History Main / SanitySlippage

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* Fentible of StarshipTitianic suffers for these occasional, usually in mid conversation. The end result is mostly rudeness and forgetfulness. Thankfully he can be reset.

* Ditto JoaquinPhoenix.

--> -- '''TheJoker''', ''TheDarkKnight''

The end result of this varies, depending on the tone of the series and who the character is. If the series is [[DarkerAndEdgier dark and edgy]], they may go on a [[UnstoppableRage murderous rampage.]] On the other hand, if it's [[LighterAndSofter light and soft]], it may just be {{played for laughs}}, becoming a source for their hilarious dialogue and wacky plans. A villain is likely to have a VillainousBreakdown resulting in KarmicDeath, while a hero will just have a HeroicBSOD and [[IGotBetter get better.]]

* Professor Stein in ''SoulEater'' goes completely insane as a result of Medusa's plans. [[spoiler:He got better,]] but still the entire collection of scenes showing his descent into madness is [[NightmareFuel creepy]].

**** The manga-verse now holds that he's apparently insane because he's an Eldritch Abomination personifying a kind of madness. Same point reveals that [[spoiler: Death the Kid]] is the next in line for slipping.
* In ''{{Gankutsuou}}'', we get this when [[spoiler:the Count of Monte Cristo watches Albert whom he had grown very fond of, leave his ship to witness the start of the Count's revenge on Albert's father.]] At first [[VillainousBreakdown he sobs desperately]] and then he [[SanitySlippage breaks out into]] [[LaughingMad hysterical laughter]]. And from then on, he's out there, madly pursuing his revenge. [[spoiler: Andrea Cavalcanti]] also does this, going from creepy to outright deranged by the end of the series. And let's not forget [[spoiler: Danglar's DeathByMaterialism]], preceded by a good amount of madness...oh, and [[spoiler: Fernand Mondego, who snaps to the point of shooting his wife and son]]. Or Héloise de Villefort. Yeah, this show is pretty much filled with the trope.

* [[spoiler: Ikuya Asano]] from ''TheTwelveKingdoms'' falls into this due to him getting closer and closer to the DespairEventHorizon as he's TrappedInAnotherWorld.
* NeonGenesisEvangelion has a cast that display their loss of sanity in different ways... [[{{understatement}} some a little more disturbing than others.]]

* ''OokamiKakushi'': Issei in the few episodes he appears in until he [[spoiler: dies in episode 5]].
* Light Yagami from ''{{Death Note}}'', [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation possibly]].
* Dilandau Albatou from ''{{Escaflowne}}'' is a subverted example. He was already kind of AxCrazy to begin with, but after Van [[spoiler: slashed Dilandau's face with a sword in a CurbStompBattle]], Dilandau's already fragile state of mind [[ItGotWorse went downhill from there.]]
* In HadashiDeBaraWoFume, [[spoiler: Nozomu, who at first seems like a really [[NiceGuy nice guy]] gradually becomes more and more of a psychotic Yandere as the series goes on.]]

* Jackson Georges from ExMachina, Mayor Hundred's former NSA handler fits this trope. In flashbacks the reader is shown how the cryptic shard that Mitchell found when he got his powers slowly drives Jackson to levels of extreme paranoia. He develops an unfounded contempt for Mitchell, claiming that without Mitchell's appearance and the mystery of the shard, he could have foreseen and prevented 9/11. He becomes obsessed with protecting his family from dirty bombs and the like, buying a hazmat suit and making tally marks on the wall to represent god knows what. It's clear he's a step away from the deep end. Darkly subverted when [[spoiler:in desperation to save their failing marriage, his wife breaks into his work shed and steals the shard. A few seconds near a TV are enough to drive her completely and utterly insane, leading her to kill her daughter, husband, and dog. She even chops off her own arm with the shard itself. It was an incredibly jarring and brutal twist on the slow burn of paranoia the reader had been witnessing for months.]]

