Times where someone aimed to Break Them by Talking in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- Ace Combat: The Equestrian War: Gilda does this to Rainbow Dash in Chapter 11. It ends as being one of the reasons that causes a Heroic BSoD to Rainbow.
- However, it comes back to bite her hard in the butt during their second confrontation.
- In All For Luz, All For One gets under Luz's skin with his theory why she thinks her power is wrong preying on her fears with a brutal Villain Has a Point Hannibal Lecture with a barrage Armor Piercing Questions that leaves the poor girl wondering if her own mother doesn't love her for who she is.Shigaraki: Now I know why you don't like the idea of taking away peoples' powers. You find it to be abhorrent because you see it as taking away someone's individuality, and not only that, but you see it as a form of projecting your pain onto others when you don't want anyone else to experience that level of loneliness.
Luz: B-But that's—!
Shigaraki: And not only do you not want others to feel that way, if I were to take an educated guess, if you could you'd also go back to being the normal, plain, no power-having Luz so that you don't have to live with the burden of knowing that with just a simple shake of the hand you can take that person's power. Am I correct?
Luz: Y-You...! You don't know that!
Shigaraki: (Psychotic Smirk) Oh...? Am I not correct? Does this perhaps mean that, secretly, deep down in your heart of hearts, you like the idea of stripping away power from others?
Luz: (Stunned Silence)
Shigaraki: Don’t lie to yourself, Luz. You enjoy that idea, don't you? Even if you’d never willingly admit it, the idea of taking away power from those who you believe don't deserve it is something that you’ve always liked. After all, everyone who you ever met who had a modicum of power over you, even your own mother, has discredited your creativity to some degree, calling it a waste of time, or worse, something that you should strip from your very being! ... Look around you, Luz! This very situation you're in is because of those who had power over you saw your creativity, and saw it as a blight on your very soul! So, instead of helping you direct that creativity into something positive, what do they suggest to your mother?! They suggest taking you to a conversion camp meant to make you fit in line with those around you. And the worst part? Your mother agreed with them.
Luz: (Visibly struggling to avoid shedding any tears)
Shigaraki: Your mother, someone who was meant to care and love you, agreed with those who said that you were "too weird" or you were "too obnoxious" for polite society. How devastating is that? To know that your mother doesn't love you for the way you are, and would rather have you change into someone else so that HER life is easier!
Luz: B-But that's-
Shigaraki: "But that's not true!" you say?! Oh, really! Is that the case? Then why did she send you here? Hm? What, let me guess, she said that "this is an opportunity to make new friends," right? But what was the real reason? Do you even know what the real reason was? You don’t know, now do you? [...] Well, allow me to make an educated guess, speaking from experience. Your mother caved into peer pressure, and sent you away, instead of standing up for you and making it known that she'd stick by you to the bitter end, falsely believing that what she was doing was the right thing, right? That sounds to be in line with how your mother operates, am I wrong?
Luz: (Suppressed Rage)
Shigaraki: My point is, Luz, is that those around you who have had power over you used it to make you feel small, weak, and little. And in the back of your mind, you've always wanted to strip that power from them. Now that you have the means to, are you really going to try and tell me that you would never do such a thing? That now that you have the means to point back at the world, and tell them for once that they’re wrong, that you won't?
Luz: ...No. - Throughout Better Living Through Science and Ponies, GLaDOS employs this against each of the ponies, zeroing in on their weak points courtesy of her brain-scanning technology. For instance, she addresses Dash as "Rainbow Crash, questioning if her bragging is just a cover for all her insecurities and declaring that the Wonderbolts would never let a failure like her join. However, she meets her match in Princess Celestia, who proves perceptive enough to give GLaDOS A Taste of Their Own Medicine and send her spiraling into a Villainous Breakdown.
- Child of the Storm:
- Doctor Strange routinely does this, breaking Lucius Malfoy, who had been the Big Bad and apparent prime Magnificent Bastard of the first book, with the Avengers felled and the world literally at his feet... until Strange almost lazily undoes every single one of his plans in the course of about an hour, before revealing to Lucius that he and his plans were only part of Strange's far greater stratagem. Lucius hits a full Villainous Breakdown.
- In the sequel, Sinister stares down the Dark Phoenix and an enraged Wanda Maximoff, among many others, without fear. The only person who genuinely fazes him is Doctor Strange, with whom It's Personal (very, very personal). Until he meets Professor Xavier. Kindly, sweet old Professor Xavier... who is extremely protective of his students, extremely intolerant of attempts to weaponise people, and firmly ethical as a telepath and scientist (Essex is neither). He systematically breaks Essex by pinpointing the exact reasons that he was always doomed, then calmly tells him that if Essex does not comply he will peel his mind "like an orange." Essex complies.
- Daystar: One of Taylor's Charms allows her to know exactly what to say to inflict the maximum emotional trauma on anyone she interacts with. She developed and activated it accidentally during an argument with Glory Girl, and has kept that particular power on a tight leash ever since.
- Don't Look Back: While Amity is asleep in "The Palisman Escapade: Part 1", Odalia invades her dreams in order to gloat about how much control she has over her daughter, declaring that she can easily ruin Luz and Marcy's lives. Amity responds by declaring that she'll never let her hurt her friends and kicks her out of her subconscious.
- Elementals of Harmony has Twilight accidentally inflcit this upon Trixie after becoming a magic elemental. Her attempts to apologize only make matters worse, until Twilight gets so upset at her inability to make things right that she starts breaking down from the effectiveness of her own not-meant-to-be-breaking speech.
- Hell Is a Martial Artist: When Ramna asks Akane just what it will take for him to prove to her that he's not the perverted Jerkass she clearly believes him to be, Akane hits him with one of these, spelling out that she will never, ever give him the benefit of the doubt. No matter what he does, how hard he tries to 'prove himself', or whatever evidence he might have in his corner, she will always, always presume the absolute worst of him. This proves to be his Rage Breaking Point that makes him give up entirely on the Tendos and turn to Hild for help.
