History Main / HeroicWillpower

* Revealed to be very important to a certain werehog in ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed''. [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]] apparently has so much of this trope that he can practically guzzle down the power of an EldritchAbomination yet be almost completely unaffected mentally. What's even more impressive is that he wasn't even ''aware'' that he was doing it.

* In ''[[Fanfic/PatternsOfThePast Patterns of the Past]]'', Olesya doesn't go through SanitySlippage when tapping into the Mathness, something that Old Missie expresses surprise at since she's seen some of her agents lose their sanity entirely when they do it to the point that it takes Odd Squad Doctors a very long time to pull them out and make them their normal selves. It's never explained why, but it's possible that Olesya wanting to save and protect the rescue team, as well as having hope for Ogden stealthily aiding Old Missie in escaping from her confines, had something to do with it.

* [[VideoGame/DeadSpace Isaac Clarke]]. Not only does he walk through dimly lit corridors full of [[PersonalSpaceInvader freakish space zombies]], [[spoiler: he does it with an ArtifactOfDoom chipping away at his sanity. Granted, he isn't entirely unaffected by it, but he's able to persevere despite this. In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2'', he's far more in control of himself than Stross, another man exposed to the Marker's form of MindScrew.]]

** ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'': Landia EX's new FlavorText in ''Deluxe'' suggests that he was chosen to guard the [[CrownOfPower Master Crown]] because he was strong enough to resist its power, though not enough to give in to the crown's dark powers. [[spoiler:And from what we see happen with Magolor when he got possessed by the crown,

* Similar to [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast the video game]] on which it was based, the Dark World in ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' transforms anyone who travels there into a mindless beast reflecting the darkness in their heart. In the game, Link is only rendered immune to this effect by a magical artifact. [[PragmaticAdaptation To save time]], the comic adaptation has Link resist the effect by banishing all darkness from his heart by sheer willpower. Roam takes a different tack; instead of resisting the effect, he gives into it, transforming into an eagle but retaining his mind and self-control, again by sheer willpower.

* ''Fanfic/{{Fractures}}'': After mulling over the guilt of her shattered friends and her failed rebellion, Pink mustered up the sheer strength of will and utter contempt for the role she is forced to be a part of to [[spoiler:overpower White Diamond with her aura alone, giving her an opening to shatter her in a single-swoop.]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Anime/KillLaKill https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download_81.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Who needs life fibers when you're pissed off?]]

The worst has happened; TheHero has [[VirusVictimSymptoms not only been infected]] by the BigBad with the [[DemonicPossession soul eating]] [[TheVirus virus]], but their [[FightingFromTheInside determined resistance]] looks like it's about to finally peter out. Just as his friends, family, and [[LoveInterests significant other]] look on in growing horror as he [[TranshumanTreachery becomes a monster]] and [[WarmBloodbagsAreEverywhere turns to eat them]]... ''he doesn't''. Even though TheVirus has their [[BodyHorror body]] and maybe even their [[BrainWashed mind]], it doesn't have their [[OurSoulsAreDifferent heart or soul]]. Through sheer grit, or [[HeroicResolve to protect a loved one]], they manage to not only resist the lure of TheDarkSide, but use EvilIsCool against itself. They may become far stronger than a typical Virus-afflicted, especially if young vampires/werewolves/monsters of that kind [[MonsterLord are weaker than old ones]] like the BigBad and under their control.

* Souma of ''Manga/DestinyOfTheShrineMaiden'' is pretty much the personification of this trope.

* Throughout ''Manga/HellTeacherNube'', one of the titular character's main fears is to have the [[RedRightHand Hand of the]] [[SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan Oni]] overpower him and transform ''him'' into a full [[{{Youkai}} Oni]], thus unleashing its horror on the world. He has always been able to contain it, with or without help, through [[{{Determinator}} sheer willpower]]. And yet, when confronting said Oni's brother, Zekki, Nube was forced to ''let'' the Hand take him over completely, which was Zekki's goal all along... and then proceeded to use the PowerOfLove [[PapaWolf for his]] [[BadassTeacher students]] to control the transformation and [[CurbStompBattle beat Zekki into a bloody pulp]].

* Hayate in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'', who reasserted her role as master and administrator of the [[ArtifactOfDoom Book of Darkness]] after it had taken full control of her body, leading to her ascension as the [[PersonOfMassDestruction Queen of the]] [[DarkIsNotEvil Night Sky]].

* In the Spider-man comics there's the [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire good symbiote]] [[EnsembleDarkhorse Toxin]] (the host is a cop, and new father who decides to [[ArtifactOfDoom use this power]] [[ScrewDestiny to do good]]). Also the lesser known character Hybrid (though he/they are something of an inversion with the symbiote(s) being more placid and the human host more prone to UnstoppableRage.)

* In ''Fanfic/TheBridge'', Rarity knows she isn't strong enough to hold off Enjin and save the civilians in harms way. So she knowingly releases Nightmare and lets her bond to her to recreate [[SuperPoweredEvilSide Nightmare]] [[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW Rarity]], only to then mentally overpower Nightmare and take control of their body.

* Mr. and Mrs. Chapman in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' #2, for a little bit.
** Also Elfangor when he first morphed Taxxon.

** Sam Vimes in ''Literature/{{Thud}}''. ''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis That! Is!! Not!! My!! Cow!!!]]'' Dwarves forever will fear those words.
** Vimes is freakin' made of this trope. It happened to him in ''Literature/MenAtArms'', and got a metaphor too: "The pounding spirit of the gonne flowing up Vimes' arms met the armies of sheer stoneheaded Vimesness surging the other way."
** And, at the end of ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'', he tells off one of the Ankh-Morporkian aristocrats while holding [[ShoutOut a burning coal]] [[Film/LawrenceOfArabia in his hand.]]

'''[[{{Druid}} Dr. Deaton]]''': It's rare. It's something that doesn't happen within 100 years, but every once in a while, a Beta can become an Alpha without having to [[ThouShallNotKill steal]] or [[ThisIsNotMyLifeToTake take]] that power. They call it a True Alpha. It's one who rises purely on the [[TurnTheOtherCheek strength]] [[HonorBeforeReason of]] [[AllLovingHero character]], by [[IncorruptiblePurePureness virtue]], by [[HopeBringer sheer force]] of [[HeroicWillpower will]].\\

* [[VideoGame/DeadSpace Isaac]] [[VideoGame/DeadSpace2 Clarke]]. Not only does he walk through dimly lit corridors full of [[PersonalSpaceInvader freakish space zombies]], [[spoiler: he does it with an ArtifactOfDoom chipping away at his sanity. Granted, he isn't entirely unaffected by it, but he's able to persevere despite this. In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2'', he's far more in control of himself than Stross, another man exposed to the Marker's form of MindScrew.]]

