"(1) Slavery is the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised. "
—1926 Slavery Convention
, article 1
, article 1
There are many elements to being a good slave, so here's a list of things you might like to keep in mind as you put your backs into it! * whip!*
See also Servant Tropes. Contrast Freedom Tropes. For a different meaning of "slave", see BDSM Tropes.
Tropes:
Subcategory:
- Barefoot Captives: People taken as slaves are forced to forgo shoes.
- Bargain with Heaven: Making a deal with God, another deity, an angel, etc.
- Battle Thralls: Captured soldiers are forced to fight in their enemy's army.
- Beautiful Slave Girl: A girl born/raised as a slave grows up to be beautiful.
- Born into Slavery: A slave inherited their status from their enslaved parents.
- Boxed Crook: A convicted criminal is offered a deal to get them out of prison.
- Breeding Slave: Someone is forced to mate with others and reproduce offspring for a breeding experiment.
- Child Soldiers: When underage children or teenagers join an army, they most likely didn't have any choice in this matter.
- Claimed by the Supernatural: A character is "claimed" by some supernatural person/power, and the claim results in some kind of mark on their person.
- Condemned Contestant: A prisoner(s), instead of going to prison or being executed, are instead forced to do some kind of contest as punishment.
- Conscription: When someone is forced into serving in the military, especially if they have no interest in risking their lives for war.
- Deadly Game: When the consequences of losing the game is death.
- Deal with the Devil: Making a deal with Satan, another demon, evil being, etc., usually with an extreme personal cost (often one's own soul).
- Defeated and Trophified: You lose against them, your opponent keeps you as a living trophy of their victory.
- Divine Delegation: When gods are created by gods.
- Enslaved Elves: A once-powerful race is forced into slavery.
- Explosive Leash: Keeping prisoners in line with a collar that can kill.
- Familiar: A witch/wizard's magical pet.
- Forced Creativity: Someone is forced to make a creative work against their will.
- Forced into Evil: Someone is forced to commit villainous acts against their will.
- Forced Prize Fight: People are forced into some kind of brawl/fight with a prize.
- Geas: A supernatural force that compels a person to meet certain conditions, or they will suffer consequences.
- Genie in a Bottle: A genie (or some other powerful magical being) is trapped inside some sort of container, and is forced to grant the wishes of whomever takes this object.
- Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!: Being willing to die for freedom.
- Gladiator Games: Someone (usually a slave, though sometimes a volunteer) must fight in spectated battles against other combatants for entertainment.
- Gladiator Revolt: Until the gladiator(s) in those games decide they've had enough with performing.
- Go-Go Enslavement: Character is enslaved and put into an embarrassing and usually revealing outfit.
- Got Volunteered: Someone is forcibly "volunteered" by someone else to do a task.
- Happiness in Mind Control: Someone knows that their minds are being controlled by someone else, but they don't care.
- Happiness in Slavery: Someone is enslaved, but is perfectly happy and content about their lack of freedom.
- Henchmen Race: A race whose sole purpose is to act as minions.
- Hero's Slave Harem: A hero owns multiple slaves to double as their Love Interests.
- Hijacking Cthulhu: A Physical God is successfully enslaved by or fused with a being of much less power.
- Human Pet: Treating people like domesticated animals is even more dehumanizing than regular slavery.
- Human Traffickers: People who trade in live human beings; a modern version of the global slave trade.
- Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: During a hunt, the hunter(s) is a human. So is the prey.
- I Die Free: Someone fails to get their freedom, and decide that at least they'll be free in death.
- I Just Want to Be Free: A character's greatest desire is their freedom.
- Incapable of Disobeying: A character is enslaved in such a way that they can not disobey their master no matter how much they may want to.
- Indentured Servitude: A laborer who is obliged to serve someone else for a certain period of time.
- Involuntary Battle to the Death: When characters are forced to a battle to the death, but they did not choose to do so.
- Involuntary Suicide Mechanism: To keep a captured person from giving away information, they'll automatically die when interrogated.
