History Main / WinYourFreedom

* Megara in Disney's ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'' will regain her soul from Hades if she helps him find Hercules' weakness. Naturally, she ends up falling in love with him - which [[IHaveYourWife gives Hades the leverage he needs anyway.]] Hercules gives up his SuperStrength for twenty-four hours in exchange for Meg's freedom (and, crucially) safety. Hades agrees, in an unspoken MagicallyBindingContract.

* In old Draenor in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', an ogre city kept orcs as slaves and gladiators for their amusement. They promised freedom to any orc who could kill one hundred opponents in the ring. One orc, Kagrath, met the challenge, but found that freedom to be a lie and was locked up in a deep prison with those other orcs who met the quota. Kagrath and the orcs [[LifeOrLimbDecision cut off their hands]] to escape their bonds, grafted weapons to their stumps, murdered the ogres, and became the Shattered Hand Clan.

* The Garlean Empire in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' [[Conscription conscripts]] soldiers from conquered territories to feed their war machine and prevent any uprisings. They offer an incentive for service by offering full Garlean citizenship to the soldiers and their families if they provide twenty years of service in the military.

->''"Listen to me. Learn from me. I wasn't the best because I killed quickly, I was the best because the crowd loved me. Win the crowd, and you'll [[TropeNamer win your freedom]]"''.
-->-- '''Proximo''', ''Film/{{Gladiator}}''

* Miguel Dominguez in ''Series/DayBreak'' was let out temporarily so that he could [[spoiler:commit a murder.]]

* ''Film/TheRunningMan''

* ''Film/DeathRace''
* ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork''[=/=]''Film/EscapeFromLA''
* ''Film/{{Gamer}}''

* ''WebVideo/RosssGameDungeon'': While reviewing ''VideoGame/ArmedAndDelirious'', Ross proposes that the prison system be changed so that instead of criminals serving sentences of set lengths of time, they should instead have to stay in prison for as long as it takes them to win their freedom by beating a brutally difficult gaming challenge. For instance, the punishment for assault would be to complete a [[NoDamageRun no-death run]] of ''VideoGame/SuperMeatBoy'', and the punishment for murder would be to beat ''Armed & Delirious'' with no hints or walkthrough of any kind (an ImpossibleTask considering the game's utterly incomprehensible {{Moon Logic|Puzzle}}).

* ''MortalKombat'' is this on a much larger scale. The tournament determines whether or not Earth Realm will be spared an invasion from Outworld.

* ''Theatre/AFunnyThingHappenedOnTheWayToTheForum'': Almost everything Pseudolus does is because of this trope.

** And of course, the bulk of the series is about the slaves trying to win their freedom [[SlaveRevolt in a way Rome had never intended.]]

* ''WebVideo/RosssGameDungeon'': While reviewing ''VideoGame/ArmedAndDelirious'', Ross proposes that the prison system be changed so that instead of criminals serving sentences of set lengths of time, they should instead have to stay in prison for as long as it takes them to beat a brutally difficult gaming challenge. For instance, the punishment for assault would be to complete a no-death run of ''VideoGame/SuperMeatBoy'', and the punishment for murder would be to beat ''Armed & Delirious'' with no hints or walkthrough of any kind (an ImpossibleTask considering the game's utterly incomprehensible {{Moon Logic|Puzzle}}).

* ''WebVideo/RosssGameDungeon'': While reviewing ''VideoGame/ArmedAndDelirious'', Ross proposes that the prison system be changed so that instead of criminals serving sentences of set lengths of time, they should instead have to stay in prison for as long as it takes them to beat a brutally difficult gaming challenge. For instance, the punishment for assault would be to complete a no-death run of ''VideoGame/SuperMeatBoy'', and the punishment for murder would be to beat ''Armed and Delirious'' with no hints or walkthrough of any kind (an ImpossibleTask considering the game's utterly incomprehensible {{Moon Logic|Puzzle}}).

->''"Listen to me. Learn from me. I wasn't the best because I killed quickly, I was the best because the crowd loved me. Win the crowd, [[TropeNamer win your freedom]]"''.

* In ''Film/TheRock'', FBI Director Womack promises Jon Mason that if he helps them infiltrate Alcatraz, then they will set him free. Womack has no intention of actually setting Mason free, [[spoiler: Agent Goodspeed [[DeathFakedForYou pretends Mason was killed and vaporized during the operation]] so Mason can gain his freedom.]]

