Line #69 Main/RestorationOfSanity


1	Someone may be DrivenToMadness over the course of the story. Someone may start out already insane. But then, something causes them to quickly lose their madness.
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3	There are many ways this can happen, including but not limited to: someone or something that can cause a "sane" reaction from the insane person, a person/a technique/an object that can turn insane people sane, and so on. May involve JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind.
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5	May overlap with BoredWithInsanity. If the character is dying, it's often a case of DyingAsYourself. Compare to SanityStrengthening, where an insane character gains sanity over a period of time. Also compare MomentOfLucidity, when a character's sanity is restored for only a temporary period, and ThrowingOffTheDisability. If this happens over a much longer period of time, it's a MentalHealthRecoveryArc.
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7	----
8	!!Examples:
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10	[[foldercontrol]]
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12	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
13	* Casca from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' started out as a competent ActionGirl and the NumberTwo of the Band of the Hawk, but eventually ended up getting [[spoiler:[[RapeAsDrama tragically raped]] by Femto, [[RapeLeadsToInsanity the experience causing her to fall into a catatonic state]], becoming mute and gaining the personality of a young child]]. She proceeds to stay this way for quite a while until the Fantasia arc, where, [[spoiler:after Schierke and Farnese have a JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind to restore her consciousness, Casca's sanity is restored and she regains her former personality and much of her skill]]. Of course since this is Berserk she [[spoiler:gets flashbacks to the Eclipse whenever she sees Guts, meaning they can't resume their relationship just yet.]]
14	[[/folder]]
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16	[[folder:Comic Books]]
17	* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': ComicBook/TheJoker has undergone this multiple times, usually in reaction to Batman being retired and/or believed dead (e.g. ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'', "Going Sane", the end of Scott Snyder's run, etc.). A more off-kilter application was in "The Demon Laughs", where he briefly regains his sanity upon being tossed into a Lazarus Pit. However, StatusQuoIsGod, so these stories almost always end with Joker returning to the insane psychopath he usually is.
18	* ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'': In 2015, Brian Michael Bendis took the team -- which at the time included [[ComicBook/{{Venom}} Agent Venom]] -- to the symbiote homeworld, Klyntar. There, the Venom symbiote was "cleansed" of all the bloodlust and hatred it had accumulated, and rebonded to Flash as a member of the Agents of the Cosmos. Ultimately, this proved to be short-lived, as ''ComicBook/VenomSpaceKnight'' undid the cleansing partway through, leaving the symbiote oscillating between its new good and old evil personas.
19	* ComicBook/WonderWoman's lasso can restore a given measure of sanity, especially to those who have lost their minds due to magical interference.
20	** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': Diana's lasso can restore both the mind and body of those transformed by Circe back into their human forms.
21	** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Diana's lasso can restore the mind of those transformed by Circe, but their bodies remain in whatever monstrous form Circe chose for them when she turned them into her slaves.
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24	[[folder:Fan Works]]
25	* ''Fanfic/ButDoctorIAmPagliacci'' starts with the Joker returning to sanity, but being [[RippleEffectProofMemory the only one to remember]] that Batman ever existed, and using his [[SanityHasAdvantages newfound sanity]] to figure out what went wrong with the world.
26	* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': The GodOfGood collective, known as "the Light Gods", can heal minds. This helps both Ami herself when getting rid of terrible memories that weren't even hers, and then a minion of hers with a mind so broken that it was acting like an animal.
27	* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3362802/1/One-Thing-Leads-to-Another One Thing Leads to Another]]'' by Katergator, Raven heals ComicBook/HarleyQuinn[='=]s brain from all the damage ComicBook/TheJoker did to it. The resulting MyGodWhatHaveIDone first drives her hysterical, then catatonic... then, after the Joker is captured, she [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill gives him a few thousand stab wounds]], cuts off his head and runs away.
28	* ''Fanfic/SnugglesTheSymbiote'': [[spoiler: After [[Literature/{{Worm}} Bonesaw]] injects herself with a mutagen derived from the DNA of several marvel supers,]] the HealingFactor she gains at first damages her body, including her brain, by purging her cybernetics but she fully recovers and her repaired brain regains the capability for remorse.
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31	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
32	* In the movie ''Film/{{Awakenings}}'', which is BasedOnATrueStory, various catatonic patients are able to regain consciousness and normalcy after being injected with a drug used to treat Parkinson's Disease. Unfortunately, after a while, the symptoms of catatonia eventually return for all of the patients.
33	* In ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', Professor Harold "Ox" Oxly finds a Crystal Skull, and it immediately drove him insane, [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} barely able to concentrate]], and [[DelightingInRiddles speaking in riddles rather than giving direct instructions]] as to where to take the skull, how to get there, and what to do. Once the skull [[spoiler: is returned and Colonel Irina Spalko is granted [[ExactWords all of]] [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor the knowledge]] by the Interdimensional Being]], Ox begins speaking more coherently and even recognizes Indy, Marion, and [[spoiler: expresses surprise that Mutt is their son]]. At the very end, he goes back to his [[spoiler: old job as a university professor and happily makes his way to Indy and Marion's wedding]].
