With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

It seems like any major military or corporate backed venture to give a [[Muggle|mundane person]] [[Stock Super Powers|super powers]] or just enhance their [[Badass Normal|normal abilities]] always results in the test subject going [[Psycho Prototype|uncontrollably berserk]] as a [[Gone Horribly Wrong|side-effect.]]

This trope can also arise if the principle that knowledge is power is extended to [[Things Man Was Not Meant to Know]].

 

 

[[Karmic Death]] is a frequent end for not only the subject, but the scientists who created him/her/it.

 

[[H. G. Wells]] used the trope in ''[[The Invisible Man (novel)|The Invisible Man]]'', making it [[Older Than Radio]]. In fact, [[Invisible Jerkass|invisibility]] seems to drive one insane more than any other power, due to homage. Less well known, [[Plato]] had a story about invisibility with the same result. Because invisibility can do things like letting you [[GIFT|escape easily without consequences]] or [[Power Perversion Potential|peek in the girls' dressing room]].

 

 

This is the inverse of [[Power Born of Madness]]. Often occurs when someone [[A God Am I|acquires god-like powers]]. Always occurs when someone makes serious use of an [[Artifact of Doom]].

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* During an episode of ''[[Magical Project S]]'', Misao dreams about having magic powers and the "fun" she would have using them. When she actually ''got'' said powers, she becomes the arguably insane persona of Pixy Misa (who tortures the entire main cast).

* ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'': A common theme in the franchise, most notably ''[[Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam|Zeta Gundam]]'' and ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ|Gundam ZZ]]'' where all Newtypes are often mentally unstable in some fashion, may have forms of amnesia, be brainwashed, though in some other cases they're just plain stubborn.

** ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED|Gundam SEED]]'' plays on this by giving [[Psycho Serum|performance-enhancing drugs]] and treatments to criminals who are doing it in exchange for a full pardon. Naturally, this drives them to insanity in combat... which is what was planned. As a result, they are given drugs in such doses that by the time combat is over, they are having withdrawal symptoms and are manageable again. Withdrawal will also kill them if they are deprived of the drugs for too long, thus ensuring their loyalty.

** In ''[[Gundam Wing]]'', the ZERO System gives the person who uses it incredible reaction times and tactical predictions bordering on prescience. If he can't focus on the battle, those violent predictions start afflicting whatever he starts thinking about (like say his girlfriend, or that nice peaceful space colony over there), and soon enough he's a psychopath slaughtering whatever the System says is his enemy.

* Similarly, ''[[Gasaraki]]'' has mecha pilots who were given a cocktail of boosting drugs in order to improve their battle performance (without their knowledge or consent, and said drugs was actually fluid extracted from the muscles of a 1000 year old demon), and the inevitably go berserk from the effects, before either lapsing into a coma or suffering cardiac arrest.

* ''DNA'' had [[The Rival]] become the [[Big Bad]] when he gained the power to "absorb other people's DNA". Don't ask how that works or why it gave him a [[Battle Aura]] and shapeshifting powers, [[Hand Wave|it just did]].

* Anime classic ''[[Akira]]'' centers around the results of government experimentation on a Japanese gang member with a serious inferiority complex. As a result, the newly created [[Big Bad]] Tetsuo runs amok with his telekinetic powers until he mutates, explodes, and forms either a new universe [[Gainax Ending|or... something]].

** It even says [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/death_note/v03/c019/2.html in chapter 19] that "with great power comes great evil," which is pretty darn close, in Light's case.

* The ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' movies have Broly, who's more or less the personification of this trope (although it is also heavily implied that the life-threatening experiences of his childhood also contributed quite a bit to his insanity as well).

** That was simply the latest in a long list of giant ape transformations from [[Dragon Ball]] and early DBZ, which had the same effect: multiplying the Saiyan's power level by a factor of 10, but causing their minds to become animalistic. Vegeta was the only one to remain sane in this form... presumably due to actually being trained in its use.

** Frieza's reason for using transformations to hide the bulk of his power is heavily implied to be due to losing what little sanity he already had if he went all out.

** Aizen has never been entirely sane but his insanity slowly becomes more and more obvious the greater his power becomes. {{spoiler|By the time he's fused with the Hougyoku, he's fullblown crazy.}}

** Also, Kouga (from the third anime filler arc) fits this trope perfectly. His power ( {{spoiler|forcing others' zanpakutou to do his bidding}}) is truly enormous; and he quickly goes insane.

* Itsuki's Glam Sight in ''[[Rental Magica]]'' gives him his [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]] ability that makes him just the right sort of leader for his team of mages. However, the more he uses it, the more it eats away at his sanity. Thus, Honami and the others warn him not to use it as much as possible.

* ''[[Inuyasha|Inu-Yasha]]'''s heritage of demonic power from his Greater Demon father is so strong that it is too much for his half-human body to handle. That's why his father created the [[Empathic Weapon|Tessaiga]], to serve as a [[Restraining Bolt]] on Inuyasha's demonic power and thus preserve his sanity (while also making up for the power surpressed with the sword's own usefulness). If the sword is taken from Inuyasha or broken, he must refrain from getting too emotionally excited, or he risks unleashing his full, uncontrollable strength. Worse, each subsequent overload renders him more insane than the last, and it becomes harder to snap him out of it. If left unchecked, Inuyasha would eventually be reduced to a mindless monster killing and destroying everything and everyone around him, ''permanently''.

* Human-type homunculi of ''[[Busou Renkin]]'' are a borderline example, as while becoming a homunculus does grant a human great power, none of the ones seen seem like they were particularly sane beforehand. Victor, though, is a dead-on example, as becoming a Victor made him do a [[Face Heel Turn]] from an alchemic warrior to a demigod attempting to destroy all alchemy.

** No, the cause of his [[Face Heel Turn]] was {{spoiler|his superiors turning his thirteen-year-old daughter into a homunculus and sending her to kill him}}.

* Due to [[Phlebotinum Breakdown|metatron poisoning]], Radium of the ''[[Zone of the Enders]]'' [[OVA]], ''Idolo'', goes completely off the deep end after spending just a moment too long in the cockpit of the Idolo. [[Downer Ending|This does not end well for anyone.]]

** The same can be say for Ridley Nohman with his Anubis, from a rather immoral rebel leader (in ''Dolores, I'')into destruction-obsessed guy (''ZOE: The 2nd Runner'').

* In ''[[Tenjho Tenge]]'', characters who possess supernatural powers are remarked as always being in danger of becoming insane. A classic example of this is Natsume Shin, Maya and Aya's elder brother who was overwhelmed by his powers and started killing random people. This leads to powers being referred to as "Dragons" that will devour their wielder's sanity. Because of this, there is a tremendous social stigma attached to the possession of supernatural abilities, which naturally only serves to aggravate the problem even more.

