Basic Trope: The captor feels sympathy for their captive.
- Straight: Bob kidnaps Alice and eventually bonds with her.
- Exaggerated: After having spent about one minute in the company of the captive Alice, Bob falls madly in love with her.
- Downplayed: Bob still views and treats Alice as a prisoner, but his treatment of her and way of addressing her gradually get less harsh and more polite, but are still stern.
- Justified:
- Bob has nothing against Alice and treats her as well as he would treat anyone else, since he is in it for the ransom and has no intention to hurt his hostages.
- Alice is especially vulnerable due to illness, some physical condition, or trauma, and that awakens Bob's sympathy.
- Alice reminds Bob of one of his loved ones in some way, so he cannot bring himself to be cruel or harsh to her.
- Kidnapped By An Ignorant Ally: Bob didn't know that Alice wanted to see her father destroyed for the very same reasons as he did.
- Inverted:
- Bob hates Alice, and wishes to torment her during her whole captivity.
- Stockholm Syndrome, and Alice falls in love with her captor Bob.
- Bob is greatly annoyed by Alice's behavior during her kidnapping, to the point where he lets her go just so he won't have to deal with her anymore.
- Subverted: Bob is just faking affection to manipulate Alice.
- Double Subverted: But the feelings become real over time.
- Parodied: Bob buys his beloved captive Alice some flowers and a heart-shaped box of chocolates, then he asks her on a date.
- Zig Zagged: It's not entirely clear whether Bob's seeming kindness to Alice is real or not.
- Averted:
- Bob is a normal abductor and Alice is a normal captive, nothing special.
- Or Alice simply does not get kidnapped.
- Enforced: The author wants Bob to be a likeable character, despite being a kidnapper.
- Lampshaded: "Bob, I'm worried... I think you are getting too gentle with that hostage Alice."
- Invoked: Alice deliberately makes conversation with her captor Bob, hoping that they'll bond, and he develops empathy for her.
- Exploited:
- Alice uses Bob's affection to escape from her captors.
- Alice uses Bob's affection to take hostage of him.
- Defied: "And you, Bob... Don't get too fluffy with our hostage, 'cause that's just damn weird. Get it?"
- Discussed: After kidnapping Alice, Bob asks her what she thinks about abductors falling in love with their abductees.
- Conversed: "That A Match Made in Stockholm movie... Do you think that could actually work for me?"
- Implied: Bob misses Alice after the ransom is paid, and she is set free.
- Deconstructed:
- Bob may have standards, but this only aggravates his fellow criminals who don't give a damn about the suffering of their hostages.
- Bob's captives are creeped out by the person holding them captive, and repeatedly point out that he was wrong to kidnap them.
- Reconstructed:
- On the other hand, having sympathy for their captives actually improves his reputation is a criminal.
- Played For Laughs: Bob has No Social Skills, and the Bound and Gagged Alice finds it extremely awkward when he tries to seduce her. Even the other gang members laugh at Bob's failure.
- Played For Drama:
- Bob's displays of affection frighten Alice, who worries about what he might do to her.
- Or Bob tries to suppress his affection for Alice, exactly to avoid frightening her.
- Or when the gang fails to get the ransom, Bob is ordered to execute his prisoner.
Back to Lima Syndrome.
