History Main / UnstablePoweredWoman

* In the anime adaptation of ''VisualNovel/{{11eyes}}'', ''every'' single female character that has a romantic relationship with one of the male characters falls into this trope. [[spoiler:Liselotte, Yuka, Superbia and Yukiko all go completely mad with grief the moment that their LoveInterest seemingly loses interest in them or dies. In particular, Liselotte, an exceedingly powerful witch, becomes a completely AxCrazy OmnicidalManiac bent on destroying the world itself after her lover is killed, and is thus the main antagonist of the series.]]

* In the anime adaptation of ''VisualNovel/11Eyes'', ''every'' single female character that has a romantic relationship with one of the male characters falls into this trope. [[spoiler:Liselotte, Yuka, Superbia and Yukiko all go completely mad with grief the moment that their LoveInterest seemingly loses interest in them or dies. In particular, Liselotte, an exceedingly powerful witch, becomes a completely AxCrazy OmnicidalManiac bent on destroying the world itself after her lover is killed, and is thus the main antagonist of the series.]]

* ''Film/Carrie2013'' and ''Film/Carrie1976'' take this up to another level by depicting Carrie as a very sweet, borderline angelic character who shows kindness to everyone... until she discovers telekinesis and uses it to push back at anyone who hurts her, burning down her school, house, and entire town.
* ''Film/DarkPhoenix'', a retelling of ComicBook/JeanGrey's transition into Dark Phoenix. Jean is manipulated into becoming an incredibly powerful but still unstable young woman by the alien Vuk, and when her powers go haywire and [[spoiler:kill Mystique]], the X-Men start gunning for her. This film adds the context of Professor X suppressing Jean's powers when she was a little girl, which Beast calls him out on.

* GenderInverted when it comes to ''Franchise/StarWars''. If anything, it's the ''male'' Force wielders whose powers are proportionate to their mental instability. Palpatine? Powerful and completely DrunkOnTheDarkSide. Anakin was powerful, but hotheaded and prone to abuse of his powers, eventually going full-blown Sith. His grandson in the sequel trilogy was profoundly unstable and prone to fits of uncontrollable rage. And Luke was prone to moodiness and poor judgement, even if he showed more restraint than his father and nephew. Female Force wielders like Ahsoka, Leia, and Rey tend to avoid the wild swings in emotion and keep their powers in check. Even Dark Side female Force users like the Nightsisters tend to be more restrained than their Dark Side male counterparts.

* Carrie White in ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'' and all of its adaptations: In fact, if anything, the trope is more muted in the original novel, where Carrie already struggles with her emotions as a result of her mother's abuse. However, after she obtains her psychic powers, she becomes homicidal, vengeful, and eventually goes completely insane and murders 400+ people in a single night in her hometown.

** Jean Grey starts to lose control of her psychic powers in the season 2 episode "Power Surge". Notably, unlike the previously-mentioned example in the "Comic Books" folder, the Phoenix Force is not involved at all in this situation.
When she loses all control, Rogue needed to drain her power to get them back under control, and she resumes training with Professor X in order to keep them that way.
** Rogue undergoes one of her own in the Season 3 episode "Self Possessed", all the various personas and their respective abilities she's absorbed over the course of the series activating within her at random. An accidental absorbing of Mystique's powers while in her disguise as "Risty" causes Rogue to use her shapeshifting powers to literally transform into those personas and run amuck through Bayville before the other X-Men are able to get her to calm down.

* In ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'', Jean Grey starts to lose control of her psychic powers in the first episode. When she loses all control, Rogue needed to drain her power to get them back under control, and she started training with Professor X in order to keep them that way.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''{{Anime/Witchblade}}'' the series, the cloneblades can make someone AxCrazy due to PhlebotinumBreakdown. Worse, just like in the comics, the Witchblade and the Cloneblades are {{Clingy MacGuffin}}s.

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' plays with the trope. Elsa had repressed her ice powers since childhood, so they are an additional stressor when she is crowned queen. Not knowing how to handle them in public, she keeps the castle closed off from the rest of the world until her coronation day. When she reveals her powers to the court while arguing with her sister, who has had the powers hidden from her, over Elsa's decision to close off the castle again, she is branded a monster and runs away to the wilderness. In doing so, she embraces her powers but inadvertently plunges Arendelle into an EndlessWinter for which she is demonized. However, thanks to ThePowerOfLove and ThePowerOfFamily, she is able to rein in her powers and comfortably settle into the role of a BenevolentMageRuler by the film's end. The movie also gives reasons for her difficulty handling the situation besides her natural character; her parents also didn't know how to handle it and started the isolationist strategy in an attempt to protect her.

