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Armor-Piercing Question: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|'''Detective Del Spooner:''' You are [[Just a Machine|a machine. An ''imitation'' of life]]. [[Creative Sterility|Can a robot write a symphony? Can a robot turn a canvas into a beautiful masterpiece?]]
'''Sonny:''' ...Can you?
|''[[I, Robot (film)|I Robot]]''}}
[[Older Than Feudalism|Ever since]] [[Socrates]], the power of the question to [[Epiphanic Prison|provoke insight]] has been well acknowledged. This sometimes translates into people using a continued line of questioning to upset or enlighten other characters. Among the most powerful forms of this is finding a single question, formulating it so the answer forces your target to face something difficult to admit, and keep pounding it.
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{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo]]'' when Leopard asks "Do you humans understand what you are?" and gleefully comments how this question always [[Logic Bomb|short-circuits]] a human mind.
* [[Stepford Smiler]] Seta Soujirou, while fighting ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'', was already starting to suffer from a [[Villainous Breakdown]], is muttering that Kenshin wasn't around to protect Soujirou when it mattered. Kenshin destroys what's left of Soujirou's cool with one question: "Is it too late to start over?"
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* In ''[[Medaka Box]]'', Ajimu asks Zenkichi just how he plans to "defeat" Medaka. In other words, what exactly does Zenkichi want from his upcoming battle with Medaka? After some soul-searching, during which he deconstructs his own [[Subordinate Excuse]], he finally has his epiphany: {{spoiler|"Ah, I see. I want to go out with Medaka-chan."}}
* In episode 7 of ''[[Hell Girl]]'', when budding actress {{spoiler|Ayaka}} is banished to Hell, she says that through acting, she can become anybody. Hone Onna promptly asks her: "So...is there a real you in there?"
== Comic Books ==
* ''[[Superman: Red Son]]'': {{spoiler|"Why don't you put the whole world in a bottle, Superman?"}} [[Lex Luthor]] sends this in a letter rather than saying it. This question ''brings Superman to his knees''.
** The whole story actually builds to this one question. {{spoiler|It is asked as Superman, who has been able to spread his dictatorship peacefully up to this point, is finally forced to use force to take over the rest of the world. It both references his (only) failure to reenlarge a shrunken city and compares him to fellow alien conqueror Brainiac, who shrunk the aforementioned city in the first place, and who is being used as a tool by Superman at this point to maintain his dictatorship (which actually makes "putting the whole world in a bottle" a valid option for him).}}
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* In ''[[The Sandman]]'', [[Dream Weaver|Morpheus]] asks one of these. [[Archangel Lucifer]], having surrounded Morpheus with the [[Legions of Hell]] and intending to trap him, claims that Morpheus is powerless as dreams have no power in Hell. Morpheus asks him, and the assembled demons, what use there would be for Hell if those in it could not dream of Heaven. The demons disperse and Lucifer is forced to let him go.
▲== Fan Fiction ==
* In ''[[Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality]]'', the Sorting Hat tries to deliver one to Harry: "What happens if you fail?" But even though it goes on to ''spell out the answer'', Harry still refuses to hear it.
* Used by a therapist in chapter 11 of the ''[[Ranma ½]]''
{{quote|"Do you have anything that's unrelated to martial arts that you're sure about? Just with life in general?"}}
* Ryo from the ''[[Tamers Forever Series]]'' often uses friendly versions of these against Rika to covertly tease her about her relationship with Takato
** {{spoiler|Chaos}} is on the receiving end of several from Takato and Ruki
* In ''[[With Strings Attached]]'', the Hunter confesses to Paul that he's envious of the friendship between the four, and that his life, while rewarding and exciting, has left him without anyone he could trust with his soul. Paul then asks him a series of probing questions about whether he actually likes his life, ending with, “Don't you think if you were really keen on your life, four days with us wouldn't've made any difference?”