** Subverted hilariously in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', when [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Morinth]] suggests that since Shepard has the willpower to resist her attempts to enthrall them, they may have the willpower to resist her mind-frying sex. Turns out [[TooDumbToLive Shepard]] [[HilarityEnsues does]] [[NonStandardGameOver not]]!

** Unfortunately, [[spoiler: [[DownerEnding it gives out]] at the end of the sequel.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', [[MakingASplash Lapis]] [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens Lazuli]] is practically the walking embodiment of this.

** Subverted hilariously in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', when [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Morinth]] suggests that since Shepard has the willpower to resist her attempts to enthrall them, they may have the willpower to resist her mind-frying DeathBySex. Turns out [[TooDumbToLive Shepard]] [[HilarityEnsues does]] [[NonStandardGameOver not]]!

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has this as standard for anyone deemed eligible to wield the GreenLanternRing of Alan Scott, including [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles Harry Dresden]], a canonical example in his own right. A particular example, however, is Carol, who's quite literally [[spoiler: too stubborn to die]].

** Also shows up in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep''. After the main villain Xehanort [[GrandTheftMe steals Terra's body]], Terra's willpower lets his spirit take over his armor and use it to fight Xehanort [[SealedEvilInADuel to keep him contained for as long as possible]]. He's still around over ten years later as a BonusBoss in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' called the Lingering Will.

* [[DoubleSubversion Double-subverted]] in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "Fry and the Slurm Factory", where Fry and his friends are put in several death traps, his being force-fed an [[ImpossiblyDeliciousFood Impossibly Delicious]] "super-Slurm" that tastes so good that he'll keep consuming it until he explodes. Once he gets force-fed only a spoon of it, he tries ''really'' hard to ignore it so he can save his friends, but he can't resist returning to the giant steel trough full of the stuff. Realizing he ''has'' to save his friends, [[TakeAThirdOption he instead musters up the strength to pull the entire thing along with him]] as he frees his friends from their traps.

* VideoGame/OctopathTraveler: There is one character who has been corrupted and has been fighting the dark powers which have befallen him for tenish years. [[spoiler:His name is Graham Crossford. Ten years prior to the start of the game he lost his wife and was tempted by a mysterious woman named Lyblac to be able to revive her. However, the ritual was a lie. She needed his blood and body to unleash the fallen god Galdera from his bindings. When Graham realizes what is about to happen, he fights Lyblac and escapes but not before being corrupted by Galdrera's power and it transforms him into the vicious monster that would be called the Redeye. For these long years, Graham fought the losing battle against the evil power but retained moments of lucidity. During the battle against the Redeye, he could sometimes heal the main characters, and on a pillar near where he is slain, readable only after his defeat, are his last words both begging to be killed and spare more victims, and an apology to his son who never knew what befell his father]].

** In "Cat Blanc", Cat Noir manages to resist akumatization for a while before succumbing, a feat made more impressive by the sheer amount of emotional trauma [[spoiler:he's]] suffering at that moment.

** In "Gabriel Agreste", Félix successfully resists being akumatized much like Chloé. What's notable about this is that unlike the other characters who have resisted or broken akumatization, he's the only one who hasn't been akumatized previously.
** In "Rocketear", Nino also manages to break free from akumatization after being transformed just like Alya.

* ''Film/IntoTheStorm2009'' has this as Churchill's definiting characteristic. Quoth FDR:

-->'''Batman''': ...Oracle, how long have I got?
-->'''Oracle''': Oh, thank God. I'm not going to sugar coat it. At this rate... I'd say ''minutes''. What do you want me to do? If you don't-
-->'''Batman''': '''''I'll make it.'''''

* Pikachu in ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' used his strong force of will to resist Team Plasma's third attempt to control him, although he had help from his electricity.

** In "Zombizou", [[spoiler:Miss Bustier]] manages to become the first person to actually ''resist akumatization through sheer willpower'', if only for a moment.
** In "Miraculer", [[spoiler:Chloé]] becomes the first person to ''successfully'' resist akumatization.
** In "Cat Blanc", [[spoiler:Cat Noir]] manages to resist akumatization for a while before succumbing, a feat made more impressive by the sheer amount of emotional trauma [[spoiler:he's]] suffering at that moment.
** In "Truth", [[spoiler:Luka]] also briefly resists being akumatized, [[spoiler:and even tells Marinette to run away as he's being transformed]].
** In "Gang of Secrets", at Ladybug's urging, [[spoiler:Alya]] breaks free of Shadow Moth's control ''after'' being akumatized, a feat that [[ThisCannotBe leaves the villain in disbelief]].
** In "Gabriel Agreste", [[spoiler:Félix]] successfully resists being akumatized much like [[spoiler:Chloé]]. What's notable about this is that unlike the other characters who have resisted or broken akumatization, he's the only one who hasn't been akumatized previously.
** In "Rocketear", [[spoiler:Nino]] also manages to break free from akumatization after being transformed just like [[spoiler:Alya]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower'': Adora broke Shadow Weaver's spell through strong force of will, although the Sorceress and her love for her twin brother Adam/He-Man also helped her.
** Peekablue also demonstrated strong will power when she tried to break free from Shadow Weaver spell a couple of times before She-Ra freed her for good.

* EnsembleDarkHorse extraordinaire and HollywoodCyborg Jeremiah Gottwald of ''Anime/CodeGeass'' fame has one scene when an EMP-like weapon is used to disable his mechanical parts (which comprise a significant part of his body), thereby rendering him immobile and powerless before [[AntiHero Lelouch]]. A few seconds pass, however, and Gottwald continues to advance toward Lelouch ''by sheer will'', apparently grating some meat and metal parts together and causing himself great pain. He doesn't stop, however.

