History TrappedInAnotherWorld / Literature

* ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'' '' isn't ''technically'' an Isekai, given the characters’ bodies remain in the real world, but most pieces of media that run on the trope nowadays take cues from how this series handled something akin to it. To that end, this series can be considered the TropeCodifier, and this series' success is largely considered to be one of the biggest factors to the popularity of the Isekai genre. Though the scenarios of the Aincrad and Alicization arcs do resemble this trope quite a bit, as Kirito is stuck in SAO/Underworld respectively.

* In ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'', the male protagonist is "accidentally" [[SummonEverymanHero summoned]] to another world by the female protagonist in a summoning ceremony. It is later revealed that many people have accidentally ventured into this world, including a soldier from the Vietnam War and Siesta's great-grandfather.

* ''LightNovel/JKHaruIsASexWorkerInAnotherWorld'' parodies the concept. Chiba was once a hot-blooded idiot at his school, who attempted and failed to save a classmate from a runaway truck. He awakens in another world, with unique "cheat abilities", and so begins an otaku's dream come true! But for the classmate he failed to rescue, "JK" Haru, this world is a nightmare as she's trapped in a misogynistic society with her only real option is to become a sex worker to make ends meet.

* ''LightNovel/InAnotherWorldIAmCalledTheBlackHealer'': A 22 year old Japanese woman finds herself transported into an RPGMechanicsVerse and soon realizes that she's a very powerful healer. In this world those with powerful healing magic are viewed as "Gaias Children" blessed by the setting's main god.

* In ''LightNovel/DeathMarchToTheParallelWorldRhapsody'', The main character falls asleep and wakes up to find himself in a valley. He decides to take a break from his job and tour this new world, which initially seems to be based on the game he programmed.

* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' has the main character reincarnate as the villainess of two of the routes of an otome she once played. As said villainess comes to a bad end no matter what happens in those routes, she begins trying to avoid said fate(s), ultimately turning the game's story on its ear.

* ''LightNovel/AnkokuKishiMonogatari'' has the main character Kuroki and his primary antagonists, The Hero Party brought against their will into the world of the story, with no way back.

* In ''LightNovel/CookingWithWildGame'', the protagonist is not given any sort of direction or exposition. All he knows is that he was running into a burning building, and then woke up in a primeval forest at night, completely unsinged. However, there are so ''many'' helpful coincidences about where he arrived, who was walking nearby at the time, what he ends up doing to affect that world's bigger picture, etc, that it seems...unlikely...his transplantation was entirely random.

* In ''LightNovel/HowNotToSummonADemonLord'', involves a shut-in {{NEET}} who is a GodlikeGamer in an RPG he plays, where he suddenly awakens in the world resembling his game and has become his overpowered player avatar Diablo the Demon Lord.

* Lampshaded, discussed, and ultimately defied in ''LightNovel/NoGameNoLife''. A brother and sister {{NEET}} pair get pulled by into a world ruled by its "one true god" Tet, who has made [[TheCommandments 10 Pledges]] that force everyone to use games to decide [[SeriousBusiness almost everything]]. However, Sora and Shiro were both quite disillusioned with society back home and have absolutely '''no''' desire to go back; they even thank Tet for bringing them there.

* ''LightNovel/{{Overlord|2012}}'' revolves around a high-level MMORPG dungeon created by an evil-themed roleplaying guild, which is [[NormalFishInATinyPond transported to an unrelated low-fantasy world]]. In the process, its AlwaysChaoticEvil NPC guardians become sentient, and the sole remaining member of said guild becomes trapped in his [[OurLichesAreDifferent Elder Lich]] avatar as their master. As he is very fond of said [=NPCs=] (what with them being the only reminder of his old guildmates) but terrified of them turning against him, he is forced to play the role of a stereotypical EvilOverlord. Due to his undead body [[TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody dulling his emotions]], and his minions' attempts to "help" him, he slowly ends up BecomingTheMask.