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]
* Subverted in ''Film/CaptainMarvel2019''. Carol Danvers, unknowingly indoctrinated by the Kree, is told her energy powers have to be tempered by restraining her emotions, lest she lose control. Once she realizes this is just a lie to keep her their prisoner, Carol lets her energy run completely loose, becoming magnitudes more powerful and still in control.
* ''Film/Carrie2013'' and ''Film/Carrie1976'' take this up to another level by depicting Carrie as a very sweet, borderline angelic character who shows kindness to everyone...until she discovers telekinesis and uses it to push back at anyone who hurts her, burning down her school, house, and entire town.

* ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'': When Cortana is given access to the virtually infinite Forerunner network the Domain, she turns from a friendly companion to a ruthless AI supremacist with goals of galactic domination. This is in complete reversal to her depiction in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'', where even when collapsing due to the AI equivalent of Alzheimer's she remained good-hearted and devoted to her loved ones.

** Rogue of the X-Men has to avoid any skin-to-skin contact. If she does touch someone with bare skin, she absorbs their life force, which can cause death if she touches them for too long. If she touches a mutant, she also temporarily steals their powers.

* ''Anime/Witchblade'' the series, the cloneblades can make someone AxCrazy due to PhlebotinumBreakdown. Worse, just like in the comics, the Witchblade and the Cloneblades are {{Clingy MacGuffin}}s.

* Terra in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''.

* In the backstory for ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' and ''Manga/{{Boruto}}'', we learn of [[TheManBehindTheMan Kaguya Otsutsuki]], the instigator of nearly all of the story's events. There are a lot of conflicting stories and ideas about exactly what type of person she was beforehand (even in-universe), but it's generally believed that she was a caring person until absolute power went to her head. She comes from a race of "[[FantasyAliens celestial beings]]" that travel to planets in search of a "God Tree", an alien plant form that lands on a planet and drains its inhabitants of their blood and life force. The fruit from the tree grants those who eat it a power that comes to be called "chakra". Originally, she and another relative came to take the fruit for the benefit of their clan, but she decided to protect the Earth and its inhabitants instead, eventually falling in love with a human emperor and becoming his concubine. While she was pregnant, an invasion from another nation led to the death of her friend and attendant, and Kaguya lost all faith in humanity, decided to eat the fruit and create peace by force. She became worshipped as a goddess, and this eventually went to her head, where she became so power-hungry that when her sons manifested the ability to use chakra, she tried to take it back[[note]]At first, she tried to do so without killing them, but her methods became more ruthless the longer they resisted.[[/note]] under the belief that chakra should belong to her alone.

** ComicBook/{{Polaris}} was in Genosha the day that Cassandra Nova launched a genocidal attack that killed nearly every mutant in the nation. This was the original start of her personality becoming unhinged. Later, when her long-time LoveInterest Havok decided to leave her at the wedding altar to be with a woman whom he just met, she went completely off the deep end, adopted a costume similar to her father ComicBook/{{Magneto}} and attempted to murder everyone there.

** In ''ComicBook/TheVision2015'', Virginia Vision is a based on the Vision (which means there's some Ultron tech within her) with a facsimile of the above-mentioned powerful-but-mentally-fragile Scarlet Witch. When her children are threatened, she becomes increasingly homicidal and ruthlessly murders anyone who might pose a threat to her family. This sets off a string of events that culminates in her murdering brother-in-law ComicBook/VictorMancha, then murdering the family dog, and finally committing suicide.

** ComicBook/{{Raven}} is infamous [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten in-universe]] for the number of times she has manifested a SuperpoweredEvilSide and betrayed the ComicBook/TeenTitans, often at the bidding of her father, [[SatanicArchetype Trigon]]. There have even been instances in the comics where people have regarded her as akin to a ticking time bomb, who is always at risk of being corrupted, controlled or seduced into betraying her friends.

* ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' plays with the trope. Elsa had repressed her ice powers since childhood, so they are an additional stressor when she is crowned queen. Not knowing how to handle them in public, she keeps the castle closed off from the rest of the world until her coronation day. When she reveals her powers to the court while while arguing with her sister, who has had the powers hidden from her, over Elsa's decision to close off the castle again, she is branded a monster and runs away to the wilderness. In doing so, she embraces her powers but inadvertently plunges Arendelle into an EndlessWinter for which she is demonized. However, thanks to ThePowerOfLove and ThePowerOfFamily, she is able to rein in her powers and comfortably settle into the role of a BenevolentMageRuler by the film's end. The movie also gives reasons for her difficulty handling the situation besides her natural character; her parents also didn't know how to handle it and started the isolationist strategy in an attempt to protect her.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Willow Rosenberg's power as a witch increases over the seasons, and her arc in the last two seasons is chiefly devoted to this. She becomes increasingly reckless and arrogant in her use of magic in the early part of the sixth season, and briefly becomes involved with a form of black magic which acts directly as an addictive drug. As a result she impulsively swears off magic completely, but when her lover is murdered she "falls off the wagon", kills the man responsible and tries to kill his associates, attacks her friends when they try to take her down, and ends up trying to destroy the entire planet out of [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds depression]]. The final season has her continuing to struggle to get on an even keel, constantly worrying that using magic to any powerful degree will drive her insane again.

