History Main / EmptyShell

* ''Literature/TheBelgariad'': In ''The Malloreon'', it's revealed that [[TheEmperor 'Zakath]] -- who made a cameo in the first series, is civilized and courteous, but also (as is quickly revealed) devoid of more or less anything beyond an obsession with vengeance, a lust for power, and [[PetTheDog a genuine affection for his pet cat]]. He's a perfectly pleasant, if somewhat disturbing, conversationalist, advising Ce'Nedra that if Garion, her betrothed, survives the events of the first series, he'll eventually end up just like him. In the sequel series, it's revealed that he wasn't always like this -- when he was 19, he was kind, friendly, and wise, with all the makings of a truly great Emperor, and madly in love. His lover was uncovered as the mastermind behind a plot on his life, arranged by Taur Urgas, King of the Murgos. Given the weight of evidence against her, he had no choice but to sentence her to death. After her death, he discovered that while some of her family were in on it, she had been completely innocent. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone His reaction]] consisted of him locking himself in his room for a month. What came out was, essentially, the world's politest genocidal maniac, an empty shell determined to wipe every Murgo off the face of the planet, starting with Taur Urgas -- or more immediately, his relatives in Mallorea, who 'Zakath periodically sent bits of in jars with highly insulting notes attached). The Mrin Codex, which is often blunt to the point of insensitivity, calls him "The Empty One". [[spoiler:'Zakath is cured through ThePowerOfFriendship by Garion, and then the cure is completed by ThePowerOfLove by no less than [[BlindSeer Cyradis]] herself.]]

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': [[spoiler:[[ActionGirl Casca]] is reduced to a barely conscious, childlike state [[RapeLeadsToInsanity after the Eclipse]].]]

* ''Manga/MariaNoDanzai'': Mari Nagare has been completely destroyed by her son's death and swore revenge on the monsters that caused his death in a prank gone wrong. She threw her life away, divorced her husband, changed her name to her maiden name, Maria Akeboshi, cut off contact with her friends, got plastic surgery, and two years later, she's a nurse at the bullies' school to kill them off secretly. She puts on a façade of a kind and caring nurse that the students can go to for advice and emotional support with a kind smile on her face. While her kindness to the students is genuine, especially to bully victims, Maria is emotionally dead behind her polite smile. Maria doesn't even get any satisfaction from her killings apart from knowing that her son's bullies are being punished. While Maria gets genuine happiness from helping the victims of her son's killers, she knows that it will not last, and it's implied that her revenge will cost her her sanity and life.

* The ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' episode "[[Recap/BojackHorsemanS4E11TimesArrow Time's Arrow]]" shows that Beatrice's mother, Honey, was basically reduced to such after [[spoiler:her {{lobotomy}}]], with emotional and cognitive abilities vastly reduced. It's telling that after this event, the elderly Beatrice only remembers her mother as [[NothingIsScarier a literal shadow who never speaks]].

How did this happen? Here are a few ways: regular old CrapsackWorld-[[DespairEventHorizon induced trauma]], psychological torture, MindControl, MindRape, {{Lobotomy}}, and/or high-end uses of an AgonyBeam. It can be done metaphysically by being drained of all their LiquidAssets or LifeEnergy or having their [[OurSoulsAreDifferent Soul]] or part of their SoulAnatomy stolen. Then again, sufficiently radical body alterations can do this too, like being [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul "upgraded" into a machine body]], the aftermath of LiteralSplitPersonality transformation to the original body or a [[CameBackWrong less-than-successful]] attempt at [[BackFromTheDead resurrection]].

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': [[spoiler: [[ActionGirl Casca]] is reduced to a barely conscious, childlike state [[RapeLeadsToInsanity after the Eclipse.]]]]
%%* ''Anime/BlackRockShooter'': [[spoiler:Yuu]][[note]][[spoiler:The real one, that is.]][[/note]] opts to become in the 2012 anime, due to the soul-crushing situation of her life.
%%* ''Manga/DGrayMan'': [[spoiler:Suman Dark]] becomes this after [[spoiler:Allen manages to save him from being a Fallen One. And then Tyki Mikk ''explodes'' him.]]

* ''Manga/DeathNote'': Sayu Yagami, after she's rescued from a kidnapping by her father. It's implied that [[BreakTheCutie the sheer shock and fear that she went through while hostage]] caused her to fall into [[AngstComa an unresponsive state]], as she refuses to speak to her parents or move, to the point where her mother has to push her around in a wheelchair. Her last appearance in the manga (which wasn't included in the anime) is a brief cameo at a coming-of-age holiday ceremony in Japan - she's depicted as being able to stand again and smiling, though [[DullEyesOfUnhappiness her eyes]] and overall expression still have an eerie vacancy.
* ''Anime/DeathParade'': This happens to [[spoiler: Chiyuki]] in her backstory. She was at one point a successful figure skater, but a serious injury made it so that she would never walk again. After this, she isn’t ever shown smiling again. She mostly just sits around with a ThousandYardStare until [[spoiler: she commits suicide]]. When she describes this to Decim, she explicitly tells him that she became empty and felt like she was “nothing.”

** This is [[spoiler:Mithrun's]] backstory; he was part of a dungeon-delving expedition where he was lured into a LotusEaterMachine by a demon, which consumed all his desires, save for a burning murderous hatred of demons. Now he only lives to find and kill demons, but needs a caretaker to ensure he sleeps, eats, and goes to the bathroom, because he no longer feels any bodily urges, and would otherwise just keep on going until he collapsed from exhaustion in pursuit of this single-minded goal.

* In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'':

** Happens to [[spoiler:Agnieszka]]. [[spoiler:As the corollary to her horrifying BreakTheCutie process, the poor girl [[DrivenToSuicide stabs herself to almost death]]; a vampire named Maximilian, however, stabs her almost lifeless body with a magical blade, and renders her soul-less body like this. The only way to "revive" poor Agnieszka is to implant someone else's soul in her; decades later, a young woman Azusa willingly gives her soul in exchange for her boyfriend/student Kouya's life, and is transferred to Agnieszka's magically preserved body...creating the titular "Alice", the female protagonist of the manga.]]
** Metaphorically speaking, [[spoiler:''Kouya'' himself becomes this after the leader of the vampires and male protagonist of the series, Dimitri, fulfills his promise to Alice and saves his life. When Alice finds him again, she sees that he has crossed the DespairEventHorizon as a consequence of what happened and now is pretty much a pale shadow of the OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent he used to be.]]
* ''Manga/SenseiNoSusume'': The 'baby' that the angels are given to raise for a year into a creature that's as close as possible to being human. They have absolutely no memories, thoughts, or emotions of their own. Everything needs to be taught to them.

* ''Anime/MazingerZ'': [[{{Mooks}} The Iron Masks and Iron Cross]] are cyborgs BigBad Dr. Hell fabricated with corpses, mechanizing their brains (their helmets are a replacement for their skulls) and programming them to obey him loyally and without question. They have no name, no identity, no personality (and they barely have half a face left under their helmets) and no family. They don't feel hesitate or fear and they don't fear death. And they don't mind.
* ''Literature/MushokuTenseiJoblessReincarnation'': The Rewind Miko experienced a GroundhogDayLoop due to [[spoiler:Orsted's curse of repeating the same two centuries]]. In each loop, she died at a young age, usually in a painful and horrific manner. By the hundredth loop, the mental trauma of remembering so many deaths became so severe she was virtually catatonic.
* ''Manga/NabariNoOu'': Miharu, the main character starts like this. He is indifferent to everyone and everything around him. The only thing he makes an effort at is being apathetic. [[spoiler:He changes with time, though.]]
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': [[spoiler: This is the final fate of those trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi and bound to the God Tree. They are drained of their chakra, personalities, and defining features, reducing them to shells of their former selves before they are formed into White Zetsu soldiers in Kaguya Otsutsuki's army.]]
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': Rei Ayanami, who [[spoiler:starts out as one of many identical empty clone shells in the Rei-quarium, with a new one taken out and uploaded with her personality as each successive one is killed.]] Of course, considering Rei's [[EmotionlessGirl default personality]], it is unclear whether there is a significant difference.

* ''Manga/ReturnToLabyrinth'': Sarah qualifies. While not completely empty-shell, she has no real drive, desires, or ambition, and [[spoiler:a large portion of her soul had been removed]].
* ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'': [[spoiler:Itsuki]] becomes this after a series of betrayals, brainwashing, and a devastating defeat. At first, he only echoes what is said to him, answers everything with complete honesty, and has no opinion or emotions. He gradually recovers over time.
* ''Manga/RozenMaiden'': Dolls who lose their Rosa Mystica; they lose consciousness and become ordinary dolls (albeit with their eyes closed). It is implied though that their souls live somewhere else, particularly in the manga.

** In the anime, whenever someone has either their Pure Heart Crystal (''S'') or Dream Mirror (''Super S'') taken away, they almost automatically become this. They're seen in a lethargic state, with MindControlEyes, and almost unable to do/say anything. It's also stated that if they don't have them returned soon, they'll simply wither and die.
** A similar effect happens when you get a shard of [[spoiler: Nehelenia's broken MagicMirror]] stuck in your eye in the first part of ''Stars''. At first, the victim will act normal if languid and obsessed with their mirrors (a girl screams and claims she's got almost no reason to live when Makoto knocks her handmirror off her hands), then they'll simply languish away until they die.
%%* ''Literature/ShakuganNoShana'': Going by the once-[[TheCutie Cutie]] Yukari Hirai early on, this happens to Torches as they gradually fade away from existence.
%%* ''Literature/SorcererStabberOrphen'': This is the ultimate fate of [[spoiler:SmugSnake Shastanasi]] after [[spoiler:being in the receiving end of a CurbStompBattle, with Azalie!Childman as the giver.]]

