History Main / TrojanPrisoner

In the other version, the fake guard is someone the enemy thinks is on their side, e.g TheMole, [[HeelFaceTurn a reformed]] [[TheMole villain]], or a LoveableRogue. They swagger into the enemy camp, show off their captive, then surreptitiously help them escape, while doing a little espionage on the side. The fake guard doesn't always bother telling the hero the plan in advance either; the act is much more convincing [[EnforcedMethodActing if the hero thinks it's real.]]

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. In a flashback to when they were on Lian Yu, Oliver Queen disguised as one of the [[FacelessGoons balaclava-wearing mercenaries]], brings Slade Wilson into their camp with his hands apparently tied behind his back.

* Londo attempts this with G'Kar against Cartagia in ''Series/BabylonFive''. Starts to be subverted when Cartagia replaces G'Kar's rigged-to-break chains with real ones on a whim, but G'Kar breaks them anyway.

* In ''Literature/AClashOfKings'' from ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', the Bloody Mummers do this with Robett Glover and his men as they bring them back as "prisoners of war", although they are secretly planning to betray the Lannisters. The Bloody Mummers then help Glover and his men escape and kill the Lannister guards. In a bit of RealityEnsues, the danger of this plan is revealed early on when Glover and his men are menaced by the Lannister guards when they first arrive, despite being promised "honorable treatment". They were fortunate enough to only be thrown into the dungeons, as it was very possible the sadistic Amory Lorch could have chosen to torture and/or execute some of them.

* Wolverine and Beast do this in ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen'', Logan even referring to Beast as "Chewie".

[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused]] with the similar, but distinct, AloneWithPrisonerPloy. That's when a [[HeelFaceTurn reformed]] bad guy or good guy on the [[TheInfiltration inside]] asks to be alone with an actual prisoner in order to help him/her.

!!Examples

* In the 2010 French thriller ''Film/PointBlank'', a fugitive pretends to be a cop and leads his ally (also a fugitive) into a police station in handcuffs. This is the only way for them to enter the police station and retrieve a piece of [[CaughtOnTape exculpatory evidence]] without attracting notice.

* In the 2010 French thriller ''Point Blank'', a fugitive pretends to be a cop and leads his ally (also a fugitive) into a police station in handcuffs. This is the only way for them to enter the police station and retrieve a piece of [[CaughtOnTape exculpatory evidence]] without attracting notice.

* In Disney's ''The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh'', the Scarecrow and his men [[DressingAsTheEnemy dress as a British Navy press gang]] in order to get a man out of prison.

* One that follows the VillainProtagonist in a four part story of ''[[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic Universe]]'', in which Fiona Fox and what's left of the Destructix get themselves sent to the No Zone, a prison dimension, to bust out Scourge, Sonic's evil dimensional counterpart (long story). Getting in was easy enough, but they run into trouble as Scourge has lost any drive after being in the prison for so long and they need to convince him to get back in the game.

In the other version, the fake guard is someone the enemy thinks is on their side, e.g TheMole, [[HeelFaceTurn a reformed]] [[ReverseMole villain]], or a LoveableRogue. They swagger into the enemy camp, show off their captive, then surreptitiously help them escape, while doing a little espionage on the side. The fake guard doesn't always bother telling the hero the plan in advance either; the act is much more convincing [[EnforcedMethodActing if the hero thinks it's real.]]

** [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E15ThroughImperialEyes "Through Imperial Eyes"]]: As part of a plan to rescue the ReverseMole, whose cover the rebels believe has been compromised, Ezra disguises himself as a bounty hunter and lets himself get captured attempting to steal a ship, knowing he'll be taken to the cruiser where the spy is, so he can arrange a rescue from there. Things don't go quite as planned.

* ''VideoGame/Rayman2'' starts with Globox getting captured so he can smuggle a lum to Rayman, allowing him to break out.

* Magnificently subverted in Terry Pratchett's very first novel, ''Literature/TheCarpetPeople''.

