Your Heart's Desire: Difference between revisions

These badguys trap you by preying upon your desires. They know what you want and are willing to offer it to you - [[Deal With the Devil|or so it would seem]]. They [[Schmuck Bait|show you things]] you've always dreamed of, presenting you with the very thing that your heart yearns for. However, [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]. Temptation can be a [[Forbidden Fruit|powerful and dangerous]] thing, and is sometimes harder to resist than any overt danger.

This is a favorite technique of the [[Master of Illusion]], who may use it to trap others in a [[Lotus Eater Machine]], or the kinds of monsters that get satisfaction out of [[Emotion Eater|manipulating their victims' emotions]]. After all, it's much easier to catch flies with honey than with vinegar, and the victim often won't even be able to realize the danger until it's [[Death By Irony|too late]]. This is why your parents always told you not to take candy from strangers.

* In the novel ''[[Something Wicked This Way Comes (Literature)|Something Wicked This Way Comes]]'' by Ray Bradbury, the carnival tries to entice the boys by showing them exciting and marvelous things. Particularly Jim, who is fascinated by it, and who also has a desire to become older.

* ''[[Harry Potter (Literature)|Harry Potter]]'' had the Mirror of [[Sdrawkcab Name|Erised]], which shows the viewer whatever their greatest desire is. Ron, who feels overshadowed by his siblings, sees himself outdoing them all. Harry, who never knew his real family, sees himself with his parents and relatives. Dumbledore mentions that [[Lotus Eater Machine|it can be highly addictive]], however. {{spoiler|In the climax, Dumbledore hides the Philosopher's Stone "inside" the mirror, with the proviso that only someone who wants to find the stone but not use its power can reach it. The villain sees himself with the stone, but Harry's reflection slips it into his pocket.}}

* [[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]: Back to Earth has a joy squid (opposite of the despair squid in earlier episodes.) Both had the same effect of trapping you in a hallucination until you die.

* In a great many stories [[Satan]] is said to know Your Heart's Desire in order to get you to sign a [[Deal With the Devil]]. Far too many stories to list, really.

* ''[[Lil Abner]]'': On August 31, 1948, cartoonist Al Capp introduced the schmoo, a bewhiskered white blob of a creature that looked like a bowling pin with legs. Schmoos seemed to exist only to provide humanity with its every need. Capp said he came up with the idea of the schmoo when he was driving through the New England countryside and saw the abundance that the earth provided. People of all political stripes -- communists and capitalists alike -- saw the schmoos as an analogy critical of their beliefs. (The fact that "schmoos" rhymes with "schmooze" didn't help.) Schmoos were [[Explosive Breeder|Explosive Breeders]] that laid eggs and could give milk. If they really loved you, they'd could lay a cheesecake. And if you expressed a desire to eat a schmoo, one of them would die of ecstasy just to provide you with the opportunity. Naturally, a schmoo [[Tastes Like Chicken]]. Fed up with all the controversy over a character he claimed was nothing more than a commentary on the abundance of nature, Capp carried out a [[Writer Revolt]] by slaughtering the entire species in December. [[The Other Wiki]] has a more detailed analysis of the schmoos [[wikipedia:Shmoo|here]].

* [[The Series]] of ''[[Aladdin (Disney)|Aladdin]]'' had a variant in one episode: a small, timid animal that can do this whenever scared, hoping to distract a perceived threat. Naturally, [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold|Iago]] and [[Everything's Better With Monkeys|Abu]] continually frighten it just to get stuff.