History Main / ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil

* The BigBad in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' suffers from this. [[spoiler:Ardyn Lucis Caelum was a wise and noble healer king of Lucis, who absorbed countless daemons into himself to protect his people.]] This had the [[SarcasmMode small side-effect]] of driving him insane. [[FromBadToWorse Not helping the matter whatsoever]], the very gods who gave him that power ''and'' the very people he healed betrayed and ostracized him, rather than help him. This resulted in him going ''completely'' off the deep-end, embracing both his own insanity and evil nature of the daemons, all so he can eventually exact the perfect revenge. Also, he's one of the few FF antagonists who successfully unleash the apocalypse. [[spoiler:The ''Ardyn'' DLC reveals that the Starscourge itself didn't turn him evil. Rather, it was using it to absorb the memories of his ''human'' victims that twisted him. Which makes sense since the Starscourge isn't actually a magical evil plague -- it's "just" a horrifically mutated virulent strain of malaria.]]

* Kefka in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''. Kefka was once a perfectly normal Imperial General, until he got his magitek infusion. The process was still experimental and eventually drove him so far off [[MoralEventHorizon the deep end]] he ended up in the deeper end.

* The BigBad in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' suffers from this. [[spoiler:Ardyn Lucis Caelum was a wise and noble healer king of Lucis, who absorbed countless daemons into himself to protect his people.]] This had the [[SarcasmMode small side-effect]] of driving him insane. [[FromBadToWorse Not helping the matter whatsoever]], the very gods who gave him that power ''and'' the very people he healed betrayed and ostracized him, rather than help him. This resulted in him going ''completely'' off the deep-end, embracing both his own insanity and evil nature of the daemons, all so he can eventually exact the perfect revenge. [[spoiler:The ''Ardyn'' DLC reveals that the Starscourge itself didn't turn him evil. Rather, it was using it to absorb the memories of his ''human'' victims that twisted him. Which makes sense since the Starscourge isn't actually a magical evil plague -- it's "just" a horrifically mutated virulent strain of malaria.]]

* ''Discworld/GuardsGuards'': Summoning a dragon from an unknowable dimension and guiding it around the city according to your will? Fun. Addictive, even. Said dragon learning to summon itself into your city and taking its revenge first and foremost on ''you'' - your mind, your consciousness, your future? Not fun. Sorry, [[spoiler: Mr. Wonse...]]

* PleasureIsland in the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon version of ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}'', where bad boys are invited to do what bad boys love to do... [[CrapsaccharineWorld until they learn too late it's a trap]], and the island is [[TransformationHorror magically imbued to turn them all into donkeys]] after a while; after they have thus literally made jackasses of themselves, they are sold into slavery. Fortunately for the title puppet, he and a few other boys manage to escape before the transformation fully sets in.

* During the Alien Costume StoryArc, Franchise/SpiderMan becomes addicted to the power and freedom the ComicBook/{{Venom}} symbiote gave him... until he learned that it exacerbated his aggressive tendencies and would've absorbed him into itself in the long run. Peter Parker managed to "quit" the symbiote, but his successor, Eddie Brock, wasn't so lucky. Note that this wasn't actually a part of the original comic book version, [[LostInImitation but has appeared in all the adaptations]]. Brock '''seems''' to be better, now. At the moment. Sort of. Meanwhile, under the symbiote's influence, Mac Gargan has crawled up the food chain of evil, in more ways than one.

[[folder:Comicbooks]]
* During the Alien Costume StoryArc, Franchise/SpiderMan becomes addicted to the power and freedom the ComicBook/{{Venom}} symbiote gave him... until he learned that it exacerbated his aggressive tendencies and would've absorbed him into itself in the long run. Peter Parker managed to "quit" the symbiote, but his successor, Eddie Brock, wasn't so lucky. Note that this wasn't actually a part of the original comic-book version, [[LostInImitation but has appeared in all the adaptations]]. Brock '''seems''' to be better, now. At the moment. Sort of. Meanwhile, under the symbiote's influence, Mac Gargan has crawled up the food chain of evil, in more ways than one.

[[folder:Fan-fiction]]

[[folder:Videogames]]

* ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' features sharks trying to [[CarnivoreConfusion give up eating other fish]] in a MonstersAnonymous setting. When Bruce the shark goes into a feeding frenzy after smelling blood, the other sharks describe it as falling OffTheWagon.

