History Main / NotBrainwashed

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie2TheSecondPart'', Lucy, Metalbeard, Benny, Batman, and Unikitty are brought to a spa center in the Sistar System run by Balthazar as a means of enticing them to Queen Watevra Wa-Nabi's machinations. When the spa's treatments fail to do so with Lucy, they lock her in a room where they play an upbeat EarWorm pop song that seemingly brainwashes the others. This is made all the more creepy when Emmet and Rex are off exploring a StepfordSuburbia not too far off, with the missing Justice League [[OutOfCharacterAlert acting overly nice and covered in glitter]], all singing to the song as they chase them as if they were mentally reconditioned zombies. It is not until later when it is revealed that the inhabitants of the Sistar System were GoodAllAlong, the various supposedly brainwashed Master Builders ''sincerely'' liking the Sistar System's upbeat and inclusive ways. [[PoorCommunicationKills But they didn't exactly do themselves any favours with their poor communication]], nor did they when Queen Watevra Wa-Nabi [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial devoted an entire musical number]] to [[MostDefinitelyNotAVillain how she wasn't evil]].

** "[[Recap/AngelS01E14IveGotYouUnderMySkin I've Got You Under My Skin]]" involves a boy who is apparently being possessed by a demon. When the demon is finally exorcised, he reveals that the boy was already more evil than he was: he was so evil, in fact, that he was not so much possessed by the demon as ''imprisoning'' him.
** In "[[Recap/AngelS03E17Forgiving Forgiving]]", after Wesley conspires to kidnap the baby Connor (and gets his throat cut for his trouble), Angel visits him in the hospital. Angel is at pains to stress that he's still Angel (and not the soul-less Angelus) before proceeding to try to [[VorpalPillow smother him with a pillow]].
** A perfect example is Connor in the fourth season. Jasmine has the power to enthrall anyone who sees her; only contact with her blood can break the spell, at which point the victim sees her true, horrific face. Fred is accidentally freed this way, and she manages to free the rest of the cast one by one. But when they try to cure Connor, he betrays them -- it turns out that due to their blood relationship (he's the father of Jasmine's human vessel), he's ''never'' been under Jasmine's spell. He's just so tired of fighting and being manipulated that he's willing to go along with her UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans thing.

** On a lighter note, ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' plays with this between Zedd and Rita. At first, she used a love potion. Later, Goldar will use a love potion antidote on Zedd. No effect. Goldar concludes to this trope, although it's possible that the antidote worked only on the love potion displayed in this episode, not on the one used fifteen episodes earlier.

* In ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'', Stefan believes this is why he and Damon fell for [[ManipulativeBastard Katherine]]. Damon disagrees, and tells Stefan he was never compelled (he would know since the compulsion would have worn off once he became a vampire himself) and knew she was an evil, murderous vampire... [[spoiler: but did not know she was having sex with Stefan as well as him.]] Katherine herself says that she only took away Stefan's fear, which seems to be the truth. She's never shown telling him, under compulsion, to love her. And let's be honest, his reaction to seeing her vamp face was the base caveman reaction of fear of something he didn't understand.
* In the ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' episode "[[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E3MakingFriendsAndInfluencingPeople Making Friends and Influencing People]]", Ward, a HYDRA [[TheMole mole]] who betrayed the team in Season 1, reveals during an interrogation that HYDRA sometimes uses MindControl to force people to join them, but Ward quickly makes clear he was never brainwashed and everything he's done was of his own free will. {{Downplayed}} though since he was recruited and conditioned as a troubled young teen by charismatic [[TheSociopath sociopath]] John Garrett, so technically he fits the more traditional real-world definition of "brainwashed" by being a victim of indoctrination, which puts him in a murky gray area even after he starts pursuing more selfish end goals for himself (since he's clearly AxCrazy and not entirely sane from a combination of that and an abusive childhood).

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheBadBatch'': Most clones are forced in executing Order 66 via a control chip in their heads. Clone Force 99 avoid most of it due to their being different from the "regs", but Crosshairs remains with the Empire even after the others go rogue. In the first season finale, the others get a chance to remove his chip... and find it was removed already.

