Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Difference between revisions

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As a literary device, it has two handy uses: It counts as a severe [[Kick the Dog]] (or [[Moral Event Horizon|worse]]) for the original villain, AND creates a tear-jerking [[Tragic Monster|Tragic Villain]].

Related to [[Teach Him Anger]], [[Beware the Nice Ones]], [[Break the Cutie]], [[I Control My Minions Through]] and possibly [[~~Whos Laughing Now|~~Who's Laughing Now?]] Can often be a [[Start of Darkness]] or [[Freudian Excuse]]. It can also result in the creation of a [[Woobie Destroyer of Worlds]] if done too seriously. A character with [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness]] is resistant to this. [[Rape As Redemption]] is roughly the inverse trope.

Related to [[Teach Him Anger]], [[Beware the Nice Ones]], [[Break the Cutie]], [[I Control My Minions Through]] and possibly [[Who's Laughing Now?]] Can often be a [[Start of Darkness]] or [[Freudian Excuse]]. It can also result in the creation of a [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]] if done too seriously. A character with [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness]] is resistant to this. [[Rape As Redemption]] is roughly the inverse trope.

{{examples|Examples (Read at your own risk, as many are spoilers)}}

== Anime/Manga ==

* In ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni]]'' the BBEG, {{spoiler|[[Woobie Destroyer of Worlds|Miyoko Tanishi aka Miyo Takano]] }} suffers from this. {{spoiler|After an abominable childhood in an incredibly extreme version of an [[Orphanage of Fear]], she pretty much turns completely and utterly insane.}}

* In ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni]]'' the BBEG, {{spoiler|[[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|Miyoko Tanishi aka Miyo Takano]] }} suffers from this. {{spoiler|After an abominable childhood in an incredibly extreme version of an [[Orphanage of Fear]], she pretty much turns completely and utterly insane.}}

* Most of the Diclonius in (the necessarily shortened anime form of) ''[[Elfen Lied]]''. Though at the very least the evil one that was on her tormentors' side had an [[Explosive Leash]] to keep her in check.

* Griffith of ''[[Berserk]]'' is a marginal example. While his torture did leave him permanently maimed, that by itself wasn't enough. After his rescue by the Band of the Hawk, his heart broke when it became clear they weren't willing to carry around a mute, immobile lump of a former leader, but he thought he still had Casca on his side. It was learning that Casca not only agreed with the rest of the band on his uselessness, but was ''in a relationship with his former protege Guts'', that finally sent him past the [[Despair Event Horizon]]. TL;DR: The torture just got the ball rolling; it was the ''aftereffects'' that sent him over the edge.

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* ''[[V for Vendetta]]'': For given quantities of Evil, we have this back and forth:

{{quote| '''V''': [[Motive Rant|What they did to me was monstrous.]]<br />

'''Evey''': [[Shut UP Hannibal|And so they created a monster?]] }}

'''Evey''': [[Shut UP, Hannibal|And so they created a monster?]] }}

** Note that the [[Shut UP Hannibal]] is actually used ''for'' V, because Evey is convinced he isn't a bad person.

** Note that the [[Shut UP, Hannibal]] is actually used ''for'' V, because Evey is convinced he isn't a bad person.

* ''[[Saw]]'': This happens to several characters in the sequels. Most prominently, {{spoiler|Amanda and Gordon.}}

* In the film ''[[Flesh And Blood]]'', the innocent virgin [[Damsel in Distress]] gets kidnapped by a group of bandits and gang raped. She then joins their crew and merrily takes part in their excursions.

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== Literature ==

* In ''[[The Silmarillion (Literature)|The Silmarillion]]'' (a sort of prequel to ''[[The Lord of the Rings (Literature)|The Lord of the Rings]]'' and ''[[The Hobbit (Literature)|The Hobbit]]''), it is revealed that the original orcs in [[JRR Tolkien (Creator)|JRR Tolkien]]'s Universe were created thousands of years ago by Melkor, an allegorical version of Satan, who tortured elves he captured endlessly until they went mad and became monsters. The fact that elves in Tolkien's mythos are immortal makes this an example of [[Who Wants to Live Forever]], as well.

