Webcomic/RustyAndCo https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/false_7.png]]]]
%%

->''"They're probably watching me. Well, let them. Let them see what kind of a person I am. I'm not even going to swat that fly. I hope they are watching...they'll see. They'll see and they'll know, and they'll say, 'Why, she wouldn't even harm a fly.'"''
-->-- '''Mrs. Bates''', ''Film/{{Psycho}}''

TheHero has come upon an InnocentBystander trapped in a TailorMadePrison by a wicked monster. The prisoner may plead with the hero to be set free, telling him all about the horrors the tyrant has inflicted upon him, or the prisoner may just hang in sorrowful UnwillingSuspension in his terrible bonds. Once the hero sets the prisoner free, it quickly becomes apparent that he was tricked.

The False Innocence Trick (aka Fake Good In A Can) is when a villain or monster locked away for a good reason feigns innocence or being a good guy in order to fool the hero into letting him go. Typically the villain will prey on the hero's good will and strong moral fiber while doing this by making himself and his story as sympathetic as possible. He often is also counting on the fact that the hero has come from a time/place far enough away to not know who the prisoner really is (or, if he's a local, simply hasn't heard of him).

Demons contained in the SummoningRitual of an EvilSorcerer love this one; usually with VoluntaryShapeshifting. "I'm just an innocent maiden, I have no idea why he has me trapped here. Could you please break the circle?"

Compare WoundedGazelleGambit, TheFarmerAndTheViper, BitchInSheepsClothing, and DecoyDamsel for other cases of villains [[BatmanGambit taking advantage of the hero's trusting nature]].

Contrast the more common and DisguisedHostageGambit for when a villain makes a genuine prisoner look like a bad guy.

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/ACruelGodReigns'': Greg does this ''all the time'' to poor Jeremy and, to a lesser degree, Sandra. He promises Jeremy that he only coerced him into having sex because he was confused, that he actually really loves him, and that he only wants to keep it from Sandra because he doesn't want to hurt her. Except that he's actually just EvilAllAlong.
* A variation is used in the first season of ''Manga/CaseClosed''. A female kidnapper poses as the girl she's abducted, using a blindfold and a [[BoundAndGagged piece of duct tape over her mouth]] to hide her identity. When the ransom drop-off falls apart, she manages to escape while leaving the police baffled (since they believe the kidnapper somehow managed to slip away while lugging around a tied up hostage, a sight which would have surely attracted attention from onlookers).
* Light Yagami of ''Manga/DeathNote'' has a plan:
## Add a false rule to the Death Note that, if broken, will result in Kira's death.
## Arrange for the anti-Kira task force to learn of this rule.
## Give yourself LaserGuidedAmnesia to sell the story.
## Have yourself imprisoned in such a way that, if you are Kira, you will be forced to break the false rule.
## Fail to die, thus "proving" your "innocence".
* In the 3rd OVA to ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'' the fake Suzaku [[spoiler:actually Tenkou, the resident GodOfEvil]] pretends to be the real deal, promising to help Mayo and save her, "her" unborn child and Tamahome if she [[PrayerOfMalice concentrates on the destruction of the universe]]. Initially, Mayo is a little suspicious, because "Suzaku" appeared without being summoned and before all the Celestial Warriors had been found, but she falls for it when [[ManipulativeBastard "Suzaku"]] convinces her that the Celestial Warriors want to kill her and rip the fetus from her belly...and that he can protect her (and make Tamahome truly hers.) [[spoiler: After realizing the error of her ways, Mayo and Miaka summon the ''real'' Suzaku together and save the universe.]]
* Attempted in ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'' by Yoshikage Kira. His confrontation with Jotaro and Koichi leaves all three of them badly injured, but Kira the only one left conscious when Josuke and Okuyasu arrive on the scene, so Kira tries to pass himself off as a random bystander who got caught up in chaos. [[INeverSaidItWasPoison He accidentally gives himself away as the enemy]] when he specifically asks Josuke to ''heal'' him, when a real bystander wouldn't know about Josuke's HealingHands.
* In a ''Manga/{{Lupin III}} M'' chapter, a rival female thief ties up a rich couple in order to steal the wife's priceless necklace. The whole thing is revealed to be a trap, and it turns out that the hostages were actually Fujiko and Lupin in disguise, with the real rich people (and their servants) BoundAndGagged in a closet.
* In an episode of ''Anime/LupinIIIBlueJacket'', Fujiko dresses as Zenigata and then ties up and gags herself, making it seem like she's the real Zenigata and has been MuggedForDisguise.