- Join or Die: The only choice is to join the other side or be killed by it.
- Leonine Contract: Character A has something Character B needs, so Character B must agree to a bargain.
- Lost Him in a Card Game: Gambling for people.
- Made a Slave: When someone who was born free later becomes a slave.
- Magically-Binding Contract: A magical contract that is physically impossible to break.
- Mind Control: When someone's own free will is completely denied to them, via hypnosis or magic, to force them to behave in a certain way.
- Muggle in Mage Custody: A person without magical powers is enslaved to a sorcerer, a witch, or another supernatural being.
- Nested Ownership: When even servants/slaves have their own underlings.
- Not Used to Freedom: When someone is too much used to oppression to ever function in liberty.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: Though technically an offer, it's one that cannot be refused without dire, dire consequences.
- People Zoo: Especially if you force someone to live like a zoo animal being displayed for other people's amusement.
- Press-Ganged: People in need of someone to fill a job or position grab the first person they can find and force them to do it.
- Prisoner's Work: When prison inmates perform physical labor, often being forced into doing so (though sometimes it might be voluntary).
- Property of Love: When one is so in love with another that they don't mind being dubbed as their property — either figuratively or literally.
- Reforged into a Minion: A character is rebuilt to be a minion of the villain.
- The Renfield: A human henchman who (un)willingly serves an evil vampire.
- Restraining Bolt: Physical object or seal stuck on a character that forces them to comply to certain demands.
- Resurrect the Villain: New villains (mistakenly) think they can bring an old villain back from the dead to serve them.
- Robots Enslaving Robots: When sapient/sentient machines treat other similar machines as expendable objects, much like how robots in general are treated by humans and other organic beings.
- Saved to Enslave: A person who rescues another takes advantage of the opportunity to force them into service.
- Servant Race: A race whose sole purpose is servitude.
- Sex Slave: Someone (usually a woman or child) is forced to prostitute themselves to satisfy the lust of their masters.
- Shirtless Captives: Male captives have their shirts removed.
- Slave Brand: A mark on a person to show that they're a slave.
- Slave Collar: A collar worn by a slave to show that they are such.
- Slave Galley: When a boat is powered by slaves rowing in the galley.
- Slave Liberation: Freeing people from slavery, whether by peaceful means or through violent force.
- Slave Market: A place where people gather to buy and sell slaves.
- Slave Mooks: Soldiers or similar footmen enslaved to do their job.
- Slave Race: A race whose sole purpose is to be enslaved.
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: When enslaving people is considered the worst thing a person could possibly do.
- Sons of Slaves: An entire culture descended from a Slave Race liberated.
- Summon Binding: Magical techniques are used to force targets of Summon Magic to act in accordance with their summoners' wishes.
- Superhuman Trafficking: Superhuman or non-human people are hunted and traded for the exploitation of their special powers.
- Sympathetic Sentient Weapon: A sentient weapon unhappy with its role.
- Sympathetic Slave Owner: When a slave owner is a good person.
- Tongue-Tied: Someone is physically incapable of sharing important knowledge.
- Too Important to Walk: Someone is so "important" that they are carried place to place by others.
- Trading Bars for Stripes: When they decide to serve in the military instead of facing prison time.
- Turned Against Their Masters: A race (usually robots) created by another revolts against their creators.
- Wager Slave: In a bet, the loser must do what the other says.
- We Will Use Manual Labor in the Future: Even with all the amazing technology of a futuristic setting, forced manual labor still exists.
- Wheel of Pain: A giant wheel that captives are forced to push, even if it doesn't have a purpose.
- Whip of Dominance: Using a whip as a symbol of dominance, control, authority, or sadism.
- Win Your Freedom: A contest wherein the prize is freedom.
- Working on the Chain Gang: A group of prisoners are chained together while doing forced labor.
- Work Off the Debt: Someone who owes a lot of money is forced to work until they can pay off their debtors.
