Battle in the Center of the Mind: Difference between revisions

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One of the basic building blocks of story telling is a character's inner struggle, their efforts to balance their base urges and lofty ideals. This is not conducive to [[Stuff Blowing Up|high octane explosions]] and [[Fight Scene|fist fights]], nor is it easily transmitted in television even by serious series. However, toss in [[Demonic Possession|demons]], [[Mind Control]], and a [[Journey to The Center of The Mind]], and you'll get a [[Battle in The Center of The Mind]].

What ends up happening is you get the mental equivalent of a no-holds-barred psychic showdown between the evil force trying to take over and the owner or his allies. The evil force can be of various natures, including: [[Demonic Possession|Demons]], [[Our Ghosts Are Different|Ghosts]], an [[AI Is a Crapshoot|evil computer]] [[The Virus|virus]], other humans via [[Mind Control]] or the self with an [[Enemy Within]] or [[Super Powered Evil Side]]. What the possessing force wants is either a full [[Split Personality Takeover]], or (if external) to maintain control.

What ends up happening is you get the mental equivalent of a no-holds-barred psychic showdown between the evil force trying to take over and the owner or his allies. The evil force can be of various natures, including: [[Demonic Possession|Demons]], [[Our Ghosts Are Different|Ghosts]], an [[AI Is a Crapshoot|evil computer]] [[The Virus|virus]], other humans via [[Mind Control]] or the self with an [[Enemy Within]] or [[Super-Powered Evil Side]]. What the possessing force wants is either a full [[Split Personality Takeover]], or (if external) to maintain control.

Opposing this force is usually the "host" or person that is being affected. Occasionally, their mind is too weak and addled to oppose the invader, so a friendly telepath or mystic will insert an ally or two to try and rout the bad guy. They will fail. However, the act of them trying and yelling ''"[[I Know You Are in There Somewhere Fight|I know you are in there somewhere!]]"'' and going in to save them from the evil presence in their mind is usually enough to get the host to kick their unwanted guest out of their mind if not completely obliterate it when it [[Heroic Resolve|threatens their friends]]. The thing is, no matter how powerful the invader, it can't beat a determined victim's home <s> field</s> brain advantage.

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For those on the outside, it's usually obvious that the character is [[Fighting From the Inside]].

== Anime & Manga ==

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** {{spoiler|It also turns out to be a subversion. It may have been a battle in Naruto's mind, but that didn't make it any ''less'' real. Naruto using named attacks instead of unnamed also lends credence that he could do almost anything he did in the battle in the real world.}}

* At one point in the ''[[Berserk]]'' manga's Millennium Falcon arc, {{spoiler|Schierke has to go inside Guts's mind using [[Astral Projection]] to snap him out of the influence of his [[Enemy Within|inner beast]] the first time he uses the Berserker Armor}}.

* The Manga adaptation of ''[[Breath of Fire IV]]'' has [[The Hero|Ryu]] and [[Woobie Destroyer of Worlds|Fou-Lu]] [[Split Personality Merge|merge]] into [[Physical God|Infini]] and then mentally duke it out for control of the creature. This is a [[Third Option Adaptation]] from the game, where Ryu either resists the merge and fights Fou-Lu's Tryant dragon with his allies, or he accepts the merge and Fou-Lu takes control of Infini, [[Curb Stomp Battle|easily wipes out Ryu's friends]], and proceeds to destroy the world.

* The Manga adaptation of ''[[Breath of Fire IV]]'' has [[The Hero|Ryu]] and [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|Fou-Lu]] [[Split Personality Merge|merge]] into [[Physical God|Infini]] and then mentally duke it out for control of the creature. This is a [[Third Option Adaptation]] from the game, where Ryu either resists the merge and fights Fou-Lu's Tryant dragon with his allies, or he accepts the merge and Fou-Lu takes control of Infini, [[Curb Stomp Battle|easily wipes out Ryu's friends]], and proceeds to destroy the world.