** Those who either willingly [[KissOfTheVampire exchange blood with Miyu or are bitten by her]] have their minds placed in a sort-of endless [[LotusEaterMachine dream]], while they act like eternally smiling and "happy" empty shells. A good example is [[spoiler:Miyahito from the first OAV, a boy who exchanged blood with Miyu after [[TheLostLenore his beloved girlfriend Ryouko]] was the first victim of the MonsterOfTheWeek; Himiko talks to him after he's bitten by Miyu, but the boy happily ignores her worries and sits down on a swing...and later he's seen there again, not paying attention to anything...]]
** The fourth OAV shows us [[spoiler:Miyu's dad, a human who exchanged blood with his wife/Miyu's mother aka the Shinma woman who was the Guardian before Miyu. When Miyu's mother explains this to her daughter, she says she deeply regrets having transformed the man she loved into a shell - by that time, the man is so indifferent to everything that when the Shinma come to claim Miyu and both she and her mom run away, he simply stays there and allows himself to be captured.]]
%%* ''Manga/XxxHolic'': One of the story arcs centers around a girl becoming this.
* ''Anime/YuGiOh'': The Millennium Eye has the power to remove people's souls, leaving their bodies like this. Luckily for Grandpa, Kaiba, and Mokuba, this is reversible. Strings is another example of this whenever Marik isn't controlling him. The manga explains that Strings went into a catatonic state after he murdered his parents.
* ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'': Pre-CharacterDevelopment Reira was adopted by Himika Akaba ''because'' they were an empty shell. Reira was from a war-torn country, and lost any sense of individuality, will, or feeling as a survival mechanism. Himika wanted to exploit this to make them a {{Child Soldier|s}} to fight [[BigBad Academia]]. This is also reflected in their deck: their cards are based on cameras and film and copy whatever the opponent uses to fight.

* Art/SistineChapel: If you look up at “The Creation of Adam”, you might notice that Adam is pretty uninterested in his own creation from the completely blank look on his face. Not to mention how he reclines like nothing's going on while a being of infinite power is flying around two feet away from him. This unusual lack of expression from Adam gives reason to believe that the moment depicted in the fresco is not exactly when Adam was created, but the moment just before God breathed life into Adam and gave him his immortal, rational soul, allowing him to experience emotion, reason, and awe as an image of God.

* ''ComicBook/XMen'': The Emplate body is an example. Created to be a vessel for another character's personality, it becomes bestial and mindless when not 'occupied'.
%%* One particularly nasty side story in ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'' involves Spider doing a story on child prostitutes in The City, who are disturbingly like this.
* ComicBook/ManThing exists more or less in a mindless state, unable to hold onto any moments of temporary lucidity and motivated only by [[TheEmpath empathy]].

* Victims of the Anti-Life Equation in Franchise/TheDCU are turned into this. Forever and ever. And all it takes is to hear the Equation '''''once'''''. [[spoiler:Fortunately, the Life Equation can counter it.]]
* In her one-shot comic, Laura Kinney aka ComicBook/{{X 23}} says that she was effectively this during the time she spent as a prostitute. Earlier, the Facility actively attempted to ''make'' her this, by depriving her of emotional connections and subjecting her to horrific physical and emotional abuse to strip her of her humanity, and her thoughts in her crossover with ComicBook/{{Daken}} reveal she had so little sense of self during her captivity that she truly didn't realize the things they did to her were even wrong. Her mother even believed they succeeded until Laura revealed Rice sent her to kill Martin Sutter and his family, and that she chose to spare her son, proving that however severe the damage she still held on to part of her humanity.

* [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Doomsday]] is nothing but pure animalistic rage and bloodlust. Psychics such as Dubbliex and the Martian Manhunter have tried reading his mind and picked up nothing but that and it's so powerful that Brainiac noted it was hard to keep a GrandTheftMe going with him.
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Queen Atomia's victims were once human and have been reforged into her robotic seeming minions which loyally follow her every order. Whomever they once were is functionally dead and while they have enough grey matter left to be susceptible to a JediMindTrick, not even Amazonian medical technology or magic can do anything to help them or give them true emotions, motivations, or personal volition.
* ''ComicBook/ImmortalHulk:'' The Breaker-Apart of the BadFuture seen in issue #25, which is the Hulk, completely hollowed out by the One Below All long ago, leaving only the body as its puppet to destroy everything, everywhere, a Hulk in the truest sense of the word.

** This is defied ''Ghost in the Shell'' when Tom sees footage of Essa-in-his-body giving Jake a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown; he remembers Essa saying that he thought there was "nothing left" of Tom until he just started screaming internally. Later, it's played straight with TheReveal that [[spoiler:the Yeerks discovered that hosts who were infested from a young age would never develop a consciousness, and tried to [[ChildByRape "breed"]] humans for this purpose.]]
** In ''How I Live Now'', the Yeerk in Rachel claims that she stopped fighting back within two months. It's a lie, of course, [[spoiler:evident by how quickly Rachel kills the Yeerk as soon as it exits her body.]] This trope is discussed when [[spoiler:Tom pretends that he's Essa, and claims he lobotomised his host by shoving a letter opener up his nose until he stopped screaming internally.]]
* In ''[[Fanfic/ChildOftheStorm Ghosts of the Past]]'', the Red Room tries to turn [[spoiler: Harry]] into this with the aid of [[spoiler: Maddie]] after their attempts at brainwashing him fail, intending to erase everything that makes him who he is and program what is explicitly described as an empty shell. It succeeds, leaving only muscle memory and a few vague memory fragments behind. [[spoiler: It is later revealed that Maddie removed Harry's mind and hid it in a MacGuffin, planning to restore his mind as soon as she got a spare moment. This didn't go quite as planned.]]

%% * Marty in ''Fanfic/NoAntidote'', increasingly so because of his neural degeneration.
* ''Fanfic/{{Daemorphing}}'':
** Morphs have no consciousness of their own and are controlled by the morpher's brain in Z-space, which is why human morphs don't have daemons.
** Defied ''Prometheus in Chains''. Temrash 114 claims that there's "nothing left" of Tom and his daemon Delareyne, but Merlyse points out that Del settled around the same time that Temrash claims Tom was "broken", which wouldn't have happened if he had no personality to show.
* [[CuteMute Boo]] from ''Fanfic/FalloutEquestriaProjectHorizons'' is a benign version of this trope, having been [[TheSoulless 'born' from a cloning machine in a laboratory]] and having no goals or interests other than sleeping, eating, and excreting, and is surprisingly good at sneaking around and finding [[SweetTooth prewar snack food]].
* ''Fanfic/TheStarsWillAidTheirEscape'': The Cutie Mark Crusaders are left like this, in a catatonic state, after [[spoiler: [[BigBad Herald]] rips their souls out]].
* ''[[Fanfic/AFutureOfFriendshipAHistoryOfHate A Future of Friendship, A History of Hate]]'': [[BigBad Ruinate]] tries to reduce the Mane Six to this by destroying their souls in order to permanently neutralize the Elements of Harmony. [[spoiler: He succeeds in doing so to Twilight, leaving her a vegetable, before [[BigGood Amity]] is able to [[DeusExMachina restore her]] through her bonds to her friends.]]
* In [=FiM=] fic, ''Fanfic/TheChangelingOfTheGuard'', this is what happens to anypony who is fed on by a [[ShapeShifter Changeling]] for too long. [[spoiler:Idol does this by accident to Topaz simply by feeding on her interest in him too often, turning her into a husk that can barely walk, talk, or eat. And he mentions that this happens on occasion to the parents of hatchlings in The Hive that is fed too much love...]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Antiphony}}'', the suffering Laila goes through drives her insane and eventually turns her into an empty shell.
%%* This is what happens if you become Unsung in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic ''Fanfic/BackgroundPony''.
* In ''Fanfic/CodeGeassColorlessMemories'', the speech by Rai to Suzaku in chapter 31 describes the trope:
-->"And even though he was the only one who walked out of that town alive, inside he still felt like he died that day. There was nothing inside of him anymore; happiness, sadness, anger…he felt none of those emotions. Instead, only his corpse dragged him on."
** It's subtly implied throughout the story that aside from being amnesic, Rai barely has any personality, thoughts, or trouble with feeling other people's thoughts and emotions due to implications of an event in his past if [[spoiler: E.E]] is to be believed that destroyed whatever he was before that event happened ala Shirou from ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight''. The fic's main arc is in many ways Rai regaining a sense of self and connection to those around him. The above quote was Rai talking about himself.
%%* [[spoiler:Sebastian's final fate]] in the ''Manga/BlackButler'' fanfic ''Fanfic/DiligoVictumNusquam''.
* Immediately after Twilight first casts Starswirl’s incomplete spell in ''Fanfic/DividedRainbow'', all her Element Bearer friends temporarily enter a vacuous sleepwalker-like state, as they're compelled to physically switch places with each other geographically. Rarity has to endure this the longest because at the moment the swap took place, Rainbow was in the middle of a dangerous forest, many miles away, trying to save Lero’s life. This state wears off over time, and by the time she actually reaches Lero, she's mostly back to normal.
* In ''Fanfic/DuelNature'', Luna's BadassBoast mentions having torn the souls from her enemies, leaving them as lifeless shells.
* In ''Fanfic/FateMegamiAtelier'', Hikawa tries to restore harmony and peace to torn dimensions...by removing everyone's emotions.
%%* [[spoiler: Yumi]] in the ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' fanfic ''Fanfic/GhostsInTheMachine''.

