History Main / TranshumanTreachery

* ''HalfLife2'': The Transhuman Arm of the Combine Overwatch ''combine'' this LesCollaborateurs. Humans start out joining Civil Protection to get decent rations; promotions are tied to voluntary brainwashing until they become eligible for MindRape and modification into actual transhumans (though the Combine often picks up random civilians for conversion too). Soldiers presumably go through the same rank system with the highest-ranking Elites being more like synths than cyborgs.

Part of the {{Horror}} of being infected by TheVirus is its ability to [[TheCorruption corrupt]] the mind of a victim, subordinating them into a HiveMind or outright making them a sociopathic shell of their former self, intent only on killing or infecting their former loved ones.

But then there's times that a transformation ''doesn't'' [[{{Brainwashed}} brainwash,]] [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul de-soul]], [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity drive insane]], or [[DemonicPossession demonically possess]] the victim. Other times the ViralTransformation causes changes that are purely cosmetic, granting amazing abilities albeit [[PowerAtAPrice at great cost]] and (usually) a horrifying appearance. So what do these unwilling tranformees do? Become {{Phlebotinum Rebel}}s or {{Vampire Refugee}}s and use their powers to fight these monsters? Nope. They engage in TranshumanTreachery.

[[AC:{{Anime}}]]
* Being made a vampire in the ''VampireHunterD'' world is like this, even for ''vampire hunters!'' In ''Bloodlust'' the eldest of the vampire hunting brothers is turned, and he instantly sides with Carmilla and threatens to kill a former associate by drinking her dry.

*** Or in The Rose Princess [[spoiler: A woman with an axe to grind against the titular Vampiress (said vampiress had killed her family) got turned in an unusual fashion. After D killed the vampiress, Elena asked D to join her in ruling over the humans, and comments that being a vampire is so much better. There's quite a bit of insight given into her psychology, though. Averted with a later human, who resisted/rejected it.]]
** In fact, it gets a lampshading/explanation in Book 1...there's debate over whether someone being turned is murder, as the victim is still around, but the personality changes are severe.

* The character Tania in the second season of ''DarkerThanBlack'' falls into this category on account of how quick and jarring her personality shift was upon becoming a Contractor. Originally, she was a kind person, but after becoming a Contractor, she immediately becomes cold towards her friends and by the third episode is really enthusiastic about the idea of selling her friends out to an intelligence agency for a chance for promotion. [[spoiler: she even brutally kills her childhood friend/crush Nika]] Making this example especially jarring is that there's several examples of Contractors who don't turn on their loved ones, which kind of makes you wonder why she became this way.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* A disturbing example shows up in the trade paperback of ''Marvel Zombies.'' In the worst MadScientist fashion, after [[FantasticFour Reed Richards]] sees a zombie SheHulk eat his children he decides (after studying the zombies) that they are the next evolutionary step and ''turns the whole FF into flesh eating fiends!'' Also from the same book, ZombieInfectee Giant Man knocks out and hides Black Panther because he wants to have a "snack" to eat later, knowing his former colleagues would kill the world's population in days. [[spoiler: He slowly amputates T'challa's limbs and eats them to stave off his hunger.]] He survives, thankfully, and gets a [[ArtificialLimbs new leg]] out of it.

* Both ends of the spectrum are represented in ''{{Transmetropolitan}}'': Fred Christ's HalfHumanHybrid Gray aliens are all-too-quick to embrace their newly-bought alien side and their role as a vengeful, oppressed minority. On the other hand, Tico and other "foglets" are living it up as nanomachine clouds, holding no ill will towards mankind.

* Averted in X-Men #2. It's made abundently clear in the text that, despite this trope appearing to be in play, there is definitely brainwashing in play, at the least MoreThanMindControl.
** Then played straight later-on, when people are turned in the traditional way.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* Pretty much every vampire in the ''{{Blade}}'' trilogy, whether five minutes or five centuries old is invariably fine with messily killing humans. The handful of exceptions were all cured with an anti-vampire drug, and of course Blade himself (being a [[{{Dhampir}} Daywalker]]) is the big exception.

