Empty Shell Wick Check / Sandbox

Empty Shell Wick Check

Empty Shell, according to it's description, Laconic, and Playing With page, is specifically about emotionlessness. The problem I've noticed, which I assume is due to the trope's misleading name, is that a lot of examples attribute it to literal hollowness, as in no mind or conciousness left in there at all. This runs contrary to the description which says "There is still something there — they move, talk, eat, sleep — but they have no drive, ambition, or capacity for emotion."

My wick check showed that out of a random sample, not even a supermajority of correct usage was found. I blame that entirely on the title, an artifact of when tropes could be named after examples from media, so it was taken from Battle Royale assuming everyone would get the reference.

Wicks Checked: 54/54

Correct Use (31/54) 57%

Characters.Battle Royale: He is completely without emotions. Justifed in the novel, Kiriyama suffered a major brain injury when he was a fetus, resulting in him to be born without emotions whatsoever. In the manga, he suffers this injury as a child.
Characters.Blaz Blue Calamity Trigger 2: As a result of the injuries Hakumen inflicted on her and losing the one thing that gave her life meaning, her memories of Ragna, Nu is reduced to this state in the end of Central Fiction. She is seen lying in bed, not responding to anything, in a near-catatonic state.
Characters.Cinderella Phenomenon: In Waltz's bad ending, Hildyr completely drains her of her magic and she becomes an obedient, practically lifeless doll.
Characters.Cruelty Squad: As his fan nicknames would suggest, he's so beaten down by the dismal state of his life that he responds to every situation he encounters with apathetic silence.
Characters.Dragon Age Organizations: The original purpose of the Rite of Tranquility was to serve as the Seekers' initiation. Permanent Tranquility was supposed to be the price of failure. No one knew that it stripped mages of their magic until one tried and failed to join the Seekers to gain their immunity to possession.
Characters.Fate Extra Humans: In Meltryllis’s dungeon. Caster was turned into a doll and torn apart by Meltryllis, and because Alice's connection with her Servant is like a mirror, this left Alice as helpless as the torn doll. She’s described as “the soul leaving from [her] eyes, even though she’s still alive,” after making her last words a plea to give Caster back. Only by returning the real Caster to Alice can she can finally pass on.
Characters.Guardian Tales: In the Old Diary story bit found by progressing through the first Expedition, he gives Clara a feather-shaped location emitter that she can use to call for him whenever she needs him, doubling as an I Will Find You. Cue in Kaden's disappearance and Clara's descent into becoming an Empty Shell. I double-checked Clara's page, and it's used correctly there.
Characters.Guardians Wizards And Kung Fu Fighters Phobos Court: After being raped by Rhouglar, she pretends that the trauma has turned her into an Empty Shell, so that her rebel captors will eventually drop their guard around her, allowing her to rescue her husband and escape.
Characters.Gushing Over Magical Girls: Claims to be emotionally deadened during her fight with Baiser, and her reactions to things not having to do with Imita do tend to be quite shallow.
Characters.The Haunting Of Bly Manor: The oldest ghosts lose so much of themselves that they become nothing more than patterns and habits without minds. They may sing along to a song they hear, but they barely do anything more than simply exist.
Characters.Higurashi When They Cry Protagonists: In the PS2 exclusive Taraimawashi-hen, Mion survives the Great Hinamizawa Disaster, but her trauma has left her in a vegetative state. She still hasn't recovered in her late twenties.
Characters.In Cryptid: After having his mind accidentally wiped and becoming an Empty Shell, Sarah tries to reconstruct his mind from everyone else's memories of him, but not having his own original memories makes him a little...off.
Characters.Kamen Rider Black Sun: By the time its heart gets ripped out by Kotaro, the Creation King has effectively become this, showing very little free will, and only defends itself due to insticts
Characters.Magic Knight Rayearth: When captured by the Cephireans in the second season, the poor woman is seen vacant and despondent to almost anything. Lantis is the only one who can make her react, and that's just because she thinks he is Zagato.
Characters.Marvel Comics Symbiotes: Ultimately leaves with Tel-Kar's ship (and his brain-dead body) to explore the universe on its own, though it returns in Absolute Carnage.
Characters.Moribito: He loses his mind after the Giving Ceremony, which is a fitting end for him as it renders him no longer capable of deceiving and manipulating people.
Characters.The Nostalgia Chick: She takes pretty good care of the Critic in the Moulin Rouge! crossover, being the one to tell him that it's okay to like parts of the movie (even though she herself has problems with that) and looking visibly unhappy after he hits Empty Shell mode after killing Floss.
Characters.Persona Q 2 New Cinema Labyrinth: What she basically is at the beginning of the game. Everything inside her has been hollowed out by the series of emotional abuses dealt by people around her...and ultimately by herself.
Characters.Pillars Of Eternity Races: A creature without a soul is comatose, unable to move or react, devoid of anything but basic biological function. The (very technical) term for this in-universe is Hollowborn, with a plague of children in the Dyrwood being born Hollowborn, called Waidwen's Legacy, kicking off the first game.
Characters.The Silver Case: When Kodai and Akira discover Kamui, they find a silent man who lacks any potential to kill anyone.
Characters.A Song Of Ice And Fire Essos The Free Cities: Being made a Sex Slave has turned her into an Empty Shell of a person. And unlike Jeyne Poole, nobody's coming to save her.
Characters.Soul Edge: Post-resurrection, he's described as feeling a "long emptiness" only brought to an end by joining with Soul Edge once more.
Characters.Steven Universe Pink Diamond: "Together Alone" revealed that she had a friend in Pink Pearl, her first Pearl. The two shared a casual yet close friendship that was frowned upon by the other Diamonds; when the two were caught, White Diamond permanently turned Pink Pearl into an Empty Shell that served only as her current Diamond's mouthpiece, White Pearl. She then gave Pink Diamond a new Pearl, one who was made to be a Sycophantic Servant… the Pearl who would become a member of the Crystal Gems.
Characters.Tales Of Arise: The people of his realm, both Renan and Dahnan alike, have been reduced to empty husks of their former selves thanks to his cruel abuse of them.
Characters.Tales Of Crestoria Alternative Tales Counterparts: Laphicet in Berseria was a Empty Shell upon first being introduced, and developed a sense of self through interacting with Velvet and the others. Here, he already has a defined personality and is more upbeat and cheerful at the start of the game.
Characters.The Unexpectables Non Playable Characters: His current three headed state is noted to have soulless eyes and at one point only stares at Obby blankly while he tries to get himself freed from the dragon cult's treasure hoard, essentially operating only on instinct and Darkus’ orders.
Characters.Valkyria Chronicles 4 Squad E: Stopping Riley from entering the burning Miller Company factory to save her family in their youth. This left him an Empty Shell until a fight with Raz snapped him out of it a few years before the game, and it drives him to prove to his childhood friends, especially Riley, that he has changed for the better.
Characters.X Men Rogues Gallery S To Z: Being possessed by him. As revealed by Karma, victims are completely aware the whole time, unable to stop Farouk from his systematic degradation of their bodies and, indeed, are suffering from ceaseless psychological torture in their own heads as Farouk works to make them empty shells. The harder a victim fights back, the more Farouk enjoys it and the longer he draws out their suffering.
Characters.Yu Gi Oh VRAINS Bohmans Faction: The Hanoi Project and all the hell and torture he went through made him suffer even worse than Yusaku, shaken over the incident and unable to leave. He gets better after he is informed that the Lost Incident/Hanoi Project was brought to a closure... only for Bohman to appear shortly after and suck his soul away, leaving Jin a lifeless husk. His consciousness is then suppressed and he is made into Lightning's aide. He gets much better in Season 3 after losing all his memories of the Lost Incident and is no longer a lifeless shell.
Zekkyou Gakkyuu: Becomes this at the end of the story due to her latest capsule prize making her completely nonresponsive to anyone.

