Warrior Therapist: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"Know how a man fights, and you will know the man."''|Motto of every [[Warrior Therapist]] ever}}

If the [[Warrior Poet]] is a master of combat who apparently also took a few philosophy courses to round out his education. The [[Warrior Therapist]] must have had a minor in psychology; how else can you explain his ability to perfectly guess his opponent's hidden desires, ambitions, marital status, and mother's maiden name just by watching them swing a sword at his head?

An evil (or [[Terror Hero]]/antihero) [[Warrior Therapist]] will use this knowledge to intimidate and unnerve his foes, gleefully deflating their egos and likely reminding the hero that they're really [[Not So Different]]; [[Hannibal Lecture|sometimes to the point of breaking their wills entirely.]] A good Warrior Therapist will deliver a lifechanging motivational speech and beat the everloving crap out of them while he's doing it. (See [[Defeat Means Friendship]].)

* [[Rurouni Kenshin]] makes a specialty of this. His second fights with both Aoshi and Soujiro, where he more or less mind-hacked (possibly) more powerful fighters with [[Heroic Willpower]] and virtue and wound up winning, are particularly prominent examples, but he does it a ''lot''. His string of successes goes back to ''[[True Companions|Sano]]'', his second feature fight, whom he drew out, analyzed, beat up, and [[Hannibal Lecture|Hannibal Lectureed]] into giving up his self-destructive hatred and [[Defeat Means Friendship|becoming friends]], although the latter wasn't actually on his agenda and startled Kenshin rather.

* The title character of ''[[Naruto]]'' is the good kind, but tends to be [[Dunno What's Going On, But...|somewhat crude]] in his methods. It seems to work well, though -- on more than one occasion, he's [[Defeat Means Friendship|turned an enemy into an ally by means of a well-timed inspirational speech and a well-placed right hook]].

** Team Nanoha vs. Wolkenritter is basically [[Rousseau Was Right|Lawful Good vs. Chaotic Good]], except that only Nanoha realized (or rather, believed) it from just looking into her opponent's eyes. Which makes her a [[Warrior Therapist]] of the purest tint.

* This is also played straight in ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'', most notably in the final battle between the Chouginga Dai-Gurren-dan and the Anti-Spiral. This is taken to the extremes in the second compilation movie, where the battle is extended from approximately 10 minutes to a whooping 25-30 minutes of epic ass-kicking on a galactic scale (literally).

* ''[[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.

* ''[[Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple]]'' has racked up a fair number of [[Heel Face Turn|Heel Face Turns]], even the Elder Master has commented on his ability. And [[The Rival|Tanimoto]] has also reflected on it.

*** Which has a lot of [[Fridge Horror|Fridge]] [[Fridge Logic|Stockholm]] when you consider how constantly and gleefully the Ryozanpaku masters ''torture'' their shared apprentice. Which leads to more [[Fridge Horror]] when you realize that YOMI methods were ''even worse'' in their own way -- deliberately indoctrinating a philosophy based on ''killing people'' into children.

* In ''[[Batman Begins]]'', Liam Neeson's character Henri Ducard a.k.a. {{spoiler|the ''real'' Ra's Al Ghul}} not only trains proto-Batman Bruce Wayne at the monastery of the sinister Brotherhood called the "League of Shadows", but also lectures him during training fights on the importance of overcoming his fears and making fear his ally, using it against his enemies. This evolves into full-blown [[Hannibal Lecture|Hannibal Lectures]] later on when they're fighting each other as enemies; [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] Ducard frequently makes snide comments about Bruce's emotional "weaknesses" (hope for a better world, compassion and mercy) and claims that he and [[Batman]] are [[Not So Different]]. Unfortunately for him, Bruce has the last word.

* [[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]].

* ''[[The Silence of the Lambs]]'' series features numerous characters trying to pull this on each other, mostly professional therapists and FBI criminal profilers, and they all usually end up being spectacularly outdone by Dr. Hannibal Lecter, arguably the most definitive and iconic [[Warrior Therapist]] in existence.

** And has his own [[Warrior Therapist]] in Gillian Foster, who was his shrink at the DOD before they went into business together.

* ''[[Mass Effect]]'''s Commander Shepard, when played as a Paragon, can end up spending about as much time counseling people as he or she does fighting. Renegade Shepard, meanwhile, is far more likely to [[Kill Him Already|just shoot people]], but can sometimes act as a much more cynical variety of [[Warrior Therapist]]. Either way, bullets appear to be quite integral to their therapeutic method.

* You can be this to an extreme degree in the ''[[Fallout]]'' games. In ''Fallout 1'', you can even defeat the [[Big Bad]] by convincing him that his plans will never work. Ditto the second game, where one of the [[Warrior Therapist]] options {{spoiler|involves getting a scientist to release the mutated FEV virus into the Enclave's life support systems, killing everyone but your people, anyone in power armour, the President, and Frank Horrigan}}.

* In [[Savage Worlds]], a generic action-oriented RPG, the Intimidation and Taunt skills can be used in combat to gain a temporary but significant edge over an opponent, or even render them functionally incapacitated. A good [[Warrior Therapist]] can basically induce a [[Heroic BSOD]] or [[Villainous Breakdown]] at will.