* Twilight Sparkle manages to do this to [[Prince Charmless|Prince Blueblood]] in ''[[Getting Back on Your Hooves]]'' during a [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]]. After
{{quote|'''Twilight Sparkle''': If they're the highest royalty in the land, Blueblood, what does that say about how you behave when you're so much lower than they are?}}
* In ''[[Alternative Gods]]'', a ''[[Death Note]]'' [[Cyberpunk]] [[Alternate Universe Fic|AU]] Light and L have an arrangement where L is killing criminals for him, but L does not really approve and is trying to get Light to reconsider:
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== Literature ==
* It's not actually a question, but it does fit. In the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'', Padme's [[Bodyguard Crush]], Captain Typho, searching for her murderer then finding him and getting utterly curbstomped, manages to stop Darth Vader cold by telling him "I know you killed Padme." He still gets killed after the pause, but he's comforted by the knowledge that he hurt the Dark Lord. Though, not knowing the actual events, he never knows why - his investigation basically went: Padme was killed with the Force, Skywalker was supposed to be bodyguarding her, Skywalker was killed shortly before her, Vader appeared after that, therefore Vader killed them both.▼
▲* It's not actually a question, but it does fit. In the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]], Padme's [[Bodyguard Crush]], Captain Typho, searching for her murderer then finding him and getting utterly curbstomped, manages to stop Darth Vader cold by telling him "I know you killed Padme." He still gets killed after the pause, but he's comforted by the knowledge that he hurt the Dark Lord. Though, not knowing the actual events, he never knows why - his investigation basically went: Padme was killed with the Force, Skywalker was supposed to be bodyguarding her, Skywalker was killed shortly before her, Vader appeared after that, therefore Vader killed them both.
* When Zedd is describing Seekers in ''[[Sword of Truth|Wizard's First Rule]]'', he references this trope, saying that a truly great Seeker could bring even a king to his knees by asking a question.
* ''[[The Acts of Caine|Blade of Tyshalle]]'' ("What do you want?") The opening quote is about two-thirds of the way through a dressing down Tommie gives Deliann, which takes a little under a page and a half. "What do you want?" happens to be both the identifying codephrase and the central tenet of the persecuted philosophy Tommie holds. Tommie has to ask the question, with mildly different phrasing, over five times. No, Deliann, not what you feel guilty about, not what you think went wrong in the past, not what you like or wish or would settle for. What you ''want''.
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** Martha asks Professor Yana how he knows his watch is broken if he's never used it, getting him to admit he doesn't know... {{spoiler|...and shattering the perception filter keeping Yana from becoming the Master, the Doctor's nemesis.}}
** And the conclusion of Series 6 now gives us the oldest question in the universe, the one the Doctor has been running away from for his entire life. ''{{spoiler|[[Title Drop|"Doctor who?"]]}}''
* One prominent instance in ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'' were commandant Spangler asks Francis "Can you name one thing wrong with your life that you don't blame on your mother?". Having blamed his mother for every problem he's ever had regardless of how much [[Insane Troll Logic]] used to do so, Francis is stumped.
** Pretty much the episode where the aftermath of Reese's backfired prank had resulted in a diatribe by no other than Lois. All about how Malcolm should become president by finishing High School first. Knowing how Malcolm's usual arguments end, Lois asking her own son to doubt potential of becoming a president rendered him speechless.
* Several examples of this occur in ''[[The West Wing]]'', since it's a show about career politicians with rhetorical training. Sometimes it's the White House staff trying to cut through political facades, like when Oliver Babish interviews Bartlet over his MS, and sometimes it's a reporter, such as Danny Concannon investigating {{spoiler|the assassination of a foreign national by US intelligence}}.