* The BigBad in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' suffers from this. [[spoiler:Ardyn Lucis Caelum was a wise and noble healer king of Lucis, who absorbed countless daemons into himself to protect his people.]] This had the [[SarcasmMode small side-effect]] of driving him insane. [[FromBadToWorse Not helping the matter whatsoever]], the very gods who gave him that power ''and'' the very people he healed betrayed and ostracized him, rather than help him. This resulted in him going ''completely'' off the deep-end, embracing both his own insanity and evil nature of the daemons, all so he can eventually exact the perfect revenge. [[spoiler:The ''Ardyn'' DLC reveals that the Starscourge itself didn't turn him evil. Rather, it was using it to absorb the memories of his ''human'' victims that twisted him.]]

* The BigBad in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' suffers from this. [[spoiler:Ardyn Lucis Caelum was a wise and noble healer king of Lucis, who absorbed countless daemons into himself to protect his people.]] This had the [[SarcasmMode small side-effect]] of driving him insane. [[FromBadToWorse Not helping the matter whatsoever]], the very gods who gave him that power ''and'' the very people he healed betrayed and ostracized him, rather than help him. This resulted in him going ''completely'' off the deep-end, embracing both his own insanity and evil nature of the daemons, all so he can eventually exact the perfect revenge.

* Iori (and Leona's) transformation into the Riot of the Blood state in ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' is preceded by dizziness, hazy vision (as they lose their consciousness), and finally, vomiting up blood. Unlike many other examples here, this is completely involuntary.

* TheDarkSide in ''Franchise/StarWars'' tends toward the physical aspects of this, slowly twisting, corrupting, and generally uglifying its adherents. In the [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]], it's explained that Emperor Palpatine had to leapfrog from clone body to clone body as he grew more powerful, [[CloneDegeneration with each one disintegrating faster]].
** From the Extended Universe, the ultimate example. Jacen Solo: most talented Jedi of his generation, both in power and in philosophy, able to go past dark and light and see the true Unifying Force behind it. Darth Caedus: all the power of Jacen Solo, half the intelligence, and twice the paranoia. "His cape had betrayed him." Any questions?

* ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' features sharks trying to [[VegetarianCarnivore give up carnivorism]] in a MonstersAnonymous setting. When Bruce the shark goes into a feeding frenzy after smelling blood, the other sharks describe it as falling OffTheWagon.

* TheDarkSide (yes, the original from ''Franchise/StarWars'') tends toward the physical aspects of this, slowly twisting, corrupting, and generally uglifying its adherents. In the [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]], it's explained that Emperor Palpatine had to leapfrog from clone body to clone body as he grew more powerful, [[CloneDegeneration with each one disintegrating faster]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', the heroes run into a group of sharks who are trying to [[VegetarianCarnivore give up carnivorism]] in a MonstersAnonymous setting. When Bruce the shark goes into a feeding frenzy after smelling blood, the other sharks describe it as falling OffTheWagon.

* In ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', the heroes run into a group of sharks who are trying to give up {{carnivor|eConfusion}}ism in a MonstersAnonymous setting. When Bruce the shark goes into a feeding frenzy after smelling blood, the other sharks describe it as falling OffTheWagon.

* In ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', the heroes run into a group of sharks who are trying to give up {{carnivor|eConfusion}}ism in a TropaholicsAnonymous setting. When Bruce the shark goes into a feeding frenzy after smelling blood, the other sharks call it "falling {{off the wagon}}."

* ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'': In the Season 7 episode "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Duke", Luke drinks tainted water (a personality-altering drug) and becomes abusive to his family and conspires -- with a band of bank robbers -- to rob Hazzard Bank. This leaves Bo, Daisy and Uncle Jesse racing against time to press for answers and stop Luke from the biggest mistake of his life.

* Sylar from ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. Especially in Season 4. It looks like he wants it to stick this time. (Last time, he gave up because Ma Petrelli's urging of his reform was based on a lie.)

* The boy who would become Wrath in ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' was a sweet, shy, and innocent young child who was suffering from a nasty case of amnesia when he was first introduced to the audience. [[AxCrazy Then he starts to eat unfinished Philosopher's Stones....]]

* During the Alien Costume StoryArc, Franchise/SpiderMan becomes addicted to the power and freedom the ComicBook/{{Venom}} symbiote gave him... until he learned that it exacerbated his aggressive tendencies and would've absorbed him into itself in the long run. Peter Parker managed to "quit" the symbiote, but his successor, Eddie Brock, wasn't so lucky. Note that this wasn't actually a part of the original comic-book version, [[LostInImitation but has appeared in all the adaptations]]. Brock '''seems''' to be better, now. At the moment. Sort of. Meanwhile, under the Symbiote's influence, Mac Gargan has crawled up the food chain of evil, in more ways than one.