* In ''Literature/{{Everworld}},'' the main characters [[HeroicWannabe David]], [[PoliticallyIncorrectHero Christopher]], [[TheSmartGuy Jalil]] and [[TheChick April]] get sucked into the titular world when [[GodOfEvil Loki]] breaches the space between worlds to abduct [[TokenEvilTeammate Senna]]. ([[MagnificentBitch Senna specifically planned this]].) Everworld is populated with various mythological gods who came there from our world ("the Old World") centuries ago, along with their mortal followers. There are also weird alien creatures who came from completely different worlds, along with ''their'' gods, one of whom is an EldritchAbomination seeking to eat all the others. Senna could bring them home, but unlike most {{MacGuffin Super Person}}s, she has her own agenda, [[AGodAmI and it's not pretty]].

In LightNovel/NitosLazyForeignWorldSyndrome As Hidako Masamune was about to commit suicide, he and his classmates are summoned to the Kingdom of Gray Belka to fight against the Demon Lord and his army. When they learn that he possesses the class of "Healer" which id considered to be the weakest class, they decide to dispose of him instead.

* Creator/GuyGavrielKay's ''Literature/TheFionavarTapestry''. The five main characters are transported to Fionavar at the beginning of the first book, ''The Summer Tree'', and return to their own world at the end of it; then they go back near the beginning of the second book, ''The Wandering Fire'', and stay there through to the end of the third, ''The Longest Road'', when their various fates are resolved. At the end of the trilogy the score stands with [[spoiler:two going back to our world, one choosing to stay in Fionavar, one dead in a HeroicSacrifice, and one sailing off to eternity with Lancelot and Myth/KingArthur as she fis, in fact, Guinevere.]] The books are somewhat eclectic.

* ''LightNovel/LogHorizon'': At the exact moment the newest expansion for the {{MMORPG}} "Elder Tale" goes live, its entire player base blacks out and wakes up in the bodies of their Adventurer avatars, believing that they have been transported inside the game. At the same time, in the MedievalEuropeanFantasy land of Theldesia, the monster-hunting "Adventurer" constructs that have served humanity for generations suddenly begin acting strangely, displaying individual personalities and calling humans "[=NPCs=]". Now Theldesia must deal with the impact of an entire nation springing up overnight -- one where the inhabitants have completely alien values, [[PersonOfMassDestruction the fighting strength of demigods]], and no form of government or law enforcement. The protagonists [[GuileHero must use all their political savvy]] to stabilize things and [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility make sure that Theldesia doesn't descend into war because of their presence]].

* In ''LightNovel/DrugstoreInAnotherWorld: The Slow Life of a Cheat Pharmacist'', corporate slave Reiji is transported to another world, uses his skills to make better potions and sets up a drugstore.

* In ''LightNovel/HighSchoolProdigiesHaveItEasyEvenInAnotherWorld'', seven high school students get into an airplane accident, and wake up to find themselves in a middle age-esque fantasy world where magic and beast-men (called juujin) exist. Like most protagonists in this kind of plot, they are high school students that excel at politics, economics, science and medicine, which enables them to build a nuclear plant in a world without electricity, control the economy of a large city in a short work's trip, and declare war on the evil nobles.

* The main premise of the ''Across The Universe'' series. The main character is travelling in a spaceship to land on a new planet while cryogenically frozen, and she is woken up fifty years before the ship is set to land. She is trapped on a tiny ship filled with people who don't understand her and are extremely confused at how she looks (since everyone on the ship is monoethnic, and she's not).

* ''LightNovel/LogHorizon'': At the exact moment the newest expansion for the {{MMORPG}} "Elder Tale" goes live, its entire playerbase blacks out and wakes up in the bodies of their Adventurer avatars, believing that they have been transported inside the game. At the same time, in the MedievalEuropeanFantasy land of Theldesia, the monster-hunting "Adventurer" constructs that have served humanity for generations suddenly begin acting strangely, displaying individual personalities and calling humans "[=NPCs=]". Now Theldesia must deal with the impact of an entire nation springing up overnight -- one where the inhabitants have completely alien values, [[PersonOfMassDestruction the fighting strength of demigods]], and no form of government or law enforcement. The protagonists [[GuileHero must use all their political savvy]] to stabilize things and [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatResponsibility make sure that Theldesia doesn't descend into war because of their presence]].

