History Main / ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil

* In ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', the heroes run into a group of sharks who are trying to give up {{carnivor|eConfusion}}ism in an AA-esque setting. When Bruce the shark goes into a feeding frenzy after smelling blood, it's treated like a relapse (the other sharks even call it FallingOffTheWagon.)

* In ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', the heroes run into a group of sharks who are trying to give up {{carnivor|eConfusion}}ism in an AA-esque setting. When Bruce the shark goes into a feeding frenzy after smelling blood, it's treated like a relapse (the other sharks even call it "falling off the wagon.")

->You think I've not tried to stop - to stop tying? I'm hooked! It's a ''habit'' with me now! Oh, boo-hoo-hoo! I swear to you: after I tie up this ''one'' defenseless woman, I'm going to swear ''off'', so ''help'' me!

Contrast EvilIsCool and EvilFeelsGood and GoodFeelsGood. Compare TheDarkSide and EvilIsNotAToy. Also see DrunkOnTheDarkSide

Parents, talk to your children about using evil. They'll listen...

* Loki announces his arrival in ''Film/TheAvengers'' by [[BigBad wreaking some serious havoc]] throughout the rest of the movie, signifying a [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope dramatic]] [[TookALevelInBadass change]] from his previous appearance in ''Film/{{Thor}}''. But his mental change for the worse is accompanied by physical changes as well: his hair is even more stringy and mussed than usual, his skin is unnaturally pale, and his eyes are sunken to the point of appearing bruised.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' has Black Magic. When using an evil magic belt in ''Fool Moon'' Harry notes that the effect is an amazing high along with the designed effect. The White Council views all Black Magic this way as well and they have a strict policy on what to do with its users.

** In the ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' series, being fully on the dark side causes GlowingEyesOfDoom, wrinkled skin, a change in underwear (to a black-and-red jumpsuit-like thing) and some [=NPCs=] comment briefly on your appearance. Although if you were on the dark side and they commented on your appearance, the rest of their lives were generally very brief.

* If you think that Light Yagami is capable of maintaining his sanity after he starts writing names in the Manga/DeathNote, you haven't been watching or reading the series anywhere near close enough.

Then, you feel it: a straining in your head, a dagger-like pain in your chest, a feeling of queasiness or disorientation or some other physical malady. Or [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity you realize you've become incredibly cold and antagonistic toward your friends and loved ones]], followed by a feeling of being [[DrunkOnTheDarkSide out of control]] with [[WhatTheHellHero your own actions]]. Something is wrong; you never expected ''this'' to happen. And if you don't find a way to stop it, it'll ruin your relationships, kill your career, or -- in the most extreme cases -- drive you into an early grave.

Congratulations, This Is Your Brain On Evil. Since evil is often depicted as being a tantalizing and corrupting influence, it's just as often used as an euphemism for another, similarly tantalizing and corrupting, influence: [[PsychoSerum drugs.]] And, just like drugs, the side effects are all there: addiction, withdrawal, [[NotHimself uncontrollable behavior]] and, eventually, health problems and death. Usually, when a character is thrust into this trope, they get into it only knowing or caring about the positive, "feel-good" parts of the power or evil they're taking and never seem to realize that they can't take the "good" parts out of the deal without acquiring the negative as well until it's almost too late. Once they reach that point, they're almost guaranteed to [[ColdTurkeysAreEverywhere try to "quit"]] their newfound lease on life to ensure that it doesn't [[SuperPowerMeltdown destroy them and those around them completely.]] Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they end up [[RedemptionEqualsDeath dying]] and regretting having ever started in the first place.

* Riku, in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI''.

->[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything You think I've not tried to stop - to stop tying? I'm hooked!]] It's a ''habit'' with me now! Oh, boo-hoo-hoo! I swear to you: after I [[ChainedToARailway tie up this]] ''one'' [[DamselInDistress defenseless woman]], I'm going to swear ''off'', so ''help'' me!
-->--'''[[DastardlyWhiplash Snidely Whiplash]]''', ''WesternAnimation/DudleyDoRight''

[[folder:Film]]

* In Series/OnceUponATime, Rumplestiltskin becomes increasingly violent and paranoid to the point of even killing his mute servant who had a drawing of the dagger, after becoming The Dark One. He is shown to be extremely unhinged throughout the series.