** The heroes never actually saw Catalyst, as she remained in the lair the whole time. A streighter example is [[spoiler: Safari. Nathalie once again volunteers to be akumatized, getting her access to several different powers. She is fully operating under her own will when she fights the heroes, even expressing her intent to betray Monarch and blackmailing him to let her keep her powers.]] When the battle was over they cast shame on Monarch for "taking advantage" of the sick, unaware he had actually been tricked.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2:'' Mordin, your team’s scientist salarian requests your help in rescuing Maelon one of his students, who was reportedly kidnapped by a [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy krogan]] faction called the Blood Pack. Ostensibly to cure the genophage; a virus that keeps the krogan population suppressed so they don’t have the numbers to launch a galactic war. After fighting through the entirety of the Blood Pack and even killing their clan leader, you find Maelon continuing to work on a cure. If you ask Mordin if Maelon has been brainwashed somehow to keep working on a cure, Maelon retorts that he isn’t brainwashed - else his mental capacity would have significantly degraded to the point where he can’t work on a cure.

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' the world is being invaded by {{Puppeteer Parasite}}s, but it's noted that a fair number of the human hosts actually agreed to be infested voluntarily, either because they're quislings or because they were just so depressed and alone that they would join any group that [[FauxAffablyEvil seemed to offer them kindness]]. Although it's implied even many of the "voluntary" Controllers didn't really know what they were getting themselves into, like [[spoiler:Tobias]] in "[[ForWantOfANail Back to Before]]."

* In ''Trader'' by Creator/CharlesDeLint, Max Trader has [[GrandTheftMe involuntarily swapped bodies]] with another character. When his teenage neighbor Nia learns this, then sees her mother kissing another woman, she assumes her mother has been swapped too. Not so. Her mother is really a lesbian and just hasn't come out to her yet.

* In ''Videogame/EarthBound'', Ness's [[WeUsedToBeFriends "friend"]] Porky ([[DubNameChange aka Pokey]]) is often seen with brainwashed humans, even claiming to have been brainwashed and subsequently freed following the Happy Happy Village incident. Halfway through the game, he finally just flat-out admits that he is actually working for Giygas of his own volition.

--> '''Molly''': I can assure you Ashley that no one {{Brainwashed}} me into liking Libby. Libby told me about her feelings for me one day and after reflecting on it I realized that I felt something more for her too and decided to give a relationship between us a chance.

** After Yuma and Nasch team up to defeat [[GreaterScopeVillain Don Thousand]] - who corrupted humans and Barians alike with hatred and FakeMemories - Nasch is still intent on taking [[TheHero Yuma]] down and destroying Astral World. Understandably, Yuma refuses to fight his friend, claiming he still was under the influence of the curse. But Nasch explained his memories were not toyed with, that the real curse was his own, conscious vow to protect the Barian World at all costs, meaning their duel to the death was inevitable.

*** In the 1990s, when Colossus abandoned the X-Men for Magneto's Acolytes, his teammates -- specifically ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} -- wanted to believe that he was under mind-control; Colossus immediately denied it and for a while, it was the official explanation that he was not being compelled. Eventually Professor X decided that Colossus had committed this FaceHeelTurn because of an undiagnosed brain injury (he had a huge dent in his head at the time and was trapped in his armored form). This led to an ''ComicBook/ExcaliburMarvelComics'' issue where Xavier [[SuperDickery has Colossus's ex-girlfriend trick him into coming back to Earth so they can abduct him]], then treats the injury. It was specifically asked by one of the characters, "what do we do if he still wants to go back to the Acolytes after we heal him?" The answer turned out to be "we let him go back" and that's exactly what Colossus did - though the healing did give him a bit of additional clarity, and his stated purpose was to act as [[TheHeart a conscience for the team]]. It was kind of refreshing. He remained an AntiVillain with the Acolytes for a few years, real-time, which only ended when the Acolytes' space station was destroyed and the survivors got scattered across the Earth, forcing the team's disbandment.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* A perfect example is Connor in ''Series/{{Angel}}'''s fourth season. Jasmine has the power to enthrall anyone who sees her; only contact with her blood can break the spell, at which point the victim sees her true, horrific face. Fred is accidentally freed this way, and she manages to free the rest of the cast one by one. But when they try to cure Connor, he betrays them -- turns out that due to their blood relationship[[note]]he's the father of Jasmine's human vessel[[/note]], he's ''never'' been under Jasmine's spell. He's just so tired of fighting and being manipulated that he's willing to go along with her UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans thing.
** Another episode involved a boy who was apparently being possessed by a demon. When the demon is finally exorcised, he reveals that the boy was already more evil than he was: he was so evil, in fact, that he was not so much possessed by the demon as ''imprisoning'' him.
** After Wesley conspired to kidnap the baby Connor (and got his throat cut for his trouble) Angel visited him in hospital. Angel was at pains to stress that he was still Angel (and not the soul-less Angelus) before proceeding to try to smother him with a pillow.
* In a series fraught with EvilTwin and BrainwashedAndCrazy Power Rangers, ''Series/PowerRangersSPD'' chose to break the chain and give us the A-Squad, a team of "elite" Rangers thought to have been lost in space ([[Series/LostInSpace no pun intended]]), but had really faked their disappearance to voluntarily join with the Troobian army, believing it'll eventually crush the SPD and wanted to be on "the winning side" when it happened. All well and good...until a CanonDisContinuity in the ''Magazine/DisneyAdventures'' follow-up comic reversed it back to BrainwashedAndCrazy...
** This {{Retcon}} does illustrate how it can often be hard to tell when somebody's ''really'' Not Brainwashed: somebody who really has been brainwashed is ''rather unlikely to say so'', after all. If they did it would mean they were brainwashed ''really poorly''.
*** This is debatable as at the start of the season before they were captured, one of the B-Squad Rangers notes something is off about the A-Squad.

