| rdfs:comment | - Everyone likes Susan. She's such a Nice Girl, on top of being Team Mom and Love Interest to Bob! But alas, tragedy has befallen her in the form of a very unusual "kidnapping", one where she's been removed (usually) against her will and taken some place beyond mortal ken and reckoning. It can be a physical kidnapping as she's dragged into The Underworld, or even a willing one if she's Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence. Sometimes it's not the body that's gone but the mind or soul, which can happen if she suffers a Heroic BSOD and she's put into a Convenient Coma after getting lost in Cyberspace or a Dream Within a Dream. Maliciously, she may have been trapped in a Lotus Eater Machine or Psychological Torment Zone, or had her Soul taken into the Spirit World. Or she could be plain old d
|
| abstract | - Everyone likes Susan. She's such a Nice Girl, on top of being Team Mom and Love Interest to Bob! But alas, tragedy has befallen her in the form of a very unusual "kidnapping", one where she's been removed (usually) against her will and taken some place beyond mortal ken and reckoning. It can be a physical kidnapping as she's dragged into The Underworld, or even a willing one if she's Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence. Sometimes it's not the body that's gone but the mind or soul, which can happen if she suffers a Heroic BSOD and she's put into a Convenient Coma after getting lost in Cyberspace or a Dream Within a Dream. Maliciously, she may have been trapped in a Lotus Eater Machine or Psychological Torment Zone, or had her Soul taken into the Spirit World. Or she could be plain old dead. Point is, she's gone in a very real sense from this physical plane, but in a way that doesn't preclude recovery. So Bob and his allies decide to rescue Susan by going on an Orphean Rescue Mission. Much like Orpheus and his trip to the Underworld, the heroes will travel into a strange, otherworldy realm. It may be a Journey to the Center of the Mind, Susan's soul, a different era, another planet, a rabbit hole, the Spirit World, Purgatory, Limbo, Hell, the Underworld (again) or even Heaven (or a reasonable facsimile). On their quest, they probably have to fight Threshold Guardians appropriate to Susan's subconscious/DarkAndTroubledPast (trust us, no matter how happy go lucky Susan [honestly] is, she's going to have at least some skeletons in her closet) or whoever/whatever is holding her captive. Freeing her may require that she help in the process, with a rather more literal use of an "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight, or helping her see the door in her Epiphanic Prison. Once Susan wakes up, she probably won't remember anything, except as a vague distorted dream that leaves her with an urge to hug her friends and kick ass. Examples of Orphean Rescue include:
|
