History Main / TheCorruption

* ''Webcomic/KaitenMutenmaru'': Disium is a mysterious material that grants the infected superhuman powers at the expense of corrupting them into monsters. The transformation in mind and body can be gradual, as implied by Orcus, Crocell, [[spoiler:Pain and Yamai]].

[[caption-width-right:300:The itsy-bitsy symbiote crawled up the spider's arm...]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Princess Luna is corrupted by jealousy and bitterness and becomes Nightmare Moon. In Season 2, each of the Mane 6 is corrupted by Discord into the opposite of who they are. [[spoiler: They are all restored in the end.]]

* In the GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'', "[[Recap/TheOwlHouseS3E3WatchingAndDreaming Watching and Dreaming]]", [[BigBad Emperor Belos]] becomes this after possessing the Titan's heart, causing the entire Boiling Isles to get covered in hideous amounts of green MeatMoss that crushes and suffocates everything it touches. His OneWingedAngel form can also create some that ''disintegrates'' whoever it touches, [[spoiler:as [[TheHero Luz]] finds out the hard way]].

* In [[Creator/MarvelComics Marvel UK's]] ''Captain Britain'', the superhero-killing machine the Fury repairs itself with [[HumanResources organic material]]-- and anyone unlucky to have contact with it in its fix-up mode gets infected with its {{Nanomachines}} (though the term wasn't used back then) and turned into a monstrosity. Unusually for this trope, it didn't [[SuperPoweredEvilSide make you evil]], just insane, hideously deformed, and easily mistaken for the Fury in a world where superheroes were trying to destroy said machine on sight.

* In Creator/ValiantComics' ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfZelda'', the Triforce of Power was like this as it started turning Link into a Ganon-like creature once he took possession of it. As Zelda pointed out, Power without Wisdom means nothing; unwilling to become another Ganon even though he expected giving up the Triforce of Power would probably kill him, Link tossed it. The power of the Triforce of Courage ended up restoring him to normal when it decided to reclaim him for getting rid of the other Triforce.
* The Technarch Transmode virus in {{Creator/Marvel}}, even in an otherwise benign symbiosis, such as between Warlock and Cypher, and works both ways; as the organic life-form becomes techno-organic the infector becomes Magus, a more powerful entity hostile toward organic forms and its own offspring.

* In IDW's [[ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW Transformers Output]], one of the earliest Primes, Nova Prime, became infected with a parasitic energy known as "The Darkness" that dwelt in the ominously named [[{{Mordor}} Dead Universe]]. It was unclear exactly how much of what he did was down to his own expansionist philosophies and how much was the result of the Darkness controlling him, but it was clearly sentient on some level. Not helping was that Nova was already a dick before it got its tendrils into him. All The Darkness seems to have done is change his color-scheme and give him some super-powers.

* ComicBook/{{Venom}} and other symbiotes from ''[[ComicBook/SpiderMan Spider-Man]]'' are alien parasites that grant their hosts a variety of powers but also [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity tend to affect their moods and personality]], and can be [[ClingyCostume quite clingy]] and possessive as well.
* In the ''[[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW My Little Pony Comics]]'' The Nightmare Forces kidnap and slowly corrupt Rarity in the 6. Issue, thus they embody this trope. [[ManipulativeBastard They do this by toying with her emotions]] and playing with her fear of losing her friends which culminates in her becoming Nightmare Rarity as she succumbs to their corruption.
* Inverted in ''ComicBook/{{Sojourn}}''. Originally, the sigils are neutral symbols, the good part balancing the evil part; however, Mordath's malice changed that symbol into one with two evil parts.

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': In this ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' Franchise/MonsterVerse fanfiction, there's [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonTitansAndOtherCreatures the Many]]; a [[TheVirus Virus]]-type [[TheAssimilator Assimilator]] created from Ghidorah's remains which turns its victims into monstrous, super-durable abominations whilst assimilating them into the HiveMind.
* A common result of exposure to the warp in ''Fanfic/AgeOfStrife''

* [[BigBad Emperor Belos]] himself during the [[GrandFinale Grand Finale]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' becomes this after possessing the Titan's heart, causing the entire Boiling Isles to get covered in hideous amounts of green MeatMoss that crushes and suffocates everything it touches. His OneWingedAngel form can also create some that ''disintegrates'' whoever it touches, [[spoiler: as [[TheHero Luz]] finds out the hard way]].

** ''WesternAnimation/EquestriaGirls:'' While Equestrian magic comes in varying flavors of good and bad, something strange happens to it should it leak into the human world. Over on the other side, it acts as a corrupting force that infects objects, people, plants, etc.: objects become ArtifactsOfDoom, and the people who use it are usually [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity overwhelmed by their newfound abilities and start abusing it,]] [[OneWingedAngel sometimes transforming into twisted reflections of their own darker nature.]] Invariably the Hu-mane Seven have to deal with the resulting MonsterOfTheWeek.

