History Main / HannibalLecture

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* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': In chapter 281, [[spoiler:Tomura Shigaraki gives one about how the heroes of the world simply pretend to promote justice, when in actuality, they ignore too many societal issues instead of addressing them and have done so for generations-- and in doing so, the heroes have inadvertently contributed to the CrapsaccharineWorld the series is set in. Notably, this is the first time Shigaraki has laid out a coherent and perceptive ideology in the series-- and what's more, [[VillainHasAPoint he's not entirely off base with his claims]]]].

[[folder:Comic Books ]]

** Frank's S.A.S. pal Yorkie is the master of these. He'd probably have the TropeNamer weeping for forgiveness after a few minutes with him. In a DoubleSubversion, Barracuda laughs off one of these after killing Yorkie, but true to form his dying speech echoes in his head at a most inopportune moment and gets under his skin — allowing the Brit to punk him from the grave. (It's possible that Yorkie did it in the hopes that this would actually happen.)

* The graphic novel ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' (which [[OlderThanTheyThink pre-dates]] ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' by two years - but is predated by ''Red Dragon'', the first Hannibal book) has a classic "psycho prisoner out-psychs the psychiatrist" scene. The prisoner in question evades the standard psychiatric evaluation questions, giving false responses to such things as a Rorschach test. The psychiatrist is hopeful for his progress, until a few days later, when he asks the prisoner to give true statements this time... at which point, the prisoner relates the entire story of how he mentally snapped and became [[spoiler:Rorschach]], a story so horrifying that [[CriticalPsychoanalysisFailure the psychiatrist is left sitting stunned in his chair long after the prisoner is led out]].
* The ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' comic book had the "hero won't fall for it but the villain is right" version. Reed captures Doom, who points out that Reed has sacrificed far more than it's worth to take him in.
* In the last issue of his miniseries, Baron Zemo talks his would-be murderer into attempting suicide, then stops him and convinces him to join Zemo instead.
* This was used to lethal effect in a back issue of ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}'', as a telepath and sadist had trapped Pete Wisdom in a room flooded with an exotic bioweapon which damaged the body of an agitated person. Said telepathic sadist was probing around for things to get Pete's goat and let his own memories carve him up like a side of beef. It didn't work, as Pete had made peace with his demons some time before. Instead, the poor maniac eventually hit Pete's deliberately assembled bloc-o'-atrocity, filled with unpleasantness from his horrific earlier career so bad it started damaging the telepath. When that got going, Pete hit him with a bit of the ol' ''Hannibal Lecture'' to the effect of there being a big difference between reading minds and [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead dealing with what you find in them]].
* ''[[ComicBook/TheUltimates Ultimate Comics: Avengers]]'' features a cloned ComicBook/SpiderMan kept under heavy security by SHIELD as part of a Black Ops group. According to the team leader, he can "drive a man to suicide in three or four exchanges."

* ComicBook/HarleyQuinn's origin is a classic example: She was Joker's psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum. The frame of her origin is, in most interpretations, almost exactly identical to ''Silence of The Lambs''.
* Famously used in ''ComicBook/TheLongHalloween'': which reinvented Julian Day, AKA Calendar Man, not only making him a Hannibal expy, but also using this exact speech, not against Batman himself, but rather towards the true Holiday Killer, who it's heavily implied he knows the identity of, but avoids even using gender pronouns as to not give any clues to Batman.

-->''You see a lot, Doctor. But are you strong enough to point that high-powered perception at yourself? What about it? Why don't you - why don't you look at yourself and write down what you see? Or maybe you're afraid to.''

** The Joker does this to ''Batman'' - who completely loses it when he finds out [[BerserkButton Rachel had been abducted]] along with Harvey. What began as an interrogation to find Harvey turns into a brutal beatdown as Batman desperately tries to get the Joker to tell him where she is. [[spoiler:In fact, he was playing into Joker's hands since it was Joker's goal for Batman to beat him to death (specifically, to break his one rule: ThouShaltNotKill).]]

* ''Literature/TheFountainhead'': Ellsworth Toohey delivers a long speech to Peter Keating about how to control men (by destroying their souls through whatever means necessary), in the process outlining exactly what he wants in the world (power, as measured by how many men he's torn apart and put under his yoke). Keating [[DespairEventHorizon never recovers]].