- Just an Unorthodox Thief:
- Lupin rips into Lancer for his Blind Obedience to the concept of chivalry, comparing it to Saber's willingness to put her honor aside in order to do what's morally right. This sends Lancer into a brief Heroic BSoD.
- Angra Mainyu combines this with The Final Temptation by giving each of the final servants a vision of their deepest desires being made real, attempting to talk each of them into wishing upon the Holy Grail in order to make those dreams come true.
- A Lamb In Hell:
- Lambert picks apart Sir Pentious' reasons for challenging Cherri Bomb to a fight, getting the naga to admit that it's completely pointless and convincing him to retreat.
- When Katie Killjoy starts mocking Charlie's efforts to redeem others again, Lambert reads her mind to find a humiliating memory and uses it to expose her hypocrisy.
- Lulu's Bizarre Rebellion: A favorite tactic of Mao, who uses his mind reading to find the best way to push people's buttons. After He acquires Anubis, the resulting geass-stand combination weaponizes this by causing his words to physically wound people proportionally to how much he hurt them emotionally.
- Prinz Von Sommerhoffnung: when Sommerhoffnung tries to pull a What the Hell, Hero? on Ywiu and Romea, the two shut her down with this, centred on accusing her of being a Know-Nothing Know-It-All.
- Stand Up, the LRIG! has Ulith deal a crushing one to Aichi, noting that his efforts to battle his way through to Mayu in order to save Takuto and the aftermath of each battle will more often than not cause great harm to his opponents. Leon even notes that hurting people with his own hands in any way possible goes against everything Aichi stands for, essentially making it so that it appears that he must break his own morals if he wants to save the WIXOSS world. Then to make the 'truth' much more horrifying for him, Ulith conjures up a hallucination of a possible future caused by Aichi's hands, by using his own PSY Qualia, leading to this exchange.Ulith: Wonderful isn't it? After all, a similar result will be bound to happen with you, soon enough.
Aichi: Why...? What good can come from harming other Selectors?!
Ulith: My, you really are persistent, aren't you? I already told you. This is what I live for in the Selector Battles. I'm surprised you haven't felt the same, considering you were all too willing to sell out a friend's memories just to save a meaningless world. If I recall correctly from the person who told me, Kourin was her name. That must be easy for someone whose cardfighting life has had practically no consequences on the world there.
Aichi: B... But...
Ulith: Oh that's right, I almost forgot. You have felt the need for breaking others before, just as I have. The first time you felt PSY Qualia enter your life, you were completely unstoppable, everyone you fought broke down before your superior might.
(Aichi gasps in horror, wondering how Ulith knew about his PSY Qualia incident from Season 1 of Cardfight!! Vanguard)
Aichi: H... How did you...?!
Ulith: I know everything about you. It's truly a shame that Kai Toshiki had to ruin your fun back then, otherwise I'd been more than happy to take you under my wing. Much like a certain lap dog [Aoi Akira].
Aichi: N... No! I won't hurt the people around me again! I'm no longer that same person!
Ulith: It appears that your 2 years outside of breaking others through PSY Qualia has taken its toll on you. Perhaps this will change your mind.
(Ulith snaps her fingers, causing the girls in Aichi's hallucination to scream loudly as their cries of despair become too much for him to handle.)
Aichi: Stop it...!
Ulith continues to laugh into his right ear as the screams and the sight of the girls crying in agony become engraved into his mind.
Aichi: STOP IT!
(The hallucination is dispelled after that, but it leads to Aichi misplaying and leaving himself wide open for more attacks the following turn as he goes into a state of depression by the end of the chapter.) - Stars Above: Desideria is an expert at this. She uses her powers to read her victims' minds, then turns their greatest flaws and insecurities against them.
- Dirty Sympathy: Winston Payne tells Klavier about the bet the Prosecution Office has about the latter's departure: that he'll quit his current case and tells him that due to his experience in the Prosecution Office, Payne knows of the two ways Klavier will departure: fleeing to another country or jail.
- Akame Ga Kill Clockwork: The titular Clockwork faction frequently employs this against threats that they deduce could become potential allies, such as Wave or Kurome. Not only do they tell them just how horrible the corruption is, they show it to them first-hand. They also like to point out that the Night Raid and the Revolutionary Army have no real plans beyond killing the Emperor and everyone involved in running the Capital.
- Absolute Trust: In Chapter 19, Alec takes advantage of the would-be hostage trade to talk evenly with Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee, sowing indelible seeds of doubt with all three of them concerning what they're fighting for. By the end of Chapter 24, Ty Lee and Mai are actively considering defecting and Azula is having hallucinations of Ursa.
- Morality Chain:
- Azula uses this on Long Feng after wresting the loyalty of the Dai Li away from him.
- She also uses this once Jet realizes that she manipulated him into helping her stage her coup of the Earth Kingdom, draining them of their fighting spirit.Azula: I didn't need you, Jet. Not for any step of my plans. Oh, you helped, but I never needed it. So do you know why I went to track you down anyway? The answer is simple. I know how very much you hate the Fire Nation, Jet. And after today, Ba Sing Se becomes Fire Nation territory. It will be our flag that flies on the city walls, our banner that will be draped across the front of the Palace. And from now on, every time you walk out of whatever hole you live in and see those flags, see that banner, see the Fire Nation soldiers stationed throughout Ba Sing Se, you will know that you helped make this happen.
- In Loxare Hinder, right after learning Red Hood is actually Jason, Nightwing pleads him to come home, swearing they can "clear his name" from the many counts of murder and torture the Hood is charged with... only for Jason to brutally claim Dick never was family to him and owning to each and every murder, right before threatening the Batfamily with death if they try to talk to him again.