* ''[[S-Cry-ed]]'' shows this one off pretty well, with most (if not debatable all) of the Alter Power users being completely insane to some degree. Particular samples include Straight Cougar, most of the one-shot villains and our main Kazuma (whose personality initially flips between [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] and nice-guy... only for the nice guy to comepltely vanish by the final battle).

* A few of the characters in the ''[[Mai-HiME (manga)|Mai-HiME]]'' mangaverse are given special earrings created using SEARRS technology, which allows them to summon more powerful CHILDs than any of the HiME, and they don't need an [[The Power of Friendship|emotional anchor]] to use said powers. However, relying on this ability too much can drive them insane.

* The cyclone-riders in ''[[Uzumaki]]''.

** Subverted with Tsukune, in the fact that he doesn't even ''have a mind'' anymore when this happens.

* In ''[[Soul Eater]]'', the characters infected with [[The Corruption|Black Blood]] have their strength increased tremendously when they use it, but also run the risk of losing themselves completely to insanity. Oops.

** Also the result of mis-using the Nakatsukasa Purpose, which also drives you mad whilst killing you slowly (it damages your soul).

*** {{spoiler|Black*Star and Death The Kid actually use it to their advantage.}}

** Several characters use insanity to their advantage, but most do so from [[The Corruption|outside]] sources where they are at risk of permenantly losing their minds. Even the Nakatsukasas trace their power back to Arachne's experiments. Kid's is a unique case so far because he is an Anthropomorphic Personfication of a kind of insanity, albeit a deliberately weakened and incomplete one (a 'fragment of Shinigami').

* ''[[Pokémon Special]]'' uses this in the R/S arc. The Red and Blue Orbs can be wielded by mortals to control Groudon and Kyogre, but sufficient willpower is required to prevent loss of self. One Magma Elite tried and was driven mad; Archie and Maxie were so consumed by their lust for power that the Orbs wielded them. {{spoiler|To prevent the same from happening to their (unknowing at the time) new hosts, Juan, Liza and Tate used the temporal abnormalities of Mirage Island to temper Ruby and Sapphire's collective resolve. Ruby foolishly coaxed the Blue Orb from Sapphire for his own use, but he turned out to have enough strength of will to calm both titans once more.}}

** The anime has Oakley in ''[[Pokémon Heroes]]'', who loses it and tries to destroy the world once she gains control of a machine powered by Latios. Even her partner Annie is startled by the change.

** Sasuke Uchiha seems to grow progressively more unreasonable, unhinged, and insane/evil the stronger he gets. {{spoiler|He's currently in [[Complete Monster]] territory.}} Also the people responsible for making him what he is today, {{spoiler|his older brother Itachi, Tobi, and criminal Orochimaru}}, all of whom display this trope to varying degrees, and all of whom passed a bit of that power and madness on to Sasuke.

** Naruto also tends to head into this territory himself more than once. Not only does relying too heavily on the Kyubi chakra tend to result in him going into an unstoppable rage or transforming into fox-shaped chakra monsters, but if recent manga chapters are any indication, {{spoiler|theres a manifestation of Naruto's resentment and negative emotions feeding off the Kyubi's chakra as well, and its strong enough that Naruto's first attempt at taking it on failed rather miserably }}

 

== Comic Books ==

** If you're a scientist introduced by name in the Spider-Man comics, you're usually one issue away from your experiments turning you into a deranged supervillain. Especially if [[Meaningful Name|your name conveniently sounds a lot like the type of experiment you're conducting...]]

* In almost every incarnation of [[Spider-Man]], when he gains access to the power-enhancing abilities of the symbiote, and ends up becoming irrationally angry and cocky. Or, in the case of [[Spider-Man (film)|the movie]], an emo.

** Interestingly, this doesn't actually apply to the original comic book version of Spider-Man; he wore the symbiote suit for about a year without any ill effects, and it wasn't until [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|the suit wanted their relationship to be a little more intimate than Spidey was ready for did he realize it wasn't such a great idea]]. The [[Spider-Man: The Animated Series|'90s cartoon]] was [[Lost in Imitation|responsible]] for the "symbiote makes you a psychopath" aspect, which eventually came into play in the comic universe.

*** More contradictory snarl. Though to be fair, in sealing up the M'Krann Crystal, Jean used the power on a scale Rachel never approached, so there's some excuse for the idea that Jean was more affected by it.

** Long story short, Jean's power level, mental state, and the effect these have on each other ''all'' depends on where Jean ends and the Phoenix begins. Too bad no two mentions of the Phoenix in a row give the same answer on that score. However, the cosmic critter isn't malevolent. ''Mastermind screwing with her head'' was what turned Phoenix into Dark Phoenix, and to suggest it ''might'' happen again much later in ''Phoenix: Endsong,'' it took a botched resurrection to again put the Phoenix out of whack. Poor Jean will [[Never Live It Down]], despite this.

** Claremont also established that classic X-Men adversary Magneto's magnetic powers damage his sanity over time. This explains rather a lot; wouldn't being able to control one of the four fundamental forces of the ''universe'' screw you up, too?

**** It's implied that the Scarlet Witch's crazy came from the [[Mind Screw]] the Avengers did so she'd {{spoiler|forget her maybe/sort-of/magic children}} rather than from her powers themselves. Similarly, Polaris is only crazy when outside influence is involved... it just happens to her more often than it does to anyone else.

**** Considering Quicksilver, Magneto's son, also went a bit crazy when he gained a new power set after House of M, odds seem high.

**** Although, that wasn't the ''first'' time he'd gone a bit crazy...

* The evil and non-evil versions of insanity pop up in a ''lot'' of the [[Marvel Universe]]'s more powerful human characters, apparently as a way of [[Holding Back the Phlebotinum]]. Scarlet Witch, Phoenix, The Sentry, or anyone else like that being able to use their maximum power levels while fully themselves would remove all drama. [[Scarlet Witch]] is currently the most powerful and resultantly has it the worst. We haven't seen her mind in stable condition for quite some time now that her power's gone from "[[Winds of Destiny Change|I point and my opponent slips on a banana peel]]" to "[[Reality Warper|whatever I decide simply]] ''[[Reality Warper|is.]]'' She'll ''never'' get to have that kind of power and the ability to think "Wouldn't it be nice if the Skrulls (okay, except [[Runaways|Xavin]], [[Fantastic Four|Lyja]], and [[X-Men|Cadre K]], and the Super Skrull if [[Heel Face Turn|he keeps playing nice]]) turned into rice pudding?" at the same time.