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'''Juliette:''' You know it's interesting... that you two are now the camp's moral police. I'm curious Sayid, how long was it before you told everyone on that beach exactly how many people you've tortured in your life? Do they know about Basra? And I'm sure the first thing you did when you got here, James, was to gather everyone in a circle and tell them about the man you shot in cold blood the night before you got on the plane. So why don't we just skip the part where you two pretend to be righteous? I'm taking that medicine back to Claire, and you're going to let me. Because if she doesn't get it, she's going to die. And the last thing either of you need right now... is more blood on your hands. }}
** There's an even better one in Season 1. Locke leaves Boone and Shannon tied up in the jungle, allowing the monster to kill Shannon. After Boone gets free, he comes after Locke with knife, screaming accusations. As soon as he says the words "she died in my arms," Locke delivers his first APQ: "Then why is there no blood on you?" This forces Boone to realize that the whole thing was an hallucination. But then Locke drops his second APQ, asking Boone how he felt when he thought Shannon was dead. Despite his rage, Boone says "relieved," effectively concluding his arc as he sheds his emotional dependence on her.
* During season 2 of ''[[Legend of the Seeker]]'', Richard became affected by a magic-induced rage, and to help him control it, the wizard Zedd kept asking Richard "What are you angry at?", knocking down each of Richard's answers until they got to the real answer: {{spoiler|Richard was angry at Zedd for lying to him about heritage and bringing him into the conflict in the first place}}
* The second-to-last episode of Season 1 of ''[[The Wire]]'': D'Angelo Barksdale decides to quit the Game:
{{quote|"Where's Wallace? Where the fuck is Wallace? Huh? Huh? String? String? Look at me! Where the fuck is Wallace?"}}
** And a possible callback at the end of Season 4, when the System fails Randy:
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** Funnily enough, the same question actually gives her the same reaction ''twice''. First in the future hearing it from Jesse, then again in the present from Ellison.
* Emily delivers an Armour Piercing ''Line'' to Naomi in ''[[Skins]]'' during the Katie And Emily episode. Naomi is running away from their relationship (again) until three words stop her dead in her tracks - and bring her straight back for a lot of kissing against the lockers.
* In the classic James Newcomer ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' episode, "The Measure of a Man," Picard is forced to defend Data's rights when Commander Bruce Maddox claims he is not sentient and is Starfleet's property, giving Maddox the right to disassemble Data against his will to study and replicate him. Picard's
{{quote|'''Picard:''' A single Data, and forgive me, Commander, is a curiosity: a wonder, even. But thousands of Datas, isn't that becoming a race?'' And won't we be judged by how we treat that race?"'' Now tell me, Commander, what is Data?
'''Maddox:''' I don't understand.
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'''Maddox:''' Yes!
'''Picard:''' You see he's met two of your three criteria for sentience, [intelligence and self-awareness,] so what if he meets the third, consciousness, ''in even the smallest degree?'' What is he then? I don't know, do you? (to Riker, who'd been forced to argue for Maddox's side) Do you? (to the judge) ''Do you?'' Are you prepared to condemn him and all who come after him to ''servitude and slavery?'' }}
** The [[Fridge Logic]] here is that if Picard is so careful about the slippery slope that he is pressing to err on the side of caution, warning that it could lead to ''servitude and slavery'' to deny rights to something that might possibly show the signs of the aforementioned criteria, then why exactly does he have no similar attachments to other advanced computers, like the Enterprise's (he never asks the ship if it wants to go where he wants it to go), or any other form of equipment? It was even brought up that the only reason there was such a fuss over Data was just because Data looks human(ish). These tough questions never are answered again in the series, of course (though ''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Voyager]]'' does take a crack at it with the new Doctor).
*** Except of course in the episode "The Quality of Life", when the exact same issues were brought up regarding the emerging sentience of the Exocomps, and both Moriarty holodeck episodes ("Elementary, Dear Data" and "Ship in a Bottle"). Plus there was an episode where the ship
** Picard himself is taken aback by Data's question earlier in the same episode, after he suggests to Data to agree to Maddox's procedure for the sake of Starfleet.