* The protagonist of ''The Challenge from Beyond'' (written by the entire Lovecraft Circle; Creator/CLMoore, Creator/AMerrit, Creator/HPLovecraft, Creator/RobertEHoward, and Creator/FrankBelknapLong) finds, at random, a crystal that causes his mind to be transferred into the body of a monstrous, horrific alien, and the alien's mind to be transferred to his. He quickly decides that he'd quite like it on the alien world, and becomes their king by way of stealing the talisman of their god. The alien in his body back on Earth is nowhere near as lucky, going insane and killing himself shortly afterwards as it can't override the body's [[HumansAreInsane self-destructive urges]].

* The protagonist of ''The Challenge from Beyond'' (written by the entire [[Creator/HPLovecraft Lovecraft Circle]]) finds, at random, a crystal that causes his mind to be transferred into the body of a monstrous, horrific alien, and the alien's mind to be transferred to his. He quickly decides that he'd quite like it on the alien world, and becomes their king by way of stealing the talisman of their god. The alien in his body back on Earth is nowhere near as lucky, going insane and killing himself shortly afterwards as it can't override the body's [[HumansAreInsane self-destructive urges]].

* It's taken a step further in ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero''; not only is the protagonist Naofumi one of four heroes who have been summoned into a fantasy world from their own [[spoiler:(in fact, all but Naofumi himself followed the common isekai trope of dying in their own world before waking up in the new world)]], but it quickly turns out that all four of the heroes each come from ''alternate versions'' of Japan as well. Unfortunately, Naofumi gets the short straw as he is looked down on for unknown reasons and subjected to a FrameUp, forcing him to [[HadToBeSharp survive on his own in a world that seems to hate his guts]]. Also notable that, right after their summoning, the four heroes talk amongst themselves and quickly discover that they all come from {{Alternate Universe}}s from each other. Indeed, in the worlds where the other three come from, the world they've been summoned to seems to have come [[TrappedInTVLand from a video game]], and a different game in each universe, at that.

* In ''LightNovel/MagicalGirlRaisingProject Restart'', 16 magical girls are trapped in a game world and are forced to go through the world and defeat the Evil King in order to permanently escape. In this case, they are only trapped in it for three days at a time [[YearInsideHourOutside from their perspective]], then are allowed three days in the real world for a maintenance period, and then it repeats until the game is cleared.

* It's taken a step further in ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero''; not only is the protagonist Naofumi one of four heroes who have been summoned into a fantasy world from their own [[spoiler:(in fact, all but Naofumi himself followed the common isekai trope of dying in their own world before waking up in the new world)]], but it quickly turns out that all four of the heroes each come from ''alternate versions'' of Japan as well.

* ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'' is the [[TropeCodifier most famous Isekai anime]], and while it isn't the TropeMaker it was responsible for the popularization of this genre since then.

* ''LightNovel/KonoSuba'' is a parody of the isekai genre. Protagonist Kazuma, a shut-in NEET who dies an extremely UndignifiedDeath, is offered a chance by the goddess Aqua to go to an RPGMechanicsVerse fantasy world to fight in a war against the Demon King, and is even offered one game-breaking magical item of his choice. Annoyed by Aqua's condescension towards him, he decides to bring ''her'' along as his game-breaking item, only to find that not only is she pretty much useless most of the time, but that the life of a low-level adventurer is unglamorous and grueling (Kazuma spends much of the early first season just barely scrounging up enough money to eat while sleeping in a stable.)