* Zac Hobson in ''TheQuietEarth'' begins suffering this when he realises that he may very well be the last human being alive. After the GoodTimesMontage, he begins dressing in women's clothes; he fills his garden with cardboard cutouts of celebrities; he fires his shotgun wildly at televisions; he declares himself President of the World and gives his [[NewEraSpeech inaugural address]] to the cutouts. [[ItGotWorse And then the power goes out]], leaving Zac standing on his balcony, in total darkness and utterly insane. [[IGotBetter He gets]] [[BoredWithInsanity better.]]
* Happens to Komodo in ''{{Warriors of Virtue}}'' after he [[spoiler: kills Master Chun]]. although he was pretty zany from the start, he seemed to drop a few notches after the event.
* Although Trevor Reznik from The Machinist had been acting odd ever since [[spoiler: he kills the boy]], when he starts harassing and assaulting everyone around him in a paranoid conviction that they are all out to get him you can tell he has finally completely cracked.

** StephenKing stated his book was about a normal man who goes crazy, and that StanleyKubrick's film was about [[JackNicholson a crazy man]] [[AxeCrazy who goes absolutely bonkers]].
* Rand Al'Thor of ''{{The Wheel of Time}}'' certainly seems to inhabit this trope over the course of at least 7 {{Doorstopper}}s. More pressures, more sacrifices and mistakes, more obvious signs of mental instability. After he is [[spoiler: almost captured by legendary psychopathic torturer Semirhage and forced to almost kill Min]] he snaps completely. He adopts DissonantSerenity and engages in more and more questionable deeds. After [[spoiler: almost killing his own father, willingly, out of misplaced rage and paranoia, followed by a bit of fatalist NietzcheWannabe monologuing on the site of his death in a previous incarnation 3000 years earlier]] he seems to be showing signs of addressing the slippage though.

* Very common in {{HP Lovecraft}}'s work, most notably in ''The Rats in the Walls'' and ''A Shadow Over Innsmouth.''

* During Volume 4 of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', Sylar's [[AxeCrazy already-unstable psyche]] takes a dramatic turn for the worse when he acquires the ability to shapeshift and starts to lose his sense of identity after using it repeatedly.
* Although it's never shown, during ''[[{{MASH}} M* A* S* H* ]]'''s finale, after witnessing a traumatic event, Hawkeye begins to not-so-subtly show signs of a breakdown. Like being convinced one of the anesthesiologists was attempting to suffocate his patient with the gas mask. Or crashing a jeep through the mess tent. You know. Little indications of a stressful work environment.
* Simon Bellamy from the British sci-fi series ''{{Misfits}}'' is a painfully shy and intense introvert (and convicted arsonist) who has been bullied and ignored all his life, and is hinted from the onset to be teetering on the verge of mental breakdown. As the series continues he accidentally becomes party to murder, is magically imbued with the power of {{invisibility}} (which, awesome as it sounds, greatly heightens his growing sense of alienation and his unhealthy tendencies towards voyeurism) and [[spoiler: inadvertently causes the death of Sally - a woman he was starting to fall in love with.]] During the final episode of Season 1, the full extent of his sanity slippage is magnificently depicted as he [[spoiler: casually munches on some left-over pizza while gazing serenely at Sally's corpse, which he has propped up in a large freezer.]].
* The Master from ''DoctorWho'' has always been rather unstable, try as he might to hide it under his veneer of a MagnificentBastard. However, this takes a turn for the worse in [=NuWho=], when he complains of a persistent drumming in his head, getting even worse [[spoiler:after returning from the dead in the Specials Season]]. The main question is whether or not the drumming is real, making the Master even crazier [[spoiler:(It is, turning out to be part of a massive XanatosGambit by the Lord President of Gallifrey to free Gallifrey from the time-locked Time War.)]]. With this revealed, fans speculated on how bad the drumming was during the Master's previous incarnations.
* Avon of ''[[BlakesSeven Blake's 7]]'' fame, during the show's fourth and final series. The final straw comes with [[spoiler:Blake's (apparent) betrayal]]. Considering what he's been through, the only wonder is it didn't happen sooner.

*** You forgot the best part: In his response letter, Eminem decides to cite a story he heard on the news about a guy who drove his car off a bridge with his pregnant girlfriend in the trunk, in the hopes that it'll get Stan to calm down a bit. Then Eminem realises ''the news story was about Stan''. "Damn," indeed.

