Emotion Bomb: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
{{Examples Need Sorting}}
Examples need to be sorted into media within each emotion type.
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{{quote|''"The Tyrant's Blade no blood hath spilled,''
''But doth the spirit carve.''
''Soulcutter hath no body killed,''
''But many left to starve."''|The First ''[[Book of Swords]]''}}
|The First ''[[Book of Swords]]''}}
 
Among the ways [[Psychic Powers]] can be used in combat is to [[Mind Manipulation|manipulate the minds of others]], stopping them from fighting you or making them [[Brainwashed and Crazy|fight ]]''[[Brainwashed and Crazy|for ]]''[[Brainwashed and Crazy|you]]. But not every psychic is strong enough for outright [[Mind Control]]. Inducing a particular ''feeling'' with the '''Emotion Bomb''' leaves one's victims able to choose how they react, but is often incapacitating just the same.
 
The effect, which is often [[More Than Mind Control]], can also be accomplished in more "realistic" settings, with a drug that produces or intensifies the emotion in question.
 
A subtrope of [[Emotion Control]]. Compare [[Mind Rape]]. Contrast [[Care Bear Stare]], which is this but with niceness, to be used against a villain. [[I Thought It Meant|Not to be confused with]] [[Angst Nuke]], where a character ''blows up'' from emotion.
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=== Types of Emotion Bombs: ===
 
===Common Types of Emotion Bombs: ===
=== [[Despair Event Horizon|Despair]] ===
Sapping the enemy's will to fight is always a good idea; the Emotion Bomb can make it quick and easy (barring any inconvenient [[Heroic Willpower]], of course). Victims of despair begin to think of themselves as worthless, of the enemy's victory as inevitable, and of any attempt at resistance as utterly pointless.
 
* '''[[Despair Event Horizon|Despair]]:''' Sapping the enemy's will to fight is always a good idea; the Emotion Bomb can make it quick and easy (barring any inconvenient [[Heroic Willpower]], of course). Victims of despair begin to think of themselves as worthless, of the enemy's victory as inevitable, and of any attempt at resistance as utterly pointless.
== Despair examples ==
* '''Fear:''' Hugely popular with the [[Obviously Evil]] set, an aura of terror can have similar effects to that of despair, but usually more immediate and obvious. It tends to cause less passive slumping and more panicked fleeing. Or panicked [[A-Team Firing]]. Or panicked freezing-like-a-deer-in-the-headlights. Just as long as they're panicking.
* '''Love/Lust:''' Definitely more a distracting tactic than an incapacitating one. When [[Love Is in the Air]], no one's mind is on their job. If it's possible to ''direct'' the emotion [[Love Potion|at yourself]], you can even use it as the lead-in to [[More Than Mind Control]], or just make sure people are reluctant to attack you.
* '''[[Unstoppable Rage|Anger]]:''' Despite being one of the least subtle emotions, anger requires perhaps the most finesse to weaponize effectively. Afflicting someone you're already fighting with [[Unstoppable Rage]] is... unwise. (Though it can be used to your advantage if you remove their ability to think straight--somestraight—some video game foes can cause absolute devestationdevastation by inflicting the Berserk [[Standard Status Effects|status]] (while others can have their ability to inflict damage or defend themselves completely nullified). But if you can deploy it from a safe distance before or between fights, especially if their alliance against you is already a case of [[Teeth-Clenched Teamwork]], it's ''amazing'' how much trouble can be caused.
 
These are far from the only types possible; other emotions may be weaponized as well.
 
{{examples}}
== Despair examples ==
=== Anime and Manga ===
* Perona's Negative Hollow attack in ''[[One Piece]]'' sends a ghost through the opponent that leaves them crippled with despair and depression, though only lasting a few seconds. {{spoiler|Usopp, who already lacks self-confidence and spends a lot of time in a funk anyway, is immune to it.}}
* Arael's weapon of choice in ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''. It's the [[Trope Namer]] of [[Mind Rape]] for a ''reason''.
* In the second ''[[Ranma ½]]'' movie, one henchman uses this on Ryoga. Bad idea. The henchman didn't know that Ryoga's most powerful move is powered by depression. *cueCue [[One Hit KO]]*.
 
