'''Basic Trope''': The combination of an DesignatedHero with elements of the TortureTechnician, wrapped up in a TheHero KnightInShiningArmor package, and stuck on the "white" side of BlackAndWhiteMorality.
* '''Straight''':
** Bob uses ColdBloodedTorture against Ahmed in a scene that seems to almost even have creepily fetishy overtones. Everything from the narrative to the resolution of the story makes it clear that Bob was not only doing the right thing but that Ahmed was ''at the very best'' an AssholeVictim, if not a clear and present danger from whom only Bob's torture saved the day.
** Bob is a police detective investigating Carl, an alleged PedophilePriest. Instead of arresting him, he drives him to his home and keeps him in his basement, torturing and raping him repeatedly to "show him how those kids felt." The narrative of the story depicts this as "real justice" in some way or another, and props Bob up as a CowboyCop revenge fantasy hero who did what the legal system could not.
* '''Exaggerated''':
** Bob is a general overseeing an army which happily, frequently, and openly uses ColdBloodedTorture (and everything else on ATorturedIndex) and rapes as a weapon of war. He sees nothing wrong with this, does nothing to control his soldiers, and even endorses the widespread torture and rape as "necessary." The narrative of the story depicts him and his nation as the KnightInShiningArmor and the white side of BlackAndWhiteMorality.
** The entire manga ''The Sword Of Pain'' consists of Bob taking cases the legitimate legal system cannot or will not touch and resolving them... via sadistic torture and his GagPenis.
* '''Downplayed''':
** Bob uses the CoolAndUnusualPunishment or TickleTorture or similar, or ineffectual threats that are recognized as such, in a story celebrating him as TheHero for doing so.
** Alternately, the torture is real, serious ColdBloodedTorture or rape or the like, but Bob is portrayed as a TortureTechnician or any of the flavors of AntiHero, and any in-universe praise of his torture is muted or understated at best.
* '''Justified''':
** Bob lives in a society where the legal system has completely broken down and is the closest thing to a legitimate authority, and torture was used by the government before everything collapsed anyway.
** Bob is a torturer in a fantasy world where everyone he tortures is a member of an AlwaysChaoticEvil race [[PayEvilUntoEvil that spend all their time kicking dogs and eating babies so no one has any issue with his incredibly sadistic]] ColdBloodedTorture.
* '''Inverted''':
** Bob refuses to torture even when the rules tell him to torture, and he is TheHero for saying ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight.
** Alice, Bob's partner, discovers he's taken the PedophilePriest to somewhere other than the police station. She reports this to InternalAffairs and to the captain, and goes to investigate herself. Bob is arrested for rape, aggravated assault, attempted murder, and more, and Carl is taken to the hospital for treatment and either properly arrested or released if there was no evidence. ''Alice'' and/or ''[[SympathyForTheDevil maybe even the]] PedophilePriest'' is hailed as TheHero for uncovering Bob as the RabidCop torturing people, and for testifying against him. Bonus points if HeWhoFightsMonsters is invoked.
* '''Subverted''':
** Bob takes Ahmed to what looks like a waterboarding room, then whispers "I'm not going to do this, but pretend you're terrified and in a lot of pain so I don't get fired." He does this with every alleged terrorist he's asked to torture, finding a way to make it ''look'' like he tortures them for his superiors when he actually lends a sympathetic ear and tries to find out who's really a hardcore terrorist and who's really just misled/stupid/uninvolved/etcetera, and the story celebrates him for being a GuileHero and MilitaryMaverick who actually does better at getting valuable information than the real torturers do.
** Bob is a ByTheBookCop and arrests Carl after a thorough investigation proves that Carl is indeed a PedophilePriest.
* '''Double Subverted''':
** But then Bob does torture some of the alleged terrorists brought to him - only the ones he's sure aren't innocent or of some sort of diminished capacity and who he's sure ''were'' directly involved in terrorism - and this is praised in the story and he is TheHero for doing it, just as he is for letting the less culpable escape torture.
** Bob makes absolutely sure that the PedophilePriest is [[CruelMercy put into general population at the county jail]] and when he stops by to question him one more time, announces in earshot of anyone nearby that he's in for sexual abuse of children - almost certainly setting up his killing or PrisonRape. The story celebrates this act as heroic and providing "justice."
* '''Parodied''':
** Bob is a [[ANaziByAnyOtherName fascist]] OmnicidalManiac who tortures and kills people solely because it amuses him and matches his own moral code (much like, say, Kefka of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' or The Plutonian) - and he's ''still'' TheHero and the KnightInShiningArmor and the most moral person of the story and the story is practically trying to [[{{Anvilicious}} shove it down everyone's throat]] that he is the Greatest Person In The World. Later it turns out the story is BlackComedy and [[PoesLaw a Poe.]]
** The story is about ExaltedTorturer characters whining about why everyone considers them the DirtyCop and RabidCop, war criminals, and the lowest scum of society, among the other opinions people who don't support torture have of such. It's titled "We Were Just Doing Our Jobs..."
* '''Zig Zagged''': Bob tortures one person (who is an AssholeVictim at best) and is celebrated as TheHero and his torture is heroic. Then, he tortures someone else or several other people, who turn out to be innocent - and is knocked down to AntiHero and RabidCop status having been seen as JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope. Then, he's brought back to the police department or recruited by a PrivateMilitaryContractor to find and get information from a dangerous, violent person using "any means possible," and this is portrayed as a redemptive, heroic mission.
* '''Averted''':
** Torture in any form is not a part of the story or setting.
** People who commit torture in the course of the story or setting are portrayed as the TortureTechnician at best.
** If BlackAndWhiteMorality is the setting, this trope is averted when those who would use torture are ''always'' on the darkest part of the black side, with the violence of the white side being efficient, fast death or incapacitation rather than torture. "We do not torture" and strict adherence to UsefulNotes/TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar or the law will be invoked.
** If the setting is any of the following:\\
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A) GoodVersusGood (where only the downplayed version of the trope with LighterAndSofter "torture" PlayedForLaughs such as the CoolAndUnusualPunishment or TickleTorture can exist without changing the morality)\\
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B) GreyAndGreyMorality (where everyone's actions are questionable and the story is making you question, and TheHero / KnightInShiningArmor ''cannot exist'')\\
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C) EvilVersusEvil (everyone is evil, no one is TheHero and none of their acts of violence are portrayed as "good" or "right")
* '''Enforced''':
** The story is reliant on BlackAndWhiteMorality and therefore TheHero can do no wrong - which in effect unintentionally turns the BlackAndWhiteMorality into either BlackAndWhiteInsanity or BlueAndOrangeMorality.
** The story is a {{Revenge}} fantasy, and not meant to actually encourage the viewers to think about the UnfortunateImplications or what a bad thing torture really is.
* '''Lampshaded''': ???
* '''Invoked''': ???
* '''Exploited''': ???
* '''Defied''': "Uh-uh. [[TortureIsIneffective Torture's an impractical and immoral way to get information out of suspects -]] I'm not using it."
* '''Discussed''': ???
* '''Conversed''': ???
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%% Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:
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%%* '''Implied''': ???
%%* '''Deconstructed''': ???
%%* '''Reconstructed''': ???
%%* '''Plotted A Good Waste''': ???
%%* '''Played For Laughs''': ???
%%* '''Played For Drama''': ???