* Pleasure Island in the [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney version]] of ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}'', where bad boys are invited to do what bad boys love to do... [[NightmareFuel/{{Pinocchio}} until they learn too late it's a trap]], and the island is [[{{Animorphism}} magically imbued to turn them all into donkeys]] after a while; after they have thus literally made jackasses of themselves, they are sold into slavery. Fortunately for the title puppet, he and a few other boys manage to escape before the transformation fully sets in.
* In ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', the heroes run into a group of sharks who are trying to give up {{carnivor|eConfusion}}ism in an AA-esque setting. When Bruce the shark goes into a feeding frenzy after smelling blood, it's treated like a relapse (the other sharks even call it "falling off the wagon.")

* Not an example, exactly, but used in [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=1266 this]] ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}''.

** In the final volume of ''Comicbook/DarkEmpire'', Darth Sidious underestimates the PapaWolf ''again''.

* Apparently not even demons are immune to this, cf. Marlowe's version of Mephisto (in ''Theatre/{{Faust}}''):

* ''TabletopGame/Dungeons&Dragons'' has the Helm of Opposite Alignment, a cursed artifact that forcibly reverses the alignment of any weak-willed character who puts it on, and states that "The individual changed by the magic thoroughly enjoys his new outlook." A normal-looking helmet that turns you evil and makes you LIKE IT, violently resisting any attempt to change back. (assuming you were good to begin with, otherwise this could just as easily be a case of forced [[GoodFeelsGood Good Feels Good]] via a little...[[MindRape magic]])

* In Creator/HarryHarrison's first ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'' book, the newly-minted special investigator Jim diGriz is faced with the question of locating beautiful psychopath Angelina. He is inspired to synthesise a cocktail of drugs that, to all intents and purposes, turn him into a conscienceless, unempathic, sociopath. In this frame of mind he despises the wimp he used to be, who drew the line at un-necessary violence and murder. The new diGriz delights in inflicting sadistic pain and relishes his chemically adjusted brain's capacity for evil. However, when in the process of tooling up with lethal wewapons, heremembers his previous self has booby-trapped the guns just in case. He activates a stun-gas grenade, waking up several hours later with the drug out of his system, having had an insight into an evil mind.

* ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'' established that [[DealWithTheDevil selling one's soul]] is not only addictive, but exponentially detrimental to it, lessening its "value" with each trade. [[spoiler:This is why a strung-out and desperate Faust tried (unsuccessfully) to barter [[ElongatedMan Ralph Dibny]]'s soul instead.]]

*** By which point you've become ridiculously tough and more or less immortal and immune to pain, moreso than other Chaos mutants, so if you don't [[IJustWantToBeBeautiful want to be pretty]] or [[FragileSpeedster fast]] (though the latter isn't ''necessarily'' ruled out), Nurgle's gifts are the [[SuperpoweredEvilSide genuine article]]. And you still get to have a decent social support network (for a strictly quality-oriented definition of "decent"), something the other 3 Ruinous Powers don't offer. All of this is not to say that Nurgle averts this trope, but he seems to be the best Chaos has to offer in TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} by a considerable margin.