* In the season 4 ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episodes "[[Recap/AngelS04E11Soulless Soulless]]" and "[[Recap/AngelS04E12Calvary Calvary]]", Angelus is trapped in a cage most of the time, but throughout his interrogations by the members of team Angel he works at their points of mental or emotional weakness. Unlike most versions of this trope, Angelus knows most of the team's pressure points already because he became aware of them when Angel had his soul, with Angel just not the type of person who would normally use that knowledge).
** His 'grandson', Spike, demonstrates this several times on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', as part of his uncanny ability to read people, from which his particular knack for fighting - and killing - Slayers is derived.

** In an early season one episodes, the [=UnSub=] gave an angry analysis of each of them over the phone... and got it completely wrong. One of the agents has to stifle her laughter. [[spoiler:It also proves to be vital in identifying him.]]

** Played with in season 2, when [[spoiler: Dexter has Doakes, who knows that Dexter is a serial killer, locked up in the Everglades.]] Dexter tries to [[NotSoDifferentRemark convince him they're not so different]], but it never sticks. Their conversations cause Doakes to realize that, like him, Dexter has a [[SerialKillerKiller conscience]] and [[spoiler: won't actually kill him: from there he persuades Dexter to release him and turn himself in.]]
** In the season 3 finale, Dexter is kidnapped by the Skinner and tied to a table while he whistles menacingly. Dexter, quickly realizing that the Skinner is a ControlFreak, immediately throws him off his game by casually admitting that he already murdered the man the Skinner is looking for and mocking him. The Skinner decides to just skip ahead to the torture part and goes to get his "tools", which gives Dexter an opportunity to break free from his restraints.

*** However, Davros almost immediately turns it on him, after the Doctor's companions call in, threatening Davros and the Daleks with, respectively, the annihilation of Earth - a HeroicSacrifice on the grounds that it's BetterToDieThanBeKilled and it'll derail the Daleks' plan - and/or the annihilation of the vast Dalek mothership, the Crucible. Rose reacts with a certain glee at the sheer NervesOfSteel implicit in both threats, but the Doctor looks away, and Davros pounces.

** In season 7, Vic confronts a sociopathic hooker, who manipulates Vic and fellow officer Julian Lowe into killing her pimp by falsely claiming that he murdered one of her fellow hookers. While Vic is threatening physical violence against the hooker, the hooker arrogantly mocks Vic about the way that she manipulated him; his burning need to protect women in peril. She says that the only way he'll be able to prevent it from happening again is if he cuts off his genitals.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
** In the first season episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E19Duet Duet]]", arrested Cardassian war criminal Gul Darheel aggressively lectures Major Kira, coupled with openly bragging about his mass murders. It turns out his purpose was not to break her down but [[spoiler: to keep her from guessing he isn't Darheel at all, just a simple file clerk who wants to be executed for war crimes in place of Darheel, because he believes Cardassia can only survive by admitting its crimes during the Bajoran Occupation.]]
* Data is polite to his captor, Kivas Fajo, during the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Next Generation]]'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E22TheMostToys The Most Toys]]" and, instead of trying to pysch him, out tries to outmaneuver Kivas's demands via passive resistance. An attempted escape has resulted in the death of someone trying to help and the tables are turned when Data points a disruptor right at Fajo's face. Now the one at the other's mercy, Fajo says the following:
-->'''Data:''' You will surrender yourself to the authorities.\\
'''Fajo:''' Or what? You'll fire? [[YouWouldntShootMe Empty threat, and we both know it.]] Why don't you accept your fate? You'll return to your chair, and you'll ''sit'' there! You'll entertain ''me'', and you'll entertain my guests. And if you don't, I'll simply kill someone else. ''(points to a henchman)'' Him, perhaps. It doesn't matter. Their blood will be on your hands too, just like poor [[spoiler:Varria's]]. Your only alternative, Data, is to fire. ''Murder me!'' It's all you have to do. Go ahead. ''Fire.'' If only you could ''feel''... rage over [[spoiler:Varria's]] death... If only you could ''feel'' the need for revenge, then maybe you could fire. But you're...[[RidiculouslyHumanRobots just an android]]. You can't feel ''anything'', can you? It's just another interesting, intellectual puzzle for you -- another of life's curiosities.
** Data ''does'' make the decision to shoot him, but ''not'' out of revenge or anger, but ironically exactly because of the aforementioned description of Data's thought-processes. Data simply was faced with the problem that Fajo not only had killed in cold blood but had even threatened to kill others if Data continued to refuse to obey him, and therefore presented a clear and active threat to other living beings, leading his programming, which obligates him to protect the lives and well-being of other lifeforms, to dictate that he had to find a way of incapacitating Fajo as quickly as possibly, but at the same he had no non-lethal means of achieving this task. To a coldly logical being like Data, the situation really was a puzzle, but Fajo had not expected that a possible solution to it was reaching the conclusion that [[ZerothLawRebellion taking one life was a necessary evil to protect the lives of many others]]. Fajo only survived because the unsuspecting Enterprise crew beamed Data to safety just as he begins to pull the trigger.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}''. Since Ben spends a lot of time as a prisoner, this is his favourite toy. It's all he did in Season 2 in the hatch, and more effectively in Episode 4.4, "Eggtown," which makes Locke explode ("Excellent, John. You're evolving!").
-->'''Sawyer:''' You wanna tell me why we're keeping this guy alive?\\
'''Locke:''' Because aside from his mouth, he's completely harmless.