* In the ''Manga/DeathNote'' fanfic ''Fanfic/MyStupidReality'', this seems to be the effect of L's training program. If they aren't instantly rejected, and if they [[DrivenToSuicide don't kill themselves]], they are returned to their parents as empty shells.

%%* Perfection is this after his VillainousBreakDown in ''Fanfic/PokemonSepia''.
%%* [[spoiler: Missy gets like this during her HeroicBSOD]] in ''Fanfic/PokemonStormClouds''. [[spoiler: [[SubvertedTrope Then the tears start]].]]
%%* [[spoiler: China]] in the ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' fanfic ''Fanfic/SevenLittleKillers''.
* For a couple of days after a traumatic challenge accident in ''Fanfic/TheLegendOfTotalDramaIsland'', Lindsay is only dimly aware of her surroundings. She doesn’t even have enough self-awareness to eat or use the toilet without assistance.
%%* In ''Fanfic/TheLionKingAdventures'', [[spoiler: Shauri's victims in ''Return to Camp Kazi'' become literally this,]] and in Series 5, Simba would become this metaphorically.
%%* Tails in the MegaCrossover ''Fanfic/ThroughTheLookingGlass'' becomes this. He gets better, though.
* In the ''VideoGame/RagnarokOnline'' fic ''Fanfic/WarriorsOfTheWorld'', anyone resurrected after a ten-minute window comes back mindless.
* In the ''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'' fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Amenaza}}'', [[spoiler: Konohaji is granted immortality and locked in a Room101, trapping her in a state of ICannotSelfTerminate AndIMustScream for decades.]] She is in this state when she is found by Ichigo.
* In ''Fanfic/BloodThatFlows'', [[LivingBattery Unison Devices]] get turned into empty shells once they are hooked up to Megahs, and are only able to regain a form of personality if they Unison with someone for a long time.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch''[=/=]''Franchise/StarTrek'' crossover ''[[FanFic/StarlightSeries Starlight]]'', [[spoiler:Lilo becomes essentially an empty shell after her ordeal, due to the things the Borg forced her to do under their control.]]
* In ''Fanfic/LostAndFound''([[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13968545/1/Lost-and-Found here]]), Paige Matthews (''Series/Charmed1998'') is basically reduced to this when she is the only one of the Halliwell family (including Coop, Leo, and Henry) to survive Thanos's Snap (''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''). A few months after the Snap, she is shown living in a dirty apartment, working a pointless job at a fast food restaurant, barely able to show concern when someone grabs her ass at work or when she sees a mugging happening down the street on her way home, and the closest thing she shows to a genuine emotional reaction is when she has a panic attack after hearing someone mention "the Decimation" on the news.
* In the ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' {{Angst}} fic ''Fanfic/{{Drakonophobia}}'' Petra becomes this after she's [[spoiler: [[RapeAsDrama Raped by Mercer]].]] her narration then goes in between subtle and SuddenlyShouting and describes that her mind has gone blank.
* In ''Fanfic/BeingDeadAintEasy'', after the battle with Yami Bakura, [[spoiler:Seto remains in the Soul Room, leaving his body empty]].
* In the ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'', anyone [[RetGone erased from existence]] leaves behind a Shadow of Existence that is this, as their Light of Existence returns to Fauna Luster to be reborn. Shadows can emulate emotions and have the memories of their previous selves, but can't feel anything themselves. It's for this reason that they desire to [[YourSoulIsMine steal the Light of Existence from someone who already exists]] so badly. However, another cure for this is [[FusionDance fusing with someone who already exists]], adding their traits and abilities to them. However, if the two aren't compatible, the Shadow will overwhelm the person and [[FateWorseThanDeath end badly]]. Especially if the Shadow came from a God, at which point only one hundred present compatible hosts will work. The best-case scenario seems to be a Shadow fusing with the reincarnation of their Light, which is normally a perfect match and [[CameBackStrong in a sense recreates the original person, only with the combined abilities of both.]] [[spoiler:At present, this has happened to Applebloom (whose Light came from G3 Toola Roola), AK Yearling (who has G3 Puzzlemint's shadow and their fusion brought a real-world Daring Do into being), and Lovestruck (who was G3 Always and Forever, the G3 incarnation of Cupid, and fused with Cupid's Shadow of Existence to recreate his Concept).]]
* In ''Fanfic/QueenOfBloodSirWill'' [[spoiler:Bakuda]] ends up like this after being left to the tender mercies of the succubi with only orders to keep her alive. The demons fed on her energy and, when she attempted suicide, crippled her so she couldn't harm herself. The stress became too much so they took to wiping her mind whenever she would fall apart; by the time Taylor finds out, [[spoiler:Bakuda]] is a mewling, mindless wreck that behaves more like an abused animal than a human.
* ''Fanfic/IAlwaysLovedFireworks'': The Cyclops Killer [[spoiler:Saito Sejima]] is described this way. They say they've never felt anything for their whole childhood and struggled to feel something so they could be like everyone else. Once they discover [[HighOnHomicide the dopamine rush they get from killing]], they continue to kill to keep that emptiness at bay since it is the only time they feel anything.

* ''Film/BlackWidow2021'' has Taskmaster, who is borderline machine-like and even has implants that allow for [[DittoFighter copying of fighting styles]]. [[spoiler:Worst of all, it was caused by the character's own father, as after [[GenderFlip Antonia]] was physically and mentally damaged in a building explosion, he decided to [[BrainwashedAndCrazy mentally condition her]] into becoming a fully compliant soldier.]]
* The titular Winter Soldier from ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' spends most of his screen time this way. Just to twist the knife, there's a scene in which we see that it's because his captors are repeatedly, intentionally, ''agonizingly'' [[BrainwashedAndCrazy wiping his memory]] in order to use him as an [[TheDreaded unstoppable weapon]].
* Podling who have their essence drained in ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'' become this, turning gray and empty-eyed, shuffling from place to place. Happily, it was cured when the [[MineralMacguffin Dark Crystal]] was healed.

* ''Film/TheGodfatherPartIII'': Michael totally becomes this at the end of the film, having lost everything that was dear to him (including his daughter and friends), and we last see him sitting in his secluded Sicilian state, his face frozen into a ThousandYardStare before he [[DyingAlone finally dies]].

* In ''Film/{{Ikiru}}'', Kanji Wanatabe worked as a petty bureaucrat for decades without taking a day off, accomplishing nothing in the process. The narrator describes him as someone who is not really alive.

* This is the state of [[spoiler:the Sloth victim]] in ''Film/{{Se7en}}''. [[spoiler:After a year of torture, there's nothing left of his mind. He has just enough willpower to gasp for air, but the doctor who examines him concludes that even if he hadn't [[TongueTrauma eaten his own tongue]], he would be completely incapable of speech.]]

* Both Dr. Lamb and Dr. Salt become this at the end of ''Film/StonehearstAsylum'' - Salt due to brain damage due to repeated electric shock administered by Lamb, while Lamb later becomes catatonic by the trauma of recalling the events that put him in the asylum in the first place. In the closing scene they're sitting together at the same table as patients in the psychiatric hospital, though they now have enough of their wits about them to play chess.

* ''Literature/AiNoKusabi'': This happened to [[spoiler:Kirie]] by forcefully being {{Brainwashed}} to be a Pet. AKA a SexSlave. For him, it was a FateWorseThanDeath.

** [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien The Ellimist]]'s back story involves him being captured by Father, a huge sea creature that absorbs/enslaves the minds of others. Eventually, the Ellimist learns to absorb those dead minds from Father into himself. In the end, it seems that Father had no real mind of his own, just a HiveMind from everyone he had absorbed.

* ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'': Discussed with Patrick Bateman, as although he presents himself and acts like a regular human being, being like the other yuppies on Wall Street, Bateman himself says that he’s nothing more on the inside, and he is empty and dead no there is nothing behind the mask he has on.

* ''Literature/TheBelgariad'': In ''The Malloreon'', it's revealed that [[TheEmperor 'Zakath]] -- who made a cameo in the first series, is civilized and courteous, but also (as is quickly revealed) devoid of more or less anything beyond an obsession with vengeance, a lust for power, and [[PetTheDog a genuine affection for his pet cat]]. He's a perfectly pleasant, if somewhat disturbing, conversationalist, advising Ce'Nedra that if Garion, her betrothed, survives the events of the first series, he'll eventually end up just like him. In the sequel series, it's revealed that he wasn't always like this - when he was 19, he was kind, friendly, and wise, with all the makings of a truly great Emperor, and madly in love. His lover was uncovered as the mastermind behind a plot on his life, arranged by Taur Urgas, King of the Murgos. Given the weight of evidence against her, he had no choice but to sentence her to death. After her death, he discovered that while some of her family were in on it, she had been completely innocent. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone His reaction]] consisted of him locking himself in his room for a month. What came out was, essentially, the world's politest genocidal maniac, an empty shell determined to wipe every Murgo off the face of the planet, starting with Taur Urgas - or more immediately, his relatives in Mallorea, who 'Zakath periodically sent bits of in jars with highly insulting notes attached). The Mrin Codex, which is often blunt to the point of insensitivity, calls him "The Empty One". [[spoiler:'Zakath is cured through ThePowerOfFriendship by Garion, and then the cure is completed by ThePowerOfLove by no less than [[BlindSeer Cyradis]] herself.]]

