History Main / EmpoweredByNegativity

** ''ComicBook/GreenLantern'': The DC Universe has the concept of the "Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum". Colors closer to the Infrared side of the spectrum are powered by negative emotions -- the Red Lantern Corps is fueled by Anger, the Orange by Avaraice, the Yellow Lanterns by Fear -- but everything after Green is generally a positive emotion. Green Lanterns draw energy from willpower, Blue lanterns from [[HopeBringer Hope]], Indigo lanterns from Compassion, Violet Lanterns from [[ThePowerOfLove Love]].

--> loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + self-worth ÷ mockery ÷ condemnation ÷ misunderstanding ⋅ guilt ⋅ shame ⋅ failure ⋅ judgment n=y where y=hope and n=folly, love=lies, life=death, self=dark side

* ''ComicBook/{{Civil War|2006}}'': In the aftermath of the Civil War, Robbie Baldwin, AKA ComicBook/{{Speedball}}, was the sole survivor of the IncitingIncident in Stamford, Connecticut, due to his EnergyAbsorption powers allowing him to survive the blast caused by Nitro. Speedball's powers evolved in such a way that they could only be activated when he felt physical pain, causing him to create a suit fitted with over 600 spikes -- symbolic of the death toll in Stamford -- and take on the name "Penance". [[spoiler:A later storyline revealed that Robbie's old, LighterAndSofter powerset still exists, but now is only capable of manifesting when he's feeling positive emotions.]]

* ''VideoGame/WeirdAndUnfortunateThingsAreHappening'': One of the elements that psychic damage can be expressed with, is Sorrow.

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* ''[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Franchise/Digimon?from=Anime.Digimon Digimon]]'' has several examples of this:

-->'''Marinette:''' I thought you could only create illusions?!
-->'''Volpina:''' The greater your rage, the greater the power you harbor.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': Two of the three major families in the White Court of Vampires-- Malvora and Skavis-- feed on fear and despair from their victims respectively. The Malvora are implied to have the same level of control over the horror film industry that the lust-eating Raith family does over pornography.
* ''Franchise/HarryPotter'': The Cruciatus Curse needs the intent to use its effect, the prolonged causing of pain, in order to unlock its full power, but righteous anger can work less effectively.

* ''Literature/RodAllbrightAlienAdventures'': It's mentioned that negative emotions create "negatrons", a force that subtly wears away at everything exposed to them. The CardCarryingVillain antagonist once tried to weaponize them but failed, so they mostly just serve as a cautionary story to warn the protagonist against negative thinking.

* ''Literature/ImTheEvilLordOfAnIntergalacticEmpire'': The Guide is an EmotionEater who feeds off the hatred and despair of mortals, which he fosters largely by ruining people's lives. However, gratitude is toxic to him, which proves his undoing when the Liam Sera Banfield comes to consider him a GuardianAngel, {{Entertainingly Wrong}}ly crediting him with his good fortune in his new life (it's actually the spirit of his childhood dog twisting the Guide's attempts to destroy Liam to his favor).

* WebOriginal/TheShortestStory: "[[https://shorteststory.com/index.php?date=2019-10-01 Vampath]]" is about a person who gets turned into a vampath (apparently a portmanteau of vampire empath). Fortunately they retain their personality and morality, and so while they feed on people's emotions, they only take away the negative ones like anger, resentment, etc. This makes them lazy and sluggish, and one day the vampath wakes up surrounded by their victims, here to [[spoiler:beg the vampath to stop, as they can see the effect it's having on him/her, and offer up their positive emotions to help him/her heal.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': It's revealed late into Season 3 that [[PlayingWithFire Firebending]], after the Air Nomad Genocide 100 years previously, has taken on a form where negative emotions such as anger or self-loathing make it more powerful, and [[spoiler: after Zuko [[HeelFaceTurn defects from the Fire Nation to become Aang's Firebending instructor]], he finds he can barely produce sparks because he's let go of so much anger]].

* In ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'', as well as its western counterpart/adaptation ''Series/PowerRangersSamurai'', the BigBad (Dōkoku/Xandred) plots to take over the human world using the [[UnderworldRiver Sanzu River]], which is fueled by the tears of humanity. By sending out monsters to attack everyone, the goal is to create enough tears of despair that the river will overflow and eventually flood all of Earth.

* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', the Creatures of Grimm are attracted to negative emotions and will attack anyone who encounter them. [[spoiler:The Fall of Beacon was caused by Cinder invoking this by using Emerald's illusion Semblance to cause Yang and Pyrrha to invoke horror towards the audience]].

