Fighting From the Inside



Fiction has a lot of ways of making otherwise good and decent people into stark raving evil lunatics against their will. And sometimes, horrifyingly, the original friend is trapped in their own body and helpless to stop "themselves" from hurting friends and loved ones... or are they?

When a character is Fighting From The Inside, they are resisting the controlling influence acting on them in subtle and sometimes overt ways. Maybe the Split Personality can't stop their hand from jittering uncontrollably as they aim a gun at the hero, or the brainwashing proves ineffective as they subconsciously sabotage their evil master's Evil Plan.

The character isn't just waiting for someone to yell "I know you're in there somewhere" (although if an ally is doing so, this might cause said ally to realize the victim is in there, and is listening), they're trying their best to hinder the villains and show they can still be rescued with a little outside help. It's also common for the character, at the moment of ordered to do something irredeemably evil only to strangely freeze, to say something like "I can't do it; something is stopping me!" as their subconscious fights the mind control with everything it's got.

In scenes that don't involve actual fighting, a character who is Fighting from the Inside might subtly foreshadow resistance by actions that seem to be mistakes, but are actually deliberate attempts to sabotage his actions; like say, missing a spot check when his true allies are trying to sneak into the brainwasher's lair or fudging a computer program that he'd previously be able to do in his sleep. The victim's evil master might not suspect resistance until a confrontation with the victim's allies actually occurs.

Other signs of resistance are:
 * Tears suddenly falling from their eyes, often accompanied by a staggered voice and other signs.
 * Hair or eye color changing from "possessed" to "unpossessed".
 * Loss of control over limbs, typically arms, as the character's subconscious starts resisting the commands with all its might.
 * Splitting headaches as the original fights the Split Personality Takeover from inside their own mind
 * The Soul appearing outside the body like a ghost or Hologram, usually to point out a weak spot or opening and begging for death.
 * In extreme cases, the camera - or equivalent - actually zooming into the hero's very soul-chamber where a an actual fight is occurring between the hero and whatever is controlling him.

In a worst case scenario, these signs of resistance are the dying gasps of a fading Soul trying to keep their body from being used for evil... they can't be rescued, and actually want to be put down. This may result in Dying as Yourself or Peaceful in Death, for your consolation after the death. In the best case, the villain will get impatient and resort to blatant means to help the mind control. That often proves to be a mistake with that physical stimulus being just what their puppet needs to break free and the physical fight is on.

The most literal example is when this Trope overacts with a Battle in the Center of the Mind, which is when whatever is controlling the victim manifests an avatar of itself within the very soul of the victim, who is depicted as a prisoner on his own property, a victim who is not as cooperative a prisoner as the captor would like.

For a milder version, where a character is trying to resist simple Mind Reading by filling their mind with opposing information, they're using Psychic Static.

See also Heroic Willpower, which may overlap if the controlling influence is The Virus or a Demonic Possession.