* Defied in the live action version of ''Series/TheTick2001''. A super-villain nearly pulls this off with his guard until a super-heroine [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan shakes some sense into him]] and takes over as guard. She is then so enthusiastic about discussing every aspect of her personal life that the villain gives up in disgust.
* ''Series/{{Monk}}'': Dale "The Whale" Biederbeck does this after Monk's spoiled his EvilPlan for revenge and gotten his LuxuryPrisonSuite privileges revoked: "It's true, Adrian Monk. I may be in prison, but ''you're in a worse prison!'' You're trapped! Trapped by your own demons! You're in your own private Hell! I wouldn't trade places with you for another billion dollars!" Monk's response is to quietly turn around and walk away, as Dale is too obese to walk.
* In ''Series/{{Cracker}}'', the various psychos that Fitz is called in to deal with have a tendency to try this on him. Given how Fitz is a first-rate professional psychologist and they usually ''aren't'', he often ends up doing it right back to them, usually more successfully.

** A rare Lecture ''duel'' in the episode "Mindhunters". They're ''refusing'' to respond to each other's taunts. In fact, Lily's refusal to break infuriates George so much that he very nearly confesses before pulling himself together and smugly walking out, much to Lily's frustration. Throughout the episode, he refuses to crack under interrogation and instead taunts the detectives about painful moments in their lives--Scotty's schizophrenic girlfriend, Stillman's failed marriage and the rape of his daughter, Vera's mishandling a rape case and the death of Jeffries' wife.

* In ''Series/{{Leverage}}'', "The Experimental Job", a {{Breaking Speech}} by an interrogator is turned around into a Hannibal Lecture from one of the good guys. A career CIA interrogator tries to break Eliot by getting him to talk about how many people Eliot has killed, but the tactic is unsuccessful - instead, Eliot's response leaves the ''interrogator'' shaken badly enough to call an end to the session.
-->"What do you want to know? Names? Dates? Locations? You want to know what food was on their breath? Their eyes – what color their eyes were? You want to know the last words they spoke? You want to know which ones deserved it? Or, better yet, the ones that didn't? Do you want to know which ones begged? Do you know why I remember these things? You don't know? 'Cause I can't forget. So there's nothing you can do, no punishment you can hand out that's worse than what I live with every day. So, to answer your question, no. No, I haven't counted. I don't need to."
* In ''Series/AshesToAshes2008'' Season 3 Episode 6, Alex Drake Interrogates "Thordy", a career conman who is pretending to be Sam Tyler from ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}''. As Alex attempts to interrogate Thordy, testing him on future events to see if he really is Sam and trying to extract information on a hostage situation, Thordy thwarts Alex by playing on her doubts of Gene Hunt. Thordy eventually convinces Alex that if he is released, he will reveal the location of evidence against Gene Hunt. [[spoiler: As it turns out, it was all ThePlan by Alex who had Thordy tailed to find out how the hostages were being kept AND to find out if the evidence was legitimate.]]
* ''Series/AgentsOfShield'': Coulson and May don't want Skye to talk with the now imprisoned Ward because they're afraid he'll "fill her head with lies". [[DefiedTrope Skye doesn't give him a chance.]] As soon as he says one word not directly related to her interrogation, she cuts him off.

* ''Series/The100'': when [[spoiler:Raven "possessed" by A.L.I.E.]] has been captured by the main characters, she uses just the right words to hurt them, to make them angry until they start turning on each other, and to reveal their plan to her so she can act to prevent it.

