History Main / TortureFirstAskQuestionsLater

* Hange Zoë, from ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' does this when trying to "interrogate" a corrupt Military Police member. Specifically, she starts ripping out the man's fingernails without asking him any questions. The man even lampshades this. However it's actually subverted as, it wasn't that she forgot, but that the finger nails were vengeance since it was the same torture technique the officer had used on one of her friends, she was just showing him how it felt.

* ''Literature/FateApocrypha'': Jack the Ripper captures a young magus and tortures him with knives. When he cracks and says he'll talk, she gleefully stabs him several more times, and only asks her questions [[spoiler:on Yggdmillenia's defenses]] when he's about to die.

* ''ComicBook/SensationComicsFeaturingWonderWoman'': Its not exactly torture given they're robots being beaten to bits but the Shoot First ask Questions Later mentality is lampshaded in "Not Included"

'''Diana:''' That's fairly backwards Barda. Don't get lost in the heat of battle.

* In ''Film/PansLabyrinth'', Vidal does this intentionally to [[spoiler: one of the captured guerillas.]] It's because he [[spoiler: claims that he won't believe anything the guerilla says unless it's a [[TortureAlwaysWorks result of torture]]. The rebel does talk a little as a result, but it's flat-out implied that Vidal doesn't necessarily believe what he says, he just [[ForTheEvulz does it anyway, because he can]].]] There's a good reason why Vidal is considered one of the worst villains to grace 21st century screens.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Angel (under possession of his evil former self, Angelus) took a time-out from his impending world domination to blithely torture Giles, who may or may not have the information needed to help him, because it had been hundreds of years since Angelus last tortured somebody. He openly admits he hopes Giles is either ignorant or defiant, because it'll give him an excuse to torture him longer.

* In ''Series/AgentCarter'', the {{Jerkass}} Agent Thompson plays the [[GoodCopBadCop bad cop]] in questioning a [[DirtyCommunists Leviathan agent]]. He brings in a carrot and a stick and after the suspect says that he won't talk, Thompson responds to the effect that he doesn't expect him too, and then has him bite down on the stick before proceeding to pummel him.

* In ''Series/The10thKingdom'', Blurry, Blabberwort and Bluebell have Virginia strapped to a chair with the intentions on torturing her for information on her "[[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity kingdom]]". She makes it clear that she'll tell them anything they want without torture, but they make it clear they plan on torturing her first because they take pride in their work and it is important to do these things in the proper order.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''VideoGame/ArmedAndDangerous'' when someone in the BigBad's torture chamber decides to 'soften up' one of the captives before interrogation by pulling out his tongue. For some strange reason, he doesn't say a word during the interrogation. The torturer then picks another prisoner and replaces his head with a large cauliflower, but for some reason he doesn't say a word either.

* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', both the IAA and the FIB torture Mr. K on the grounds that he knows the whereabouts of a suspected terrorist. However, they just skip straight to the torture before asking him anything, even going so far as to cut him off when he's willing to provide details they want. In fact, during the last session of torture, he can even give information, but Trevor will still torture him anyway. Worse yet, it's ''very'' strongly implied that Mr. K is just a regular civilian and got tangled up in both agencies' incompetence and willing blindness to his innocence; Mr. K ends up just being asked leading questions and tells his torturers what they want to hear. This ends with another random citizen getting murdered, ostensibly as a counterterrorism action.

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS18E21TwentyFourMinutes 24 Minutes]]". Upon learning that Nelson knows the identity of TheMole, Bart immediately begins subjecting him to {{Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique}}s, but doesn't actually ask him who the mole is until Nelson protests, "I'm unclear on what you want!"

* Since Gladys in ''WesternAnimation/{{Trollhunters}}'' hit Toby with a tranquilizer strong enough to keep him from escaping, it also keeps him from being able to talk properly. Since she did this with intentions of interrogating him, it is obvious that she had every intention of torturing him with her dental equipment first.

** In the second one, you usually have to fatally stab them. [[TalkingIsAFreeAction The conspirators get very generous with their]] LastWords, apparently.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* PlayedForLaughs in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Krab Borg". After convincing themselves that Mr. Krabs is a robot impostor, Squidward and [=SpongeBob=] tie him to a chair and plan to interrogate him about the location of the "real" Mr. Krabs. Said interrogation begins like this:
-->'''[=SpongeBob=]''': [''slaps Mr. Krabs'']
-->'''Squidward''': [=SpongeBob=]! [[LampshadeHanging You're supposed to ask him a question first!]]
-->'''[=SpongeBob=]''': Oh yeah. [''to Krabs''] [[ComicallyMissingThePoint What colour is my underwear?]] [''slaps Krabs again'']
* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "24 Minutes". Upon learning that Nelson knows the identity of TheMole, Bart immediately begins subjecting him to {{Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique}}s, but doesn't actually ask him who the mole is until Nelson protests, "I'm unclear on what you want!"