->[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything You think I've not tried to stop - to stop tying? I'm hooked!]] It's a ''habit'' with me now! Oh, boo-hoo-hoo! I swear to you: after I [[ChainedToARailway tie up this]] ''one'' [[DistressedDamsel defenseless woman]], I'm going to swear ''off'', so ''help'' me!
-->--'''[[DastardlyWhiplash Snidely Whiplash]]''', ''DudleyDoRight''

Congratulations, ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil. Since evil is often depicted as being a tantalizing and corrupting influence, it's just as often used as an euphemism for another, similarly tantalizing and corrupting, influence: [[PsychoSerum drugs.]] And, just like drugs, the side effects are all there: addiction, withdrawal, [[NotHimself uncontrollable behavior]] and, eventually, health problems and death. Usually, when a character is thrust into this trope, they get into it only knowing or caring about the positive, "feel-good" parts of the power or evil they're taking and never seem to realize that they can't take the "good" parts out of the deal without acquiring the negative as well until it's almost too late. Once they reach that point, they're almost guaranteed to [[ColdTurkeysAreEverywhere try to "quit"]] their newfound lease on life to ensure that it doesn't [[SuperPowerMeltdown destroy them and those around them completely.]] Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they end up [[RedemptionEqualsDeath dying]] and regretting having ever started in the first place.

* In the ''ChaosHead'' remake's route for [[spoiler:Kozue]], the lead female winds up pulling a ThisIsYourBrainOnEvil and an EvilFeelsGood simultaneously. Naturally, it gets worse.

* ''GaReiZero'': Alas, poor Yomi (;_;) She would rather not hurt her little sister (girlfriend?) Kagura, but the evil stone in her head says otherwise. [[AndIMustScream And she realize what is happening to her.]] And it's far too late for her to turn back.
* Sicks of {{Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro}} is so evil that he can simply walk by people and cause them to bend completely to his will, even if they really don't want to. He's a habit that people can't quit.
* The boy who would become Wrath in ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' was a sweet,shy, and innocent young child who was suffering from a nasty case of amnesia when he was first introduced to the audience. [[AxCrazy Then he starts to eat unfinished Philosopher's Stones....]]

* During the Alien Costume StoryArc, ''Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}}'' becomes addicted to the power and freedom the ComicBook/{{Venom}} symbiote gave him... until he learned that it exacerbated his aggressive tendencies and would've absorbed him into itself in the long run. Peter Parker managed to "quit" the symbiote, but his successor, Eddie Brock, wasn't so lucky. Note that this wasn't actually a part of the original comic-book version, [[LostInImitation but has appeared in all the adaptations]].
** Brock '''seems''' to be better, now. At the moment. Sort of. Meanwhile, under the Symbiote's influence, Mac Gargan has crawled up the food chain of evil, in more ways than one.
* The ''Comicbook/SonicTheHedgehog'' Archie comic delved a little into this with the Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles' ancestor Dimitri, who would later become the power-mad Enerjak, got hit with the "withdrawal" symptoms of this trope once his Enerjak powers were removed; rendered unchanged by his powers for centuries, their sudden absence quickly reduced him to a frail old man on the verge of death, forced to live on cybernetic means for the rest of his life (and in one possible future, being reduced to a head in a jar).
** Similarly, in a (now non-{{canon}}) future, Knuckles gets juiced up on Chaos power and goes mad, [[AGodAmI attempting to reshape his world as he sees fit]]. He was stopped by Sonic and an alien device, but it robbed him of an eye and all but irreversibly annihilated his relationship with the hedgehog. Note that canonically, he's already been pumped up with Chaos energy once, and while he didn't go insane or anything, he still died (he got better, though).
*** This actually sort of happened in a recent arc with Knuckles being taken over by the Enerjak power- however it ended better with Sonic forgiving him, though Knuckles still feels bad about it.

* In the ''Emerald Twilight'' arc of ''GreenLantern'', Hal Jordan starts out slightly unbalanced with grief over the freaking ''demolition of his home city'' and after a minor nervous breakdown, charges out towards Oa to call out the guardians for their long-running history of being selfish assholes. However, he then starts robbing and killing all the other Lanterns who get in his way, and goes from "unbalanced" to "totally batshit insane" over the space of 22 pages. At the time of publication, it was more a DespairEventHorizon, but it was then [[{{Retcon}} retconned]] that Hal had actually been infected by a fear-feeding GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere, meaning Hal apparently lost his mind as soon as he got corrupted.

