History Main / Brainwashed

* In ''Literature/ShamanOfTheUndead'', WON brainwashes {{Muggles}} who had contact with supernatural to keep up TheMasquerade.

* In ''Literature/TheTripods'', humanity has been conquered and enslaved by the Masters, alien entities who use televised mass hypnosis on the human population when they began the turn the tide of battle on their invasion. To make sure the process was permanent, humans at the age of 14 are forced to wear Caps permanently affixed to the skull, removing the victim's creativity and curiosity while regarding the Masters as their saviors. Some "Cappings" can go wrong, however, when a mind is too weak or too strong and eventually collapses under the strain, creating Vagrants who wander from town to town spouting nonsense.
* In ''Literature/VillainsByNecessity'', the ''[[LightIsNotGood good guys]]'' are doing this to the villains. After good finally triumphed over evil, the few remaining not totally good people are being secretly rounded up and "whitewashed", basically forced to forget about their previous lives and live the live of an average productive citizen. And the good guys no longer have any moral qualms about forcing this fate on people, since it can't be evil if the good guys are doing it... right?

* In ''Literature/TheWitchlands'', Esme's Cleaved are witches who had all their Threads (connections to other people, places, emotions, etc.) save for one broken, with that last one being attached to Esme-controlled Loom, which either turns them homicidal or makes them utterly devoted to Esme's cause, regardless of their previous stance.

* The enemies attempt this on Sydney in ''Series/{{Alias}}'', but it only fails because [[spoiler:her own father had spent her childhood hardening her against this very possibility. Screwed-up family, indeed]].

* In ''Series/BabylonFive'', [[spoiler:Psi-cop Bester]] turns [[spoiler:Garibaldi]] into a secret agent so secret that even [[spoiler:''he'']] doesn't know it.

* Used on many, many people in many, many ways on ''Series/DoctorWho'', and inherited by ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures''.
-->''"I am the Master, and ''you will obey me''."''

* The ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' episode "[[Recap/FarscapeS01E06ThankGodItsFridayAgain Thank God It's Friday... Again]]", among several others. Including the episode "[[Recap/FarscapeS02E18AClockworkNebari A Clockwork Nebari]]", where the induced nausea isn't on the characters, but on the audience, as it involves ''[[EyeScream pulling the eyeball a foot out of its socket and placing a microchip on the exposed optic nerve]]''. Never mind that Eyeballs Do Not Work That Way, ''[[{{Squick}} gah]]''.

* Ryuutaros from ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'' has the ability to brainwash entire crowds at the click of his host's fingers and influence them to dance with him (whether or not they can hear the music is never touched on).

* In a series 2 episode of ''Series/TheMightyBoosh'', "[[Recap/TheMightyBooshCallOfTheYeti Call of the Yeti]]", the main characters narrowly escape being brainwashed and raped by yeti.
* In ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', the North Korean assassin named Kai had in her childhood been to an institution remarkably like the Academy in ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' and is seeking revenge.

** In ''Series/StargateSG1'', the Goa'uld are shown on several occasions to have the ability to brainwash people if they choose to. Being the [[BodySnatcher Goa'uld]], they have no moral qualms about doing so.

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', the higher-ups in Heaven consider this the standard methodology for dealing with insubordinate angels. Castiel in particular is a repeated victim of this. [[spoiler:It never holds up in the face of Cas's "[[HoYay profound bond]]" with Dean.]]
* The vampires in ''Series/TrueBlood'' have an ability to {{glamour}} people into doing things that they would not ordinarily do.
* The ''Series/UFO1970'' episodes "The Psychobombs", "Kill Straker!", "E.S.P.", "The Cat With Ten Lives", "Destruction", "Mindbender" and "The Man Who Came Back" all have humans who have been put under mental control by the aliens for their nefarious purposes.
* In ''Series/{{V 1983}}'', the Visitors have a brainwashing method called conversion, but humans are so resistant to it that it is only considered worth the bother for a few vital individuals.

[[folder:Music]]
* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD4azjx6mbE Project "Ma"]], Eve Zveda was given a drug to complete said project.

