Discussion Main / AgonyBeam

Cut this line from the Harry Potter section under "Literature":

• It could be argued that the incurable insanity subverts this trope; the purpose of the Agony Beam is to damage cleanly and without residue - a main character with insane parents is, by reckoning, residue.

That makes no sense whatsoever. Insanity is stated in the trope description to be a side-effect, and how is this character residue? He was born over a year before his parents were tortured. So, I'm cutting it without remorse.

Agony Beam Vs Electric Torture:

I think this needs to be sorted out. IMHO, it's an Agony Beam when directly projected from a major character to another, and there's an interaction between them. It's a projection of the WILL of Big Bad at the protagonist. Usually the goal is to get the protagonist to kneel.

Electric Tortue involves a machine, and may be operated by minions, and the target is often physically restrained. But it's hard to differentiate- the Electric Torture in Barbarella and The Princess Bride were a projection of the bad guy's will upon the protagonist, and involved Evil Gloating.

Looks to me like ALL Agony Beam are also Electric Torture, but not all Electric Torture is an Agony Beam, thus Agony Beam is a subset, a flavor, of Electric Torture.

If they're hard to differentiate, is it really two different tropes? Or do we just say "if it's a projected beam, it's an Agony Beam type of Electric Torture"? If so, many of these examples of Agony Beam are miscategorized and should be under Electric Torture.