* In an episode of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', Worf and the legendary Klingon warrior Kor find an ancient heirloom that has the power to create a new golden age for the Klingon Empire. As the episode unfolds, they become increasingly at odds with one another over who should be the one to present it to the Empire, and even who gets to ''carry'' it. The ''fans'' were expecting some kind of [[TechnoBabble silly tech explanation]] for this behavior (i.e. that the artifact was brainwashing them), but no - it was just ordinary jealousy and petty macho posturing. Is this trope therefore TruthInTelevision, do you think? That said, there was also a serious issue; Worf saw the sword as a religious icon that should belong to the Emperor, while Martok thought it was a cultural treasure and should go the Chancellor. In the end, they conclude that introducing it would spark a civil war and deliberately lose it again.

* In the ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' episode [[Recap/AgentsOfSHIELDS2E3MakingFriendsAndInfluencingPeople "Making Friends and Influencing People"]], Ward, a HYDRA [[TheMole mole]] who betrayed the team in Season 1, reveals during an interrogation that HYDRA sometimes uses MindControl to force people to join them, but Ward quickly makes clear he was never brainwashed and everything he's done was of his own free will. {{Downplayed}} though since he was recruited and conditioned as a troubled young teen by charismatic [[TheSociopath sociopath]] John Garrett, so technically he fits the more traditional real-world definition of "brainwashed" by being a victim of indoctrination, which puts him in a murky gray area even after he starts pursuing more selfish end goals for himself (since he's clearly AxCrazy and not entirely sane from a combination of that and an abusive childhood).

** ''Series/KamenRiderDecade''; on Diend's world, everyone is brainwashed into subservience by Jashin 14, seemingly including Diend's brother, Junichi. But when Jashin is defeated and his mind control broken, it's revealed that Junichi wasn't brainwashed and had actually been working with the villain completely of his own volition from the very start.
** ''Series/KamenRiderExAid''; some time into the story, the previously-deceased Kiriya Kujo is revived by Masamune Dan as an extra ally for the villains' side. Emu is convinced that Masamune has reprogrammed Kiriya into working for him, so attempts to reprogram Kiriya back to their side with [[MidSeasonUpgrade Maximum Mighty X]]. Only for Kiriya to kick him into the ocean and reveal that he was working for Masamune entirely of his own free will. [[spoiler:[[MetaphoricallyTrue But as it turns out]], Kiriya was simply pretending to be loyal to Masamune [[FakeDefector in a bid to get close enough to steal the Proto Gashats]]]].
** ''Series/KamenRiderZeroOne''; when Aruto is revealed to be Ark-One, the remaining heroic Riders are convinced that he is in some way being possessed by [[BigBad the Ark]], which has happened to various people before. But they later learn, much to their shock, that Aruto has gone over to the dark side entirely of his own accord [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge out of grief and rage over Horobi's murder of Is]].
* ''Series/{{Treadstone}}''. In the flashbacks to 1973, CIA agent John Bentley calls out his captor Petra Andropov on how he's been tortured and brainwashed, so she replies that one day people will volunteer for this treatment. In the present day, CIA agent Matt Edwards says he's going to bring down Treadstone, only for the Treadstone asset he's working with to ask why she should help him do so as she volunteered for the treatment.