=== Love/LustLiterature ===
* The [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|aptly-named]] character Despair in ''[[The Faerie Queene]].'' Three guesses as to what he does...
* The [[The Fair Folk|elves]] in [[Discworld]]'s ''Lords and Ladies'' seem to include this in their general aura of "glamour". How could something as clunky and utterly inadequate and ''human'' as you ever hope to defeat an elf? You don't even deserve to ''exist'' next to, much less rebel against, something so perfect as an elf. The Auditors also fight like this when incorporeal, making people think that fighting them is pointless because there's nothing really there to fight.
* It's implied that a slow-acting version of this mixed with mundane counterintelligence got to Denethor of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' (book only), finally [[Driven to Suicide|driving him to an attempted murder-suicide]]. This is why you shouldn't engage in direct psychic contact with the immensely powerful [[Big Bad]] (Denethor has one of the palantíri, or Seeing Stones, like the one that Pippin took from Gandalf and looked in).
* Morag uses one of these to turn Aribeth to the dark side in the original Neverwinter Nights campaign
* It's implied that a slow-acting version of this mixed with mundane counterintelligence got to Denethor of ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' (book only), finally [[Driven to Suicide|driving him to an attempted murder-suicide]]. This is why you shouldn't engage in direct psychic contact with the immensely powerful [[Big Bad]] (Denethor has one of the palantíri, or Seeing Stones, like the one that Pippin took from Gandalf and looked in).
** However in both the books and films, the Nazgul have this power, mixed with fear.
* [[Ciaphas Cain]] gets a ''nasty'' hit of this in ''Duty Calls'', complete with [[Religious Horror]]. {{spoiler|[[Heroic Willpower]] keeps him sane until [[Anti-Magic|Jurgen]] arrives to break the spell, but he was still out of the fight for a bit.}}
* [[Harry Potter]]'s world has Dementors, who guard the prison of Azkaban. Dementors sense and feed on the positive emotions, happiness and good memories of human beings, forcing them to relive their worst memories. It is notable that Dumbledore is against the use of Dementors, considering them cruel and unusual punishment (as well as a natural fifth column for Dark wizards.)
* Averted in ''[[The Bones Ofof Haven]]''. Initially, the Brimstone Boys' very presence seems to have this effect on the Special Wizardry And Tactics team's sorcerer. {{spoiler|It turns out he was faking, so as to catch the Boys off-guard.}}
* Perona's Negative Hollow attack in [[One Piece]] sends a ghost through the opponent that leaves them crippled with despair and depression, though only lasting a few seconds. {{spoiler|Usopp, who already lacks self-confidence and spends a lot of time in a funk anyway, is immune to it.}}
* The [[Evil Overlord|Lord Ruler]] of ''[[Mistborn]]'' uses his powers of Soothing to deaden the emotions of anyone within about a mile radius of him, sapping them of the will to resist him (though a skilled Mistborn can counteract the effects to a degree by Rioting the emotions of those in his or her immediate vicinity). Later on, [[Extraordinarily Empowered Girl|Vin]] learns to do a similar trick, though because she's much weaker than the Lord Ruler she can only effect a few people at a time.
* In Saberhagen's [[Books of Swords]] series this is what the Tyrant's Blade (AKA Soulcutter) does. When it is drawn from its sheath everyone in a 250m radius ''including the wielder'' is struck with such crippling despair that most will be unable to summon the will to do ''anything'', even eat when food is provided.
* This is [[Foundation|The Mule's]] favorite weapon in the ''[[Foundation]]'' series. Used broadly, it makes enemy armies surrender. Used narrowly, it is the most horrible death possible. He can produce other emotions too, such as loyalty and confidence for his own servants.
* Arael's weapon of choice in ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''. It's the [[Trope Namer]] of [[Mind Rape]] for a ''reason''.
 
* This is [[Foundation|The Mule's]] favorite weapon. Used broadly, it makes enemy armies surrender. Used narrowly, it is the most horrible death possible. He can produce other emotions too, such as loyalty and confidence for his own servants.
=== Live-Action TV ===
* The aptly named Despair Squid of ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' causes hallucinations in its victims that are so terrible that the victim commits suicide.
* In the second installment of ''[[Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People|Strong Bads Cool Game for Attractive People]]'', this is how Strong Sad's fights go in the Maps & Minions portion of the game. He is able to defeat any of your units except [[The Unintelligible|Homsar]].
* In the second ''[[Ranma ½]]'' movie, one henchman uses this on Ryoga. Bad idea. The henchman didn't know that Ryoga's most powerful move is powered by depression. *cue [[One Hit KO]]*
* The [[Dungoens And Dragons]] spell ''crushing despair'' does not disable its targets completely, but is one more avenue (along with spells like ''cause fear'') to whittle away at an opponent's combat effectiveness until he can't hurt anyone, defend himself, or even run away.
 