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' has Jack Rakan ''rewrite reality'' on force of will alone. Once to break a trap dimension, and again ''after being deleted from existence.'' ''Twice!'' Breaking the trap dimension was eventually justified as taking advantage of some obscure magical theory no one has ever heard of. The other two received no handwave.
* In ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'', [[spoiler:Deep Blue has told a sobbing Mew Ichigo that her precious Aoyama-kun is no more. Out of nowhere, Masaya's spirit manifests, taking control of the body again, and begins a cycle of HeroicSacrifice suicides and resurrections by TrueLovesKiss. They eventually sorta cancel each other out, leaving them both alive.]]
* [[BadassAdorable Hikaru Shidou]] of ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'' is ''made'' of this trope. This is actually how she manages to [[spoiler: become Pillar of Cephiro, a position reserved for the person with the most willpower in the land, only to immediately ''renounce'' the power with the belief that the people can govern themselves without any sacrifices needed.]]

* In ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' [[spoiler:main love interest Nia fights against her newly discovered Anti-Spiral purpose and allows Simon save humanity from the enemy's Extermination System. Further, even though she's a “virtual life form”—essentially an interdimensional [[ProjectedMan Projected Woman]] with NoOntologicalInertia—she defies this and continues to stay by Simon's side for some time even after the Anti-Spirals were blown to smithereens, essentially ''existing moment-by-moment through sheer willpower'']].
** The page for ''TTGL'' says this grows on trees in that world. This is false. It grows in ''everything with DNA''. They call it Fighting Spirit/Spiral Power, and everything with a spiral to it has it or can be used to generate it. Yes, everything. Even That.
** Viral is a beastman, which means he was specifically designed ''not'' to generate any Spiral Power. [[BeyondTheImpossible He does it anyway]] through FIGHTING SPIRIT.
*** All these examples can't help but make one wonder if she truly is gone for good...

* The Vizard from ''Manga/{{Bleach}}''. Either they can control the [[SuperpoweredEvilSide raw power of their darker desires given form]] or they turn into psychotic soul devouring monsters that must be put down for their own good.
** Subverted in Chapter 352, when Ishida tells the newly hollowfied Ichigo that there was no need to carry on attacking Ulquiorra's corpse. The result is regrettable.
* Hayate in ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'', who reasserted her role as master and administrator of the [[ArtifactOfDoom Book of Darkness]] after it had taken full control of her body, leading to her ascension as the [[PersonOfMassDestruction Queen of the]] [[DarkIsNotEvil Night Sky]].
* Souma of ''Manga/DestinyOfTheShrineMaiden'' is pretty much the personification of this trope.

* Played straight for the most of ''Manga/OnePiece'' with Luffy surviving a massive internal damage just with willpower or Portgas D Rouge delaying the Birth of Ace for 20 months to keep him save and accomplishing that with just willpower.
** Subverted in the Impel Down arc. Sure, Luffy has the heroic willpower to fight through anything. That's why Magellan had to use a bajillion different poisons on him instead of just one, meaning no medical antidote would work. Double Subverted later, when Ivankov's treatment allows him to fight the poison directly with his will, and he wins (almost dying in the process).
* In ''Anime/YuGiOh'', Yugi stopping Yami from attacking Kaiba in the Duelist Kingdom arc may qualify.
** Ryou Bakura fighting Yami Bakura from the inside during the Monster World storyarc in the manga certainly counts. Even after Yami Bakura takes control over his body, what's left of Ryou's consciousness manages to fight back and screw his dark counterpart up enough for Yami Yugi and friends to defeat him.
** Joey, being a pivotal character, breaking Marik's hold over him during the Death-Duel with Yugi.
* Jiraiya from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', who ''literally'' [[spoiler: brought himself back to life after his heart stopped beating for a while from being stabbed in the back with ''6 piercing rods'' through willpower alone.]]

* This is one of Nezuko's defining traits in ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba''. After being turned into a demon, she retains enough sense of self to refuse to eat her brother - and when Giyu threatens him, she turns and defends him. This utterly shocks Giyu (newly-created demons are ''starving'', and she's wounded on top of that) and convinces him to spare her.

* In ''ComicBook/ThirtyDaysOfNight'', sheriff Eben Olemaun allows himself to be infected with vampire blood in order to become strong enough to defend his town. [[spoiler: It works, and even though he's ravenous for human blood he manages to control his urges and fight and kill several vampires, including their leader. He doesn't turn human again afterwards though, and allows himself to die when the sun finally rises.]]
* In ''ComicBook/BatmanHush'', Franchise/{{Superman}} is controlled by Poison Ivy's special Kryptonite blend of mind-control lipstick, leading to a big fight with Batman, who frantically stacks the deck by playing Superman's innate boy-scout tendencies against him--those base-level urges are so innate to Superman that Poison Ivy couldn't make him ignore them. The control is finally broken by a supreme burst of Heroic Willpower caused by Catwoman shoving Lois Lane off of a building.
** He works to improve this because his greatest fear is losing control. He has even learned techniques for fighting mind control.
** In ''ComicBook/EmperorJoker'', Superman is initially the only person in the entire world who can actively fight off [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker the Joker's]] RealityWarper powers- not only mind controlling people to be what they're not, but retroactively making it so they've always been this way. Similarly to the Hush example above, Superman's innate heroic instincts (in this case, ThouShaltNotKill) prove the key to regaining his memories. Additionally by the end of the whole ordeal, after Franchise/{{Batman}} (as mentioned below, no slouch in this department himself) has been [[BreaktheBadass finally driven insane]] by the memories of the Joker's ColdBloodedTorture, Superman saves him. ''By taking all of the memories into himself.'' The memories and experiences that broke the bat? He shrugs them off in less than two pages. Essentially, his willpower is strong enough to save them both!
** By the ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'' era, Superman's willpower is so strong that he's able to resist forceful possession by Parallax (the same creature who possessed both Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner and only possessed Supes to protect children it had kidnapped), but also hijack Sinestro's yellow Power Ring and trap Parallax in it.

* ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} while temporarily infected by a [[YouWillBeAssimilated T-O Virus]] (in a reality hopping storyline), complete with the obligatory ''Must speak like William Shatner?!'' line.
* In the Spider-man comics there's the [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire good symbiote]] [[EnsembleDarkhorse Toxin]] (the host is a cop, and new father who decides to [[ArtifactOfDoom use this power]] [[ScrewDestiny to do good]]). Also the lesser known character Hybrid (though he/they are something of an inversion with the symbiote(s) being more placid and the human host more prone to UnstoppableRage.)

* ComicBook/TheAvengers' foe Grim Reaper thought it would be ironic to turn dead Avengers into zombies to use against the still-living ones... and then found out [[OhCrap the hard way]] that ''Avengers fight evil even beyond death.''