* Done in one of the ''Manga/MagicKaito'' specials. A guard is found tied up in an undershirt and boxers in a bathroom and claims that the thief has stolen his clothes. It turns out the "guard" in question is the ''real'' Kaito, while the actual guard is BoundAndGagged inside a bathroom stall.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'', [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]] is found in the ruins of Atlantis and he tells the Four that he was its ruler long ago, in a nod to the mainstream version. [[spoiler:Things go south when Reed translates the warnings on the building Namor was found in and realizes that Namor was being held in a ''prison''. For good reason, since he's the kind of evil jerk who would threaten to flood New York unless Sue gave him a kiss.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fairy Tales]]
* In Joseph Jacob's ''[[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/jacobs/indian/tigerbramanjackal.html The Tiger, the Brahman and the Jackal,]]'' (and its multiple variants all over the world) a tiger tricks a Brahman into releasing him from a trap, and then proposes to eat him. It finally yields that if the first three beings he asked about the justice of it agreed with the Brahman. A buffalo and the road agree that injustice like this is the way of the world, but a jackal [[ObfuscatingStupidity pretended not to understand]] the question until the tiger went back into the trap to show him, and they left him there.
* There are numerous tales/jokes where a ruler inspects the prison, and everyone insists he is innocent. Finally, the last prisoner admits he is indeed a criminal... to which the ruler says "[[GoneHorriblyRight Let this monster out, I won't allow him to ruin all the good people here!]]"
* In "The Soldier and the Carpenter", a story of Creator/TheBrothersGrimm, the eponymous duo find an old lady hiding in the basement of a castle from three {{intellectual animal}}s above. She claims they're wicked spirits keeping her trapped, and convinces the two protagonists to kill them. Once the animals are dead, she then tries (but fails) to kill the soldier and carpenter, who have to kill her in self-defense. It turns out that she was a witch who cursed the castle but couldn't fully affect three other magicians there, and just needed someone else to do it so she could take over the place, then [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished kill her saviors "as a reward"]]. Thankfully, killing her broke the curse and rescued all the other inhabitants.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/{{Ava}}'', the title character has just executed an assassination and killed a bunch of guards. But outside the room where it all happened, she pretends to be a scared bystander who witnessed the massacre to be escorted by the incoming security to a safer location - along the way, grabbing a grenade from one of the guards to create some chaos that will hide her frantic run out of the building.
* ''Film/BirdBox''. While looting a supermarket for supplies, the group hear someone pounding on a locked door pleading for help. When they open the door, he turns out to be one of the crazies who are forcing people to look at the {{Brown Note Being}}s so they will go crazy as well. One of the group does a HeroicSacrifice and the others are horrified to see a pool of his blood seeping under the door...followed by the crazy person once again pounding on the door and pleading for someone to let him in. [[spoiler:Later Gary, a man who claims to be fleeing the same crazies, turns out to be one of them.]]
* In the Film/HammerHorror film ''Film/TheBridesOfDracula'', the heroine spends the night in a lonely castle and sees from her window a handsome young man chained to the wall by a shackle around his ankle. He convinces her it's his mother's doing, that the lady of the castle's declared him insane in order to usurp his lands, and so the main character has pity on him and sets him free. Well, he's [[FalseReassurance not insane]], [[ClassicalMovieVampire certainly...]]
* ''Film/DieHard'': Hans Gruber attempted to pass himself off as an escaped hostage when meeting John [=McClane=] for the first time. [[spoiler: John wasn't fooled, because he knew a FakeAmerican accent when he heard one. He'd also caught a glimpse of Hans earlier while hiding on top of the elevator.]]
* In the ActionPrologue, Film/{{Machete}} rescues a female kidnap victim who turns out to be jaw-droppingly attractive, totally naked, and [[RescueSex eager to reward her rescuer]], only to stab him with his own machete as it's all a trap by the BigBad.
* ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'': Max and co. come across a naked woman in an iron cage suspended off the ground screaming for help. Max isn't fooled for a second. It turns out the other Vuvalini are waiting in ambush. Once the ruse is uncovered, the naked woman easily leaves the cage and gets dressed.
* In ''Film/PhantasmIVOblivion'', in a dream, the Tall Man is caught by a noose and he begs the protagonist, Michael to cut him down.
-->'''The Tall Man:''' Cut me down!\\
'''Michael:''' No!\\
'''The Tall Man:''' I won't hurt you.\\
'''Michael:''' You're killing the world!\\
'''The Tall Man:''' I'll go away... and I won't ever come back [gives mischievous grin]\\
'''Michael:''' You will?\\
'''The Tall Man:''' Yes.
* The page quote comes from the ending scene of ''Film/{{Psycho}}''. [[spoiler: "Mrs. Bates" has pulled a SplitPersonalityTakeover on Norman, deciding to let him take the fall for the murders that "she" had committed.]]
