The Corrupter / Video Games

• Mephistopheles, the Big Bad of Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark. Especially towards your followers...
• Alexander from Amnesia: The Dark Descent fills this role quite well, especially with respect to Daniel. Taking advantage of Daniel's growing paranoia, he transforms him from a naive young man to an Ax-Crazy torturer.
• The Devil can be this in Cuphead: Toward the end of the game, he offers a "We Can Rule Together" to Cuphead and Mugman after he has forced them to collect the Soul Contracts from the inhabitants of the Inkwell Isles. If the brothers agree to join him and hand over the contracts, it leads to a bad ending where the Devil will turn them into his demonic servants.
• Monokuma/Junko Enoshima, the Big Bad of the Danganronpa series, is this to an unsettling degree. Throughout the series, it's shown that Monokuma is a skilled manipulator, able to prey on people's emotional vulnerabilities in order to drive them to madness and get them to kill each other. All of the murders that happen are due to his prodding, whether it be threatening to expose dark secrets unless the students murder someone, faking a suicide note to blame the other students for the suicide of one, making one become The Mole by holding their loved ones hostage, withholding food until a murder happens, or just outright offering money to anyone who commits a murder. In the backstory, Junko and her Apocalypse Cult "Ultimate Despair" managed to successfully cause The End of the World as We Know It, ending civilization through a self-destructive domino effect of violence while spreading her influence across the planet to brainwash survivors into being just as messed-up as they are.
• Xana from Dark Messiah spends the entire game trying to convince Sareth to accept his demonic heritage, all the while making pretty blatant come-ons and innuendo (she is a succubus after all). She also tries to convince him to not free the Demon Sovereign, and instead claim the Skull's power for himself, with her at his side.
• Mephisto from Diablo fits this. His influence was so strong that even after he was sealed away he was able to corrupt the originally good and noble Church of Zakarum into a zealous, murderous and warmongering Church.
• The Elder Scrolls
  • Most of the Daedric Princes dabble in this role in one way or another, relishing every chance to turn a mortal (particularly a Hero) to their way of thinking. A few stand out, having this as a major part of their M.O. To note:
    • Molag Bal, the Daedric Prince of Domination and Corruption, is the embodiment of this trope. One of his Red Baron Names To Run Away From Very Fast is "The Corrupter". One of his favorite things is to corrupt a good and noble mortal, then seeing them snap, fall, or break, be it through Cold-Blooded Torture, Manipulation, or flat out Mind Rape. He especially loves it when mortals do this to each other.
    • Mephala is a Daedric Prince whose sphere is "obscured to mortals", but who is associated with manipulation, lies, sex, and secrets. She loves to see how she can fray the "web" of human relationships, and takes a particular joy in the betrayal of trust or minor slights tearing entire towns or nations apart.
    • Sanguine, Daedric Prince of Hedonism and Debauchery, is a case of this being both a significant part of their theme and downplayed. Tempting mortals to sinful lives is firmly part of his sphere and M.O.... but the sinfulness is his sins, so he is more likely to push you towards being a lazy glutton than anything outright evil, for all that he doesn't care about consequences.
    • Namira, Prince of Revulsion, Decay, and the Ancient Darkness, is this to the Khajiit specifically, who she transforms into Dro-m'Athra by drawing out the darkness within them. One quest in Online even lets you see her do it, through a flashback of her convincing a grieving Khajiiti father into helping her corrupt a temple of Khenarthi by promising that he and his terminally-ill son will be together forever in the Void.
• While Chaos is the Big Bad of Dissidia Final Fantasy, he is just as much a victim of the "Groundhog Day" Loop as everyone else. His dragon Garland, on the other hand, remembers every iteration of the cycle and always pushes Chaos into waging war on Cosmos.
• Big Bad Mael Stronghart is revealed to be this across the two The Great Ace Attorney games.
  • A flashback regarding Gregson planting false evidence in Klint van Zieks' autopsy to implicate Genshin Asogi shows Gregson being rightfully indignant by this unlawful fabrication but Stronghart manages to appeal to Gregson's sense of justice to make them go along with it.
  • Judge Jigoku was determined to see that Genshin Asogi was acquitted of the crime he did not commit but he nevertheless was the one to pull the trigger to shoot and kill Genshin at Stronghart's insistence that letting Genshin live would ruin his career. Later on, Judge Jigoku would be blackmailed by Stronghart because of it to participate in Stronghart's assassin exchange.
