History Main / HumanKnot

* In the pilot episode of Nickelodeon's ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' "Doug Can't Dance", Doug's best friend Skeeter ties himself in a knot while attempting to show Doug a spin move and requests to have his foot removed from his pocket.

-->-- (Creator/EricFlint, ''[[Literature/JoesWorld The Philosophical Strangler]]'')

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* One ''Thimble Theater'' Sunday strip had WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}} in a novelty match against a wrestler. Rather than try to overpower the sailor like past foes, the wrestler just picks Popeye up and twists his body into a knot so the sailor can't move, this winning the match.

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[[quoteright:300:[[ComicBook/PlasticMan https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/plasticman_knot.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:His hands are tied. Along with everything else.]]

* In Creator/MartinGardner's short story "No-Sided Professor", mathematician Dr. Slapenarski claims to have gone one better than the one-sided Mobius strip by discovering a geometric figure with ''[[AlienGeometries zero sides]]''. He takes a piece of paper, gives it a series of complicated twists and folds, and it vanishes. When an onlooker says that it's just a parlor trick and calls him a fraud, in a rage he ''folds the skeptic into the same shape''. When he vanishes too (into a higher dimension, according to Dr. Slapenarski), the doctor is overcome with remorse and has his friends help him to fold himself so he can follow his victim.

* ''WesternAnimation/MrBogus'':
** This happens in the second act of the episode "[[Recap/MrBogusS1E1MeetMrBogus Meet Mr. Bogus]]" during a wrestling match on TV that Bogus has engaged in. The behemoth that Bogus is fighting against just easily grabs him by the arms and ties him up before using a belly flop on him.
** In the first act of the episode "[[Recap/MrBogusS2E2BabysittingBogus Babysitting Bogus]]", the baby does this to Bogus at the start of the match when Bogus tries to pull off some karate moves against the baby. This leads to Bogus getting tied up to one of the crib's bars.
* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'':
** Slightly inverted example (it's a small character pulling a CurbStompBattle on a big one and tying him up into a pretzel): Jerry pulls this off on Tom in the Gene Deitch short "The Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit" to show off [[IKnowKungFu his new "Judo for Mice" skills]]. To add more insult to injury, Jerry does it [[IAmNotLeftHanded with just one hand]].
** In another cartoon, "Puttin' on the Dog", Tom Cat disguises himself as a dog to infiltrate a dog pound. When Tom is ultimately unmasked, he climbs to the top of a flagpole, and ties his own limbs into knots to keep himself anchored there, beyond the dogs' reach.
** Another cartoon, "Sufferin' Cats!", has Jerry being chased by Tom and another cat; by running around both of them, Jerry managed to tie both of them into a knot.
* Happens to Taz in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TazMania'', courtesy of visiting wrestler Rex the Wrecker.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': In ''Lady & Peebles'', Ricardio [[ShowingOffTheNewBody shows off his new body]] by twisting Lady Rainicorn in a knot and throwing her to the side.
* While appearing in a charity wrestling event, WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck faced a huge wrestler specializing in molding opponents' bodies like balloon sculptures. Darkwing falls to his grip, and gets reshaped into a show poodle. Launchpad and Goslyn call Darkwing away on a case just in time: The wrestler's next intended sculpture was ''octopus''.
* Another use of the "cat tied into a pretzel" gag occurs in the ''WesternAnimation/PixieDixieAndMrJinks'' short "Judo Jack", when Jack applies his pretzel hold to Mr. Jinks.
* In the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes short ''Muscle Tough'' ("Muscle Tussle"), WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck gets his arms tied up in a bow when he attempts some BarehandedBarBending with a fishing pole.
* ''WesternAnimation/SabrinaAndTheGroovieGoolies'' had one: the monster rugby "wound up in a tie". And since the show ran on HurricaneOfPuns, of course cue this trope.
* Olive Oyl was naturally prone to this in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'' cartoons - in one she ends up tied to a tree.

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'':
** In "My Fair Ed", Kevin ties Edd's hat into a bow and threatens to do the same to his legs if he doesn't keep his friends under control.
** In "A Twist of Ed", Marie tackles Edd from behind and twists his entire body into a knot before dropping him to the ground. This leaves him unable to move as she leans in to kiss him.

Victims getting abused by tying their limbs and other body parts into knots are usually demonstrating the strength of their abuser. A popular tactic in art styles that use RubberHoseLimbs, it can be used in other mediums as well. In RealLife, the bones usually prevent the limbs from bending the way they would need to for this trope.

