Manchurian Agent: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[Memory Gambit]] and [[Neuro Vault]] meet [[Deep-Cover Agent]]. A person is [[Brainwashed]] so that, on a certain trigger (either a situation, or else a [[Trigger Phrase|phrase]] only someone in the know would ever say), they will go from their normal self to [[The Mole]]; they will most often remember nothing afterward.

 

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Lost Brain]]'' pulls this one.

* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' has {{spoiler|Nia becoming the agent of the Anti-Spirals when the population reaches 1 million}}.

* Happens in ''[[Naruto]] Shippuden'' with Sasori's spies ( {{spoiler|Yuura}} and {{spoiler|Kabuto}}.)

* {{spoiler|Kirika}} from ''[[Noir]]''. She was an incredibly awesome assassin ''before.'' Fear what she became.

* Covered by the one-off character of Twyla in ''[[Voltron]]''.

* {{spoiler|Mitsuki, and probably the other Wolves}} in ''[[Doubt]]''

* Occurs in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' with {{spoiler|Shiori}}. In this case, it seems to simply be a decoy to keep Ala Alba from noticing something particular, but Mana [[Genre Savvy|notes that they can't rule out the possibility]] of a [[Trigger Phrase]].

* In ''[[Tantei Gakuen Q]]'', [[The Syndicate|Pluto/Meiousei]] does this all the time to its clients and its own agents as a failsafe - on the trigger, they'll kill witnesses, or themselves, or go insane... and it's not pretty.

* ''[[Dance in the Vampire Bund]]'' provides the nanotechnology known as the "Pied Piper" which when applied to vampires forces their mind to register any orders they receive as coming directly from their [[Vampire Monarch|overlord]] ("Release the insane werewolf and lock down your HQ so you are trapped with it? Of course My Liege").

 

 

== Comic Books ==

* [[Blue Beetle]], in a memorable and bloody couple of issues of ''[[Justice League of America|Justice League International]]''; they ultimately had to resort to a [[Journey to the Center of the Mind]] to get him deprogrammed.

* [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Titans]]/[[Flash]] supporting character Frances Kane was originally programmed this way by her ''therapist'', probably contributing to her [[Super-Powered Evil Side|later mental problems]].

* In the comic book ''[[100 Bullets|One Hundred Bullets]]'', the phrase (used to cause old memories to re-emerge rather than force them to do something against their will) is "Croatoa."

* These turn out to be central to the plot of ''Hondo-City Justice'' - a large number of girls with alien DNA are triggered to kill the drokk out of any [[Yakuza]] members they happen to see. Asahara manages to overcome it.

* In the conclusion of the [[Daredevil]] "Shadowlands" event, {{spoiler|Typhoid Mary}} was revealed to be Kingpin's Manchurian Agent.

 

== Film ==

* ''[[Total Recall]]''.

* Arguably, the entire population of ''[[The Matrix]]'', being as how anyone who hasn't been freed from the Matrix can become an Agent at any time. It's arguable because, while the result is the same, from the perspective of anyone inside the Matrix they physically turn into an Agent.

* ''[[Telefon]]'' (1977). The KGB plant 51 such agents with fake identities in the United States, programmed to commit acts of sabotage on receiving a [[Trigger Phrase]]. Unfortunately a fanatical Stalinist opposed to détente steals the list of agents, and the Soviets have to sent Charles Bronson to stop him.

* {{spoiler|Morgan Sullivan}} was his own Manchurian Agent in the movie ''[[Cypher]]''.

* ''[[Going Berserk]]'' - John Candy's character is brainwashed by a cult to assassinate his fiancée's congressman father using a playing card as a trigger. Something goes wrong in the hypnotism though, and the trigger doesn't make him a cold-blooded assassin as much as a loud obnoxious asshole - [[Hilarity Ensues]].

 

* In the fourth ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' book, {{spoiler|Klaus is repeatedly taken in and out of a brainwashed state, which is triggered by the word "lucky" and ended by the word "inordinate."}}

* In David Wingrove's ''[[Chung Kuo]]'', a servant is made to attack General Tolonen

** The ghola Hayt has a trigger word that is intended to trigger an assassination. His ability to resist it becomes something of a plot point.

* [[Dean Koontz]]' ''Night Chills'' has an entire town of sleepers triggered by the phrase "[[Trigger Phrase|I am the key]]".

* Spike in season seven of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. The trigger is "Early One Morning," a song his mother used to sing when he was a child.

* The Romulans do this to LaForge in the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' episode "The Mind's Eye".