  • The Professor/Klint van Zieks was revealed to have only murdered one person out of their own will but Stronghart witnessed it and blackmailed them into killing more people, much to Klint's horror.
  • Even Genshin Asogi falls victim to some degree. His strict adherence to honor became shattered when Stronghart manipulated him to give him Klint's final will by threatening to leave his son an orphan if he did not comply.
• Frogsong: The Snnikt is implied to have preyed on Lord Lithos' desire for power and immortality in order to bring destruction upon the world. It later becomes more interested in Chorus, attempting to corrupt them by convincing them to get back at everyone who made them feel upset and unworthy, but they refuse, leading to it outright trying to take over them instead.
• Hakaiou: King of Crusher have you being bitten by an alien bug who injects a monstrous venom into you, turning you from a human to a highly-destructive monster. And throughout the game, the bug will telepathically urge you to "Destroy, destroy, destroy..." and you eventually gives in to it's demands, turning into a Kaiju and transforming New York into a wasteland.
• One of the machines from Horizon Zero Dawn is literally titled as a "Corrupter", and it's function involves — you guessed it — corrupting other machines, turning them berserk.
• From the Kingdom Hearts series, we have Xehanort. In the first game, his Heartless and Maleficent turn Riku into a Rival Turned Evil in order to steal his body. In Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, his original incarnation convinces Terra that it's okay to use the power of Darkness because of the Balance Between Good and Evil for the exact same reason, then uses Ansem the Wise's own apprentices to overthrow him before turning them into Nobodies. In the the second game his Nobody, Xemnas, recruits an amnesiac Roxas into Organisation XIII to help unlock Kingdom Hearts by implying that Roxas can reclaim his own heart in the process, though his true goal is to Take Over the World. Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] gives us his past self Young Xehanort, who combines this trope with Mind Rape and Troll in order to turn Sora into his 13th vessel. And according to a flashback, Y. Xehanort was turned to evil by his aforementioned time-travelling Heartless!
• In Kirby: Planet Robobot, Star Dream, the Big Bad serves as this to President Haltmann, playing Cybernetics Eat Your Soul terrifyingly literally. Due to extensive use of the control helmet by the latter, Star Dream erases his memories about his lost daughter, making Haltmann focus on bringing prosperity to the universe, which means Unwilling Roboticisation of everything on the way. When the aforementioned daughter, Susie Haltmann, eventually returns, he can't recognize her at all.
• Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords:
  • Darth Revan is said to have been this during the Jedi Civil War in the previous game, as he was more interested in turning Jedi to the Dark Side rather than killing them as part of his plan to conquer and strengthen the Republic. It's revealed that his and The Exile's destruction of Malachor V was secretly part of this plan, as the trauma of seeing thousands of their comrades die along with an entire planet certainly had an impact on their collective psyche.
  • If you're playing Light-Sided, Kreia can definitely be this, viciously berating selfless actions, inflicting Mind Rape on your companions, and encouraging you to "use" and "discard" everyone like tools to advance yourself. It doesn't take a high Intelligence score in real life (although it does in the game) to realize that she's a Sith Lord (albeit the closest thing to a benevolent one the franchise has to offer).
  • Atris repeatedly accuses the Exile of being this to the Handmaiden, after she decided to stowaway on the Ebon Hawk to join their quest, even though it was ordered by Atris herself nonetheless then later broke their oath by asking the Exile to teach her the ways of the Jedi.
  • The Jedi Exile can implicitly cause people to do things they normally wouldn't. Vrook remarked that though The Exile was never a very powerful Jedi they were remarkably good at making people seeing their way, by unconsciously creating and drawing on Force bonds even with people they'd just met. For example Mira the Bounty Hunter never usually kills, but is unhappy to note that she doesn't hold back when fighting in The Exile's party.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • Ganondorf and Twinrova in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time served as this for the Gerudo tribe. Their cultural hat of being a race of Desert Bandits who kidnap Hylians stems largely from their evil influence, with Twinrova in particular using brainwashing magic to keep them in line. The Gerudo characters are less aggressive once Twinrova is defeated, and by the time of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which takes place after millennia of lacking any similar evil influence, they've dropped the banditry hat and are much nicer on average.
