Warrior Therapist: Difference between revisions

* Izumi Curtis, Ed and Al's alchemy teacher in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', specializes in this, to the point where smackdowns with a benign [[Hannibal Lecture]] on the side are her principal teaching method.

* ''[[Bleach]]'': Kisuke Urahara is the [[Eccentric Mentor]] version of a Warrior Therapist. In his early training with Ichigo, EVERYTHING consisted of basically beating the crap out of him while spoon-feeding him some important tidbit about the facts of life and combat.

** Averted with Zommari who thinks he's this but utterly fails to understand Byakuya.

** Ichigo Kurosaki shows that he is this in his battle with Gin Ichimaru stating, "I'm not saying I don't remember your blade. I'm saying I don't remember your heart. When you cross blades, you can tell a little of what your opponent's thinking. I'm not saying you can read their mind or anything like that, but you can tell what kind of resolve lies behind their blade, whether they respect you or look down on you. That kind of thing, you can tell. When I'm actually fighting, there's no time to think about it, so I don't usually realize until afterwards, but in general, the stronger the opponent is, the more of that "heart" seems to come across."

* ''[[Batman]]'', of course, gets tons of opportunities to practice this, since most of his enemies are actual mental patients. Harley Quinn and Scarecrow, both former psychiatrists themselves, are particularly likely to fall victim to Bat-psychoanalysis.

** Scarecrow can also use it back, though. (Harley ... [[Cloudcuckoolander|can't]].)

* [[Spider-Man]] has done this as a way to help villains such as The Lizard or Vermin. More often than not, he actually uses this in a way that is normally reserved for villains or anti-heroes: he humiliates them verbally, making them reckless. It has been revealed that a number of his foes have actually suffered some mental trauma because of this (then again, many of them were crazy already, so...)

** His daughter, ''[[Spider-Girl]]'', has a much better attempt and success rate with this because she has her own [[Rogues Gallery]] and a continuity consisting entirely of her series and a few 4 issue miniseries, so the patients aren't subject to having their progression undone so the writer can use them again.

* [[Star Wars|Luke Skywalker]] proves to be something of an impressive Warrior Therapist, able to talk his father--[[It Was His Sled|who happens to be Darth frickin' Vader]]—into [[Heel Face Turn|turning good]].

** Well, he tried. Vader didn't turn until the Emperor [[Papa Wolf|tried to kill Luke]] [[Too Dumb to Live|right in front of him]].

* Endearingly enough, Maxwell Smart Agent 86 in the 2008 film ''[[Get Smart (film)|Get Smart]]'' embodies this trope in a simultaneous [[Crowning Moment of Funny]] and [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]] where he [[Talking the Monster to Death|reaches out to the feelings]] of [[The Dragon|the giant henchman]], empathizes with his troubled family life, [[Cooldown Hug|hugs him]] and [[Heel Face Turn|(possibly) turns him into a good guy.]]

* [[The Silence of the Lambs|Dr. Lecter]]. Literally.

* Li Mubai and Shu-Lien from ''[[Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon]]''.

* Rafiki from ''[[The Lion King]]'' might qualify, although he's far more Therapist/Mentor than Warrior. (But he can still kick your ass when required.)

* In ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'', Jack Sparrow tries this on Will Turner the first time they meet.

* Done with much [[Narm]] by [[Steven Seagal]] in ''[[On Deadly Ground]]'':

* This is one of the many abilities of Anasurimbor Kellhus from ''[[Second Apocalypse]]''. He can completely analyse and deconstruct someone's personality by observing their movements and facial expressions. He can then use his own voice and movements to send subliminal cues and manipulate people into doing nearly anything.

* In R.A. Salvatore's Legend of Drizzt series, Drizzt Do'Urden is this to Artemis Entreri and vice versa, except one is a Good Warrior Therapist while the other is an Evil one, obviously.

** He specializes in knowing his enemies. Knowing them ''completely'', at least as well as they know themselves. In the moment that he achieves this level of understanding, he naturally loves them. [[Mood Whiplash|And then he destroys them.]] It's not good for him, emotionally. So he loses the 'warrior' part once they discharge him as [[Tyke Bomb]] grand admiral.

* Rider in ''[[Fate/Zero]]''. Within one [[Drinking Contest]]/conversation on the right way to be king, he manages what took Shirou and Archer two weeks. Irisviel hits the [[Reset Button]] by telling her that even if she sucked as a king, at least she is essentially the embodiment of (self sacrificing) ideals. Since this is a prequel, it's not like she's going to magically get better ''now'' right?

* Due to the incredible importance of the target's emotional state to their plans, in ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' "Ansem," as well as most of Organization XIII have this as their M.O.

* You ''can'' choose to be a [[Jerkass]] to your companions in ''[[Dragon Age]]'' ''Origins'', but helping them through their various issues rewards you with stat bonuses for them, the occasional unique (and sometimes useful) item, {{spoiler|and in Zevran's case, taking the effort to be friendly and supportive of him will avert his [[Face Heel Turn]] later in the game}}. The "Warrior" part comes into play since a few of your companions' Personal Quests, specifically Morrigan, Shale, and potentially Leiliana, involve combat. In Morrigan's case, {{spoiler|you have to fight a freaking DRAGON}}. The "Therapist" part usually comes in the conversations you hold with your companions right after the quests are completed. You can actually make {{spoiler|Alistair and Leiliana}} more cynical people right after their quests, depending on what you say to them.

* [[Rance]] despite being a [[Heroic Sociopath]] qualifies. Many normally competent and wise people become [[Horrible Judge of Character|Horrible Judges Of Character]] when trying to evaluate him. That's not to say that he always uses his psychologist skills for evil though. One notable example of the positive side of this trope is that in [[Sengoku Rance]], {{spoiler|he helped Kouhime recover from the trauma of being raped. This is extremely surprising because he himself is a serial rapist.}}