Interrogated for Nothing: Difference between revisions

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== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[~~Death Note (Manga)|~~Death Note]]'' has a variation, where L imprisons and interrogates Misa on completely accurate suspicions that she is the second Kira... unaware that, through a trick of the Note, all of her pertinent memories have been erased. This goes on for a ''month'' before the team convinces him to try something else.

* ''[[Death Note]]'' has a variation, where L imprisons and interrogates Misa on completely accurate suspicions that she is the second Kira... unaware that, through a trick of the Note, all of her pertinent memories have been erased. This goes on for a ''month'' before the team convinces him to try something else.

* ''[[Now and Then Here ~~And~~ There]]'': This happens to Shu during the first few episodes. Worse, {{spoiler|Abelia is quite aware from the begining that he doesn't know anything but is forced to keep torturing him, on King Hamdo's orders.}}

* ''[[Now and Then Here and There]]'': This happens to Shu during the first few episodes. Worse, {{spoiler|Abelia is quite aware from the begining that he doesn't know anything but is forced to keep torturing him, on King Hamdo's orders.}}

* Near the end of ''[[Last Exile]]'', [[spoiler:Alex Rowe is given a [[Truth Serum]] by Delphine in order to obtain the information that she needs. It turns out that Alex never entrusted himself with the last piece of the poem, [[Xanatos Gambit|predicting the possiblity of being captured and interrogated.]]

* In ''[[Ah! ~~My Goddess (Manga)|Ah~~ My Goddess]]'', Urd, while in Lord of Terror mode, briefly tries to torture Keichii for information about the Ultimate Destruction Program. She quickly learns that all he knows about it is the fact that it exists.

* In ''[[Ah! My Goddess]]'', Urd, while in Lord of Terror mode, briefly tries to torture Keichii for information about the Ultimate Destruction Program. She quickly learns that all he knows about it is the fact that it exists.

== Comics ==

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== Film ==

* ''[[~~Marathon Man (Film)|~~Marathon Man]]'': What the Nazi dentist played by Sir [[Laurence Olivier]] does to Dustin Hoffman ("Is it safe?"). The actual scene is brief, and the torture rendered mostly by implication; but it is still arguably the most chilling example of this trope in cinematic history.

* ''[[Marathon Man]]'': What the Nazi dentist played by Sir [[Laurence Olivier]] does to Dustin Hoffman ("Is it safe?"). The actual scene is brief, and the torture rendered mostly by implication; but it is still arguably the most chilling example of this trope in cinematic history.

* The [[James Bond (~~Film~~)|James Bond]] franchise has been known to do this on occasion, most notably in the opening theme of ''[[~~Die Another Day (Film)|~~Die Another Day]]''. During that theme, Bond is put through a who's who of torture methods, and it's later revealed that [[Properly Paranoid|he was intentionally given an incomplete briefing by MI6 for his mission, just in case he was captured.]] They do trade someone important for his return though, which he never expected to happen, and calls them out on.

* The [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] franchise has been known to do this on occasion, most notably in the opening theme of ''[[Die Another Day]]''. During that theme, Bond is put through a who's who of torture methods, and it's later revealed that [[Properly Paranoid|he was intentionally given an incomplete briefing by MI6 for his mission, just in case he was captured.]] They do trade someone important for his return though, which he never expected to happen, and calls them out on.

* A version of this is the focus of ''[[Slumdog Millionaire]]'', where Jamal is tortured to find out how he cheated. At his repeated insistence, the two cops eventually acknowledge that he might be telling the truth about not cheating a few hours in. After they ''stop'' torturing him and interrogate him somewhat more civilly, Jamal tells them, in the form of flashbacks to his life story, exactly how he was able to get each answer right.

* In ''To End All Wars'', Yanker is viciously beaten with a shovel after one goes missing and he admits to taking it to keep everyone else from getting killed. It isn't till after he's paralyzed that the commander discovers that there was just a miscount and none of the shovels are missing after all.

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* ''The Terrorizers'': Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm novel. Secret agent/assassin Matt Helm is captured by the enemy, who torture him to find out vital information. Unfortunately he has amnesia, so he can't tell them anything. They think he's faking and continue the torment.

* [[Robert Heinlein]]'s ''[[Friday (~~Literature~~)|Friday]]''. The title character voluntarily spills her guts to her interrogators, which is standard policy for her organization as a highly trained courier is far more important than any piece of information they may be carrying at one time. As her boss knows anyone will eventually crack, he deliberately withholds information about anything important. After questioning her under [[Truth Serum]] and getting the same story, they decide she's been hypnotically conditioned to tell false information and ruthlessly torture her. The interrogators end up respecting their victim as the only person they couldn't crack under torture.

* [[Robert Heinlein]]'s ''[[Friday (novel)|Friday]]''. The title character voluntarily spills her guts to her interrogators, which is standard policy for her organization as a highly trained courier is far more important than any piece of information they may be carrying at one time. As her boss knows anyone will eventually crack, he deliberately withholds information about anything important. After questioning her under [[Truth Serum]] and getting the same story, they decide she's been hypnotically conditioned to tell false information and ruthlessly torture her. The interrogators end up respecting their victim as the only person they couldn't crack under torture.

* The climax of ''~Foucault's Pendulum~'' involves a group interrogating the hero about a plan. Not only does the hero not know the plan, it doesn't even exist.

* In ''[[Roswell High]]'', towards the end of the first season Max is being held by evil government people who torture him into telling them various things. But then they want him to show them how to use some device that he has no clue how to work (or he'd have already used it), and start to cut him open when he doesn't.