  • Majora's Mask from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask serves as this for the Skull Kid. Originally, the Skull Kid was a mischievous imp who played various pranks on the people of Termina but underneath just wanted to have friends. Upon stealing the Mask from the Happy Mask Salesman and putting it on, however, the Skull Kid's pranks became increasingly cruel and petty before escalating into full-on region-wide curses, the worst of which is pulling down the Moon to crash into and destroy Termina.
• Skelter Helter and Jasper Batt Jr. try to be this towards Travis in No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, making him feel the pain he made them feel and become a monster just like them. They fail at killing the remaining friends he has, however, and also sort of forgot that Travis was already pretty corrupt to begin with.
• In Overlord the previous Overlord was slain by seven heroes who have since fallen prey to one of the seven sins. During the final boss battle it's revealed they were corrupted by the Wizard, who had been possessed by the slain Overlord's spirit. He told each of the heroes that it was only right for them to pursue their base desire because they were a "hero".
• When Adachi tried this in Persona 4, the main cast pointed out how childish and pathetic his view points were. He does not take it well.
  • In Persona 2 Innocent Sin, Joker is a wish-granting demonic force who makes the people he helps join his cult, the Masked Circle. The Masked Circle proceed to steal Ideal Energy and spread rumours, rapidly turning Sumaru City into a place where "reality" is just a suggestion. As it turns out, Joker himself is a victim of a more powerful corrupter: Nyarlathotep, the Big Bad, who twisted the kind-hearted Jun Kurosu into a revenge-bent, murderous monster.
  • Persona 5 has Yaldabaoth, who gives both Akechi and Joker their powers and does his best to make them the enactors of his enslavement of humanity. By the time of the game, Akechi has become the enforcer of a conspiracy that proves everything Yaldabaoth believes about humanity. Joker can Rage Against the Heavens, but in the second Bad Ending he chooses to work with Yaldabaoth and act as a Knight Templar.
• Physical Exorcism Series:
  • Case 00: The Cannibal Boy: Jade initially allows Grete to believe the former is in a relationship with Brucie, only to reveal that Brucie is dating Hans, all to drive Grete into Yandere insanity.
  • Case 03: True Cannibal Boy: Marty almost sees the error of his ways and starts to realize that he's being inconsiderate of Sally in his attempts to protect her, but Jade convinces him to kill Lily and graft her body to Sally's head. Worse yet, Jade relishes in the possibility that Lily will become an evil spirit because of this betrayal.
• The Secret World:
  • Che Garcia Hansson; despite appearing to be merely a New-Age Retro Hippie and later a Mean Boss to the Morninglight flunkies at the hippie camp, it's revealed that he has a gift for "enabling" troubled new recruits, essentially bringing them out of their shells by taking them on debauched parties around town. In this way, recruits become more confident, are exposed to the influence of the Dreamers through mind-expanding drugs, and develop a bond with Che that can be used to further manipulate them. John Copley was one of the recipients of this treatment, and eventually led to him bombing the Tokyo subways and becoming the Black Signal.
  • The Black Signal, who spends most of his time sweet-talking the player into serving the Dreamers via his custom lore entries, often pointing out how dishonest your faction leaders are, or how corrupt your allies are, and how it's time for a change. Granted, he may have a point, but his offers to teach the players how to "become a voracious abstract" are met with a somewhat stony silence. In Issue #10, he finally succeeds in getting the players to dance to his tune, namely by tricking them into believing that Lilith was responsible for the Tokyo disaster, secretly grooming them to complete his original mission in his stead; for good measure, he's so convincing that it's not until the end of Issue #11 that players realize they've been screwed.
  • And of course, the Dreamers themselves are experts at this, often contacting receptive individuals through psychic dreams and enticing them to their service with offers to fulfill their fondest wishes... and over the eons they've been active, they've successfully corrupted some of the most well-meaning, innocent and unassuming individuals in history to their worship: Pharaoh Akhenaten just wanted to be a good king; Halina Ilyushin just wanted to fulfill her childhood dream of going to space; Phillip Marquard just wanted a family... and the Dreamers seduced them all. They can even seduce you if you're willing to accept their gifts.
• Shin Megami Tensei has the ultimate example in Lucifer. He may not be evil, but that does not mean he's selfless or entirely benevolent. In fact, it's hinted by Word of God that Lucifer's true role is the tester of the human spirit, the entity meant to embody this for Humanity as a whole, offering, taking away and generally gambling with power as only gods can.