=== Tabletop Games ===
* The [[DungoensDungeons And& Dragons]] spell ''crushing despair'' does not disable its targets completely, but is one more avenue (along with spells like ''cause fear'') to whittle away at an opponent's combat effectiveness until he can't hurt anyone, defend himself, or even run away.
 
=== FearVideo Games ===
* Morag uses one of these to turn Aribeth to the dark side in the original ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' campaign
Hugely popular with the [[Obviously Evil]] set, an aura of terror can have similar effects to that of despair, but usually more immediate and obvious. It tends to cause less passive slumping and more panicked fleeing. Or panicked [[A-Team Firing]]. Or panicked freezing-like-a-deer-in-the-headlights. Just as long as they're panicking.
* In the second installmentinstalment of ''[[Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People|Strong Bads Cool Game for Attractive People]]'', this is how Strong Sad's fights go in the Maps & Minions portion of the game. He is able to defeat any of your units except [[The Unintelligible|Homsar]].
 
== Fear examples ==
* The Ringwraiths in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' are constantly surrounded by a combination of this and Despair. Hardened soldiers break and run in their presence, and it's strongly implied that [[Action Girl|Eowyn]] is only able to stand up to the Witch-King because she's been [[Broken Bird|living in constant despair for years]]. She's ''used'' to it.
* Fear effects are a common game mechanic in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' and other MMORPGS, with afflicted players and monsters running randomly around the place. Many a player has cursed this when feared right into the ''next'' bunch of monsters, and it used to be that you could be scared right off a cliff!
* In the X-Men Legends series, Emma Frost can do this to every enemy in her range, making all of them bolt. Of course, this only makes it so that you have to run after them to take care of them before the effect wears off.
* In ''[[Sonic the Comic]]'', {{spoiler|Chaos}} did this. It was, however, resistable, as two characters were able to get close to it this way (Sonic achieved it by concentrating on rage).
* The Fear Point in ''Immortal Defense'' may count. It slows down enemy targets, but represents the player character's own anxieties and its effect is probably just caused by its environment's metaphor tangibility. If fully upgraded, it "panics" and fires blindly.
* ''All'' dragons in some [[Dungeons and& Dragons]] editions are constantly surrounded by an aura of fear that sends pretty much any low-level character into panic. They can, however, turn it off for a brief time. A few other monsters also have fear auras, such as liches.
** In 3.5 and [[Pathfinder]], it's not a magical or psionic effect: dragons are just plain scary. Mechanically, if a dragon with greater hit dice than you does anything threatening, you have to roll your save.
* This is how Scarecrow, {{spoiler|and Ra'as Al Ghul, who is directing him,}} plans to destroy Gotham in ''[[Batman Begins]]''. His cronies dump the fear drug into the water supply and vaporize it to drive a large chunk of the city insane.
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* Turahk from ''[[Bionicle]]'' has this power. It is so powerful that {{spoiler|Jaller actually died from a Fear blast. He got better, though.}}
* In the animated web series ''[[Broken Saints]]'', this is the form [[Super-Powered Evil Side|angry Shandala]]'s empathic powers take towards any hostiles.
* A ''very'' popular ability in ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' and ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'' is the ability to inflict fear (or, worse yet, ''terror'') on the enemy.
* Zofis, the [[Big Bad]] of an entire story arc of ''[[Gash Bell]]'', is able to manipulate the demons of a thousand years ago into fighting for them by making them believe that, after being freed of their stone curse, that Zofis can ''return them to stone at will''. After spending 1000 years utterly immobile, that fear is enough to get them to do anything for him.
* The myrddraal of ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' emanate an aura of fear, especially along their line-of-sight.
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* In "[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Journal]]" Jaroda and Lady Christine have access to an Aura technique called Fear Aura, which Jaroda uses to force Heath to take a job for him.
 
