History Main / ShapeshifterGuiltTrip

* In the Wii[=/=]PS2[=/=]PSP version of ''TheForceUnleashed'', Darth Phobos briefly adopts the appearance of Juno Eclipse to lure Galen into letting his guard down at the start of the fight. After you defeat her, she tries it again to stop you from killing her. It doesn't work.

* [[spoiler: When you try to ignore [[{{Psychopomp}} the Shroud]] in ''{{Tasakeru}}'', they start doing this... and they get progressively nastier about it...]]

Usually, the hero ends up struggling to find the willpower to continue beating up someone who looks just like his mom / girlfriend / little sister. Bonus points if the form the shape shifter takes on is that of a DeadLittleSister, for extra guilt.

* In the KingdomHearts fanfic, ''A Match made in Hell'',the BigBad tried this separately on Sora, Roxas, and Pete, transforming into everyone they knew, including Organization XIII.

* [[BigBad Dougan]] in the "{{Saiyuki}}" Requiem Movie absolutely ADORES doing this; so much so that it becomes pretty much the premise of the entire movie. For Sanzo he changes into his mentor Koumyou as well as his teammates Sha Gojyo, and Son Goku. For Goku he changes into Genjo Sanzo. For Sha Gojyo he [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGr24qFeVQw&feature=related changes into Hakkai and induces stabby death]] onto him. And for Cho Hakkai he shapeshifts into both his dear [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNlWH1DtjRM sister/lover Kanan]] as well as his [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qp5jvDFQuw&feature=related friend Goku.

* [[BigBad Dougan]] in the "{{Saiyuki}}" Requiem Movie absolutely ADORES doing this; so much so that it becomes pretty much the premise of the entire movie. [[spoiler: For Sanzo he changes into his mentor Koumyou as well as his teammates Sha Gojyo, and Son Goku. For Goku he changes into Genjo Sanzo. For Sha Gojyo he changes into Hakkai and induces stabby death onto him. And for Cho Hakkai he shapeshifts into both his dear [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNlWH1DtjRM sister/lover Kanan]] as well as his [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qp5jvDFQuw&feature=related friend Goku.]]

* [[BigBad Dougan]] in the "{{Saiyuki}}" Requiem Movie absolutely ADORES doing this; so much so that it becomes pretty much the premise of the entire movie. [[spoiler: For Sanzo he changes into his mentor Koumyou as well as his teammates Sha Gojyo, and Son Goku. For Goku he changes into Genjo Sanzo. For Sha Gojyo he changes into Hakkai and induces stabby death onto him. And for Cho Hakkai he shapeshifts into both his dear [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNlWH1DtjRM sister/lover Kanan}} as well as his [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qp5jvDFQuw&feature=related friend Goku.]]

* [[BigBad Dougan]] in the "{{Saiyuki}}" Requiem Movie absolutely ADORES doing this; so much so that it becomes pretty much the premise of the entire movie. [[spoiler: For Sanzo he changes into his mentor Koumyou as well as his teammates Sha Gojyo, and Son Goku. For Goku he changes into Genjo Sanzo. For Sha Gojyo he changes into Hakkai and induces stabby death onto him. And for Cho Hakkai he shapeshifts into both his dear sister/lover Kanan as well as his friend Goku.]]

* Subverted in an episode of ''{{Angel}}'', when the MonsterOfTheWeek uses appears as [[spoiler:Wesley's]] distant father [[spoiler:and is unceremoniously shot]].
** Though notably only after he threatens Wesley's love interest. Since Wesley did ''think'' it was his real father at the time he spends the next episode absent, apparently dealing with the revelation that he would have been willing to kill his own father. Made more humorous with all the other characters saying how they killed "their" fathers or mothers and haven't looked back since.
** Although not done intentionally, the demon Illyria [[spoiler: who has "hollowed out" and taken over the body of Fred]] notes that [[BlookKnight Spike]] has no problem punching her in the face.

There's also an increasingly common [[WrongGenreSavvy subversion]]: because of personal issues between the hero and the character the shape shifter takes the form of, the hero actually becomes ''more'' willing to attack.

** During his climax fight with Ed in the anime, Envy cycles through several forms, trying to guilt trip him into letting up by turning into Marcoh, his mom, Hughes, and Mustang (which only makes Ed attack ''harder''). Ironically, Ed manages to keep his cool until he manages to coax Envy into showing his true form. [[spoiler:Let's just say it was one [[LongLostSibling family reunion]] Ed was ''not'' expecting...]]

Usually, the hero ends up struggling to find the willpower to continue beating up someone who looks just like his mom / girlfriend / little sister. Bonus points if the form the shapeshifter takes on is that of a DeadLittleSister, for extra guilt.