* In ''[[The Silmarillion (Literature)|The Silmarillion]]'' (a sort of prequel to ''[[The Lord of the Rings (Literature)|The Lord of the Rings]]'' and ''[[The Hobbit (Literature)|The Hobbit]]''), it is revealed that the original orcs in [[JRR Tolkien (Creator)|JRR Tolkien]]'s Universe were created thousands of years ago by Melkor, an allegorical version of Satan, who tortured elves he captured endlessly until they went mad and became monsters. The fact that elves in Tolkien's mythos are immortal makes this an example of [[Who Wants to Live Forever?]], as well.

** Tolkien was rather ambivalent about this detail; his notes made it clear that he didn't want it to be canon, and it also raises a number of thorny questions about with his mythology. For example, why haven't the number of orcs decreased over time as the originals were killed off? Orcs as corrupted elves also didn't mesh with his cosmology; would dead orcs go to the Halls of Mandos, where normal elves are taken after death, or would they share the fate of Men? The deeply Catholic Tolkien was conflicted over these, along with the concept of [[Always Chaotic Evil]], which is why he didn't publish the Silmarillion before his death.

** Averted with the [[Anti Villain]] Maedhros: his being tortured (hung by his right hand from a cliff for a couple of years) only made him more badass. Though he did become something of a villain, it was for entirely different reasons.

** Averted with the [[Anti-Villain]] Maedhros: his being tortured (hung by his right hand from a cliff for a couple of years) only made him more badass. Though he did become something of a villain, it was for entirely different reasons.

** Also averted with Hurin. After watching what Morgoth's curse did to his family, did he set out on a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]? No, he killed exactly one dwarf - Mim, who betrayed his son to the orcs and was arguably asking for it. Then he bitched out his son's foster-father and left. Of course, things went to hell anyway...

*** Only in the published ''Silmarillion''. In ''[[The History of Middle Earth (Literature)|The History of Middle Earth]]'', he sparks a civil war among the Haladin and orchestrates the death of their chief and his remaining family members out of the belief that they failed to protect his children and thrust his wife out to die. He then ends up killing the Haladin who followed him in a petty fight over treasure, and is only stopped from causing more damage by Melian telling him that he isn't helping anyone. [[Driven to Suicide|Then he kills himself]].

** A straight example would be Maeglin- although he was definitely jealous of Tuor beforehand, it was only being captured and tortured by Morgoth that caused him to spill the location of Gondolin and try to kill Tuor and his son Earendil.

** In ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', Gollum was evil to begin with, but after being tortured by Sauron he became worse.

* ''[[Nineteen Eighty Four|1984]]'' - you only need fear and pain to break a rebel into an obedient citizen who finds [[Happiness in Slavery]].

* ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984]]'' - you only need fear and pain to break a rebel into an obedient citizen who finds [[Happiness in Slavery]].

** Questionable. Winston's torture doesn't really turn him evil, per se, he just becomes a 'good citizen'. In fact part of the means used to break his self esteem and conviction is reminding him that as a rebel he promised to do anything, commit any atrocity, in the name of the Brotherhood of Freedom, the possibly non-existent [[La Résistance]]. You could maybe argue that obedience is evil, but whether that's true or not is kind of the point of the book ("Is a lunatic a minority of one?"). Either way, the torture and its effects are definitely not [[Hand Wave|hand waved]] but [[Justified Trope|explored in great detail]] (about half the book).

* Mord Sith from the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' books, but although one described what happened, it never really got into why it worked (something about the most innocent can be turned, but that's still not getting into it). It just did.

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** The loyalty thing is explained by a magical connection they have to whoever the current Lord Rahl is - even if they don't necessarily like it.

* ''The Scorpion Signal'', an espionage novel by [[Adam Hall]]. The protagonist [[Quiller]] is sent to track down a [[Rogue Agent]] who was tortured by the KGB, and nearly gets killed because he fails to consider just how much torture can change a man. Like making him willing to kill a former friend {{spoiler|when he interferes in his plot to assassinate the Soviet Premier.}}

* In ''Chosen'', the Antichrist starts out as an [[Anti Anti Christ]]... until his "dad" and some demons torture and rape him for several years. Then he becomes a proper Antichrist. Somehow.

* In ''Chosen'', the Antichrist starts out as an [[Anti-Anti-Christ]]... until his "dad" and some demons torture and rape him for several years. Then he becomes a proper Antichrist. Somehow.

* More of a dark [[Anti Hero]] than necessarily evil, but Inquisitor Glokta in ''[[The First Law]]'' series was a noble "golden boy" until he was horribly disfigured by torture. At which point, he accepted a job as a [[Torture Technician]].