* TheDarkSide (yes, the original from ''StarWars'') tends toward the physical aspects of this, slowly twisting, corrupting, and generally uglifying its adherents. In the ExpandedUniverse, it's explained that Emperor Palpatine had to leapfrog from clone body to clone body as he grew more powerful, with each one disintegrating faster.

** In the ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' video game series, being fully on the dark side causes GlowingEyesOfDoom, wrinkled skin, a change in underwear (to a black-and-red jumpsuit-like thing) and some [=NPCs=] comment briefly on your appearance.
*** Of course, if you were on the dark side and they commented on your appearance, the rest of their lives were generally very brief.
** In the final volume of ''DarkEmpire'', Darth Sidious underestimates the PapaWolf ''again''.
* In the second ''Film/{{Spider-Man}}'' movie, Otto Octavius has an epiphany after getting knocked around by Peter, realizing that his arms have been manipulating ''him'', and urging him to evil. Sadly, he was surgically fused with them and [[NotQuiteDead may have "died"]] because RedemptionEqualsDeath.
** Also the Venom suit in Spider-Man 3.
* In ''MrBrooks'', the eponymous SerialKiller uses Alcoholics Anonymous mantras to try to resist the urge to murder. It doesn't work.

* ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'': Witness what hundreds of years of Ring-addiction did to Gollum, not to mention the Ringwraiths. However, Gollum's appearance may not be so much an example of what happens when you abuse evil, so much as what happens when you [[AgeWithoutYouth live for 500 years without eternal youth]].

** The Turkish delight the White Witch gives Edmund in ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'' works a lot like a drug -- the post self-isolation, his siblings noting he doesn't look well, "the more he ate, the more he wanted to eat... and if allowed, would go on eating it till he killed himself." Edmund's (music-inspired-by soundtrack only) VillainSong from the 2005 film agrees with this interpretation, with such lyrics as "a life of treats might do me in/but I've got to get another taste" playing up the addiction/withdrawal parallels.

* In the ''{{Shannara}}'' series, if not subverted, at least subdued, in the form of the druid Allanon (as well as his mentor Bremen, and successor Walker) who dared to use the BlackMagic out of necessity. Villains used the same power, and it corrupted them. It corrupted Brin Ohmsford, too, until her brother saved her. The druids are different, though; they understand the BlackMagic well enough to take this threat seriously, and use it with steadfast discipline and carefully prepared HeroicWillpower strong enough to remain good guys (at least insofar as they [[IDidWhatIHadToDo do what must be done]] to vanquish evil) throughout their stint of public service.
* ''Discworld/GuardsGuards'': Summoning a dragon from an unknowable dimension and guiding it around the city according to your will? Fun. Addictive, even. Said dragon learning to summon itself into your city and taking its revenge first and foremost on ''you'' - your mind, your consciousness, your future? [[NightmareFuel Not fun.]] Sorry, [[spoiler: Mr. Wonse...]]

* The addiction metaphor is pretty obvious in ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde''. The physical symptoms aside, Jekyll even says he be rid of Hyde any time he wants... but, of course, once he wants to get rid of Hyde once and for all, he can't. The more he takes the potion, the easier (and less painful) it is to transform into Hyde until it's impossible for him to remain as Jekyll. (Note that it is ''not'' the potion that is addictive but [[EvilFeelsGood the freedom from all conscience and moral restraint]].)