* Franchise/{{Batman}} has so much willpower, it's [[BadassNormal practically]] his only superpower. Superman said it himself in his NoMoreHoldingBackSpeech that Batman will continue to fight as long as he has breath in his body.
* During one arc in the Giffen/[=DeMatteis=] run on ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'', a street punk got his hands on [[ComicBook/NewGods Big Barda's]] Mega-Rod, her signature weapon. The Mega-Rod, forged on Apokalips, constantly sends out subliminal mind-control messages commanding that its wielder submit his/her will to ComicBook/{{Darkseid}}. By the end of the issue, the street punk was an emaciated slave living only to serve Darkseid. The fact that Barda is able to wield the Mega-Rod and can shrug off its mind-controlling properties speaks volumes of her levels of willpower.
** That's possibly why she [[spoiler: became a Franchise/GreenLantern]] in the {{Elseworld}}s story ''Another Nail''.
* In ComicBook/PostCrisis ''ComicBook/MartianManhunter'' comics, it was established that the shapeshifting, telepathic Martian race was wiped out by a psychic plague that caused the victim to shapeshift into a form that would spontaneously combust. The only way to save oneself was to avoid telepathic contact with anyone, an almost impossible feat for a race that maintained low-level esper contact constantly. J'onn survived because he was able to hold out the longest without telepathic contact, tragically leaving him as the last man standing. J'onn survived because he was literally the strongest-willed person on his whole world.
* Being a realistic series, ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'' doesn't usually feature something like this... Except with Ginko. Who, without having received any special treatment against it, is immune to {{Truth Serum}}s because he's just that strong-willed.
* Similar to [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast the video game]] on which it was based, the Dark World in ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' transforms anyone who travels there into a mindless beast reflecting the darkness in their heart. In the game, Link is only rendered immune to this effect by a magical artifact. [[PragmaticAdaptation To save time]], the comic adaptation has Link resist the effect by banishing all darkness from his heart by sheer willpower. Roam takes a different tack; instead of resisting the effect, he gives into it, transforming into an eagle but retaining his mind and self-control, again by sheer willpower.
* Golden Age superhero the ComicBook/MasterMystic had as his superpower such strong will that he became TheOmnipotent.

* ''ComicBook/TheHeap'': Baron Eric Von Emmelmann was shot down over Wausau swamp, near the small town of Rodz in Poland. Lying lifeless as his body slowly merged with the morass, he had nothing left but his will to live, to rise, to return to the world of humans. Over next 24 years, Von Emmelmann's will to live, coupled with vegetation of swamp covering his body and replacing the flesh, allowed him to arise again, now formed from the muck and vegetation of the swamp.

* In ''Film/TheLostBoys'', the older brother, Mike, is given blood that's slowly making him a vampire. After a climactic battle where he, his brother and friends defend their home from the vampire gang that was turning him, he manages to beat the strongest vampire in the gang. When he doesn't turn human again [[spoiler: and the [[TheManBehindTheMan real vampire lord]] show up, he beats him too and finally regains his humanity.]]
** [[spoiler: The "senile" grandfather has a ''[[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass load of sharpened tree trunks]]'' in the back of his truck, then quips about the "goddamned vampires" ruining his town after killing the BigBad.]]

* ''Film/{{Serenity}}'': despite River Tam's brain is explicitly stated to be surgically altered to remove her ability to control her own behaviour, she nevertheless becomes less insane and more stable in the end of the film, with no explanation other than Heroic Willpower and the PowerOfFriendship.
** Getting the secret of Miranda off her chest seems to have helped too.
* ''Film/{{Skyline}}'': while everyone else who [[spoiler: gets their brains put into alien bodies]] seems to lose all personality and will, the male lead [[spoiler: uses his powerful new body to kick alien butt when they endanger his pregnant girlfriend.]]
* ''Film/ThePumaman'': all of the good guys ''except'' the so-called "hero" manage at one point or another to resist the effects of the ancient mind control mask.

* ''Film/BirdBox'':
** [[spoiler:After Gary forces Olympia to see the creatures while she's still holding her newborn daughter. Malorie begs her to give the baby to her. She manages to resist the creatures long enough to do so before she flings herself out a window.]]
** [[spoiler:Tom]] is exposed to the creatures, but musters enough willpower to kill the last of the crazy survivors before taking his own life.
* Outright [[DefiedTrope defied]] in ''Film/TheEmptyMan''. [[spoiler: The Pontifex Society gives Lasombra such a [[DarkAndTroubledPast depressing backstory]] so that, when it's time for him to become The Empty Man's new host, he doesn't have any reason to fight it.]]

* In ''Literature/SecondApocalypse'' Kellhus displays Heroic Willpower in shrugging off mind control.
* In ''Literature/TheTommyknockers,'' by Creator/StephenKing, Bobbi Anderson's sister Anne is a lifelong bully and control freak who makes everybody around her frightened and/or miserable. She has "heroic willpower" in exactly the sense Hitler claimed to have "fanatical will power." But when she is turned into a living battery for the Havenites, her ultradominant personality at least enables her to rebel and subvert the machinery.
* In ''Literature/PresidentsVampire'', Cade has to display it all the time, as he refuses to drink human blood, but his personal CMOA comes when Zach decides to tests his limits and orders him to drink a bottle of human blood. Technically, Cade is bound to the will of US President's liaison, which is Zach, but he manages to overcome both this and his HorrorHunger long enough for Zach to realize that [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone this wasn't such a good idea]].
* Occurs in ''Literature/GoodOmens'': Adam is a 11-year-old boy who also happens to be the Antichrist destined to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt end the world]]. As the Apocalypse draws closer, he gradually becomes less like his playful kid self and more like a ruthless CreepyChild RealityWarper. When his [[ThePowerOfFriendship friends]] make him realize that he's NotHimself, he visibly struggles against another presence within himself (presumably some hellish influence) and manages to regain control of himself to enact a ScrewDestiny mission.
* Edward Cullen in ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' is a poster boy for this. Even though Bella is his singer, the one human whose blood is absolutely irresistible to him, he painfully prevents himself from killing her, since he "doesn't want to be a monster" and because he eventually falls in love with her. Of course, his blood lust is a metaphor for real lust, which he's also experiencing, and which he also has to demonstrate incredible willpower to resist, since he's sure sex would kill Bella.
** All this in spite that Bella is more than willing to take a chance at the risk and its not shy of trying every waking moment.
** Not only that. He manages to control his thirst so good that he can kiss her, hold her and eventually have sex with her without drinking her blood or killing her.
** Bella herself also demonstrates this trope when she becomes a vampire, even being able to resist going after human blood when she catches their scent during a hunt and generally being able to control her newfound vampire senses and urges immediately instead of being blood-crazed for the first year as she was warned she would be.

