Heel Face Brainwashing: Difference between revisions

Someone is [[Brainwashed]] or [[Mind Control|Mind Controlled]]led into a [[Heel Face Turn]]. Yes, that's right, a Heel '''Face''' Turn.

In-universe, the [[Godzilla Threshold]] can justify almost anything, but on a meta level, when this happens, it means that either the morality is [[Black and Grey Morality]] (or [[Grey and Gray Morality]]), or there is ''serious'' [[Values Dissonance]] going on, or maybe just thoughtless [[Moral Dissonance]]. Occasionally, the heroes ask first, and the villain figures that he's stronger than whatever they will do, and accepts, only for it to work.

* If I recall correctly,{{verify}} [[Sailor Moon|Neo Queen Serenity]] wanted to cleanse the evil out of her subjects. Those who didn't like the idea of being [[Mind Rape|Mind]] <s>Raped</s> [[Unusual Euphemism|Gently Massaged]] left the Moon and became the Black Moon Clan.

* {{spoiler|Anri}} in ''[[Durarara!!]]'' can do this {{spoiler|using the demon-blade Saika}}, as part of the character being [[Bad Powers, Good People]]. For instance, in one scene a mind-controlled thug is told to go home and lead a good life.

* This, and all of its myriad [[Unfortunate Implications]], was a huge part of Mark Gruenwald's ''[[Squadron Supreme]]'' series. The Squadron (an [[Expy]] of the [[Justice League]]) institute brainwashing as the all-purpose punishment for crimes. The [[Black and Grey Morality]] of the series shows the brainwashing being a good thing for one character (who was just misguided to begin with and stays a good guy after the brainwashing is undone), and tragic for two others (one of whom becomes irreversibly catatonic after running into a contradiction in her programming).

* In Volume 5 of ''[[Empowered (Comic Book)|Empowered]]'', {{spoiler|we find out that Mind**** <s>did</s> habitually does this... to herself.}}

* In the [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]] [[Spin-Off]] ''[[Exiles (Comic Book)|Exiles]]'', the reality-altering, body-swapping villain Proteus {{spoiler|takes over [[Shapeshifting|Morph's]] body, which doesn't degrade like other bodies Proteus inhabits do. The team manage to use some [[Applied Phlebotinum]] (from the world of the [[Squadron Supreme]] mentioned above, in fact) in order to brainwash Proteus into [[Becoming the Mask|thinking he IS Morph]]. However, the ramifications of this action are explored in future issues.}} It does help that Proteus WAS planning on making the entire universe his plaything.

* Two [[Silver Age]] [[Superman]] [[Elseworlds|"Imaginary Stories"]] featured this trope. The first, "Superman-Red and Superman-Blue," had Superman split into the titular super-genius versions of himself. They then create an "Anti-Evil Ray," which they then upload to a bunch of satellites and bombard the planet with. Sure enough, the ray brainwashes everyone into being "good," which leads to [[Utopia Justifies the Means|a perfect world, free from disease, crime, and war.]] The second (whose title escapes me) has Luthor get [[Mind Rape|Mind Raped]]d by psychic aliens until all evil is removed from him. He then marries Lois Lane, has a son, and [[Cut Lex Luthor a Check|becomes the world's most famous and beloved scientist.]] {{spoiler|That is, until his son grows up, becomes a supervillain, and murders him.}}

* Discussed at the end of ''Mandrago'', an obvious parody of ''[[Mandrake the Magician]]'' by the Italian Jacovitti. The protagonist, who has acquired limitless magic powers, decides to make the world a perfect place and brainwashes ''every single inhabitant of Earth'' into being unable to do evil. When Mandrago overdoes it, loses his powers and the world [[No Ontological Inertia|snaps back to normal]], the narrator points out that mankind lost world peace, but regained free will.

* The [[Villain Protagonist]] of the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' fanfic "The Council Era" is growing an army of dezba from the DNA of one of his Mooks. He intends to surgically alter their genetic thought process in order to "civilize" them, so that they will serve the Citadel against the krogan during the war. They were an almost [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]] race beforehand, so he's somewhat justified.