* Everyone in ''{{Warhammer 40000}}''. ''Everyone''. From the average human forced to live in an oppressive totalitarian regime that casually obliterates planets or forced to die fighting brain-breaking horrors [[RedShirtArmy armed with only a rifle and a flak jacket]], to {{Super Soldier}}s that spend centuries fighting worse enemies after experiencing vast, painful and often deadly augmentation or the Super Super Soldiers that are {{Mind Rape}}d into absolute obedience, to the [[OurElvesAreBetter space elves]] hunted by the god of perversion that survive by either intentionally creating a form of split personality disorder or eating the souls of others, to even the already psychotically insane Chaos followers who proceed to lose even more sanity from various [[TheCorruption mutations]] and the odd [[TheLegionsOfHell daemon]] taking their body and soul for a joyride. As one of the numerous {{Tagline}}s says, "''There is no peace among the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter and the laughter of thirsting gods''".

* This is arguably the entire plot arc for Atris in ''[[KnightsoftheOldRepublic KOTOR II.]]''

* This is the result of the third week of CrossChannel, the first week where Taichi knows [[spoiler:time is looping]] and has more of his deep psychological issues surface. If it wasn't for this and the broadcast he makes at the end of that week, this treatment of Kiri would be rather hypocritical and [[MoralEventHorizon unforgivable.]]
* VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines featured a quest in which one has to "cleanse" a haunted hotel (much akin to TheShining). Upon finding the diary of a woman whose ghost now lives in the house, one can read her tale of how her husband experienced one of these inspired by [[LoveMakesYouEvil romantic jealousy]], culminating in him [[spoiler: murdering her and her two children and killing himself]].
* Kefka in FinalFantasyVI. He was once a general, but he starts disobeying orders and has lost his rank by the time the game's narrative begins.

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* Vaarsuvius spent most of "Don't Split The Party" undergoing this in ''{{The Order of the Stick}}''. [[spoiler:[[IGotBetter They Got Better.]]]]

* The [[http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/Sonic2006/ epic LP]] of ''{{Sonic the Hedgehog 2006}}'' by pokecapn, Medibot, Kung-Fu Jesus, [=IlluminatusVespucci=] and Kaz. They played the entire game in less than two days, playing almost non-stop, with only one of them sleeping at any point. Most involved are mildly CloudCuckoolander-ish to begin with, but as the game progresses, their commentary is filled more and more with non-sequiturs and {{Cluster F Bomb}}s. A quarter of the way through, they've ordered and consumed copious amounts of General Tso's chicken because it's "full of ideas" (and thus, eating the chicken will ''give them'' ideas. It makes perfect sense!). Halfway through, one of them ironically blares out an a cappella version of [[Game/MegaMan Flashman's theme]] at random moments. Three quarters of the way through, they [[ThatOneLevel get stuck in the last level]], and over the two hours it takes them to beat the level, they can be heard cycling through the FiveStagesOfGrief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance). By the end, one of them is reciting song lyrics in Shatner-esque spoken-word renditions, including "Rocketman", "Fast Car", and finally "[[MichaelJackson Thriller]]" over the final boss fight. When combined with the slow, melancholic choiral music used in the later stages, it borders on [[CrowningMomentofSadness being strangely touching,]] [[YourMileageMayVary depending on your mood.]]
* Pitchfork, the writer of the [[http://socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=patff Rise and Fall of Final Fantasy]] series of articles, spent the last four years playing though each FinalFantasy game and writing the articles, [[{{Determinator}} a rather impressive feat on its own]]. The zenith was, of course, at FinalFantasyVI and FinalFantasyVII (the former of which got a score of [[RankInflation six out of five]]), but with each progressive game afterwords, he became more divided in his opinion. Then came FinalFantasyXI, which was his first time playing an MMORPG. So not only did he not know what to expect from it, but he didn't realize at first how unrealistic it was to try to "beat" it. His "Vana'diel Diary" gives us quotes like "I refuse to admit that I am not having fun," and he tears the disclaimer given by Square Enix upon logging on ("'THAT BEING SAID, WE HAVE NO DESIRE TO SEE YOUR REAL LIFE SUFFER AS A CONSEQUENCE.' Bullshit. Vicious, brazen mendacity. Like a tobacco company printing "we have no desire that you should develop a dependency while enjoying the smooth taste of our product" on the side of cigarette packs."), and at the end of that, he begs that someone tell him that not all [=MMOs=] are like it. In his FinalFantasyXII article, he says that the FinalFantasy under Square is gone forever, leaving only a [[CashcowFranchise Cashcow]] FranchiseZombie by Square-Enix. FinalFantasyX2 seemed to have completely broken his brain ("...so whenever Yuna equips the Songstress job, she not only dons Lenne's clothes but allows Lenne's thoughts and emotions to diffuse throughout her own, causing god this is so stupid why am i"), and FinalFantasyXIII caused him to quit the series entirely.