- one day at a time: Jason delivers one to to the entire League of Assassins in the penultimate chapter of the story, partly to break their devotion to Ra's and partly because he's pissed at all of them. He does this by revealing the sad fates of several of Ra's' most prominent assassins, culminating in Talia's post-mortem disownment of her father. Judging by the horrified looks everyone gives him when he's done, it works.
- In Codes And Geass: Embracing Your Inner Megalomania, Trollouche is so good at this, that the writer of the story wonders if this is his actual geass. He has up to this point broken, Jeremiah, CC, Mao, Suzaku, Tohdoh, and countless others. What separates him from most examples is that the people he breaks tend to end up better for it. To use a motif in the story, it is akin to breaking a sword and reforging it.
- Danganronpa Losers Reunion: At the climax of the first trial, Tsumugi combines this with a form of Shapeshifter Guilt Trip, trying to convince the other survivors not to vote for them by dressing up as their loved ones. This almost works; however, Chiaki sees through it and throws a shoe at her, snapping the others out of it.
- Despair's Last Resort: In addition to Monokuma repeatedly attempting this, Saemi Sasagawa employs it directly near the end, attempting to convince their classmates to stay with them. Ultimately, this doesn't work.
- Dominoes: Yuusaku employs this tactic so often that Hakuba observes that he has a specific tone of voice and linguistic strategy he uses whenever doing this to minors. Hakuba also notes that Yuusaku uses this tactic most frequently against Shinichi, his own son, as part of his efforts to control every aspect of Shinichi's life and keep him broken under his heel.
- With some help from Saito (who wrote down the questions then had Louise look through his eyes), Louise breaks Henrietta in Soldier of Zero
to find out if she truly needed Louise for a mission or if she was abusing Louise's Undying Loyalty to use her as an expendable pawn. Interestingly, Louise does it in part by degrading herself, noting that she's not the best mage, wisest scholar, or most experienced soldier under Henrietta's command. She's not even the only one she trusts absolutely, so why her? Henrietta responds by slapping her and insisting she will not tolerate her childhood friend degrading herself so.
- Forward: In the first "episode", River delivers one of these to Niska's henchman Volsky, and while doing so informs Niska that Volsky was about to betray him. Niska promptly has him executed on the spot, allowing Jayne to snatch Volsky's knife and use to free himself.
- Abraxas (Hrodvitnon):
- When Alan Jonah is Not Himself and is having Viv and San tortured with napalm, he hurls vitriol at Vivienne to try and break her will by undermining everything about her and claiming she didn't really mean anything before her death; in Chapter 5. This has been Jonah's plan all along, to break Vivienne so he can use her and San as a weapon.
- In Chapter 6, Viv and San gleefully repay Jonah in kind for the earlier Breaking Speech once they work out he doesn't like being reminded of Asher's death, even less being accused of sending Ash to the latter's death.
- Ghidorah's heads have indulged in this. After they've come Back from the Dead, Ghidorah's minds including a regrown copy of San have been trying to break down Vivienne, and to a lesser extent San, by episodically tormenting the duo via San's lingering Psychic Link to Ghidorah; belittling Vivienne, trying to put her down, and trying to convince her that there's nothing for her except joining Ghidorah and whilst trying to turn her over to Ghidorah's way of thinking, and also trying to claim the main San is nothing but a worthless shed skin whenever he comes to his sister's defence.
- Wings to Fly has, of all people, Lucrezia Noin deliver a rather harsh series of taunts to Zechs Merquise during the middle of a combat where they are on opposite sides. Ironically, her taunts are effective because Zechs truly does love Noin and her sudden belligerence and willingness to fire on him terrifies Zechs as she has always refused to before. His sudden confusion and doubt distract him so much he loses control of his damaged mobile suit in midflight, and only pure luck saved him from getting shot down before he regained control.
- Invader Zim: A Bad Thing Never Ends: Bob has a natural talent for getting under people's skin and finding the right Berserk Button to make them snap, which he demonstrates multiple times throughout the story.
- In this Standverse comic, Gold Experience Requiem gets tired of his predecessor Gold Experience asking about the well-being of their user Giorno Giovanna and his insistence that the two of them are extensions of his will (especially as GER sees themself beyond Giorno and hates that Giorno doesn't use his Infinite Death Loop against all of his enemies like with Diavolo). They tell Gold that Giorno replaced him with GER because Gold is nothing but a reminder of Giorno's past as the neglected and isolated Haruno Shiobana, and Gold was only an opening act for GER's melody. While Gold is still willing to fight GER after they insulted Giorno, it's clear he is shaken at the idea that his user might hate him.
- Mean Time to Breakdown: Iwanako gives one to Emi after her Crash-Into Hello puts Iwanako into the hospital with a concussion and a bout of tachycardia. When Emi tries to apologize, inadvertently revealing this has happened before with other students, Iwanako snaps:Iwanako: Look, what the hell is it you want from me?! Is it forgiveness? You may as well hit the road, because that's never going to happen. Do you seriously think I'm okay? You nearly killed me, do you understand that? Why the hell would I ever forgive you for that? I'm not the goddamned Pope. I don't have to grant you a tabula rasa just because you only almost ruined my whole goddamn life. And you're seriously telling me that this isn't even the first time that this has happened? You go to a school for the disabled and you just, what, ignored a dozen warnings? What kind of freaking idiot are you? Yes, you're remorseful. Good for you. I don't give a damn. How are you any different from some drunk driver who only feels bad after he finally spins out and murders half a family? And, yes, I'm not dead, thanks for noticing, though maybe you've knocked ten years off my life, for all I even know. And that's not even mentioning the concussion you gave me, thanks for that. And I didn't tell the school to do a single goddamn thing, so don't blame me for whatever they did. Sorry, not my problem. You should have thought of that before you went sprinting through the halls. You want me to feel better? You want to make things right? You can start by getting out of my life. God knows it's short enough already without you in it! What the hell are you waiting for? Get out. Get! Out!
- Kingdom Hearts: The Antipode: During the Arendelle arc, Hans taunts Elsa (whom he corrupted with a shard of enchanted glass) with the intention of pushing her to succumb to darkness, so she can reform as a Nobody and be recruited into Organization XIII.