* In the ''Franchise/DungeonsAndDragons: Abyssal Plague'' novels, [[spoiler:Kri, after being influenced by Tharizdun.]]
* [[LeftBehind Nicolae Carpathia]] is ''made'' of this trope.
* In {{Harry Harrison}}'s first ''StainlessSteelRat'' book, the newly-minted special investigator Jim diGriz is faced with the question of locating beautiful psychopath Angelina. He is inspired to synthesise a cocktail of drugs that, to all intents and purposes, turn him into a conscienceless, unempathic, sociopath. In this frame of mind he despises the wimp he used to be, who drew the line at un-necessary violence and murder. The new diGriz delights in inflicting sadistic pain and relishes his chemically adjusted brain's capacity for evil. However, when in the process of tooling up with lethal wewapons, heremembers his previous self has booby-trapped the guns just in case. He activates a stun-gas grenade, waking up several hours later with the drug out of his system, having had an insight into an evil mind.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' went full-out with the drug comparison when Willow slowly gets addicted to magic. She has to get pulled back from the edge a few times before it sticks, and in the meantime she's a wired sorceress with eyes dilated to the extreme.
** More tamely, when Buffy gets enticed by the [[EvilFeelsGood sheer fun of Faith's delinquent and irresponsible behavior,]] she winds up becoming idiotic enough to burgle a gun shop without any precautions whatsoever, and gets arrested.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'''s Goa'uld tend to suffer from an actual physical addiction with evil as the primary side effect: the sarcophagus, particularly demonstrated in Daniel's experience with it in ''Need''.
** The Tok'ra, an offshoot of the Goa'uld, refuse to make use of the sarcophagus no matter what. They believe it's a major reason why the Goa'uld are AlwaysChaoticEvil, and consider their own reduced lifespans to be a perfectly acceptable trade-off.

* Season 4 of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' has Sam becoming addicted to [[PsychoSerum demon blood]] to stop the Apocalypse; he knows he's damning himself, but doesn't expect to survive stopping the Apocalypse anyway. Sam {{Lampshades}} it: "So you're trying to treat this like some drug intervention?"

* ''VampireTheRequiem'' has this as the weakness of the Ventrue clan. Every character, once they fall down the KarmaMeter, needs to roll to see if they pick up a Derangement as part of sublimating the fact that they did something awful. Ventrue get a penalty to this roll, making them more likely to pick up Derangements as they do bad things.

* Apparently not even demons are immune to this, cf. Marlowe's version of Mephisto(in ''Faust''):

* Iori (and Leona's) transformation into the Riot of the Blood state in ''TheKingOfFighters'' is preceded by dizziness, hazy vision (as they lose their consciousness), and finally, vomiting up blood. Unlike many other examples here, this completely involuntary.
* Riku, in the first ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' game.
* In ''MegamanBattleNetwork'', many Navis initially use dark chips to become more powerful, but soon become addicted to them and start suffering withdrawal without them.

* Not an example, exactly, but used in [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=1266 this]] ''{{Sinfest}}''.
* Parodied in [[http://sydneypadua.com/2dgoggles/vampire-poets-part-the-third this]] ''TheThrillingAdventuresOfLovelaceAndBabbage'' (aka ''2D Goggles'') strip, given that for Ada, Poetry -> Evil.

* Post FaceHeelTurn Madison Conner of ''SurvivalOfTheFittest'' going from a (very) emotional girl just trying to survive and transforming into a sadistic psychopath with little to no empathy. There wasn't even a trace of CharacterDevelopment, making it incredibly [[{{Anvilicious}} jarring]].

* Pleasure Island in the [[DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney version]] of ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}'', where bad boys are invited to do what bad boys love to do... [[NightmareFuel until they learn too late it's a trap]], and the island is [[{{Animorphism}} magically imbued to turn them all into donkeys]] after a while; after they have thus literally made jackasses of themselves, they are sold into slavery. Fortunately for the title puppet, he and a few other boys manage to escape before the transformation fully sets in.
* In ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'', the heroes run into a group of sharks who are trying to give up [[CarnivoreConfusion carnivorism]] in an AA-esque setting. When Bruce the shark goes into a feeding frenzy after smelling blood, it's treated like a relapse (the other sharks even call it "falling off the wagon.")
* One of the quotes is from the DudleyDoRight segment of the [[RockyAndBullwinkle Rocky and Bullwinkle Show]]

Parents, talk to your children about using evil. They'll listen...

* Riku, in the first ''KingdomHearts'' game.

...Any Questions?

..Any Questions?