Anime and Manga
"Dark Bakura: How do you like the feel of durable poly-resin, RYOU BAKURA!?"
 * Pictured above: Hotaru in Sailor Moon when she's possessed by Mistress 9.
 * In both the manga and the '05 animé of Ah! My Goddess, Keiichi has a tendency to fall victim to Mind Control from demons and well-meaning goddesses alike—but always tries to fight it, most notably in
 * Aki does this in Ayashi no Ceres at at least one point after he gets possessed by Mikagi.
 * Naruto in Naruto, when overcome by the Kyuubi within him.
 * Earlier, during the Chunin exam, Sakura and her self-projection (or something) fight off Ino's Posession Jutsu.
 * in the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, after
 * Shun in Saint Seiya actually throttles Hades to give his brother a chance to kill them, and end any chance of Shun's body being used for evil.
 * in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann becomes the herald of the Anti-Spiral and begins the annihilation of life on Earth; this becomes part of Simon's "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight speech when she tries to stop him from retaking the Cathedral Terra, where he points out that despite the Anti-Spiral's brainwashing, she's been subconsciously helping them, warning Simon of the Anti-Spiral's attacks beforehand and training them to battle the alien menace through successively more dangerous encounters.
 * Inverted in Hell Teacher Nube: the only reason Nube can control his demonic left hand, in which an Oni is sealed, is because Miss Minako's soul was devoured much earlier by said Oni, and now she's spending her considerable spiritual power forcing it to obey Nube's commands. In special circumstances, she even manifests as a human face or torso sprouting from the Oni's forehead.
 * This happens a lot in Yu-Gi-Oh! when a protagonist is possessed or brainwashed (which happens disturbingly often in the franchise), though normally downplayed in the 4kids dub. Some examples:
 * During the "Monster World" arc in the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, Bakura fights against the soul of the Millennium Ring in this way, managing to regain control of whatever body parts are severed from Zorc in-game. He manages to save the party from certain death by using his left hand to throw fixed dice, and miscalculating stats; that is, until Dark Bakura impales his hand on the scenery.


 * He also did this in "Evil Spirit of the Ring" (a loose adaptation of the plot of "Monster World") taking control of Dark Bakura's Change of Heart card (his favorite card, the reason he had inadvertently been sealed inside it by Dark Bakura's spell) to keep the villain from using its effect, ultimately leading to his defeat. Sadly, this was the last time Bakura would effectively be able to fight him, as the Evil Spirit's hold on him seemed to grow over time.
 * In the anime episode where Marik first appeared, Bandit Keith was affected by Millennium Rod's spell (this was not in the manga). The spell was partially broken when Dark Bakura used his millennium ring to disrupt it; Keith was semi-freed but was driven somewhat insane, as Marik was still present in his mind. He wound up almost killing himself and Yugi in a rage when he set fire to the building they were in.
 * Jonouchi was captured and taken control of by the Millennium Rod. Being forced to fight Yugi in a death-duel, however during the duel he started resisting Marik and managed to fight his control multiple times, until finally breaking free completely. Thus far, he is the only one shown to have [[Heroic Willpower| truly broken the Millennium Rod's effects.}}

"Marik: Now! Kill him! Kill him! Jonouchi: SHUT UP!"


 * In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Manjyome managed to fight off the Light of Ruin's influence with the help of Jaden, he eventually regains his senses (success). Asuka may have tried to, briefly (given the fact that she resisted the temptation to use the White Veil card during the GenEx tournament, and by the fact that she even bothered helping Momoe and Junko) but she clearly wasn't able to after Saiou intensified the hold on her later. Saiou himself tried to do so at times; he only had limited success, but that small amount of success set the Light's plans back greatly.
 * It's not known if Johan was trying to fight when he was possessed by Yubel in the third season, but his Crystal Beasts - who had been transformed into dark versions of themselves called Advanced Crystal Beasts as a result - certainly were. During the possessed Johan's duel with Judai, they were able to communicate with Judai in their true forms when Winged Kuriboh was destroyed (long story) and give him a clue about how to break the spell.
 * Most of the Dark Signers tried to in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's (Carly had the most success, Misty, Kiryu, and Bommer had partial success), and as for Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal, if we discussed how many times someone tried to fight off the influence of a Number that was controlling him, it would take all day. Suffice to say, evil things that brainwash people are common here, but so are victims who at least try to fight back.