* In ''[[Weiss Kreuz]] Gluhen'', Berger draws Crawford into his own psychic mindscape to fight him. Crawford, however, manages to turn it around on Berger and pull both of them into the center of ''his'' own mind - and unlike in Berger's, in Crawford's mind, they aren't alone.

* Ranmaru from ''[[Tokko]]'' has to do this after an encounter with [[Big Bad|Taishi]] results in him losing control of his [[Super Powered Evil Side|phantom]].

* Ranmaru from ''[[Tokko]]'' has to do this after an encounter with [[Big Bad|Taishi]] results in him losing control of his [[Super-Powered Evil Side|phantom]].

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* ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' fanfiction [[The 10 Doctors (Fanfic)|''The Ten Doctors'']] features {{spoiler|all ten Doctors versus Dalek Tor (a Dalek version of the Doctor) in a battle for the Tenth Doctor's mind. Features Doctor quotes, Nine with a baseball bat, and a mega-merge Doctor who looks ''awesome''.}}

* In the [[Daria]]/[[Legion of Super Heroes (Animation)|Legion of Super Heroes]] [[Fanfic]] crossover ''Legion of Lawndale Heroes'', psi-active cadets at the [[Military School]] known as the ''United States Academy of Extranormal Studies'', or '' 'USAES' '', can receive certification in the ''Astral Special Tactical Response Operations (ASTRO)'' course for out-of-body and psionic combat. As part of their training, cadets learn how to create a specific 'mental persona' (much like [[Harry Potter (Literature)|a 'Patronus']]) to do mental combat in and manifest their powers during that combat.

* [[Tropers/Taker Foxx|Taker Foxx]]'s ''[[Imperfect Metamorphosis (Fanfic)|Imperfect Metamorphosis]]'' has so far in the story four characters sharing a same body because {{spoiler|[[Blob Monster|the jelly monster]] can absorb other characters}}. It doesn't help that one of them came with a [[Super Powered Evil Side]]. There is a [[Battle in The Center of The Mind]] between {{spoiler|the host}} and the villain when the villain is discovered.

* [[Tropers/Taker Foxx|Taker Foxx]]'s ''[[Imperfect Metamorphosis (Fanfic)|Imperfect Metamorphosis]]'' has so far in the story four characters sharing a same body because {{spoiler|[[Blob Monster|the jelly monster]] can absorb other characters}}. It doesn't help that one of them came with a [[Super-Powered Evil Side]]. There is a [[Battle in The Center of The Mind]] between {{spoiler|the host}} and the villain when the villain is discovered.

* Implied in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eSSZZFSs8U this fanvid] for ''[[Tron Legacy (Film)|Tron Legacy]]'' (spoilers out the kazoo).

* The [[Guile Hero|dwarven]] [[Wise Prince|noble]] [[Magic Knight|protagonist]] of [[Dragon Age the Crown of Thorns|Dragon Age: The Crown of Thorns]] had more than one of these, twice against actual psychic attacks by the Archdemon. The latest one had rather [[It Got Worse|severe consequences]] for both the prince and the whole world because the Old God actually {{spoiler|evolved because of contact with the exile's [[Magnificent Bastard]]-level intelligence.}}

** Kallian Tabris also goes through something like this at one point, only {{spoiler|it's a projection of her soul, taking Faren's form (the dwarven commoner, her love interest), that does the actual fighting}}.