* Apparently, getting hopped up on Chaos Emerald Energy in the [[Archie Comics]] ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series makes you do crazy things. Examples:

** Knux's dad Locke, obsessed with the prophecies surrounding his son, genetically engineered himself and infused Knux' egg with energy from the Master Emerald in an attempt to fulfill those prophecies. They're more or less estranged, now, because of this.

** Knux himself isn't safe from this, having recently appropriated Dimitri's mantle of Enerjak to avenge his race's decimation at Eggman's hand, only to quickly degenerate into "technology = evil" and attempt to wipe out all cybernetics from the planet, including those of the Dark Legion and his own girlfriend Julie-Su.

*** In the future of an alternate universe, Knuckles not only tried to change the world, but he succeeded in conquering it after harnessing the power of the all the emeralds. He ripped the souls out of nearly all the main characters (Eggman, Sonic, Shadow, Tails, his own mate, etc.), sunk a continent, and then decided to try and amuse himself by conquering other dimensions. He uses the souls of his victims to create his Prelate Army. Oh, and he took on the name Enerjak in this timeline because "Enerjak the Hero" sounded cool.

** Some versions of Sonic's Super form are like this, becoming a [[Super-Powered Evil Side]]. This is mainly seen in the British Fleetway comics, where Sonic always becomes a psychopath when he changes to Super Sonic.

* Matthew Cable from ''[[Swamp Thing]]''. His [[Psychic Powers]] and his spiraling alcoholic insanity both stem from the same illicit electroshock treatments.

* [[Warren Ellis]]' ''[[Global Frequency]]'' not only invokes this, but explains it in terms of the surgical alterations required to keep the superstrong bionic arm or whatever from physically tearing the body apart. "They gave him a mirror."

* In ''[[Powers]]'', a naturally occurring variant occurs in "The Sellouts" storyline, in which a never-aging [[Captain Ersatz]] of [[Superman]] gradually loses his connection with humanity and goes insane, [[A God Am I|declaring himself to be a God]]. It's discussed that this may partly be a result of his ever-increasing level of superpowers, which go ''way'' beyond anything seen before (to the extent that the government has lied about exactly how powerful he is in order to prevent hysteria about him), and partly because, despite the fact that he doesn't ''look'' very old, he's at least over a hundred years old and has gone senile.

* [[Deadpool]] was probably messed up before developing terminal cancer, but the Weapon X program (which initially ''failed'' to give him a [[Healing Factor]]) gives him a hard shove in that direction. Then Dr. Killebrew experiments on and tortures him to the point of having visions of (and ''falling in love with'') [[The Grim Reaper|Death]]. What finally demolishes his sanity is when Killebrew orders him killed, his healing factor finally kicks in, saving his life, making his disfigurement permanent, and causing Death to reject him. Depending on the writer, he's a mix of [[Ax Crazy]], [[Deadpan Snarker]], gleeful [[Genre Savvy]] and [[Medium Awareness]].

* [[DC Comics]]. The newest Kryptonite Man is a scientist who thinks Kryptonite (there is now a lot of it on Earth) can be used as a safe energy source. When he himself becomes that energy source, he decides to show the world how effective it can be by...a murderous rampage. That never ends well.

* Retconned for Doctor Magnus, the leader of the ''[[Metal Men]]'', also from [[DC Comics]]. He needs a careful application of medicine in order to stay stable and good. He's kidnapped along with genuine mad scientists and they cancel his meds, intending him to regress to his previous level of insane creativity, in which he created a horrific weapon of mass destruction, the Plutonium Man. Though he ''does'' recreate the Plutonium Man, he destabilizes ''very'' quickly, and with the help of several sentient robots he'd managed to cook up in his lab, invents a gun with ''living'' ammo and goes on a rampage (against evil men only), screaming about how he '''''really''''' needed his meds.

* Handled interestingly with [[Marvel Universe|Marvel's]] Sentry. His [[Superpower Lottery|powers]] are like some ridiculous combination of [[Superman]] and [[Fantastic Four|Franklin Richards]], making him technically unstoppable and all-powerful. He's also a paranoid schizophrenic who managed to convince himself that there was an evil galactic power called The Void that would destroy the earth if he stayed a superhero... and then ''actually created it out of thin air'', making a problem for [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]] to handle while [[X-Men|Emma Frost]] gave him some emergency psychotherapy. During this time, he also managed to [[Retcon]] himself out of his own universe, so that his [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|Golden Age]] exploits all became some comic writer's fantasy. In something of a subversion, Sentry's not a villain: in current canon, he works to use his powers for a great deal of good. Unfortunately, his psychosis still isn't fully under control, and it's a disability that is sometimes just impossible to work around.

* ''[[The Mask (comics)|The Mask]]'' is this trope. Summary of every Mask story: Person finds the mask, puts it on, discovers they're a [[Nigh Invulnerable]] [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]] [[Reality Warper]], starts using their powers in pursuit of some logical goal, loses sight of their goal and engages in wanton violence [[For the Evulz]], is either tricked into removing the mask or removes it after a [[What Have I Become?]] moment.

* Interesting case with [[Shazam|Black Adam]] from DC. His powers don't drive him crazy, but he can share them, and anyone who would take them on immediately turns evil. ''Anyone'', including {{spoiler|the goddess of love}}.

* When the Canadian government was looking for people to join [[Alpha Flight]], they initially had trouble finding recruits. The people in charge of the program decided to try creating their own superbeings, and they got the bright idea to experiment on a [[Serial Killer]] who got a pardon in exchange for agreeing to participate. The result was a crazed monster with deadly psychic abilities calling itself Bedlam. [[Wolverine]] had initially signed on to join Alpha Flight, but this debacle was what caused him to leave the group in disgust.

* Arguably [[Inverted Trope|completely inverted]] in ''[[All-Star Superman]]'': {{spoiler|Lex Luthor temporarily gains Superman's powers, and while he predictably rampages, he finds himself stopping to examine the amazing perspective his newfound powers and super-senses give him. He eventually concludes that having the level of power and insight that Superman would make people care for their fellow human beings, and mellows out considerably after losing the powers.}}

* Similarly inverted ([[Zig-Zagging Trope|or not]]) in ''[[The Authority]]'', where the Doctor gives up his powers to a [[Legacy Character|previous]] Doctor, who was relieved of his duties for being a [[Omnicidal Maniac|psychotic maniac]]. As soon as the full extent of his powers kicked in, he was [[Villainous BSOD|overwhelmed]] by the empathy for every living thing in existence. Super-empathy being part of the Doctor's role as the world's shaman, makes you wonder why this guy was psychotic [[Fridge Logic|in the first place]].

** every Doctor gets a new power, added to the ones the Doctor who had the job had all the way back to the first one. after he went psycho the next guy got super empathy which he used A LOT of heroin to deal with.