 * at the end of the season of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Once she managed to regain some manner of control over her body, her possessed body gets a full-body spasm and generally stops trying to kill Nanoha.
 * In Princess Mononoke, Ashitaka has to wrestle down his cursed arm a couple of times.
 * Unlike most examples, however, the arm has a mind of its own - it isn't trying to invade Ashitaka's.
 * Given the repeated use of Brainwashed and Crazy in Fushigi Yuugi, this happens quite a lot.
 * Tamahome, after beating the hell out of Tasuki and almost killing Miaka, can be seen with tears streaming down his face at the end of the battle. Eventually, The Power of Love helps him break the spell.
 * Chiriko and Tasuki, during their respective Demonic Possession episodes, attempt suicide in order to stop themselves from committing any further evil.
 * In Code Geass, after Lelouch unwittingly commands to,  tries to resist it, with the Geassed-eyes flickering on and off in red. Notably, this is the first time a victim of his Evil Eye showed any signs of resisting orders, even though he previously ordered plenty of people to commit suicide.
 * According to a Word of God, the reason she was fighting back was because the command went against her morals, same with Nunnaly.
 * In the last episode of the second season,
 * Happens in the first big battle in The Slayers
 * In Claymore,
 * Also whenever.
 * Satoshi Hiwatari in D.N.Angel with Krad in the last episode of the anime.
 * In Bleach, Ichigo and Hollow Ichigo often play this straight and invert it: whenever one was in control, the other would be desperately trying to get back into the driver's seat. Ichigo usually stayed dominant, keeping his Hollow restrained and getting back control of the body relatively quickly whenever he lost control, largely due to the influence of his nearby friends.
 * tries this, alongside, when they are
 * Lute,, saves his beloved city from destruction. When his loved ones are harmed, tears of blood stream down his typically-expressionless face.
 * In One Piece, Miss Goldenweek hypnotises Luffy to be completely calm and not wanting to save his friends. After said friends were completely incased in wax, there was a shot of a pissed off Luffy unable to do anything but angrily grit out "this is some good tea" repeatedly, attempting to not fall fully under control.
 * Juvia of Fairy Tail does this once when brainwashed into a psychopathic rocker chick - when she engulfs Lucy, Lucy feels Juvia's tears on her cheeks and hears her apologizing.
 * Given the number of times Inuyasha is possessed or forced into a transformation - especially in the only-sort-of-canon movies - it isn't surprising that he does this a lot.
 * Notable examples: In the third movie, he falls under the control of a demonic sword; it tries to get him to murder a woman and her baby, so he bites his arm and holds it back with his teeth and claws until Miroku can get them to safety. The same thing happens whenever it tries to get him to attack Kagome.
 * In one scene towards the end of the series,
 * And later in the same arc,, ignoring several self-inflicted punches to the face that Magatsuhi makes him do.
 * Enjin of Yozakura Quartet says that Gin is doing this

Comic Books

 * Indigo in Outsiders.
 * This trope is typical in comics whenever popular characters fight due to mind control.
 * When several heroes become Black Lanterns in Blackest Night, we see their posessed bodies running around doing evil stuff juxtaposed with their "normal" selves within fighting to regain control, making this a combination of this trope and And I Must Scream. Green Arrow in particular plays this trope straight; while the black ring is making him shoot at his family, he manages to exert enough Heroic Willpower to not only shift his aim to hit something else instead, but so the ring itself momentarily shines green, the colour indicating willpower. No other Black Lantern, dead or "alive," managed to make the ring shine a different colour.
 * An early example Silver Age example is when Captain America (comics) was treated with a mind control drug by the Red Skull and ordered to join a German paratrooper raid to assassinate Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower. They get as far as invading the General's office and Cap takes aim at him as ordered. At that point, Cap's subconsciousness rebels and keeps him from moving, much less pulling the trigger and the mind controlled superhero is at a loss to understand why. The German commando leader tries to manipulate Cap's hand to fire, but that physical force allows Cap's mind to break free of the drug and fight all the commandoes in Eisenhower's defense while the general calls security.
 * Bruce Banner does it - and has done it, and likely always will do it - every single time he becomes the Hulk. If he didn't or couldn't, the Hulk's anger would be completely unrestrained and he'd be far more dangerous than he ever was before.