Misused: Not Emotionless (1/54) 1%

Characters.Danny Phantom Stranded The Traville Family: By the end of "Visited", Beatrice has become a timid wreck and shut-in who lives in fear of Danny's return. Fear and Paranoia are still emotions that motivate a character

Misused: Completely Hollow (7/54) 13%

Characters.Child Of The Storm Non Aligned Villains: He's characterised as someone playing with action figures and dolls. Which gets especially chilling when it's some person's Empty Shell after he's slowly eaten their soul.
Characters.Eleutherophobia: The Yeerks used her body to conceive babies that would subsequently be used as hosts, creating an Empty Shell that wouldn't develop the brain power to fight back. part of the description implies that this state is the result of some sort of shift, so examples where there was never any mind to begin with probably shouldn't count.
Characters.Grrl Power Antagonists: Downplayed. Her true form is the flame-eye thing floating at her brow, and she can transfer it from body to body. However, she only truly "possesses" the body if it's an Empty Shell. When she jumps into a body with a prior occupant, she has to share.
Characters.Kirby Other Major Antagonists: The crown normally does this to its wearer, slowly corrupting them with hate until they become an Empty Shell for the Master Crown to manifest its powers and desires through. We see this in action with Magolor Soul, who has been completely possessed by the crown and is helpless to stop himself from destroying everything.
Characters.Prototype: There's nothing human left in her any more; all that remains is the virus in an empty human host.
Characters.Puella Magi Tart Magica: Her body is just a puppet being used by her witch when we meet her.
Characters.Samurai Shodown Warriors Rage: In Samurai Shodown 2, Hattori Hanzo goes to rescue Shinzo's soul to merge it back with his body, after it's stolen by Mizuki. He succeeds, but at the cost of his wife's life.
Characters.The Thorium Mod: When you hire him, the actual Weapon Master NPC remains where he was. However, trying to talk to him just results in this, implying that the NPC you normally interact with is just an Empty Shell inhabited by the more obviously demonic form that appears when you hire him. This sounds much more like Astral Projection.
blankly stares through you, as though he's not entirely there...

