Basic Trope: Torture is portrayed as a highly effective method of extracting information from unwillingly informants.
- Straight: Of the numerous competing intelligence agencies of the Troperitanian Republic, the Troperitania Domestic Intelligence Agency is depicted as the most effective amongst them for it's judicious use of torture in it's Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, under the tenure of Intelligence Director Bob.
- Exaggerated:
- Just the mere mention of torture will cause suspects to spill, not only the beans, but also all of their closely guarded secrets, all of the deeply embarrassing situations they have been involved in, and their entire life story.
- In fact, the sensation of pain is enough to turn people into knights who Cannot Tell a Lie and cannot keep their mouths shut.
- Downplayed: While not entirely effective, either due to lies, half-truths, or "Rashomon"-Style exposition, consolidation of it all is enough to piece together the whole story for the TDIA.
- Justified: The TDIA specializes in harvesting information from suspects that have a debilitating fear of physical torment and will do anything that is necessary to escape the threat of torture.
- Inverted: Torture Is Ineffective
- Subverted: It turns out that the information extracted from the suspects were all lies, and sometimes the suspects themselves were Too Kinky to Torture, told to please the (non-sadistic) Torture Technicians, and either Bob was ignorant of this or was simply your average, Ax-Crazy sociopath that was looking to pander to his own darker predilections under the guise of working for the Republic's best interests. Regardless, Bob is impounded and the TDIA is dissolved.
- Double Subverted: ...but then it turns out that the cases in which torture was inefficacious were fringe cases, and torture really does work.
- Parodied: Torture is so effective that people eventually stop asking questions, electing to just torture the interlocutor on the spot.
- Zig-Zagged: Torture seems to get the job done, but the subject, Gabriel, is a Consummate Liar, and everything he said was complete and utter horseshit. But then it turns out that he was trying to cough up the truth, but couldn't because he Cannot Tell the Truth so he had to beat about the bush and convey the whole story through metaphor and idioms. But the one who came up with that story, Emily, an old associate of Gabriel, was still in on the scam (exposing The Syndicate would precipitate the end of her career, after all), and torture truly was ineffective. But then...
- Averted: Torture as an interrogation technique is regarded as dated and pointlessly cruel, and thus never used.
- Enforced: The writer cannot think of any other interrogation method that is more effective than plain torture.
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: Frank convinces Bob to use torture as a method of information extraction in an attempt to lure him over to The Dark Side, lying about it's effectiveness, and supplying the intelligence director with hired actors that Feel No Pain and will give him (often false and subversive) information after a few minutes of torture.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Bob considers using torture as a means to an end, but simply elects to use Truth Serums and hire telepaths instead, which produces less mess and waste, and suppresses the development of Ax-Crazy and/or suicidally traumatized Torture Technicians
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
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