Fan Works

 * In Ponies Make War, after Twilight is possessed by the Sliver of Darkness and transformed into Nihilus, she ends up doing this passively by feeding Nihilus misinformation in order to keep her from defeating the rest of the Mane Six.
 * Likewise, Rainbow Dash is placed under a Mind Rape spell (that she calls the Insanity) by Nihilus, and attempts to fight its control of her body, without much success.

Film

 * Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan: The mind-controlled Starfleet officers Khan orders to kill Kirk can't do it. In fact, one kills himself instead.
 * In the often slapstick Evil Dead 2, this trope's played surprisingly straight. Ash is possessed by the evil and about to kill Annie when he spots the necklace he'd earlier given his girlfriend, still lying on the floor. That memory weakens its control enough that he hesitates and roars in inner turmoil. The camera cuts away as the roar turns into Ash's human screams and sobs, and returns to show that he's himself again.
 * In Madagascar, Alex the lion attempts to resist his natural urge to hunt Zebra (or any other) meat.
 * In The Avengers, An argument can also be made for Hawkeye shooting Nick Fury in the chest, knowing that he'd be wearing body armor, instead of in the head, which Hawkeye's Improbable Aiming Skills made him quite capable of doing.
 * In the Hellraiser franchise, Pinhead was once a soldier named Eliot Spencer, who became Pinhead after losing his faith with humanity and making a deal with Leviathan. Spencer's true benevolent personality still influences Pinhead in the first two movies, making Pinhead an Affably Evil Anti-Villain keeping his worst impulses in check forcing him to abide by the laws of Cenobite Hell, such as only being allowed to harm, kill, or convert those who had willingly used the Lament Configuration. However, starting with the third movie Spenser's psyche is separate from Pinhead's, and the demon turns truly wicked, indiscriminately torturing and murdering everyone in his path.