- Bound Destinies Trilogy: In Chapter 33 of Wisdom and Courage, Veran delivers one to Link right after making him watch as she seemingly strikes Zelda down. It also doubles as a "The Reason You Suck" Speech.Veran: Do you know what I hate most about you, hero? That persistent little spirit of yours. The fact that you can live through things that would destroy others emotionally completely unscarred. But even so, everyone has a breaking point... And... I believe you've just reached yours...
- For His Own Sake: When Mei reaches out to Naru, trying to help her after she got arrested, Naru viciously tears into her stepsister, accusing her of being nothing more than a Spoiled Brat who can't stand not being the center of everyone's attention. The [[DramaticIrony bitter irony of it all is that Naru's too self-absorbed and caught up in her own delusions to recognize that she's effectively accusing Mei of being like HER.
- Bucky Barnes Gets His Groove Back & Other International Incidents:
- When Natasha Romanoff catches up with Brock Rumlow in If They Haven't Learned Your Name, she beats the hell out of him with a heavy soup ladle for a while, then trusses him up and tears into him very politely and sweetly about how stupid it was of him and HYDRA to leave her alive after what they pulled. He freaks the hell out and starts spilling his guts on assorted HYDRA intel, and then Natasha makes it clear to him that she already knew everything he was going to say and that he's no longer needed. He begs her for his life because he still has intel she could use, dammit, to which she responds by taking out her knife and carving him up into steak tartare.
- Parodied in the sequel, come as you are, when Steve Rogers trusses up a pair of hapless FBI agents sent to spy on him and the Wilsons, agents that he understandably mistook for HYDRA and would have flat-out killed if he had a knife on him and wasn't in the middle of a Virginia suburb. While waiting on confirmation that they're actually FBI, he calls them "son" and starts regaling them in his most earnest Captain America tone of voice about the poor working conditions of sitting in a tree without regular bathroom breaks and about how important it is that they unionize and fight back against that stuff. They beg him to please, please stop talking.Sam: This is what happens when you try to help people. Ungrateful.
Steve: You can read a horse its rights but you can't make it drink.
- Deconstruction by usedupshiver: After the events of Avengers drove Tony Stark off the deep end, he managed to get Loki as a captive in his lab. Methodically, over months, he slowly breaks him down, psychologically and then physically, including paralyzing him and carving him up to learn more about his body, and even raping him. But when Loki finally gets the upper hand, he breaks Tony just as thoroughly — in hours, not months, and a good chunk of it is simply listing his observations of Tony's character, which is enough to get Tony to kneel.
- BURN THE WITCH: Lila spends the majority of the story absolutely convinced that Hawkmoth won't actually let Witch Hunter burn her. After all, she's far too valuable an asset to him. The grim reality of her situation only sinks in when he has Witch Hunter relay a message about how her services are no longer required, wherein he casually dissects how she unintentionally exposed herself and has rendered herself effectively useless.
- Feralnette AU: When Hawkmoth manages to get one of his akumatizing butterflies onto Marinette, he tries to break her spirit by gloating about her misery, only for Marinette to turn that right around on him and deliver a breaking speech of her own:Hawkmoth: We finally meet. I've been curious, about you. About the girl that killed an akuma with her bare hands. What could such a small, friendless, loveless girl have against me? Was it easier to blame all your friendship problems on a stranger? I do what I must to further my agenda, that doesn't make me a villain. It doesn't make you a villain, either. You try so hard, and no one helps you, no one appreciates you or your sacrifices. But I do. I can see your heart, Marinette. I can help you get what you want. What you need.
Marinette: ...What I need?
Hawkmoth: Yes, for the usual cost, of course.
Marinette: What I want... is for you to eat sand and shit glass, you stupid bug.
Hawkmoth: WHAT?!
Marinette: Calling me friendless, what a joke!
Hawkmoth: YOU...!
Marinette: Where's Mayura, Hawkmoth?! Where's your only friend in the whole world? Did you think no one would notice how sick Mayura was? How weak? How frail? Supposedly I'm the friendless one, but I'm not the one destroying my loved ones. God, but I bet you didn't even care about her! She was so sick! Is what you're doing really worth it?! - Long Con: Lila combines this with "The Reason You Suck" Speech when the whole class confronts her, revealing that she knows Adrien advised Marinette to 'take the high road' and not do anything about her stringing the whole class along. She calls him and all the rest out for being Secretly Selfish, pointing out how they expected their "everyday Ladybug" to do all the work of resolving things for them, only eventually deciding to act once it became clear that Marinette wasn't going to handle their problems for them this time. And even then, none of them were particularly concerned about saving Marinette from being used by her — when Alya tried confronting her alone before, she never breathed a word about what she was doing to Marinette, too focused upon how her Ladyblog and reputation were damaged by her falling for her lies.
- In Spellbound (Lilafly), Felix has the job of persuading Alya to stop investigating missing persons cases that he knows are caused by the fae, or else she's likely to be Killed to Uphold the Masquerade. When he clearly explains how her dogged determination to dig up facts about unknown parties with unknown resources and unknown motivations is not only a danger to herself, her family, and her friends, but is also making her more of a tabloid writer than a true investigative journalist, she's reduced to tears, but it works.
- What Goes Around Comes Around: Emilie shatters Adrien's Delusions of Parental Love by calling out his incredible naivete, particularly his belief that Marinette will cater to his every whim just because he's convinced himself that they're "soulmates". She berates him not just for being selfish, but for being incredibly stupid about it, expecting Marinette to just roll over and hand over the Ladybug Earrings to his supervillainous parents just because he's asking her to, and laments how he lacks any of the cleverness and guile she wanted in her 'ideal son'. This leads into the revelation that she intends to use the Wish to "fix" Adrien by forcibly merging him with Felix.