* WebOriginal/TheShortestStory: "[[https://shorteststory.com/index.php?date=2019-10-01 Vampath]]" is about a person who gets turned into a vampath (apparently a portemanteau of vampire empath). Fortunately they retain their personality and morality, and so while they feed on people's emotions, they only take away the negative ones like anger, resentment, etc. This makes them lazy and sluggish, and one day the vampath wakes up surrounded by their victims, here to [[spoiler:beg the vampath to stop, as they can see the effect it's having on him/her, and offer up their positive emotions to help him/her heal.]]

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** The DC Universe has the concept of the "Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum". Colors closer to the Infrared side of the spectrum are powered by negative emotions -- the Red Lantern Corps is fueled by Anger, the Orange by Avaraice, the Yellow Lanterns by Fear -- but everything after Green is generally a positive emotion. Green Lanterns draw energy from willpower, Blue lanterns from [[HopeBringer Hope]], Indigo lanterns from Compassion, Violet Lanterns from [[ThePowerOfLove Love]].

** Obtaining and using Anti-Life Equation is the ultimate goal of Darkseid in almost all of his incarnations. The Equation amounts to a mathematical proof that hope, freedom, and life are all pointless endeavors, and as such, those who hear the equation spoken aloud submit to his will. The full text of the equation, in some versions, is:

** In the aftermath of ''ComicBook/CivilWar'', Robbie Baldwin, AKA Speedball, was the sole survivor of the IncitingIncident in Stamford, Connecticut, due to his EnergyAbsorption powers allowing him to survive the blast caused by Nitro. Speedball's powers evolved in such a way that they could only be activated when he felt physical pain, causing him to create a suit fitted with over 600 spikes -- symbolic of the death toll in Stamford -- and take on the name "Penance". [[spoiler:A later storyline revealed that Robbie's old, LighterAndSofter powerset still exists, but now is only capable of manifesting when he's feeling positive emotions.]]

* In ''ComicBook/{{Shadowpact}}'', future superhero Miss Poltergeist has telekinetic powers, at the cost of being in a perpetually bad mood.
* In ''ComicBook/UnstoppableDoomPatrol'', Degenerate gets stronger and more durable in proportion to the strength of his negative emotions.

* In the Channel Awesome-verse there are Grey Lanterns whose power source is apathy. This power source is so apathetic that Grey Lanterns don't even get power rings. (Seen in the Linkara/Spoony episode Warrior #4)

** In ''Anime/TheBraveFighterOfSunFighbird'', Draias and his minions are fuelled by "Minus Energy," s many of their plots involve making people suffer or attacking things that make people feel good (e.g. attacking a flower show).

* In ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'', akumas are drawn to and feed on negative emotions. When sufficiently fed, they can transform their hosts into monsters.

* ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'': In Chapter 60, while competing in a baseball challenge, Iku gets trash talked by her opponent's boyfriend. Owing to Iku's masochism, his words end up having the opposite effect on Iku.
* In ''Anime/DragonBallGT'', the Shadow Dragons are seven creatures born from the Dragon Balls themselves. The Dragon Balls were meant to only be used sparingly as the Dragon Balls would absorb positive and negative energies and release the negative energies over time. However, the creation of the Dragon Radar and the ever-increasing plethora of villains meant that the Dragon Balls were being used more and more and the negative energy was building up. Each of the seven Shadow Dragons are created from seven wishes: Haze[[note]]Liǎng Xīng Lóng[[/note]] from resurrecting Bora, Rage[[note]]Wǔ Xīng Lóng[[/note]] from resurrecting Goku to fight Vegeta and Nappa, Oceanus[[note]]Liù Xīng Lóng[[/note]] from Oolong's wish for a pair of panties, Naturon[[note]]Qī Xīng Lóng[[/note]] from Bulma and Yamcha wishing back those killed by Majin Vegeta, Nuova[[note]]Sì Xīng Lóng[[/note]] from King Piccolo's restored youth, Eis[[note]]Sān Xīng Lóng[[/note]] from either Bulma resurrecting King Piccolo's victims or Goku erasing the memories of Majin Buu's rampage from the minds of everyone except for the heroes and their allies (depending on the source), and Syn[[note]]Yī Xīng Lóng[[/note]] from Mr. Popo's resurrection of most of the Namekian people. Ironically, besides Oceanus and Nuova, all of the other Shadow Dragons were created from ''selfless'' wishes.