** "Look at the pretty bunny! Look at the pretty bunny... * Breaks down crying*

* As events progress and he finds himself in increasingly dangerous situations, Gordon in ''FreemansMind'' is showing increasingly common bouts of uncontrolled rage and paranoia, which is impressive considering [[HeroicSociopath his original personality]]. This was perhaps most clearly demonstrated in episode 29, when he threw a grenade at a large pile of explosive crates.
-->'''Gordon:''' ''"I'' HAVE ''TO BLOW EVERYTHING UP! IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO PROVE I'M NOT CRAZY!"''

* Ditto Joaquin Phoenix.
* Mel Gibson is taking Cruise's slippage and [[BeyondTheImpossible taking it to places few have ever trodden]].

<<|AddedAlliterativeAppeal|>>

* The [[http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/Sonic2006/ epic LP]] of ''{{Sonic the Hedgehog 2006}}'' by pokecapn, Medibot, Kung-Fu Jesus, [=IlluminatusVespucci=] and Kaz. They played the entire game in less than two days, playing almost non-stop, with only one of them sleeping at any point. Most involved are mildly CloudCuckoolander-ish to begin with, but as the game progresses, their commentary is filled more and more with non-sequiturs and {{Cluster F Bomb}}s. A quarter of the way through, they've ordered and consumed copious amounts of General Tso's chicken because it's "full of ideas" (and thus, eating the chicken will ''give them'' ideas. It makes perfect sense!). Halfway through, one of them ironically blares out an a cappella version of [[MegaMan Flashman's theme]] at random moments. Three quarters of the way through, they [[ThatOneLevel get stuck in the last level]], and over the two hours it takes them to beat the level, they can be heard cycling through the FiveStagesOfGrief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance). By the end, one of them is reciting song lyrics in Shatner-esque spoken-word renditions, including "Rocketman", "Fast Car", and finally "[[MichaelJackson Thriller]]" over the final boss fight. When combined with the slow, melancholic choiral music used in the later stages, it borders on [[CrowningMomentofSadness being strangely touching,]] [[YourMileageMayVary depending on your mood.]]

->"A very thin line separates normality from insanity..."
--> -- '''TheJoker''', ''TheBatman''

* Happens quite a few times in CodeGeass, with results ranging from a HeroicBSOD to ManiacalLaughter.

* In HadashiDeBaraWoFume, [[spoiler: Nozomu, who at first seems like a really [[NiceGuy nice guy]] gradually becomes more and more of a psychotic Yandere as the series grows on.]]

* The sequel, ''UminekoNoNakuKoroNi'', reveals in the fifth arc that [[spoiler:Natsuhi]] has slowly been losing it since [[spoiler:Kinzo died]] ''two years'' before the story begins.