[[folder:Pinball]]
* The Mind Gem Quest mode in ''Pinball/AvengersInfinityQuest'' has Supergiant use mind control on part of your team, requiring several shots to break them out of her spell.
[[/folder]]

* SuperVillain Wrestling/{{UltraMantis Black}} used the Eye Of Tyr from Wrestling/KaijuBigBattel to brainwash [[Wrestling/HunterJohnston Delirious]], but he didn't pay attention to how the eye was supposed to be used, [[UnwittingPawn which resulted in Delirious being stolen by the BDK]] and Delirious turning on [=UltraMantis=] when he finally freed him. After Delirious was sent out of Wrestling/{{Chikara}}, Delirious's teammates Wrestling/{{Hallowicked}} and Wrestling/{{Frightmare}} were then brainwashed to continue the war on [=UltraMantis=].[[/folder]]

* In the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFourthEdition 4th edition]] version of ''Draconomicon'', there's a sample mini-adventure in which a green dragon has pulled this on a handful of hapless Eladrin. Yes, even with their boosted Will defense.

* Both ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'' and ''TabletopGame/ChroniclesOfDarkness'' have many supernatural varieties of this, such as Dominate for vampires, and the Mind Sphere for mages.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'', "brainscrubbing" is one of the routine ways of dealing with traitors, depending on severity (it's just above "adjust his meds" and just below "terminate him and activate his next backup clone").

* In one of the ''TabletopGame/WitchCraft'' gameplay examples they have on the Eden Studios website, the bumbling villain uses a psionic effect to do a kind of Jedi Mind Trick on an NPC, forcing her to do one sentence's worth of activities ("You love me and want nothing more than to follow me out of this bar.") so he can sacrifice her for evil purposes. However, what happens is that the PC breaks the effect, making her believe that he tried to hypnotize her, rather than [[WeirdnessCensor use mind control]], and so the lady proceeds to [[GroinAttack kick him in the balls]], then smash his face in with a pool ball.

* At one point, the player has to keep this from happening in ''VideoGame/TheArtOfTheft''.
* One ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' [[ApocalypticLog audio diary]] reveal that Andrew Ryan had the plasmids modified so that Rapture's already brain-buggered population would be susceptible to mind-controlling pheromones. Pheromones and mental programming are also used to ensure that the [[CreepyChild Little Sisters]] stay close to the Big Daddies, and that the Big Daddies protect the Little Sisters. There's also [[spoiler:"[[TriggerPhrase Would you kindly?]]"]].
* In ''VideoGame/CaveStory'', the Mimigas are brainwashed by the Doctor into growing the red flowers known to turn Mimigas into mindless monsters.

* Temporarily happens to anything hit by the Ordos Deviator in ''VideoGame/DuneII''.
* In the ''Dragonborn'' DLC for ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', [[spoiler:the Bend Will shout, Miraak's SignatureMove, can be used to subjugate mortals and even dragons. You eventually learn it, and can use it to become a DragonRider.]]

** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'', the Dark Knight is capable of this, commanding the people of Bafsk to build the Dreadnought. When Borghen takes over, the slave labour is far less efficient. [[spoiler:Not that the Dark Knight actually left...]] It's also implied that the Emperor brainwashed [[spoiler:Leon into becoming the Dark Knight]].

** All over the place in ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' and its sequel. Between the two games so far, Terra, Tidus, Jecht, and [[spoiler:Kuja]] have ''all'' been brainwashed to fight for evil instead of good, the former two in ''Duodecim'' and the latter two in ''Dissidia''.
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragon'', [[EvilSorcerer Gharnef]] is doing this to [[TokenMiniMoe Dragon Princess Tiki]] via putting her in a hypnotic state, and convincing her that the player's army are intruders, and Gharnef is the only one that can protect her belived guardian, Bantu for her. Only Bantu, who joins Marth's army, can break the brainwashing, via the bond between the two.
* In ''VideoGame/JudgmentRites'', the omnipotent Trelane creates a romanticized version of a World War 1 German town named "Gothos" in which to play out his childish fascination with the war. Lacking anyone to populate the town, he kidnaps three Federation ships and brainwashes the crews to serve as the town's population. The townspeople are [[AllStereotypeCast all stereotypes]], but fully believe their roles and have no memory of their real lives. When Trelane is finally driven off one way or another, the crewmembers regain their memories but forget their time in Gothos almost completely. In the epilogue, Gretel Gernsbeck does seem to vaguely remember having met Kirk.
* In ''Franchise/TheKingOfFighters'', [[spoiler:Botan from Those of the Past]] can do this via converting human beings into PeoplePuppets with thin wires, controlling their actions and minds. She uses this skill on [[spoiler:Chizuru Kagura]] in ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters2003 2003]]'', and on [[spoiler:Rose Berstein]] in ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXI XI]]'' [[spoiler:and until the end of ''[[VideoGame/TheKingOfFightersXIII XIII]]'']].
* In ''Labyrinths of the World 9: Lost Island'', Simon is hypnotized into doing Dietrich's evil bidding.

