History Main / IntrinsicVow

* ''The Complete Arduin'', ''Book 2: Resources''. The spell Aura of Command will cause the target to carry out any order given to it unless the command is "fundamentally contrary to the essence of their being".

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Nobilis}}'', having a Virtue is basically this; someone with the "Vegetarian" virtue ''can't'' be tricked into eating meat, someone with "Egocentric" ''can't'' forget who they are, etc.

* In ''{{Terminator}} 3: Rise of the Machines'', this exchange takes place when, under the influence of the T-X's reprogramming, the T-800 is holding John Connor down, ready to kill him.

* In ''RustyAndCo'', [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/level-6-46/ Mimic deduces what Madeline's been told because she cannot work against her fundamental nature.]] [[spoiler:While she's chasing him, he tries to guess what the vampire could possibly have said to make Madeline attack him, and then he figures it out -- the vampire told her that Mimic was ''being attacked by bees''. She was trying to swat them away. With her spear]].

* ''TabletopGame/DCHeroes''. The Hypnotism power allows the user to implant suggestions in the target's mind. A suggestion will not be carried out if it is something completely against the target's Motivation or belief. However, a clever hypnotist can get around this restriction by implanting suggestions that circumvent the target's beliefs. For example, if the hypnotist wants Superman to attack Jimmy Olsen he can first implant a suggestion that Jimmy is actually Darkseid. If this suggestion works, Superman will follow a subsequent suggestion to attack Jimmy because he will believe that Jimmy is Darkseid.

* In the ''{{Doctor Who}}'' episode "Closing Time," The sound of his baby crying is the only thing that breaks Craig free from Cyberman mind control. In fact, the feedback is powerful enough to destroy the ship.

** Tsubaki Yayoi and Jin Kisaragi of ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' both have vowed each other's hand in marriage to the other when they come of age. It falls under this trope as challenging it is the crux of Jin's plan to [[spoiler:break the Mind Eater curse Tsubaki is under]] in ''Chronophntasma''. [[spoiler:With Makoto's strength, Noel's [[RealityWarper Eye]] and his power of order all working in succession, he succeeds and Tsubaki escapes the curse completely.]]

->''[[AddedAlliterativeAppeal Harry's hand halted.]]\\

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* In Literature/HisMajestysDragon, in the eight book Laurence gets total amnesia of the last eight years. While this does reset a good portion of his character development until he gets his memory back, including the strength of his bond with Temeraire, he still knows, in his heart of hearts, that dragons aren't the mindless beasts he'd been taught to believe.

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* In the ''{{Supernatural}}'' episode "Goodbye Stranger," Castiel is BrainwashedAndCrazy and driven to kill Dean Winchester. While he was able to complete the task with thousands of fake Deans in Heaven, once faced with the real thing he was FightingFromTheInside against the control. Dean was able to reach him with an IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight.

* In ''Literature/DuneMessiah'', it's revealed that [[Franchise/{{Dune}} Gholas]] - who are basically resurrected corpses who possess the skills, but not memories, of their original life - can regain their memories if put in a situation like this. The original case involved Duncan Idaho, an extremely loyal follower of the Atreides, being ordered to assassinate Paul, the then-head of the House Atreides.
** Later, with more advanced technology, it [[Literature/GodEmperorOfDune becomes possible to clone Gholas from tissue-samples]]. Same rules apply, and it eventually becomes standard procedure to put the Gholas through simulated 'no-way' scenarios in order to force their latent memories to the surface.

* ''TabletopGame/UnknownArmies'' supplement ''Statosphere''. The Invisible Clergy cannot make a mortal (such as a human) to do something against their will or prevent them from doing something they really want to do.

If he's under MoreThanMindControl, attempting to make him break it will cause him to break free of the control instead. If he's got [[LaserGuidedAmnesia Laser Guided]] or EasyAmnesia, he'll stop in his tracks without knowing why - or possibly even remember everything. If [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight he's in there somewhere]], this will enable him to fight.

Unnervingly, the one way to get a character to break such a vow is to force them to choose between the lesser of two evils, with the greater being keeping the vow, making it a FrequentlyBrokenUnbreakableVow. Subtrope to HeroicWillpower. See also HeroicVow.

* In the later ''{{Dune}}'' books, it's revealed that Gholas - who are basically resurrected corpses who possess the skills, but not memories, of their original life - can regain their memories if put in a situation like this. The original case involved Duncan Idaho, an extremely loyal follower of the Atreides, being ordered to assassinate Paul, the then-head of the House Atraides.
** Later, with more advanced technology, it becomes possible to clone Gholas from tissue-samples. Same rules apply, and it eventually becomes standard procedure to put the Gholas through simulated 'no-way' scenarios in order to force their latent memories to the surface.

--> '''The Doctor''': Well, actually, the instinctive mammalian drive to protect your offspring created a feedback effect so powerful that... all right, yes, you blew them up with love.

* In the ''FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes'' episode "Recap/JohnnyStormAndThePotionOfFire", Johnny doesn't resist the fire elemental until it tries to make him kill Susan.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}''. The Control Emotions and Control Thoughts spells allow the target to resist the effect if it would cause harm to their loved ones.

* ''TabletopGame/DCHeroes''. The Hypnotism power allows the user to implant suggestions in the target's mind. A suggestion will not be carried out if it is something completely against the target's Motivation or belief. However, a clever hypnotist can get around this restriction by implanting suggestions that circumvent the target's beliefs. For example, if the hypnotist wants Superman to attack Jimmy Olson he can first implant a suggestion that Jimmy is actually Darkseid. If this suggestion works, Superman wikk follow a subsequent suggestion to attack Jimmy because he will believe that Jimmy is Darkseid.

--> Craig: I blew them up! I blew them up with love!
--> The Doctor: Well, actually, the instinctive mammalian drive to protect your offspring created a feedback effect so powerful that... all right, yes, you blew them up with love.

** When someone was affected by Spiritual Combat using the Subvert attack, they could not be made to directly hurt their friends.

* ''[=Mythus=]/Dangerous Journeys''. In the Mythus main rules, the Hypnosis skill allowed the user to give commands to the subject, but the subject would not obey commands completely contrary to their nature.