* ''Film/ScreamersTheHunting''. The [[SendInTheSearchTeam search team]] is skeptical when told the more advanced Screamers [[TheyLookLikeUsNow can take human form]]. The survivors are a bit vague as to where they get food to survive, so when the squad find a bloody dissection table and several people imprisoned behind SomeKindOfForcefield, they naturally assume they're [[NoPartyLikeADonnerParty being used as food]]. Once freed, however, the 'victims' quickly sprout cybernetic killing blades and [[KillAllHumans attack their rescuers]]. The irony is the Screamers probably are being used as food and spare parts, as it's a ScavengerWorld (the Screamers salvage human bodies for the same purpose).
* ''Film/SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman''. The villainess uses this in combination with RescueRomance to seduce Snow White's father in order to usurp his kingdom.
* ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier''. The ''Enterprise'' passes through the barrier around the heart of the galaxy and finds the legendary planet Sha Ka Ree, believed to be the home of God. The protagonists find God apparently imprisoned there, and he tries to trick them into helping him escape. Kirk figures out there's something funny going on and manages to get "God" to reveal his true nature before he gets away.
--> '''Kirk:''' [[ArmorPiercingQuestion "What does God need with a starship?"]]
* In ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice'', Gary and Chris come across Creator/SusanSarandon, who claims that the other members of the [[FunWithAcronyms Film Actors Guild]] tied her up for refusing to help [[BigBad Kim Jong-il]]'s peace conference. Chris falls for it, but Gary can tell that she's acting, leading her to rip off her ropes and attack them before [[DestinationDefenestration being defenestrated]].
* The [[spoiler:last]] arc in ''[[Film/{{VHS}} V/H/S]]'' sees its hapless protagonists stumble upon [[spoiler:a MysteryCult seemingly offering a VirginSacrifice to their god]]. After their [[SpannerInTheWorks fatal distraction]] leaves [[spoiler:the ritualists]] vulnerable to [[spoiler:attack by apparitional arms]], the main characters decide to rescue the victim, driving her to the closest hospital until [[spoiler:she suddenly [[{{Teleportation}} apparates]] out of the car. And [[MyCarHatesMe the car stops working]]. [[RailroadTracksOfDoom Right on the train tracks]]]].
* ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'': Played for laughs when Mystique is being transported along with several other captured evil mutants. She taunts the guards by morphing into first the U.S. President and then a little girl, both demanding that they let him/her go. They know full well that she can shapeshift, she just wanted to piss them off.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': Seems to be the case in ''Literature/TheSilverChair'', where the prince is chained up for an hour every night while he goes insane, and during that time he pleads "This is the only time I'm sane! Let me out!" [[spoiler:Of course, the time he's chained up really is the only time he's got his full wits about him.]]
* In the ''Literature/DeptfordMice'' book ''The Crystal Prison'', Madame Akkikuyu is haunted by a voice that only she can hear calling her name at night. Soon it is revealed that the voice is coming from a tattooed face on her ear that is being animated by a spirit trapped in limbo. He tells Akkikuyu that his name is Nicodemus and that he needs her to help free him. She agrees, only to find out that he is really [[spoiler:Jupiter, the BigBad who was killed off in the previous book. He wants to return from the other side by taking possession of her body, as his was destroyed in a fire.]]
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** Though not a prisoner, the [[FallenAngel Denarian Rosanna]] is adept at using this trick to make her enemies let down their guard (especially the [[TheCape Knights of the Cross]], who are honor-bound to help a Denarian redeem him- or herself if possible). Harry, for once not completely clueless about women, calls her out on this.
** A subversion in ''Literature/SkinGame''. There's a creature in the supernatural jail that piques Harry's interest specifically because, unlike every other prisoner, he DOESN'T ask to be let out. He refers to himself as "someone who needs to be here", and actually berates Harry for talking to him. [[spoiler:"Do you even know what the word stasis means? It means nothing is happening. You standing here, walking by, talking to me, for God's sake, buggers that up entirely, the way you novices always do. What was the phrase? Ah, yes. Piss off."]]
* KidDetective Flavia in the ''Literature/FlaviaDeLuce'' novels uses this to gather information. Only works on people who don't know her, though.
* ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'': In "Beware, the Snowman", [[spoiler: Jaclyn [=DeForest=] runs into a living snowman in a mountain cave. The snowman claims he is her long lost father who was trapped in that form and trapped on the mountain by an evil witch. He gets her to recite a special song to free him. It turns out he is not her father, he is an evil demon whom the benevolent witch trapped]].
* The Angel Islington in ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'' seems to be a trusted ally to the heroes and informs them that he is tasked with protecting London Below due to his previous failure to adequately defend his previous city, Atlantis. They should have asked more detail about that before helping to free him. [[spoiler:He ''destroyed'' Atlantis because he wasn't satisfied with their worship, and he's basically a FallenAngel in the tradition of {{Satan}} with AGodAmI pretensions, aiming to storm Heaven and declare himself God]].