** The presumed reason Jake began to 'go native' with the Na'Vi was because it allowed him to use his lost legs again. And while Colonel Quaritch wholeheartedly promised (and would have followed through) on his offer to restore Jake's legs, pretty much all the Na'Vi either treated Jake with disdain (best case scenario) or open and violent hostility (worst case) and tried to get him killed more than a few times, and finally only accept him back ''because he rode into their camp with a giant dragon after they left him to die.''

[[AC:Literature]]

* In TheDresdenFiles all the vampire courts appear to have this to a greater or lesser degree. When the Red Court fully transform the human part of them dies entirely, though the physical form is still used as a "flesh mask" by the creature within. However they don't cross over until they kill a human and their blood, and several members of the organization dedicated to fighting the Red Court are [[VampireRefugee Vampire Refugees]]. The Black Court are Dracula style vampires, but little is mentioned about how they reproduce except that they do it fast, which does imply a pretty complete transformation. The White Court are the least hit by it. They end up sharing their body with a demonic Hunger that heavily influences them, but it is possible to fight against it. They're also a family, so it's more a matter of accepting the family business than a 180 degree allegiance switch.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

* One of Rileys friends in ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' gets hybridized with demon body parts by Adam against his will. Despite being a trained and loyal soldier involved in a demon hunting/capturing program, he completely switches sides after the operation because [[EvilFeelsGood he liked the power]].

** Doyle went through a huge personal crisis when he found out he was half-demon and started being able to change, and he did go from an upstanding third-grade-teacher married to a woman he met volunteering at a soup kitchen to a faintly skeezy always-in-debt skater around the edges of legality in the demon side of L.A., but that wasn't his heritage. Just his emotional reaction.
* In the final season of ''[[EarthFinalConflict Earth: Final Conflict]]'' the Atavus are introduced. They feed on human LifeEnergy and in so doing make those fed on [[HalfHumanHybrid human/atavus hybrids]] who in turn must feed on others, repeating the process. Even PluckyComicRelief tech girl is unable to resist the urges.
* Halfway subverted: On ''{{Supernatural}}'', Gordon Walker was already an antagonist in the form of a WellIntentionedExtremist. When he gets turned into a vampire, he does kill someone in order to feed, kill the hunter he was working with, nearly kill Dean (although he could trying for a case of Suicide-By-Sam here) and turn a young woman into a vampire, but he also kills two newly made female vampires and plans to kill himself after killing Sam Winchester, whom he still believes is the Antichrist. But Gordon [[KilledOffForReal lost their final fight]].

** Evil industrialist and DiabolicalMastermind Tobias Vaughn from "The Invasion" has undergone partial cyber-conversion by the Cybermen but retains his emotions and appears outwardly human.

*** Somewhat annoying, as she was evil before her Cyberconversion, and seemed the sort of person who would have loved the opportunity to pilot a {{Steampunk}} [[HumongousMecha Humongous]] [[RuleOfCool Mecha]] through London.

** In the Ark in Space, one of the crew gets infected by the Wirrn, and is turned into one of them. He's also the one that causes the ship to blow up be after the Doctor tampered with it, and he theorizes he must've had just enough humanity left in him to resist the Wirrn's hive mind.

[[AC:TabletopGames]]

** Then again, that's partially due to the general [=WTFery=] of Clan Tzimisce, and partially due to their membership in the Sabbat. The Sabbat truly, honestly believe that vampires are better than humanity, and have the right to rule over the "cattle" as they see fit. [[AxCrazy This often involves chainsaws and crime sprees amongst the younger Kindred]], [[BlueAndOrangeMorality and utterly alien moral codes amongst the elders]].
* HumansVsZombies breathes this trope; once tagged, you become a Zombie, and you need to feed. Of course, that doesn't mean you still can't have a vendetta against the other humans who were less than helpful in keeping you safe...