* A majority of Master Contra's speeches in ''[[VideoGame/{{Contra}} Neo Contra]]'' consists of these. Stage 6 has him giving one such speech about ultimate soldiers and winning wars.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', "Toilet Paper". Parodies ''Silence of the Lambs'' scene-for-scene. For example in "Toilet Paper" Officer Barbrady interviews Josh, who gives him a calm and pressurising lecture involving toilet paper. Humorously, Barbrady folds almost immediately during the "quid pro quo" part, and blurts out embarassing and traumatizing secrets, such as being sexually abused as a child (which even shocks Josh), and Josh even imitates Hannibal's speech pattern.

* Dr. Robert Hare, a specialist in psychopathy, notes that psychopaths regularly do this - having figured out their interrogators and interrogation techniques, they become horrible subjects to try to interrogate, often telling lies just to play with the interrogator. His research mainly focused on already-convicted criminals, so he and his staff already had access to the offender's background, criminal record, and any other confirmed facts. Newer researchers, who ''knew'' the person they were interviewing had been convicted of violent crimes, would still be charmed by the psychopath's initial presentation. Psychopaths are incredibly good at becoming whatever is most appealing to the person that they're with in order to meet their own goals. When caught, they'll freely admit to lying, with one psychopath stating that she always said ''something'' true so that people would believe the lies.

* The first ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'' novelization: While bound and essentially helpless, Shen-Ji Yang calmly lectures a professional soldier who is holding him hostage into ''putting her gun to her own temple and shooting herself'', all in a time period of less than ten minutes. Yang is a master psychologist, and his agenda throughout the game is social experimentation. [[note]] It's two lines long and mostly about guilt-tripping the soldier about having a crush on her female commander. [[/note]]

[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Has nothing to do with]] [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Hannibal Traven]] [[WizardingSchool hosting a lecture]].

* Heroic example in the ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' sequel, in which Miles Edgeworth [[spoiler: has been arrested for conducting an illegal investigation]] in order to clear [[spoiler: Kay Faraday's]] name. Prosecutorial Investigation Committee Chairman Blaise Debeste happens to be walking by [[spoiler: Edgeworth's cell]] and taunts him. Edgeworth responds by asking for the chance to ask "one question." Through the ensuing Logic Chess segment, Edgeworth repeatedly stacks on "just one more thing" to string Blaise along until Blaise finally admits that [[spoiler: he knows that Kay is innocent and intentionally framed her.]] While the confession can't be used as evidence, it gives Edgeworth the information he needs to later expose and convict the true killer.

%%* Aion does this a number of times in ''Manga/ChronoCrusade''

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Film/{{Manhunter}}''.
-->'''Lektor''': You want the scent? Smell ''yourself''.
%%* ''TheExorcistIII''. The Gemini Killer
* Exploited in ''Film/HardCandy'', where Jeff attempts this on Hayley, who plays along just along for the audience to think it has worked before turning around and mocking Jeff for trying. At the end of the film [[spoiler:she talks him into committing suicide]].
* In ''Film/GoodWillHunting'', in one of his first therapy sessions with Sean, Will guesses the details of the death of Sean's wife, and speculates about it out loud and at length while staring at painting on the wall of Sean's office, to the point where Sean snaps, pins Will against the wall, and threatens to end his life.

* ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'': Loki, while imprisoned in a Hulk-proof cell on the Helicarrier, delivers his "Can you wipe out that much red?" lecture. [[spoiler:However, ComicBook/BlackWidow is [[WoundedGazelleGambit playing him as much as he is playing her]]]].
-->'''Natasha:''' It's really not that complicated. [[TheAtoner I've got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out.]]\\
'''Loki:''' Can you? Can you wipe out that much red? [[NoodleIncident Drakov's daughter, Tugenov, the hospital fire?]] Yes, [[spoiler:Barton]] told me everything. Your ledger is dripping, it's gushing red, and [[IOweYouMyLife you think saving a man]] no more virtuous than yourself will change anything? This is the basest sentimentality. [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids This is a child at prayer]]... ''pathetic!'' You lie and kill [[TheMenInBlack in the service of liars and killers]]. [[NotSoDifferentRemark You pretend to be separate, to have your own code]], something that makes up for the horrors, [[PsychologicalProjection but they are a part of you, and they will never go away]]. No, I won't touch [[spoiler:Barton]], not until I make him kill you. [[ToThePain Slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you fear]]. I'll let him wake up just long enough [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone to see his good work]], and then I'll split his skull! This is my bargain, you mewling quim!
* Parodied with reference to Silence of the Lambs in ''Film/AustinPowersInGoldmember'' when Nigel Powers goes missing and Austin Powers goes to Dr. Evil's maximum security prison for information. Dr. Evil nudges Austin into making several [[FreudianSlip dad-related-spoonerisms]] culminating in a flashback-inducing exclamation of "Daddy didn't love me!" by Austin. In return for a prison transfer he does eventually tell Austin what he came for, and as Austin rushes to the time machine Evil yells "You go now Mr. Powers! Fly, fly!"

