History Main / TrappedInAnotherWorld

** This is also how the world of ''TabletopGame/GURPSBanestorm'' came to be, with medieval and Renaissance humans (along with races from many other worlds) dragged into the fantasy world of Yrth. It's specifically mentioned that the Banestorm is still active and can grab player characters from modern Earth in order to kick off a fantasy campaign.

* In the sci-fi thriller ''Film/{{Coherence}}'', once characters pass the dark area they are randomly transported into AlternateTimelines with little hope of returning to their homeworld.

In Japanese media, this genre is known as "Isekai" [[note]]Literally means "Another World"[[/note]], with such protagonists typically fitting their local demographic's flavor of hero [[note]]{{Stock Light Novel Hero}}es are common, though their [[StockShonenHero Shonen]] and [[StockShoujoHeroine Shoujo]] counterparts are just as prominent.[[/note]] and usually involves said character gaining [[RPGMechanicsVerse RPG-like powers]] on arrival (or at the very least, is set in a RolePlayingGameVerse). Although this sort of plot was introduced in popular media long before the term was coined, the majority of modern isekai stories are derived from {{Web Serial Novel}}s or old stories reworked into LightNovels, with their premises and writing style even being noted as a subgenre: Narou Isekai.[[note]]From ''Shosetsuka ni Narou'', a popular online fiction website[[/note]] A lot of these are also HaremSeries, to the extent that a party of sexy heroines (or heroes) who are attracted to the protagonist has become part of the standard formula. During the 2010s, these types of stories grew so popular thanks to Japanese publishing companies like Creator/{{Alphapolis}} and Media Factory that, by the end of the decade, it would become an UndeadHorseTrope, with audiences welcoming stories parodying or subverting the premise while straight-forward examples still retained their popularity.

->''"Far away, far away."''
-->-- '''"I'm Alive"''', Music/ElectricLightOrchestra, ''Film/{{Xanadu|1980}}''

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
* Myth/ClassicalMythology: Persephone was [[AbductionIsLove kidnapped by love-struck Hades]] and spent an unspecified period of time in the Underworld as his captive bride. Even after Demeter finally got her released, she ate several pomegranate seeds that [[FoodChains bound her to the Underworld forever and forced her to periodically return there.]] This was actually a JustSoStory to explain why we have seasons: Demeter, the harvest goddess, is too depressed for any crops to grow during the months that Persephone is trapped in the Underworld.
* Many early legends describe accidentally entering a fairy realm, often falling victim to the FairFolk or arriving back home years in the future after spending only days in the other realm.
* The [[UrExample first Japanese isekai]] ''Urashima Tarō'' dates back to 8th century folklore. The titular character saves a turtle, who turns out to be the Otohime, daughter of the sea god Ryūjin. To reward his daughter's savior, Ryūjin invites Tarō to Ryūjin's underwater kingdom. Tarō stays for three days but gets homesick, so he asks to leave. Tarō returns to his home, only to realize that [[YearOutsideHourInside three hundred years has passed]] in his absence.

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* ''Podcast/BinaryBreak'', being a ''Digimon'' podcast, naturally begins with Penny, Sophie, and Cate finding themselves trapped in the Digital World alongside some Digimon Partners.
* This happened to Arnie in ''Podcast/HelloFromTheMagicTavern'', who fell through a magical dimensional portal behind a Burger King in Chicago and found himself in the fantastical, magical land of Foon. Luckily, he's still getting a wi-fi signal from the Burger King through the dimensional rift and so he hosts a weekly podcast from the tavern the Vermilion Minotaur in the town of Hogsface, in the land of Foon.
* ''Podcast/DungeonsAndDaddies'' begins with four dads, their sons, and their minivan being pulled into the Forgotten Realms.

[[folder:Radio]]
* At a book signing, Sam from ''Radio/ElvenQuest'' is dragged into [=LowerEarth=] when a group of heroes kidnap TheChosenOne, aka. Sam's dog, and he wouldn't get them go. Naturally the only way to get back is to go on their quest to get the Sword of Asnagar, which will (a) defeat the Lord Of Darkness and (b) let Sam go back home).