* In ''[[The Stainless Steel Rat]]'' series, the protagonist's future wife starts at as a brilliant but hideously evil con artist. She is brainwashed in a way that allows her to retain her personality but lose the crazy (except for some [[Mama Bear]] and [[Beware the Nice Ones]] moments).

** This is surprisingly common in [[Utopia|Utopias]]s before science fiction's Golden Age--asAge—as in, so before the Golden Age that they also talk positively of the annihilation of all non-"useful" animal life. It's still used straight as late as the middle of [[Isaac Asimov]]'s career, although in the short story in question the character advocating the procedure is {{spoiler|secretly a robot, who of course would regard mental reprogramming as no different from the reprogramming done to defective robots.}}

* In a supreme irony, a [[Knight Templar]] who engages in this behavior in ''[[Charles Stross|Glasshouse]]'' is forced to reprogram herself so she believes it's wrong to change people like this. Decide for yourself whether that's hypocrisy or [[Karma]].

* In ''[[Villains by Necessity]]'', this is the force driving the plot. The [[Anti-Villain]] / [[Anti-Hero]] main character doesn't want to have his free will stripped away by a do-good [[Knight Templar]] priest who has nearly driven all evil from the world using a magic brainwashing staff. However, this is in a [[Dungeons and& Dragons]] type setting where the [[Balance Between Good and Evil]] is imperative, and the world will end when the last evil is wiped away. (The last evil is implied to be within the main party.)

** Annabeth, also in ''[[The Heroes of Olympus]]'', tells Jason that Percy told her about the power of the River Lethe to erease memories, even from Titans, which is what happened to Iapetus. Its Canon alright

* In ''[[Harry Potter and Thethe Deathly Hallows (novel)|Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]'', Harry casts the Imperius Curse on a Death Eater. Granted, he only made the Death Eater play along with the Hermione-is-Bellatrix facade, but still! It could be seen that he had no other option, however--ithowever—it was either use the Imperius curse or be revealed as imposters. The Order (and later Harry) also give Kreacher orders that are supposed to keep him from betraying them, knowing that he's really on the Death Eaters' side - as a House Elf, he can't help but obey.

* In ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' at the end, Winston Smith "loves Big Brother." The reader sees it as a [[Downer Ending]] where [[The Bad Guy Wins]], but Smith himself views the change as [[Heel Face Brainwashing]].

** And before that in volume 3, Ma Petrelli [[Mind Screw|Mind Screws]]s Sylar into trying to be a hero by tricking him into believing she's his real mother.

** And in the last three episodes of volume 5, {{spoiler|Matt traps Sylar inside a hallucination of [[Your Worst Nightmare|an empty world]]. Sylar spends [[Year Inside, Hour Outside|two years]] alone in there until [[Idiot Hero|Peter]] goes in after him (because apparently, he's [[The Only One]] who can save Peter's [[Shipping|friend]] Emma). It takes them another [[Year Inside, Hour Outside|three years]] to find a way out, by which time Sylar has been thoroughly [[Heel Face Mind Screw|Heel Face Mind Screwed]]ed.}}

*** They did include the clause "If you ever experience happiness again, you'll lose your soul again". They not only neutered his evil side, but also wanted his morally responsible side to suffer forever. Even going so far as to allow the whole thing to come undone, just so he himself would have to deny himself happiness because he wouldn't want to turn evil again (([[Sarcasm Mode|There's no way that could ever go wrong]]). I'd call that a tad bit too sadistic for "good guys".

* Zordon's purification of the villains in the ''[[Power Rangers in Space]]'' finale "Countdown to Destruction". Most of the villains are reduced to dust, but Zedd, Rita and Divatox become ordinary people (Karone survives too, but by that point brainwashing was the only thing keeping her ''evil'').

* ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' features an item known as Helm of Opposite Alignment. While it's meant to be a torment to the players, some parties have used one as a portable redemption machine.