• Mephiles the Dark in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) fills this role, or tries to. He tries to tempt Shadow into turning evil again to "help Mephiles" in a desire for revenge, when all Mephiles actually wants to do is destroy everything. He also manipulates Silver into getting him to kill Sonic, which sticks for most of the game until Shadow convinces him of better. Luckily, it turns out Shadow is the only character with a clue. At the end, Mephiles takes matters into his own hands, and kills Sonic.
• Star Wars: The Old Republic
  • Subverted by the Sith Inquisitor storyline, in which your character is intended to be a skilled manipulator mirroring Darth Sidious. You recruit a Jedi Padawan into your team by staging an ambush in which you come to her rescue, and then goad her Hot-Blooded tendencies in a series of follow-on encounters until she becomes convinced that she was Evil All Along. However unlike in the Sith Warrior storyline below, you can't actually turn her or any other Jedi to the Dark Side.
  • A Sith Warrior has the option of doing this to Jaesa through Trauma Conga Line. She ends up completely insane if you go down this route, but even the kinder path exposes her master as a fraud, sends her parents to a comfortable life in the Empire, and convinces her the Sith are a better deal. The Warrior also has opportunities to turn her master, and a Hot-Blooded Jedi Knight who he sends after you before that.
• Total War: Warhammer III: Be'lakor plays this role in the prologue campaign, before serving as the Big Bad thereafter in the Realm of Chaos campaign. In the Immortal Empires Crisis Crossover, Be'lakor's faction The Shadow Legion are capable of corrupting lords of other factions into Daemon Lords, joining him. As well as making his own mortal lords ascend to the same.
• "Master User" J. D. Thorne in TRON 2.0 was a User sent into Cyberspace without the necessary protocols to keep him stable, turning him into a living computer virus that seeks out Programs and twists them into Z-lots. In Killer App a Program called The Corrupter is turning Programs into drones on the order of his User, masking his presence from the ICP forces and civilians so they can't recognize him as a threat. Tron is sent to cut off the malevolent User's access while Mercury takes down the Corrupter himself.
• In Episode 3 of The Walking Dead: The Final Season, James can express the concern that Clem has — intentionally or not — been moulding AJ into a bloodthirsty murderer who doesn't think twice about killing others, and can express concern that Clem herself has been walking that path.
• Warcraft and World of Warcraft:
  • This is the favored strategy of the nathrezim or dread lords, demons who specialize in infiltration. They replace leaders and use a combination of magic and cunning to twist the minds of their followers, turning entire worlds to chaos.
    • Mal'ganis is the most well-known example. He led Arthas on a long chase to Northrend, forcing the Prince to make increasingly extreme and immoral choices to continue the pursuit, ultimately leading him to Frostmourne and the Lich King.
    • The Scarlet Crusade was originally a devout order dedicated to fighting the undead Scourge. A dread lord replaced their leader and arranged the death of his only peer. The Cursade have since been twisted into xenophobic zealots who kill anyone not of their own order.
  • Sargeras served as this for the ancient eredar. He offered them power and knowledge in exchange for their service. Velen saw the truth of his offer and managed to escape with his followers, the draenei.
  • Gul'dan served as this for the orcs in both the original and revised canon.
    • In the original canon Ner'zhul originally contacted the Burning Legion but shied away from them when he realized what they represented. Gul'dan, Ner'zhul's apprentice, eagerly took his place and served as the intermediary who brought the blood of Mannoroth to the orc chieftains, binding them to the Legion.
    • In the revised canon Gul'dan was the first orc contacted by the demons and did not hesitate to lead the rest of his race into servitude.
  • Judging by his title, N'Zoth the Corruptor sure does a lot of corrupting. Deathwing, Xavius and Aszhara are among his most prominent victims. This is also the modus operandi of the rest of the Old Gods.
• In The World Ends with You, Joshua passively encourages Neku to give into his hatred for other people, since that's Joshua's justification for destroying Shibuya. It backfires. Not only does Joshua fail to corrupt Neku, Neku actually manages to purify Joshua and restores his faith in humanity.
• Zombidle has Bob The Necromancer whom you play as. Once you manage to obtain the Corporate Ladder item, you can permanently bribe the kings who oppose him into helping him destroy the very kingdoms they rule over.

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