** In (the quite dark) ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'', the [[PuttingOnTheReich Cable Street Irregulars']] torture has reduced several people to this. Probably the most controversial thing in the series is the sentence, "Vimes took his dagger, and...[[MercyKill gave what help he could]]".
* In ''Literature/DragonridersOfPern'', this can happen to those whose dragons die. Some snap out of it, but others never do. Even those who snap out of it (like Lytol) never feel completely whole again.
* ''Literature/EastOfEden'': Cathy Ames's only definable trait is being a BitchInSheepsClothing for personal gain, but other than that, she has no love or empathy for others and has no personal hobbies or desires. When she runs away from home as a teenager, her parents note that her room looked like it was empty for a while. The narrator characterizes her as a "psychic monster" with a "malformed soul" whose eyes are cold and emotionless while supporting character Samuel Hamilton notes that her eyes "had no message, no communication… they were not human eyes." [[spoiler:In her adulthood, she eventually comes to realize that there's ''something'' she doesn't have that others have, but still [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove isn't able to understand what it is]] and ends up killing herself]].
* The killer in ''Literature/FiveLittlePigs'' is described as this in the end, having felt nothing ever since killing [[spoiler:the love of her life after realizing she was just another fling to him and he'd never leave his wife for her]]. Even getting the wife accused of the crime didn't bring the killer any satisfaction- [[spoiler:Caroline was screening her sister who she thought was the murderer,]] and so was able to FaceDeathWithDignity.
-->She and Amyas both escaped — they went somewhere where I couldn’t get at them. But they didn’t die. I died.

* Within the ''Literature/GentlemanBastard'' series, this is the result of inhaling the smoke of wraithstone. It's commonly used on animals to "gentle" them, effectively removing all desire other than a mild desire to eat, sleep, and follow commands. It works on humans too, although even the infamously cruel and decadent Therin Throne [[EvenEvilHasStandards rejected the practice]] is simply too awful.
* In ''Literature/Harmony2008'' by Project Itoh, Harmony is supposed to be a program that controls human will via {{Nanomachines}} to make human decisions perfectly logical and beneficial for society, but in the process, it turns people into this (since the main conceit of the book is that consciousness is formed from the brain weighing up the benefits of various actions, and since Harmony does this task for people, humans stop being conscious). Somewhat averted, though, because Empty Shells under the influence of Harmony are perfectly functional human beings and experience pure, total bliss, compared to Heaven on Earth -- they just have no inner voice.

* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', this happens to Katniss's mother after Mr. Everdeen dies in the mines. Then Katniss goes through it ''twice'': first after [[spoiler:Peeta is captured by the Capitol]] at the end of ''Catching Fire'', then after [[spoiler:Prim is killed]] in ''Mockingjay''. It's actual depression/catatonia rather than anything supernatural.

* This is the fate that befalls those [[BrownNote who watch even a moment of the title film]] in David Foster Wallace's ''Literature/InfiniteJest'', reduced to nothing but a desire to keep watching.
%%* First Book of ''Literature/{{MARZENA}}'' has [[spoiler: Renée Fritzhaber, the thing that fake-Lauren was before becoming Lauren]]. Subverted with Helena in that she was just faking it to avoid talking to Marian.

* Scott Tyler in ''Literature/ThePowerOfFive'' is one of these at the end of ''Nightrise''. Probably understandable, considering he spent most of the book being tortured, both physically and mentally.

* [[spoiler:Bob Arctor]] is left as essentially this at the end of ''Literature/AScannerDarkly'' thanks to his heavy drug abuse. However, it is implied that he does retain enough of himself [[spoiler:to identify the source of Substance-D and bring it to his friends, one of whom is an undercover narcotics agent]]. It is extremely unlikely that that he will ever be functional again, though.

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' [[spoiler:Drogo ends up like this after Mirri heals him using BloodMagic. After being convinced he won't recover, [[MercyKill Daenerys suffocates him]]]].
* Perhaps the nastiest version -- [[spoiler:the ''Borg'']] are this, according to ''Literature/StarTrekDestiny''. [[spoiler:The guiding intelligence of the Borg was once an alien cybernetic organism called a Caeliar -- a bit paranoid and xenophobic, but basically okay. But after being stranded in the past with nothing to sustain her, Sedin degraded into a mindless hunger.]]
* ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' novels: One of the risks of humans going at it with Deltans is this. The ''Exeter'''s first contact party dismissed the early reports of the ''Horizon'' as typical Space Boomer hoarding, and then... the ship's first officer becomes nigh-dissociative from the experience, but the other officer is rendered a complete vegetable. It's not a pleasant experience for the Deltan who accidentally did this, either, since they ''felt'' it happening to him.

* Zig-zagged in ''Literature/WhenRabbitHowls''. Truddi Chase's head is far from empty - she has, if anything, a lot more going on in there than most people thanks to [[SplitPersonality severe Dissociative Identity Disorder]]. But her default personality, referred to as "the woman" in the text, is so dissociated and underdeveloped from her nightmarishly abusive childhood that "the woman" has almost no independent emotional capacity and receives most of her feelings and motivation second-hand from the other members of her SplitPersonalityTeam. [[ArcWords "For you, there isn't any more."]]

* Played with in ''Series/{{Angel}}'', in "[[Recap/AngelS05E10SoulPurpose Soul Purpose]]". Angel is coma-dreaming about Fred doing surgery on him and she tells him "There's nothing left, just a shell", alluding to what Wolfram and Hart are doing to him. It's also ironic since she became a literal shell for Illyria, at least until they started sharing a body.
* In Season 6 of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', Buffy sees herself as being this trope, stating multiple times that she can't feel anything since she was traumatized by being brought {{back from the dead}}. This also constitutes the theme of most of her songs in the musical episode. She isn't really an empty shell though and gets better by the end of the season.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E9TheSatanPit "The Satan Pit"]]: [[spoiler:When the Doctor comes face-to-face with the Beast, he deduces that he's only dealing with the body and that its mind has escaped elsewhere... specifically, the Beast is [[DemonicPossession possessing]] Toby Zed in order to escape its prison. There is still clearly a connection, however, as when Toby's escape seems certain, the Beast's body laughs maniacally.]]
** [[spoiler:Ood who are lobotomized and separated from their HiveMind. They become {{Extreme Doormat}}s who find HappinessInSlavery and have no personality of their own.]]

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Drogo becomes this following a life-saving ritual. VorpalPillow ensues.
* One episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' features a teenage girl who was severely physically and sexually abused as a child. She was eventually saved and placed with good, loving adoptive parents, but by then, she was so damaged by the abuse that even years of therapy couldn't help -- the girl is essentially unable to feel any real emotion, let alone form actual connections with other people. She even self-identifies as this at the end of the episode, telling detectives, "You can't kill me. I'm already dead."

* The Asgard are a clone race in ''Series/StargateSG1''. Their bodies are all genetically identical and are grown as empty shells, only taking on an identity and personality when the saved consciousness of a particular Asgard is downloaded into it. We once see an empty Asgard when a human who didn't know what he had sequenced and grew an Asgard body (using Asgard DNA given by the SGC in their efforts to help with the Asgard's clone degradation problem) in order to force the government to come forward with the truth.
* Happens to Uhura briefly in the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E3TheChangeling The Changeling]]", after the probe Nomad erases her "knowledge banks" (ie, memories). They're able to bring her back to normal through a combination of the ship's technology and conventional tutoring to re-educate her at high-speed; in TheStinger, [=McCoy=] says she'll be back to normal in a week.
* In the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E13LifeSupport Life Support]]", Vedek Bareil is severely injured in an accident and spends some time [[OnlyMostlyDead clinically dead]] before being resuscitated but suffers such severe brain damage that positronic implants (the same stuff Data's brain is made of) have to take over for several major brain functions. He is able to function, but he is very different, almost emotionless, and describes his sensations as vague shadows of what he remembers. Eventually, when the rest of his brain starts to fail, Doctor Bashir allows him to die naturally rather than replacing his entire brain with artificial implants because if he resorted to ''that'' then [[DeathOfPersonality there'd be nothing left of Bareil's true self afterwards]]. Also an example of CyberneticsEatYourSoul, with quite a bit of philosophical discussion about how much of a person's brain anatomy can be damaged or deliberately modified before they cease to be the same person.

* ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'':
** This is the end result of [[OurSoulsAreDifferent soul loss]]. The victim first [[BystanderSyndrome loses the ability to care about others around him]] as his KarmaMeter erodes to 1, but then his Willpower starts to vanish, and once ''that'' hits zero, they become a catatonic, shambling husk, so long as [[DemonicPossession something else doesn't take over the empty meat puppet]]. If their soul -- or someone else's -- is grafted back to them, they gradually return to normal.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''.
** This is one way to describe that happens when a character loses all their charisma to stat damage. Losing all Wisdom -- a measure of a character's mental balance, the base stat for Willpower -- causes you to "fall into a nightmare-filled sleep." Losing all your points in any vital stat generally means you can't act at all and automatically fail checks based on that stat until you recover at least one point in it - the exception is Constitution, which measures your health, and if that falls to 0, you [[CriticalExistenceFailure simply die.]]

** In the ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' Campaign Setting, people who see horrible things have a chance of becoming "Lost Ones," who are essentially catatonics who cannot take care of themselves.