* More of a dark [[Anti-Hero]] than necessarily evil, but Inquisitor Glokta in ''[[The First Law]]'' series was a noble "golden boy" until he was horribly disfigured by torture. At which point, he accepted a job as a [[Torture Technician]].

** His victims should be noted here--they are often left wrecks, miserable and broken. Very far from seeming deserving of the punishment, or evil.

* ''[[X Wing Series]]'': Ysanne Isard, Director of Imperial Intelligence, has a secret prison called the Lusankya. She captures people, brainwashes them, and turns them into unwitting agents, letting them free afterwards to go back to the New Republic, completely unaware of what's happened to them [[Manchurian Agent|until they find themselves doing her will]]. The process of converting people is never detailed in full, but it does involve torture. Tycho Celchu went through this and remembers being in that prison when he's let go. When he reports back he's suspected to be one of the unwitting agents even though he remembers being there. {{spoiler|But he was [[Incorruptible Pure Pureness|immune]].}}

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* [[Neil Gaiman]]'s short story "Other People" in which a businessman is tortured by a demon, first physically with two hundred and eleven different devices, then mentally with all his lies and misdeeds and their consequences over and over until he can no longer lie his way out of them. When it is done, the demon is gone, and [[Stable Time Loop|a businessman comes in]]...

* A.C. Crispin wrote ''[[The Han Solo Trilogy]]'', which covers [[Star Wars|Han's]] life from his teenage years up to the start of [[A New Hope|the first Star Wars movie]]. Many characters from stories that take place later in Han's life appear in this series, one of whom betrays Han [[Only in It For The Money|for money]] in ''[[Dark Empire]]''. In Crispin's books we find that he used to be a decent man, as good a friend of Han's as Lando was. Then he got captured, tortured, and crippled for life. In the third book we see that the experience has made him quite bitter. When Lando and Han visit him to see if there's anything they can do to help, at first he doesn't acknowledge them. Finally, he gives them a look that tells them to get out and leave him alone. Perhaps he wasn't quite ''evil'' at the time, but he was certainly [[Start of Darkness|starting down the path]].

* Murtagh from [[The Inheritance Cycle]] started out as Eragon's friend and well-intentioned [[Anti Hero]], but his capture and [[Mind Rape]] (and who knows what else) at the hands of [[Big Bad|Galbatorix]] turned him into a [[The Dragon|loyal minion]].

* Murtagh from [[The Inheritance Cycle]] started out as Eragon's friend and well-intentioned [[Anti-Hero]], but his capture and [[Mind Rape]] (and who knows what else) at the hands of [[Big Bad|Galbatorix]] turned him into a [[The Dragon|loyal minion]].

** Well, Murtagh and Thorn don't exactly like being Galbatorix' right hand. They both hate him. But Murtagh is also angry at the world in general and has no problem lashing out at former friends. The loyalty-to-evil is enforced via threat of mind rape and/or torture - at one point Murtagh says something along the lines of "Do you have any idea what he'll do to me if I fail?"

* Volkov, Russian chief vampire from Alexander Yang's [[Midnight World]], became a victim of extremely unjust court in a very young age. He was cruelly tortured to extract the evidence against his father, and almost died, when his Master showed him the way to survival and revenge.

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** The verse epos ''Lokasenna'' (Loki's taunting of the gods) however describes how the sea god Aegir aroused Loki's ire by holding a big feast at his hall and inviting everyone in Asgard except Loki; when Loki crashed the party and started angrily taunting the assembled gods and goddesses, Loki not only insulted several of them with sarcastic banter about their various not-so-brave deeds but also bragged how he bedded many of the goddesses while their husbands were away. Enraged, the gods tried to kill Loki, who had to flee. When the gods finally captured him, they transformed one of Loki's sons into a raging wolf who tore the other son apart in front of Loki and Loki's Aesir wife, then used the sons' entrails as chains to bind Loki to a boulder in a cave until he couldn't move, ''then'' they hung a poisonous snake over his exposed face that drooled acidic poison into Loki's eyes day and night; after the gods had left Loki's loyal wife spent days and nights holding up a bowl over Loki's face to catch the poison, but whenever she went outside to empty the bowl, the agony of pain made Loki tear madly against his chains (which caused earthquakes). He manage to free himself in time for Ragnarök and joined the tribes of giants, his own monstrous children, and the ship of the dead that came sailing from Helheim in their battle against the gods of Asgard. - Which makes this trope [[Older Than Print]], depending on if you believe Loki was always secretly evil or if his mind snapped during the torture.

