Charm Person: Difference between revisions

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'''Stormtrooper:''' Move along, move along.|''[[Star Wars]] Episode IV: [[A New Hope]]''}}

[[Charm Person]] is some kind of magic, [[Jedi Mind Trick|supernatural ability]], [[Applied Phlebotinum]] or [[Charles Atlas Superpower]] (we don't know how that would work, so don't ask) that makes people want to do what you want them to do, especially the [[Weak Willed]]. May or may not have obvious parallels with hypnosis, which is not really anything like this.

[[Charm Person]] is some kind of magic, [[Jedi Mind Trick|supernatural ability]], [[Applied Phlebotinum]] or [[Charles Atlas Superpower]] (we don't know how that would work, so don't ask) that makes people want to do what you want them to do, especially the [[Weak-Willed]]. May or may not have obvious parallels with hypnosis, which is not really anything like this.

It's distinct from [[Compelling Voice]] because [[Charm Person]] [[Fighting From the Inside|can be resisted]] or broken out of, leading to [[I Know You Are in There Somewhere Fight]] and [[Intrinsic Vow]] moments and such. A good way to differentiate between the two is that [[Charm Person]] can never be used to force someone to do anything that would violate the target's moral code (for example, attacking one's king).

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Do not confuse with [[The Charmer]]. The effects of more powerful Charm Person spells or abilities may be compared with [[Love Potion|Love Potions]] and [[Glamour]]. See also [[Hypnotic Eyes]], for a frequent way this power is implemented. Compare [[Politeness Judo]].

== Anime & Manga ==

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* ''[[Aladdin (Disney)|Aladdin]]'' plays with this using Jafar's magic serpent staff. Usually when Jafar uses it to control people's minds it's 100% effective, but when he tries to make the Sultan order Jasmine to marry him, the spell fails for a second. "But you're so OLD!" I guess Jafar's powers do have some limits.

* [[Hilarity Ensues]] when Dracula uses this in ''Dracula: Dead and Loving It''.

* Horvath in ''[[The ~~Sorcerers~~ Apprentice (Film)|The Sorcerers Apprentice]]'' uses this to find out where Dave is hiding. His [[Minion With an F In Evil]] lampshades this by quoting ''[[Star Wars]]''.

* Horvath in ''[[The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Film)|The Sorcerers Apprentice]]'' uses this to find out where Dave is hiding. His [[Minion With an F In Evil]] lampshades this by quoting ''[[Star Wars]]''.

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* In [[Dark Life (Literature)|Dark Life]], {{spoiler|Pretty}} has a form of amped-up hypnosis, using infrasound to alter people's brainwaves, and then implanting suggestions.

* Mesmeric powers are what allows the [[Magister Trilogy]]'s Souleaters to be the natural predators of humans. Souleater Queens are especially dangerous, since they can charm ''other Souleaters'', providing the only unity and leadership this otherwise insanely competitive and independent speices knows.

* In Teresa Frohock's ''[[Miserere an Autumn Tale (Literature)|Miserere an Autumn Tale]]'', Catarina uses this on Lucian, managing to persuade him that it was all a misunderstanding -- getting him to overlook her [[Deal With the Devil]] and the [[Cold Blooded Torture]] that had lamed him.

* In Teresa Frohock's ''[[Miserere an Autumn Tale (Literature)|Miserere an Autumn Tale]]'', Catarina uses this on Lucian, managing to persuade him that it was all a misunderstanding -- getting him to overlook her [[Deal With the Devil]] and the [[Cold-Blooded Torture]] that had lamed him.

* In [[Devon Monk]]'s ''[[Allie Beckstrom (Literature)|Allie Beckstrom]]'' series, Allie's father can do this. He managed to get her in enrolled in Harvard and lasting there for two years before she broke loose from one such effect.

* In Dean Koontz's "Demon Seed" a super-computer can control people in this way, using its artifical voice. At the end the computer has been beaten but continues to try to influence people. {{spoiler|We then find they've cut off the voice and all its messages are being printed out and have no effect}}

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* Notorious in [[Romancing Sa Ga]] series (Remake of the first RS Game has the ailment, the original doesn't) and [[Saga Frontier]] (Charm Gaze)

* Somewhat subverted in ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'', in that rather than mages getting the ability to inflict the Charm condition through a spell as in most RPGs, ''thieves'' do it. With enough "Job Points", they can learn the ability to steal not only the usual money and weapons but also [[Incredibly Lame Pun|hearts]].

** The thief's version of Charm is temporary; it's essentially an improved form of Confuse, in that the victim will ''only'' attack their allies instead of anyone at random. Just like confusion, all it takes to snap them out of it is a [[Get a Hold of Yourself Man|physical attack]]. For the permanent version, which not only lasts the whole battle but allows you to recruit the affected, you'll need an Orator.

** The thief's version of Charm is temporary; it's essentially an improved form of Confuse, in that the victim will ''only'' attack their allies instead of anyone at random. Just like confusion, all it takes to snap them out of it is a [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|physical attack]]. For the permanent version, which not only lasts the whole battle but allows you to recruit the affected, you'll need an Orator.

** Reis can also do this with her ''bare-handed attacks'' after you complete her subquest. But given that she's {{spoiler|a dragon in human form}}, the enemy has to ''survive'' the hit first.

* In ''[[Bio Shock]]'', Hypnotize Big Daddy (from [[Bio Shock]] 1) and Hypnotize (from 2) can be used to hypnotize many of the enemies in the game to fight alongside you. Eventually they will break free however.

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== Webcomics ==

* In ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|The Order of the Stick]]'', secondary character Thanh, a member of the Sapphire Guard order of paladins, gets put under this by one of the villains. The other characters break him out of it by trying to make him do something that violates his moral code: {{spoiler|killing Lord Shojo, leader of the Guard...or the sociopathic halfling Belkar dressed up as Shojo.}}

** Technically, that was a dominate spell Thanh was under. But earlier, Nale used Charm Person on Belkar and told him to kill his companions and give their magic items to him, which Belkar refuses ([[Heroic Sociopath|though he had no problem killing them and]] ''[[Heroic Sociopath|keeping]]'' [[Heroic Sociopath|their items]], while [[Arson Murder and Jaywalking|singing "Meet Me in St. Louis"]]).

** Technically, that was a dominate spell Thanh was under. But earlier, Nale used Charm Person on Belkar and told him to kill his companions and give their magic items to him, which Belkar refuses ([[Heroic Sociopath|though he had no problem killing them and]] ''[[Heroic Sociopath|keeping]]'' [[Heroic Sociopath|their items]], while [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|singing "Meet Me in St. Louis"]]).

* Lord Grater of the Punyverse in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' ''thinks'' that he has these powers. In practice, they tend to work like this:

{{quote| Lord Grater: You will lie down and take a nap!<br />

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== Western Animation ==

* Zak Saturday of ''[[The Secret Saturdays]]'' can control cryptids, but can't make them do anything that they absolutely don't want to do.

* Freakshow's staff in the ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' episode "Control Freak", can control ghosts. Naturally, [[Half Human Hybrid|being half-ghost]] made Danny susceptible to it, at least [[Always Save the Girl|until Sam fell off a bridge]], inadvertently leading to the staff getting broken.

* Freakshow's staff in the ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' episode "Control Freak", can control ghosts. Naturally, [[Half-Human Hybrid|being half-ghost]] made Danny susceptible to it, at least [[Always Save the Girl|until Sam fell off a bridge]], inadvertently leading to the staff getting broken.