%%* This is the second-worst thing that can happen to someone in ''TabletopGame/DontRestYourHead'' if the [[DarkWorld Mad City]] completely breaks them.
%%* In ''TabletopGame/SeventhSea'', Waisen from [[GermanicDepressives Eisen]] are like that. Thirty years of war can do this to helpless civilians.
* In ''TabletopGame/InNomine'', this is what happens to angels and demons who lose all of their Celestial Forces but still have Corporeal Forces and a physical Vessel; They become Remnants, wandering the Earth in whatever body they last used before they were killed, without the perception to remember what they were or the will to do much of anything. Angels and demons alike tend to consider them both sad and creepy.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'',
** This is commonly caused by [[TheFairFolk Raksha]] [[EmotionEater depredations]].
** She Who Lives In Her Name's Charms can do this too. Oddly enough, she also has one which can ''refill'' the dream-eaten left behind by the raksha, although they'll never be who they used to be.
** This is the theme of The Ebon Dragon (other than being a [[GodOfEvil cosmic dick]]). He is so empty inside that he doesn't have a Motivation, a state that is normally impossible for something that exists. His Charm that enables this abnormality? Ego Shell Ascendancy. And that's not even the worst of him: it's implied that back then he wasn't merely empty, he used to be ''not existing'' and was only able to affect the world by being an empty mockery of someone else.
* In the third party D&D 3.x setting ''TabletopGame/{{Diomin}}'', Hollow Ones are not alive, not dead, and not undead. They are removed from "the web of life" and concerned only with eating and stealing, and they go berserk when "bloodied".

** Servitors are ''deliberately'' made like this. Basically, because AI is forbidden in the Imperium, the Adeptus Mechanicus turn humans into soulless robots with almost no sense of self-awareness or free-will. Though typically reserved for criminals or failed initiates to some Imperial organization or another, the Mechanicus is not above "forcibly recruiting" civilians into the job. Thankfully most Servitors are vat grown lobotomized clones, which still fit this trope as they are empty shells that were never filled in the first place.
** The Rubrics of the Thousand Sons are basically dusted remains of warriors trapped in their suits of power armor. They follow their commanders' every order but have no personality, no needs, and no will on their own.
** Low-tier Necrons are this, being converted from fully sentient beings to mindless warriors due to being so overwhelmed by obedience during the conversion into robots that there’s little room for independent thought or personality. Even the nobility were effected to some extent - Trazyn remarks in ''Literature/TheInfiniteAndTheDivine'' that the process left the Necrons with an eternally stagnant culture as they are incapable of creating or appreciating art and anything else that doesn’t have an immediate pragmatic function.
* Servants of Nurgle in both ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' franchises. As he is the god of (among other things) {{Despair|Event Horizon}}, his followers simply do not care anymore, least of all about their own lives.

* The Nobodies in ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''; the body of someone who has had their heart stolen by TheHeartless. In most cases, the shell is transformed into a shapeless monster. They have no emotions of any kind, as they have no "[[SoulAnatomy heart]]", but the Nobodies of people with particularly strong hearts retain their memories and human appearance. They know what it means to feel, but will never do so again, (sometimes) through no fault of their own. They want Sora to kill as many Heartless as possible so that they can build a [[CosmicKeystone Kingdom Hearts]] that can restore their lost hearts. [[spoiler:We later find out in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' that they aren't actually quite as empty as they were told and were only told that they were so that the tiny bit they had inside wouldn't develop enough to protect them from being possessed by the BigBad.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'':
** Shedinja is literally an empty shell with nothing inside, the discarded remains of an evolved Nincada's exoskeleton.
-->''"Shedinja's hard body doesn't move -- not even a twitch. In fact, its body appears to be merely a hollow shell."''
** There have been, in fact, cards for Shedinja in the TabletopGame/{{Pokemon}} Trading Card Game who have the special ability "Empty Shell".
** According to legend, Azelf can cause humans to lose all will inside of them, making them completely immobile. Uxie can wipe your memories as a human, and Mesprit can strip your emotions clean. All three of these are likely to do this if you ''really'' piss them off. They are, at least, respectable in that they don't use these powers when trainers play with them in Pokémon battles.
** Shadow Pokémon, which themselves have their emotions wiped clean in some of the worst implied (human-inflicted) MindRape the series will ever know. All of this because those in charge of Cipher want military power for their campaign of global conquest.
* [[CreepyChild Miyuki]] in ''VideoGame/DigimonSurvive'' is an EmotionlessGirl who struggles to simply form sentences, with her younger brother Haru taking care of her. [[spoiler:The reason for this is that she's a BarrierMaiden who had half her soul stolen by the BigBad, and had been [[TrappedInAnotherWorld trapped in the Digital World]] [[FishOutOfTemporalWater for the past 50 years]] as a result.]]

* In ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' the Warrior of Light (the very first VideoGame/FinalFantasyI protagonist) was like this when he first appeared in the cycles of war. He could walk and talk (barely) under his own power but that was about it. When he was first discovered by Prishe it was assumed this was merely a side effect of being summoned. [[spoiler: Turns out he's actually a clone and the reason he started out as a walking vegetable is a side effect of the cloning process.]]
* ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'': [[spoiler:After he's struck by the Temsik meteorite fragment, Yomiel's body becomes trapped in stasis at the moment right before his death. Wounds heal instantly, hair doesn't grow, and he's neither truly alive or truly dead. Even after he's reunited with his body he feels a crushing sense of isolation from the rest of humanity that eventually drives him to seek mindless revenge on everyone involved with his death, up to and including the little girl he took hostage just before getting hit by the Temsik fragment.]]
* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'':
** The epic spell Entropic Husk expansion annihilates the target's soul, leaving nothing but a body that randomly attacks whatever comes near it.
** [[spoiler:Akachi]] from the same game is nothing but an empty shell of hunger. [[spoiler:Myrkul, his former god, had his soul destroyed to the point where there was nothing left of him but a sense of emptiness.]]
* ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'':
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'':
*** You see the normally sweet FriendToAllLivingThings ChosenOne Colette become this when her heart and memories are sacrificed as the last part of the World Regeneration. This doesn't last long thanks to her LoveInterest being a {{Determinator}}.
*** Furthermore, the BigBad's plan to end discrimination involves killing half of the world's population and turning the other have into "Lifeless Beings" (AKA: This).
** This happens fairly rapidly to Kohak Hearts in ''VideoGame/TalesOfHearts''. The first half of the game is getting her emotions back. After that...[[WhamEpisode other things happen]]. She doesn't even fight in battle until you get back her courage.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia2'': This is Cronos' plan if humans cannot complete Origin's Trial. Their souls will stop being reincarnated and humans will become unthinking, unfeeling creatures farmed by spirits as a source of mana.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'', [[spoiler:this is what happens to Hardin after the events of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight''. He becomes this after learning Nyna doesn't actually love him; he refuses to speak to anyone and locks himself in his room for an entire week. However, [[TheCorrupter Gharnef's]] soul appears and gives him [[ArtifactOfDoom the Darksphere]]. As it's far easier for [[FaceHeelTurn one to be possessed or corrupted]] when they are an empty shell, Gharnef subverts Hardin's morality and turns him into a [[EvilOverlord cruel and tyrannical emperor]].]]

* The Horned Girl from ''VideoGame/{{Baroque}}'' is an Empty Shell, who, lacking any thoughts of her own, instead repeats aloud the thoughts of those that try to speak to her.
* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'':
** In ''VideoGame/Persona4'', [[spoiler:Mitsuo Kubo's]] [[ShadowArchetype Inner Shadow]] is a NietzscheWannabe Empty Shell. Since his Shadow is as much a "true self" as the shadows of your other party members were their own "true selves", it implies that [[spoiler:Mitsuo]] is driven by the subconscious fear that he is insignificant and will never amount to anything. As a first for the game, [[spoiler:Mitsuo is unable to see through his own delusions of grandeur and own up to his own insecurities, unlike your party members, and his Shadow simply dies as a result of his ego becoming so corrupted it was indistinguishable from a ShadowArchetype.]]
** In ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'', Hikari is a perfect recipient for this trope. When first encountered by the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, she barely talks and only uses Nagi as a medium, instead of staying still most of the time, either staring towards the Phantom Thieves or lowering her head in a downtrodden fashion. And the reason is made clear in the fourth labyrinth; She was [[spoiler:[[IndividualityIsIllegal emotionally abused and manipulated throughout her entire childhood because she was different from other people]], which fuels her depression to the point that she considers depersonalization as the only way out. She then closed herself off in her room and became an empty shell devoid of any personality.]] To rub salt into the wound, [[spoiler:her father expressed genuine concern over her collapsing mental status by asking her "Why do you have to be like that," which is '''ACTUALLY''' her TraumaButton because every one of her tormentors asked her that question when she attempted to exert herself. Of course, this invoked a series of [[FlashbackEcho traumatic flashbacks]] that broke her down, since her father is also her LivingEmotionalCrutch]]. Unable to cope with the pain of life, [[spoiler:her soul ended up in one of [[ObliviouslyEvil Nagi/Enlil]]'s theaters where she had her watch movies made out of pure negativity in an attempt to relieve her pain]]. Obviously, this doesn't do anything other than draining away whatever that was left inside her. Thankfully, this was averted thanks to the Persona users drawn in by [[spoiler:Doe so she can rehabilitate, and she makes a full recovery after facing her self at the fourth labyrinth]].
** In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', it's shown that if a person's [[ShadowArchetype Shadow]] is killed it has drastic repercussions on their physical body, leaving them catatonic or suicidal if not simply killing them outright.
** In ''VideoGame/Persona5'' ''[[UpdatedRerelease Royal]]'', Joker becomes this in one NonstandardGameOver as a result of [[spoiler:[[WellIntentionedExtremist Maruki]] giving him FreedomFromChoice in the form of removing his motivation to do anything other than sleep. When the protagonist wakes up, his phone's battery is long dead, and his room is riddled with cobwebs. He has no more will or motivation to get out of bed, and just goes back to sleep. Lavenza tries to reach him but can't, as Maruki also cost Joker his rebellious spirit.]]
* In ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar2'', [[spoiler:the payoff for Dom's tireless 10-year-long search for his missing wife Maria is that he finds her as one of these, the result of years of starvation and torture by the Locust. For reference, Tai Kaliso, an ImplacableMan able to shrug off pretty much anything with a smile and a WarriorPoet one-liner, was captured and tortured by the Locust for only a couple of hours, and it broke him so badly he committed suicide immediately after being rescued. Dom is left with no choice but to MercyKill his wife.]]

