Basic Trope: A supernatural being holds a lesser being in their power.
- Straight: The sorceress Alice keeps the mortal Bob as her servant.
- Exaggerated: Alice keeps dozens of people in a similar state.
- Downplayed: Bob is technically Alice's equal in the eyes of the law but in practice is completely at her mercy.
- Justified: Alice is Lonely at the Top but doesn't want a confidant that could actually pose a threat to her.
- Inverted: Bob is The Kid with the Leash to Alice.
- Subverted: It looks like Bob is a servant, but he has something Alice needs and is able to bargain his way into an equal position.
- Double Subverted: Until Alice gets bored of the game and zaps him into a snail.
- Parodied: Alice keeps Bob in her custody because it's fashionable in the Sorceress community but doesn't really have any idea what to do with him.
- Zig-Zagged: Alice seems to be in charge but Bob is able to bargain, but his bargaining is based on a bluff that falls apart when Alice realizes the truth. This repeats constantly because Bob is is a Guile Hero and able to continuously come up with clever ways to stay one step ahead of Alice. Alice allows this because she's bored and can easily stop him if he ever goes too far, but doesn't realize Bob's true aim.
- Averted: Bob was able to escape servitude to Alice.
- Enforced: Bob was given to Alice as punishment for breaking some sort of rule.
- Lampshaded: "Bob, bow before me and kiss my foot, or I will zap you into a toad!"
- Invoked: Bob offered to become Alice's servant to escape a worse fate that she had in mind for him.
- Exploited: Bob intentionally becomes Alice's servant in order to rescue her other servants and/or romance her.
- Defied: "I Alice the great and powerful have no need for your services foolish mortal!"
- Implied: Alice, a mysterious woman who may be a sorceress, has a companion who always does what she asks and seems to be under her control, but their relationship isn't elaborated upon.
- Deconstructed: Alice genuinely cares for Bob but her refusal to acknowledge the unequal power dynamic isn't healthy for either of them.
- Reconstructed: Alice keeps Bob as her servant as part of a ploy to help him grow as a person, and he eventually earns the right (in her eyes) to be her equal.
- Played for Laughs: Alice is constantly frustrated at Bob for being a bad servant, while he points out she could do most of what he does much better with magic.
- Played for Drama: Alice begins a romantic relationship with Bob but begins to wonder if he can truly reciprocate her feelings when he is basically her property.
- Played for Horror: Bob is ripped from his life and forced to dance to the whims of a being he can't even hope to defeat, or suffer A Fate Worse Than Death.
- My slave, come see the unabridged version here, or I will turn you into a frog.