* ''[[My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' fanwork '[[The Party Never Ended (Fanfic)|The Party Never (or Hasn't) Ended]]' features Twilight Sparkle having to help Pinkie Pie in one of these against Nightmare. Then Pinkie Pie helping Rainbow Dash. {{spoiler|[[Determinator|Then Pinkie Pie by herself. And it is awesome.]]}}

* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' fanwork '[[The Party Never Ended (Fanfic)|The Party Never (or Hasn't) Ended]]' features Twilight Sparkle having to help Pinkie Pie in one of these against Nightmare. Then Pinkie Pie helping Rainbow Dash. {{spoiler|[[Determinator|Then Pinkie Pie by herself. And it is awesome.]]}}

* ''[[Queen of All Oni (Fanfic)|Queen of All Oni]]'': Throughout the story, we get [[Ghost in The Machine|glimpses inside of]] [[Villain Protagonist|Jade's]] mind, where we watch as Hero (the [[Anthropomorphic Personification|Aspect]] representing Jade's heroic nature) gather together as many uncorrupted Aspects as he can into a [[La Résistance]] aimed at regaining control of Jade's mind from [[Super Powered Evil Side|The Queen]]. They eventually launch an attack on the ship representing Jade's consciousness, but before Hero and The Queen can fight each other, the trope ends up being subverted -- in the real world, Jade is captured by the [[Evil Sorcerer]] Lung, whose attempts to break Jade to his will end up driving her insane, which cause the mindscape to literally fall apart, forcing the Aspects to focus on their own survival. {{spoiler|When Jade's mind is restored, The Queen captures Hero, ensuring her continued dominance of Jade's mind.}}

* ''[[Queen of All Oni (Fanfic)|Queen of All Oni]]'': Throughout the story, we get [[Ghost in The Machine|glimpses inside of]] [[Villain Protagonist|Jade's]] mind, where we watch as Hero (the [[Anthropomorphic Personification|Aspect]] representing Jade's heroic nature) gather together as many uncorrupted Aspects as he can into a [[La Résistance]] aimed at regaining control of Jade's mind from [[Super-Powered Evil Side|The Queen]]. They eventually launch an attack on the ship representing Jade's consciousness, but before Hero and The Queen can fight each other, the trope ends up being subverted -- in the real world, Jade is captured by the [[Evil Sorcerer]] Lung, whose attempts to break Jade to his will end up driving her insane, which cause the mindscape to literally fall apart, forcing the Aspects to focus on their own survival. {{spoiler|When Jade's mind is restored, The Queen captures Hero, ensuring her continued dominance of Jade's mind.}}

* Happens a couple of times in the ''[[Pony POV Series (Fanfic)|Pony POV Series]]'':

** First, during Pinkie Pie's reharmonizing chapter, Angry Pie (a [[Split Personality]] representing all of [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|Pinkie's anger]]) attempts to pull a [[Split Personality Takeover]] by absorbing all the other pieces of Pinkie's mind. Pinkie is only able to defeat Angry by {{spoiler|performing a [[Split Personality Merge]] with her Pinkamina personality and then forcing the merge on Angry as well.}}

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== Theme Parks ==

* This is the entire premise of the ''[[Fantasmic]]'' show at [[Disney Theme Parks]], with several [[~~Main/~~Disney/Villains~~/Characters~~|Characters]] invading the imagination of Mickey Mouse.

* This is the entire premise of the ''[[Fantasmic]]'' show at [[Disney Theme Parks]], with several [[Disney/Characters/Villains|Characters]] invading the imagination of Mickey Mouse.

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** When you confront the [[Big Bad]] himself, he attempts to overwhelm you with despair. Naturally, this means you have to fight some freaky glowing swordsmen named "Despair" in an [[Amazing Technicolor Battlefield]]. You also get to rely on the [[Power of Friendship]] for encouragement, which takes the form of your allies running up to the "Despairs" and, um, exploding.

* The Kalecgos encounter in ''[[World of Warcraft]]: Burning Crusade''. The players are supposed to free the good dragon from a [[Our Demons Are Different|dreadlord]] that is [[Mind Control|mind controlling]] him.

** An odd example where ''you're the invader'' is in the fight with the [[Cosmic Horror]] [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu|of dubious quality]], Yogg-Saron. During the fight with him, portals into his mind open up, where you then have to desperse the memory of an important event in Warcraft lore so you can get at his brain. Of course, he knows you're in there, so he then attempts to [[Sanity Meter|whittle down your sanity]] so that he can [[Mind Control]] you, so you have to soon get out so that you can take a rest in one of the [[Boss Arena Recovery|Sanity Pools]].