== Love/Lust examples ==
 
=== Love/Lust ===
 
Definitely more a distracting tactic than an incapacitating one. When [[Love Is in the Air]], no one's mind is on their job. If it's possible to ''direct'' the emotion [[Love Potion|at yourself]], you can even use it as the lead-in to [[More Than Mind Control]], or just make sure people are reluctant to attack you.
 
== Love/Lust examples ==
* General: If there are any [[Horny Devils]] who ''can't'' do this, they're very much in the minority.
* A Valentine's Day seasonal event in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' has someone do this ''worldwide'' {{spoiler|so that everyone will be moonstruck and distracted for some attack that's never followed through on.}} He has help from some naive individuals who really just want to "help ease the awkward rituals of courtship".
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* ''[[Baroque]]'' has Lust as a status ailment. It makes all enemies and treasure chests look like women (and the women all look the same).
* In the first episode of ''[[Torchwood]]'', Owen is shown using some sort of alien breath spray that causes anyone who gets a whiff of it to want to jump him right there and then.
* ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]'''s resident God(dess) of [[Perverse Sexual Lust]], Slaanesh, [[Charm Person|has this effect on anyone]] short of fellow God-level beings. (Translation: Non-gods will look upon Slaanesh and happily sell their souls, [[Heroic Willpower]] be damned.) To a lesser extent, [[Depraved Bisexual|His/Her]] [[The Hedonist|stronger followers]] get this power as a primary perk, along with the inverse of [[Power Perversion Potential]].
** [[Ciaphas Cain]] ('''[[In Harm's Way|HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!]]''') has had a fair bit of trouble with Slaaneshi cultists. First there was that [[Charm Person|witch]] he just managed to fight off and kill (before she could [[Fate Worse Than Death|sell his soul to Slaanesh]])... then later on more cultists {{spoiler|summoned her back as a [[Horny Devils|Daemonette]]}}, and again he managed to fight it off with [[Heroic Willpower]] ([[Spanner in the Works|and]] [[Power Nullifier|Jurgen]] {{spoiler|and more [[Big Damn Heroes|Imperial Guardsmen]]}}). Naturally, these folks have been a lovely source of his [[Bad Dreams]].
 
=== [[UnstoppableHate RagePlague|Anger]] ===
 
=== [[Unstoppable Rage|Anger]] ===
Despite being one of the least subtle emotions, anger requires perhaps the most finesse to weaponize effectively. Afflicting someone you're already fighting with [[Unstoppable Rage]] is... unwise. (Though it can be used to your advantage if you remove their ability to think straight--some video game foes can cause absolute devestation by inflicting the Berserk [[Standard Status Effects|status]] (while others can have their ability to inflict damage or defend themselves completely nullified). But if you can deploy it from a safe distance before or between fights, especially if their alliance against you is already a case of [[Teeth-Clenched Teamwork]], it's ''amazing'' how much trouble can be caused.
 
* This is its own subtrope, [[Hate Plague]], so examples go there.
 
