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11[[quoteright:300:[[ComicBook/PlasticMan https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/plasticman_knot.png]]]]
12[[caption-width-right:300:His hands are tied. Along with everything else.]]
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14->''"As I foretold, you have annoyed me." Moments later, my arms and legs were tied up in knots. Square knots, to boot. I hate square knots--they're not natural to the human anatomy.''
15-->-- Creator/EricFlint, ''[[Literature/JoesWorld The Philosophical Strangler]]''
16
17Victims getting abused by tying their limbs and other body parts into knots usually demonstrates the strength of their abuser. A popular tactic in art styles that use RubberHoseLimbs, it can be used in other mediums as well. In RealLife, the bones usually prevent the limbs from bending the way they would need to for this trope.
18
19KnottyTentacles is a subtrope, covering examples of prehensile tentacles, snakes, and characters with stretching superpowers. Both tropes are subtrope of BoundAndGagged, which covers all examples of characters getting tied up (albeit usually in a less ''literal'' fashion).
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21Compare with BarehandedBarBending, where the strong character does this same thing to a ''nonliving'' object, usually something made of metal. This trope, in contrast, is usually PlayedForLaughs as a subset of AmusingInjuries.
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23May be used as a part of CurbStompBattle.
24
25Not to be confused with KnottyTentacles.
26
27Compare: PunchPunchPunchUhOh, RubberHoseLimbs, AccordionMan, SquashedFlat and BeTheBall for other victims of AmusingInjuries.
28
29----
30!!Examples:
31
32[[foldercontrol]]
33
34[[folder:Comic Books]]
35* A non-comical example in ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'': [[ComicBook/ElongatedMan Ralph Dibny]] knocks out a demon, pumps him full of gingold (a substance that makes a body super-elastic), then ties him up in a giant knot. By the time the demon regains consciousness, the gingold is already beginning to wear out (with all the nasty consequences of a regular body being tied into a knot), and Ralph offers another portion for the information he needs from the demon.
36* Demons in ''ComicBook/CleanRoom'' can reshape flesh of the bodies they possess. One result is breaking all of one man's bones to tie him into one of these as an excruciating execution.
37* ComicBook/PlasticMan sometimes ends up this way too. (In a "Marvel What The" crossover parody, he gets even knotted together with Elastic Man.)
38* In ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', Nico once tried to cure a zombie epidemic with a very simple spell -- "Zombie Not!" -- but the Staff of One decided to be a LiteralGenie that day, and thus, instead of curing all of the zombies in range, it turned them into a literal zombie ''knot''.
39[[/folder]]
40
41[[folder:Comic Strips]]
42* Happens to ''ComicStrip/BeetleBailey'' sometimes when Sarge beats him up, on those occasions when Sarge doesn't just leave Bailey lying in a heap on the ground after stomping on him.
43* ''Thimble Theater'':
44** One Sunday strip had WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}} in a novelty match against a wrestler. Rather than try to overpower the sailor like past foes, the wrestler just picks Popeye up and twists his body into a knot so the sailor can't move, this winning the match.
45** Another series of strips has this happen to Olive Oyl, with the other characters' attempts to untie her only resulting in her getting twisted into even more ridiculous knots.
46[[/folder]]
47
48[[folder:Film - Animated]]
49* WesternAnimation/LolaBunny leaves WesternAnimation/BugsBunny in a ridiculous knot at the foul line in ''Film/SpaceJam''. Bugs made the mistake of pressing Lola's BerserkButton by calling her "doll" .
50* ''WesternAnimation/TheTwelveTasksOfAsterix'': Cylindric the German ends up with all his limbs tied into knots via judo.
51[[/folder]]
52
53[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
54* ''Film/YouDontMessWithTheZohan'': One of Zohan's many physics-defying talents is turning people into human pretzels.
55[[/folder]]
56
57[[folder:Literature]]
58* In ''[[Literature/CallahansCrosstimeSaloon Callahan's Lady]]'', the DumbMuscle gangster Tony Donuts mentions that he once discovered by accident that breaking someone's arms in the right place allows them to be tied into a knot.
59* In ''Literature/{{Elianto}}'', the second secret technique of the Cloud Warriors, the "Geisha Cravat", involves tying the opponent in a human knot by grabbing his right arm in one hand and his left leg in the other. The only victim on page can only mutter a faint "[[VillainsWantMercy Help]]" before literally splitting in three pieces for the tension.
60* In the ''Literature/JoesWorld'' books, Greyboar the strangler is renowned for tying enemies into knots, especially their necks, and takes a professional pride in making each knot a different one. He also sometimes ties his foster brother and agent, Ignace.
61-->"As I foretold, you have annoyed me." Moments later, my arms and legs were tied up in knots. Square knots, to boot. I hate square knots--they're not natural to the human anatomy.
62* The ''Literature/MatadorSeries'' has Spasm, a chemical that causes every muscle in your body to contract at once, tying you up in knots, [[AndIMustScream and leaves you stuck that way for six months or so]].
63* In Martin Gardner's short story "No-Sided Professor", mathematician Dr. Slapenarski claims to have gone one better than the one-sided Mobius strip by discovering a geometric figure with ''[[AlienGeometries zero sides]]''. He takes a piece of paper, gives it a series of complicated twists and folds, and it vanishes. When an onlooker says that it's just a parlor trick and calls him a fraud, in a rage he ''folds the skeptic into the same shape''. When he vanishes too (into a higher dimension, according to Dr. Slapenarski), the doctor is overcome with remorse and has his friends help him to fold himself so he can follow his victim.
