History Main / IntrinsicVow

A character has something he believes in more than anything. A person he has sworn to protect, an ideal he's sworn to uphold. He might have spoken that vow in a sacred ceremony, or simply made a decision in the silence of his heart, it doesn't matter. What matters it that no matter what, he will not break it.

* ''Continuum: Roleplaying in the Yet''. A person under the effect of the Hypnosis skill will not do anything that is directly against their nature.

* ''Literature/TheDarkElfTrilogy'' reveals that Drizzt Do'Urden's father was, like himself, a rare 'Good' Drow Elf. After Drizzt turns his back on his people and escapes from Menzoberranzon, vengeful High Priestesses of Lolth brings his father back from the dead as a sort of semi-zombie - undead, but still possessing the skills of his former life. The reason being, of course, that Drizzt has proven too fearsome a fighter for all their assassins so far, so they figure that bringing back the man who taught him to fight might be their only shot. During the final confrontation between Drizzt and his zombified dad, pops managed to break free of the priestesses' control for just long enough to give a final farewell to his son, and then [[HeroicSuicide jump into a pool of acid so he wouldn't be able to hurt him]].

** Belkar, under a Charm Person spell, still refuses to hand over any magic items he picks up. Nale, who cast the spell, changes the wording to include Belkar keeping the items (and singing the complete score to ''Film/MeetMeInStLouis'') so that the spell will work.

** 2nd Edition AD&D ''The Complete Psionics Handbook''. The psionic ability Post-Hypnotic Suggestion can't make the victim violate their CharacterAlignment or class restrictions.

* Doctor Doom has a Hypnoticon device that can put hypnotic commands in the minds of others. If a command goes against the victim's morals they can resist it.

* Subverted in ''Anime/CodeGeass'' - Euphemia hesitates and resists heroically when given the order to kill the Japanese, but the geass is too powerful for her willpower to break through it.

* Chaosium's ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'' RPG. The magical power Hypnosis cannot make the target do anything obviously contrary to his deeply held convictions.

* ''Literature/TheDarkElfTrilogy'' reveals that Drizzt Do'Urden's father was, like himself, a rare 'Good' Drow Elf. After Drizzt turns his back on his people and escapes from Menzoberranzon, vengeful High Priestesses of Lolth brings his father back from the dead as a sort of semi-zombie - undead, but still possessing the skills of his former life. The reason being, of course, that Drizzt has proven too fearsome a fighter for all their assassins so far, so they figure that bringing back the man who taught him to fight might be their only shot. During the final confrontation between Drizzt and his zombified dad, pops managed to break free of the priestesses' control for just long enough to give a final farewell to his son, and then jump into a pool of acid so he wouldn't be able to hurt him.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' 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.
--> '''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... [[DoingInTheScientist all right, yes, you blew them up with love.]]

** The Hypnosis skill allowed the user to give commands to the subject, but the subject would not obey commands completely contrary to their nature.
** A character affected by the Spiritual Combat attack Subvert would act the reverse of their normal personality (e.g. Evil instead of Good and vice versa), but they could not be made to directly hurt their friends.

*** The Hypnosis ability allowed giving reasonable orders only. The victim couldn't be ordered to kill their friends or associates.
*** Creatures under the effect of the Mass Domination ability would not do anything which was obviously against their basic nature.

*** Anyone affected by a Rod of Beguiling would not obey commands that would go against their nature or CharacterAlignment.
*** If a creature was under the effect of a Rod of Rulership, giving them an order that was absolutely contrary to their nature would void the magical control.

* Subverted in Anime/CodeGeass - Euphemia hesitates and resists heroically when given the order to kill the Japanese, but the geass is too powerful for her willpower to break through it.
** In Anime/CodeGeassAkitoTheExiled part 3, this is how [[spoiler: Lelouch breaks out, though not completely, from the Emperor's geass used to make him think he's the strategist Julius Kingsley. All that matters to Julius is the Emperor's desires, and that couldn't be more contrary to Lelouch's feelings, and his desire to destroy the empire.]]

* SelfDemonstrating/DoctorDoom has a Hypnoticon device that can put hypnotic commands in the minds of others. If a command goes against the victim's morals they can resist it.

** The same happens with [[spoiler:Nunnally]] in ''Anime/CodeGeass R2'', when Lelouch geass her into giving her the control to launch a bunch of Freiya bombs. She resist at first, but ultimately succumbs to the geass.