** Perhaps more frighteningly, the Book of Exalted Deeds (the good equivalent to the Book of Vile Darkness) includes a spell (Sanctify the Wicked) only useable by the most pure 'good' casters that imprisons its target in a diamond where the target "reflects on past evils and slowly finds within itself a spark of goodness" which then leads it to becoming a good entity like the caster. Yet oddly enough, if the gem is shattered before a year is up, the target is restored and is amazingly ''pissed'' at the caster. Thus there are some who would see this conversion via imprisonment as not unlike a specific use of the evil spell (From the Book of Vile Darkness) Mind Rape. Unlike Redemption Mind Rape could be used to (in example) remove horrible memories. (Not that anyone who knows it is likely to do so, just that it could be used that way. Well, they technically created a neutral version of this spell called "Programmed Amnesia" that allows you to do anything you wanted, good or bad.)

* ''[[GURPS]]'' has the Crown of Benevolent Rulership in ''Magic Items 2,''. itIt makes whomeverwhoever wears it into a kindly and benevolent ruler. Personality effects can persist if worn too long, however the compulsion disappears with the removal of the crown. However the blurb about the crown subverts the trope. [[Evil Overlord]] Wenceslaus who had the the crown created to lull his neighbors into a false sense of security. (He had obviously read the [[Evil Overlord List]], noting the part about how adhering to the list makes one indistinguishable from a competent good ruler.) However, it's implied that it worked too well and he never did get around to his evil schemes.

* In ''[[StarcraftStarCraft]]'', Terran criminals that commit particularly brutal crimes undergo "neural resocialization" where their memories are essentially frosted over, and afterwards are usually drafted into the military as now-loyal Marines with a combat life expectancy of under 90 seconds. In the novels one marine regains his memories while aboard a ship. Bad things happen.

*** Indeed, while it may be the Paragon choice, it's by no means presented as the "good" choice. The whole thing is treated as a grey area from start to finish (One of your squad members even points out that it's morally equivalent to killing them, since by brainwashing them you're "killing their viewpoint"). {{spoiler|Legion, as the representative of the Geth present}} indicates how grey the situation is when its 1000+ individual personalities split almost evenly on what to do. And yes, the only alternative is to kill them.

* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Zelenin]] from [[Strange Journey]] ''[[Invoked Trope|tries]]'' to save the [[Chaotic Evil]] [[Complete Monster|members of Jack's crew]] by transforming herself [[One-Winged Angel|into an angel]] whose song could make them all [[Lawful Good]]. [[Gone Horribly Right|It worked]]! Problem? {{spoiler|[[Deconstruction|The song is revealed to be a form]] of [[Mind Rape]], and the men were left as [[Empty Shell|Empty Shells]]s only capable of mindlessly praising Zelenin and the Lord; this is also a [[Foreshadowing]] of the Law Faction's plans for [[World of Silence|the Schwarzwelt]]. The few men who retained a semblance of free will ended up more like [[Lawful Evil]] [[Knight Templar|Knight Templars]]s - and it's possible Zelenin's act only led them to an even ''worse'' death.}}

* The Legion in the [[MSF High]] setting, which has only come up in the RP, are naturally capable of doing this. They actually consider it very immoral, allowing it only in clear cases of self-defense, since they kinda went overboard with doing it beforehand. To the point where they weren't the 'Face'.

* This happened in an episode of ''C.O.P.S.'', where one of the bad guys was forced by a judge to wear a headset that prevented her from thinking negative thoughts. Unlike most examples on this page, the good guys were very much against it and quite vocal about how immoral it was, citing free will and the fact it would not be true reform but rather something forced on her by a piece of technology (which of course fails at a critical plot point).

** ?by making the one sentenced to wear the headset so [[Lawful Stupid]] they let the episode's [[Villain of the Week]] go so they can chase a litterbug.

* [[Punch Clock Villain]] and/or [[Hero with an F In Good]] Shego from [[Kim Possible]] [[Heel Face Mind Screw|turns]] into the [[Tastes Like Diabetes|painfully sweet and kind]] Ms. Go after getting zapped by the [[Mirror Morality Machine|attitudinator]].

{{quote| '''Wicked''': Puppied and clowns, trick or treat<br />

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