- Shigeko Kageyama AKA Mob: Reigen's mother pulls no punches when Reigen tells her just how badly he mishandled Mob (gender-swapped) after the Asagiri job. He pushes Mob away when she needs him the most due to the fact that he knows she has a crush on him. The next day they fight and Mob decides to run away and live outside because she feels that nobody wants her around. While this was happening, Reigen goes through the entire separation arc as in canon, and they later reconcile. She comes back to stay with Reigen and locks herself in the bathroom out of trauma. Reigen calls his mother for some help and tells her the whole story of what happened.Reigen's Mother: I cannot even begin to understand what is wrong with you. Is this my fault? I know I didn't do the best job raising you but this... THIS takes the cake, Arataka. This takes the cake, the pie, and the quiche too! The whole goddamned mother fucking bakery!
Reigen: Mom, I don't want us to fight. I just want you to talk to Mob because she's been locked in the bathroom for-
Reigen's Mother: Yeah, I heard that part, Arataka. She's been locked in the bathroom for eight hours now. Eight goddamned hours. You're just calling me now? Arataka you cannot... you cannot... never have children! I do not want grandchildren if THIS is what you call... I just... I can't breathe... And another thing! Why didn't you call me sooner? Not today but when she told you all of this...this...this! Arataka, what makes you think that you can handle this on your own? What makes you think that you can even begin to handle this? You aren't a professional, you're not even a parent. What she needs is some fucking stability in her life... something that you took away from her! This is a fourteen-year-old girl! This is a fourteen-year-old girl who has been to hell and back... and you think that this... this is about her period? Seriously? Her goddamned PERIOD?! That may... that does not invalidate everything that she's feeling right now!
Reigen: I know that. I never said that it did, mom, I'm just out of my depth here and I thought she'd want to talk to another girl, woman, and she doesn't want to talk to her mother so I called you. Forgive me for thinking that-
Reigen's Mother: Her mother! And what does her so-called mother have to say about this? Her father? Any adult in her life other than you? Wait, she hasn't got any of those, has she? Do they even know? Have you told them? I can just IMAGINE how that conversation would go. 'Oh hello, Mr. and Mrs. Kageyama? Yeah, your daughter was held prisoner and tortured by a man for half a year. Just thought you ought to know. What was I doing while all of this was going on? Well, I was THROWING SALT AROUND ON NATIONAL TV! Oh, and also your daughter was HOMELESS for a couple of weeks-If you think that you can just run away from this then you have another thing coming, Arataka. Do you hear me? I have never been so angry with you in my entire life.
- Played With in Eldest Daughter Syndrome, wherein Rei is All for One's daughter and struck a deal with Endeavor for protection, only to find she'd effectively traded one horrific life for another. After she's institionalized, All for One shows up after three days and observes how she's "made a dreadful mess of [her] life" and failed as a mother. He's unnerved when she calmly agrees with him, dismissing his attempt to shift the blame onto her husband and stating that she should have killed herself before hurting Shouto.
- The Scorpion Jar: Upon learning that Izuku has become a Knowledge Broker who's been trading homework and test answers for evidence of other students' misdeeds, Katsuki decides to threaten him, forcing Izuku halfway out a window while ranting about how pointless his efforts are and that he'll never be worth anything.Katsuki: Shut up, Deku! I don't know where you got the idea, but a Quirkless pile of shit like you will always be worthless! Nothing you do in life will ever amount to anything more than the dirt under my shoe! I know you're too stupid to take my advice, but either smarten up or I'll throw you off the roof myself, got it shithead!?
- Unfortunately for him, Izuku had anticipated this and recorded the whole thing so that his long-time Barbaric Bully would finally face consequences for his actions.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- Don't Let The Darkness Consume Me: King Sombra gives one to Twilight Sparkle, but as he keeps talking it becomes increasingly more and more obvious that he's really just telling her how horrible his life has been, and in the end Twilight just ends up feeling sorry for him.
- Duel Nature: Backfires spectacularly. After getting dragged into a sparring match against Luna, Twilight Sparkle is too stubborn to give up (which, due to Luna's insensitive behavior would be humiliating at this point) and tries psychological warfare to weaken her opponent's concentration. Taunting the princess over her insecurities does distract her to the point that some of her shields dissipate. Unfortunately, it also enrages her to the point where the spar becomes a Duel to the Death, breaks through the wards that protect the audience, and in the end nearly levels the building.
- Getting Back on Your Hooves: Checker Monarch, due to her special talent being manipulation, is very good at doing these, mostly to Trixie who she has she's done it too since they were kids. No wonder the mare is a Broken Bird.
- The Immortal Game: It's repeatedly stated that the easiest way to defeat a bladecaster is to do this to them — if they lose faith in what they're fighting for, they lose control of their blades. This is ultimately how Sir Unimpressive defeats the Cadet and how Twilight defeats Titan.
- Loved and Lost:
- As soon as Rarity is rescued from the Diamond Dogs and released from the muzzle she's been forced to wear for a week, she takes offscreen her revenge on the Diamond Dogs by reminding them why they don't like to listen to her complaints. They're last seen shaking with traumatized eyes in a Troubled Fetal Position.
- In the tenth chapter, when Commander Hildread finds the Mane Five sneaking in the castle, she tries to talk them into turning themselves in by demoralizing them with a cruel — but not entirely inaccurate — lecture about how they're unworthy of Twilight's friendship and how the Changeling invasion could have been avoided had they listened to her. This successfully demoralizes the mares... until Fluttershy, inspired by spotting a chandelier hanging above, shuts Hildread up and drops the chandelier onto her and the guards.Hildread: You all should've stayed where you were and never come back.
Pinkie Pie: No way, we heard the rumors about changelings in the castle. We couldn't just ignore them and leave our friend, Twilight, in danger!