64[[/folder]]
65
66[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
67* In one of the kung fu parody shorts "Mind Your Manners with Billy Quan" from ''Series/AlmostLive'', "Fumes of Fury", Quan jumps on the shoulders of his nemesis to choke him with his thighs, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_cXlSlPboI but his nemesis ties his legs in a knot]].
68* In the live action ''Series/Batman1966'' TV series, ComicBook/{{Batman}}, ComicBook/{{Robin}}, and ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} are tied in a "Siamese Human Knot" by Nora Clavicle.
69-->"The slightest move by any one of you will only draw the Human Knot tighter, crush your bones and strangle you!"
70* Bull does this to Dan Fielding in an episode of ''Series/NightCourt'' when Dan tries to stop him from leaving Harry's office. (Bull told him to move aside or he'd "create the human pretzel", but Dan wouldn't move; to his regret, Bull wasn't bluffing.)
71[[/folder]]
72
73[[folder:Print Media]]
74* One cover of ''Magazine/{{Mad}}'' from 1999 has Wrestling/SteveAustin doing this to Alfred E. Neuman.
75[[/folder]]
76
77[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
78* In the Creator/PeterSellers [[Recap/TheMuppetShowS2E19 episode]] of ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', Sellers gives Link Hogthrob a rough massage that ends with Link's arms and legs getting tied together, with Sellers even getting his ''own'' arm temporarily stuck in the knot. Sellers then exits, leaving Link calling for someone to free him, with Kermit and Fozzie noting that they don't think the sketch was supposed to end that way. Once Link manages to free himself enough to get backstage, though, it turns out that he still enjoyed the massage.
79[[/folder]]
80
81[[folder:Western Animation]]
82* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': In "[[Recap/AdventureTimeS4E19LadyAndPeebles Lady & Peebles]]", Ricardio [[ShowingOffTheNewBody shows off his new body]] by twisting Lady Rainicorn in a knot and throwing her to the side. It's retroactively made worse with the reveal at the end of the episode that [[spoiler:she's pregnant]].
83* While appearing in a charity wrestling event, ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' faces a huge wrestler specializing in molding opponents' bodies like balloon sculptures. Darkwing falls to his grip, and gets reshaped into a show poodle. Launchpad and Goslyn call Darkwing away on a case just in time: The wrestler's next intended sculpture was ''octopus''.
84* In the pilot episode of Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}'s ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'', "Doug Can't Dance", Doug's best friend Skeeter ties himself in a knot while attempting to show Doug a spin move and requests to have his foot removed from his pocket.
85* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'':
86** In "[[Recap/EdEddNEddyS3E16MyFairEd My Fair Ed]]", Kevin ties Edd's hat into a bow and threatens to do the same to his legs if he doesn't keep his friends under control.
87** In "[[Recap/EdEddNEddyS4E12ATwistOfEd A Twist of Ed]]", Marie tackles Edd from behind and twists his entire body into a knot before dropping him to the ground. This leaves him unable to move as she leans in to kiss him.
88* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': Lori has threatened to turn Lincoln into a "human pretzel" more than once.
89* ''WesternAnimation/MrBogus'':
90** This happens in the second act of the episode "[[Recap/MrBogusS1E1MeetMrBogus Meet Mr. Bogus]]" during a wrestling match on TV that Bogus has engaged in. The behemoth that Bogus is fighting against just easily grabs him by the arms and ties him up before using a belly flop on him.
91** In the first act of the episode "[[Recap/MrBogusS2E2BabysittingBogus Babysitting Bogus]]", the baby does this to Bogus at the start of the match when Bogus tries to pull off some karate moves against the baby. This leads to Bogus getting tied up to one of the crib's bars.
92* In the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes short ''WesternAnimation/MuscleTussle'', WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck gets his arms tied up in a bow when he attempts some BarehandedBarBending with a fishing pole.
93* In the ''WesternAnimation/PixieDixieAndMrJinks'' short "Judo Jack", Jack applies his pretzel hold to Mr. Jinks.
94* Olive Oyl is naturally prone to this in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'' cartoons -- in one she ends up tied to a tree.
95* In one ''WesternAnimation/SabrinaAndTheGroovieGoolies'' episode, the monster rugby "wound up in a tie". And since the show runs on HurricaneOfPuns, of course cue this trope.
96* Happens to Taz in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TazMania'', courtesy of visiting wrestler Rex the Wrecker.
97* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'':
98** "Sufferin' Cats!" has Jerry being chased by Tom and another cat; by running around both of them, Jerry manages to tie both of them into a knot.
99** In "Puttin' on the Dog", Tom Cat disguises himself as a dog to infiltrate a dog pound. When Tom is ultimately unmasked, he climbs to the top of a flagpole, and ties his own limbs into knots to keep himself anchored there, beyond the dogs' reach.
100** Jerry pulls this off on Tom in the Creator/GeneDeitch short "The Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit" to show off [[IKnowKungFu his new "Judo for Mice" skills]]. To add more insult to injury, Jerry does it with just one hand.
101[[/folder]]

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