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'': Zak Arranda, in ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear: The Brain Spiders'', thinks of ''exactly this trope'' when he finds a prisoner in Jabba the Hutt's palace. Ultimately he decides to let the man free... [[spoiler: and he hadn't done anything, but being freed means that [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Karkas's]] brain can't be transplanted into him, so Zak's sister Tash [[GenderBender is used instead]].]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. In the Lian Yu flashbacks, Oliver Queen comes across a man tied up in a cave, who claims to be a fisherman who was marooned on Lian Yu and tortured by the villains. Oliver is torn between wanting to help him and suspicion that it's a trap, and ultimately leaves him behind. In the season penultimate episode of the season, Oliver encounters him again as a mook in the mercenary camp, and is outraged as he was carrying a lot of guilt over what he did.
* ''Series/{{Bones}}'' had an episode where Booth asks the team to look over an old case of his. The man he arrested for killing a young woman still claims to be innocent but has run out of appeals on death row. Looking into the evidence, the team manages to uncover some sordid details that indicate her secret (older) lover may have killed her instead of the man Booth arrested. Soon, the clues lead them to the location where she was actually killed before her body was moved. There they discover ''dozens'' of bodies of young women, clearly unconnected to the original girl's lover, but with evidence linking the man in jail to the site. It turns out he ''did'' kill her and all the other ones too; his plea to Booth to look at the case again was just bait to get these bodies found without having to confess. The government is forced to stay his execution while they investigate all the remains, buying him more time as a whole new round of trials and appeals begins. He even smirked about it when they figured out his ploy.
** The cherry on top is that he becomes a recurring villain for a while. At one point, he even tries to invoke this trope again, using a partner on the outside to throw into question whether he was the real serial killer after all.
* ''Franchise/{{Buffyverse}}'':
** In season 4 of ''Series/{{Angel}}'', Angel's soul was removed to obtain information about The Beast from Angelus. After the team realized they couldn't get the information, they re-ensouled Angel and Cordelia let him out. [[spoiler: It was ultimately {{subverted}} as Jasmine, in Cordelia's body, knew it was Angelus, which is why she let him out in the first place.]] It turned out Angelus pretended to be Angel, and he was free for a few episodes until he was captured and Willow re-ensouled him.
** Inverted in the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E9TheWish The Wish]]". Wishverse Buffy finds Angel imprisoned by The Master and is unsure whether she should let him go at first, though she ultimately does when he shows the torture scars the Master has given him and suggests an EnemyMine alliance.
* ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'', "After Hours": Castle and Beckett interview a witness to a murder, and an unfortunate series of events leaves them without a phone and Beckett's badge, gun, and car. As they flee from the people that want the witness dead, it eventually becomes apparent that the man they're escorting isn't a witness to the murder, but the murderer himself. It takes an OutOfCharacterMoment for Beckett to get them out of the situation.
* ''Series/Charmed1998'':
** There was an episode where the sisters try to save a man trapped in a painting, but it turns out he was evil all along.
** Another episode sees the sisters trying to save demon children from their ice cream truck prison.
** Another episode involves Phoebe finding a benevolent Genie in a Bottle, whose only desire is to be wished free so she can escape a demon planning on using her to raise a city of evil. But once free, the Genie is revealed to be a badass demon, and Phoebe is [[BecomingtheGenie transformed into a Genie herself]], forced to take her place.
** Still another episode involved a seemingly tormented insane man begging for help in an old tenement; when Prue took pity on him he turned out to be a demon who had been cursed by a priest with his power of TheEmpath...which he had just passed to Prue, leading to MySkullRunnethOver.
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': Season 3 sees Wilson Fisk paint himself as a man seeking to atone for his past crimes to manipulate the FBI into letting him out of prison. His whole sob story about ratting on the Albanians to keep Vanessa safe is designed to tug at Ray Nadeem's heartstrings as a family man who's gone into debt paying for his sister-in-law's cancer treatments [[spoiler:thanks to Fisk cutting off her insurance]].
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E3TheUnquietDead "The Unquiet Dead"]], the Gelth claim to be refugees from the Great Time War who have lost their bodies and only want to use dead humans as Meat Suits. It turns out that there are many more of them than they claimed, and they want to take over all humanity, not just the dead ones.
** Then there's [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek "Dalek"]], where Rose unwittingly sets a [[OmnicidalManiac Dalek]] free by touching it in sympathy, allowing it to re-energize from her DNA and start [[CurbStompBattle kicking ass]]. The only person in the area (probably the ''country'') who understood the full extent of the danger the Dalek presented was the Doctor, and he was tied up elsewhere at the time, so the Dalek was able to draw on Rose's sympathies to a captive and miserable creature.
