Basic Trope: An deformed or unstable relative kept hidden somewhere.
- Straight:
- Bob has a deformed face, so his parents keep him locked in a hidden room in their house.
- Carol is Ax-Crazy and aggressive, so her family does the same thing.
- Exaggerated: Bob barely looks human at all, so his parents keep him locked in a secret dungeon.
- Downplayed: Bob has a deformed face, so his parents won't allow him to leave the house and send him to his room when any guests who are ignorant of his looks arrive.
- Justified:
- Bob's parents couldn't stand it if someone found out they had a "freak" for a son.
- Deformity is illegal in their land; Bob's parents are keeping him hidden for his protection.
- Inverted: Bob is good-looking. His deformed parents keep him locked in a hidden room in their house.
- Subverted: Alice, the newly hired maidservant, goes exploring and finds Bob's locked room. However, Bob's parents agree to introduce the two and explain Bob just has very delicate health.
- Double Subverted: ...However, when Alice gets to see Bob face-to-face, she discovers he's deformed from his illness.
- Parodied: Bob's parents describe his deformity as "hideous" and that "nobody could look upon him without losing their lunch", only for it to turn out Bob just has lots of acne.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- No deformed or unstable people appear in the story.
- All deformed or unstable people in the story go about normally.
- Enforced: The author wants a way to make Bob sympathetic and this makes a good sob story.
- Lampshaded:Alice: You decided to disappear your deformed son into the walls of the house, is that it?
- Invoked: Dracone, Bob's uncle, hears his parents discussing what to do about their deformed offspring and casually mentions that many old houses have secret rooms.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: The new neighbours figure out there's something going on with Bob's house, and tip off the police. The authorities quickly find Bob, his parents are arrested and convicted, and Bob is either given his own place to stay or is allowed to stay living in the house. (Or, if he's of the unstable variant, is committed to a mental institution where he receives the care he needs.)
- Reconstructed: ???
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