History Main / TwoPlusTortureMakesFive

* In an episode of ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', a Cardassian TortureTechnician tries to force Picard to state that there are five lights on the wall, when there are really only four. Every time Picard insists that there are four, he gets tortured. Picard later admits that, in the very end, he did break under torture and actually saw five lights, but orders to release him come just in time for him to defiantly proclaim, "There are four lights!"

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2_25_7446.jpg
[[caption-width:349:[[OhCrap Oh shit.]]]]

'''Note Two:''' The page illustration is not this trope. It is about fulfilling the five years plan in four years through enthusiasm. It might be an inspiration for George Orwell though.

* {{Portal}}: [[spoiler:At the end, where [=GLaDOS=] is undergoing what she would describe as torture says "Two plus two equals f-f-f-f-ten. [[LastMinuteWordSwap In base four!]] I'm fine!"]]

* {{Portal}}: [[spoiler:At the end, where [=GLaDOS=] is undergoing what she would describe as torture says "Two plus two equals f-f-f-f-ten. [[LastMinuteWordChange In base four!]] I'm fine!"]]

'''Note Two:''' The page illustration is not this trope. It is about fulfilling the five years plan in four years through enthusiasm.

* Possibly referenced in ''[[{{Disney/Aladdin}} The Return Of Jafar]]''. During the "You're Only Second Rate" number, Jafar produces a blackboard which reads "2 + 2 = 5".

* Possibly referenced in ''[[Disney/Aladdin The Return Of Jafar]]''. During the "You're Only Second Rate" number, Jafar produces a blackboard which reads "2 + 2 = 5".

'''Note:''' This trope has nothing to do with actual math or equations. All examples of 2 plus 2 actually equalling 5 should go [[Trivia/{{Math}} here]].

* Parodied in a TV show by Swedish comedian Hans Alfredsson, in which he plays the leader of a small semi-Nazi organisation, whose main targets are "svartskallar" — literally "blackheads", a common ethnic slur in Sweden. The Movement is supposed to be vegetarian and celibate, but when a rich and influential member tells the Leader that he owns a sausage factory and is not about to give up his wife, the Leader tells everyone that from now on, sausages and women are vegetables. At the end of the story, the Leader meets his mother for the first time... and she turns out to be black. When someone asks what this means for party policy the Leader declares that from now on, red is black and black is red... and the members turn on the single red-headed member with evil glee.

* {{Portal}}: [[spoiler:At the end, where GLaDOS is undergoing what she would describe as torture says "Two plus two equals f-f-f-f-ten. [[LastMinuteWordChange In base four!]] I'm fine!"]]

* In an episode of ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', a Cardassian TortureTechnician tries to force Picard to state that there are five lights on the wall, when there are really only four. Every time Picard insists that there are four, he gets tortured. Picard later admits that, in the very end, he did break under torture and actually saw five lights, but he's rescued just in time to recover and triumphantly proclaim, "There are four lights!"

* In an episode of ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', a Cardassian TortureTechnician tries to force Picard to state that there are five lights on the wall, when there are really only four. Every time Picard insists that there are four, he gets tortured. Picard later adits that he did break under torture and actually saw five lights, but he's rescued just in time for him to recover and triumphantly proclaim, "There are four lights!"

* '''''[[StarTrekTheNextGeneration "THERE! ARE! FOUR! LIGHTS!"]]''''' A Cardassian TortureTechnician tries to force Picard to admit there are five lights. Even though Picard doesn't break, he later admits to Troi [[spoiler:that, just for a second, he truly did see five lights at the end]].
* The torture and interrogation of [[BabylonFive John Sheridan]] in "Intersections in Real Time" is based around manipulating perspective and convincing Sheridan to accept the fact that the truth is fluid, and therefore he's a mutineer, a conspirator, a terrorist, and a victim of alien influence.
** He even manages to rather effectively turn the logic around against his interrogator. Saying that, essentially, just as their truth is valid to them, so is his to himself.

** [[JustifiedTrope Cosmo then says, "It's true, we can!"]]

[[AC:{{Meta}}]]
* The top-page banner is NOT a viable example since the words beneath the equation say "plus working enthusiasm". The banner impels to complete the five year production plan in four years.

* {{Portal}}: [[spoiler:At the end, where GLaDOS is undergoing what she would describe as torture says "Two plus two equals f-f-f-f-ten. In base four! I'm fine!"]]

* Variation in ''HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows''. While interrogating a Muggle-born witch for "stealing" magic, Umbridge demands to know who she stole her wand from while refusing to acknowledge the obvious fact that Muggle-borns could purchase their own wands before the new regime, which is all of one month old at this point.

[[caption-width:349:[[OhCrap Oh '''shit.''']]

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by ''Assassin's Creed'': The Tenth Templar [[spoiler:Al-Mualim]] stands before the player as the last boss wielding a device that can cast illusions and control human minds, with the only exception being someone trained to withstand it (in this case, the player). He goes for full-on solipsism and declares the Apple of Eden proof that [[LargeHam "Nothing is true... and everything is permitted!"]]
**[[ShoutOut Right from]] [[OlderThanTheyThink the book]] ''{{Alamut}}''
*** Even older than that - supposedly Hasan ibn Sabbah, the founder of the order of Hashishim spoke those words with his dying breath, though the recorder didn't hold him in high regard, and declared that he immediately fell to Hell after that passage. It's generally not considered a moral code, but a fancy way of saying "nothing is impossible to an enlightened mind."

* Part of what happened to Tycho Celchu between the comics and the books of the XWingSeries. He was bent pretty terribly by Isard but didn't actually break. When she overlaid Rebel and Imperial insignia and tried to transfer his loyalty to one over to the other, the contradiction sent him into a catatonic state.

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]
* ''CaseyAndAndy'' has [[CannotTellALie Quantum Cop]] [[TeachHimAnger learning how to lie]]; "Two plus two equals... eleven. [--(...in base 3)--]"