* In ''* In ''Literature/AscendanceOfABookworm'', Urano Motosu lived for books. Then died for them too after an earthquake shook up the messy books around her and crushed her to death. Her last thought was that she hoped she could read more books in her next life.'', a girl who loves books is reincarnated into a Fantasy world after an earthquake crushes her under a pile of them. Unfortunately, she reincarnates into the body a sickly, illiterate five-year-old daughter of a common city guard in a world where books are rare and expensive. So she begins using her knowledge of arts and crafts to invent paper, and begins trying to spread literacy and writing so more books will be made.

* In ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'', a girl who loves books is reincarnated into a Fantasy world after an earthquake crushes her under a pile of them. Unfortunately, she reincarnates into the body a sickly, illiterate five-year-old daughter of a common city guard in a world where books are rare and expensive. So she begins using her knowledge of Arts and Crafts to invent paper, and begins trying to spread literacy and writing so more books will be made.

* [[Creator/DaveDuncan Dave Duncan's]] ''The Great Game'' explains why characters in this situation tend to become heroes -- anyone who's in a different dimension than the one they were born in can absorb {{Mana}}. At low levels, this just makes them [[CharmPerson really, really charismatic]]. If they [[spoiler:convince other people to make sacrifices to them (usually of blood), they can become {{Physical God}}s. All "godly" beings are actually humans from other worlds, many "gods" of Vales are actually from our world.]] [[PoweredByAForsakenChild There]] [[AGodAmI are]] [[DrunkOnTheDarkSide hazards]] [[TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget to this]], however...

* Creator/GuyGavrielKay's ''Literature/TheFionavarTapestry''. The five main characters are transported to Fionavar at the beginning of the first book, ''The Summer Tree'', and return to their own world at the end of it; then they go back near the beginning of the second book, ''The Wandering Fire'', and stay there through to the end of the third, ''The Longest Road'', when their various fates are resolved. At the end of the trilogy the score stands with [[spoiler:two going back to our world, one choosing to stay in Fionavar, one dead in a HeroicSacrifice, and one sailing off to eternity with Lancelot and Myth/KingArthur as she is, in fact, Guinevere.]] The books are somewhat eclectic.

* ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'' has Stanisslaus Grumman, actually John Parry, became trapped in Lyra's world while exploring the Arctic in his world and couldn't find the portal again.
** Somewhat deconstructed as it was stated that staying in a universe that was not yours would cause you to age quicker and die sooner.

* Creator/HBeamPiper's Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen was once a Pennsylvania state policeman named Calvin Morrison, who was accidentally dropped off in a parallel universe where the Aryans went east instead of west, and conquered North America. As it happens, he lands in a small kingdom that's about to be wiped out by the CorruptChurch that holds a monopoly on the secret of gunpowder manufacture...and he knows how to make gunpowder.

* In "The New Gate", deals double cases of this. Firstly trapped-in-Deadly-VR-games a la ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' above then protagonist is transported to dimension similar to video game but 500 hundred years later a la Overlord and Log Horizon when [[OneManArmy he, alone, killed last boss and completed the game]]. The story tells his reunions with old friends, meeting new friends, saving the day on frequent basis and finding the way home. [[spoiler:Later, it is revealed that there are 6 other players whom are trapped twice like Shin for reason yet unexplained even if the systems recognize that they are already logged out.]]

* This trope is very common in contemporary Russian fiction, having coined the neologism "попаданец" (literally "one who unwittingly arrived").

* In ''Literature/{{Destroyermen}}'', the crew of the UsefulNotes/WorldWarII destroyer USS ''Walker'' ends up on a parallel Earth where evolution took a very different path. Dinosaurs and their descendants roam the land, and the seas are full of giant monsters and piranha-like fish. Two native intelligent races are at war to the death. Later on, they learn they're far from the first to be trapped here. In fact, the ''Literature/{{Artillerymen}}'' prequel series follows another group of Americans who got trapped in that world during the Mexican-American War.

* OlderThanRadio: Lewis Carroll's ''Literature/AliceInWonderland''. One of the earliest and most famous versions of this trope and a template for many later stories.