[[folder:Roleplay]]
* ''Roleplay/FireEmblemOnForums'':
** ''[[Roleplay/FireEmblemOnForumsWonderfulBlessing Wonderful Blessing]]'': Parodied with the Revivians, humans taken from Earth by the Goddess Dragons. So many of them have arrived in Generia and been trapped that they have their own nation, Kaisei, with its own, weird culture. Their national stereotype is acting as if they are the ''isekai'' protagonist of their own story....while so many others of their kind exist that they're no longer considered even special.
* This setting is currently the most popular for [[{{crossover}} multifandom]] JournalRoleplay Games. The community has even coined a phrase for games based around this setting--"spooky jamjar". Which has now come full circle- meet Roleplay/{{Roleplayedingly}}. A roleplay where the characters are sent to a new world every week- and every world is an ''existing Website/LiveJournal roleplay''.
* After Meowfurryon was killed on ''Roleplay/NoPixel'', he showed up in the ''NP Public'' AlternateContinuity and mentioned that his death in the main universe had "isekai'd" him to the new universe.

In Japanese media, this is known as "Isekai",[[note]]Literally "Another World"[[/note]] with such protagonists typically being their local demographic's flavor of hero, [[note]]{{Stock Light Novel Hero}}es are common, though their [[StockShonenHero Shonen]] and [[StockShoujoHeroine Shoujo]] counterparts are just as prominent[[/note]] and usually involves said character gaining [[RPGMechanicsVerse RPG-like powers]] on arrival (or at the very least, is set in a RolePlayingGameVerse). Though it's been around in many forms of media long before the term was coined, the majority of isekai stories as we know it are derived from {{Web Serial Novel}}s or old stories reworked into LightNovels, with their premises and writing style even being noted as a subgenre: Narou Isekai.[[note]]From ''Shosetsuka ni Narou'', a popular online fiction website[[/note]] A lot of these are also HaremSeries, to the extent that a party of sexy heroines (or heroes) who are attracted to the protagonist has become part of the standard formula. During the 2010s, these types of stories became so popular thanks to Japanese publishing companies like Creator/{{Alphapolis}} and Media Factory that, by the end of the decade, it had become an UndeadHorseTrope: being parodied, subverted and even ridiculed to hell and back, while straight-forward examples still remain very much present.

* ''WebAnimation/TheAmazingDigitalCircus'' is a BlackComedy take on ''Literature/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream'', revolving around a group of humans trapped in {{cyberspace}} with an ObliviouslyEvil RepulsiveRingmaster AI named Caine who wants to show them a good time but just ends up traumatizing them further.

* ''Film/{{Planet of the Apes|1968}}'', with the famous twist that [[EarthAllAlong it's actually our world after all, just many centuries in the future]]. Its sequel, ''Film/BeneathThePlanetOfTheEarth'', follows in the same vein, while the third movie, ''Film/EscapeFromThePlanetOfTheApes'', inverts this by taking two of the chimpanzee characters from the scifi world of the previous films and pulling them back in time to the 20th Century.

* In the first ''I Love Wolffy'' movie in the ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'' franchise, Wolffy, Wolnie, and Paddi are trapped in real life and must seek the toy robot that got them there in the first place to return. The second one doesn't count because Wolffy and Wilie go to the real world willingly.

** ''Series/{{Loki}}'' features this trope, as Loki and Sylvie eventually get marooned on the moon Lamenis in the year 2077 that is set to explode. They spend the whole episode trying to find a way off the planet, but their attempts are in vain. Seconds before they die, the Time Variance Authority rescues them.
** ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness'', written by the writer of ''Loki'', features this twice. The first time was when Doctor Strange and America Chavez accidentally stumbled into Earth-838, a {{Techno Dystopia}}, where they are drugged and arrested by {{the Illuminati}}, with Strange standing trial for his 838 counterpart's crimes against the multiverse. Strange, America and 838 scientist Christine Palmer manage to escape after the Scarlet Witch broke in and massacred the Illuminati, but she ends up abducting America and sending Strange and Palmer to a destroyed and ruined universe, where Strange is forced to Dreamwalk in order to escape.

** ''Series/Loki'' features this trope, as Loki and Sylvie eventually get marooned on the moon Lamenis in the year 2077 that is set to explode. They spend the whole episode trying to find a way off the planet, but their attempts are in vain. Seconds before they die, the Time Variance Authority rescues them.