* Mr. and Mrs. Chapman in ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' #2, for a little bit.
** Also Elfangor when he first morphed Taxxon.
* In ''[[Literature/LegacyOfTheForce Invincible]]'', Admiral Wedge Antilles can apparently prevent Jacen Solo from reading his mind through sheer determination.
* In ''Literature/ParrishPlessis'', Parrish's heroic willpower makes her the only one able to resist the influence of TheCorruption after being infected. [[spoiler:But even she succumbs to it in the end.]]
* ''Literature/{{Necroscope}}'s'' [[spoiler: Harry Keogh]] contains his vampirism until he feels he can do so no more and then leaves Earth. Unfortunately he continues to try to do so when among his own kind, which ends very badly for him and everyone he cares about.
* Literature/HarryPotter regularly fights off various threats that attempt to weaken or control his mind, such as the [[EmotionBomb despair-inducing]] power of the dementors, although he is overcome by these the first few times. He also seems to be nearly immune to the Imperius Curse, a strength few other character shows, and in one case fought off [[DemonicPossession bodily possession]] by Voldemort himself. His resistance is explained as a combination of this trope and ThePowerOfLove.
** It's also Subverted by the werewolf [[spoiler: Remus Lupin]], as (without the Wolfsbane potion) he cannot keep his mind when transformed, and attacks his own friends.
* In ''[[Literature/TheHungerGames Mockingjay]]'', [[spoiler:Peeta Mellark]] gets hijacked and brainwashed into wanting to kill [[spoiler:Katniss, believing she's a mutt who's out to kill him]]. The main characters are told that there's no cure for hijacking and that nobody has ever recovered from it. In the end [[spoiler:Peeta recovers almost entirely]] through sheer force of will.
* In the later (in internal chronology) ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' sequels, gholas (clones) can be "awakened" (recover the memories of their previous life/lives) by [[Literature/DuneMessiah programming them to do something their true self finds abhorrent]] to invoke this trope.

* In ''[[Literature/RachelGriffin The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin]]'', [[spoiler: Valerie]] discovers she is under a geas that has made her leak information to the villains, and immediately [[FightingFromTheInside tries to break free.]] Despite [[DeadlyNosebleed potentially deadly]] side effects, she is able to reveal her situation to the person she was supposed to hide it from and secure help, before passing out from blood loss and pain.

* In Jeramey Kraatz's ''Literature/TheCloakSociety'', most superheroes trapped in [[{{Mordor}} the Gloom]] faded away; the survivors are mere husks, incapable of speech, but they remember they are heroes and get those who could survive to the portal that will let them out.
* The first encounter between young Druss and Nosta Khan the Nadir shaman in the Literature/{{Drenai}} saga. [[spoiler:During an argument Nosta puts Druss under a paralyzing spell, which causes agonizing pain with every attempt to move, and proceeds to gloat about how Druss is in his power now. Druss then grabs him by the throat and threatens to break his neck if the spell isn't removed.]]
* In ''Literature/TheWitchlands'', when Esme Cleaves every witch in Lejna, making them BrainwashedAndCrazy, Vaness manages to resist Cleaving with nothing but force of will.
* In the ''Literature/DreambloodDuology'', Ehiru, when suffering from dreamblood withdrawal, adamantly refuses to alleviate his suffering by gathering it from any of the other travellers or members of their caravan, even though the logical consequence is to become a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Reaper]] and lose his humanity.

* Inverted in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' and ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', where Villainous Willpower determines which of the two possible EldritchAbomination routes a follower of Chaos goes down - becoming a mindless Chaos Spawn or a Daemon Prince who retains sentience and control over his powers.
** One example is Fulgrim: [[spoiler: At first his soul was trapped in a portrait by a demon of Slaanesh, but he was able to master demonic powers and regain control of his body, while trapping the demon in the portrait he was imprisoned in.]]
** Heroic Willpower is usually an attribute which sets apart the {{BadAss Normal}}s from the RefugeInAudacity named badass characters, and commonly just the elite forces from the less-so.
** Blood Angels Chief Librarian Mephiston is the first Blood Angel to succumb to the Black Rage and come back from the frothing berserker state it usually induces, through sheer force of will. This has the side effect of giving him near-unprecedented control of his psychic powers, earning him the title "the Lord of Death." A slightly lesser example, also from the Blood Angels: Chaplain Lemartes also fell to the black rage. While Mephiston can actually ''control'' his rage, Lemartes is really only able to ''aim'' it. So while he's lucid, he's kept in stasis when not in battle for the safety of those around him.
** Logan Grimnar, lord of the Space Wolves, wields the Axe of Morkai, which contains a demon of Chaos. The demon is unable to attack Grimnar's mind because of his iron will. That's right, Logan Grimnar got a ''demon of Chaos'' to bitch down!
** The Illuminati, an Imperium-spanning secret society whose hidden objectives are allegedly in support of humanity and the Emperor, is composed of humans who have not only survived possession by a Warp entity, usually a daemon, but also managed to ''cast out the daemon from their own bodies through sheer force of will.'' This is in a setting where daemon possession ends in either mind shattering insanity or, in the case of a psyker, sometimes a really big explosion.
** Way cooler than any of these is Settra the Imperishable from the fantasy ''Warhammer''. In ''TabletopGame/WarhammerTheEndTimes'', the world is falling apart, Chaos is curbstomping the forces of Order all over the place, and at the height of their power all four Chaos Gods approach the greatest of the Tomb Kings and offer him ''absolutely everything'': wealth, power, a new body of living gold, even minor godhood. What does Settra do? He ''[[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu gives them the finger]]'', because [[BadassBoast Settra does not serve, Settra rules]]. Absolutely awesome.