* The Cure from ''Roleplay/RubyQuest''. When it's first taken by a person, it acts as a panacea, up to and including repairing conditions (such as blindness) present from birth, making it unnecessary for the recipient to eat or drink, and [[spoiler: resurrecting the recipient if they die (though they get amnesia)]]. But once the Metal Glen started using it, everyone taking it began suffering violent fits. It also mutated them whenever they were wounded, eventually turning them into agressive, incoherent masses of BodyHorror. The players met a couple far-gone victims, who they called 'zombies' because of how awful they looked. In its more middling stages, the Cure grants a LovecraftianSuperpower. [[spoiler: Ruby has a cut on her forehead mutate into a ThirdEye, Tom has [[MultiArmedAndDangerous extra arms on his abdomen]], Red has the Elemental Plane [[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily Of Teeth]], and the farther-along Filbert has a mutated arm and a giant gaping maw with teeth stronger than steel. And ''then'' there's Tom Nook.]] Fortunately, the Cure leaves the body quickly, and if one goes enough time without taking it, they will return to normal, [[spoiler: a fact that Red exploited to [[KilledOffForReal kill himself permanently]]]]. Unfortunately, that's harder than it looks, what with [[ImplacableMan Ace]] being the one administering it.

* The black "mud" that follows from the corrupted Holy Grail in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and ''LightNovel/FateZero'' is a literal manifestation of "all the world's evil". It appropriately grants incredible power to whoever touches it, but will irreversibly corrupt them under all but the most extraordinary circumstances. Servants in particular are extremely vulnerable to the curse due to their astral nature... unless you happen to be Gilgamesh, whose ego is too powerful to be corrupted. [[spoiler:In the ''Heaven's Feel'' route of ''[[VisualNovel/FateStayNight stay night]]'', Sakura uses this power to overwhelm the majority of the Masters and Servants, taking Saber and Berserker back out to assist her genocidal rampage.]] This corruption was also the reason why Gilgamesh and Kirei managed to [[BackFromTheDead survive their "deaths"]] in ''[[Literature/FateZero Zero]]''. Fate!Shirou shows his [[IncorruptiblePurePureness strength of will]] by mentally resisting this curse at point blank range [[spoiler: once, then blocking the second shot with Avalon]].

* The black "mud" that follows from the corrupted Holy Grail in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and ''LightNovel/FateZero'' is a literal manifestation of "all the world's evil". It appropriately grants incredible power to whoever touches it, but will irreversibly corrupt them under all but the most extraordinary circumstances. Servants in particular are extremely vulnerable to the curse due to their astral nature... unless you happen to be Gilgamesh, whose ego is too powerful to be corrupted. [[spoiler:In the ''Heaven's Feel'' route of ''[[VisualNovel/FateStayNight stay night]]'', Sakura uses this power to overwhelm the majority of the Masters and Servants, taking Saber and Berserker back out to assist her genocidal rampage.]] This corruption was also the reason why Gilgamesh and Kirei managed to [[BackFromTheDead survive their "deaths"]] in ''[[LightNovel/FateZero Zero]]''. Fate!Shirou shows his [[IncorruptiblePurePureness strength of will]] by mentally resisting this curse at point blank range [[spoiler: once, then blocking the second shot with Avalon]].

* As revealed in ''VisualNovel/SpiritHunterNG's'' Bad End, [[spoiler:Akira's Bloodmetry]] can go out of control and cause his body and mind to degradate. A voice comes along and 'helps' him by transforming him into a non-human, which causes him to go completely berserk and start murdering people.

* [[BigBad Emperor Belos]] himself during the [[GrandFinale Grand Finale]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' becomes this after possessing the Titan's heart, causing the entire Boiling Isles to get covered in hideous amount of green MeatMoss that kills everything it touches.

* [[BigBad Emperor Belos]] himself during the [[GrandFinale Grand Finale]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' becomes this after possesing the Titan's heart, causing the entire Boiling Isles to get covered in hideous amount of green MeatMoss that kills everything it touches.

The Corruption is a force of chaos that gives some of its victims a SuperpoweredEvilSide before (or while) it mutates them into mindless monsters. The BodyHorror transformation progresses gradually, and the final result tends to be a hideous, slithering creature which looks like [[LovecraftianSuperpower the spawn]] of an EldritchAbomination, an EnemyToAllLivingThings capable of inflicting the Corruption on any creature falling into its [[CombatTentacles tentacled clutches]].

Often related to TheDarkSide. Compare with WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity and EvilMakesYouUgly, and contrast TheCorrupter, who also does their best to turn other characters evil, but is also a character in their own right, rather than an impersonal force. It's usually represented visually by gaining VolcanicVeins, a RedRightHand, and a GameFace or even a full on SlowTransformation. Someone with IncorruptiblePurePureness may be immune to its influence or may become a victim of a metaphysical variant of TheWorfEffect, succumbing to show how powerful the Corruption is.