** Loki could be kind to his followers at times, as told in the very few remaining stories about him. So he's not always depicted as totally evil.

* {{spoiler|Peeta}} was tortured and [[Brainwashed and Crazy|brainwashed]] by the Capital in [[Hunger Games|Mockingjay]]. While he wans't exactly [[Woobie Destroyer of Worlds|evil]], his vision of [[I Reject Your Reality|reality]] was so screwed that he {{spoiler|tried to kill Katniss.}}

* {{spoiler|Peeta}} was tortured and [[Brainwashed and Crazy|brainwashed]] by the Capital in [[Hunger Games|Mockingjay]]. While he wans't exactly [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|evil]], his vision of [[I Reject Your Reality|reality]] was so screwed that he {{spoiler|tried to kill Katniss.}}

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* ''[[Homeland (TV)|Homeland]]'': Whether or not this applies to Nicholas Brody is an important and recurring plot point.

* ''[[Supernatural (TV)|Supernatural]]'': Hell works along this premise. To the extent that once they torture away enough of your previous identity you become a demon, which in this setting are [[Always Chaotic Evil]], although while all demons are stated to have been once human it's unclear whether all the damned make it all the way to demon. {{spoiler|Dean takes thirty years of torture in the season break he spends in Hell, before he cracks and starts torturing other souls, and enjoying it because it's not being tortured. He blames himself for this intensely. Also notable, they gave him to Hell's chief torturer for most of it; he's a tough cookie, but he gives himself no credit.}}

** Another example {{spoiler|Anna was one of the few good angels, before she was captured and tortured by other angels. She describes it as the same torture as hell, but twice the self-righteousness. She comes out of it little crazy and is now fighting against Sam and Dean, but comes off as a [[Well Intentioned Extremist]]}}.

** Another example {{spoiler|Anna was one of the few good angels, before she was captured and tortured by other angels. She describes it as the same torture as hell, but twice the self-righteousness. She comes out of it little crazy and is now fighting against Sam and Dean, but comes off as a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]}}.

** It's amusingly like the D&D system.

* ''[[Twenty Four|24]]'' used a more realistic version of this: Season Three [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|Stephen Saunders was on the same team with Jack Bauer that went into Kosovo for a covert mission; Jack was assumed to be the only member of the team who survived, and Stephen was left for dead. His disillusionment at being abandoned to the enemy is the driving force behind his actions in Season Three}}.

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** The character in question was on the path before that, seeing as how {{spoiler|her love interest,}} a genuinely good, innocent person, was executed by the bloodthirsty populace demanding justice. It's not hard to imagine {{spoiler|her falling, seeing as how her patron deity's portfolio is, specifically, justice.}}

*** Taken back in the second add-on, Hordes of the Underdark, where {{spoiler|Aribeth states that her affection for Fenthick was more due to her devotion to her faith than because of her love for him - or, as she states it: "it was like being married to my church" (she was a paladin of Tyr, he was a priest). So her decision to defect was not because she went insane from grief but rather out of her own wantonness.}}

* Jak from ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' goes halfway there by going from [[Wide Eyed Idealist]] to cynic [[Anti Hero]] with a [[Super Powered Evil Side]]. While he was not tortured for the sake of torture, he ''was'' subject to two years of Dark Eco experimentation, pumping him full of the stuff, in the Baron's attempts to create a [[Super Soldier]]. Dark Eco tends to have some ''really'' nasty effects on people exposed to it, ranging from insanity to outright killing a person.

* Jak from ''[[Jak and Daxter]]'' goes halfway there by going from [[Wide Eyed Idealist]] to cynic [[Anti-Hero]] with a [[Super-Powered Evil Side]]. While he was not tortured for the sake of torture, he ''was'' subject to two years of Dark Eco experimentation, pumping him full of the stuff, in the Baron's attempts to create a [[Super Soldier]]. Dark Eco tends to have some ''really'' nasty effects on people exposed to it, ranging from insanity to outright killing a person.

* In ''[[Diablo]]'' lore, the angel Izual was captured by the forces of evil and tortured until he became evil.

** Of course, {{spoiler|after you kill him he reveals that he was evil all along, and was the one who kicked off the entire 'Soul Stone' thing with the direct intention of helping The Three.}}

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* Saavedro from the third ''[[Myst]]'' game was tied to a post, severely beaten, and was left on several small islands for 20 years, while believing that his family, nay, his entire world was dead. His mind is...not where it used to be, as evidenced by passages in his journal detailing how much he had forgotten and how desperate he was for revenge.