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': River Tam is a TeenGenius from a wealthy family who gained powerful PsychicPowers after being experimented on. Specifically, she wound up with a damaged amygdala, which affected her ability to properly filter, feel, or control her emotions -- as her brother and caretaker Simon points out, "She feels everything; she can't not." As a result she's highly unstable and prone to psychic freakouts and tantrums that potentially hurt the other characters, although she has stabilized a little by the end of ''Film/{{Serenity}}'' due to the companionship of the crew.

* ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'': When Cortana is given access to the virtually infinite Forerunner network the Domain, she turns from a friendly companion to a ruthless AI supremacist with goals of galactic domination. This is in complete reversal to her depiction in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'', where even when collapsing due to the AI equivalent of Alzheimers she remained goodhearted and devoted to her loved ones.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Willow Rosenberg's power as a witch increases over the seasons, and her arc in the last two seasons is chiefly devoted to this. She becomes increasingly reckless and arrogant in her use of magic in the early part of the sixth season, and briefly becomes involved with a form of black magic which acts directly as an addictive drug. As a result she impulsively swears off magic completely, but when her lover is murdered she "falls off the wagon", tries to kill the man responsible, attacks her friends when they try to take her down, and ends up trying to destroy the entire planet out of [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds depression]]. The final season has her continuing to struggle to get on an even keel, constantly worrying that using magic to any powerful degree will drive her insane again.

* ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' plays with the trope. Elsa had repressed her ice powers since childhood, so they are an additional stressor when she is crowned queen. When she inadvertently reveals her powers to the court while reacting to her sister's new engagement, she is branded a monster and runs away to the wilderness. In doing so, she embraces her powers but inadvertently plunges Arendelle into an EndlessWinter for which she is demonized. However, thanks to ThePowerOfLove and ThePowerOfFamily, she is able to rein in her powers and comfortably settle into the role of a BenevolentMageRuler by the film's end.

* Carrie White in ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'' and all of its adaptations: In fact, if anything, the trope is more muted in the original novel, where Carrie already struggles with her emotions as a result of her mother's abuse. However, after she obtains her psychic powers, she becomes homicidal, vengeful, and eventually goes completely insane and murders 500+ people in a single night in her hometown.

* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': Elaida [[TyrantTakesTheHelm seizes control]] of the [[MagicalSociety Aes Sedai]] in a coup, styling herself an IronLady and [[ItsAllAboutMe the only one]] who can lead them in the Last Battle. She proves to be unstable, paranoid, and cruel; her reign causes a major schism, with even her loyalists distrusting each other; and she does more harm to the Aes Sedai's international reputation than any leader in a millennium. It doesn't help that she's got TheMole within her inner circle who is trying to bring out the worst in her.

* GenderInverted when it comes to ''Franchise/StarWars''. If anything, it's the ''male'' Force wielders whose powers are proportionate to their mental instability. Palpatine? Powerful and completely DrunkOntheDarkSide. Anakin was powerful, but hotheaded and prone to abuse of his powers, eventually going full-blown Sith. His grandson in the sequel trilogy was profoundly unstable and prone to fits of uncontrollable rage. And Luke was prone to moodiness and poor judgement, even if he showed more restraint than his father and nephew. Female Force wielders like Ahsoka, Leia, and Rey tend to avoid the wild swings in emotion and keep their powers in check. Even Dark Side female Force users like the Nightsisters tend to be more restrained than their Dark Side male counterparts.

* {{Averted}} or Gender-inverted when it comes to ''Franchise/StarWars''. If anything, it's the ''male'' Force wielders whose powers are proportionate to their mental instability. Palpatine? Powerful and completely DrunkOntheDarkSide. Anakin was powerful, but hotheaded and prone to abuse of his powers, eventually going full-blown Sith. His grandson in the sequel trilogy was profoundly unstable and prone to fits of uncontrollable rage. And Luke was prone to moodiness and poor judgement, even if he showed more restraint than his father and nephew. Female Force wielders like Ahsoka, Leia, and Rey tend to avoid the wild swings in emotion and keep their powers in check. Even Dark Side female Force users like the Nightsisters tend to be more restrained than their Dark Side male counterparts.

