troperville
tools
toys
12th Feb: A new policy is being put in place for TRS threads: Make your case that the name/page is broken in the Opening Post, or the thread will be nuked immediately. See Everything You Wanted To Know About Changing Names for what "Make your case" means.
5th Feb: Echo Chamber Season 1 blooper reel on Youtube here
SubpagesLaconic
Main
|
Kindness is a highly valuable trait in people, but, if taken to extremes, also a potentially dangerous one to have. In episodes where the Nice Guy and Friend to All Living Things will unavoidably have to face danger, friends will try to teach them assertiveness, a few self defense moves, or actual fighting techniques to face threats. The problem lies in that they are too timid, half hearted, Weak Willed or kind to avoid their Extreme Doormat tendencies, much less actually learn to fight.
The solution is to teach him or her anger and rage; rather than dealing with their anger in a healthy way (or more likely, sublimating it) instead channel it into their words and fists. In extreme cases, even going so far as to instill a killer instinct.
This can have two outcomes, one good and one bad.
The good outcome results in the character taking a level in badass and gaining a backbone along with the combat skills thanks to this training, which may take the form of anything from simple self defense classes to outright maddening them into misanthropy. Their nature and demeanor as a kind/caring/friendly person will otherwise remain unchanged, but now they'll stand up for themselves and the weak rather than simply caring for them.
The bad outcome happens when they learn anger only too well. In some cases, these kind and caring pacifists subconsciously knew they were carefully balanced over a dormant volcano of potential violence and chose to keep it dormant at all costs. And then their friends went and woke it up. If Phlebotinum is involved then it is likely paired with An Aesop against changing others to suit you... because they'll turn into Brainwashed and Crazy dynamos of destruction who revel in their new Superpowered Evil Side. There may be a cry of " What Have I Become?"/" What Have I Done" if someone they care for is hurt, or killed!
On the bright side, these usually end in Pygmalion Snapback.
Compare Did You Think I Can't Feel?, Rage Breaking Point.
Contrast We Want Our Jerk Back. This may be applied to large groups in the form of Training the Peaceful Villagers.
Examples:
open/close all folders
Anime and Manga
Comicbooks
- Bruce Banner has Aesop Amnesia about this. The Hulk, of course, doesn't need to be taught anger. But the Hulk is usually considered a product of Banner's repressed rage, childhood abuse, and generally screwed-up psyche. Trying to control or get rid of the Hulk usually involves helping him with those issues, often meaning not bottling things up so much. Sometimes this results in fewer Hulk episodes, sometimes it results in a smarter Hulk, and at least once it resulted in a Banner with the Hulk's strength.
Films — Live-Action
Literature
- Wizard's First Rule has Zedd teach Richard how to channel his anger instead of surpressing it, which allows him to use the full power of the Sword of Truth.
- Emperor Mage, the third book of The Immortals quartet, Daine learns to use her anger to focus her power, though admittedly she has plenty to be angry about already.
- Not precisely. Her anger over Numair's apparent death simply gave her the motivation to seek out a source of power strong enough that she could punish Ozorne with it. Though this does lead to some rather entertaining dialogue when she is talking back to the Hag.
- In Carpe Jugulum, the Magpyr family are vampires, the patriarch of which has extensively trained to resist all the classic vampire weaknesses because he doesn't see why they have to do it the stupid way and lose some of the time when they can win all the time with training. When the old Count de Magpyr returns, he's encouraged to take his grandchildren under his wing and teach them stupid, because biding your time, dead, for a few decades, is how a vampire really gets ahead.
- Dialed Up to Eleven in The Fionavar Tapestry trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay. The race of Giants are the ultimate pacifists, unable to hate and unwilling to defend themselves. All but one refuse to even so much as ask for aid when they are being slowly tortured to death, because it would mean someone else has to battle on their behalf. When they are rescued from the brink of extinction, they are still unable to hate on their own behalf — only being forced to witness the brutal rape of someone else finally undoes their absolute pacifism. And even undone, they still never shed blood or directly fight in any way.
- The novelization of Revenge of the Sith makes the Sith efforts to do this to Anakin more explicit - Count Dooku thinks that the plan is that he kills Obi-Wan, then Darth Sidious talks Anakin into joining the Sith, then Dooku surrenders and gets to sit out the war and become part of the developing Empire. It doesn't work quite like that.