** Invoked in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E7CanYouHearMe "Can You Hear Me?"]] Rakaya is a beautiful alien in a TailorMadePrison being tormented by nightmares stolen from the minds of people by the ObviouslyEvil Zellin. Turns out Rakaya and Zellin are evil immortals who feed on fear; she was imprisoned by her victims and he's trying to free her by exploiting the Doctor's well-known ChronicHeroSyndrome.
* In Creator/{{ITV}}'s adaptation of Creator/AgathaChristie's ''Literature/MissMarple'' series, Moira Nicholson (a pre-''Series/GameOfThrones'' and ''Series/{{Elementary}}'' Creator/NatalieDormer) is found BoundAndGagged inside a closet, presumably as a hostage. It later turns out she was actually one of the killers the entire time and tied herself up to try and divert suspicion.
* Played with in ''Series/KamenRiderGaim''. Kouta's sister Akira is supposedly kidnapped by the Yggdrasil corporation, who agree to release her in exchange for Kouta's [[TransformationTrinket Sengoku Driver]]. When Kouta arrives to make the [[HostageForMacguffin exchange]], it turns out the BoundAndGagged woman he thinks is his sister is actually [[spoiler: [[BodyguardBabes Yoko Minato/Kamen Rider Marika]] in disguise]].
* An example occurs in Season 2, Episode 6 of ''Series/TheNightShift'', "The Fog of War", in which Jordan, TC, and Paul discover a truck crashed in a remote area - the truck is full of human trafficking victims, some of who have been injured in the crash. They're forced to improvise medical care for the injured when unseasonably extreme fog delays helicopter rescue, but their efforts are complicated by a moral dilemma: an unconscious, heavily injured man they pulled from the back of the truck could die without a blood transfusion from one of the doctors (a risky operation to do in the field), but a female trafficking victim tells the doctors that the unconscious man is the coyote who endangered the victims' lives in the first place and is thus undeserving that sacrifice. The actual coyote was the woman herself, and the injured man was an innocent victim she was attempting to pin the blame on.
* Done in ''Series/OnceUponATime'' by Cruella de Vil, who, to get sympathy from Isaac the Author, claims that her mother is an [[AbusiveParents abusive]] and [[BlackWidow murderous]] woman who keeps her locked up so she can't tell the truth. Once Isaac [[RealityWarper gives her magic powers]] with his pen and ink, he finds out that she was locked up because ''she'' killed her father and stepfathers, and he's just turned a sociopathic, but mundane, woman into a powerful witch.
* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S1E14QualityOfMercy Quality of Mercy]]", Major John Skokes and a female cadet are held prisoner on an alien world. She is taken for more experiments and wants just to die. At the climax, we find that [[spoiler:the woman is really an alien spy -- and Skokes just told the aliens humanity's battle plans in an attempt to give her hope. In a later episode, "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S2E18TheLightBrigade The Light Brigade]]", another alien disguises itself as Skokes to hijack a ship with a weapon which can destroy the alien world then uses it to destroy Earth in its place]].
* In ''Series/PrettyLittleLiars'' the girls find a girl that had gone missing around the same time as their friend Alison had when they are trapped in [[spoiler:the Dollhouse]] and rescue her, -one of the main characters even romances her for a while- only to find out she was a bad guy all along.
* In an episode of ''Series/StargateSG1'' the team gets sent to a prison planet for basically nothing. They escape, taking with them an old lady who insinuated (but did not quite claim) that she was wrongly imprisoned. Turns out she was known as "The Destroyer of Worlds", and lives up to the name.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E26TheJemHadar The Jem'Hadar]]", this is how we meet our first Vorta, Eris, as a "prisoner" of the Jem'Hadar.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
** When Captain Picard is [[AlienAbduction abducted by aliens]] in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E18Allegiance Allegiance]]", [[spoiler:one of his fellow abductees is really a member of the alien race that captured them]].
** Troi, O'Brien, and Data are [[GrandTheftMe bodyjacked]] by noncorporeal beings in "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E15PowerPlay Power Play]]". They claim to be survivors of a Starfleet vessel that had crashed on an uncharted world about two hundred years before. [[spoiler:They're actually some convicted criminals from a penal colony there.]]
* This happened a few times in Jim Henson's wonderful but forgotten gem ''Series/TheStoryteller''; most notably, the episode [[spoiler:titled "The Heartless Giant" begins after a murderous giant convinces a young prince that he was wrongfully imprisoned, and the kingdom is destroyed]].