Literature

 * The Imperius Curse from Harry Potter can be resisted or completely thrown off by some characters while others become mindless minions of their masters. It also becomes an excuse that the bad guys can use to cover up their evil actions.
 * This trope could also apply to Harry's fear in the fifth book that he had physically been attacking people. Similarly,  really was being controlled by Riddle in the 2nd book.
 * A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge plays with this with Flenser/Tyrathect battling for control and showing various outward signs of the battle. In a subversion of the usual application of this trope, Complete Monster and Evil Overlord Flenser is the "original" personality, that attempts to break to the surface and overcome "possession" by Tyrathect fragments.
 * The entire plot of the Dragonlance New Adventures initial series is composed of the bad guy's plots to make sure the evil persona implanted in Nearra wins. Until about the fourth book, the evil persona had only occasional moments of dominance, but after that she was constantly having trouble with Nearra yelling at her inside her head.
 * In the Mage Winds trilogy by Mercedes Lackey, Big Bad Ma'ar has been possessing the bodies of his descendants for countless thousands of years, until he gets careless in his latest incarnation. Eventually, after he miraculously escapes from certain death, it turns out that he's been weakened enough to allow the original owner of the body to resurface and eventually aid the heroes in destroying Ma'ar once and for all.
 * In the third book of The Hunger Games trilogy  deals with a fair amount of this after
 * In C. J. Cherryh's Morgaine Cycle, the villain of the original trilogy used a time/space Gate to steal the body of the viewpoint character's cousin. In the third book, it's revealed that millennia of body-theft has eroded his soul to the point where his latest victim can take back control. "If anything of your cousin has influence ... then he may yet defeat the man who killed him."  The fourth book includes arguments within the mind of another victim who retains much of both personalities. He's quite shocked to discover that the evil lord he'd battled is a much more reasonable person than he'd thought (despite taking over his body).
 * Any Controller in the Animorphs series will do this from time to time. None have ever successfully overthrown a Yeerk completely, but there have been some famously close calls. When his daughter was threatened to become a Controller, breaking the deal Chapman made with the Yeerks, he almost completely takes control temporarily. Additionally, much of the book Visser is arguing with her Yeerk, and the Yeerk talking about how they had several close calls since arriving on Earth, including one lady who gained control over her eyelids while driving in an attempt to crash the car and kill them both.
 * To be more accurate, the Yeerk gave control of one eye back to see what she'd do with it. The woman waited until the opportune moment to shut the eye to try and trigger a car crash.
 * Favorite moments include at least one of the Chapmans gaining control over over their hand and attemping to strangle themself, as well as  discovering that he has "the power of annoyance" and talking incessantly to his Yeerk to distract it and just be obnoxious.
 * And John Berryman, a failed actor who memorized Henry V and recites it constantly at his Yeerk—so much so that the first thing he does when he gets control of a time machine is journey back to the Battle of Agincourt and try to change the outcome so that Shakespeare would never write it.
 * Another example of a Controller temporarily fighting back its Yeerk host was  regaining control just long enough to tell her husband to stay away from the military, thus ensuring that the Yeerks would have no practical use for him as a host.
 * Yet another example of this is a disfigured girl Controller speaking to Tobias, intending to lure her into a trap. Out of nowhere, the Controller suddenly shakes, her eyes widen, and the girl shouts "Don't listen to her!" before slamming her head down on the table for a few moments. The Yeerk regains control immediately after.
 * And let's not forget that Jake was finally convinced that his brother was a Controller after Temrash is telling Jake how wonderful the Sharing is and Tom breaks through to half-way shake his head no.
 * in Mistborn does this when he is possessed by.
 * Weston shows signs of this after being possessed by Satan himself in CS Lewis' Perelandra, although it's not clear whether it's real or an attempt to trick Ransom (always a risk with this sort of thing). Leads to an unplanned "What The Hell, man" moment from readers, as Weston appears to die as himself.
 * Subverted in Grunts! by Mary Gentle.
 * In The Host by Stephenie Meyer, this trope is central to the entire plot. Most of the book concerns the struggle of Melanie the human girl against Wanderer, the parasite alien controlling her body.
 * In The Dark Elf Trilogy, Drizzt's father is
 * Several Star Trek novels explore inside fights. Most do so versus the Borg, but it's a big universe:
 * In The Brave and the Bold" Kira is shown struggling against an ancient dictator's near-complete control of her (she can't even blink or swallow). Eventually, she breaks out of it, which confirms the dictator's control is weakening. Spock is also controlled by this dictator, but fights it off and mind-melds with Worf to stave off the effects.
 * In Before Dishonor, Admiral Janeway is completely dominated by the Borg, and her body is made into their new queen. When Seven of Nine reaches out to her in her aid to destroy the Borg,
 * In the Warhammer 40,000 Blood Angels novel Deus Encarmine,  struggles against the black rage, his eyes glazing over and unglazing as he tries to tell Rafen of   treachery.With his dying breath, he succeeds in getting his message across properly.
 * Earlier, he had tried to tell Chaplain Delos, but the sentence fragments he got out did not communicate properly.
 * In the Warhammer 40,000 Night Lords series, the character Vandred was possessed and twisted by a daemon called "the Exalted." While the Exalted is convinced that Vandred has no hope,
 * This is half the plot of The Ragwitch. The story begins when a character is possessed by the Creepy Doll, and the rest of the book alternates between her brother's attempts to rescue her and her attempts to prevent herself from being absorbed completely into the Ragwitch's mind.
 * Averted hard in Neuropath, which centers around the villain's various experiments with people under Mind Control. As Neil Cassidy notes, "Everyone expects to be captain Kirk", but as he controls every thought and emotion, it is an impossibilty. Near the end of the story, he even manages to get Thomas Bible to rationalise all the horrors he has inflicted upon him, including
 * In Artemis Fowl Book 6,  has to fight off the mesmer of , who wants him to kill Artemis. He manages it, but gives himself a heart attack at the same time. It's not too surprising;
 * In Wild Cards,  has been stuck as , unable to communicate with the outside world as his alter-ego reaped destruction for several years.
 * In L. Jagi Lamplight's Prospero in Hell, the demonically possessed Theo manages to seize control of his own voice for a moment.
 * In Percy Jackson and The Olympians, friend-turned-enemy Luke Castellan willingly allows himself to be possessed by the Titan Lord Kronos.
 * This is played with in the Ranger's Apprentice at one point. For most of The Siege of Macindaw
 * They don't call him the Dragon Reborn because just because he's a stone-cold bugger. He actually gets Lews Therin Telamon, the Lord of Morning, in his head along for the ride! Only, nobody told Lews Therin. He thinks he just blacked out and someone is inside his head. Independent of that, Lews Therin is batshit crazy and the Dragon Reborn will be soon, too.
 * In Tales of Kolmar, The Corrupter offered enhanced powers to any healer or mage who wanted them in exchange for a lock of hair and a promise of aid in the unspecified future. Said aid came in the form of sending him half their power and being possessed by a demon free to use their bodies and remaining power for whatever it wanted. A few of them fought hard enough that their minds died; others could either be exorcised by other mages with great effort from both parties, or died as themselves.