* ''[[Cave Story (Video Game)|Cave Story]]'' Apparently, the difficult-path ending boss used to be a real nice guy... until someone got jealous of him and decided to torture him for a while. Now... well... He's... not so nice anymore. Though he averts the "joins his captors" aspect of the trope.

** Though it's not so much that he lost his morals as that he lost his self-control. He even [[I Cannot Self Terminate|wants you to kill him.]]

** Though it's not so much that he lost his morals as that he lost his self-control. He even [[I Cannot Self-Terminate|wants you to kill him.]]

* Averted in ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. The Lich King tries to torture Bolvar Fordragon after capturing; {{spoiler|It doesn't work, and Bolvar actually ends up replacing him.}}

** After a long questchain in Coldarra {{spoiler|Keristrasza is taken captive by Malygos and forced to become his consort as a replacement for Saragosa who Keristrasza and the player character had killed. The players then [[Mercy Kill]] her after she's proven herself too insane to be saved from death and too much of a threat to be allowed to live, because going on a mass murdering rampage was a likely outcome.}}

** Partly played straight with {{spoiler|Maiev Shadowsong}} after {{spoiler|her}} capture and torture at the hands of {{spoiler|Illidan Stormrage}}. While {{spoiler|she}} does go crazy and start metting out {{spoiler|her}} own brand of justice, the torture is only the last straw that takes {{spoiler|her}} over the edge of sanity.

* Corvus from [[Dragon Quest IX (Video Game)|Dragon Quest IX]] was a nice guy... before being captured by [[The Empire]] and spending 300 years in prison, every limb chained and his energy being drained to maintain [[The Empire]]'s magic. He was a little angry at the world in general after that.

** It wasn't just being imprisoned by the Gittish Empire; it was also the fact that he had been sold out by the very town that had taken him in, including his lover. Apparently, she wasn't in on the plan to have Corvus arrested, believing she was subduing him with a sleeping potion because she and him were to hide at a nearby lake, and his [[Chronic Hero Syndrome]] would have caused him to ditch the hiding spot. He didn't realize this, and thought she was also betraying him. The betrayal and torture filled Corvus with so much hatred and grief that he eventually came to hate the mortal realm and all its inhabitants; all of Corvus' negative emotions became so strong that he [[One Winged Angel|turned into some sort of demon]] with the strength to {{spoiler|rend the very heavens asunder with enormous dark energy beams}} and [[Nintendo Hard|use the sickeningly powerful Magic Burst spell in battle]]. It was the betrayal that made him evil, and the torture that made him [[Big Bad|powerful]].

** It wasn't just being imprisoned by the Gittish Empire; it was also the fact that he had been sold out by the very town that had taken him in, including his lover. Apparently, she wasn't in on the plan to have Corvus arrested, believing she was subduing him with a sleeping potion because she and him were to hide at a nearby lake, and his [[Chronic Hero Syndrome]] would have caused him to ditch the hiding spot. He didn't realize this, and thought she was also betraying him. The betrayal and torture filled Corvus with so much hatred and grief that he eventually came to hate the mortal realm and all its inhabitants; all of Corvus' negative emotions became so strong that he [[One-Winged Angel|turned into some sort of demon]] with the strength to {{spoiler|rend the very heavens asunder with enormous dark energy beams}} and [[Nintendo Hard|use the sickeningly powerful Magic Burst spell in battle]]. It was the betrayal that made him evil, and the torture that made him [[Big Bad|powerful]].

* Brood Mothers from ''[[Dragon Age]] Origins'' were once regular females before going through a sickening creation process that involves them screaming out of control for a day straight, having Darkspawn vomit into the mouths of said females, and Darkspawn gang raping them. Then they get force-fed the flesh of their own species. Near the end of the process, the women ''willingly'' and ''eagerly'' tear apart their former loved ones and devour them with relish. Not long after that they become full fledged Broodmothers.

** Although he's not exactly "evil", this is a lot of how Fenris got the way he is. After being put through a ritual that burned Lyrium into his skin, one that was so mentally scarring he's forgotten his entire life up to that point, and his Tevinter Magister master being indescribably petty and cruel, he's turned into a brooding, skulking mess of a man. Of course, [[Mr. Fanservice|that doesn't stop the ladies from squealing]] over him... [[Even the Guys Want Him|Or the menfolk]].