Hildread: (laughs mockingly) You really are the funny pony! Because I heard you all didn't have any problems ignoring her warnings about the imposter bride and abandoning her at the wedding rehearsal! You all really need to stop playing heroes because you're not! Well, not anymore. You chose to ignore all the obvious signs of danger and focus more on what you could've gained if the bride had been the real thing, and as a result, you hurt your best friend, put all of Equestria in danger, and destroyed your own 'heroic' reputations all because you wanted to play dress up for a beast! (Hildread continues laughing as the ashamed Mane Five silently acknowledge her point) So now that you've all gotten a dose of reality, why don't you come along quietly so there won't be any trouble when we return you back to your places of exile? To think, Twilight Sparkle considered you all her best friends. What kind of pony would risk everything she cares about for the sake of her worthless, pathetic, annoying so-called friends?!
Fluttershy: Twilight would!
- A Mad Glimmer features Discord brutally deconstructing Starlight Glimmer's entire philosophy, stripping away all of the veneers she used to buy into her own twisted rhetoric and spelling out how she'd created a False Utopia. What really drives the point home is when he declares that he deemed her Not Worth Killing, confident that the Mane Six could deal with her themselves... which flies in the face of her belief that she was The Chosen One destined to bring her visions of "equality" to all of Equestria.
- The Pieces Lie Where They Fell:
- The Nightmare tries to do this to the Bearers. Page is the closest to being affected due to what it reveals, but the others aren't buying it and she recovers soon as well.
- The Nightmare tries again by taunting Page about how her family line came about. This time, she doesn't buy it at all.
- RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse: The final antagonist of "The Hero of Oaton" tries to give one of these to Trixie, Picturesque, and her husband, but it doesn't work, partly because Evil Cannot Comprehend Good, but also because they're ignoring it really hard.
- The Rise of Darth Vulcan: The titular character is quite good at this, most prominently doing it to Diamond Tiara when she's his captive and Princess Luna when he's imprisoned in Canterlot. He even comments at one point that it's his one real talent.
- Whispers: Celestia lectures a weakened Nightmare Moon on the virtues of the Elements of Harmony, straight on into a Villainous Breakdown.
- A Growing Affection: Hinata demands to know why Kabuto saved her during the Chuunin Finals when he was secretly working with Orochimaru and the other conspirators all along. However, this ends up backfiring on him since Hinata feared that it was done as part of a plan where she would be an Unwitting Pawn. Hearing that it was purely because of Kabuto's ego reinforces her resolve and she promptly kicks his ass:"The truth?" (Kabuto) said seriously, his eyes hidden by the sheen of his glasses, "It was for my pride. There you were, the first daughter of the vaunted Hyuga clan. And even though the best and brightest of the Leaf Ninja Medical Corps had had over a month to fix you, all they could do was delay the inevitable. And in five minutes, I was able to diagnose and repair the damage Neji did to your heart. I wanted to show them how weak and ineffectual they were. I helped you, to prove that I was superior. That's all."
- Now You See It: Sakura is undoubtedly awesome by utterly destroying Pain verbally. Sakura destroys a single body (Yahiko's) and then gives a speech about how Pain never really wanted Yahiko back and makes him realize what a monster he's become.
- In Team 7's Ascension, Kakashi wastes no time in breaking all three of his new genins' spirits in this fashion. He tells Sakura that she simply doesn't have enough stamina, Sasuke that his pride will be his downfall, and Naruto that for all his ambition, at some point in the Academy, he just... gave up. Rather than trying his hardest to learn and improve himself, he focused on being the class clown and prankster; as far as Kakashi is concerned, Naruto has nobody to blame for how he turned out to be the dead-last than himself.
- A Crown of Stars:
- Yui had a long talk with Gendo about his actions and how he had treated their children after her death. When she explained that Asuka was to their son what she was to him, Gendo sat staring wordlessly at a wall for an hour before he started crying.
- Several characters do this to Shinji and Asuka -especially the latter- several times: they point out their flaws and their mistakes to goad them to confront their personal demons, and both pilots often react... badly.
- Doing It Right This Time: Rei broke Gendo by telling him all of his plotting, scheming and manipulating would amount to nothing, and he would fail.Shinji: How much did you actually tell my father, anyway?
Rei: Few details. Only that everything he had worked towards and everything he had put myself and his only son through had been for nothing, and that he would die alone and unmourned, rejected by the only person he had ever truly loved. - HERZ: Asuka did this to Shinji accidentally seven years before the beginning of the story. She wanted to go back to Germany. He pleaded with her to stay and told her he needed her. Unfortunately Asuka thought he was mocking her, so she called him out on everything he had done and said she hated him. It broke him down, but she did not know it at the time.
- The Second Try: After Kaworu's death Gendo has Shinji and Asuka brought before him to interrogate them about their knowledge of the future. However, Shinji tells him that he and everybody else will die because of his plan, and Yui will not return to him. The idea that he will never see his wife again is more than Gendo can bear. His first reaction is to try to convince himself that his son is lying. When it does not work, he tries to kill himself.
- Copycat Isn't a Compliment: One of Ami's main issues with Cross is his tendency to use this, especially as he isn't too picky about his targets. If it serves his purposes, he's fully willing to unleash such speeches on people like Smoker and Vivi. Ami believes that he's being too harsh and that such methods could blow up in his face eventually.
- New Game Plus: After returning to the past, Luffy gets Garp to train him by pretending he wants to become a Marine just like his grandfather desires. Come Chapter 10, when Luffy's made his move and earned the highest starting bounty in history, he shuts down Garp's anger by brutally spelling out just why he never could have become a Marine:Garp: (livid, with a Death Glare) Luffy.
(everyone begins retreating from Garp)
Luffy: (calmly) Hey, Gramps. Wow, I can see your veins from here. Have you been taking your blood pressure medicine? You know Boggart wouldn't bug you if it weren't important.
Garp: Brat. I'm going to give you one chance, one chance, to explain yourself. If I don't like your answer, I'm throwing you into Impel Down myself until I think you've learned your lesson.
Luffy: I had an epiphany.