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': River Tam is was a TeenGenius from a wealthy family who gained powerful PsychicPowers after being experimented on. Specifically, she wound up with a damaged amygdala, which affected her ability to properly filter, feel, or control her emotions -- as her brother and caretaker Simon points out, "She feels everything; she can't not." As a result she's highly unstable and prone to psychic freakouts and tantrums that potentially hurt the other characters, although she has stabilized a little by the end of ''Film/{{Serenity}}'' due to the companionship of the crew.

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' plays this all over the place like the DeconstructorFleet it is. Atton {{Lampshades}} in his opening conversation [[spoiler: by referring to Revan as a Dark Side female, the opposite of the "canonical" alignment and gender]], but it becomes clear in hindsight that he was saying that in an attempt to misdirect the Exile. Atris turns out to be [[spoiler: corrupted by her self-righteousness, but not all that powerful]]. Female party members like Visas, Handmaiden, and Mira are no more or less corruptible than the male party members. And out of the three Sith Lords in the game [[spoiler: Darth Traya (aka Kreia) is the most in control of their mind and their powers.]]

* In ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'', [[TheHighQueen Falenan Queen Arshhat]] becomes this after taking hold of [[ArtifactOfDeath the Sun Rune, one of the 27 True Runes]] and must be put down. She's actually a ReasonableAuthorityFigure until [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity the power of the Sun Rune corrupts her into insanity]].

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfLegendia'': The female lead, Shirley Fennes, is a Ferines -- a race of aquatic people that have been at odds with humanity for centuries. Even more than that, she is the Merines, who has the ability to hear the voice of the Ferines' god and let him act through her. Later in the story, a group of antagonistic Ferines perform a ritual that revives the god in Shirley in the hopes that said god will wage war against humanity. Their plan nearly succeeds because around the same time, Shirley confesses her feelings to the protagonist Senel, who rejects her because he is still in love with her deceased older sister. After she runs away, her only remaining friend, Fenimore, is then killed by an army of attacking humans. These events push Shirley over the edge and make her much more susceptible to the god's influence, as her pain and rage is amplified. She spends the next portion of the game being one of the major antagonists, encouraged by the priest who had been plotting this all along.

* In the backstory for ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' and ''Manga/{{Boruto}}'', we learn of [[ManBehindTheMan Kaguya Otsutsuki]], the instigator of nearly all of the story's events. There are a lot of conflicting stories and ideas about exactly what type of person she was beforehand (even in-universe), but it's generally believed that she was a caring person until absolute power went to her head. She comes from a race of "[[FantasyAliens celestial beings]]" that travel to planets in search of a "God Tree", an alien plant form that lands on a planet and drains its inhabitants of their blood and life force. The fruit from the tree grants those who eat it a power that comes to be called "chakra". Originally, she and another relative came to take the fruit for the benefit of their clan, but she decided to protect the Earth and its inhabitants instead, eventually falling in love with a human emperor and becoming his concubine. While she was pregnant, an invasion from another nation led to the death of her friend and attendant, and Kaguya lost all faith in humanity, decided to eat the fruit and create peace by force. She became worshipped as a goddess, and this eventually went to her head, where she became so power-hungry that when her sons manifested the ability to use chakra, she tried to take it back[[note]]At first, she tried to do so without killing them, but her methods became more ruthless the longer they resisted.[[/note]] under the belief that chakra should belong to her alone.

* VideoGame/KnightsOftheOldRepublic Played with when it comes to the female Jedi in the party. Juhani already came from a traumatic background before her Force Powers manifested. Even with her notoriously hot and cold temperament, she can be seen as an inversion, as it's the Jedi Code and training that's ''keeping'' her from lashing out. Bastila will spare no opportunity to point out how ever-present the Dark Side's threat is [[spoiler: and while she does fall at the game's climax, it's less due to anything gendered and more BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil]].
* ''VideoGame/KnightsOftheOldRepublicIItheSithLords'' plays this all over the place like the DeconstructorFleet it is. Atton {{Lampshades}} in his opening conversation [[spoiler: by referring to Revan as a Dark Side female, the opposite of the "canonical" alignment and gender]], but it becomes clear in hindsight that he was saying that in an attempt to misdirect the Exile. Atris turns out to be [[spoiler: corrupted by her self-righteousness, but not all that powerful]]. Female party members like Visas, Handmaiden, and Mira are no more or less corruptible than the male party members. And out of the three Sith Lords in the game [[spoiler: Darth Traya (aka Kreia) is the most in control of their mind and their powers.]]