* In ''Videogame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears'', this trope was used when Kain - who was repeatedly brainwashed in the first game - insists that he is acting of his own volition when he attacks several of his former allies. It is later discovered that he wasn't brainwashed at all... [[spoiler: He was an EnemyWithout.]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "[[Recap/SouthParkS17E4GothKids3DawnOfThePosers Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers]]" involves [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext evil plants]] that use mind-controlling spores to turn {{Goth}}s into becoming {{Emo}}s ([[FandomRivalry which are totally different]]!) This trope is PlayedStraight with [[spoiler:Firkle]], but PlayedWith for Henrietta: [[spoiler:there are no mind control spores, she's just suggestible enough to change cliques when she ''thinks'' she's being brainwashed]].

* The ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' [[ComicBook/TheJudasContract Judas Contract]] Arc: Moreso in the comics than the cartoon, Beast Boy/Changeling initially hoped Terra was being brainwashed or manipulated somehow by Deathstroke/Slade before he could accept that her alliance with Slade was completely voluntary. In the cartoon, while she is manipulated by Slade, she is very voluntary about doing his dirty work for him. Having his own traumatic experience with Slade, Robin shares the hope that Slade's forcing her into it, and Terra has to spell it out for him: "I DON'T NEED SAVING! I'm not some sad little girl who's waiting to be rescued! I wanted to be this way! I wanted to go with Slade! I wanted to annihilate you and your pathetic friends!"
* In the 90s, when Colossus abandoned the ComicBook/XMen for ComicBook/{{Magneto}}'s Acolytes, his team-mates -- specifically ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}--wanted to believe that he was under mind-control; Colossus immediately denied it and for a while, it was the official explanation that he was not being compelled. Eventually Professor X decided that Colossus had committed this FaceHeelTurn because of an undiagnosed brain injury (he had a huge dent in his head at the time and was trapped in his armored form). This led to an ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}'' issue where Xavier [[SuperDickery has Colossus's ex-girlfriend trick him into coming back to Earth so they can abduct him]], then treats the injury. It was specifically asked by one of the characters, "what do we do if he still wants to go back to the Acolytes after we heal him?" The answer turned out to be "we let him go back" and that's exactly what Colossus did - though the healing did give him a bit of additional clarity, and his stated purpose was to act as [[TheHeart a conscience for the team]]. It was kind of refreshing. He remained an AntiVillain with the Acolytes for a few years, real-time, which only ended when the Acolytes' space station was destroyed and the survivors got scattered across the Earth, forcing the team's disbandment.
* Not quite brainwashing, but ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} had undergone a FaceHeelTurn (to WellIntentionedExtremist) during- and served as the BigBad of-''ComicBook/HouseOfM'', and followed it up with a lot of, if not outright ''villainous'', morally questionable and inherently selfish actions, such as stealing and unleashing the [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Terrigen Mists]] on the Earth in an effort to restore the powers of de-powered mutants. After ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion2008'', when it emerged that several heroes and villains had been replaced by shape-shifting Skrulls, Quicksilver explained his previous actions by claiming that he has been replaced as well -- cue a private moment with his half-Inhuman daughter, Luna, who points out that she is a LivingLieDetector and tells him she knows he is making it all up and is guilty as sin. He later repents of this as a member of ''X-Factor'', confessing in public, which at least repairs his relationship with Luna.
* When Lucas Bishop first returned from the Future after his mad crusade to kill [[MessianicArchetype Hope]] failed and being left there by ComicBook/{{Cable}}, it first looked as if he was possessed by the Demon Bear. [[SubvertedTrope However]], it turned out that everything he did (including butchering ''billions'' of innocent people just to get Hope) was all him without any brainwashing. He just had a {{Heel Realization}} later.
* There's a variation in ''ComicBook/HalJordanAndTheGreenLanternCorps'', where the involved person never actually went evil. The Corps had suddenly vanished, with an unknown foe using their rings to pull them to the previous universe. Soranik Natu would have shared this fate, but her father ComicBook/{{Sinestro}} had forewarned of the event and pulled off her ring just in the nick of time. She's inducted into the Sinestro Corps, which is trying to take the Green Lanterns' place as the universe's law-keepers. The GL Corps eventually does make it back, but Soranik working with their greatest enemy looks ''very'' questionable. She has to explain that, no, she did ''not'' pull a FaceHeelTurn at all.
* ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis'': When the BigBad is revealed and explains what they've been doing to Power Girl, manipulating events behind the scenes for years, she takes it to mean that their manipulations are why Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman have been on the outs through the event. She's promptly told that nope, that's just their own fault.