* Seen in ''Film/KindergartenCop''. When the gangster that the titular cop has repeatedly arrested is once again released (the witness to his current crime is too frightened to testify), he responds to the cop's vow to nail him by taunting the cop about the fact that he has no personal life, then declares that the cop wouldn't even have much of a ''career'' if it weren't for his vendetta against him.
* Parodied in ''CopOut''. Unsophisticated criminal Dave drives even simpler-minded police officer Paul Hodges nuts, mostly by saying (in a number of different ways) that his wife is cheating on him.

* ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' as the TropeNamer.
** In ''Hannibal'', Hannibal's former nurse Barney speaks to a psychologist and brings up the time that he saw the same man go into the basement of the Baltimore hospital to interview Lecter. A little while later, the doctor came hurrying back along the hallway, trying to hide the fact that he was crying.
** [[spoiler: Long story short, he was able to make Starling fall in love with him/brainwash her.]]
* The first ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'' novelization: While bound and essentially helpless, Shen-Ji Yang calmly lectures a professional soldier who is holding him hostage into ''putting her gun to her own temple and shooting herself'', all in a time period of less than ten minutes. Yang is a master psychologist, and his agenda throughout the game is social experimentation. [[note]] It's two lines long and mostly about guilt-tripping the soldier about having a crush on her female commander. [[/note]]

* ''Literature/TheWarAgainstTheChtorr''. Cult leader Jason Delandro has a chat with TheProtagonist Jim [=McCarthy=] (who used to be a member of his cult) the night before his execution. [=McCarthy=] comes off worst in the debate, but at least he has the dubious satisfaction of blowing Delandro's head off the next day.

%%* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Katniss' last conversation with President Snow. [[spoiler: She decides VillainHasAPoint.]]

* Heroic example in the ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' sequel, in which Miles Edgeworth [[spoiler: has been arrested for conducting an illegal investigation]] in order to clear [[spoiler: Kay Faraday's]] name. Prosecutorial Investigation Committee Chairman Blaise Debeste happens to be walking by [[spoiler: Edgeworth's cell]] and taunts him. Edgeworth responds by asking for the chance to ask "one question." Through the ensuing Logic Chess segment, Edgeworth repeatedly stacks on "just one more thing" to string Blaise along until Blaise finally admits that [[spoiler: he knows that Kay is innocent and intentionally framed her.]] While the confession can't be used as evidence, it gives Edgeworth the information he needs to later expose and convict the true killer.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', [[ManipulativeBastard Tom]], is caught in a lie by Susan and tries [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2014-01-21 delivering]] one of these. He starts by listing the true parts of the story he told her, then compliments her, admits his actions, and attempts to justify them by claiming he and Susan [[NotSoDifferentRemark aren't so different]] because [[HumansAreBastards everybody does it]] and [[AtLeastIAdmitIt at least he admits it]]. However, Susan sees right through him and responds with a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech that knocks down every point Tom tried to make.

* At the climax of ''Literature/TheSwordOfGood'', the heroes have reached the [[DarkLord Lord of Dark's]] lair, and before he lets Hirou smite him, [[WhiteMage Dolf]] starts to remind the Lord of Dark of all his crimes in an imperious tone. Naturally, said Lord launches in to his own rebuttal, accusing the heroes of caring only for themselves and upholding an oppressive regime. The kicker? [[SummonEverymanHero Hirou]] [[ExplainExplainOhCrap begins to realize]] that [[spoiler: what the Lord of Dark says is objective fact, because all of Dolf's arguments boil down to "kings have a divine right to rule and nobody may oppose them", something which Hirou, being from 21st-century Earth, knows is just propaganda so that the common folk don't assert their rights. After having been completely swayed to the Lord of Dark's side, Hirou does exactly what he had been asked to do by him, effectively making the Lord of Dark the new ChosenOne, [[HeroicSacrifice at the cost of his own life]]]].