** A villainous example: The intro of ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' has Batman dragging SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker off to Arkham after thwarting a hostage situation that involved the Mayor that was instigated by the latter, noting that it was suspiciously easy this time around. Turns out, he's right and it was all part of the Joker's plan to take over the madhouse. Turns out that when you take an insane person to the asylum, you're just taking him home.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': When [=SpongeBob=] is transported to Ye Olde Bikini Bottom, the group infiltrates the evil wizard's castle with the recently-befriended Black Knight (Sandy) pretending to have captured Spongebob, Patrick, and Squidly (Squidward's jester ancestor). Despite knowing that this is a trick, Spongebob reacts with genuine fear when Sandy relates all the various horrible ways she plans to have them tortured.

* While the series ''Anime/KaitouJoker'' has been prone to DistressBall, some of the instances have been to invoke this. Joker will often use this to get closer to the treasure he's trying to steal

* In ''Literature/AClashOfKings'' from ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', the Bloody Mummers do this with Robett Glover and his men as they bring them back as "prisoners of war", although they are secretly planning to betray the Lannisters. The Bloody Mummers then help Glover and his men escape and kill the Lannister guards. In a bit of RealityEnsues, the danger of this plan is revealed early on when Glover and his men are meanced by the Lannister guards when they first arrive, despite being promised "honorable treatment". They were fortunate enough to only be thrown into the dungeons, as it was very possible the sadistic Amory Lorch could have chosen to torture and/or execute some of them.

** ''Film/ANewHope'' provides the page image, as Han and Luke pretend to be Stormtroopers transporting their Wookiee "prisoner", Chewbacca, in the cells of the first Death Star to rescue Princess Leia Organa. It's also a subversion, though, as the senior officer manning the detention center has some suspicion about not being notified about the transfer beforehand (due to the Empire being obvious sticklers for protocol and efficiency), forcing them to abandon the trick and orchestrate a "one-man prison revolt" to get rid of the guards and the security footage. [[FromBadToWorse The officer also managed to send out an emergency alert before being shot, leading to them facing an entire squad of Stormtroopers]].

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', Agatha uses this method to get into Castle Heterodyne.

* Done in ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20050528.html here]].

* ''WesternAnimation/KipoAndTheAgeOfWonderbeasts'': Kipo and Wolf let themselves be captured by the mob frogs, but Kipo is secretly bringing Mega Bunny fur with her, to attract the mother to their hideout and cause chaos so hey can escape with Benson and Dave.

** In [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E03HerasHeroes "Hera's Heroes"]], Ezra smuggles Hera into her own (Imperial-occupied) estate by dressing as a Scout Trooper who took her prisoner. This leads to their first encounter with [[NoNonsenseNemesis Grand Admiral Thrawn]].
** In [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E15ThroughImperialEyes "Through Imperial Eyes"]], as part of a plan to rescue the ReverseMole, whose cover the rebels believe has been compromised, Ezra disguises himself as a bounty hunter and lets himself get captured attempting to steal a ship, knowing he'll be taken to the cruiser where the ReverseMole is, and he can arrange a rescue from there. Things don't go quite as planned.

** And in "The Runaway" episode: Katara pretends to turn Toph in to the authorities to collect the sizable reward money, with the intention that Toph will simply metalbend her way out of jail. [[spoiler:It doesn't exactly go as planned.]]

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', during the Impel Down riot, Mr.2 does this with Buggy and Mr. 3. They get past Magellan and then manage to reach Level 5 (in order to save a captured and poisoned Luffy) thanks to Mr. 2's ability to change his aspect. He disguises as Hannyabal and then takes the other two with him as his prisoners.

* In ''Series/Supergirl2015'', Nia suggests "[[Franchise/StarWars the Wookie gambit]]" to infiltrate the enemy base, with J'onn shapeshifting into a guard. J'onn refuses and Brainiac 5 points out that pretending to be captured has a high chance of them ''actually'' being captured. The moment J'onn leaves, Nia and Brainy decide to go through with this anyway, using Brainy's [[HolographicDisguise image inducer]]. Three guesses as to what happens next.