* In ''Exiles'', Mimic's body has been snatched by Proteus. He finds himself unable to kill Blink because of Mimic's love for her. Even after leaving Mimic's body, he suffered of the feedback of his feelings and tried several times to get close with her.

* In ''PandoraHearts'', one episode sees Gil entrapped by a monster capable of controlling people with strings (like puppets, y'know). While it initially manages to make him smack around Oz, his best friend/master whom he's sworn to protect, Oz [[BatmanGambit correctly reasons]] that Gil would never be able to kill him, and literally forces Gil's hand - which causes Gil to break free of the strings long enough to gun down the controller.

* Subverted in CodeGeass - Euphemia hesitates and resists heroically when given the order to kill the Japanese, but the geass is too powerful for her willpower to break through it.

* Not so much a "vow", but {{Wolverine}} was once snapped out of believing he was timid young James Howlett when a can of beer fell on his head. One could almost hear the "Popeye" power-up theme tune as he stares at the can and his features harden.
* {{Superman}} was once hypnotized by Poison Ivy. Batman's only advantage was that Superman will NOT take a life... and that he will drop EVERYTHING to save Lois Lane, who Batman had Catwoman [[BatmanGambit throw off a nearby roof]].

* ComicBook/DoctorDoom has a Hypnoticon device that can put hypnotic commands in the minds of others. If a command goes against the victim's morals they can resist it.

** Belkar, under a Charm Person spell, still refuses to hand over any magic items he picks up. Nale, who cast the spell, changes the wording to include Belkar keeping the items (and singing the complete score to ''MeetMeInStLouis'') so that the spell will work.

* ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''. Khan implants alien creatures in Chekhov and Captain Terrell's brains that allow him to MindControl them. When Khan orders Captain Terrell to kill Captain Kirk with a phaser, Terrell manages to overcome the MindControl and performs a HeroicSacrifice, killing himself with the phaser to save Kirk's life.

CompellingVoice, CharmPerson, GrandTheftMe, BrainwashedAndCrazy, it doesn't matter -- that one unbreakable vow will tear through anything. If the control exerted on him is particularly strong (or the show particularly cynical), he will only manage to retain enough control to commit suicide rather than break his vow - or his body might simply resist to the point where his mind or heart breaks from the stress.

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 [[WistfulAmnesia stop in his tracks without knowing why]] - or [[AmnesiaMissedASpot possibly even remember everything]]. If [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight he's in there somewhere]], this will enable him to fight.

CompellingVoice, CharmPerson, GrandTheftMe, BrainwashedAndCrazy, it doesn't matter - that one unbreakable vow will tear through anything. If the control exerted on him is particularly strong (or the show particularly cynical), he will only manage to retain enough control to commit suicide rather than break his vow - or his body might simply resist to the point where his mind or heart breaks from the stress.

And that, essentially, is the core of this trope - a character-trait so important to the character that he will break free of outside control or amnesia to keep it. Simply having a vow will not suffice, if it has not been 'tested' in this manner.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes'' episode "[[Recap/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroesJohnnyStormAndThePotionOfFire Johnny Storm and the Potion of Fire]", Johnny doesn't resist the fire elemental until it tries to make him kill Susan.

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

* Chaosium's supplement ''All the Worlds' Monsters'' Volume III. A newborn Perneese Fire Lizard (based on the ancestors of the dragons in Creator/AnneMcCaffrey's Pern novels) can become [[{{Imprinting}} imprinted]] on an intelligent being. If they do so, any kind of mind-control magic used on them cannot make them attack the being they're imprinted on.

** The same happens with [[spoiler:Nunnally]] in CodeGeassR2, when Lelouch geass her into giving her the control to launch a bunch of Freiya bombs. She resist at first, but ultimately succumbs to the geass.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' 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.
--> '''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... [[DoingInTheScientist all right, yes, you blew them up with love.]]
* In the ''{{Series/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.
--> '''Castiel''': This isn't right.
--> '''Naomi''': Do you realize what that tablet can do for us?
--> '''Castiel''': '''I won't hurt Dean.'''
--> '''Naomi''': Yes. You will. You are.
** Arguably a FrequentlyBrokenUnbreakableVow, as it has been tested before (and after) by various characters on the show, sometimes to IDidWhatIHadToDo or GodzillaThreshold effect from Castiel.

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* ''The Compleat 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".