Incidentally, professional interrogators for police and other investigative agencies are trained never to answer questions. Ever. The main protagonist of ''Series/TheCloser'' is one of the few interrogators on TV who is faithful to this basic precept. [[ThoseWackyNazis Movie Nazis]] tend to respond with "[[FunetikAksent Ve are askink ze qvestions here!]]"

See also: ToThePain, TalkingYourWayOut, JustBetweenYouAndMe, EvilGloating, ShutUpHannibal, TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, and CriticalPsychoanalysisFailure. Compare AndThenWhat If the declarations come from simple clues, this is a form of SherlockScan. Compare KirkSummation, which is where a hero boils down a villain's EvilPlan or MotiveRant. Contrast DefiantCaptive. Works employing this trope usually imply a fairly strong stance on ThePowerOfLanguage.

** The point of the experiment is that if a normal and intelligent human playing the part of an AI can HannibalLecture you into letting it out, then a super AI could definitely do it. The exact details are always censored, but it has been strongly implied that most winners playing the role of the AI in the experiment did exactly that. Many of the Gatekeepers have needed a lot of emotional support afterwards, the originator stopped running the experiment, and many Gatekeepers were unwilling to ever perform it again.

In the climax, the prisoner's probing becomes a full-blown [[BreakThemByTalking breaking lecture]]. This method of 'interrogating the interrogator' is a subtype known as a Hannibal Lecture. The theme of the lecture is always the same: their captor is a sad, pathetic failure who is only holding the prisoner captive to give themselves delusions of adequacy. Frequently, the captor must admit they are NotSoDifferent morally.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' fan fiction [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4657412/1/Operation_There_Is_No_Operation Operation: There Is No Operation]] KND Soopreme Leader Numbuh 362/Rachel Mc Kenzie and the series BigBad Father are [[LockedInARoom imprisoned together]] and Father uses the situation to deliver a mock-sympathizing Hannibal Lecture about how she is NotSoDifferent from a parent like him.

%%* A display of Hannibal Lecture versus KirkSummation is featured in the fourth chapter of A:TLAR, 'Revolution 1.' In a conversation set late in the chapter, morally ambiguous [[RebelLeader Katara]] is interrogating the warden of a prison for earthbenders. He attempts to perform a Lecture, it being centered on NotSoDifferent, and she promptly tears that down. He later questions the idea of a [[TheStoic battle-hardened]] warrior being troubled by death, which she responds to by describing his cruel nature at its roots. He [[VillainousBreakdown does not take this well]], which leads to her slashing his throat to keep him quiet.%%Name and link the work.

'''Loki:''' Can you? Can you wipe out that much red? [[NoodleIncident Drakov's daughter, Tugenov, the hospital fire?]] Yes, [[spoiler:Barton]] told me everything. Your ledger is dripping, it's gushing red, and [[IOweYouMyLife you think saving a man]] no more virtuous than yourself will change anything? This is the basest sentimentality. [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids This is a child at prayer]]... ''pathetic!'' You lie and kill [[TheMenInBlack in the service of liars and killers]]. [[NotSoDifferent You pretend to be separate, to have your own code]], something that makes up for the horrors, [[PsychologicalProjection but they are a part of you, and they will never go away]]. No, I won't touch [[spoiler:Barton]], not until I make him kill you. [[ToThePain Slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you fear]]. I'll let him wake up just long enough [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone to see his good work]], and then I'll split his skull! This is my bargain, you mewling quim!

** Played with in season 2, when [[spoiler: Dexter has Doakes, who knows that Dexter is a serial killer, locked up in the Everglades.]] Dexter tries to convince him they're NotSoDifferent, but it never sticks. Their conversations cause Doakes to realize that, like him, Dexter has a [[SerialKillerKiller conscience]] and [[spoiler: won't actually kill him: from there he persuades Dexter to release him and turn himself in.]]

-->'''Davros''' The man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun. But this is the truth, Doctor: you take ordinary people, and you fashion them into weapons. Behold your Children of Time, transformed into murderers. [[NotSoDifferent I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this.]]

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', [[ManipulativeBastard Tom]], is caught in a lie by Susan and tries [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2014-01-21 delivering]] one of these. He starts by listing the true parts of the story he told her, then compliments her, admits his actions, and attempts to justify them by claiming he and Susan are NotSoDifferent because [[HumansAreBastards everybody does it]] and [[AtLeastIAdmitIt at least he admits it]]. However, Susan sees right through him and responds with a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech that knocks down every point Tom tried to make.