There's also an increasingly common [[WrongGenreSavvy subversion]]: because of personal issues between the hero and the character the shapeshifter takes the form of, the hero actually becomes ''more'' willing to attack.

** Better yet, Ikki beats Kaza by transforming into ''him'', and Kaza whines that he's unable to hit his own image. This shows how cowardly he is,because this would't have worked on any of the heroes.

* One of the assassins sent after Akira in vol 4 of ''DanceInTheVampireBund'' pulled this. [[spoiler:It worked perfectly when he took the form of Graham, a colleage whom Akira killed under as yet unknown circumstances, but then she(?) twisted the knife and tried to extract information by taking the form of Mina. [[{{Understatement}} Big. Mistake.]]]]

* Rare heroic example comes from ''[[WildCATS Wild C.A.T.S.]]''. When team was fighting Lord Entropy, impossibly powerfull madman who wanted to take a revenge on Lord Emp from killing his wife, Voodo used her illusion to look like her. Entropy was so confused, that Emp has enoug time for preparation to whooping the floor with him.

* The T-1000 from ''{{Terminator}} 2'' made use of this trope, shapeshifting into Sarah Connor in an attempt to lure and terminate her son John. [[spoiler: The attempt fails when the real Sarah appears behind the T-1000, and John trusts her characteristic approach ("Get out of the way, John") over the duplicate's attitude of slumped defeat. The film's special edition, disappointingly, replaces this subtle indicator with an obvious shapeshifting flaw (warped and misshapen feet).]]

* In ''EventHorizon'', the title ship has taken over Dr. Weir. In an effort to get to Captain Miller, Weir takes the form of a flaming Edward Corrick, the man in Miller's backstory whom he had to [[NoOneGetsLeftBehind leave behind]] in [[MyGreatestFailure his greatest failure]]. Miller doesn't buy the attempt to guilt-trip him for a minute though: "No. You're not Edward Corrick. I watched him die."

* In the novel ''Myth-Taken Identity'', a group of shapeshifters are running around disguised as the protagonist of the series, and their chief uses it against the protagonist's mentor in the climactic fight.

* An episode of ''RedDwarf'' features a genetic mutant which uses its shapeshifting ability to drive its victims to extremes of some emotion, which it then feeds on/sucks out. So at one point Kryton becomes the victim of a ''literal'' Shapeshifter Guilt Trip.
* The ''{{Supernatural}}'' Season 1 episode "Skin" does this when Sam fights a shapeshifter disguised as Dean. Sam can't kill him, so Dean does.

* In the FinalBoss fight of ''BeyondGoodAndEvil,'' the BigBad's shapeshifting {{Mooks}} mimic the forms of Jade's {{sidekick}}s. They accuse her in a CreepyMonotone of causing their suffering, and beg her to join the villain to take the pain away. (See the page quote.) Considering their [[LargeHam natural tendencies,]] this is especially unnerving.

* Completely averted in ''{{Prototype}}''. If Alex is discovered by the military, while shapeshifted, the military will not hesitate to fire on him -- even if you're in the guise of a respected commander, unarmed woman, or someone they wouldn't dare think about hurting otherwise. [[HilarityEnsues Hilariously]], if you use the Patsy ability to accuse someone of being Alex, the poor sod gets gunned down with an equal lack of restraint.

* In ''FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'', the final totema attempts this in a cutscene. It changes from Ritz, to Doned, to Mewt (all characters with a close relation to the main character), and then finally to the main character himself, each one trying a different tactic to try to get him to [[spoiler: stay in the world and not destroy the final crystal]]. None of it works, though it does succeed in briefly mindfucking the main character.

** Similarly, Mystique shapeshifts into Ms. Marvel to dredge up a bad memory in Rogue of her past to try and guilt her into abandoning the X-Men and hook back up with her; the memory was of Mystique ordering Rogue to fully absorb Marvel's powers and personality, an action that caused Marvel to pop up on occasion as accusatory hallucinations. Rogue eventually had to ditch Mystique as a result, joining the X-Men and having Professor X block her mind of Marvel and the incident to keep the hallucinations at bay, but since he was at this time MIA and unable to keep the block in place, Mystique was trying to convince Rogue that she was the only one in the world who could help her with it.

* In the KingdomHearts fanfic, ''A Match made in Hell'',the BigBad tried this separately on Sora, Roxas, and Pete, tranforming into everyone they knew, including Organization XIII.

** Averted in Episode 5.05 "Fallen Idols" [[spoiler:in which a pagan God is about to take the form of John Winchester and gets killed before that happens.]]

* On BuffytheVampireSlayer, this was [[BigBad The First]]'s main tactic. Creepily, its [[TheDragon Dragon]] [[SinisterMinister Caleb]] [[InvertedTrope inverted]] this---the First would turn into [[StrawMisogynist girls]] [[SerialKiller he had murdered]] so he could reenact killing them ''again.''

