rdfs:comment
| - Alice and Bob are making a bargain, but Alice has something Bob must have -- it's a Matter of Life and Death -- which means she has a free hand. Odds are good that Bob will regret it, even it's the condition of Take My Hand, and not a Deal with the Devil, even though Alice will not do anything violent, or even against him, without an agreement. The lack of any active threat makes it a favorite of the Manipulative Bastard. Super-Trope of Boxed Crook. Examples of Leonine Contract include:
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abstract
| - Alice and Bob are making a bargain, but Alice has something Bob must have -- it's a Matter of Life and Death -- which means she has a free hand. Odds are good that Bob will regret it, even it's the condition of Take My Hand, and not a Deal with the Devil, even though Alice will not do anything violent, or even against him, without an agreement. The lack of any active threat makes it a favorite of the Manipulative Bastard. Occasionally the bargain is reasonable, even if Bob doesn't want to admit it. This will strongly characterize Alice as just and reasonable. On the other hand, this trope often results in the partner with the advantage constantly Moving the Goalposts. The Revenge-minded may taunt a criminal with this before revealing that since the harm was irrevocable, so too is their desire for revenge; villains are prone to teasing with this. Even Incorruptible Pure Pureness characters may hold The Promise void if it was part of this. Everyone is prone to insist on Exact Words. If the contract is magical, that's even worse, it's a Magically-Binding Contract. Super-Trope of Boxed Crook. The name comes from Aesop's Fables, "The Lion and His Fellow-Hunters". Sometimes used as a legal term; if the contract is too oppressive, it may be void, legally. (Also called an unconscionable adhesion contract.) Examples of Leonine Contract include:
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