KnottyTentacles is a subtrope, covering examples of prehensile tentacles, snakes, and characters with stretching superpowers. Both tropes are subtrope of BoundAndGagged, which covers all examples of characters getting tied up (albeit usually in a less ''literal'' fashion).

Compare with BarehandedBarBending, where the strong character does this same thing to a ''nonliving'' object, usually something made of metal. This trope, in contrast, is usually PlayedForLaughs as a subset of AmusingInjuries.

May be used as a part of CurbStompBattle.

Not to be confused with KnottyTentacles.

Compare: PunchPunchPunchUhOh, RubberHoseLimbs, AccordionMan, SquashedFlat and BeTheBall for other victims of AmusingInjuries.

* A non-comical example in ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'': [[ComicBook/ElongatedMan Ralph Dibny]] knocks out a demon, pumps him full of gingold (a substance that makes a body super-elastic), then ties him up in a giant knot. By the time the demon regains consciousness, the gingold already begins to wear out (with all the nasty consequences of a regular body being tied into a knot), and Ralph offers another portion for the information he needs from the demon.
* ComicBook/PlasticMan sometimes ends up this way too. (In a "Marvel What The" crossover parody, he gets even knot together with Elastic Man.)

* In ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', Nico once tried to cure a zombie epidemic with a very simple spell - "Zombie Not!" - but the Staff of One decided to be a LiteralGenie that day, and thus, instead of curing all of the zombies in range, it turned them into a literal zombie ''knot''.

* One ''Thimble Theater'' Sunday stripe had WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}} in a novelty match against a wrestler. Rather than try to overpower the sailor like past foes, the wrestler just picks Popeye up and twists his body into a knot so the sailor can't move, this winning the match.

* In the ''Literature/JoesWorld'' books, Greyboar the strangler is renowned for tying enemies into knots, especially their necks, and takes a professional pride in making each knot a different one. He also sometimes ties his foster brother and agent, Ignace.
-->"As I foretold, you have annoyed me." Moments later, my arms and legs were tied up in knots. Square knots, to boot. I hate square knots--they're not natural to the human anatomy.
* The ''Literature/MatadorSeries'' has Spasm, a chemical that causes every muscle in your body to contract at once, tying you up in knots, [[AndIMustScream and leaves you stuck that way for six months or so]].
* In [[Literature/CallahansCrosstimeSaloon Callahan's Lady]], the DumbMuscle gangster Tony Donuts mentions that he once discovered by accident that breaking someone's arms in the right place allows them to be tied into a knot.

* In Creator/MartinGardner's short story "No-Sided Professor", mathematician Dr. Slapenarski claims to have gone one better than the one-sided Mobius strip by discovering a geometric figure with ''[[AlienGeometries zero sides]]''. He takes a piece of paper, gives it a series of complicated twists and folds, and it vanishes. When an onlooker says it's just a parlor trick and calls him a fraud, in a rage he ''folds the skeptic into the same shape.'' When he vanishes too (into a higher dimension, according to Dr. Slapenarski), the doctor is overcome with remorse and has his friends help him to fold himself so he can follow his victim.

* In the live action ''Series/Batman1966'' TV series Batman, Robin and Batgirl are tied in a "Siamese Human Knot" by Nora Clavicle.
-->"The slightest move by any one of you will only draw the Human Knot tighter, crush your bones and strangle you!"

* On the old Seattle variety show ''Series/AlmostLive'', there was a series of kung fu parody shorts called "Mind Your Manners with Billy Quan". In one of them, "Fumes of Fury", Quan jumps on the shoulders of his nemesis to choke him with his thighs, but his nemesis ties his legs in a knot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_cXlSlPboI

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[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/PlasticMan https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/plasticman_knot.png]]]]

* Plastic Man sometimes ends up this way too. (In a "Marvel What The" crossover parody, he gets even knot together with Elastic Man.)

* "Sabrina and the Groovy Ghoulies" had one: the monster rugby "wound up in a tie". And since the show ran on HurricaneOfPuns, of course cue this trope.

* Another use of the "cat tied into a pretzel" gag occurs in the ''Pixie & Dixie'' short "Judo Jack", when Jack applies his pretzel hold to Mr. Jinks.

** This was also used in the first act of the episode "[[Recap/MrBogusS1E10MuseumMadness Museum Madness]]". Bogus finds himself facing off against the pharaoh's pet [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent cobra]], before fighting the cobra in a BigBallOfViolence. After the fight ends, Bogus is victorious, with the cobra all tied up in knots.

* Lola Bunny leaves Bugs Bunny in a ridiculous knot at the foul line in ''Film/SpaceJam''. Bugs made the mistake of pressing Lola's BerserkButton by calling her "doll" .