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* [[{{Starcraft}} Kerrigan]] is [[strike:king]] Queen Bitch of the Universe of this trope. At first she's somewhat mind controlled, yes, but also fairly autonomous. And then she's entirely autonomous and sells out the human race to lead the Zerg. She seemed slightly sad about trying to kill Raynor out but she got better. [[AllThereInTheManual Apparently]] tied to the ''very'' nasty [[FreudianExcuse mental conditioning and childhood]] she had.
** When she infests [[spoiler: Ethan Stewart]], he becomes an intelligent and fairly free-willed (and she knows it, so she threatens him if he ever turns against her). He immediately falls in love in her and follows her orders and does everything to gain her approval. [[spoiler: It doesn't work.]]
** Starcraft II goes into a bit more detail, and the Zerg Campaign will likely go into more...
* Arthas in {{Warcraft}} 'verse enjoys his undeath as well. At the start of the undead campaign he comments that he [[spoiler:[[NotQuiteDead almost]]]] caused the death of his mentor, murdered his father and let the Kingdom of Lordaeron be conquered and "recruited" by the enemy he used to [[WellIntentionedExtremist hate]]. He just shrugs and keeps on killing.
** He even cracks a few jokes about it:
---> ''Uther'': I dearly hope that there's a special place in hell waiting for you, Arthas.
---> ''Arthas'': [[PreMortemOneLiner We may never know, Uther. I intend to live forever.]]
** Another:
---> ''A Nerubian'': Look, brothers! The traitor king!
---> ''Arthas'': Who? Me?
---> ''Anub'arak'': He is referring to me, death knight.
*** Objection! Anub'arak on the other hand is quite mind controlled. He even is grateful when you finally kill him. Kel'thuzard though is on the extreme.
*** Anub, like just about all high-renking members of Scourge are sort-of mind controlled. They retain their free will and ability to think and reason (in contrast to the lesser undead that are near-mindless), but the Lich King has mental control over them and they are unable to act against him and have to obey his commands.
---> ''Kel'Thuzad'': In return for immortality, you agreed to serve him. Remarkable.
---> ''Anub'arak'': 'Agreed' implies choice.
** The novel ''Arthas: Rise of the Lich King'' reveals that he has quite a bit of InnerMonologue about it, but eventually concludes that being the resident BigBad ain't that bad and [[spoiler:[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic kills]] both Ner'Zhul (the previous Lich King) and remnants of his own innocence in a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind]].
* Subverted in ''{{Bioforge}}''. The MadScientist ''hoped'' this trope would come into play after he upgraded (and deformed) you, but instead made you into a vengeful PhlebotinumRebel.

* The Transhuman Arm of the Combine Overwatch in ''HalfLife2'' is somewhere between this and LesCollaborateurs. Humans start out joining Civil Protection to get decent rations; promotions are tied to voluntary brainwashing until they become eligible for MindRape and modification into actual transhumans (though the Combine often picks up random civilians for conversion too). Soldiers presumably go through the same rank system with the highest-ranking Elites being more like synths than cyborgs.
* Captured {{Pokemon}} [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation could be seen]] as this.

[[AC:Webcomics]]
* CharbyTheVampirate once explained that this effect is there to keep a new vampire from immediately turning around and using his/her powers against the one that sired them. It doesn't last forever and can be overcome by [[HeroicWillpower sufficient willpower]], but in some cases it's MoreThanMindControl.

[[AC:Web Media]]

* In the site VampYou, all vampire transformations work like this. Anyone who is turned, gets a villain card.

[[AC:RealLife]]
* Plenty of activists within the deaf community object ''very'' strongly to cochlear implants, considering users of such implants to have betrayed and insulted their close-knit subculture in exchange for the (overrated, in their opinion) ability to hear.
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** Possibly 'with Great Power comes Great Insanity", thanks to what can happen with Dhampirs, or what happened in [[spoiler: Book 2, where a person was in fact a 'latent' vampire. She was actually surprisingly reasonable, but with a complete personality change afterwards.]]

** This troper saw it more as a WallBanger rather than anything heroic. The presumed reason Jake began to 'go native' with the Na'Vi was because it allowed him to use his lost legs again. And while Colonel Quaritch wholeheartedly promised (and would have followed through) on his offer to restore Jake's legs, pretty much all the Na'Vi either treated Jake with disdain (best case scenario) or open and violent hostility (worst case) and tried to get him killed more than a few times, and finally only accept him back ''because he rode into their camp with a giant dragon after they left him to die.''

*** Something of a {{Wallbanger}}, as she was evil before her Cyberconversion, and seemed the sort of person who would have loved the opportunity to pilot a {{Steampunk}} [[HumongousMecha Humongous]] [[RuleOfCool Mecha]] through London.

A possible cause of BewareTheSuperman, this is the third sin in the ScaleOfScientificSins. Compare SheepInWolfsClothing.