{{quote|'''Data:''' Sir, Lt. La Forge's eyes are far superior to human biological eyes, true? Then why are not all human officers required to have their eyes replaced with cybernetic implants?
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'''Data:''' I see, it is precisely because I am not human.
'''Picard:''' [shaken] That will be all, Mr. Data. }}
* ''[[Law &
{{quote|{{spoiler|If abortion is murder, then no matter how you feel about Mary Donovan, aren't you guilty of the murder of her unborn child?}}}}
** Another episode involving the killing of an abortion clinic doctor had Jack McCoy questioning the man who had arranged the murder. The defendant was trying to use justifiable homicide as a defense (that he had to protect all those unborn children by having this woman killed). McCoy pierces his armor by asking why then, if he was so sure it was right and justified and necessary, he hadn't done the deed himself instead of just arranging the murder? The man is forced to admit that he believes ''any killing'' is morally wrong and thus couldn't go through with it himself, destroying his own defense completely.
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* ''[[The Prisoner]]'' episode "The General" shows Number Six defeating a highly advanced computer by [[Logic Bomb]]ing it with a question which he is certain its predictive and logic circuits will not be equipped to answer: "'''Why?'''"
{{quote|'''Prisoner''':It's insoluble, for man or machine.}}
== Newspaper Comics ==
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'''Mom:''' Where's your grandpa?
'''Boy:''' In the library, crying. }}
* Linus does this in one ''[[Peanuts]]'' strip when he asks a doomsday prophet who has been terrorizing (or boring) the camp kids for a week: "Have you ever considered that you might be wrong?".
* In one strip of ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'', Calvin asks his father, "Dad, how do soldiers killing each other solve the world's problems?" His father has no answer for him.
** Two from the arc where Calvin and Hobbes go to Mars to escape Earth's pollution: "Is that your candy wrapper over there?" and "Would you welcome a dog that wasn't house-trained?", both asked by Hobbes after Calvin litters on Mars. Calvin realizes he's part of the problem and he and Hobbes go home [[Space Whale Aesop|so as not to ruin things for the Martians]].
* In one ''[[Bloom County]]'' strip, Oliver Wendell Jones takes Binkley and Opus on a [[Mind Screw]] journey contemplating the nature of the universe, all the while asking "Why?" As the trip gets more and more out of control and Oliver keeps asking why everything is the way it is, Opus gets fed up and asks "Well, WHY NOT!?" which metaphorically brings Oliver back down to Earth.
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== Professional Wrestling ==
* On the July 11th, 2011 edition of ''[[WWE Raw]]'', [[John Cena]] delivers one to [[CM Punk]]. Punk had spent the entire promo [[Moving the Goalposts]] while talking over his contract to renew with the WWE and trying to win over the audience in the process. Cena comes out and hits Punk with a [[Kirk Summation]], pointing out how big of a [[Hypocrite]] Punk is before asking him this question; if you love the WWE universe so much, why are you trying to leave the WWE? Punk, who'd been in full [[Magnificent Bastard]] mode all night, [[Villainous Breakdown|gets furious]] and tries to lay the blame on Cena, but the fact he'd just been offered the very things he'd been complaining about Cena having and ''more'' but still hadn't gotten enough to stay in the WWE renders him unable to effectively answer this.
== Tabletop Games ==
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* In ''[[Tales of Graces]]'', Asbel's biggest [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] comes when he asks "[[And Then What?]]" to the villain. {{spoiler|[[Big Bad]] Lambda}} is ranting about how [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|humans are evil]], and how he's going to [[Kill'Em All]]. Asbel promptly turns this into an Armor-Piercing Question by asking "[[Deconstruction|Okay, then what? If you kill everybody, you'll be totally alone, and you and everything in the entire world will die. You really want that?]]" The [[Big Bad]] is silent for a [[Beat]], then basically throws a tantrum and begins the final boss battle proper.