* This is the setup for ''[[My Own Worst Enemy]]'', which features one.

** This is an inversion, though, as Edward Albright, the spy, is the original personality, and Henry Spivey, a quiet middle-management office employee with a wife and two kids, is the implanted cover.

* A couple episodes of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' use this. {{spoiler|The agents trigger to a particular event or time after being brainwashed to do so, kill the target(s) and then themselves.}}

* Done twice in the ''[[MacGyver]]'' episode "Brainwashed." Jack Dalton and Pete Thornton are both programmed with different code phrases buried in the speech to be given by the president of a fictional African country they're programmed to assassinate. The simultaneous missing weekend over which they were programmed is covered by [[Fake Memories]].

* The alien "sleeper agents" on ''[[Torchwood]]''.

** Also in the episode "They Keep Killing Suzie", where a certain someone {{spoiler|Suzie}} encodes multiple triggers into a hapless man she met at a philosophical group {{spoiler|in order to get herself brought back from the dead and take over Torchwood}}.

** In his ''The Events'' special, he picks a susceptible person in a cafe and then programs the guy to steal a TV when he sees a girl wearing red and holding a balloon. The guy does and then tries to come up with a lame excuse for his behavior when caught.

** He goes even ''further'' in the special "The Assassin". He picks a susceptible person from his audience and then spends some time programming him to respond to the polka dot pattern (which puts him into a susceptible trance after which he doesn't remember anything) and a specific ringtone (that causes him to think he's still at the shooting range firing at a target). The only other thing that is required is someone to tell him who the target is. In this case, it's [[Stephen Fry]]. {{spoiler|The guy successfully "assassinates" the actor in the middle of a crowded theater; luckily, Derren is there to clear things up and remove the conditioning}}. Derren keeps referring back to the assassination of Bobby Kennedy, whose killer Sirhan Sirhan has been claiming for decades that he's been programmed by the CIA.

* The ''Vega$'' episode "Lost Monday" has Binzer being hypnotized into constructing and detonating a bomb. The hypnotist instructs him to respond to the trigger word "superstar".

* In the ''[[Farscape]]'' episode "A Prefect Murder", Aeryn is turned into one via a mind-controlling bug. There's also a subversion: after being bitten. John pieces together what's happening just in time to hand over his weapon and leave the area.

* An episode of ''[[The Outer Limits]]'' deals with a prep school which is a front for an agency training these. It is revealed at the end that their "recruits" have infiltrated many agencies, including law enforcement. Programming is done with an implanted computer chip, although it fails with someone who has ulcers due to a treatment formerly prescribed for it.

* The ''entire human race'' becomes one in ''[[Doctor Who]]''. The Silence's ability to control humanity via post-hypnotic suggestion ends up accidentally backfiring in the most spectacular way possible when one of them is recorded accidentally uttering the following words, which is then broadcast to the whole planet during the Moon-landing.

{{quote|'''Silence''': You should ''kill us all on sight''.}}

 

== Video Games ==

* Kilrathi defector "[[Shout-Out|Hobbes]]" was revealed as one of these in ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]] 3: Heart of the Tiger'', with the trigger phrase... "[[Title Drop|Heart of the Tiger]]".

* {{spoiler|Luke}} in ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'', who was programmed to {{spoiler|unleash a [[Weapon of Mass Destruction|hyperresonnance]]}} when he heard the trigger phrase.

{{quote|{{spoiler|'''Mason:''' You tried to make me kill my own President!}}

{{spoiler|1='''Dragovitch:''' <nowiki>*</nowiki>laughs<nowiki>*</nowiki> ''Tried?''}} }}

 

== Visual Novel ==

** Another episode had Steve react to a trigger that compelled him to assassinate a certain government official, as a throwaway gag.

* Using this, Sideshow Bob turned {{spoiler|Bart Simpson}} into a [[Laser Guided Tykebomb]] in one episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]''.

'''Homer''': Go. Blow. }}

* ''[[Inspector Gadget]]'' did this once, with a game show that hypnotized its contestants (including the titular character) into reacting to the phrase "Going my way?" Turns out it did make him go their way...

* Luna Fatale in the animated series of ''[[Spirou and Fantasio]]".

* Often discussed in [[Young Justice]]. Since Superboy is a clone from Cadmus, many were fearful that he's secretly programmed to spy and/or turn on the Justice League and their affiliates. {{spoiler|Superboy is possibly a Manchurian Agent. Red Arrow is a sleeper agent.}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Espionage Tropes]]

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:Memory Tropes]]

[[Category:Manchurian Agent]]