Live Action TV
"Locutus of Borg / Picard: "Sleep", Data, "Sleep""
 * Supernatural being a show that uses demonic possession a lot, this trope crops up now and then.
 * In the season one finale "Devil's Trap", John resists possession and gives his son a chance to kill YED.
 * In season five,  successfully fights off possession by one of  's henchmen long enough to   so he didn't kill Dean.
 * Deliberately invoking this trope is how at the end of season five.
 * Star Trek: The Next Generation:


 * The following episode revealed that Picard had been conscious and fighting the whole time, but was mostly powerless against the collective's will: when he starts telling his brother about his efforts to resist their control, he breaks down into tears. That feeling of helplessness and shame would later evolve into an often overwhelming, but understandable, hatred of the Borg.
 * Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has an early episode in which Dr. Bashir's body is taken over by a serial killer. The crew uses Applied Phlebotinum to awaken Bashir's real personality, as well as some Narm-tastic acting from the normally-good Alexander Siddig.
 * Star Trek: Voyager ("Warlord"). The innocent Kes is taken over by a body-jumping dictator who decides to stay in her body because he's impressed by her Magical Girl powers. However he finds the waif-like Kes is a lot tougher than she looks; most notably in a dream scene where Kes threatens to use all the lessons the dictator has learned over the years on how to be a ruthless, determined bastard.
 * Battlestar Galactica: The Plan revealed that Manchurian Agent Boomer was fighting from the outside in the first season, with the lines between the core Number Eight personality and the cover breaking down.
 * Used & Inverted in the Heroes starting from the end of Volume 4:  Finally:.
 * Happens several times with people possessed by Goa'uld in Stargate SG-1. Notably, Skaara,, and Sha're,
 * Started popping up a lot in the last few episodes of Dollhouse. Most notably, Anthony after he's taken by the borg-soldiers, and  in the next-to-last episode,
 * In Anthony's case, this was done literally through the Power of Love. Namely, his relationship with Priya/Sierra that had been slowly building throughout nearly the entire series.
 * Also, the way that Echo defeats the borg-soldiers is by turning herself into one and subsequently flooding their collective consciousness with all of the 40+ differing personalities that are in her head, so that she is single-handedly Fighting From the Inside times 40. This causes such mass confusion among the borg-soldiers that, with the exceptions of Anthony and Echo herself, they are rendered completely ineffective at doing much of anything.
 * In Sanctuary Ashley's eyes change color to indicate when she has broken through the mind control. This finally indicates a.
 * Subverted in season five of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys;
 * In Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Bulk and Skull are usually designated Chew Toys only good for getting in the way and giving the Rangers someone to rescue. However, in "Attack of the 50 ft Bulk", where Rita's dark spell turns Bulk into a monster called Brat-Boy, he not only does this, he wins, breaking Rita's spell on his own. That's right, Bulk manages to summon up stronger Heroic Willpower than Tommy could!