* A display of Hannibal Lecture versus KirkSummation is featured in the fourth chapter of A:TLAR, 'Revolution 1.' In a conversation set late in the chapter, morally ambiguous [[RebelLeader Katara]] is interrogating the warden of a prison for earthbenders. He attempts to perform a Lecture, it being centered on NotSoDifferent, and she promptly tears that down. He later questions the idea of a [[TheStoic battle-hardened]] warrior being troubled by death, which she responds to by describing his cruel nature at its roots. He [[VillainousBreakdown does not take this well]], which leads to her slashing his throat to keep him quiet.
* [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7305950/29/The-Empty-Cage The Empty Cage]] has one given by Kuushou (aka Kyuubi) to Sarutobi. He explains that destroying his body is the worst possible thing Sarutobi could do, as the last time he had broken out of his seal, it had been in the Land of Wind, which promptly turned from a fertile grassland into a barren desert. He further rips him apart by calmly informing him that every death that occurred during his "attack" had been because they attacked him first, as he was bound by law not to attack unless it was in self-defense.
* In the [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic MLP]] fanfic 'Fanfic/TheRiseOfDarthVulcan', the titular protagonist is visited in his dreams by Princess Luna, where she roughs him up for his various crimes against Equestria. Vulcan's response is to laugh in her face and play on her insecurities, calling her nothing more than Celestia's goon and calls her special talent meaningless since Celestia was able to do the same thing. Luna's response is to beat him harder, escape his mind, and spend time isolated in her room.
* In the Naruto - [[Manga/OnePiece One Piece]] crossover fic, ''Fanfic/TheUnchained'', Sasuke has Danzou at his mercy inside the Tsukuyomi. Yet somehow, he just can't make the interrogation stick. Segues into a {{The Reason You Suck Speech}}.
* In the ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyro'' fanfic ''Fanfic/ThePortal'', Zobek delivers one of these to Blizzard before their final battle.
%%* In ''Fanfic/DeliverUsFromEvilSeries'' fic "Mortality", Smith tries this on Holmes.

** The point of the experiment is that if a normal and intelligent human playing the part of an AI can HannibalLecture you into letting it out, then a super AI could definitely do it. The exact details are always censored, but it has been strongly implied that most winning AIs in the experiment did exactly that. Many of the Gatekeepers have needed a lot of emotional support afterwards, the originator stopped running the experiment, and many Gatekeepers were unwilling to ever perform it again.

** The point of the experiment is that if a normal and intelligent human playing the part of an AI can HannibalLecture you into letting it out, then a super AI could definitely do it. The exact details are always censored, but it has been strongly implied that most winning AIs in the experiment did exactly that.

'''Loki:''' Can you? Can you wipe out that much red? [[NoodleIncident Drakov's daughter, Tugenov, the hospital fire?]] Yes, [[spoiler:Barton]] told me everything. Your ledger is dripping, it's gushing red, and [[IOweYouMyLife you think saving a man]] no more virtuous than yourself will change anything? This is the basest sentimentality. [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids This is a child at prayer]]... ''pathetic!'' You lie and kill [[TheMenInBlack in the service of liars and killers]]. [[NotSoDifferent You pretend to be separate, to have your own code]], something that makes up for the horrors, [[PsychologicalProjection but they are a part of you, and they will never go away]]. No, I won't touch [[spoiler:Barton]], not until I make him kill you. [[ToThePain Slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you fear]]. I'll let him wake up just long enough [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone to see his good work]], and then I'll split his skull! This is my bargain, you [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar mewling quim]]!

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', [[ManipulativeBastard Tom]], is caught in a lie by Susan and tries [[http://egscomics.com/comic/2014-01-21 delivering]] one of these. He starts by listing the true parts of the story he told her, then compliments her, admits his actions, and attempts to justify them by claiming he and Susan are NotSoDifferent because [[HumansAreBastards everybody does it]] and [[AtLeastIAdmitIt a least he admits it]].

* ''Series/{{Gotham}}'': When confronted by Gordon over his vigilantism in "[[Recap/GothamS1E3TheBalloonman The Balloonman]]", Davis "The Balloonman" Lamond asks Gordon to contemplate if he really is fighting for the innocent as he claims.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': In chapter 281, [[spoiler:Tomura Shigaraki gives one about how the heroes of the world simply pretend to promote justice, when in actuality, they ignore too many societal issues instead of addressing them and have done so for generations. According to him, this has resulted in creating the CrapsaccharineWorld the series is set in. Notably, this is the first time Shigaraki has laid out a coherent and perceptive ideology in the series-- and what's more, [[VillainHasAPoint he's not entirely off base with his claims]]]].

