History Main / ExaltedTorturer

* ''Rapeman''. While the manga and anime are arguably {{satire}} featuring BlackComedyRape, that doesn't stop some people from blaming the rape victims for their rapes, believing rape is an okay punishment, and somehow seeing Rapeman as a righteous hero rather than CrossingTheLineTwice BlackHumor in an EvilVersusEvil world.

* The protagonist of the ''Film/HanzoTheRazor'' films. T

* Jack Bauer of ''Series/TwentyFour'' and [[TropeNamers trope namer]] of the JackBauerInterrogationTechnique.

* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' has Starbuck in her interrogation of Leoben.

* A [[KarmaMeter Renegade]] Commander Shepard in ''Franchise/MassEffect''. Hell, sometimes even [[GoodIsNotNice Paragon Shepard.]]

* The UnscrupulousHero or WellIntentionedExtremist who resorts to these methods because they feel that they're "necessary" for a noble cause. Given [[CrapsackWorld the worlds they tend]] [[AWorldHalfFull to live in]] the narrative tends to [[TheExtremistWasRight agree with them]] (possibly with or without the audience). Examples can include Franchise/{{Batman}}, Film/JamesBond, [[Series/TwentyFour Jack Bauer]], [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeries Tanya Adams]], and [[Film/ZeroDarkThirty Maya.]] They generally:

** Tend to do it primarily [[ForTheEvulz because they]] [[SmitingEvilFeelsGood enjoy it]] above all other reasons.

How and why this character comes about can vary almost as frequently as their portrayal. They could be anything from TheHero of a dark and serious work to examine GoodIsNotNice and if it can afford to be any other way, the DesignatedHero either by [[AuthorAvatar the]] [[AuthorAppeal author]], or even someone author doesn't ''originally'' intend to somehow make heroic only for MisaimedFandom to [[{{Flanderization}} play up his torture and abuse as "good" or heroic.]]

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' is a special case. While most of the torturers in-game (Torturer Lecraft and such) are NOT this trope because they are antagonists to both factions, there are characters that do meet this trope because at least one faction considers them non-antagonist (Sergeant Kanren in Falconwing Square is a Horde example, Interrogator Khan in Telaar an Alliance one), and there's a class (Death Knight, at least in the beginning) and quests for both Horde and Alliance that can make [[ThisLoserIsYou your]] [[PlayerPunch character]] [[WhatTheHellHero become]] an Exalted Torturer.]

* The SociopathicHero and/or {{Sadist}} who decides to say "screw that" and does it at any opportunity and with any possible justification or even none at all. Beyond simply brutal, these characters tend to openly enjoy causing suffering and pain, [[VillainBall often to the detriment of what the torture was supposed to accomplish in the first place.]] Examples include ''Rapeman'', [[VideoGame/JustCause Rico Rodriguez, and Bolo Santosi]], and most of the main characters in Manga/DeathNote. In general these characters:

While these two categories seem as Black and White as the fiction this character often appears in, there are gray areas between the two. Sometimes the sympathetic [[WellIntentionedExtremist Extremist]] might enjoy it a ''bit'' too much while the SociopathicHero [[KnightTemplar thinks]] they are doing their heinous actions on behalf of some (supposedly) noble cause like ''Rapeman'' or ''Film/HanzoTheRazor'', the issue being that the former is usually still capable of sympathy because their restraint and morality outweigh any sadistic tendencies; the latter's behavior is sympathetic only by coincidence and generally repulsive no matter how much they believe in the cause.

* The protagonist of the ''Film/HanzoTheRazor'' films. The same as the Rapeman example, except ''not'' played as satire and BlackComedy. Instead, he's played straight as a "good cop" who investigates his cases by raping his suspects into submission.

They generally exist as good guys of TheFederation or TheGoodKingdom in fiction where the "Black" in the local Black-and-White or Black and Grey morality is ''Very'' Black even in comparison to any greys, and you can see the GodzillaThreshold just looking over your shoulder. Though in some cases they can show signs of enjoying it toooo much, they usually don't let it override their moral compass.

* The SociopathicHero and/or {{Sadist}} who decides to say "screw that" and does it at any opportunity and with any possible justification, or even none at all. Beyond simply brutal, these characters tend to openly enjoy causing suffering and pain, [[VillainBall often to the detriment of what the torture was supposed to accomplish in the first place.]] Examples include ''Rapeman'', [[VideoGame/JustCause Rico Rodriguez, and Bolo Santosi]], and most of the main characters in Manga/DeathNote. In general these characters:

While these two categories seem as Black and White as the fiction this character often appears in, there are gray areas between the two. Sometimes the sympathetic [[WellIntentionedExtremist Extremist]] might enjoy it a biiit too much while the SociopathicHero [[KnightTemplar thinks]] they are doing their heinous actions on behalf of some (supposedly) noble cause like ''Rapeman'' or ''Film/HanzoTheRazor'', the issue being that the former is usually still capable of sympathy because their restraint and morality outweigh any sadistic tendencies; the latter's behavior is sympathetic only by coincidence and generally repulsive no matter how much they believe in the cause.