* This was [[BuffytheVampireSlayer The First]]'s main tactic.

* In [[TheSpaceTrilogy Perelandra]], Ransom is fighting the Un-man (the demon-possessed undead corpse of Weston, the previous book's villain) when it suddenly reverts to Weston's actual personality and begs for mercy. Ransom ignores it, and the narration points out that Weston's actual soul had most likely been completely subsumed long before.

** Though notably only after he threatens Wesley's love interest. Since Wesley did ''think'' it was his real father at the time he spends the next episode absent, apparently dealing with the revelation that he would have been willing to kill his own father.
** Made more humorous with all the other characters saying how they killed "their" fathers or mothers and haven't looked back since.

* On ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', Candace (who can actually cast illusions, but used it in a way equivelent to shapeshifting) as Simone to Isaac.

* ''The Elementals'' by BillWillingham did an elaborate variant which [[TheReveal revealed]] that a ShapeShifter that the Elementals had fought before had, over the course of a StoryArc, gotten one of the team, Morningstar, to fall in love with him/her.

!!Examples

* Parodied in RanmaOneHalf, when the Cat Demon possessed [[spoiler: Genma]], thinking that Ranma wouldn't attack [[spoiler: him]]. Ranma's response: IT'S EXCORCISM TIME!

* Rare heroic example comes from [[WildCATS Wild C.A.T.S.]]. When team was fighting Lord Entropy, impossibly powerfull madman who wanted to take a revenge on Lord Emp from killing his wife, Voodo used her illusion to look like her. Entropy was so confused, that Emp has enoug time for preparation to whooping the floor with him.

* This is one of TheOldestOnesInTheBook. An Arabian Nights story involves a hero being told that he must kill a demon that is taking the shape of his mother. He refuses, is sent back where he started, and has to undertake all the other challenges of the quest again, as well as kill the clone of his mother.

* A very neat example takes place in Roger Zealazny's "Lord of Light" during... well, calling it fight would charitable... between Yama, the God of Death and Mara, the God of Trickery. The first of many CrowningMomentOfAwesome for Yama.

* A spell in ''HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' gives [[spoiler: Ron]] a double-dosage of this trope - the ''two'' people closest and dearest to the victim manifest and give thorough counterpoint arguments for why YouSuck.

[[AC:{{LiveActionTelevision}}]]

* On {{Series/Heroes}}, Candace (who can actually cast illusions, but used it in a way equivelent to shapeshifting) as Simone to Isaac.

* Used a few times in a section of the first boss battle in Metal Gear Solid 4, with Laughing Octopus, who uses her OctoCamo and FaceCamo to disguise herself as Naomi, then as Metal Gear Mk. II, with Otacon's voice. When you approach it, it attacks you, with Otacon's voice (although obviously not him speaking) making fun of you.

* In StarFox ''Assault'', the final boss tries to pull this, although only with voices from the various people that died (or are presumed dead) during the storyline.
* You can attempt one in Majora's Mask against Igos Du Ikana with his knight captain's mask. Then fail completely.

* In the Wii[=/=]PS2[=/=]PSP version of TheForceUnleashed, Darth Phobos briefly adopts the appearance of Juno Eclipse to lure Galen into letting his guard down at the start of the fight. After you defeat her, she tries it again to stop you from killing her. It doesn't work.

* Dante's Inferno: Lucifer takes the shape of Dante, along with his form massacring innocent people in his grand illusions, to break the will of Dante's wife's soul, Beatrice.
* In [[FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance Final Fantasy Tactics Advance]], the final totema attempts this in a cutscene. It changes from Ritz, to Doned, to Mewt (all characters with a close relation to the main character), and then finally to the main character himself, each one trying a different tactic to try to get him to [[spoiler: stay in the world and not destroy the final crystal]]. None of it works, though it does succeed in briefly mindfucking the main character.

* During Endgame of TransformersAnimated, Shockwave tries this on Bulkhead and Bumblebee, asking if they're really willing to take out their old friend Longarm by changing to his form. (In this case, he's only sort of playing head games, as Longarm and Shockwave were always the same person. [[spoiler: The Autobots feign sympathy for a minute before smacking him up.]]
* {{Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers}}: One of Mogul the Sorcerer's illusions is that of Zachary's wife. Mogul learns the hard way that this is Zach's fastest-acting BerserkButton. The Queen also pulls this trick on Zach during the DreamSequence in "Psychocrypt."

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* In the ''MortalKombat'' movie, the villain Shang Tsung tries to pull this gambit with Liu Kang by assuming the form of his dead brother Chan, whom Shang Tsung had killed at the start of the movie.