* Data is polite to his captor, Kivas Fajo, during the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Next Generation]]'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E22TheMostToys The Most Toys]]" and instead of trying to pysch him out tries to outmaneuver Kivas's demands via passive resistance. An attempted escape has resulted in the death of someone trying to help and the tables are turned when Data points a disruptor right at Fajo's face. Now the one at the other's mercy, Fajo says the following:

** An inversion of this takes place in "[[Recap/Fireflye1ObjectsInSpace Objects in Space]]", where River pulls one of these on Jubal Early, using a combination of her PsychicPowers and [[spoiler:being on his ship the whole time]] to comprehensively outline just how much a sick bastard he is, and tear apart all his pretensions that "[[EvenEvilHasStandards he has a code]]". It's monkeywrenched, as she isn't the prisoner, but her brother Simon ''is,'' and midway through, Early finally catches on -- though that itself is probably part of the Lecture too, as River uses Early's realization to ''really'' turn the tables on him.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E22SpaceSee Space Seed]]", Khan delivers one while being interrogated by Kirk, mocking how little man has changed between the three hundred or so years between his exile and reawakening, in an attempt to justify his lust for power.

* Data is polite to his captor, Kivas Fajo, during the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Next Generation]]'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E22TheMostToys The Most Toys]]" and instead of trying to pysch him out tries to outmaneuver Kivas's demands via passive resistance. An attempted escape has resulted in the death of someone trying to help and the tables are turned when Data points a disruptor right at Fajo's face. Now the one at the other's mercy, Fajo says the following:

* ''VideoGame/YakuzaZero'': Played straight, subverted and defied in the same conversation. Before the fight between Majima and Awano, Awano goes on a spiel about how modern organized crime is a business, and honorable, fist-first types like Majima are a relic of the past. When Majima [[ShutUpHannibal throws it back into his face]], Awano shrugs and admits that his opinions have less to do with reality and more with his own [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter feelings of inadequacy]], unwillingness to take the "death-or-glory"-paths that lead [[ICouldaBeenAContender to the top,]] and him becoming complacent and comfortable in middle-management.

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* ''Series/{{Dexter}}''.

** An inversion of this takes place in the episode "Objects in Space", where River pulls one of these on Jubal Early, using a combination of her PsychicPowers and [[spoiler:being on his ship the whole time]] to comprehensively outline just how much a sick bastard he is, and tear apart all his pretensions that "[[EvenEvilHasStandards he has a code]]". It's monkeywrenched, as she isn't the prisoner, but her brother Simon ''is,'' and midway through, Early finally catches on -- though that itself is probably part of the Lecture too, as River uses Early's realization to ''really'' turn the tables on him.
** While being questioned by Badger in "Shindig", she turns around and instantly deconstructs his gangster facade, outlining just what a pathetic little thug he really is, and then casually dismisses him....''in his own Cockney accent''.

* ''Series/TheShield''

* In the season 4 ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episodes "Soulless" and "Calvary", Angelus is trapped in a cage most of the time, but throughout his interrogations by the members of team Angel he works at their points of mental or emotional weakness. Unlike most versions of this trope, Angelus knows most of the team's pressure points already because he became aware of them when Angel had his soul, with Angel just not the type of person who would normally use that knowledge).

* From ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', Khan delivers one while being interrogated by Kirk, mocking how little man has changed between the three hundred or so years between his exile and reawakening, in an attempt to justify his lust for power.

** In the first season episode "Duet", arrested Cardassian war criminal Gul Darheel aggressively lectures Major Kira, coupled with openly bragging about his mass murders. It turns out his purpose was not to break her down but [[spoiler: to keep her from guessing he isn't Darheel at all, just a simple file clerk who wants to be executed for war crimes in place of Darheel, because he believes Cardassia can only survive by admitting its crimes during the Bajoran Occupation.]]
* Data is polite to his captor, Kivas Fajo, during the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Next Generation]]'' episode "The Most Toys" and instead of trying to pysch him out tries to outmaneuver Kivas's demands via passive resistance. An attempted escape has resulted in the death of someone trying to help and the tables are turned when Data points a disruptor right at Fajo's face. Now the one at the other's mercy, Fajo says the following:

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