=== Other/Multiple: ===
* The "blamethrower", from ''[[Mystery Men]]'', produces not so much Anger as petty bickering.
* ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'':
** There are a bunch of emotion-affecting spells, including the one actually named ''Emotion''. (That spell includes Despair, Fear, Love and Rage)
** Sympathy and Antipathy are two other good ones. Cast on a place, they make you very strongly want to stay there, or get the hell out as soon as possible. Cast on an object, they make you either covet it and obsess over possessing it, or want absolutely nothing to do with it. Furthermore, they only affect specific beings determined when you cast the spell, leaving all other beings unaffected.
** And of course, Tasha's Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter. It not only incapacitates the target, but also weakens their muscles for a while after they calm down.
** In 1st Edition the psionic ability "Telempathic Projection" could send an emotion to a target creature.
* The Ilivais units in ''[[Ilivais X]]'' (especially the Phonos Weapons) tend to utilize emotion as a control scheme, at the very least. The Phonos Weapons and their pilots have ridiculously strong Drive Cores, and all of them except for Iriana have been reduced to near [[Soulless Shell|Soulless Shells]]s that only live to feel their set emotion. Iriana has a wierd thing that's caused due to X's Drive Core being essentially a really powerful version of the standard, and uses this because she's trying to become an [[Emotionless Girl]] instead of a [[Love Freak]]. This at leasts partially explains why she isn't as good at piloting it as [[Manic Pixie Dream Girl|Mille]].
* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', the warlock class used to have a spell called Curse of Recklessness. It would drive the target into overconfidence, making them immune to fear effects (and ordinary fleeing, if an NPC) and hit harder but causing them to drop their defence (reducing their armour stat). The spell was recently removed and the armour reduction effect combined with another curse.
* Flinx, main protagonist of [[Alan Dean Foster]]'s ''[[Humanx Commonwealth]]'' universe, has [[The Empath|empathic]] powers that were originally sense-only, but received an upgrade in ''Flinx in Flux'' that allowed him to fully access his latent projective powers. He has used this ability to induce catatonic fear and/or despair in his enemies, at one point immobilizing a youth gang simply by exposing them to a glimpse of the [[Ultimate Evil]] he's destined to fight. In ''Reunion'', he uses his powers to seduce an employee of the Terran Shell complex in order to gain access to restricted data, and even manages to manipulate ''the computer itself''.
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* ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' movie has a "Point of View" gun, which forces the person hit to suddenly understand the wielder's point of view. Generally just distracting, but utterly incapacitating when ''[[The Eeyore|Marvin]]'' uses it, as you can imagine.
* Occurs in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4''. When {{spoiler|Liquid shuts off SOP the first and second time}}, the soldiers affected immediately {{spoiler|experience all the emotion the system had prevented them from feeling.}} This involves such graphic displays as soldiers unable to stop laughing as they beat the shit out of their comrades, and other soldiers simply killing themselves as fear and sadness overwhelms them.
* The Psychic Powers sourcebook for GURPS includes a literal emotion bomb--whenbomb—when it goes off, everyone in range experiences the emotion preset into it. The [[Mind Control]] skill can be taken with an "Emotions Only" limitation, and the Terror advantage, of course, produces fear or "awe".
* The "Emotion Control" power in ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'', which can also be used to instill calm or hope.
* In [[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]], {{spoiler|Hinamizawa Syndrome}} is at least as much a Fear/Paranoia Plague as a [[Hate Plague]]. Although the characters start attacking each other, rather than being motivated by outright anger, frequently, it's a poorly-conceived self-preservation method. {{spoiler|Keiichi}} in Onikakushi-hen in particular comes to mind.
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* Sweet Sorrow, an [[Emotion Control|emotion manipulator]] from the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'', concentrates on the darker emotions. She once made a successful escape by making a crowd of innocent bystanders both terrified of and furious with the superheroes trying to capture her.
* This is the schtick of the [[Emotion Eater|White Court vampires]] in ''[[The Dresden Files]]''. The most common emotional affinity is lust, especially among House Raith, which is why they're often called [[Horny Devils|succubi and incubi]]. Other branches specialize in fear or despair. (Though, interestingly, real, pure emotion can actively injure them; [[The Power of Love|True Love]] burns lust-feeders, for example) In addition there's, Vittorio Malvora: because he decided to do some finagling outside of the traditional [[Planet of Hats]] line, he has the ability to use despair, plus lust, plus fear, ''all at the same time''. It takes {{spoiler|the [[Heroic Sacrifice]] of a freakin' fallen angel}} to keep it off Harry.
* The ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers]]'' episode "One Million Emotions" had the team seeking to recover a stolen "sensation doll" created as a piece of art by an extinct alien culture. Anyone who made direct contact with the doll would be deluged with "one million emotions" ALL [[Mind Rape|AT ONCE]] (or as Goose called it, "the emotional electric chair"). One of the thieves who touched the doll was reduced to an insane wreck. <ref>He got better in later episodes, though.</ref>
* Freya's "vybe" power in the webcomic ''[[Magellan]]'' falls into this category. In a more benign application, she can make a large group of people collapse into helpless laughter, a good way to break up a fight. In more desperate circumstances, though, she can do a "full-spectrum vybe" which apparently makes someone experience every possible emotion simultaneously at full force, enough to render them catatonic for hours or days.
* An episode of the ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' TV series, "The Flawed Couple", had a [[Villain Team-Up]] between Abis Mal and Mecanicles involving magical stones that could alter people's moods. Aladdin managed to break the fear one by focusing on the fact that Jasmine was in danger.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Emotion Bomb{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
[[Category:Stock Super Powers]]
[[Category:Magic and Powers]]
[[Category:Emotion Tropes]]
[[Category:Emotion Bomb]]
[[Category:Mind Manipulation Tropes]]