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* In a ''[[Star Wars]]'' short story, Corran Horn helps a group of rebel sympathizers escape an Imperial Prefect, while simultaneously framing the man for rebel sympathies and murder. Horn's thick-skulled Imperial liaison (when he was still working for CorSec) takes the overseer away for an interrogation session, with the innocent man mentally remarking how bitterly hilarious it is that he will be tortured endlessly for information that he doesn't have.

* ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Ethan of Athos:]]'' Ethan is captured and questioned by the Cetagandans about the location of Terrance Cee, first using a truth serum, and then upping the ante to more and more painful methods. Since this is the first Ethan's ever heard of Terrance, he tells them he doesn't know who they're talking about, right from the beginning.

* In ''[[The Princess Bride (~~Literature~~)|The Princess Bride]]'', Humperdinck and Rugen torture Westley for weeks about for the name of the Guilder official who commissioned the abduction of Princess Buttercup. Not only would Westley not know this information as he was not the kidnapper, the information didn't exist at all, as Guilder wasn't involved. And Humperdinck knew this, as ''he'' was the one who had ordered the kidnapping.

* In ''[[The Princess Bride (novel)|The Princess Bride]]'', Humperdinck and Rugen torture Westley for weeks about for the name of the Guilder official who commissioned the abduction of Princess Buttercup. Not only would Westley not know this information as he was not the kidnapper, the information didn't exist at all, as Guilder wasn't involved. And Humperdinck knew this, as ''he'' was the one who had ordered the kidnapping.

* Subverted (or maybe zig-zagged) in Sartre's short story "The Wall." The protagonist / narrator is told that he will be shot at dawn if he does not give up the location of Ramon Gris. He knows where Gris is, but gives them the wrong information, saying he's in the cemetary. He does it more to be a smart ass and make fools of his captors than anything. {{spoiler|They don't kill him, because they actually find Gris in the cemetary. The protagonist didn't know Gris had gone there.}}

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== Live Action Television ==

* ''[[Star Trek ~~the~~ Next Generation]]'': Picard refuses to give up the Minos Korva defense plans under truth serum. How? Because he has no idea what they are. His captor, Gul Madred, works it out eventually...and keeps going, switching his focus to simply breaking Picard for its own sake, via "[[Two Plus Torture Makes Five|How many lights do you see]]?"

* ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'': Picard refuses to give up the Minos Korva defense plans under truth serum. How? Because he has no idea what they are. His captor, Gul Madred, works it out eventually...and keeps going, switching his focus to simply breaking Picard for its own sake, via "[[Two Plus Torture Makes Five|How many lights do you see]]?"

* ''[[~~Twenty Four|~~24]]'' had at least two victims, a CTU analyst and the Secretary of Defence's son, who the good guys torture to no avail.

* ''[[24]]'' had at least two victims, a CTU analyst and the Secretary of Defence's son, who the good guys torture to no avail.

* ''[[Lost]]'': Sayid tortures Sawyer because he and Jack think he stole Shannon's inhalers. Only after shoving sticks of bamboo up under his finger nails for a few agonizing minutes does Sayid learn that {{spoiler|Sawyer never had the inhalers in the first place, and was being so stubborn just so he could get a kiss from Kate.}}

* On ''[[~~Rookie Blue (TV)|~~Rookie Blue]]'' Sam is tortured by a criminal who wants to know who killed the criminal's family and why the cops covered it up. Sam knew the guy's family was dead but had no knowledge of the rest. The criminal realizes that Sam probably knows nothing but decides to continue just to make sure.

* On ''[[Rookie Blue]]'' Sam is tortured by a criminal who wants to know who killed the criminal's family and why the cops covered it up. Sam knew the guy's family was dead but had no knowledge of the rest. The criminal realizes that Sam probably knows nothing but decides to continue just to make sure.

* In ''[[Supernatural]]'''s season 4 episode "On The Head Of A Pin", the angels have captured Lilith's [[The Dragon|dragon]] Alistair and force Dean to use his knowledge of torture from his time spent in Hell for information about how the demons are killing angels. Alistair proves [[Too Kinky to Torture]], however, and merely plays along because he's amused by the emotional trauma reliving his time in Hell is causing Dean. Dean's brother Sam is finally able to force Alistair to talk using his [[Psychic Powers]], only to have him reveal... Nothing. Turns out, the demons weren't behind the murders after all -They were committed by a rogue angel intent on freeing Lucifer from Hell. An odd case in that it was the interrogator and not the victim who was suffering, but it still ended up being for nothing.

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== Western Animation ==

* Arcee's backstory in ''[[Transformers Prime]]'' involved her being captured by Airachnid, who brutally tortured her in order to gain attack coordinates. When that failed, Airachnid threatened to kill Arcee's partner Tailgate unless Arcee gave her the coordinates. Unfortunately for Arcee, she genuinely didn't know the coordinates, leading to the loss of her partner when Airachnid refused to believe her.

* In ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic ~~(Animation)~~|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' episode "Party Of One", Spike honestly has no idea what Pinkie wants to know during his interrogation, so simply tells her what she wants to hear. Ironically, he might have known or guessed about the surprise party Pinkie's friends are holding, so if she'd merely asked him what her friends were doing that afternoon, he might have been able to tell her, and avoid all of the [[Enhanced Interrogation Techniques|unpleasantness]].

* In ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' episode "Party Of One", Spike honestly has no idea what Pinkie wants to know during his interrogation, so simply tells her what she wants to hear. Ironically, he might have known or guessed about the surprise party Pinkie's friends are holding, so if she'd merely asked him what her friends were doing that afternoon, he might have been able to tell her, and avoid all of the [[Enhanced Interrogation Techniques|unpleasantness]].

== Real Life ==