Charm Person: Difference between revisions

* [[Tomie]] (created by Junji Ito) relies primarily on this to get what she wants - which is ironic as most readers are more likely to remember {{spoiler|her multiple vicious deaths and regenerating [[From a Single Cell]] every [[Incredibly Lame Pun|bloody]] time.}}

* ''Ghost in the Shell'' has a character use something called hypnovoice to get a crowd to turn against the police. The fact that the cops try to convince them they're being duped suggests it can be beaten.

== Comics ==

* Stacy X of the X-Men comics had pheromone powers which could induce bliss and stimulate bodily sensations and functions allowing her a certain amount of control over her enemies.

== Films ==

* From ''[[Star Wars]]'', The Jedi Mind Trick. A few of the examples in [[Jedi Mind Trick]] are also this.

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

== Literature ==

* [[The Thrawn Trilogy]] in the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] shows the difference between this and [[Compelling Voice]] as the corrupted Jedi Joruus C'baoth uses both. In the first instance he simply forces an Imperial officer into delivering a secret message and then forgetting all about it, leaving the Imperial none the worse for wear, except for a few missing memories. In the second case C'baoth uses a sustained version of [[Compelling Voice]] to {{spoiler|break the will of a different officer, ''[[Mind Rape|destroy most of his personality]]'', and turn him into a near mindless puppet who can't survive without C'baoth's constant mental control.}}

** [[Outbound Flight|Jorus C'baoth]], who Joruus was cloned from, really wasn't any better. He was quite domineering and always wanted to control everything - and, given his view that morals are basically optional, he tried it. As he fell to the Dark Side he forced protesting civilians to be silent.

* Lessa from ''[[Dragonriders of Pern]]'' has an ability to subtly influence people's thinking, referred to as "leaning" on them. Used most dramatically when she provokes F'lar into dueling Fax, but overall fails about as often as it succeeds, as those on the receiving end can tell something's not quite right if they're paying attention.

* Flinx's empathic influence works like this in some of Alan Dean Foster's [[Humanx Commonwealth]] novels. His control over others' emotions is scarily potent, yet limited because he can't call up what lies outside the target's normal spectrum of feelings (e.g. making a fanatical nihilist afraid of dying won't work). Requires a lot of maintenance to keep the effect going, else the subject starts to catch on that their feelings are out of whack.

* Saruman in [[The Lord of the Rings]].

* The short stories "What Song The Sirens Sang" by Charles Sheffield and "Ignition Point!" by [[Isaac Asimov]] use the premise that sufficiently sophisticated analysis of human reactions makes it possible to automatically generate highly compelling political speeches. In the Asimov story, the psychological feedback from the fired-up audience fires up the speaker to the point of [[Magic Feather|no longer needing the specially written speeches]].

* ''[[The Heroes of Olympus]]'' <ref>the sequel series to ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]''</ref> reveals that some children of Aphrodite can "charmspeak", and hints that children of Hermes have similar powers.

** Lirahn in [[Star Trek Department of Temporal Investigations]].

* The Bene Gesserit in [[Dune]] learn a technique called the Voice, which lets them persuade people to follow their instructions. The technique involves speaking in just the right tone and timbre to make the person most susceptible to your suggestions (though the film and mini-series adaptations have Voice users speak in a creepy, growling voice). It does have limitations, though: for obvious reasons it won't affect deaf people, and it also won't work on mutes, because a Voice user has to hear their target talk in order to figure out what tone to use with them.

* 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 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}}

== Live Action TV ==

** The Master almost certain has it, to the point that he was able to convince Britain to vote him in as Prime Minister. In fact, the Doctor may have used to this power to allow Harriet Jones ([[Running Gag|Prime Minister]])to get ousted in the first place.

* Raina in ''[[Cleopatra 2525]]''

== Tabletop Games ==

* As mentioned above, Charm Person (and Suggestion) from ''[[Dungeons and Dragons|Dungeons & Dragons]]''.

** There are several levels of enchantment spells in ''D&D''. Charm Person merely makes the target perceive you as an ally (like the Jedi mind trick), Suggestion forces the target to perform a single task, and Dominate Person puts them under your complete control. There are countless other charm or compulsion spells with more specific effects.

* Mind Control with the Suggestion limitation or high levels of Charisma do this in [[GURPS]].

* ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' has Emotion Control: Love which essentially works like a hyped-up version of Diplomacy, shifting people's attitudes to you, possibly from outright hostility to fanatical obsession.

* ''[[Exalted]]'' has a fair number of abilities like this, of course.

* Gene's special ability in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]: Portable Ops'' works like this, his voice having some special quality that makes those listening do what he says.

* In the ''[[Suikoden]]'' series, Jeane is the only character with a rare and permanently affixed Charm Rune, which she uses to charm people into liking her and monsters into occasionally fighting for her. (Of course, the [[Stripperiffic|type of clothing]] she wears might have ''something'' to do with the way all of the men go ga-ga around her.)

** Additionally, the Charm and Dominate spells instantly turn an enemy to your side for a while if you can overcome their mental effect resistance. With enough points in Mental Magic and Spellcraft it can work reliably even on end-game enemies.

* ''[[Second Sight]]'' has this as one of [[Player Character|John Vattic's]] powers. He can use it to either calm down allies who are panicked or gain a sort of invisibility (by making everyone passively ignore him, machines aren't fooled.). However trying to charm someone who is trying to kill you [[Heroic RROD|isn't recommended]].

* 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.

** 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.

* [[Deconstructed Trope|Deconstructed]] in the ''Civilization 4'' mod ''[[Fall From Heaven]]''. In the flavor text, the Charm Person spell is basically described as a [[Mind Rape]], warping the genuine feelings of love and protection that the target feels for his friends and family, and mapping it to the caster instead. The victim still hates the person who's doing this to them, but the mental manipulation is so great that [[And I Must Scream|it leaves the victim completely unable to fight back or even defend themselves while the caster's allies cut them to ribbons.]]

== Webcomics ==

** 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:

== Web Original ==

* Propaganda, a Chinese hero from the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'', has this sort of mind control. She never commands, but only suggests. She has discovered that while her [[Mind Control]] isn't as directly powerful as that of most [[Psychic Powers|telepaths]], it tends to last longer and is harder to resist.

* In the [[Whateley Universe]], psychics generally manifest this ability as opposed to straight mind control. Don Sebastiano, Solange, and even ''Jade'' have used this to slowly worm their way into someone's psyche. Jade, however, had a series of VERY special circumstances. Unfortunately, convincing someone like this functions as More than Mind Control, and is rather hard to catch in the act.

** Jade has used the Big Sad Puppy Dog Eyes to get her way, but [[Tropers/Marvel Girl|this troper]] is not sure that counts - it was Jinn who usesd this power on the mutant who stole Jinn's noncorporeal body, while inside said mutant. The other two? ''Definitely.''