* This is the basis behind the Extra Effort mechanic in ''TabletopGame/MutantsAndMasterminds'', allowing you to push your powers beyond their normal limits. You can make an extra action, gain a bonus to your roll or strength of your power, get an extra roll to resist a debilitating effect or retool your power set to do something creatively new. The cost is taking a level of fatigue next round (get three and you're knocked out), unless you pay it off with a Victory Point.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'''s AppliedPhlebotinum has the nasty side affect of turning people into monsters if they're not correctly protected. Marble sacrifices herself by exploding (!) into the resident bad guy. However, Lloyd and Genis had just beat the shit out of her after she attacked them, so maybe it doesn't count.
** Happens once again later on in the game. [[spoiler:Colette is possessed by Mithos near the end of the game, but she manages to force him out of her body.]]
** Happens to [[spoiler:''TheHero'']] in ''VideoGame/TalesOfHearts''. The possessor ends up stabbing his host body and leaving. [[spoiler:Shing gets better.]]
* ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'': [[spoiler: Lynne doesn't have enough willpower to completely fight off Yomiel's control, but she does make his first shot miss]]--which is what winds up killing [[spoiler: Sissel, who was inside the box Yomiel was carrying.]]
%%* The entire story of ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2: Mask of the Betrayer'' revolves around this, especially for good characters.
* In ''VideoGame/GrandiaII'', Ryudo gets a piece of the devil stuck in him. Through an extended dream sequence, he fights off the devil and comes out of the coma. Later when he tries to become a god (being the only person qualified in the room with a piece of the devil in him) he becomes a monster; later, through the power of song and friendship, he pulls through and becomes human again.
* The second ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce'' game briefly has the hero taken over by an ancient UpgradeArtifact, but this doesn't last long once [[ClassRepresentative a friend]] of his tells him to GetAHoldOfYourselfMan. The third game has a different character use TheCorruption within them in order to pull off a HeroicSacrifice.
** This is, in fact, simply a continuation of a recurring theme in the [[VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork prequel series]]. Most notably, in ''Battle Networks 5'' and ''6''. In ''5'', he is poisoned by [[TheVirus Dark Chips]] and can learn to use them more effectively. In ''6'', he gets posessed by a Cybeast (based on your [[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo version]]), and uses the Cybeast power to boost his own. It's reasonable to assume that the Cybeast instance is the inspiration for the [[UpgradeArtifact OOPart]] posessing Geo in ''Star Force 2'', by seeing all the similarities between the two.
* Sergeant Nathan Hale in ''VideoGame/{{Resistance}}: Fall Of Man'' is an example of this trope, as even when he is infected with the Chimera Virus, he just turns into a lean mean bug-busting machine.
** Unfortunately, [[spoiler: [[DownerEnding it gives out]] at the end of the sequel.]]
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'',
** Undead player characters have a racial ability called ''Will of the Forsaken'', which allows the player to escape from fear or mind-control effects.
** In fact, the Forsaken are all this trope. They've all got TheVirus, but they keep themselves free of the Lich King's normal dominance over the Scourge. The Lich King was weakened at the time, of course, but its still impressive.
** Gunther Arcanus is something of a hero among Forsaken, as he was able to break free of the Lich King's control ''by himself''. They credit him as a lich even though he isn't one. He's ''that'' badass.
** The final raid of Cataclysm, we have the boss Ultraxion. His first move is to drag everyone into a shadow dimension, which players must use the temporary ability 'Heroic Will' to break out of at specific times to avoid death.

* Revealed to be very important to a certain werehog in ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed''. [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]] apparently has so much of this trope that he can practically guzzle down the power of an EldritchAbomination yet be almost completely unaffected mentally. What's even more impressive is that he wasn't even ''aware'' that he was doing it.
** Makes you wonder how he would act if he had learned [[spoiler:that just before the final boss, Eggman had shot down Tails' Biplane, and subsequently flipped his shit.]]
** Also, in ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'', when Shadow proves himself immune to Black Doom's control. Also slightly earlier when he recovered from his HeroicBSOD.
** Also used in the VideoGame/SonicStorybookSeries entry ''VideoGame/SonicAndTheBlackKnight'' as this was one reason how [[spoiler:Sonic was able to summon Excalibur and become Excalibur Sonic!]]
** Subverted in ''VideoGame/SonicRivals 2''; In the last mission of the stories of Sonic/Tails and Knuckles/Rouge, Ifrit, the monster of the game, will possess the partner to attack you throughout the boss. It has the same full effectiveness on all of them - even Sonic, the main hero. Of course, it's only very temporary.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'', [[spoiler:Fai Dan]] is the only member of Zhu's Hope who is able to [[spoiler:fully resist the Thorian's mind control.]] In fact, [[spoiler:once the Thorian starts to successfully turn him in an attempt to kill Shepard, he uses the last of his free will to ''kill himself'' rather than be a slave.]]
** Also from Zhu's Hope is Ian Newstead. Upon first meeting him, he appears to be a rambling lunatic who just ran off to the sewers and randomly seems to double over in agony during plain conversation (which renders him unable to talk about . . . something). However, when you find out how being under the [[spoiler:Thorian]] literally makes rebellious thought a horrible torture, and controls people via psychic Pavlovian Conditing, Ian suddenly becomes one of the most strong willed persons in the series for deliberately and continuously defying the [[spoiler:Thorian]] as well as provoking it to hurt him so he knows that he's still himself.
** Villain examples: The first game's baddies, Benezia and Saren, are also subjected to this. Benezia is able to resist Sovereign's mind control for a short time during her confrontation to inform Shepard that they aren't doing this of their own free will. Saren can be talked into a HeelRealization in the beginning of the final fight where he will become lucid for a moment [[spoiler: [[DrivenToSuicide and shoot himself]] before falling again so that the Sovereign won't be able to complete its plan through him, thanking Shepard with his last words]].
** Subverted hilariously in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', when [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Morinth]] suggests that since Shepard has the willpower to resist her attempts to enthrall them, they may have the willpower to resist her mind-frying DeathBySex. Turns out [[TooDumbToLive Shepard]] [[HilarityEnsues does]] [[NonStandardGameOver not]]!
** Liara speculates that this was how Shepard was capable of withstanding the effects of the [[FlingALightIntoTheFuture Prothean Beacon]] in the first game, which on a WeakWilled individual would most likely have [[MySkullRunnethOver destroyed their mind entirely]]. During their mind-melds, the sheer volume of information being depicted by the vision actually leaves Liara visibly exhausted after each attempt, while Shepard actually appears to become ''more'' resistant to its effects.
** The more someone is exposed to Reaper tech, the more that tech enthralls them to the Reapers' will. Despite explicitly being the biggest threat to the Reapers, and despite the fact that they frequently try to indoctrinate Shepard, [[NoSell Shepard never shows signs of indoctrination]].
** The [[spoiler:Leviathans]] even comment on this after Shepard shakes off their mind control and gives them a piece of his/her mind. Shepard's Heroic Willpower is what they determine makes the Reapers [[HorrifyingTheHorror fear]] him/her, and they are convinced that this cycle has a good shot at ending the cycles of Reaping, and lend aid.
-->'''[[spoiler:Leviathan]]:''' [[AC:Your confidence is singular.]]
* The protagonist of ''VideoGame/TrafficDepartment2192'' demonstrates a partial example, albeit not in the way she intends. [[spoiler:The villains attempt to [[LaserGuidedAmnesia erase her memories]] to make it easier to {{Brainwash}} her. To fight it, she focuses on the strongest memory she has--[[YouKilledMyFather her father's murder]]--and keeps her mind on it even as it slowly degrades. It's completely erased, but by the strength of her will all her other memories are left intact.]]
* This is a gameplay mechanic in ''VideoGame/FreedomForce''. Every playable character starts each mission with one “hero medal,” which can be used at will for full healing, full restoration of [[{{Mana}} energy]], or [[NoSell removal of one negative status effect]]. Minuteman, the resident ComicBook/CaptainAmerica {{Expy}}, can be upgraded to start with two or three medals.
* [[VideoGame/DeadSpace Isaac]] [[VideoGame/DeadSpace2 Clarke]]. Not only does he walk through dimly lit corridors full of [[PersonalSpaceInvader freakish space zombies]], [[spoiler: he does it with an ArtifactOfDoom chipping away at his sanity. Granted, he isn't entirely unaffected by it, but he's able to persevere despite this. In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2'', he's far more in control of himself than Stross, another man exposed to the Marker's form of MindScrew.]]
* Bill of the ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' mythos, in the starting wave of the infection, is being put under for surgery on his knee which had been damaged [[RetiredBadass during his tour of duty in Vietnam.]] The nurse prepping him for surgery turns in the middle of it and attacks him. He forces himself to stay conscious through ''modern anesthetics'', fends off the now turned nurse, and runs down the hall ''on said knee that required surgery'' to find himself a weapon. For reference, the reason said knee needed surgery is that it still hadn't and probably never would fully recover from being torn up by shrapnel during his tour in 'Nam. And Bill would go on to fight Tanks on it ''anyway''.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'', after Sora stabs himself with the dark Keyblade and turns into a Heartless to save Kairi, all hope seems lost for his companions, as Ansem is likely going to kick their asses and kill them anyway... until Riku's spirit leaps out of Ansem's body, holding him off for just long enough that Kairi and the others can escape to Traverse Town.
** Also shows up in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep''. After the main villain Xehanort [[GrandTheftMe steals Terra's body]], Terra's willpower lets his spirit take over his armor and use it to fight Xehanort [[SealedEvilInADuel to keep him contained for as long as possible]]. He's still around over ten years later as a BonusBoss in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' called the Lingering Will.

* ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'': [[spoiler:While Liu Kang and Kitana have chosen to embrace their new status as revenants]], Kung Lao, [[spoiler:disliking his current predicament, secretly desires to get out of the Netherrealm for good and come back to the side of light, but is unable to do so. In his arcade ending however, his cousin Kung Jin, who didn't give up any hope on him, helps Lao to redeem and purify his soul, showing that the heroic willpower of a Shaolin monk is much stronger than the Netherrealm's corruption. This implies that it is possible to revive the other revenants to the side of good, but since Quan Chi brainwashed them to the point that they only have pure hatred and was KilledOffForReal by Scorpion, being restored to the side of good is now a difficult process with [[FaceHeelTurn Raiden gone rogue now]].]]
* Although not explicitly stated, Snake in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' is running the entire game on this. He has the body of a 70 year-old with rather severe health problems, and as the game continues, he just ends up in even worse states (including [[spoiler: getting stabbed, shot, electrocuted, burned, and more]]). Despite the incredible handicaps that he has to overcome, he is a better soldier than ''everyone he meets''. Hideo Kojima stated that one of the themes of the game was experience vs training: while the soldiers Snake encounters have been trained well and have a lot of theoretical knowledge, Snake has years of experience, which allows him to prove superior.
** A (somewhat) villainous example is The End from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater''. He's more than 100 years old and he's clinically dead most of the time; the only reason he isn't actually dead is because he wants a final battle, and decided that Snake will do.

* In ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'', this is weaponized into the 'Power of Order'. So powerful that allows one to refuse teleportation, '''''the idea of death''''' and to maintain themselves stable in an EldritchLocation that causes a [[BodyHorror very ugly]] LossOfIdentity.
* Samus Aran exhibits this in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption''. When infected with Phazon she refuses to allow it to dominate her mind, even at levels far beyond what corrupted the other hunters.
* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'': If a hero reaches 100 [[SanityMeter Stress]], and the RandomNumberGod is kind to you, instead of collapsing into a HeroicBSOD they will get a surge of willpower instead, powering on through the dungeon's horrors with massively increased stats depending on the kind of Virtue triggered.

* In the second ''VideoGame/OsuTatakaeOuendan'' game, Goro Okami resists turning into a werewolf in front of his girlfriend by determination and lots of encouragement, and that's it.

* In ''VideoGame/NocturneRebirth'', humans who are bitten by vampires usually become mindless Dark Disciples, become AxCrazy vampires, or become sane vampires. [[spoiler:Reviel bites Luna in the hopes of saving her and bringing her back as the third kind of vampire, but ends up with a Dark Disciple. However, seeing Reviel about to kill Ristill causes Luna to regain her sentience and convince him to show mercy. She's just that determined to get the two to make peace.]]

* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'': This trope is the reason Malenia is still alive. She's blind and has lost more body parts than [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail the Black Knight]] to the Scarlet Rot she was born with, but her "spirit of resistance" is strong enough that she's ''still'' the hardest boss in the game, and a WorldsStrongestMan contender. Even her LifeDrain during her boss fight is described as Malenia willing herself to continue ''just a little bit longer'' whenever she lands a hit.

* A {{Subver|TedTrope}}sion occurs in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', when [[spoiler:Durkon]] gets turned into a vampire. Once freed from his sire's mind control, he seems to revert to his normal personality... until it's finally revealed that the vampire spirit is impersonating him while his own soul watches helplessly from within his body.
** Played straight with the paladin O-Chul, who is captured by Team Evil after [[spoiler:they successfully invade and take over Azure City]]. He is repeatedly tortured, both for information by Redcloak and ForTheEvulz by Xykon. Despite everything they do to him, he never betrays his principles or breaks. He even takes the chance to put The Monster In The Darkness on the path to a HeelFaceTurn and learned most of Xykon's spell list "one saving throw at a time", meaning he took every one of them.
* ''Webcomic/DaughterOfTheLilies'': Brent comes across as DumbMuscle with a HairTriggerTemper, but in a moment of crisis, he has the strength of will to NoSell DemonicPossession from hundreds of [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Drath]] at once.