* [[Watchmen (comics)|Dr Manhattan]] is a subtler and relatively benign variation of the trope; it's implied that he was more at home dealing with elementary particles than other people even before the [[Freak Lab Accident]] turned him into an [[We Are as Mayflies|immortal]] [[Physical God]] who can see the future [[You Can't Fight Fate|but not change any of it, even]] ''[[You Can't Fight Fate|his own actions]]''. However, instead of suffering a spectacular [[Heroic BSOD]] and subsequent [[Face Heel Turn]], he's one of the least emotionally damaged people in the entire cast, whilst still being almost entirely disconnected from normal human thought patterns.

 

 

'''Deirdre''': Of course I've gone insane! I'm infused with the magic from a being of pure chaos! But just because I'm insane doesn't mean I'm ''wrong…'' }}

 

== Film ==

** Same with Flint Marko in the third. He wasn't an especially good person before the accident that turned him into Sandman, but afterward he was just nuts. Eddie Brock, on the other hand, started out as a psycho; gaining the Venom symbiote just allowed him to express it in new ways.

* ''[[Hulk]]'': The most recent movie finds hardened veteran soldier, Emil Blonsky given [[Psycho Serum|a prototype super-soldier serum]] - to put "what I know now into the body of a man ten years younger". The combination of being defeated despite this and the taste of such power grow into the classic [[Comes Great Insanity]].

* ''[[Universal Soldier]]''. In the sequel, one of them even gets an artificially intelligent, ''Self-Evolving Thought Helix'' military supercomputer downloaded into them.

* ''[[Hollow Man]]'', starring Kevin Bacon. He goes nuts after gaining his abillity because he realizes he can get away with a lot of crimes while invisible. It goes from disgustingly creepy (opening a sleeping co-worker's top) to badness and murder real soon. There's some talk about the invisibility [[Psycho Serum]] causing insanity, but it's never made clear how much of an effect it's supposed to be having on him.

** As expected, the failure with Bacon's character doesn't stop the government. In the sequel, they use the serum on several more people, including a decorated soldier ([[Christian Slater]]), who also goes insane and starts killing people. Unfortunately, his soldier training makes him doubly difficult to kill. Unlike the scientist, who already had quite an ego, the soldier goes insane from an side effect of turning cells transparent. Since the skin no longer protects the brain from solar radiation, this causes unavoidable mutations and, as a result, insanity.

* In ''[[Serenity]]'', [[The Woobie|River Tam]] is a paranoid schizophrenic who suffers from hallucinations, delusions, post-traumatic stress, identity and memory disorders, and unfiltered emotional responses. All of this is due to government experimentation on her brain that gave her uncontrolled [[The Empath|empathic]] [[Psychic Powers]] that tie in with [[Waif Fu|implanted combat abilities]] that make her the single most devastating weapon in the setting.

* ''[[Scanners]]''.

** In ''Scanners 2'', this is Peter Drak's rebuttal to David Kellum when he tries to reason with him [[You Could Have Used Your Powers for Good|to use his powers for good]].

* Subverted in ''[[Amazon Women on the Moon]],'' when Ed Begley, Jr. plays the son of the original invisible man. He creates a potion that he believes will turn him invisible but not insane. Unfortunately, he becomes insane but visible.

* ''[[The Mask (film)|The Mask]]'': Happens to Stanley Ipkiss whenever he wears the Mask (and when Milo puts it on as well). Dorian Tyrell, not so much. As explained above, the Mask unlocks the suppressed part of a person's psyche. Tyrell, a unrepentant criminal, already had all his nastiness full on the surface, so the Mask just made him invincible and monstrous.

* Titan in ''[[Megamind]]'' mixes this with great immaturity.

* Similar to ''[[Final Fantasy VI|Kefka Palazzo]]'', it is hinted in ''[[Captain America: The First Avenger]]'' that Johann Schmidt was the first person to receive the supersoldier serum, but for various reasons, namely a combination of the serum not being perfected yet as well as his dark inner nature, Johann Schmidt received a tremendous power boost at the cost of his sanity (and his human form).

** Possibly exemplified best when some poor soul using ''Saidin'' breaks down ''AFTER ONE DAY,'' and starts screaming that there are spiders under his skin.

** It's also worth mentioning that ''Saidin'' use can bring about other lovely effects, such as rotting flesh. It is entirely random as to which will affect you first, when, and to what degree.

*** It doesn't help AT ALL that {{spoiler|hemalurgy}} provides an "in" for {{spoiler|the series' [[Big Bad]] to mess around with people's minds and in the Inquisitors' case outright control them.}}

* ''[[Soon I Will Be Invincible]]'', which even gives it a medical name: "Malign Hypercognition Disorder".

* Anthony Burgess' ''One Hand Clapping'' is about a man with hyper-photographic memory, who uses this ability to become rich, and show his wife the life she deserves. She later finds out not being able to forget things has driven him insane, when he reveals his plan all along; to show her the good life, before ending both their lives in a suicide pact.

* In ''The Alchymist'', one who goes the quick way to being "awakened" will not be able to comprehend the power, resulting in death.

* In the [[Dale Brown]] book ''Warrior Class'', Fursenko suspects that Yegorov is suffering from this, the power conferred on him by the [[Cool Plane|Fisikous/Metyor-179]] turning him from a mild-mannered and intelligent person to a seemingly [[Ax Crazy]] [[Blood Knight]].

* Michael Swanwick's short story "The Promise of God" is based on the premise that using magic gradually erodes a magician's moral sense until they no longer have any concept of right and wrong; magicians are kept in check by being assigned guardians whom they are trained to obey without question.

* ''My Work Is Not Yet Done'' by [[Thomas Ligotti]]: [[Zig Zagged]] by Frank Dominio, the [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes|Type V Anti-Hero]] narrator of the short novel, who manages to [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|go violently insane]] ''before'' he makes his [[From Nobody to Nightmare]] transition, then proceed to ''[[Beyond the Impossible|lose it even more]]'' whilst simultaneously gaining more and more control of his extremely [[Reality Warper|scary]] [[Lovecraftian Superpower|superpowers]].

* [[Heart of Darkness]] critiques Britain's "liberal imperialism" in the form of Kurtz who went insane because he has absolute power with no one to stop him.

* In Kelley Armstrong's [[Women of the Otherworld]] series, this happens to [[Blessed with Suck|necromancers and clairvoyants]] over time, and the more powerful they are, the faster their mental state degrades. Interestingly, necromancers can stave off the madness longer by ''using'' their powers rather than suppressing them.