- This is Played for Laughs in the Thursday Next novel Something Rotten, where Hamlet himself gets some life-coaching on how to be take action and be more assertive.
Live-Action TV
- The "bad outcome" of this occurs in an episode of Farscape, "That Old Black Magic." Zhaan must revive her old sadistic anarchist ways in order to defeat Maldis. It takes her several episodes to fully regain her self-control.
- In one fourth season episode, where an evil spider alien stole the most important aspects of the main cast's personalities (John's determination, Aeryn's self-control, Chiana's sex drive, Rygel's greed, D'argo's anger), Chiana proves it by trying to teach D'argo anger again by beating him up. It doesn't work, which is a really big problem.
- Star Trek: The Original Series has Kirk have to anger up Spock (who's on the feelgood spores) and then let himself get smacked around by an enraged Vulcan until he gets it all out of his system.
- Doctor Who. One of the Doctor's companions does this to the Thaals, to show them there are some things they're willing to fight over. The Thaals had previously been willing to be exterminated by the Daleks rather than break their pacifist ways.
- On 30 Rock, Kenneth of all people takes it upon himself to push new guy Danny Baker to anger so that he doesn't get stepped on by Tracy and Jenna.
Videogames
- Jade Empire allows an evil character to do this to Dawn Star.
- Organization XIII attempts to do this in Kingdom Hearts 2 to Sora, I think.
- It wasn't necessarily that they were trying to teach him anger. Rather, they were trying to exploit his anger and his drive to protect his friends in order to get him to further their goals ( Or, in Marluxia's case, control him completely by altering his memories and having him doggedly destroy anything that Marluxia would have convinced him was a threat to Namine; that is, the leaders of Organization XIII.)
- Part of Xehanort's plan in Birth By Sleep. After He saw Terra lose his cool during the Mark of Mastery Exam he sets up a Xanatos Gambit. After disappearing he sets up an encounter with Maleficent to make his friends question his hold over the darkness. Afterwards Terra is convinced to hunt down Vanitas and stop the darkness in his own way knowing his friends would not understand. During this Xehanort sets up the climax. By setting him up to defeat Master Eraqus, the last thing that would stop him and throw Terra off the Slippery Slope at the same time. Terra loses it and defeats the Corrupt master, however all had went to plan for him, Terra had lost himself to the darkness and he was then ready for Xehanort's Grand Theft Me.
- In Planescape: Torment, the Nameless One can teach an NPC how to get angry. The goal is to get her annoyed enough at her co-workers to gossip about them, though.
- In Sword Of The Stars, the second variant describes the training of Black Swimmers. The Liir are a species of Empaths who are pacifistic as a result, but because they need to defend themselves somehow a special caste of volunteers known as the Black Swimmers keep them safe by teaching themselves how to hate and kill. Black Swimmers are basically irredeemably Ax Crazy by Liir standards and both sides are all too aware of this, but are nonetheless necessary for the race as a whole to survive. Their Initiation Ceremony involves 'drowning' the aspirant in liquid oxygen until they black out and abandon all hope.
- In Phantasy Star IV, the main character can go to the Anger Tower and learn, arguably, the most powerful technique in the game, which happens to be fueled by anger; this trope comes into play when Re-Faze puts Chaz to a Secret Test of Character: forcing him to confront and then kill a specter of his deceased mentor and surrogate mother, and then taunt him for his pain after realizing it was an illusion, then offer to teach him the Forbidden technique to taunt him with how incredibly powerful it would be.
- The Beast does this to Will in Days of Ruin in order to make him a satisfying opponent. His method of doing so? Killing civilians. It works well enough that the Beast is never seen again after that mission (presumed dead based on Caulder's lines).
Webcomics
Web Originals
- In Red vs. Blue, Caboose (a very nice, but exceptionally dumb member of Blue Team) was possessed by the AI O'Malley. Later, Caboose and Sarge are fighting two armies of flag-worshipping zealots. Caboose claims that "O'Malley taught me how to be mean"; by concentrating on things that make him angry (red bull, kittens with spikes on them), he proceeds to go crazy and wipe out both teams; before waking up with no recollection of his actions.
Western Animation
|
|