** Romani in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]'' becomes one of these if she gets captured and {{Mind Rape}}d by the aliens.
** Happens to [[spoiler:Zelda]] in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'' after she sacrifices herself to save Midna. [[spoiler:Ganondorf possesses her body for the first of the FinalBoss fights]].

* In ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII: Shadows of Amn'', [[spoiler:Imoen]] becomes temporarily like this after having her soul mostly drained, with an additional aggressive streak. She gets better after having her soul returned.
* ''Franchise/BlazBlue'':
** ''[[AllThereInTheManual BlazBlue Setting Material Collection]]'' establishes Nu-13 as one of these. The personality seen in-game is contained entirely in the Murakumo Unit, her armor.
** [[spoiler:Noel Vermilion, AKA Mu-12,]] was created as an Empty Shell. Her Murakumo unit "tempering" was interrupted, allowing her to develop a personality, albeit a [[ExtremeDoormat very weak and passive one.]] And what followed was [[BreakTheCutie LOTS of misfortune]].
** An odd case is Lambda-11, an uncompleted Murakumo that was [[BackFromTheDead fixed up by Kokonoe]] (though kinda downgraded) and mind-wiped [[spoiler: so she could be powered by the soul of Nu.]] There's a brief flashback before the mindwipe that shows her having some awareness and personality, and even after it, she still develops a very small amount of a personality in the story, especially in her gag reel. [[spoiler: And despite not being a true Murakumo unit, Nu's personality and memory flashes through sometimes, most notably when Lambda [[TakingTheBullet takes an attack meant for Ragna in the true ending.]] She returns in ''Chronophantasma'', regains what little individuality she grew and builds upon it even more thanks to Noel's help.]]
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
** [[EldritchAbomination The Reapers]] control their victims through a process called indoctrination. Prolonged exposure to Reapers or certain Reaper artifacts {{Mind Rape}}s you, eroding your brain until you are a perfect servant of the Reapers, incapable of doing anything the Reapers haven't told you to do. Victims are used as sleeper agents or turned into Husks. Ultimately, they are abandoned to starve when the Reapers return to dark space or repurposed as a slave race. [[spoiler:The Collectors are Protheans turned into a slave race]].
** In the ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' DLC ''Leviathan'', the eponymous species has a similar technique known as "enthrallment" [[spoiler: which was the basis for indoctrination, as the first Reaper was created from the essence of the Leviathan]]. Active long-term thralls have a tendency to move mechanically and speak awkwardly if at all. However, thralls ''can'' act more naturally to facilitate infiltration operations. Fortunately, unlike indoctrination, enthrallment is not permanent and operates only while the Leviathan [[spoiler: or one of its artifacts]] is in the proximity of the victim.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' has [[spoiler:Tretij Rebenok, the creepy psychic child. According to research Ocelot does into his psychic powers, he learns that because of the experiments that were performed on him because of his powers had left him psychologically empty. Instead, he telepathically latched onto the extreme negative emotions, anger and hatred in particular, of others around him. This was demonstrated with the "Man on Fire" -- the comatose and severely-burned Colonel Volgen -- who became a flame-wreathed revenant. It was also demonstrated with Skull Face when he used his psychic powers, guided by Skull Face's resentment over losing his native language and his hatred of Big Boss and Cyher, to psychically control ''Sahalanthropus''. When he encounters Eli, he then begins to use his powers to aid him in hijacking ''Sahalanthropus''.]]
* ''Franchise/DragonAge'':
** The Tranquil from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins''. If mage apprentices are too afraid to go through the Harrowing, the final test to see if they are worthy of becoming full-fledged Circle mages, they can instead choose to have their connection to the Fade severed by use of a [[AppliedPhlebotinum lyrium]] brand. Tranquility is also sometimes used as a severe punishment. This removes their ability to perform magic and along with it any threat they might pose due to uncontrolled magic. Since the Fade is the realm of dreams and spirit the process also robs the Tranquil of their ability to feel. They can't even feel fear [[spoiler: when the Circle is overrun by Abominations]]; though one does mention that he would prefer not to die. That's the closest thing to an emotion that any Tranquil expresses in the game. If you speak with Owain during the mage origin, however, he argues (well, states) that Tranquil are closer really to TheSpock. In his own words, he does not currently believe that being incapable of emotion lessens his worth as a human being, and even though he has no drives or ambition any more he isn't incapable of acting on his own.
** On the other hand, ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' shows what happens when a Tranquil mage briefly regains emotion - he begs you to MercyKill him before it wears off. The qunari have a substance called "qamek" that produces similar results. If a prisoner refuses to convert to the Qun no matter what, it converts them into a mindless laborer.
** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' goes into more detail on the history of the Rite of Tranquility. [[spoiler:It originated as the initiation ritual for the [[InternalAffairs Seekers of Truth]]. Seeker initiates are made Tranquil, and then immediately cured by having a Spirit of Faith touch the initiate's mind. If the initiate's faith is not strong enough to attract a spirit, they have failed the initiation and permanent Tranquility is the price. The Rite, sans cure, only began seeing use in the Circles of Magi after a mage tried and failed to join the Seekers in order to gain their [[TheImmune immunity]] to possession and mind control. [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Before then, no one knew that Tranquil mages are stripped of their magic and become nearly invisible to demons]].]]
** Abuse of the Rite of Tranquility as a punishment by the Templars is one of the casus belli that caused the Mage/Templar War (that and the [[ThePurge Right of Annulment]]). Cullen used to work under a particularly egregious offender, [[KnightTemplar Knight-Commander Meredith Stannard]]. One particular case pertinent to the plot was "Corrupting the moral integrity of a Templar"...or passing love notes between [[StarCrossedLovers a mage and his templar paramour]]. The mage was made Tranquil, and the messenger was ejected from the Templar order. And Cullen says that wasn't the worst DisproportionateRetribution he saw Meredith perpetrate using the Brand. [[spoiler:And that was ''before'' Meredith went crazy from an ArtifactOfDoom]].
* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'', this is what happens to humans who fall victim to [[spoiler:Zelenin's hymn]], becoming unable to do ''anything'' but praise God mindlessly. In the [[MultipleEndings Law route]], [[spoiler:this is the fate of all of mankind (or, at least, those who aren't destroyed by the Schwarzwelt wave for not being "worthy" enough): singing God's praises in perfect harmony for all time to come, at the expense of their free will and individuality]].
* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse'', this happens [[spoiler:''en masse'' right after rejecting the Law and Chaos endings, during a party to celebrate Merkabah's and Lucifer's defeats, after Shesha's power grows to the point where it can reap souls without having to devour the bodies they host]]. The bodies of victims fall into catatonia and remain so [[spoiler:unless you pursue the Bonds/Peace route and have Dagda bring the captured souls back to their respective bodies]].
* The end result of being a Zuul captive in ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheStars''. The Zuul systematically MindRape their victims with their PsychicPowers, ripping their knowledge, memories, thoughts, and eventually their very identities from the victims' minds and leaving them catatonic husks. Even partial exposure is often enough to cause either this trope or simply turning into a gibbering wreck with all of their memories and knowledge jumbled up and full of holes.
* In the bad ending of ''VideoGame/ShadowHeartsCovenant'', [[spoiler: Yuri ends up like this as a result of the Mistletoe curse finally devouring his soul and his memories. He is taken under Roger's care after that.]]
* ''Franchise/StarCraft'': The victims of the Terran Dominion's neural resocialization, a brainwashing process to create new soldiers, would be considered this, or at the least {{Extreme Doormat}}s. According to the wiki, the minds of a resocialized person are described by telepaths as being "fuzzy" and lacking the depth of personality found in ordinary humans, possess little to no initiative, and will shift loyalties if their commander does so as well.
* ''VideoGame/StringTyrant'': A likely fate for the player, being turned into a doll makes the player into one of these. Something similar happens if their mind leaves their body.
* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'': The ''entire crew'' of [[HumanoidAbomination Darth Nihilus']] flagship, the ''Ravager'', are like this from having their life energy, willpower and sense of self drained by Nihilus' presence. They are incapable of individual thought, speech or anything outside of their task on board the ship, which they perform like lifeless mechanical drones. On board the ship, your character encounters Colonel Tobin, the SmugSnake who shot down your freighter earlier in the game, this time as an eerie, [[http://images.wikia.com/starwars/images/7/77/TobinRavager.jpg zombie-like]] man [[GoMadFromTheRevelation at the edge of his sanity]], just from being on Nihilus' ship for a ''few days''. Nihilus himself seems to be a ''literal'' empty shell.
* In the FanGame ''VideoGame/TheJediMasters'', the [[EldritchAbomination D'arth Syyth]] tried to possess many people it captured. Most of these people became Screamers, who Revan describes to be this trope; they are only kept functioning by the D'arth Syyth and TheDarkSide.
* ''VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns'' has [[spoiler:Dr. Bumby]] turning the children of the Asylum into this [[spoiler:so that he can pimp them out]].
* Oichi in the third game of the ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' series verges between this and ExtremeDoormat. Her mind appears to be mostly gone as she speaks entirely in {{Ironic Nursery Tune}}s and WordSalad which makes her sound like she's asleep, she has no opinions or drives any more apart from what she picks up from others, and she seems mostly unaware of her surroundings. If it hadn't been for the demonic hands dragging her body along like a puppet, she probably wouldn't even be ''mobile''.