 

 

** A lot of the meteor freaks in Smallville end up going insane and evil. Granted some of the characters already have a screw (or several) loose before becoming meteor freaks (e.g. Tina Greer, Greg Arkin), but some only went nuts after getting powers. Sean Kelvin for example - before getting powers he was just a jerk, after he got powers he became a serial killer. Even the non-killing meteor freaks aren't always all right in the head (e.g. Cyrus Krupp). Also, when normal people get Kryptonian powers they tend to go nuts (e.g. Jeremiah Holdsclaw, Lana Lang, Eric Summers). Not ''all'' meteor freaks and normal-humans-with-Kryptonian-powers go nuts (Chloe Sullivan for the meteor freaks, Jonathan Kent for the humans-with-Kryptonian-powers), just most of them.

* In ''[[The Greatest American Hero]]'', Ralph (who lost the manual to his supersuit) meets a filthy rich old man who ''kept'' his manual and knew everything the suit could do. The guy used his suit to become rich and crush his enemies like bugs, and the aliens finally took the suit away. The old man thinks it's a good thing Ralph doesn't have the manual. At the end of the story, the old man gives the Lord Acton pagequote and says, "I wonder if he had a suit too."

* At some point in ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the Doctor's companion, Donna Noble, {{spoiler|somehow gains every bit of knowledge and power that the Doctor has.}} The Doctor, unfortunately, is forced to give Donna a complete mind wipe of her entire knowledge of the Doctor/the TARDIS/the entire time she was on the show because {{spoiler|being ''the Doctor Donna'', as the Ood called her,}} will slowly turn her so mad that it will kill her. This circumstance means that the Doctor can never see Donna again, as she will remember everything and go batshit insane with power and die.

** Not really. It's not going insane with power that would kill her, it's that humans are physically unequipped to handle a Time Lord mind. Donna was still physically human but with a Time Lord consciousness, and it was going to literally burn her brain out in very short order, certainly before she had time to go mad with power.

* In the ''[[The Six Million Dollar Man]]'', Steve Austin adapted to his bionic replacements very well, remaining well-integrated and with his reasonably decent moral sense intact. Not everyone else who was given/forced to take bionics did as well, Jaimee Summers was plagued with amnesia and mental troubles, another bionic man went the 'crazy with power' route as well. The implication was that power didn't necessarily go with madness...but it easily could.

* In the [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]] episode "Earshot," Buffy is contaminated by a telepathic demon. This has only happened to one other person, and it caused him to go insane and live as a hermit. Buffy is heading the same way when the Scoobies undo the effects.

** There's an even more direct example in [[Elemental Embodiment|Elementals]]. When an Elemental reaches Essence 10, it becomes a [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons|Greater Elemental Dragon]], an entity of ''immense'' destructive power (possibly greater even than the most powerful [[Our Demons Are Different|Demons]]). All Greater Elemental Dragons to date have been utterly insane, to the point where they've needed to be imprisoned behind some of the most powerful safeguards in Creation (the Gardullis, Greater Dragon of Fire, is imprisoned within the Sun itself). It's speculated that this is because Elementals were simply never designed to be capable of coping with that level of power.

** Also justified by [[Word of God]] for the Primordials themselves, most of whom are a) kind of crazy and b) have [[Crippling Overspecialisation]] written into their very beings. They have these traits because for most of their existences, they had been simply too powerful to face consequences to their actions, with even their weak points way outside the power level of anything not prohibited from fighting them. [[Wham! Episode|And then the Exalted came into play]].

** Even Chaos is very, very thankful that The Outsider is still self-trapped in his box on the outskirts of the galaxy. We only know he's there because the Tyranids [[Oh Crap|give it a hundred light-years of space to itself]].

* In the fluff backstory of ''Mage Knight'', it was stated that mastering the opposing magics of Necromancy and Elementalism would drive a mage insane. The [[Chosen One|one guy who did]] went on to found [[The Empire|the Atlantean Empire]], which practiced slavery and subjugation.

* ''[[Trinity Universe (game)|Aberrant]]'' has a "taint" system, which is explained in that "No human being was meant to contain that much power." Taint works in a number of ways. You can purchase a new level in any ability at half price if you take a point of taint with it, and you also take a point of taint when your power reaches a certain level, etc. But no matter how good, or "taint-free" your character is, just remember that this is a prequel to ''Trinity'', where it has already been [[You Can't Fight Fate|set in stone]] that ''all'' the Novas went insane.

** Not quite. {{spoiler|While large numbers of superhumans did go insane, the idea that they all do so is actually Aeon Trinity propaganda and history rewriting.}}

* ''[[Cthulhu Tech]]'', in the grand Lovecraftian traditions, is into this in a big way. Having a chip implanted in your brain so you can pilot the awesome ''[[Eldritch Abomination]]'' ''[[Humongous Mecha]]''s drives you mad slowly, being linked to an extradimesional symbiont that makes you essentially into a were-Lovecraftian Beast drives you nuts over time, learning both sorcery and enhancing your paraphysic abilities makes you crazy, and the Zoner parapsysics are normal people who a) got powers by going near a tear in reality that used to be Las Vegas and may be an intrusion into the body of Azathoth, and b) as you guessed, go very, very crazy.

* ''[[Rifts]]'' gives us the Mind Over Matter (M.O.M.) Works, a process that grants incredible strength, reflexes and [[Psychic Powers]] to its users via a set of tiny chips implanted in key spots in their brains. Trouble is, the chips slowly cause mental instability that gets worse and worse with time. The character type that has M.O.M. conversion is called, fittingly, the Crazy.

* [[Vampire: The Requiem]] subverts the trope at a conceptual level with the new Ventrue, where a Ventrue vampire is more likely to gain derangements and go insane when called to make tests of humanity. And when would they need to make tests of humanity? When expanding their political power. And as the Ventrue are "Lords of The Damned", they would have a tendency to do this a lot....

* ''[[BattleTech]]'' features several types of neural interface technology that can boost battlefield performance beyond what's possible with just the usual manual/voice controls and neurohelmet, but are correspondingly more invasive and dangerous. Clan ProtoMech pilots, who ''depend'' on this kind of interface to control their smaller-than-regular-'Mech war machines in the first place, consequently tend to become increasingly unstable over time and usually die young.

* This trope is one of the problems for magick-users in ''[[Unknown Armies]]''. Adepts and avatars get their power by virtue of being so utterly obsessed with something (like drinking, or being the ultimate warrior) that it lets them alter reality. This means that most mages are a little nuts by necessity, and need to be pretty committed to their ideals if they want to become more powerful. It's no surprise that one of the big movers-and-shakers in the occult underground doesn't use magic at all.