* This was the standard practice for interrogating slaves in Ancient Greece and Rome. The assumption was that the slaves would lie, either out of loyalty or fear, to toe whatever line their master wanted them to. Therefore, the authorities tortured slaves as a matter of course before their questioning, because [[InsaneTrollLogic a tortured person is 100% likely to tell the truth.]]

* ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha'': Jack the Ripper captures a young magus and tortures him with knives. When he cracks and says he'll talk, she gleefully stabs him several more times, and only asks her questions [[spoiler:on Yggdmillenia's defenses]] when he's about to die.

-->'''Djel Sannes:''' Wait!! What are you doing!?! I don't even know what you want!!
-->'''Hange Zoë:''' Shut up! It's my first time torturing someone!
-->'''Djel:''' If it's torture, you're supposed to ask me something first, ''THEN start pulling fingernails!!''

** [[TheDragon Darth Vader]] tortures [[TheLancer Han Solo]] to within an inch of his life in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''. When Han is taken back to his cell, he weakly remarks that they didn't ask any questions. This is because Vader doesn't want any information from Solo (or [[TheBigGuy Chewbacca]], who is tortured with high-frequency sound). He just wants Luke to sense the suffering of his friends and come to Bespin to rescue them; also, to test whether Han Solo can endure the painful process of being encased in carbonite.

* In ''Series/TheTenthKingdom'', Blurry, Blabberwort and Bluebell have Virginia strapped to a chair with the intentions on torturing her for information on her "[[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity kingdom]]". She makes it clear that she'll tell them anything they want without torture, but they make it clear they plan on torturing her first because they take pride in their work and it is important to do these things in the proper order.

* ''Series/DoctorWho''. Strax (the BattleButler of the Paternoster Gang) is fond of this trope. Being a Sontaran Warrior, the subtleties of [[TheyFightCrime criminal investigation]] are often beyond him.

* PlayedForLaughs and [[InvertedTrope inverted]] in the ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' [[AllThereInTheManual comics]], where the Soldier is being tortured by the [[TortureTechnician Classic Pyro]]. He tells her that he always dreamt of refusing to give in to torture and dying while cradling his own guts without having revealed any secrets to his would-be interrogator. Classic Pyro, in response, tells him that, while he has proven to be resilient (and bizarrely enthusiastic about the whole ordeal), [[SamusIsAGirl she]] has yet to ask him anything. When she finally asks him the location of [[MissionControl the Administrator]], Soldier complains that he doesn't know ''that'' and that he'd rather be asked something that he ''does'' know, so that he can keep ''that'' a secret. Unfortunately, he blurts out that [[BeleagueredAssistant Miss Pauling]] [[WhatAnIdiot knows the Administrator's location]] [[IllNeverTellYouWhatImTellingYou while saying this]].

* Silverstar, a psychotic elven rogue added in one ''VideoGame/BaldursGate2'' mod did this during a sub-quest.

** In the second one, you usually have to fatally stab them. The conspirators get very generous with their LastWords, apparently.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''VideoGame/ArmedAndDangerous'' when someone in the BigBad's torture chamber decides to 'soften up' one of the captives before interrogation by pulling out his tongue. For some strange reason, he doesn't say a word during the interrogation. The torturer then picks another prisoner and replaces his head with a large cauliflower, but for some reason he doesn't say a word either.
--> '''TheDragon, apologetically:''' "He's new."
* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', both the IAA and the FIB torture Mr. K on the grounds that he knows the whereabouts of a suspected terrorist. However, they just skip straight to the torture before asking him anything, even going so far as to cut him off when he's willing to provide details they want. In fact, during the last session of torture, he can even give information, but Trevor will still torture him anyway. Worse yet, it's ''very'' strongly implied that Mr. K is just a regular civilian and got tangled up in both agencies' incompetence and willing blindness to his innocence; Mr. K ends up just being asked leading questions and tells his torturers what they want to hear. This ends with another random citizen getting murdered, ostensibly as a counterterrorism action.