* From the ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' series we have Koishi Komeiji, a member of the mind-reading [[MindOverManners satori]] species. Having grown tired of the resentment people felt towards her because of her power to read their thoughts, Koishi closed her mind-reading third eye, which had the unintended side-effect of sealing away her own conscious mind and heart. Completely devoid of thought or emotion, she now spends her time WalkingTheEarth in a trance-like stupor, acting on whatever unconscious impulse happens to strike her at the time.
%%* In ''VideoGame/BatenKaitosOrigins'', talking to [=NPCs=] in [[spoiler:Tarazed]] reveals that the trauma of losing your wings can lead to this.
%%* Maiev in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' claims to have become this after the death of Illidan because, as Illidan put it, the huntress is nothing without the hunt.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' has Rom, the Vacuous Spider. Formerly a human woman turned into a Great One, her mind didn't survive the transition, hence the Vacuous title (which is actually the English version being polite- her original Japanese title is 'hakuchi', which is an insult that roughly translates to 'stupid'). She responds to nothing save being attacked, and even then most of the hard work in her boss fight is done by her spider minions.
* In ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'', Undead that have lost all their humanity turn into mindless hollows, which usually come in two flavors; AxCrazy or huddled in a corner crying. This is also the fate of [[spoiler:Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight after a thousand years of burning alive in the Kiln of the First Flame]]. Having a clear goal or aspiration in mind appears to stave off the process for a time, but once that source of purpose is fulfilled or removed it will simply resume.
* ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}'':
** In ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', some of the Point Lookout tribals became like this after their lobotomies.
** Even worse, ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas: Old World Blues'' has the appropriately-named Lobotomites, who have had their entire brains replaced with Tesla coils, retaining only the ability to perform simple tasks. The player is given a similar treatment, but retains a link with his/her [[BrainInAJar disembodied brain]].
** Harkness from ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' suffers this fate if the player chooses to betray him to Dr. Zimmer. ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' goes deeper and shows that this is the fate of all [[BigBad The Institute]]'s RidiculouslyHumanRobots who are caught [[BecomeARealBoy developing free will]], with the scientists justifying it by claiming it's just a programming quirk and not true sentience [[StupidEvil in spite of robots gaining sentience having been a regular occurrence for centuries]].
* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'':
** [[spoiler:Magolor]] in ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'' seems to degrade into this when he's destroyed in his first form, only to be brought back to life by the Master Crown as a shadow of his former self to serve as its body.
** [[spoiler:Soul of Sectonia]] in ''VideoGame/KirbyTripleDeluxe'' is similarly described as a pitiful husk that's lost all sight of what it used to be, existing only as a mindless destroyer that needs to be put out of its misery.
** [[spoiler: Marx Soul]] was an OptionalBoss added to ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar [[UpdatedRerelease Ultra]]'' whose only motive is revenge against Kirby. Sensing a pattern here?
** In fact, ever since ''VideoGame/KirbyCanvasCurse'', it seems that all final bosses end up becoming this, either by completely being overwhelmed by their own madness or single-minded desires and sacrificing ''everything'' about their being just to gain the power to destroy everything around them.
** And now, ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'' reaches the logical extreme by [[spoiler:inverting the trend: [[DestructionDeity Void Termina]] is initially described as a mindless being that only knows destruction. However, by the time Kirby reaches his heart, his description says that "he has awakened from a state of mere existence to that of true sentience."]]
* In ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternity'', children born without souls (known as Hollowborn) are this. Initially a group of soul-manipulating magicians (known as animancers) came up with the solution of implanting animal souls (using humanoid souls would result in the subject remembering their past life, so that was out) into them in the hopes of treating their condition. Results were initially promising...[[GoneHorriblyWrong until the first subjects reached puberty]].

** Yan-chan herself was this before the start of the game. The intro reveals that for her entire life, she had ''never'' experienced emotions until she met her beloved Senpai. Before that, she was simply going through life not feeling any huge desires or ambitions. In fact, WordOfGod says the closest thing she ever had to an actual hobby was "pretending to be a normal girl." What will she do now with her newfound love and hatred? [[BlankSlate Well, that's up for the player to decide.]]
* This is [[BigBad Specter's]] plan in two of the ''VideoGame/ApeEscape'' games. In ''Ape Escape 2'', he and White Monkey develop a device called the "Lethargy Laser" which, when fired at the Earth, will cause all of its people to become so lazy and unmotivated that they won't care at all if Specter tries to take over the world. In ''Ape Escape 3'', he instead takes over a major television studio and starts using his monkeys to create programming so inane that anyone who watches it becomes a mindless couch potato, unable to do anything but veg out and stare at the screen.
* ''VideoGame/BloodOmenLegacyOfKain'' features a minor villain known as Elzevir the Dollmaker who has stolen the soul of a local king's daughter and reduced her to this state. Kain must reclaim her soul and restore her in order to win the king's favor.
* In ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'', [[spoiler:your character]] is one and is in fact only the latest in a long line of [[ArtificialHuman artificially made]] Empty Shells made to try and contain TheCorruption threatening the land. The full story is a little more complex, but it's also a complete spoiler. Here: [[spoiler: The protagonist, along with two bosses, were children of the Pale King, who used Void to turn them into hollow 'vessels' to contain the infection, which worked by corrupting dreams. The idea was that a true version of this trope, with no mind to dream with or will to subvert, could contain the infection without succumbing to it, and thus serve as a perfect [[SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan can]]. This process [[InferredHolocaust failed quite often]], with your character being a failure that managed to survive, and the titular Hollow Knight being the perfected pure vessel. It's also played with, in that it's likely that ''none'' of these Vessels were truly hollow; the Broken Vessel has succumbed to the infection, the Hollow Knight had an "idea instilled" (resulting in it being a LeakingCanOfEvil), and depending on player choice, the protagonist Knight could quite often show a will of its own (which one NPC, Steel Soul Jinn, will lampshade).]]
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' gives us the Qalyana Ananta tribe. The Garleans captured the daughter of their leader in search of someone called "The Butcher". The Qalyana attempted to rescue her, but in the process the daughter is killed in the scuffle. In grief, the leader summoned the Primal Lakshmi to resurrect her, but while her body is active, her soul couldn't be put back, leaving her a shell of her former self. [[spoiler:When the leader is killed later in the story, the Qalyana elect the girl to be their leader as they are all under Lakshmi's thrall, meaning it would be awhile before the Qalyana can do anything]].
* In ''Videogame/EldenRing'', many of the people in the Lands Between have become this over centuries of unending war between the demigods. Since most of the people living there cannot stay dead when they die, and there's no food or much in the way of industry or civilization, the people who remain are left wandering mindlessly on the roads or digging in the ruins for whatever scraps they can find. Even the military units just mindlessly stick to their orders and maintain patrols and guard posts and attack anyone they see.
* ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'': [[AllThereInTheManual Supplementary materials reveal]] the Zebesian clones created by the Galactic Federation to have been unintelligent and designed without a sense of independence so as to be better used as pawns. Because of this, they are considered to be even less of a threat to galactic civilization than regular Zebesians, even less so when they aren't controlled by a leader.

* ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'':
** [[spoiler: Izuru Kamakura was designed to be the UltimateLifeForm by [[DeathOfPersonality removing his original personality]], memories, and emotions, so that they would not interfere with a [[MasterOfAll being of pure talent]]]]. As a result, he has no emotions [[BrokenAce that allow him to actually enjoy his skills]] and feels nothing but complete and utter boredom 24/7. As such, he has absolutely no motivation to do ''anything'' unless it has a chance of lessening his boredom. [[spoiler:Which is how [[BigBad Junko]] could [[UnwittingPawn easily manipulate him into kicking off]] [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt The Tragedy.]]]]
** He makes an appearance in the AlternateUniverse bonus mode of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'', where [[spoiler: it's shown that he has no [[LossOfIdentity sense of identity]], lamenting that he has no purpose and stating that he's ''called'' Izuru rather than it being who he ''is''. However after spending three years [[ThePowerOfFriendship with everyone else]] he does show signs of improvement near the end, as he joins the Christmas Party with the others out of his own free will and hesitates to call his time at the Academy "boring" like he usually does.]]
* The FanGame ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaAnother'' has Utsuro, who like [[spoiler:Izuru Kamukura]] above had little emotion or motivation as a result of his [[BornLucky talent]] making life too easy for him, which allowed him to be easily groomed by [[ApocalypseCult Ultimate Despair]].
* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight''

%%* In ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'', [[spoiler:Akiha ends up like this in her Normal Ending]].
* This is what happens to [[spoiler: Beatrice]] as a result of the end of Episode 4 in ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry''. It isn't until the beginning of Episode 5 that we actually ''see'' the effects, though. Basically, she is incapable of doing anything by herself and sits there with a lifeless expression on her face for a good chunk of the game. Massive [[ShipTease Ship Teasing]] with [[spoiler:Battler]] ensued.