 

 

* Whenever anybody attempts to use the Orochi power in ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' series, it usually results in either death (Rugal Bernstein), insanity (Iori & Leona), or a [[A God Am I|God complex]] (Chris, Yashiro, and Shermie).

* The Nameless One of ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' gained immortality, but at the cost of his memory, which he periodically loses. Each reincarnation develops its own brand new personality, which is often insane. One of them was ''awesomely'' so. Another, one of the most dangerous, was mostly sane, but had the little problem of being a complete sociopath.

** It's all but stated explicitly by a few NPCs in the game that the process that made him a [[Magitek]] knight before the game started turned him into [[Ax Crazy|a raving psychopath]] from the get go.

*** It was stated that he was [[Psycho Prototype|the first test subject as well]].

** To be fair, the Soldier process involved extensive training (I'm assuming there were others around, since it was the Soldier ''Program'' - known about by the people living under Midgar, at the very least), and, one would assume, psychological testing, well before any infusion of Mako or Jenova cells. Neither Sephiroth nor Cloud had opportunity for this, since the first was injected before he was friggin' born, and the other was just found as a convenient test subject (and we all know how great Hojo's morals are). Zack is the only on-screen Soldier who was created normally.

*** Other Soldiers are shown in ''[[Crisis Core]]'', and they, too, are normal. (Genesis and {{spoiler|Angeal}} don't count, since they were in their own experiment)

* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]: [[Morrowind]]'', {{spoiler|this is the reason given that [[Big Bad|Dagoth Ur]] is so much stronger than his counterparts in the [[Path of Inspiration|Tribunal Temple]]. While they used the [[Artifact of Doom|tools of Kagrenac]] sparingly to become [[Physical God|mortal gods]], Dagoth Ur did not exercise restraint and became correspondingly much more powerful ''and'' [[Ax Crazy|much more crazy]].}}

** The point is somewhat obscured by {{spoiler|Almalexia being just as crazy as Dagoth Ur (in different ways), at least by the time the mask drops and she puts on an evil-looking mask of great power - but the reason theorised in-universe by knowledgeable people and implied by what can be seen is that she went crazy from ''losing'' most of her divine powers.}}

* One of the ''many'' side-effects of [[The Corruption|The Taint]] in ''[[Lusternia]]''. Also a result of {{spoiler|the [[Psycho Serum|Soulless Elixir]], which turned many of the Elder Gods best and brightest into megalomaniacal cannibals}}.

** Andrew Ryan, on the other hand, didn't need the help to go from [[Visionary Villain|visionary leader of an Objectivist utopia]] to [[President Evil|batshit insane dictator]]. He had no qualms selling Plasmids or ADAM to make a buck, but he didn't use them himself. His crazy was all down to the political power he had, and his desperation to hold on to it at any cost.

** In the sequel, {{spoiler|Gil Alexander}} is a good example of this.

* ''[[Xenogears]]'' also features mecha pilots given performance enhancing drugs that cause them to go insane. This has caused the [[Capulet Counterpart|main female protagonist]] Elly a good deal of trauma as she's brutally murdered dozens of her fellow soldiers with her bare hands whilst under their influence.

** {{spoiler|Fei's degeneration into Id, where he unlocks his true power and turns into a lunatic with severe Freudian overtones.}}

* Queen Zeal of ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' fame went mad with power when she came into contact with Lavos, plotting increasingly dangerous ways to drain its awesome power for personal use, even at [[And Man Grew Proud|the cost of her own kingdom]].

* Part of the problem with Fusion in ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'' is that doing so allows the demonic souls the Harmonixer fuses with to attack his sanity. In the first game, this is shown by having to pay a significant amount of the [[Sanity Meter]] to fuse. In the second one (and third, though that instead represents Shania losing herself in the power of the spirits), the fused character's Sanity Points run down at a faster rate instead. This is partially mitigated by how Fusion-capable characters start with much more Sanity Points than the rest of the cast (representing the incredible strength of will needed just to ''use'' the power).

** And in the first Shadow Hearts we find that with great insanity comes great power, {{spoiler|as the only way to unlock each Fusion's ultimate attack is to deliberately let your sanity points run out, [[Guide Dang It]]}}.

** {{spoiler|And Johnny Garland, who has a very, very powerful Awaker form as a manifestation of the Malice that brought him back from the dead, flips out very easily if he uses it, as he doesn't have the benefit of Shania, Yuri, or Kurando's mental discipline.}}

* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]'', several of the bosses Link faces off with have become corrupted by their possession of darkly powerful artifacts. A number of these, such as Darbus the Goron and Yeta the Yeti, were otherwise mild-mannered, friendly characters; the artifacts in question would grant their bearers extreme power and strength, but rob them of their sense and personality.

** The Triforce itself isn't evil, but it does grant the wishes of those who touch it as a whole, or its parts, whether they are good or evil.

* In ''[[Breath of Fire]] 3'', the Kaiser Dragon, if using the Infinity Gene without an attachment of some sort, is uncontrollable and attacks friend and foe alike. The Failure Gene weakens it to the point where it can be controlled. Subverted, however, if you use the Trance and Radiance genes along with Infinity; this creates the true Kaiser Dragon form, which is controllable and stronger than the regular Kaiser.

* Somewhat subverted in ''[[Xenosaga]]'' - Albedo started going mad when he found out not that he was unable to die, but when he found out that other people ''did die''. He began to fear his brothers' deaths and subsequently his being alone for eternity, becoming really morbidly obsessed with death {{spoiler|to the point where his greater motivation throughout the course of the series is to find a way to kill himself.}}

* In ''[[Suikoden V]]'', the Sun Rune is known to be one of the most powerful runes in existence. Even among the 27 True Runes, it's power is extreme, granting both the power to destroy a kingdom overnight, as well as being able to revive a country. However, it also causes mental instability, as the bearer believes themself to be equal to a God, completely infallible, and believing that anyone that disagrees with them should die a very painful death. The King of the ancient Armes Kingdom fell victim to this, destroying his entire kingdom in his insanity, {{spoiler|and Queen Arshtat also felt its effects on occasion, and very nearly did the same thing, attempting to destroy her own queendom in a fit of rage and grief after she accidentally killed her husband Ferid due to, again, the effects of the Sun Rune. Falena was only spared this fate because she was slain by Georg Prime, who had promised Ferid he would stop her from doing so if Ferid himself could not}}.

* Grand Maestro Mohs from ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'' is a textbook example. He gets glyphs inscribed on him that flood him with [[Mana|Seventh Fonons]] to obtain the power of a [[Authority Equals Asskicking|Fon Master]], but his body can't handle much of the Seventh Fonon. He immediately turns into a monster, then quickly goes insane. Subverted in that [[Mad Scientist|Dist]], who applied the glyphs, knew exactly what would happen.