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Film/TheRunningMan''
* ''Film/DeathRace''

* ''PunishmentPark''
* ''Film/{{Gladiator}}''. Maximus seeks to win his freedom through gladiatorial combat, although Commodus isn't keen on it happening.
* Megara in Disney's ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'' will regain her soul from Hades if she helps him find Hercules' weakness. Naturally, she ends up falling in love with him - which [[IHaveYourWife gives Hades the leverage he needs anyway.]] Hercules gives up his SuperStrength for twenty-four hours in exchange for Meg's freedom (and, crucially) safety. Hades agrees, in an unspoken MagicallyBindingContract.
-->'''Hades''': Meg, babe. A deal's a deal. [''snaps fingers, Meg's smoke gag vanishes''] You're off the hook.
* ''Film/TheRock''. [[spoiler: The man with whom Mason made the deal has no intention of honoring it]].
* Half the plot of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''. Anakin races in the podrace to win his freedom, with Qui-Gon making a bet to Watto about it.

->''"The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish."''
->''"Soldiers! don’t give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts!\\
You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural!\\
Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!"''
-->-- '''''Film/TheGreatDictator'''''

* In old Draenor in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', an ogre city kept orcs as slaves and gladiators for their amusement. They promised freedom to any orc who could kill one hundred opponents in the ring. One orc, Kagrath, met the challenge, but found that freedom to be a lie and was locked up in a deep prison with those other orcs who met the quota. Kagrath and the orcs [[LifeOrLimbDecision cut off their hands]] to escape their bonds, grafted weapons to their stumps, murdered the ogres, and became the Shattered Hand Clan.
* The Garlean Empire in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' [[Conscription conscripts]] soldiers from conquered territories to feed their war machine and prevent any uprisings. They offer an incentive for service by offering full Garlean citizenship to the soldiers and their families if they provide twenty years of service in the military.

* Megara in Disney's ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'' would regain her soul from Hades if she helped with his scheme. Surprisingly, Hades held up his end of the bargain.
** Or maybe not so surprising, considering that Meg had [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived her usefulness]] to Hades by that point. It's obviously the only reason Hades is keeping his end of the deal and setting Meg free.

* In ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', when Guts decided to leave the Band of the Hawk to find his own dream so he could be a true friend and peer to Griffith, [[CrazyJealousGuy Griffith didn't take it well at all]]. He reminds Guts that he won Guts' service by beating him in a swordfight years ago and declares that Guts would have to win his freedom with his sword. As they get ready for a rematch, Griffith realizes that the strike with the best chance of defeating Guts in one blow also has a high chance of killing him. [[IfICantHaveYou Griffith decides it doesn't matter.]] All for naught, since Guts is strong enough to break Griffith's sword with one strike, [[CurbStompBattle defeating him effortlessly]].

* ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'', although Commaodus isn't keen on it happening.

* ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'': when the teenage Jim diGriz and his mentor, The Bishop, are double-crossed and sold into serfhood on a world based on the nastier aspects of mediaeval Italy, diGriz fights his way out of slavery and sets into train a series of events that cause the dissolution of ''condottieri'' society. This ''begins'' with a nasty fight with a slave-bully to establish his place in the heirarchy.
** In later life, diGriz helps a planet with a suspiciously [[BananaRepublic Latin American]]/ [[UsefulNotes/TheFrancoRegime Francoist Spain]] set-up to throw off its dictatorship: this time the battle to the death takes the form of the universe's most crookedly rigged election.

* The story of Joseph in ''Literature/TheBible'' has this. Joseph was in jail on (false) rape charges, and Pharaoh was having some bad dreams that no one could interpret. Pharaoh eventually wound up talking to Joseph, who said that the dreams were a prophecy about an upcoming famine and suggested that Pharaoh appoint a wise man to take charge and see Egypt through it. Pharaoh was so impressed that he decided Joseph was just the guy for job.

* ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'' - Wanna prove your "innocence" in front of the [[KangarooCourt Mantra Army Court]]? ''[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Get ready to punch out]] [[BadAss Thor]]''.

* Historically TruthInTelevision. unusually skillful and loyal slaves have often been rewarded with freedom.