* The [[http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/Sonic2006/ epic LP]] of ''{{Sonic the Hedgehog 2006}}'' by pokecapn, Medibot, Kung-Fu Jesus, [=IlluminatusVespucci=] and Kaz. They played the entire game in less than two days, playing almost non-stop, with only one of them sleeping at any point. Most involved are mildly CloudCuckoolander-ish to begin with, but as the game progresses, their commentary is filled more and more with non-sequiturs and {{Cluster F Bomb}}s. A quarter of the way through, they've ordered and consumed copious amounts of General Tso's chicken because it's "full of ideas" (and thus, eating the chicken will ''give them'' ideas. It makes perfect sense!). Halfway through, one of them ironically blares out an a cappella version of [[MegaMan Flashman's theme]] at random moments. Three quarters of the way through, they [[ThatOneLevel get stuck in the last level]], and over the two hours it takes them to beat the level, they can be heard cycling through the FiveStagesOfGrief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance). By the end, one of them is reciting song lyrics in Shatner-esque spoken-word renditions, including "Rocketman", "Fast Car", and finally "[[MichaelJackson Thriller]]" over the final boss fight. When combined with the slow, melancholic choiral music used in the later stages, it borders on [[CrowningMomentofSadness being strangely touching]]

* The [[http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/Sonic2006/ epic LP]] of ''{{Sonic the Hedgehog 2006}}'' by pokecapn, Medibot, Kung-Fu Jesus, [=IlluminatusVespucci=] and Kaz. They played the entire game in less than two days, playing almost non-stop, with only one of them sleeping at any point. Most involved are mildly CloudCuckoolander-ish to begin with, but as the game progresses, their commentary is filled more and more with non-sequiturs and {{Cluster F Bomb}}s. A quarter of the way through, they've ordered and consumed copious amounts of General Tso's chicken because it's "full of ideas" (and thus, eating the chicken will ''give them'' ideas. It makes perfect sense!). Halfway through, one of them ironically blares out an a cappella version of [[MegaMan Flashman's theme]] at random moments. Three quarters of the way through, they [[ThatOneLevel get stuck in the last level]], and over the two hours it takes them to beat the level, they can be heard cycling through the FiveStagesOfGrief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance). By the end, one of them is reciting song lyrics in Shatner-esque spoken-word renditions, including "Rocketman", "Fast Car", and finally "[[MichaelJackson Thriller]]" over the final boss fight. When combined with the slow, melancholic choiral music used in the later stages, it borders on [[being touching CrowningMomentofSadness]]

* The [[http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/Sonic2006/ epic LP]] of ''{{Sonic the Hedgehog 2006}}'' by pokecapn, Medibot, Kung-Fu Jesus, [=IlluminatusVespucci=] and Kaz. They played the entire game in less than two days, playing almost non-stop, with only one of them sleeping at any point. Most involved are mildly CloudCuckoolander-ish to begin with, but as the game progresses, their commentary is filled more and more with non-sequiturs and {{Cluster F Bomb}}s. A quarter of the way through, they've ordered and consumed copious amounts of General Tso's chicken because it's "full of ideas" (and thus, eating the chicken will ''give them'' ideas. It makes perfect sense!). Halfway through, one of them ironically blares out an a cappella version of [[MegaMan Flashman's theme]] at random moments. Three quarters of the way through, they [[ThatOneLevel get stuck in the last level]], and over the two hours it takes them to beat the level, they can be heard cycling through the FiveStagesOfGrief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance). By the end, one of them is reciting song lyrics in Shatner-esque spoken-word renditions, including "Rocketman", "Fast Car", and finally "[[MichaelJackson Thriller]]" over the final boss fight.

* The [[http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/Sonic2006/ epic LP]] of ''{{Sonic the Hedgehog 2006}}'' by pokecapn, Medibot, Kung-Fu Jesus, [=IlluminatusVespucci=] and Kaz. They played the entire game in less than two days, playing almost non-stop, with only one of them sleeping at any point. Most involved are mildly CloudCuckoolander-ish to begin with, but as the game progresses, their commentary is filled more and more with non-sequiturs and {{Cluster F Bomb}}s. A quarter of the way through, they've ordered and consumed copious amounts of General Tso's chicken because it's "full of ideas" (and thus, eating the chicken will ''give them'' ideas. It makes perfect sense!). Halfway through, one of them ironically blares out an a cappella version of [[MegaMan Flashman's theme]] at random moments. Three quarters of the way through, they [[ThatOneLevel get stuck in the last level]], and over the two hours it takes them to beat the level, they can be heard cycling through the FiveStagesOfGrief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance). By the end, one of them is reciting song lyrics in monotone, culminating in a spoken-word rendition of "[[MichaelJackson Thriller]]" over the final boss fight.