Music

 * The spoken-word part in the middle of Iced Earth's Jekyll & Hyde (Exactly What It Says on the Tin).

Theatre

 * The musical adaptation of Jekyll and Hyde has the title character doing lots of this, most notably with the song "Confrontation".

Toys

 * Lewa, when he's possessed by a Krana in Bionicle.

Video Games
""I will fight to the end. I shall self-terminate before I will be a pawn of a filthy Ing.""
 * Final Fantasy IV: Edge's parents do this when you fight them as monsters, without even changing out of the battle screen. They can't be saved, but they decide to disappear on their own rather than ask for death.
 * In Kingdom Hearts Riku holds back Ansem's Heartless,
 * The prequel, Birth by Sleep, has two cases of this.
 * You can see this happen with  in Ghost Trick when
 * Several times in Mass Effect:
 * is being controlled by to kill you, but he kills himself instead.
 * is indoctrinated, but she is able to break free long enough to give you the coordinates of the mu relay.
 * If you have high enough Charm or Intimidate, can be convinced to break free of the indoctrination and shoot himself.
 * In one of the tie in books, Mass Effect: Retribution, Greyson spends most of the book doing this, unknowingly playing into Reaper hands on at least one occasion. The only thing he achieves, is turning down a meal.
 * World of Warcraft LOVES this, especially now that the current Big Bad is a necromancer—it seems like half the bosses thank you for killing them, not counting the ones for whom it was a case of I Cannot Self-Terminate from the beginning.
 * One of the earliest examples is Vaelastraz the corrupted red dragon in Blackwing Lair, who apologizes whenever he kills a player, and starts the battle by buffing the players to the point that they're able to (barely) defeat him. He's listed in the CMOA page.
 * Princess Peach does this when she's  She even manages to use her healing magic from the first Mario RPG on the party, so they can battle the evil demon with all their strength.
 * As a pretty sucky version of this, Ciel of Tsukihime could only limit her Roa persona enough to kill everyone in her village slower than Roa normally would. And maybe less painfully. That's after weeks of shutting herself in her room so she wouldn't slaughter her unknowing family. Nevertheless, by the time Arcueid shows up to kill her, her effort has been in vain and the entire town has been turned to The Dead. It's implied that every host of Roa is like this because it isn't straight possession so much as adapting the host to his goals. Wherever he shows up on his reincarnation is generally a town full of The Dead by the time Arcueid stops him. Shiki is the hero, so in the route where Roa enters him he resists well enough to destroy Roa and also have partial control over his body.
 * In Legacy of Kain, both Mortainius and become possessed by the Dark Entity of Blood Omen. Mortainius fights this periodically by
 * In Final Fantasy X attempting to talk to causes its overdrive bar to reset, although it only works three times. Presumably, he's unreachable at that point.
 * At the end of Mother 3,, is able to , immediately
 * Near the finale of Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World,, complete with self throat-grab, switching voices, and general flailing about before the bad side fully assumes control..
 * Subverted (and, in terms of plot, averted) in The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks. Cole, being as Genre Savvy as he is, removed the Princesses' spirit from her body before performing the soul-transfer ritual on it, specifically so it couldn't end like this. She still manages to fight the possession though- from outside.
 * In System Shock 2, the U.N.N. commander William Diego manages to resist The Many's control over him long enough to remove the parasitic worm from his head by himself. He also is the only character we hear of in the game that ever manages to completely fight off the Hive Mind's effects.
 * In Dragon Age II, Anders is a case of this due to allowing  to possess him. He now has to constantly fight against the demon inside of him or become an abomination.
 * He describes what this feels like in nightmarish terms: you're trapped behind your own eyes, unable to move your own body, wanting to scream and unable to, until you "look down at the blood on your hands."
 * In The Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask, near the end, Link confronts the Skull Kid, When he hears the giants coming, The Power of Friendship gives him the strength to fight back. When he does, his body spasms wildly and he screams in a distorted voice while clutching his head as though he has a splitting headache.
 * Played straight in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn when the Chaos Hound descends on Sveta, but after catching her scent refuses to attack.
 * In Metroid Prime 2, you can find the last testament of a Luminoth possessed by an Ing. He describes how the Ing claws at his will, demanding obedience, but he remains defiant:

Web Comics
"Oasis: Torgy? Override B-1! Torgy? Override B-1! Torgy? Override B-1!"
 * Happens to Oasis in Sluggy Freelance, though in her case it's actually one mind controlled personality against another. Her normal programming, which compels her to love Torg, conflicts with her Override B-1 programming which compels her to kill Torg's best friend. The result is compared to a CD skipping.


 * Happens to Garanos a couple times, and she does manage to purge her possessor eventually.
 * Penny Arcade featured this with their feudal Japan Genre Shift, where the a man possessed by his sword broke free long enough to drive a dagger into his eye. It kept him alive anyway.
 * Agatha Heterodyne of Girl Genius, in Castle Heterodyne, when The Other takes over her body. When she realizes Gil is dying, her Heroic Willpower overcomes its control, complete with staggered voice.
 * Later hinted that the Big Bad-controlled Klaus Wulfenbach is this, as he promises to "do everything in his power" to help his son, even as the control forces him to act against the heroes.

Web Original

 * In Arcana Magi, Alysia Morales confronted her real self but won't accept the truth. Meanwhile, whenever Reya Everheart resists, she Stepford Smiles.

Western Animation
"Eliza: Zachary, my husband. I've missed you so. You must be strong. Our spirits will always be one..."
 * Cybersix had one episode where Lucas was turned into a werewolf under the control of the Monster of the Week. In an amazing use of Heroic Willpower, Lucas-Werewolf switches sides and fights the Monster Of The Week off before she kills Cyber Six, never actually regaining his human mental faculties until after the transformation reverted. Bonus points for his eyes going from yellow to white when he switches.
 * Dahli in the Skyland episode "Manipulations".
 * In Batman Beyond, we find out that During the fight he helps Joker and Harley, but in the climax, instead of  His maniacal Joker-style laugh quickly degenerates into a stream of broken sobbing.
 * In the episode "The Call", Word of God says this trope is why . (In the episode itself, this can be inferred by .)
 * Galaxy Rangers: Eliza Foxx in "Psychocrypt." The Queen of the Crowns ripped out her Life Energy and kept it in a Psychocrystal. The Queen later uses the crystal to put together a nightmare machine that subjects Eliza and her husband to Mind Rape on a nightly basis. Zach makes a last-ditch attempt to rescue her, but she breaks the control long enough to try and tell him that it's a trap. (Not like it matters by that point...) Later, when Zach is tossed in the crypt, and enduring massive amounts of pain she tries to comfort him.


 * Xiaolin Showdown: in the episode "The Last Temptation of Raimundo" Rai is slowly being posessed by Animated Shen Gong Wu, throughout the ep he's fighting the process, to varying degrees of success. Ultimately his will is broken and the ghostly villain Wuya takes over his empty body. However, during a Xiaolin Showdown with his friends they try to initiate a team move, hoping the battle cry can get through to him. It works, and Rai ejects Wuya from his body.
 * Jackie Chan Adventures has Valmont arguing with Shendu in season 2 in this. One episode of season 4 has him in odds with an oni mask.
 * Happens a couple of times in Danny Phantom, but the most impressive instance comes from Danny himself in Kindred Spirits.
 * "C-C-C-CAN'T...LOSE...CONTROL!!! WILL STRONG!!! BODY WEAK!!!"