* ''ComicBook/USAvengers'': During the events of ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'', HYDRA tries to hit A.I.M. with a hypnotic attack. Fortunately, Roberto taught everyone some anti-mind control techniques Professor Xavier taught him. ''Un''fortunately, one AIM trooper (Larry from Stores, who previously worshipped Roberto) reveals he's not brainwashed at all, and shoots Roberto.

* Not quite brainwashing, but ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} had undergone a FaceHeelTurn (to WellIntentionedExtremist) during- and served as the BigBad of-''ComicBook/HouseOfM'', and followed it up with a lot of, if not outright ''villainous'', morally questionable and inherently selfish actions, such as stealing and unleashing the [[ComicBook/TheInhumans Terrigen Mists]] on the Earth in an effort to restore the powers of de-powered mutants. After ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion'', when it emerged that several heroes and villains had been replaced by shape-shifting Skrulls, Quicksilver explained his previous actions by claiming that he has been replaced as well- cue a private moment with his half-Inhuman daughter, Luna, who points out that she is a LivingLieDetector and tells him she knows he is making it all up and is guilty as sin. He later repents of this as a member of ''X-Factor'', confessing in public, which at least repairs his relationship with Luna.

* ''ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis:'' When the BigBad is revealed and explains what they've been doing to Power Girl, manipulating events behind the scenes for years, she takes it to mean that their manipulations are why Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman have been on the outs through the event. She's promptly told that nope, that's just their own fault.
* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye:'' In a rare positive example of this, Megatron attributes the bulk of his HeelFaceTurn on the fool's energon he's been forced to take as a condition of his captaincy. But then issue 54 sees Ratchet reveal to Megatron that [[MagicFeather fool's energon is just a placebo, and all the steps Megatron has taken, up to and including his renouncement of violence altogether, has all been his own doing]].
* ''ComicBook/USAvengers:'' During the events of ''Secret Empire'', HYDRA tries to hit A.I.M. with a hypnotic attack. Fortunately, Roberto taught everyone some anti-mind control techniques Professor Xavier taught him. ''Un''fortunately, one AIM trooper (Larry from Stores, who previously worshipped Roberto) reveals he's not brainwashed at all, and shoots Roberto.

* ''Fanfic/CodePrime:'' In the ''R2'' chapter, ''Forward, the Light Brigade'', [[spoiler:Marianne reveals to the Autobots and Black Knights that she was involved in the Ragnarök Connection. Euphemia desperately believes that Charles used his Geass on her, only for Marianne to reveal that there was no Geass involved, and that she acted entirely on her own accord. The revelation [[BrokenPedestal shocks everyone who looked up to her]], with Lelouch taking it especially bad, as he straight up punches her in the face.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': In "Empress Eyes", Ice King appears to have fallen under the spell of a vampire with MindControl powers, but it turns out [[InsanityImmunity his mind is too addled to fall for it]]. The only reason Ice King was following her orders was that the Empress was a pretty lady he thought was interested in him.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "The Brave and the Bold", Gorilla Grodd uses a mind control helmet as his main weapon. Once it's broken, it turns out that the scientist who was assisting him was in love with him all along.
--> '''Flash:''' Internet romances huh? Go figure.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'''s third season focuses on SuperhumanTrafficking, where victims (usually kids) are captured and implanted with {{Mind Control Device}}s. However, the mid-season finale reveals that [[spoiler:Tara Markov]] is working with [[LegionOfDoom the Light]] even after said device is removed and they're taken in by the heroes.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBeavers'' "Zooing Time": Norbert is put in a zoo, in part because of Daggett, and discovers that it's a great place to live. Daggett, meanwhile, feels responsible for the situation and tries to rescue him, convinced that he's brainwashed
* Same goes in ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', "Operation: C.O.L.L.E.G.E.", with Nigel participating in snow cone research.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' episode "[=HunkaHunka=]", Lilo's friend Keoni has a crush on Pleakley (in his horrible disguise as a human woman). Lilo, Stitch, and Jumba are quick to blame the MonsterOfTheWeek, but no, he ''actually does'' have a crush on Pleakley. (For context: Pleakley has green skin, one eye, and three legs.)
* The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Poseurs" involves [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext evil plants]] that use mind-controlling spores to turn {{Goth}}s into becoming {{Emo}}s ([[FandomRivalry which are totally different]]!) This trope is PlayedStraight with [[spoiler:Firkle]], but PlayedWith for Henrietta: [[spoiler:there are no mind control spores, she's just suggestible enough to change cliques when she ''thinks'' she's being brainwashed]].