** An odd example where ''you're the invader'' is in the fight with the [[Cosmic Horror]] [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|of dubious quality]], Yogg-Saron. During the fight with him, portals into his mind open up, where you then have to desperse the memory of an important event in Warcraft lore so you can get at his brain. Of course, he knows you're in there, so he then attempts to [[Sanity Meter|whittle down your sanity]] so that he can [[Mind Control]] you, so you have to soon get out so that you can take a rest in one of the [[Boss Arena Recovery|Sanity Pools]].

* Every boss fight in ''[[Persona 4 (Video Game)|Persona 4]]'' is this until close to the end of the game. Although it's more like "Battle In The Center Of The Collective Unconcious".

* Not quite the same, but not quite anything else either: In ''[[Shin Megami Tensei (Franchise)|Maken X]]'', Kei's consciousness (using Kei's form) spends most of the game standing on a glassy-looking disc in her brain yelling/screeching at her body, now possessed by the Maken.

* Near the end of ''[[Sam and Max Freelance Police (Video Game)|Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'' "Culture Shock", Sam falls under the hypnotic sway of disgruntled former child star Brady Culture. After snapping himself out of it by a blow to the head from the security system at Bosco's Inconvenience Store, Sam finds himself in his own mind. There, he has to dispose of a host of Brady Culture clones that [[Hypnotic Head|represent Culture's hypnotic influence]].

* The finale of Arcueid's and Archtype Earth's plots in the "Current Code" version of ''[[Melty Blood (Video Game)|Melty Blood]]'' is this between them.

* ''[[Battle Moon Wars]]'' has this in Tohno Shiki's mind while he lies unconscious, fighting internally against [[Super Powered Evil Side|Nanaya Shiki]]. Unfortunately for him, he also visualizes Akiha and Satsuki in this mindscape and thus is unwilling to fight at first. Insert friendly telepath encouragement as Sion uses Etherlite to join in and help him out.

* ''[[Battle Moon Wars]]'' has this in Tohno Shiki's mind while he lies unconscious, fighting internally against [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Nanaya Shiki]]. Unfortunately for him, he also visualizes Akiha and Satsuki in this mindscape and thus is unwilling to fight at first. Insert friendly telepath encouragement as Sion uses Etherlite to join in and help him out.

* The final battle in ''[[Dead Space 2 (Video Game)|Dead Space 2]]'', where Isaac fights {{spoiler|Nicole and the Marker}}

* A rather weird one in ''[[No More Heroes 2 Desperate Struggle (Video Game)|No More Heroes 2 Desperate Struggle]]'' where Henry, while unconscious, fights against Mimmy, a manifestation of Travis' various fetishes (being a [[Moe]] [[Robot Girl]]), which is apparently brought on by Travis "[[Caught With Your Pants Down|watching]]" anime in the other room.

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* K in ''[[Blip]]'', when she was in rage. First she [http://blipcomic.com/629/ kicked out her friends], then for lack of semi-real targets [http://blipcomic.com/639/ imagined and destroyed] a [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|Pirate Transvestite Robot]].

* ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|The Order of the Stick]]'': Haley’s “mental constructs” have a habit of bickering amongst themselves, at least until she makes them all sit down and shut up.

* Happens between Artie and Joel in Concession, but ultimately spills over into the real world. Doubles as a subverted [[I Know You're in There Somewhere Fight]] as unfortunately, that part only works for a little bit.

* Happens between Artie and Joel in Concession, but ultimately spills over into the real world. Doubles as a subverted [["I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight]] as unfortunately, that part only works for a little bit.

* Monique from ''[[Sinfest (Webcomic)|Sinfest]]'' once [http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3876 tried to defeat a rhinovirus with(in) her mind].

* ''[[Critical Miss]]'' [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/critical-miss/9272-Erin-in-Wonderland explains the principle].