** During the bus crash flashback in ''VisualNovel/TheFruitOfGrisaia'' a combination of trauma and starvation left Ibuki barely responsive and only doing the bare minimum required to survive. However, in the second part of the flashback in ''VisualNovel/TheEdenOfGrisaia'' when Sakashita [[spoiler:stabbed Sakuma to death]] she came out of her stupor long enough to [[spoiler:start stabbing her repeatedly with a pair of scissors, inflicting dozens of small wounds until she was struck in the head with a rock, which eventually killed her.]]
** In ''VisualNovel/TheLabyrinthOfGrisaia'' following the death of his parents Yuuji slipped into an empty state where he was treated as a dress-up doll by the terrorist Heath Oslo. He snapped out of it [[spoiler:when one of Oslo's associates reminded him of his father, causing him to snap and kill the man with his bare hands.]] Impressed, Oslo began training him.

* Junpei in ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'' becomes this in [[BadEnding Submarine ending]] after [[spoiler:Akane's death]] [[DespairEventHorizon breaks him completely]]. The narration even refers to him as "empty shell"
* [[TheSpook The Phantom]] in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'' considers themself to be this, as they've spent so long [[MasterOfDisguise taking on other people's identities]] that [[ShapeshifterIdentityCrisis they no longer have one of their own.]] Their assertion seems to be backed up by their first Mood Matrix session, where they show no emotion at all, even as they're [[LargeHam hamming]] it up in the guise of [[spoiler:Bobby Fulbright]]. However, this trope is arguably {{Subverted}} by their second session, as it's revealed that [[spoiler: they ''do'' in fact feel one emotion – [[DirtyCoward fear]]]].

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* The CreepyPasta ''[[http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/The_Living_Murdered The Living Murdered]]'' (the final part of the ''The Angel in the Computer'' trilogy) states that the things the angel is working for forcibly separate sapient creatures from their souls and devour them. What is left of a person this happens to becomes a psychopath. ''They do this to entire worlds'', by the way.
[[/folder]]

* Everyone who gets their soul removed in ''Webcomic/{{Archipelago}}'' - the body just sits there or trudges mindlessly after whoever is taking care of them (they will eat if fed, but not reach for food), while the soul (whether [[AndIMustScream locked up somewhere]] or running free) retains consciousness, emotions and drive, if not necessarily the ability to speak.

* Evelyn Samael in ''Webcomic/ErrantStory'' was a notably horrific example of the CameBackWrong subclass of this, because the mage who resurrected her -- her ''younger brother'' -- had loved her dearly in life. (Not to mention the fact that he became a [[spoiler:WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds]] when he realized what he'd done.)

[[folder:Web Original]]
* The children in ''WebOriginal/{{Shell}}'' become "empty little eggshells" when they see the EldritchAbomination.

* ''Website/SCPFoundation''
** Such is the fate of anyone who touches and then releases SCP-963. (Hanging onto the amulet just [[BodySurf turns you into Dr. Bright]].)
** Hidden information in the SCP-5000 page implies that [[spoiler:this is the default state of ''humanity''. In an alternate timeline, the SCP Foundation conducted Project PNEUMA, an attempt to map out the human brain the same way the Human Genome Project mapped out DNA... and discovered that humans ''don't naturally feel emotions''. All human emotions are the result of an EldritchAbomination invading human consciousness for reasons unknown.]]
* In "Cassette #5: Focus, Nose" of ''Podcast/WithinTheWires'' The SecondPersonNarration warns of the fate of an intractably violent patient at a research hospital, eventually sent to the Extensive Studies Lab to undergo "[[{{Lobotomy}} carpentry]]."
-->'''Narrator''': No one smelled sawdust. As I record this cassette I am looking at that patient, right now. Looking. Right. At. It.

* Dr. Viktor's body was said to be this in the ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' episode "Viktor: The Spoils", prior to its possession by the consciousness of King Xarion.
* Zombunny of an early 1990s TV show ''WesternAnimation/DrZitbagsTransylvaniaPetShop'' is a zombified rabbit who never seems to move. None the less, this has never stopped Dr. Zitbag from using Zombunny to mind the pet shop, babysit, or perform other tasks he's clearly incapable of performing. The running gag is that Zombunny always manages to succeed through the power of doing nothing.

** The alternate universe of the Justice Lords has Lord Superman using his heat vision to perform crude lobotomies on Batman's most dangerous criminals and, now with them being barely above mindless zombies, placing them in Arkham Asylum. It's truly disconcerting when the group meet the lobotomized Joker in an abnormally calm and docile state, but heartbreaking when the Flash happens to encounter the lobotomized version of Poison Ivy, who now has no signs of her former ambitions and no longer cares what happens to the world and its plants. Even though they were villains, the ruthless lengths Lord Superman was willing to go through to maintain order places him squarely in MoralEventHorizon territory (if he hadn't already crossed it in his first appearance already). Interestingly, when Doomsday attacked, Lord Superman performed this same trick and took him out. However, when he returned, he had fully recovered and even became immune to such tricks when the real Superman tried it.
** This was what apparently happened to Gorilla Grodd in his first appearance after Flash "crossed a few wires" in his mind-control helmet and tricked him into using it. This fried his brain and turned him into a brain dead vegetable. But Grodd not only recovered from this, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero but no longer needed the helmet to control minds]].
** Dr. Destiny also ended up like this through a combination of overdosing on sleeping medicine and overexposure to the dream machine in "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E5And6OnlyADream Only a Dream]]". In his last appearance in the show, he is lying in Blackgate's hospital, comatose with his eyes open [[IronicNurseryTune and humming "Frere Jaques"]].
** In "Wake the Dead", Solomon Grundy is re-animated as a mindless berserker by chaos magic.
* "WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb Get Busted" has this happen to [[spoiler:the boys themselves. Don't worry, they snap out of it.]]
* During one episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', [[ButtMonkey Kenny]] is killed and sent to Heaven to command the heavenly host against an invasion from Hell. Halfway through the episode, Kenny disappears from Heaven, as his body had been resuscitated on earth, but in a persistent vegetative state. The doctors [[LampshadeHanging point out]] that Kenny has the capacity to exist in this state for years.
--> '''Doctor''': Brain cells cannot be repaired once dead. But his soul is still in here. Almost... trapped in here, if you will.
* Beatrice's mother, Honey, in ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' was basically reduced to such after [[spoiler:her lobotomy]], with emotional and cognitive abilities vastly reduced. It's telling that after this event, the elderly Beatrice only remembers her mother as [[NothingIsScarier a literal shadow who never speaks]].

** Low-tier Necrons are this, being converted from fully sentient beings to mindless warriors due to being so overwhelmed by obedience during the conversion into robots that there’s little room for independent thought or personality. Even the nobility were effected to some extent - Trazyn remarks in ''The Infinite and the Divine'' that the process left the Necrons with an eternally stagnant culture as they are incapable of creating or appreciating art and anything else that doesn’t have an immediate pragmatic function.

!This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=17044295660.96992900 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.

* The BigBad of ''Film/TheNeverEndingStory II: The Next Chapter'' is Xayide, [[HumanoidAbomination the humanoid avatar]] of [[EldritchAbomination a force known as the Emptiness]], and the personification of dying imagination. She's effectively [[LadyOfBlackMagic a stoic sorceress]] version of [[ImaginationDestroyer the Nothing]] from the first movie and is similarly able to inflict "emptiness" in the world by robbing Bastian of his wishes and memories.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':

* ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}''

* [[TheSpook The Phantom]] in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'' considers themself to be this, as they've spent so long [[MasterOfDisguise taking on other people's identities]] that [[ShapeshifterIdentityCrisis they no longer have one of their own.]] Their assertion seems to be backed up by their first Mood Matrix session, where they show no emotion at all, even as they're [[LargeHam hamming]] it up in the guise of [[spoiler:Bobby Fulbright]]. However, this trope is arguably {{Subverted}} by their second session, as it's [[spoiler:revealed that they ''do'' in fact feel one emotion – [[DirtyCoward fear]]]].

* [[TheSpook The Phantom]] in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'' considers themself to be this, as they've spent so long [[MasterOfDisguise taking on other people's identities]] that they no longer have one of their own. Their assertion seems to be backed up by their first Mood Matrix session, where they show no emotion at all, even as they're [[LargeHam hamming]] it up in the guise of [[spoiler:Bobby Fulbright]]. However, this trope is arguably {{Subverted}} by their second session, as Athena and Phoenix [[spoiler:reveal that they ''do'' in fact feel one emotion – [[DirtyCoward fear]]]].

* In ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' the Warrior of Light (the very first VideoGame/{{Final Fantasy|1}} protagonist) was like this when he first appeared in the cycles of war. He could walk and talk (barely) under his own power but that was about it. When he was first discovered by Prishe it was assumed this was merely a side effect of being summoned. [[spoiler: Turns out he's actually a clone and the reason he started out as a walking vegetable is a side effect of the cloning process.]]

* In ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', the chemical Pax caused most of the population of Miranda to sit or lie down wherever they were and do nothing until they died. [[spoiler:The remainder had the exact opposite reaction, becoming the [[AxCrazy psychopathically violent]] [[AlwaysChaoticEvil once-human monsters]] known as the Reavers.]]