-->'''Apothecary Gary:''' It wasn't mind control—not this time, really—and with this power, we turned Gardenton into a paradise. I've never had willing subjects before, and let me tell you, it makes a big difference.
* ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheBadBatch The Bad Batch]]:'' Most clones are forced in executing Order 66 via a control chip in their heads. Clone Force 99 avoid most of it due to their being different from the "regs", but Crosshairs remains with the Empire even after the others go rogue. In the first season finale, the others get a chance to remove his chip... and find it was removed already.

'''Buzz:''' [[CloningBlues Evil clone.]]\\

** Optimus Primal believes that Megatron has brainwashed Rhinox and turned him into the villainous Tankor. While technically correct - he was brainwashed at first - after his spark is awakened, Tankor continues to oppose Optimus, as he has grown disillusioned with him after the failure of the Beast Wars.
** An interesting variation was Silverbolt, who was originally an intensely noble paladin-type and got brainwashed by Megatron into [[spoiler:Jetstorm]]. When he was eventually freed of the brainwashing, however, he was quite upset - he had actually found it liberating to be freed of his own strict code of honor. He decided not to be re-brainwashed when he had the opportunity later, however.

* ''{{Transformers}}: WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'':

* In the climax of ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'', [[spoiler:[[BigBad Bellwether]] shoots Nick with a Night Howler pellet to turn him into a bloodthirsty predator in order to kill Judy and imprison Nick for her murder since [[HeKnowsTooMuch they know of her anti-predator conspiracy]]. However, they swapped the pellets for blueberries beforehand and acted out the entire attack [[EngineeredPublicConfession so they could record Bellwether's gloating]] as evidence for the ZPD.]]

** This is basically the biggest plot twist of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' if you choose to follow Ephraim's path. [[spoiler:Turns out [[BigBadFriend Lyon]] was never possessed by the Demon King. He simply summoned his soul by using dark magic, drew power from it, and then ''pretended'' to have been possessed in order to easily control his followers. Of course, at the very end, upon Lyon's defeat, the Demon King's soul does end up truly taking over, and implying that he let Lyon get away with what he was doing because it was good for his plans too.]] None of this happens if you choose to follow Eirika's path. [[spoiler:In this latter version, Lyon really was possessed the whole time.]]

