Basic Trope: Demonic Possession costs the host body to wither.
- Straight: Jake's body is host to the demon Thorn, and as the series progresses, his body grows more and more sickly and weak as Thorn remains attached to him. There's a real risk of Jake dying if something isn't done.
- Exaggerated: Jake immediately becomes a walking corpse when Thorn possesses him, and he's only barely kept alive because Thorn wants him alive.
- Downplayed: Jake is still able to fight at top efficiency with Thorn inside him, but he's more liable to making mistakes and indirectly hurting himself due to having to fight for control.
- Justified:
- Jake's body is dying because of Thorn slowly overwriting it to match his own.
- Jake's body cannot handle the demonic power surging through it and gradually shuts down.
- Demons are inherently toxic to non-demonic life, and this is what happens if a demon decides to take control of a human.
- Inverted:
- Jake actually grows healthier with Thorn hijacking his body.
- Or Thorn ends up slowly dying the longer he's stuck to Jake.
- Subverted: Jake seems to be growing weaker with Thorn inside him... except wait, no, it's just a common disease that's crippling him.
- Double Subverted: But the common disease is a sign of possession taking its toll.
- Parodied: ???
- Zig-Zagged: Jake's body regularly ping pongs between being supremely strong to barely able to walk, depending on how much influence Thorn exerts on him.
- Averted: Jake's body remains stable while under Thorn's possession.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: "God, it's like the worst roommate ever, except multiplied by a hundred!"
- Invoked: Thorn thrives off pain and suffering, but can't do anything in the human world without a host. So he takes control of Jake, and on top of being able to do what he wants, he also feeds on Jake's agony as he slowly withers.
- Exploited: Judith, a Knight Templar, deliberately attacks the Thorn-possessed Jake with holy implements, with Holy Burns Evil ensuring Thorn is crippled, at Jake's expense.
- Defied:
- Thorn leaves Jake before long, and Jake doesn't suffer any longterm effects.
- Thorn takes precautions to not put too much exertion on Jake's body, not wanting him to die.
- Discussed:
Jake: "You should have thought long and hard about what you did before you came along. Now look at me, I'm dying while you're thriving."
Thorn: "Yeah, yeah, I know, but the sooner this shit is done, the sooner I'm outta here."
Thorn: "Yeah, yeah, I know, but the sooner this shit is done, the sooner I'm outta here."
- Conversed: ???
- Implied: ???
- Deconstructed:
- With Jake's body growing weaker, Thorn's unable to achieve his goals due to the body he's possessing being too frail to withstand further possession.
- Jake dies and ends up taking Thorn with him due to them being intrinsically linked.
- Thorn has to constantly abandon hosts when they grow too weak to carry on, and finds his options growing slimmer.
- Reconstructed:
- Jake grows weaker, but Thorn's powers grant him ungodly strength and endurance even as his body falls apart. He's determined to save the day with those powers while he still has time.
- Burnout is recognized as a common hazard when dealing with demons, so Jake is given medication and equipment to withstand corruption long enough to achieve his goals.
- Jake happens to be resilient enough to handle Thorn's possession of him for a good length of time before decay sets in.
- Played for Laughs: ???
- Played for Drama: Thorn possessing Jake was an Emergency Transformation, and both are acutely aware of Jake's time running out before he dies. It's a regular source of conflict and stress for both parties.
- Played for Horror: Jake becomes more and more like a demonic zombie under Thorn's control, and when he finally dies, that's when Thorn is able to completely control his corpse as a macabre puppet to cause mayhem and death.
Return to Possession Burnout before the troper in your brain shuts your heart off!