Garp: (cracking his knuckles) Oh, really? What was it exactly?
(Beat)
Luffy: If I became a Marine, I would surely perish.
Garp: (gritting his teeth so hard that they crack) That's your excuse? You were afraid to get killed? Marines lead a dangerous life, I told you that from day one. You telling me I trained a coward?!
Luffy: You misunderstand. I did not say I would die in battle. I said I would perish. Disappear. Or maybe, if they wanted to make a point of it, executed.
Garp: What the hell are you talking about?
Luffy: A healthy tree may bear a bad apple, but the tree is still seen as healthy. That one bad apple is just bad luck. But only a bad seed may grow from bad soil. Its nature is decided for it by the circumstances of its creation. (looks Garp in the eye, regretfully) I may be your beloved grandson, Gramps. But nothing you do, nothing you say, nothing I say or do will change the fact that I'm his son.
(Garp looks down in shame)
Luffy: I'm not saying it would happen right away. It might take weeks; it might take months. Hell, it might be years. But sooner or later, they'll start to think it. That I'm a sleeper agent. Or that I'm leaking information. Or that my goddamn blood is just dirty. And it wouldn't matter if I was the Commander-in-Chief when it happened. They would kill me without a second thought, 'for the good of the world'. And there wouldn't be anything I could do to defend myself. For my sin, is existing.
Garp: (shaking his head in denial) No, no, they wouldn't do that!
Luffy: (hardening his heart) Baterilla! (Garp looks up in shock) Based on the rumor of a rumor, Marines spent over a year scouring the island for a sign, any at all, of a child of the Pirate King. Pregnant women were kidnapped to be put through blood tests. Infants were put through the most invasive, comprehensive battery of exams available. Any who resisted were executed. And if they had found such a child, he would have been ]murdered in his cradle. In the womb. This is how much stock the Government puts in a person's bloodline. Do you deny it?
Garp: (fighting tears of anger, frustration, and guilt) Luffy, you fool! I thought of all that! I cleared everything with Sengoku! You would have had a fair chance!
Luffy: Ah, but Sengoku isn't the top of the food chain, is he? Even he must bow to orders from Kong or the Gorosei. And it's not like he'll be Fleet Admiral forever. Can you imagine how Sakazuki would react to news of his son in the Marine ranks? His first order after being promoted would be my death warrant.
Garp: Luffy, Kong's a good man. And I know people don't always understand why they do what they do, but the Gorosei are just. They wouldn't kill you just because—
Luffy: Ohara. And Nico Robin. (smiles sadly at Garp's surprise) The Voice told me a lot, Gramps.
Garp: Sakazuki isn't the only one who could take Sengoku's place! He might never find out!
Luffy: Ah, yes. I might be spared from 'Absolute Justice'. But that doesn't mean I'm safe. Kuzan and his 'Lazy Justice' would wait a decade after he heard the truth, but eventually he would act. And with that 'Unclear Justice' of Borsalino's, he might not even go for me. He would go for Dadan and Foosha for not lynching me when I was young. (shakes his head) I'm sorry, Gramps. I know you believe in redemption, but your superiors don't. They only understand corruption. And there's not a single future where if I became a Marine I would not die.
Garp: (desperately) Luffy...
Luffy: I like to think I'm a decent guy, Gramps. But I'm not so selfless as to knowingly go to my death just so I might be able to save people. So, if the path of a Marine was barred from me, what else could I do? How could I live my life, in a world that does not want me to survive? (grins) That's when I remembered an old dream.
Garp: No...don't say it...
Luffy: I WILL BECOME THE PIRATE KING! - This Bites!: This and "The Reason You Suck" Speech are Cross' most frequently used weapons. The first instance of this trope was when he used it to force Vivi to reveal her true identity: accusing her of being rich, and once she confirmed that, he interrogated her as to why she was hunting bounties. Pacifist that she is, she broke when Cross accused her of being a bounty hunter just to cause pain.
- Cross' words are undoubtedly his most dangerous weapon; every time someone allows him to open his mouth, it proves to be more than they can handle. Vivi's masquerade as Miss Wednesday? Broken. Smoker and Tashigi's faith in the Marine Corps' justice? Broken. Aokiji's unflappably nonchalant demeanor? Broken. Kaku and Kalifa's flawless masquerades? Broken. And those are just the ones he did on purpose.
- Aokiji's canon lecture to Robin still counts, but it's the last words he says to Robin that really count, as they shatter Robin's faith in the crew she had found.Aokiji: You've found people who will protect you, Nico Robin. They're willing to take on the world for you, of that I have no doubt. But can they win? I seriously doubt that.
- They manage to repair the damage some, but ultimately, Enies still happens.
- Robin utilizes this against Spandam to slow him down on the Bridge of Hesitation. It doesn't turn out well for her.
- Blackened Masks is a series of Role Swap AUs that casts different members of the Phantom Thieves as the true culprit behind the Mental Shutdowns, and lets Shadow Sae deliver two of these:
- In "Lovers, Separated", Shadow Sae picks apart Ann's Black-and-White Insanity, berating the self-declared "champion of justice" for her Revenge Before Reason attitude and accusing her of getting High on Homicide.
- "Emperor of an Empty Domain" has Shadow Sae go on a Motive Rant against Yusuke, declaring that while she's not proud of everything she's done, she only took those actions in order to ensure that Makoto doesn't have to suffer the same way she did. The fact that Even Evil Has Loved Ones convinces him to refrain from striking her down.
- Steal the Truth, Reach Out For Your Heart:
- When Yusuke attempts to blackmail Ann into posing nude for him, Nanako rips him a new one, culiminating in a "Not So Different" Remark:Nanako: How dare you. How dare you try to blackmail her into such a thing. You have no idea what she's already been through, and if you think I'm going to let you take advantage of her kindness and loyalty to her friends, you're damn wrong. Ren is right. You're lying to yourself. You know what's going on is wrong, but you endure it anyway. We felt bad for you, Kitagawa, but maybe we were wrong. Maybe he really is your sensei. After all, here you are, using a little bit of power for your own perverted gains, just like he would.