* ''VideoGame/YsMemoriesOfCelceta'' uses this trope, although not particularly sanely. The Bad Guys start kidnapping villagers and making them wear magic masks which give them super-strength and also make them obey their new masters. And the sub-boss is the village chief's son Remnos. Oh no! He was clearly mind-controlled too! ...actually he was just faking it, and only got the super-strength from the mask, because he was nebulously awesome and good at everything, including resisting mind control? (Also awesome at fighting, art, music, scholarship. He was just hiding his true talents the whole time to... not shame his elder sister with how awesome he was in comparison.) Why he went along with the bad guys' plan which involved wounding and stealing from the villagers (including his father!), and why the bad guys let him keep tagging along after he reveals he wants to "help" them of his own free will, is a question better less unasked. The narrative treats Remnos as a Good Guy spy of course rather than a villain... despite this not really happening...
* ''VideoGame/Disgaea5AllianceOfVengeance'': It is revealed that TheDragon to BigBad Void Dark, General Bloodis, is none other than NobleDemon martial arts master Goldion, having been defeated and brainwashed into servitude by Void, his own son. Luckily, Goldion's students Killia and Zeroken manage to master the "final technique" of his teachings, Avidya Holy Water, which has the power to break him free. And it doesn't work, Bloodis stays loyal to Void. They try again, but still he remains Bloodis. However, it is eventually revealed that they ''did'' break him free the first time; Goldion simply pretended to still be evil in order to secretly help the rebels and act as a StealthMentor.
* ''VideoGame/MegaManX4'': In a series where Reploids regularly get infected by the [[ContagiousAI Sigma Virus]] and turn violent, the entirety of Repliforce as well as (possibly) Magma Dragoon are Mavericks that are not infected. [[BigBad Sigma]] just managed to [[BatmanGambit play their]] attitudes to his advantage in order to incite their Maverick behaviour on their own accord -- [[BloodKnight Magma Dragoon]] was tempted by Sigma into destroying the Sky Lagoon on the notion that it would goad X or Zero into fighting him (he ''really'' wanted to fight and defeat them), and [[HonorBeforeReason Colonel]] refused to get Repliforce to stand down after being suspected in involvement with the Sky Lagoon incident, causing the main conflict of the plot to occur.
** The New Generation Reploids in ''VideoGame/MegaManX8'' have total virus immunity, which they love to remind the heroes, who can't understand why they'd go Maverick. It's later revealed that their copy chips contain Sigma's DNA, and [[spoiler:Lumine]] explains that they can "go Maverick at will," possibly meaning that they subscribe to Sigma's EvilutionaryBiologist ideals without needing to be brainwashed into it by the Maverick Virus.
* Most of the enemies fought in ''VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureEyesOfHeaven'' are protagonists brainwashed by anomalies (and in some cases brought BackFromTheDead), as indicated by a purple aura around them. However, most characters who were villainous do ''not'' have the aura (though some do, like Stroheim and Akira); those who served Dio in the first place continue to do so, Diego is a mercenary, Kira (and his future self, disguised as Kosaku) just wants to escape being hunted by the Joestars, and Joshu is still a brat even ''after'' he's de-brainwashed. [[spoiler: Funny Valentine initially allied with Heaven Ascension Dio of his own free will, but later on betrayed him and only fought the protagonists to test their strength. Either way, he was unaffected by the anomalies.]]
* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7Biohazard'', it is slowly revealed that the HillbillyHorrors you meet are in fact BrainwashedAndCrazy. Except for the PsychopathicManchild Lucas. He turns out to have been already a murderer even before all of this and just hangs around after escaping the brainwashing for the [[HealingFactor perks]].

* In ''VideoGame/TerraInvicta'', the [[AlienInvasion invading]] Hydra are able to use "pherocytes" to effectively MindControl other species, including humans. However, the leader of the pro-alien Servants, Judith Howell, wants the Hydra to take over Earth of her own free will. She is deeply pro-alien from the start, and [[spoiler:demonstrates a very high degree of resistance to the pherocytes. The Hydra seriously consider killing her when she starts debating them under conditions that ''should'' have rendered her an unthinking pawn, before realizing that a willing servant is more useful than a mind-controlled one. They even start taking her suggestions into account]].

* The Valkyrie [[{{Superboss}} bonus bosses]] in ''VideoGame/GodOfWarPS4'' have all been trapped in corrupted physical forms by Odin; killing them merely frees their spirits to do their actual job again. The enemy Valkyries in ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok'', Gn&aacute&, Hrist, and Mist, on the other hand, are honestly loyal to Odin without brainwashing involved.

* In ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana'', Yuji gets possessed by the Snake of the Festival. Shana tries to reach him and get him to fight it until he reveals the Snake is not controlling him; they are partners. [[spoiler:The Snake turns out to be GoodAllAlong, and he and Yuji had a plan to permanently end the war, they just needed to be WellIntentionedExtremist to do it.]]

* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-804 SCP-804]] was investigated up and down for any possible memetic properties that could've driven its operators to keep it going, even as it destroyed them and everything they had made, [[OmnicidalManiac slowly and methodically unmaking man and everything man had made in the growing vicinity]]. But after some time, the researcher in charge realized there wasn't anything notable, nothing that'd drive someone to kill humanity or keep operating it no matter what. As such, he's forced to conclude the real reason these people, these [[AnimalWrongsGroup activists and artists]] that had created this thing or at least were part of the group that did, had tried to use it to wipe all traces of humanity from Earth was that they just wanted to do so.

* ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheBadBatch TheBadBatch]]:'' Most clones are forced in executing Order 66 via a control chip in their heads. Clone Force 99 avoid most of it due to their being different from the "regs", but Crosshairs remains with the Empire even after the others go rogue. In the first season finale, the others get a chance to remove his chip... and find it was removed already.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheBadBatch TheBadBatch:'' Most clones are forced in executing Order 66 via a control chip in their heads. Clone Force 99 avoid most of it due to their being different from the "regs", but Crosshairs remains with the Empire even after the others go rogue. In the first season finale, the others get a chance to remove his chip... and find it was removed already.