** Also Karel in ""Fire Emblem 7". His madness drove him to constantly seek out and kill the strongest people he could find.

* Utsuho Reiuji of ''[[Touhou Project|Subterranean Animism]]'' was once just a simple, somewhat scatterbrained [[Crows and Ravens|Hell Raven]], until she gained the immense power of nuclear fusion. Then she immediately decided to torch down [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink|Gensokyo]] and turn it into hell on earth. Luckily, she gets better after a good beating from the PC.

* In ''[[Psychonauts]]'' those born with psychic potential can develop incredible powers and enter the minds of others. They also tend to range from seriously maladjusted to insane and few are actually all that eager to develop their abilities anyway.

* In ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]'' the [[I'm a Humanitarian|main character]] is focused and driven, giving little outward sign of anything but rage and determination as he kills and eats his way through thousands upon thousands of soldiers, civilians, and zombies. Normally. But give him a moment to reflect on his situation and what he's doing and...well...

** Not really an example, once we find out {{spoiler|he's not actually Alex Mercer. He's [[The Virus]] itself assuming Mercer's memories and appearance.}} "Insanity" here is really best classified as [[Loss of Identity]], but you can't really call it that when {{spoiler|you never even ''had'' an original identity ''to begin with.''}}

** Arguably it's completely ''inverted'' since absorbing all of those people and experiencing their thoughts and memories, including their pain and fear, ends up giving him a ''conscience''.

** Also, Blazblue characters that gained possession of [[Evil Weapon|Nox Nyxtoreses]] as children tend to be mentally unstable, at best, or outright insane, when sufficiently provoked. However, this is averted for characters that gained the said Nox Nyxtoreses after they turned adult - they tend to maintain their initial sanity/insanity.

* Arguably {{spoiler|all three of the Brothers Sun}} in [[Jade Empire]]. When you see the Emperor, he is quite clearly out of his mind, {{spoiler|being undead and powered only by leeching power from the Water Dragon}}. {{spoiler|"Master" Sun Li}} seems pretty sane, and has it together enough to pull one ''spectacular'' [[Xanatos Gambit]] on your character. However, he obtains the {{spoiler|Water Dragon's power}} upon his brother's death and drains it even faster than his brother did. By the time you meet up with him for the final [[Boss Battle]], he is ''very'' clearly out of his mind.

* [[First Encounter Assault Recon|F.E.A.R's]] Alma is most certainly this. The more powerful her psychic abilities got, the crazier she got. [[Sealed Evil in a Can|And then they had to lock her away.]]

* In ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', magic is addictive, and magic addiction makes you insane. And it's hereditary, so the entire High Elf and Blood Elf races are addicts, whether or not they use magic.

* In ''[[Dragon Age II]]'', {{spoiler|the lyrium idol that drives Bartrand insane from his possession of it also makes Knight-Commander Meredith insane with her zealotry as she has the idol refashioned into a sword and uses it to animate statues in Kirkwall in order to destroy Hawke and his companions}}.

* Malefor, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[The Legend of Spyro]]'' trilogy, was the first Purple Dragon and had all the power that Spyro can possess. The difference is he didn't know when to stop and let his power consume him, transforming him into a power hungry [[Complete Monster]]. His hunger for power was such that it forced his masters to banish him just to protect the dragons from him.

* In the ''[[Modern Warfare]]'' series, this is what happened to [[Big Bad|Vladimir Makarov]] as the series progressed. Makarov started out as just a soldier in Zakhaev's army, and was promoted to [[The Dragon|Dragon]] status, but once Zakhaev died Makarov no longer had anyone holding his leash, and started a campaign of terror thanks to his newfound power. He eventually reached a point where he had virtual control of the entire Russian military, and was attempting to acquire the launch codes for Russia's nuclear arsenal as he wanted Russia to rule all of Europe, "even if it is just ashes."

* Torque from ''[[The Suffering]]''. Through gameplay, he fills a gauge called the Insanity Meter to transform into a creature that obliterates anything in his path. {{spoiler|It's revealed at the end of the first game that the Creature is just Torque hallucinating, and he's actually tearing monsters apart with his bare hands.}}

** {{spoiler|Then it's later revealed that the splice has as much effect on one's alignment as a cheerleader would on the final score of a game. The fiends just lied to him/her because nothing makes people do a horrible act on their own like having them believe that they're not responsible for their actions, especially when wielding great power.}}

* The superintelligent gerbils of ''[[Narbonic]]'', with the exception of the original, Artie. It's explained that, unlike Artie, the other gerbils weren't genetically modified to handle superintelligence, resulting in insanity. But when the sane superintelligent hamsters show up, they're megalomaniacs too. Also, the mad geniuses in the comic [[Science-Related Memetic Disorder|are only geniuses]] ''[[Science-Related Memetic Disorder|because]]'' [[Science-Related Memetic Disorder|they're mad]]; if their madness were cured, they would be [[Brought Down to Normal]].

*** "This is sanity! SANITY!"

**** "Precisely."

* ''[[The B-Movie Comic|B-Movie Comic]]'': In the invisible killer arc, the process that makes a person invisible can also make them quite frightfully deranged, but only if the person has a basic character flaw to serve as basis. The scientist then also use the treatment on Snuka so they can fight the invisible killer, on the assumption that anyone working closely with the professor must be a person of impeccable character. Not quite...

* ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'': The Meta has the abilities and A.I. of every Freelancer it has killed so far. That many A.I. in one body, however, have caused it to be more than slightly snarling mad. To the point where it doesn't seem able speak itself, only growl. ([[Deadpan Snarker|Church]] was naturally ''thrilled'' when he heard this.)

** Also in RVB, when Simmons takes power after sarge's "death" (he wasn't)

'''Simmons:''' "Oh no, Grif. I've gone mad with very real power." }}

* In Mark Shallow's current webcomic, ''[[Antihero for Hire]]'', Wizard is an example of this, despite being extremely intelligent. Waterfall, an adversary using the same technology, snaps with the same kind of insanity at the sight of her sisters being threatened, which invoked ''[[It's Personal]]''.

* In ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'', this is [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-06-30 revealed to be] the reason why Immortals "reset" every two hundred years. As time goes by, they become "more bored, more powerful, and less sane," which as Jerry notes is "kind of a bad combo." This could explain why {{spoiler|Pandora}} acts the way she does, since alleviating boredom through certifiably insane plots is her entire reason for doing things. She may have never "reset" in her life.

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Superman: The Animated Series]]'': Luthortech has two examples of experimentation causing insanity.