- Nanako shuts down Makoto's attempt to blackmail her way into the Phantom Thieves by accusing her of suffering from Theory Tunnelvision, twisting everything around to support her wild presumptions about Nanako and her friends. When Makoto threatens to get the police involved, Nanako declares that they'd take one look at her "evidence" and laugh her out of the station, causing Makoto to break down entirely.
- When Yusuke attempts to blackmail Ann into posing nude for him, Nanako rips him a new one, culiminating in a "Not So Different" Remark:
- For The Mission: Nate tends to fall back upon this whenever he can't take down an opponent immediately. Dark Martha also attempts this on him, accusing him of always wanting to be The Hero and not having the guts to tell anyone the truth.
- Pokémon Reset Bloodlines has an unusual variation: Sabrina attempts to push Ash past the Rage Breaking Point in order to force him to use his Super-Empowering abilities against her (he refuses to do so on the grounds that it's cheating to use them in competitive battling) by revealing what she knows about Ash's father and the circumstances of his birth. It almost works, but fortunately, Muk gives him a Cooldown Hug before he snaps.
- Throughout Anything for Family, the Masked Shadow tries to discourage Cure Rhythm from continuing the search for everyone's kidnapped friends and family by making her doubt their chances of success. Ultimately, this fails, as the Cures still find his lair and defeat him.
- The Soulmate Timeline has Kyubey, whose just as in canon is quite able of doing this to induce girls into despair when it is required. Kyubey has also been doing this for so long and has done it so often he can outright calculate, down to the second, how long it would take, noting the 'calculus', as it were, for Mami before the events of the story (twenty-two minutes and seven seconds) and Mifuyu (forty-three minutes and twelve seconds), the latter he outright does offscreen. He occasionally updates his calculus and adjusts it for current variables to make it more effective, as he does when he goes after Kyoko, focusing on the true nature of her sister's death to hammer in on temporarily vulnerabilities to try and break her and is only foiled by intervention by Mami.
- Test Of Humanity: GLaDOS uses this on Wheatley."How amusing. You're not even a real human. All you are is just a computer brain using a human as a meat puppet. That body isn't the real you. It never was. You honestly believe she would love you, anyway? After all you've done to her. She could never love you. You're nothing but a pathetic moron living a lie."
- Anything for Family: The Masked Shadow attempts to discourage Cure Rhythm from continuing the mission by getting inside her head and mocking her about not being able to find him.
- RWBY: Reckoning has a mysterious enemy give a simple, yet scathing one to Darrel during the events of "No Brakes".What you've done... is nothing. Your accomplishments are minimal, your skills are lacking. You blunder along, believing that you further your wretched cause... but you're just a boy swinging tiny knives taped to your wrists. You think yourself a warrior... You call yourself a hero... You dub yourself a champion... You are nothing. Nothing, but a child. Nothing, but a coward. Nothing, but a waste. Nothing, but...
(The unknown foe crushes Darrel's weapon with his bare hand.)
...a failure. - Vale's Underground: It turns out that Penny Polendina is a master at this when performing interrogations on criminals. It's the reason she is feared among the criminal element in Atlas. She boasts that she can bring grown men to tears with her tactics, but Ruby and Ren (understandably) have a tough time believing her. At least until they see her in action. She has a strange mix of Sugary Malice and verbal Confusion Funote that ends up breaking Russel down just after a few moments talking to her. Even Tyrian Callows doesn't want to be interrogated by her! Commissioner Ozpin seriously worries if this kind of psychological assault could be considered a form of Police Brutality just for how effective it is.
- In Chapter 88 of A Wolf Amongst Lions, Tywin draws Daenerys into one of these. Over the course of their conversation, he repeatedly outmaneuvers her verbally, figuring out that the Night King killed one of her dragons and has likely brought it back in his service. Tywin proceeds to guilt-trip her into agreeing to an alliance with his faction by exploiting how she wants to be seen as a hero, not a tyrant like her father.
- Darth Vader: Hero of Naboo: Vader mercilessly rubs it in Maul's face that the latter is not a true Sith, and that his master also has a living master.
- In Lessons from the Mountain, Maedhros falls on his knees when Manwe and Varda point out that he did exactly what Morgoth wanted him to.Manwe: Stand. It grieves me that you did not make use of the reprieve I granted you. Even after you saw so clearly what fate awaited you. There are indeed many chances in the world, but we had hoped you would have turned away from the path you chose.
Varda: You fought so valiantly to avoid becoming Morgoth’s thrall. But did you not see that only a thrall of Morgoth would have kept your blasphemous Oath?
Manwe: Neither we, nor Taniquetil, nor Ilúvatar ever accepted your Oath. The only Vala who would keep such blasphemy... is your Enemy. In the end, you chose the fate you feared in your captivity. In keeping your Oath, you became the thrall of Morgoth that led each of your brothers to death and torment, and robbed us all of the Light of the Silmarils.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: Unicron pulls this on Pterodactus Prime (formerly known as Swoop) during his "Leave Your Quest" Test, trying to turn him against the Autobots. He almost breaks him, but when Unicron tries to bring the other Dinobots into it he goes too far...
- With This Ring:
- This is what Father Mattias' exorcism of Paulphidian consists of, deconstructing their motives so Paul would kick the Ophidian out.
- Paul later breaks Superman by accident, accompanying Superman around as a sidekick in order to learn more about how to be a "nice" superhero, on the assumption that Superman had worked out a good balance between the benefits of helping individuals vs the opportunity costs of doing so. Turns out, Superman hadn't really sat down and thought through the numbers; their day together leaves him doubting himself, just reflecting on his life and staring hard at the LexCorp building. Paul calls Lex to inform him of the situation and apologise.Paul: So if you could just minimise the provocation until I've fixed this...?