But in general most Exalted Torturers lean towards one category or the other, being [[GoodIsNotNice "someone you're glad isn't on the side of evil"]] to [[DesignatedHero "someone you can't believe isn't evil regardless of side."]]

* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' used to torture random low-level enemies by paralyzing them and threatening their life (by metaphorically slitting their veins and withholding help until they talk.) this was never presented as ethically problematic in any way.

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in Gene Wolfe's ''Literature/BookOfTheNewSun''. [[DesignatedHero Severian]] at first believes this, but then comes to later realize that [[ColdBloodedTorture torture]] is '''bad'''. As Autarch, Severian tries to outlaw the Torturers' Guild, saying "It is intolerable that good men should spend their lives dispensing pain." The Grandmaster responds that "It MUST be done by good men," implying that, like the ''Ksin'' example above, torture can either be done by good men or by those who would take pleasure in it.

* While no details are given as to what exactly Butcher Brakespeare of the ''Literature/FloraSegunda'' books did during the war, her reputation as her country's greatest war criminal makes it clear that it was not very nice. But apparently she thought very hard about it and while it was difficult for her to do, it was the only way. So ''that's'' all right then. (Meanwhile, the other side's equally-vague war crimes are treated as completely unjustified and horrible.)

* In ''Creator/TomKratman'''s ''Literature/CarrerasLegions'', the good guys sometimes take prisoners to a ship that is dedicated to getting information. We never actually see any torture, but an entire chapter is devoted to talking a new prisoner through all of the different techniques available: dental surgery without anesthetic, electrical torture, etc. The one which breaks the prisoner (who is Muslim) is the sex change theater so that the prisoner will suffer all of the tortures of the other rooms and then die as a woman.

--> '''Tess:''' "Guess what, we're shitty people, Joel."

They are the ''Hero.''

There are also a few characters that defy easy categorization between those two, with one character falling more into the first for some while another group might view them as the latter. Even beyond that, there are characters like ComicBook/ThePunisher who can flip between categories DependingOnTheWriter. So at best this is a highly simplified look.

** While Stabler is the usual offender, when Rollins gets wounded and the son of Finn's former supervisor gets killed by an unknown assassin, it's treated as perfectly justified when Finn and Amaro go to a prison and torture the drug kingpin they suspect of ordering the hit, to the point of Finn being about [[EyeScream to gouge his eyes out]]...and the only thing that stops them is when the warden shows up to inform them that the drug dealer's wife was just killed by the same assassin. They then move on like nothing had happened. In other words, [[SarcasmMode it's perfectly fine to torture somebody over a crime he didn't even commit because he actually did commit a whole bunch of other crimes before that]].

* The heroes in ''Series/RipperStreet'' often engage in PoliceBrutality against suspects, due to historical ValuesDissonance. For the most part, this is not supposed to be seen as okay by the audience, and at least Drake develops scruples about this over the course of the first couple of seasons. After that, they mostly rely on threats of violence or torture {{Asshole Victim}}s. (For example, Reid - who is normally presented as very civil and unusually "modern" for his time - half-drowns a young teenage boy who'd been pimping and raping underage girls, including Reid's daughter.) But still, even near the end of the show, Reid cruelly withholds morphine from a long-term [[AssholeVictim adversary]] of his who's suffering from terminal brain cancer and is in extreme pain. It's not so much sadism as vengefulness and rage issues that make up kind of a persistent character flaw for this normally very mild-mannered and empathetic police officer.

* A very, ''very'' downplayed version of this trope comes into play in ''VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves'', when [[TheSmartGuy Bentley]] forces a {{Mook}} into giving up some security codes... with [[TickleTorture a feather]]. It's PlayedForLaughs, but the same game also used "illegal spices" as a [[GRatedDrug kid-friendly stand-in for cocaine]], and the sequel made Bentley "more devious" and outright-murderous in many of his plans, which cast the scene in a [[StartOfDarkness darker light]].

* Depending on who you ask, {{God}} or {{Satan}} ([[TakeAThirdOption or both]]) in Literature/TheBible. The book of Job is an example, where an innocent victim is tortured solely to prove his faithfulness.