* Happens several times on ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', as thanks to DemonicPossession even captured friends can turn out to be not-so-innocent.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1959S2E5TheHowlingMan The Howling Man]]", a man stumbles upon a castle and finds a prisoner held captive by the monks who live there. The prisoner claims he's being held unjustly by an insane religious order, which seems to be confirmed when the head of the order insists that the prisoner is actually the Devil in disguise. The man decides to free the prisoner, and only then finds out that he really ''is'' the Devil in disguise. The man spends many years searching for him to atone for his mistake and finally traps him again. Naturally, the man's maid [[HereWeGoAgain thinks he's crazy for insisting that his prisoner is the Devil]]...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''
** In "The Mansion of Mad Professor Ludlow" in ''Dragon'' magazine #42, the player characters are Boy Scouts investigating a haunted house. In one room is what appears to be an innocent maiden chained to the wall. She is actually a [[SuccubiAndIncubi succubus]] and very hungry.
** In the original ''TabletopGame/{{Greyhawk}}'' campaign, the demon lord Fraz-Urb'Iuu was trapped in a stone prison below Castle Greyhawk. He finally tricked two adventurers into performing several heroic deeds to free him and rewarded them by taking them to his home plane on the Abyss as his slaves.
** Subverted in the parody module "Castle Greyhawk", in which on one level a female vampire who's ''supposed'' to play the damsel in distress in a suitably ridiculous outfit to enact this trope decides she's sick and tired of it and just attacks the player characters out of nowhere when they arrive at her "cell". [[spoiler:She can be calmed down by offering her a change of clothes into something decent, but if ticked off any further simply fights to the death.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Albion}}'': In the prison in the middle of the desert "near" Umajo-Kenta, one of the prisoners is a pretty, sympathetic-looking woman who tries this, complete with a promise for a reward to make it sound like a typical RPG quest. If you let her go, once you get back to the city, you'll hear that the dangerous psycho is on the loose and run into a child whose mother was killed by her. Eventually she'll be caught again, leaving you with nothing for your trouble but a guilty conscience. What's more, with the trip through the desert so long and difficult, there's a higher chance than average that the player won't still have a saved game conveniently from before releasing her when seeing the results.
* Discussed in ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'' when finally reaching Arronax [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the Destroyer]], who you expected to find [[SealedEvilInACan locked up for his crime]]. [[spoiler:Inverted; he confesses his guilt to the crime he's being punished for, but he genuinely has rehabilitated, though trusting him at all appears to be SchmuckBait.]]
* Happens on at least three different occasions in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'':
** The first time is while escaping from [[BigBad Irenicus]]' dungeon. You run across an imprisoned man in a [[GildedCage rather luxurious]] cell, with a large number of booby-trapped treasure chests to boot. If you let him out, he shortly afterward reveals he's a doppelganger and attacks, with rather predictable results.
** The second time is about halfway through the game, when [[spoiler:Yoshimo, who had (potentially) joined you near the start, reveals himself as a SixthRangerTraitor for Irenicus, due to a geas placed on him. The next time you meet him after that, there is no way around [[KilledOffForReal killing him off for real]]]].
** You can find a golden skull in one of the houses which begs you to free it by finding the missing parts of its body. In order to get them, you need to loot two sarcophagi guarded by liches. Then you put the missing pieces in the skull's coffin... congratulations! An OptionalBoss.
%%* This is the main plot point in the 2004 ''[[VideoGame/TheBardsTaleTrilogy Bard's Tale]]'' game.
* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'', you can see Clayface in a glass cell. But in fact, he [[ShapeShifting changes his appearance]] each time the camera wanders away from him and tries to trick you into releasing him. Good thing the game doesn't offer you the opportunity to free him or quite a few people would.
** A rare example of Arkham security working correctly: he's in a unique, hermetically sealed cell with no easy way for one person to open and warning signs clearly explaining the problem with its occupant. But if you can advance the plot (including optional parts) far enough, he'll stop pretending - not the disguise, just pretending he ''is'' that person. And since he can't fake internal organs or a skeleton, he of course shouldn't be able to fool Batman's detective vision.
* ''VideoGame/BrothersATaleOfTwoSons'': On their way to the magical tree that will give them the cure for their father's illness, the boys witness a girl about to be killed by a pack of gnomes; they promptly save her and she accompanies them along their journey for a while. [[spoiler: Once they come upon a spider's nest, however, they realize that she's a [[SpiderPeople spider person]] in disguise and attacks them; as she lays dying [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished she impales the older brother,]] who dies not too long after -- right as the younger brother collects the cure from the magical tree, no less.]]
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': The Harrowing, the final test for students of the MageTower in the Mage origin involves a fellow student trapped in the DreamWorld of the fade… only he's actually [[OurDemonsAreDifferent a demon]] of {{Pride}} attempting DemonicPossession of the warden.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** In one quest in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'', you can buy a house, only to find that it's haunted. Investigation reveals the corpse of a lich (imprisoned for being evil) who claims he's [[TheAtoner turned good]] after having time to reflect on his crimes. Unfortunately, StupidityIsTheOnlyOption if you want to complete the quest.
** ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'':
*** Telrav [[note]],[[SdrawkcabName Varlet]] backwards, which means a knave or a rascal[[/note]], a bandit living in Nilheim pretends to be a wounded merchant and asks you to escort him to the tower, in which the bandits would ambush you. If you outright ignored him, you can loot everything in the tower and the bandits [[FailedASpotCheck don't care about their stuff being taken away]] by you.
*** In Ravenscar Hollow, a bandit was kidnapped by the Hagravens, he begs you to let him out of the cage, if you killed the Hagravens and released him, he immediately [[UngratefulBastard makes an attempt to mug you]]. Of course, you can invert the trope and do exactly what he ask for: [[ExactWords release him]]... and let him deal with the Hagravens on his own.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'', this is how you trigger the boss fight with the boss underneath Kakariko village. You are told he kidnapped one of the descendants of the sages, and in some way, you can say he did it, but he also disguised himself as the girl and hid himself in his own prison. Of course, it gets rather obvious something's up when the "hostage" doesn't want to leave the dungeon through the exit...
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'': Aboard the Ghost Ship, you find and rescue four unfortunate young sisters kidnapped by the ship and bring them to safety, but with each one, they get increasingly ObviouslyEvil, from their randomly cackling or giving blatant AntiAdvice for killing the monsters or suddenly blaring out lines like "FALLEN! FALLEN! They are the Fallen!". When all four are reunited it should come as no surprise whatsoever that they reveal themselves to be hideous monsters and start a game of Dead Man's Volley.
* In ''VideoGame/MarvelsSpiderMan2'', when Miles is rescuing the crew of the boat that Kraven attacks, a crew member calls out to Miles saying Scorpion escaped and locked him in a room. Miles finds a way to free him without him getting electrocuted or drowned, only to find out it was ''Scorpion'' he just freed.
* In ''VideoGame/MortalKombatMythologiesSubZero'', Sub-Zero ([[VideoGame/MortalKombat1992 the elder]]) is imprisoned in the Netherrealm. His fellow prisoner is normally Scorpion, but if the player decided not to kill Hanzo Hasashi, then the other prisoner is [[spoiler:Shinnok, the BigBad of this game and VideoGame/MortalKombat4]]. He claims that he's an unjustly imprisoned soul like Sub-Zero and notes that he's playing [[BigGood Raiden's]] "game" for the time being. His manipulation of Sub-Zero indirectly helps [[spoiler:himself escape from the Netherrealm several years down the road]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Myst}}'', [[spoiler:Both Sirrus and Achenar try this. No matter which one you choose to release, he turns out to be evil and traps you in the book. You're meant to choose the third option.]]
* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'': Although it appears that the "evil" beings trapped in the black chests were originally good ([[spoiler:the game appears to imply that they were the original four heroes of legend]]), the end result is the same nonetheless. They plead for Mario to let them out, so of course, he does. They curse him as thanks. Subverted, because [[CursedWithAwesome the curses help you]], to the point that you literally cannot continue without "acquiring" them.
** [[SubvertedTrope It is also implied that they themselves are being forced to curse you]], [[LoopholeAbuse yet choose to do so in a manner such that the "curse" is more of a blessing in disguise.]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Shadowgate}}'', the room with the Golden Horn is also occupied by a beautiful young woman who is chained to the wall. If you try to grab the Horn, the "prisoner" will transform into a vicious werewolf that tears you apart. The only clue that something is off with the prisoner is that the description notes that she looks beautiful in [[{{Lunacy}} moonlight]].
* In ''VideoGame/RealmOfTheMadGod'', the aptly named Crystal Prisoner is trapped in a CrystalPrison and begs players to free her from it while offering a reward if they do so. She promptly attacks them once they do, exclaiming [[FatalReward "This is your reward".]]
* This is a recurring element in Creator/FromSoftware[='=]s ''Souls'' games:
** It was first used in ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' by [[ProfessionalKiller Yurt The Silent Chief]], an AxCrazy BloodKnight whose purpose is to KillAllHumans, as hinted by the corpses in front of his cage. [[spoiler: Should you send him to Nexus, he ''proves it''. However, if you immediately attack Yurt when he's released from the cage, he [[TooDumbToLive doesn't retaliate]], and you can stab him to death and loot his armor with ease.]]
** Played with in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'': you find Lautrec locked up in a cell, and while he claims he was put there unjustly [[ObviouslyEvil he isn't very convincing.]] [[spoiler:However, if you don't let him out he gets out on his own anyway--you may as well have let him out because he'd give you a small reward and helps you in your journey. Afterward, you can only stop him from doing something horrible by actually killing him, or resurrect the victim with the soul he claimed afterward.]]