* [[BioShock (series)|"In the end what separates a man from a slave?"]]
* At the end of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask]]'' when you are in the moon, the mask child starts asking a series of questions:
{{quote|Your friends... What kind of... people are they? I wonder... Do these people... think of you... as a friend?
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* In ''[[Star Control]] 2'', there is only one question that can get any meaningful response out of the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah. While this won't let you avoid fighting them in the game, the first time it was posed to them in the backstory (by the Mael-Num), it locked them up long enough to allow for an escape.
** To clarify, it locked one side long enough to other show up. 'The Words' are a simple plea: "Hold! What you are doing to us is wrong! Why do you do this thing?". Both sides come to total stop when they hear it, causing them to justify their actions. The Kzer-Za more quickly explain themselves, while the Kohr-Ah will give the prey who asks substantially more time.
* ''[[Mass Effect]]'' has a question that spurs a centuries-long
** ''[[Mass Effect 2]]:'' A Paragon Shepard has an absolutely ''brutal'' one to a racist asari [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] on Illium, after she describes her alien-loving, high-achieving, prematurely-dead family:
{{quote|'''Shepard:''' They sound like wonderful people. The galaxy is lesser for their loss.
'''Erinya:''' Yes, it is.
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{{quote|'''Tali:''' So ''you'' ordered the listening devices and tracking beacons that are all over this ship?}}
*** It's not so much a question as a [[Deadpan Snarker|snarky comeback.]] Still effective.
** In general, Shepard uses a
* During the trial scene in ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'', most of your dialogue is composed of these. Your Diplomacy/Taunt/Bluff checks determine the reaction of the opposing lawyer; successes on Taunt checks get really silly angry responses.
* "What can change the nature of a man?", a riddle asked by the [[Wicked Witch|Night Hag]] Ravel Puzzlewell, in ''[[Planescape: Torment]]''. Ravel killed all those who couldn't give the right answer. {{spoiler|As it turns out, ''her'' right answer wasn't a 'what' but a 'who': She only wants The Nameless One's answer, because the first incarnation was the one who gave her the question in the first place and she still hasn't found an answer herself. The question essentially drove Ravel to mull over it [[Time Abyss|for an unknown number of millennia]] and slowly drove her mad.}}
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== Webcomics ==
* In ''[[The
{{quote|[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0610.html "Is that all you are? A race and a class? Another forgettable mix-and-match player character? If you die, will another halfling ranger just happen to show up to take your place? Then what ARE you?"]}}
* ''[[Questionable Content]]'' has a minor version of this:
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*** Another one from the same episode: "Demona and Macbeth are immortal. Are they happy?"
* In ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (animation)|How to Train Your Dragon]]'', Astrid does this when she asked Hiccup why he spared Toothless the Dragon when killing him would have seemed better. When he is forced to finally answer honestly, that creates a personal epiphany that makes him realize [[You Are Better Than You Think You Are|his own self-worth as a worthy viking warrior in his own way]].
* In the ''[[Sonic Sat AM]]'' episode "Sonic and Sally" Tails [[Wise Beyond Their Years|turns out to be right about]] {{spoiler|the character who looked and sounded like Sally but wasn't Sally. When Sonic goes to confront said character...}}
{{quote|"Tails was right. You're not Sally. Who are you?" - Sonic}}
** {{spoiler|Prompting said character to push him aside and run for it.}}
* [[Played for Laughs]] on ''[[Futurama]]'' when Bubblegum asks Bender "Are you funky enough to be a Globetrotter? Are you?"
* In the episode "A Bird In The Hoof" on ''[[My Little Pony:
* Kilowog delivers one to [[Anti-Villain|Razer]] in the pilot of ''[[Green Lantern: The Animated Series]]'', calling him out on his [[He Who Fights Monsters]] hypocrisy:
{{quote|'''Kilowog:''' We know what you're fighting against, kid, but what are you fighting ''for''?}}
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