** Similarly, in a (now non-{{canon}}) future, Knuckles gets juiced up on Chaos power and goes mad, [[AGodAmI attempting to reshape his world as he sees fit]]. He was stopped by Sonic and an alien device, but it robbed him of an eye and all but irreversibly annihilated his relationship with the hedgehog. Note that canonically, he's already been pumped up with Chaos energy once, and while he didn't go insane or anything, he still died (he got better, though). This actually sort of happened in one arc with Knuckles being taken over by the Enerjak power- however it ended better with Sonic forgiving him, though Knuckles still feels bad about it.

* ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'' established that [[DealWithTheDevil selling one's soul]] is not only addictive, but exponentially detrimental to it, lessening its "value" with each trade. [[spoiler:This is why a strung-out and desperate Faust tried (unsuccessfully) to barter [[ComicBook/ElongatedMan Ralph Dibny]]'s soul instead.]]

* ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'': In the Season 7 episode "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Duke," Luke drinks tainted water (a personality-altering drug) and becomes abusive to his family and conspires -- with a band of bank robbers -- to rob Hazzard Bank. This leaves Bo, Daisy and Uncle Jesse racing against time to press for answers and stop Luke from the biggest mistake of his life.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'''s Goa'uld tend to suffer from an actual physical addiction with evil as the primary side effect: the sarcophagus, particularly demonstrated in Daniel's experience with it in ''Need''. The Tok'ra, an offshoot of the Goa'uld, refuse to make use of the sarcophagus no matter what. They believe it's a major reason why the Goa'uld are AlwaysChaoticEvil, and consider their own reduced lifespans to be a perfectly acceptable trade-off.

** Fable 2 introduces corruption and purity in addition to good and evil. As a result, it's possible to be pure evil, which results in a pale-skinned, GlowingEyesOfDoom appearance, or corrupt evil, which results in a demonic form, complete with horns and fissures of evil. However, ''despite'' your appearance, it's possible to be a VillainWithGoodPublicity if you play your cards right, and people will just LOVE that random ''demon'' walking through town.

* Pleasure Island in the [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney version]] of ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}'', where bad boys are invited to do what bad boys love to do... [[NightmareFuel/{{Pinocchio}} until they learn too late it's a trap]], and the island is [[{{Animorphism}} magically imbued to turn them all into donkeys]] after a while; after they have thus literally made jackasses of themselves, they are sold into slavery. Fortunately for the title puppet, he and a few other boys manage to escape before the transformation fully sets in.

* In ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', the heroes run into a group of sharks who are trying to give up {{carnivor|eConfusion}}ism in an AA-esque setting. When Bruce the shark goes into a feeding frenzy after smelling blood, the other sharks call it "falling {{off the wagon}}."

** The White Council views all Black Magic this way as well and they have a [[AllCrimesAreEqual strict policy]] on what to do with its users.

* In ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', the heroes run into a group of sharks who are trying to give up {{carnivor|eConfusion}}ism in an AA-esque setting. When Bruce the shark goes into a feeding frenzy after smelling blood, it's treated like a relapse (the other sharks even call it "falling {{off the wagon}}.")

* In ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', the heroes run into a group of sharks who are trying to give up {{carnivor|eConfusion}}ism in an AA-esque setting. When Bruce the shark goes into a feeding frenzy after smelling blood, it's treated like a relapse (the other sharks even call it "falling off the wagon.")

* ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'': In the Season 7 episode "Dr. Je kyll and Mr. Duke," Luke drinks tainted water (a personality-altering drug) and becomes abusive to his family and conspires -- with a band of bank robbers -- to rob Hazzard Bank. This leaves Bo, Daisy and Uncle Jesse racing against time to press for answers and stop Luke from the biggest mistake of his life.

* ''Series/TheFukesOfHazzard'': In the Season 7 episode "Dr. Je kyll and Mr. Duke," Luke drinks tainted water (a personality-altering drug) and becomes abusive to his family and conspires -- with a band of bank robbers -- to rob Hazzard Bank. This leaves Bo, Daisy and Uncle Jesse racing against time to press for answers and stop Luke from the biggest mistake of his life.