** In ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'': you can find a beggar in Forbidden Woods who is [[ObviouslyEvil eating a corpse]]. [[spoiler: Should you send him to Oedon Chapel, he starts to murder the inhabitants in the church, but shares the Beast Blood Pellets with you for each kill. Of course, you can always [[EvilerThanThou send this Abhorrent Beast to Iosefka's Clinic]]. Subverted in that he ''is'' indeed innocent, for a beast. He only preys on people [[NecessarilyEvil because of what he needed]], rather than murdering without reason. Should you engage him in a fight, he throws a NotSoDifferentRemark, claiming the Hunter is [[EvilerThanThou far more despicable]] and [[PlayerPunch plays this gambit more often than him.]]]]
* ''VideoGame/TheWitchsHouse'': Arguably, [[spoiler:Ellen and Viola's body-swap]] can be interpreted this way. Just, in this case, the prison is a mangled body riddled with disease, and the 'freedom' is [[spoiler:a body-swapping spell that's meant to [[BlatantLies last a day only]]]].
* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', there's a quest in the Arathi Highlands where you're contacted by an earth princess named Myzrael, who seeks your help to escape her confinement. To free her, you kill some of her guardians and release her from her crystal prison, where you find out that she's evil. Sort of subverted though, in that she was driven to madness by the Old Gods, and now resides in Deepholm, where she is once again sane and good.
* ''VideoGame/WarioLand3'': After getting trapped in the enchanted music box, Wario is approached by "a hidden figure" who claims that he was the BigGood of the realm before an evil being sealed his power, and Wario's quest to free him (in exchange for treasure and escape from the music box's realm) forms the game's ExcusePlot. After collecting all the {{MacGuffin}}s and freeing the figure, it turns out that the "benevolent god" was actually a demonic MonsterClown who invaded the land before being sealed away by its true inhabitants, and he immediately tries to crush Wario [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness now that he is no longer useful]], serving as the game's FinalBoss.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Happens multiple times in ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'':
** Agatha mentions this trope when she first encounters Othar Tryggvassen, '''{{GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER}}!''' who asks her to free him. She believes he's doing this and does not free him; however, he [[WrongGenreSavvy actually believes]] he's the hero being held by the villain. Agatha does rescue him eventually, after learning some unflattering things about their mutual 'host'. He helps her escape at a later date in return. And then he tries killing her, so she throws him out of an airship. As it turns out, Othar is hardly a 'fake good'; [[WellIntentionedExtremist his definition of 'good' just differs slightly from hers]].
** Attempted by [[spoiler:Lucrezia in Agatha's body]] during the [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20100108 castle arc]]. Strapped to a crazy, jerry-rigged machine designed to attempt a dangerous and untried three-way Si Vales Valeo operation with two '''very''' ill gentlemen as the other participants, and with a very angry sounding voice floating up from the sub-basement vowing revenge, [[spoiler:Lucrezia]] tries her damnedest to wriggle out of it.
--->[[spoiler:'''Lucrezia:''']] Oh! Yes, there's something very wrong! There's been a terrible mistake! Quickly, now. Untie me, and–
* ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'': [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/level-8-87/ Malevolus the Blackguard, stuck in a cell,]] tries to convince Stabs and Rusty to set him free by pretending to be a poor, starving, forgotten prisoner. Stabs isn't fooled for a second, though.
* ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'': [[SealedEvilInATeddyBear Reynardine]] successfully executes this trope, [[spoiler:when we first meet him he is [[DemonicPossession possessing]] the body of a dragon and he tells Antimony he is the captive of an evil dragon killer. She stages a rescue attempt and frees him from his bonds, realizing her mistake too late as he attempts to possess her in turn.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In Creator/{{Disney}}'s ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1992'', Evil Manta used this trick and got released by Ariel. Another monster unsuccessfully tried this after making Triton a child.
* 10,000 years before the events of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', the traveler Wan came across a valley being demolished by two large spirits fighting one another, tied together by their tails. One spirit begged Wan to free him from 10,000 years of torment at the hands of the other. The other insulted Wan and ordered him to stay out of business humans couldn't understand. Being a kindly soul that didn't like tyrants, Wan separated them. He then discovered that he had just freed [[GodOfEvil Vaatu]], the Spirit of [[DarkIsEvil Darkness]] and [[OmnicidalManiac Chaos]], from the grip of [[LightIsGood Raava]], the Spirit of Light and Peace. He spent the rest of his life (and that of his many reincarnations) trying to fix that mistake.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': Raven befriends a knight hero in a book by the name of Malchoir. He tells her stories of how an evil dragon trapped him there. He teaches her powerful magic and things seem awesome. Until, [[spoiler: it turns out the spells are dark magic that cause more chaos than good, but before Raven realizes this, she sets Malchoir free only to find out "Malchoir" is the name of the evil dragon, not the knight. The most that Malchior could do from within his prison was to switch his name with the knight's.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Trollz}}'', Simon uses this to escape the Shadow World, pretending to be a scared little boy who'd been trapped there.
[[/folder]]

----