** Dark Digivolution is a common example of this throughout the series, usually resulting in the hero's partner Digimon attaining a a powerful, yet uncontrollable, SuperpoweredEvilSide. The most prominent examples being Tai's Skullgreymon, his Machinedramon in the 2020 reboot, Takato's Megidramon, Marcus' Shinegreymon: Ruin Mode, and Hiro's Gulusgammamon.
** ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'': In the final battle, Malomyotismon attempts to turn the tide against the Digidestined by feeding off the depression and self-doubt of various Dark Spore infected children to strengthen himself.
** ''Anime/DigimonDataSquad'': For the first half of the series, various Digimon that found their way to the real world were usually strengthened by the negative emotions of humans, with Thomas even name dropping the seven deadly sins as examples at a later point.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': PlayedForLaughs during the Thriller Bark Saga. Perona's Hollow-Hollow Fruit powers, which allow her to summon ghosts that drain people by inducing an intense depression in those they touch, have no effect on Usopp, due to, as Usopp puts it, his "naturally negative nature". What ensues is a CurbStompBattle, as Usopp appears to be fleeing from Perona the whole time, [[spoiler:but is actually trying to riddle out the location of her real body, subduing her by making her faint from a combination of being covered in cockroaches and the fear that that she's going to be crushed by a ten-ton hammer (actually an inflatable mallet)]].

* ''Animation/CubixRobotsForEveryone'': In the episode "The Chipinator," Chip is tricked into piloting a robot called Negator that feeds on the pilot's negative emotions. Negator's weakness is naturally the pilot's positive emotions, which it tries to prevent Chip from feeling by using it's ability to create hallucinations designed to induce negative emotions.

** The DC Universe has the concept of the "Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum". Colors closer to the Infrared side of the spectrum are powered by negative emotions-- the Red Lantern Corps is fueled by Anger, the Orange by Avaraice, the Yellow Lanterns by Fear-- but everything after Green is generally a positive emotion. Green Lanterns draw energy from willpower, Blue lanterns from [[HopeBringer Hope]] Indigo lanterns from Compassion, Violet Lanterns from [[ThePowerOfLove Love]].

* ''Fanfic/{{Alicorn}}'': The Nightmare is an AncientEvil that is drawn to anger, resentment, and jealousy, likened to the Windigos only more bloodthirsty. In ancient days it was like a storm, ripping apart the landscape and leaving nothing in its wake. In modern times, it acts more like TheCorruption, feeding on a host and empowering itself by driving them to act on angry impulses against their better judgement. Its latest host was Luna, drawn to her anger and resentment of her sister, but now it has set its sight on [[spoiler:Twilight Sparkle, feeding on her growing jealousy and resentment towards Rainbow Dash]].

* ''Literature/ChrysalisRinoZ'': The asura bear is a type of [[TheBerserker berserker]] that is fueled by negative emotions; Sarah especially is full of fear. It's something of a vicious circle, because the things she can do in her berserk state make her AfraidOfTheirOwnStrength. By the time the golgari found her, she had almost entirely lost her mind to rage and terror.

* ''WebVideo/ScootertrixTheAbridged'' reimagines cockatrices as monsters who feed on fear and gain their powers from it. Normally they have little trouble getting fear to feed on, since most ponies are rightfully afraid of the cockatrice's [[TakenForGranite petrifying gaze]], but they're also particularly vulnerable to [[ImNotAfraidOfYou the rare ponies who aren't afraid of them]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/XMen97'', Storm is harassed by the Adversary, a beastial owl-like creature who feeds on negative emotions, in this case [[spoiler:Storm's feelings of helplessness and self-loathing following her DePower.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/WITCH2004'': The Knights of Destruction feed on their adversaries' negative emotions, with each member growing stronger when they are exposed to a specific vice. Shagon deliberately taunts his enemies to bask on their hatred; Khor is drawn by others' anger; Tridart grows larger by absorbing feelings of fear and despair; and Ember thrives on her opponents' pain and regret.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': In the 3rd season episode "Day of the Dove" an entity invades the Enterprise and sets a group of Klingons and the Enterprise crew at each other's throats. Eventually the two sides realize they are being played and cease their battles, causing the entity to flee the ship, its energy almost completely drained.

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* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-8814/ SCP-8814]] is a {{Downplayed}} example. It's a magic hammer created by a Nazi who gives people superpowers, as long as the person wielding it [[PoliticallyIncorrectHero doesn't express viewpoints that imply any level of equality among humans]]. It can be wielded by anyone regardless of race or ethnicity, as long as the phrase "white power" is said to activate it, but expressing any level of belief in equality-- ranging from saying "I voted for [[UsefulNotes/BarackObama Obama]]" to "That's fucking disgusting Who made this crap. [[EveryoneHasStandards I don't want anything to do with it, I don't care if it lets me fly.]]"-- dispels the effect.