* In ''[[The Batman]]'', when good cop [[Face Heel Turn|Ethan Bennet becomes Clayface]], he goes on a murderous vendetta against his former Captain. It's later asserted that the incident that turned into Clayface damaged his mind, and that, the more he keeps his form, the less unstable he will be. In fact, whenever he stays in his normal form, he's polite and rational, but the moment he uses his powers he tends to become violent and unhinged.

** The otherwise peaceful Dr. Greenbox invented Zed, a robot that could repair any mechanical device. When said robot went on a rampage, he initially came along to help stop it...but was so delighted with how powerful his creation was that he tried to sabotage the mission and ended up merging himself with Zed.

* An episode of ''[[Samurai Jack]]'' centers around Jack defeating three shadowy warriors with amazing powers who attack anyone who comes near. After the battle, it turns out that the warriors were actually three men who used a magic well to wish for the power to be the greatest warriors in the land. While the well granted their wish, it also made them blind and took their free wills.

** Rampage. A Maximal experiment to create an immortal spark, he is nigh-immortal but also [[Ax Crazy|completely insane]] and takes great pleasure from torturing others in the [[Complete Monster|sickest ways possible]]. He's also a [[I'm a Humanitarian|cannibal]].

** {{spoiler|Megatron}} too. Once he {{spoiler|mingles his spark with that of his namesake, and then takes control of the Nemesis}}, he goes ''completely'' bonkers and begins [[A God Am I|quoting the Transformer bible]].

* Ratchet on ''[[Transformers Prime]]'' goes nuts when hopped up on synthetic Energon.

* In ''[[Static Shock]]'', the Big Bang was occasionally thought to invoke this in earlier episodes. Notably, it's why [[Secret Keeper|Richie]] refused to trust Static when the metahuman Replay was framing him, believing that Static just took longer to go nuts then the others. However, since the Big Bang took place in the middle of a gang war, the guys who got the highest doses were generally not great people to begin with, and later episodes introduce other perfectly sane superpowered characters.

* ''[[Adventure Time]]'' has {{spoiler|the Ice King, or, rather, Simon Petrikov as an example of this}}. An antique merchant from [[Just Before the End]] who put on a magic crown that gave him immense magical power and immortality... but also slowly drove him so insane he doesn't remember being any other way anymore.

** Lemongrab. He's quite... "special," to put it nicely. Let's just say this "specialness" did NOT serve him, or anybody else, well when he inherited the throne to the Candy Kingdom. Being the result of a failed experiment, he has a lot of anger issues, and took out his anger on his subjects. To get him to leave the kingdom, the protagonists decide to play several pranks on him, which made his disposition even worse.

* Spider-Carnage of ''[[Spider-Man: The Animated Series]]'' is an example of this happening to a [[Evil Twin|version]] of Spider-Man himself.

* The EVOs of ''[[Generator Rex]]'' can get hit with this, [[Body Horror]], or ''both''. The clearest example would probably be Breach, though she's at least ''coherent''. No-Face from the Bug Jar also demonstrates a seriously degraded mental state, though not in the same way as Breach. And some EVOS are so far gone, it's easy to forget they were [[Was Once a Man|ever human in the first place]].

* Nerissa of ''[[WITCH (animation)|WITCH]]'' is a sad example of this. She was actually pretty well-adjusted until she gained control of the Heart of Candracar. The Oracle tried to cut her off at the pass, making her hand it over to her best friend, Cassidy. All it did was drive Nerissa farther into needing it, in which she killed her friend in cold blood. A good generation later, she comes back, pulling off a massive [[Xanatos Gambit]] to obtain more Hearts "for the greater good of the universe".

 

== Web Original ==

* [[Rick Point Blank]]: The plot revolves around a serum that grants a [[Healing Factor]], makes you evil, and possibly makes you crave cookies and milk.

* ''[[The Questport Chronicles]]'': The Master of Darkness, one of the most powerful sorcerers in the world, is also utterly insane. It's implied that part of this is due to returning from death.

 

== Real Life ==

* [[The Caligula|The Roman Emperor Caligula]], who made his horse a consul (the Roman equivalent of Chancellor) and collected sea shells to prove he owned the sea.

** More accurately, he claimed at a dinner party (full of hostile nobles) that he could choose to make his favourite racing horse a Consul if he wished. The sea shell thing was an aborted attempt to invade Britain, with him ordering the soldiers to gather shells and pebbles from the shore either so he could ride home through a Triumph because he conquered the ocean or to shame them for refusing to cross the Channel. There is a relatively small but persuasive claim that he wasn't really that mad, he just had a lot of unpopular ideas and an unusual sense of humour. The few accounts from the ancient world about Caligula were very much hostile to his rule and they don't entirely match up with other evidence from his reign (his coinage wasn't unusually debased, meaning that if he was mad he managed to be so cheaply for the state).

*** Modern scholars have come-up with some explanations for the stories about Caligula. He was made Princeps (ie emperor) when he was in his mid-twenties and effectively became ruler of most of the known world. His first few months in power apparently showed little sign of madness, with the emperor apparently taking his duties and office seriously. After these first months, though, Roman historians say he "fell ill" after which he "recovered" and that then the tyrannical and eccentric acts started. Modern historians have suggested that, taking into account that Caligula had already had a troubled upbringing, the pressures of enormous power and responsibility as well as the risks to him personally were too much for the young man and he suffered a severe nervous breakdown from which he never actually recovered. Although Caligula was arguably always cruel and sociopathic his breakdown removed any remaining self-restraint and Rome essentially had a dangerous lunatic as its emperor. Unfortunately, the absolutist system Caesar Augustus had created and the fierce loyalty of the emperor's bodyguards meant that little could be done about this until his assassination.

* At least those rumors about the cause of Catherine the Great's death were just an urban legend.

* One of the Oldest Ones In The Book, the [[Trope Namer]] for [[The Berserker]]. Old Norse warriors used to get hopped up on drugs resembling PCP to enhance their combat prowess. Such warriors knew they would not survive the battle though, and as such carried out their death rituals before ingesting the drugs. It's said that a bear-sarker needed to be hacked physically apart before he'd stop. When he did, though (and survived), he was extremely tired and dazed - again, much like someone coming off a drug trip.

** One possible etymology of the word is "bear-sark", sark meaning "shirt", and it is suggested that berserks traditionally wore clothes made of bearskin in battle. Alternatively, it may be ''bare''-sark, meaning they rushed at the enemy ''[[Full-Frontal Assault|shirtless]]''.

* Some studies have shown that those with higher IQs are more prone to mental illness.

** Artistic people are also famous for their high rates of mental illness. Well, [[True Art Is Incomprehensible]].

* Forensic psychology supports the theory that the motivation of a serial killer is often the thrill of having the power over other lives.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Madness Tropes]]

[[Category:Power At a Price]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

[[Category:Villains]]