According to
That Other Wiki,
Lima Syndrome
is the phenomenon in which abductors develop sympathy for their captives, named after the abduction of the Japanese Embassy in Lima, Peru in 1996 by members of a militant movement. Within a few days, the hostage takers set free most of the captives, including the most valuable ones, due to sympathy.
In fiction, there are a number of reasons why this would happen. Maybe one or more of the kidnappers don't agree with the plan, or they just don't feel up to hurting innocents. Maybe the villain has decided that he doesn't have the heart to keep his prisoner locked up. Or maybe he's just doing what's necessary, and generally feels bad about it.
Usually the one to develop sympathy for a captive
will be the female, because it's generally assumed that
women are much more in touch with their emotions and so more likely to empathize with others. If it's a man, expect his captive to be
female.
This person is also likely to be the one in charge of tending to the captives, bringing them food or
healing their wounds, and thus has a greater chance of developing an attachment and growing to actually care about their well-being.
Or it may be that one of the prisoners is particularly
prone to inspiring sympathy. See
Pregnant Hostage for a specific example of this type of character.
In many stories this type of behavior will often preclude a
Heel Face Turn, or cause a
Help Face Turn for the villain if he is a captive of the good guys and is treated surprisingly kindly.
See
Stockholm Syndrome for the reverse situation. The two may often go hand in hand if the feelings are mutual between the abductor and their captive.
Examples:
Anime
Comic Books
- Carl Barks realized to his horror that he'd implied this accidentally in Back to the Klondike: "Scrooge picked her up and carried her out to his claim and made her go to work. It didn't look like kidnapping, yet it was. He was taking the law into his own hands and that is not lawful. And what did he do with her at night?" Don Rosa intentionally milked this for all it was worth in The Prisoner Of White Agony Creek.
Film
- The World Is Not Enough combines this with Stockholm Syndrome in the case of Electra King.
- Happened in Ruthless People
- More a case of the captor being a pretty much decent guy, but in Dog Day Afternoon the hostages are treated incredibly well and probably weren't even in any real danger. One of the main character's associates lets one of the hostages hold his gun during a memorable look inside.
- Also happens in Ransom, where one of the kidnappers (the one played by Donnie Wahlberg) is a Punch Clock Villain who feels sorry for their captive (Mel Gibson's character's son) and even tells his brother and fellow criminal that he wants the kid to be free as soon as they have the ransom. He's shot to death by a sniper, though.
- Happens in the movie The Big Hit with the kidnapper played by Mark Wahlberg. Must run in the family.
- Though it is quickly forgotten, Belle is actually supposed to be the Beast's prisoner in exchange for letting her father go. He eventually lets her go too.
Literature
- In The Confessions of Arsene Lupin, Lupin is captured by a mother-and-son team seeking revenge. The son, who was tending his wounds, ends up setting him free, because he was actually a woman in disguise, and had fallen in love with Lupin.
- Red Fox by Gerald Seymour. A hard-headed British businessman is kidnapped by a teenaged terrorist, and after his initial attempts to escape fail, starts putting into practise the methods he'd been taught in a hostage seminar (which he'd walked out of thinking it was all rubbish). He's therefore able to postpone his death until the authorities find him, and is quite distraught when the terrorist is shot by a sniper.
Live Action Television
- In True Blood, Jason begins to feel sorry for a vampire that he and Amy have kidnapped for the purpose of harvesting his blood, and begins sneaking him bottles of synthetic blood to keep him alive. Unfortunately, it doesn't end well.
- On Lost, Sayid falls in love with Nadia while interrogating (torturing) her for information. He ends up bringing her food and helping her escape.
Music
- There's an implication of this in the lyrics of the Nirvana song Polly.
Western Animation