*** For example, Darla in the flashbacks on {{Angel}} was quite pleased with [[strikeout: Liam]] Angelus' decision to kill off [[DoomedHometown his entire hometown]] to one-up her suggestion that he do the normal thing and kill his loved ones. After he got to his family, she took great pleasure in pointing out how yes, he was evil now, but he was still ''him'', and now his father could never approve of him, being dead. This hit home.

*** And William/Spike does exactly this, and there's Vampire Willow. Theories exist that the vampire character derives from everything suppressed by the original human, but this only applies in some cases. Harmony, for example, starts killing people and decides she wants to be some kind of dark lord, but honestly doesn't change at ''all''. It probably has something to do with self-image. People with low self-esteem seem to change more, but the completely pathetic seem to stay pathetic. That Liam and William seemed like losers but turned into {{Badass}} vampires probably indicates that they had HiddenDepths
** On the other hand, when Giles is turned into a Fyarl demon by Ethan Rayne in an evil prank meant to get him killed, he barely changes at all, apart from a gag while he's in the car with Spike, who's the only guy around who speaks Fyarl. [[spoiler: It's his precisely-as-normal

* In the final season of ''[[EarthFinalConflict Earth: Final Conflict]]'' the Atavus are introduced. They feed on human LifeEnergy and in so doing make those fed on [[HalfHumanHybrid human/atavus hybrids]] who in turn must feed on others, repeating the process. Even PluckyComicRelief tech girl is unable to resist the urges.

* In the [[http://www.metamorcity.com Metamor City]] podcast novel ''Making The Cut'', this happens to [[spoiler: Miriam]] after she's turned into a vampire. The vampires order her (which cannot be disobeyed) [[ICannotSelfTerminate to not kill herself]], do anything against them, lie to them, and she has to operate as a spy for them. They eliminate every possible option for rebellion/escape, or letting her Psi Collective people know what happened to her in any way.

* In TheDresdenFiles all the vampire courts appear to have this to a greater or lesser degree. When the Red Court fully transform the human part of them dies entirely, though the physical form is still used as a "flesh mask" by the creature within. However they don't cross over until they drink human blood, and several members of the organization dedicated to fighting the Red Court are [[VampireRefugee Vampire Refugees]]. The Black Court are Dracula style vampires, but little is mentioned about how they reproduce except that they do it fast, which does imply a pretty complete transformation. The White Court are the least hit by it. They end up sharing their body with a demonic Hunger that heavily influences them, but it is possible to fight against it. They're also a family, so it's more a matter of accepting the family business than a 180 degree allegiance switch.

* Implied in part with the Red Court converting wizards in TheDresdenFiles. And the White Court.

*** Or in The Rose Princess [[spoiler: A woman with an axe to grind against the titular Vampiress (said vampiress had killed her family) got turned in an unusual fashion. After D killed the vampiress, Elena asked D to join her in ruling over the humans, and comments that being a vampire is so much better.]]

** Only because he hates vampires even more than people, though. It's mentioned in the films that he survived by killing and draining homeless people before meeting Whistler (nothing much is made of that, because the homeless obviously aren't real people.)

** Zombie Spider-Man was hit with the business end of the HorrorHunger stick ''just'' as he got home to Mary Jane and Aunt May. Hilarity ensued. [[{{Metaphorgotten}} By which I mean cannibalism.]]

!!Examples

* The Transhuman Arm of the Combine Overwatch in HalfLife2 is somewhere between this and LesCollaborateurs. Humans start out joining Civil Protection to get decent rations; promotions are tied to voluntary brainwashing until they become eligible for MindRape and modification into actual transhumans (though the Combine often picks up random civilians for conversion too). Soldiers presumably go through the same rank system with the highest-ranking Elites being more like synths than cyborgs.

* [[http://www.drunkduck.com/Charby_the_Vampirate/ Charby the Vampirate]] once explained that this effect is there to keep a new vampire from immediately turning around and using his/her powers against the one that sired them. It doesn't last forever and can be overcome by [[HeroicWillpower sufficient willpower]], but in some cases it's MoreThanMindControl.

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<<|BetrayalTropes|>>

*** Well, there was [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Neytiri]]. Love can make a protagonist do anything.

* Plenty of activists within the deaf community object ''very'' strongly to cochlear implants, considering users of such implants to have betrayed and insulted their close-knit subculture.