** The Thorian -- a thousands-of-years-old sentient plant -- from ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' is able to enslave an entire human colony on Feros, turning them into a HiveMind of obedient workers. Once you start to pose a threat to it, the entire colony goes hostile. Unlike indoctrination, the Thorian's brainwashing is less subtle and more brute-force, and one character is shown to struggle for control of their body.

* In an HGame titled ''Minerva's Adventure'' (a ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' clone of sorts), exists a "brainwashed" {{Status Effect|s}}. [[spoiler:It is put on Minerva if she loses, or surrenders, to a {{Random Encounter|s}} of heretic cult members. While the player can still control her as before, under this effect she will refuse to wear clothes, refuse to fight and when interacting with other people, she will either get appalled reactions (if women) or flat-out rape them (if men). Since this is an ActionAdventure, this would make the game impossible to win, but a visit to the local {{Physical God}}dess can remove the status.]]

* This becomes one of the Overlord's powers in ''VideoGame/{{Overlord}}'', in which using it on civilians will cause them to flock to the Overlord and either attack the nearest enemy when in battle or just help create resources if in a town.

* The ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' games uses this exceptionally liberally; If a particular protagonist is one of their original creations, the odds are fairly high that they've been brainwashed at least once, in at least one of the many different timelines. One BigBad of a faction even makes it part of their standard operating procedure. Okay. More than one...(One faction's plot is to Brainwash/Clone the ENTIRE CAST!)
* In ''VideoGame/TrafficDepartment2192'', the foul-mouthed, gung-ho ActionGirl protagonist, Lt. Velasquez, is kidnapped by her hated foe, the Vulture Cult Army, and brainwashed into serving them. Not only does she perform outstandingly in the field, she's also a lot more disciplined than the [[CowboyCop loose cannon]] she seemed to be when she was still with the good guys. Naturally, she eventually overcomes the brainwashing and returns to the TD... where her boss is less disturbed by her being brainwashed, and more worried by the fact that she's even-tempered, obedient, and disciplined...

* In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6TVtm69k9s Elden Ring: Unironically Terrible]]", WebAnimation/JamesLee spends most of the video in a zombie-like state, only briefly breaking free in a manic state before whatever was controlling him regains control.

* In ''Webcomic/KnightsOfBuenaVista'', Adriana's PlayerCharacter is being crowned queen, but the PC player her sister realizes the bishop wasn't saying a benediction. He was chanting a mind control spell.

* This is apparently the main method of recruitment for the Joy group of ''Webcomic/APathToGreaterGood''.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Recursion}}'', after Dr. Deathe winds up on a primitive world (actually [[spoiler:her homeworld, but in the distant past]]), she brainwashes some of the locals to provide her with workers for her mines and other menial tasks.
* In ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', Oasis was the brainwashing victim of Dr. Steve, though since his death, she's gone into BrainwashedAndCrazy territory. Sam also developed the ability to [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=030417 control people's minds]], though even that's not enough to make girls think he's cool.
* Brainwashing, hypnosis and mind-control are central themes of ''Webcomic/SquidOps''.
* The girls who awaken as Witches on ''Webcomic/TheWitchsThrone'' all appear to be brainwashed and lose their self-control to the Witch powers.

* In ''Literature/ArcanaMagi'', Alysia Morales and Reya Everheart were brainwashed by an [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Evil Corporation]].

* What happened to Cavalier and Skybolt in the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse''. It took nearly a hundred stories before we found out what really did happen to them, and it's worse than we thought: [[spoiler:Villainous witch Hekate tricked them into entering a 'Fool's Circle', and cast a ''human-sacrifice-of-children''-dark binding spell, which forced them to obey all her commands, while still remaining conscious of their actions. Subsequently, Hekate and Don Sebastiano raped and humiliated Cavalier and Skybolt repeatedly for a year. The two victims, once freed by Fey, were very, very angry. Worse, from Hekate's point of view, Fey got angry too]]...