* In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', [[MakingASplash Lapis]] [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens Lazuli]] is practically the walking embodiment of this.
** When first introduced, her [[HeartDrive gem]] is so damaged that it's basically in three pieces. Despite this being a setting where her gem is her [[ThisWasHisTrueForm real body]] and its complete shattering would mean her death, and compared to Amethyst's cracked gem in 'An Indirect Kiss', which at worst stretched to barely a third of her gem, [[BodyHorror yet caused her to speak backwards while her body distorted itself uncontrollably]], Lapis was indistinguishable from a whole gem. She ''held herself together'' despite the extensive damage, only losing some of her full strength and still retaining enough to take control of the entire planet's oceans.
** She manages to up herself in "Jailbreak" when she [[spoiler:[[FightingFromTheInside takes control]] of her and Jasper's fusion [[FusionDance Malachite]] from [[BloodKnight Jasper]] and drag the two of them into the depths of the sea, ''managing to keep the fusion together'' despite Jasper ''actively'' trying to break it to escape]]. Keep in mind it was established earlier [[spoiler:that even the slightest disagreement between two Gems can force even a ''stable'' fusion to end, yet Lapis was able to force their unstable form together regardless of Jasper's struggles to end it]].
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'':
** In the GrandFinale, BigBad Bill Cipher, a MagnificentBastard extraordinaire, seals protagonist Mabel in an [[LotusEaterMachine enchanted bubble]] called "Mabelland." In Mabelland, people can have their deepest desires and wishes granted effortlessly; Bill, a RealityWarper extraordinaire, calls it his "best trap ever" and remarks that a "will of titanium" is needed to resist it. When Dipper, Wendy, and Soos enter the bubble to free Mabel, the latter two almost instantly give in to its powers, and Dipper is sorely tempted when Wendy (the older girl he's [[PrecociousCrush loved for the whole series]]) points out that in Mabelland, he could be aged up and they could be together. Dipper considers it...''then turns it down'', which in turn causes a massive GlamourFailure that helps him free Mabel from her world's influence. And he does this all at ''twelve years old.''
** A less grand, but no less awesome, example occurs with Pacifica Northwest, a RichBitch who is initially an enemy of Mabel, and to a lesser extent Dipper for defending his sister, [[HeelFaceTurn but gradually warms up to the twins]] as the series progresses. Despite her [[TookALevelInKindness newfound kindness]], though, she still feels compelled to obey her father's orders; he's even trained her to do whatever he says when he rings a little bell. When a vengeful spirit who the Northwests wronged rises from the grave to go on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge, Pacifica finds herself the only person able to break the ghost's curse by opening the family mansion's gates to the general public--but doing so would defy her father's wishes, and he refuses to let her do it, ringing his bell in an attempt to force her to listen to him. Pacifica however [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech briefly calls him out on his stupidity]], then pulls open the gates.

* When Korra gets mercury poisoned at the end of season 3 of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', she manages to fight off going into the [[SuperMode Avatar state]] for an extended period of time out of pure willpower. She knows if she stays in it for too long, they’ll be able to kill her and end the Avatar cycle for good. Once the poison starts to take its toll, she can’t fight it off anymore but manages to win the fight against Zaheer while poisoned.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheMask'': Stanley Ipkiss is a normal, sweet, kind and {{Nice Guy}} who puts on the Mask of Loki and becomes the titular Mask, a genuinely insane cartoonish man. But thanks to the fact that he retains most of Stanley's traits, he fights the supervillains who attack the people of the city, saves his friends who are in danger and will refuse to team up with anyone who will hurt others.
** Evelyn is also the same as Stanley as after she accidentally puts on the mask she becomes Eve, a SouthernBelle girl who like the Mask is also plain bonkers but still retains her original self's traits.
** Dr. Neuman was given the Mask by Stanley who wanted to get rid of it, so he agrees to keep it. However, he eventually noticed how the Mask glows, prompting him to put it on which then attaches itself to him, which also turns him into a psychotic and insane nutjob, though in his case his lunacy manifests in his belief of a disorder called "Ipkissa Maskosis". He does however try and keep himself under control, such as when on a rescue mission to save the world from this disorder (which apparently involves putting anyone he can find in wedgie straitjackets). That said, he does occasionally lose control of himself, like when after Charlie mentions Stanley, he ended up literally blowing steam out of his ears and tried to do a lobotomy on him only to snap himself out of it after his appointment alarm went off. He also still retains his morals such as [[EvenEvilHasStandards agreeing with everyone that Pretorius is insane]], even though he agreed to help him with his plan and was trying to kill Stanley, he decided to mess around with him first (such as putting him in a shower which, while it didn't serve much purpose, did knock him off-guard) showing that though Dr. Neuman as the Mask is a lunatic, he does try and keep himself in control, as he's a professional who refuses to lose his cool no matter what.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': It's established that the JediMindTrick only works on the weak-willed, but [[BountyHunter Cad Bane]] resisting Anakin, Mace Windu and Obi-Wan all bearing down on his mind at once deserves special mention. It's downplayed in that it completely took the starch out of Bane afterwards and he acquiesced to their demands, but normally a Mind Trick basically hypnotizes someone to act against their will: Bane caved because he ''[[ColdBloodedTorture did not want them to try that on him again.]]''

** Villain examples: The first game's both baddies, Benezia and Saren are also subjected to this. Benezia is able to resist Sovereign's mind control for a short time during her confrontation to inform, that they don't do this from their free will. Saren can be talked to HeelRealization in the beginning of the final fight where he will become lucid for a moment [[spoiler: [[DrivenToSuicide and shoot himself]] before falling again so that the Sovereign won't be able to complete it's plan through him, thanking Shepard with his last words]]

* ''VidoeGame/EldenRing'': This trope is the reason Malenia is still alive. She's blind and has lost more body parts than [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail the Black Knight]] to the Scarlet Rot she was born with, but her "spirit of resistance" is strong enough that she's ''still'' the hardest boss in the game, and a WorldsStrongestMan contender. Even her LifeDrain during her boss fight is described as Malenia willing herself to continue ''just a little bit longer'' whenever she lands a hit.