Misused: Example of a different trope (2/54) 3%

Characters.Big Brother 20 The Jury: By the time of her eviction, her alliance is gone, she can't win any challenges, and she's officially given up all hope, now just begging to be sent home. Better fit for Despair Event Horizon, also this trope was declared No Real Life Examples, Please!, which I'm pretty sure also applies to Reality Shows?
Characters.Final Fantasy Record Keeper: Because he was corrupted by the Shadowsmith, Odin split himself into two forms: Dark Odin which could physically manifest but his Magicite held no power, and the true Odin that still held great power in his Magicite, but couldn't manifest. I don't understand how you could possibly derive this example for this trope if you did anything but just take a glance at the title and assume what it was about. Much better fit for something like Literal Split Personality

Zero Context Examples (8/54) 15%

Characters.Alice In Borderland: The next time Usagi sees Arisu, he is lying in a street even as it's raining, following the loss of his friends in 7♥ Hide and Seek. As described, fits better for Heroic BSoD.
Characters.My Gym Partners A Monkey: Became this, when getting sued in "Leaf of Absence". zce
Characters.Samurai Flamenco: What he's become by the time he meets Masayoshi. zce
Characters.Spaghetti Ice: Her original motive for possessing Solana's Empty Shell and pretending to be her, as she wasn't able to talk to others or feel warmth staying tethered to her talismans. The protagonists eventually work out a solution. Solana's character page tells me literally nothing, so this is a zce for Empty Shell, works fine for I Just Want to Have Friends.
Characters.Star Trek Deep Space Nine Federation And Bajor: Bashir saves his life after a shuttle accident, but it leaves him as a shadow of his former self. zce
Characters.The Story Of Black Pearl: The Stain grants her the ability to weaponize this; she can forcibly fuse with others by overpowering their will, ravaging their body, and leaving them an shattered shell of their former self. zce for Empty Shell, fine example for Fusion Dance, what it's listed under.
Characters.Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle: There was something weird about him as a kid. It is later revealed at that time he had a small heart which R Syaoran gave him. what was weird about him? the explanation doesn't explain how he was weird.
Characters.Werewolf The Apocalypse: Fomori become this when they exhaust their Autonomy score. zce

Unsure (5/54) 9%

Characters.Persona 2 Party Members And Protagonists: Should the party leave Yukino to mourn, after her Shadow kills herself and Anna, when the party meets with Philemon, he will reveal to them Yukino, who has literally become a mindless, empty husk of her self. Given what I know about shadows from Persona 4 and 5, I'm pretty sure this is referring to hollowness rather than emptiness as defined by the trope. Can't confirm entirely because I haven't played Persona 2.
Characters.Pony POV Series Antagonists: Feeding at maximum tends to leave her victims this. Her first victims were her parents. Her ultimate goal is to do this to all of Equestria. As written, could refer to Empty Shell portrayed correctly, or complete hollowness.
Characters.Rune Scape Gods: All that remains after her "daughter" Seren mercy kills her is an empty husk of what could have been a powerful being. From context I'm led to believe the example refers to a corpse left behind, but it refers to a god and I haven't played Runescape so I'm not sure.
Characters.The Saga Of Tanya The Evil: Of the people who have received his "blessings", Tanya is the only one who has not been twisted into an unrecognizable, fanatical Empty Shell of their former self, and only because she recognizes the danger and avoids overusing her orb, and has a strong reticence towards Being X's influence. From the way he offers power at the cost of one's sanity, you could easily take Being X for a Satanic Archetype rather than the god he supposedly is. Featured as a qualifier for The Corruptor. Haven't read it but from context seems redundant to bring up here having already brought up Reforged into a Minion
Characters.TNO Southern Africa: Ramanantsoa has no ideological values, beliefs or convictions, his primary goal as the new president of Madagascar is to give the OFN the membership they need for his country. I don't know if lacking motivation in terms of political ideology qualifies for this trope's explanation of emotionlessness. Leaning towards misuse because the character in question does have a stated motivation.

Sandbox / Empty Shell Wick Check