34	* In ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', River, usually a BarefootLoon {{cloudcuckoolander}} due to her PsychicPowers, becomes lucid after exposure to The Pax, a gas that the Alliance created to make people docile.
35	* At the end of ''Film/TheLawnmowerMan 2'', Jobe's intelligence is removed and with it goes his insane megalomania and desire to conquer the world.
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38	[[folder:Literature]]
39	* ''Literature/TheScholomance'': When the protagonist El overclocks her meditative exercise for "making the choice to put yourself right" with a huge amount of {{Mana}}, it's enough to undo the [[RedRightHand physical]] and mental corruption her friend Liu had suffered from using BlackMagic. {{Downplayed\|Trope}} in that it only works because Liu was using the bare minimum and is still mostly herself; if she'd gone fully DrunkOnTheDarkSide, it would have failed.
40	* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'':
41	** In the prologue, Ishamael used the True Power to cure Lews Therin's insanity. Lews Therin's subsequent realization of what he had done while insane [[DrivenToSuicide drove him to suicide.]]
42	** Late in the series, Nynaeve works out how to use her HealingHands to cure the insanity caused by [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity prolonged use of]] ''[[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity saidin]]'', the tainted male half of the [[FunctionalMagic One Power]]. The first man she tests it on breaks down in relief when his paranoid delusions disappear.
43	** [[TheChosenOne Rand]] suffers long-term SanitySlippage from [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity his own powers]] and [[TheChainsOfCommanding the terrible responsibilities]] he's taken on. At his darkest point, he almost crosses the DespairEventHorizon but instead has an [[EpiphanyTherapy epiphany]] about his hopes for the future of the world, gets a SplitPersonalityMerge with the aforementioned [[{{Reincarnation}} Lews Therin]], and shakes off his madness for good.
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46	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
47	* Happens twice on ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', interestingly with the insanity stemming from the same source. In season seven Sam begins suffering from hallucinations due to [[spoiler:his time spent in the Cage in season six]] and has difficulty distinguishing illusion from reality. It gets so bad that he can no longer sleep and is serious danger of dying from the stress. He's cured when [[spoiler: Castiel transfers the pain of the memories over to himself]], which then subsequently drives [[spoiler: Castiel]] insane instead (Sam evens likens the exchange to the curse from ''Film/TheRing''). [[spoiler: Castiel's]] recovery is more subtle and somewhat inexplicable, as there's not a precise moment when he improves and no stated reason for it, but presumably [[spoiler: his angelic nature simply allowed him better resilience than a human and his time in Purgatory may have helped shock him back to some degree of normalcy]]. In any case, he's back to (relative) sanity by the start of season eight. [[spoiler: He ''is'' depressed and borderline suicidal, but that's for mostly unrelated reasons.]]
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50	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
51	* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
52	** [[HealingHands Healing]] magic like ''greater restoration'' and the all-purpose ''heal'', as well as comparable PsychicPowers, remove all forms of insanity and similar mental ailments affecting the target as part of their effect.
53	** In 1st/2nd Edition ''Advanced D&D'', ''restore mind'' (the reversed form of the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' spell ''dismind'') can cure both normal and magical insanity.
54	* ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'': Mages in the Legion [[PrestigeClass Legacy]] gain [[LovecraftianSuperpower powers]] by summoning Abyssal spirits to consume and replace their body parts. One of the capstone options is to replace their brain, curing all their Derangements and making them immune to new ones, all at the low cost of ''[[DeathOfPersonality replacing their brain]]''.
55	* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'':
56	** Priests of the HealerGod Shallya have access to a [[ReligionIsMagic spell]] that cures one form of madness in the target, though it's considerably harder than [[HealingHands healing physical wounds]].
57	** Gold Wizards have a spell that can transmute an unstable mind into a stable one, removing a number of [[SanityMeter Insanity Points]]. However, if the wizard [[MagicMisfire fails the Channeling test]] to cast it, it has the opposite effect.
58	** Surgeons can operate on a person's brain in hopes of removing [[SanityMeter insanity points]] or even curing permanent madness. However, failure can cause anything from permanent intelligence loss to death.
59	** The GodOfChaos Tzeentch offers a spell, Mindfire, that zig-zags this. If the target is [[SanityMeter entirely sane]], it inflicts Insanity Points; otherwise, it burns away their madness, inflicting an ArmorPiercingAttack in the process.
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62	[[folder:Toys]]
63	* This is one of the powers of the Kanohi Rode, the [[MaskOfPower Mask of Truth]], in ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}''. In addition to letting the user [[LivingLieDetector see through any deception]], it allows them to cleanse the minds of others and let them see things clearly if they've been driven mad.
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66	[[folder:Video Games]]
67	* In ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'', Ludwig is established to have once been noble and heroic (if misguided) man and the first hunter of the Healing Church (He's the guy who created the Ludwig's Holy Blade weapon), but the [=DLC=] reveals that he has since succumbed to the Beast Scourge and become a particularly nasty monster, who fights you in the Hunter's Nightmare. [[spoiler:That is, until the second phase of his boss fight, when he sees the light of his [[{{BFS}} Moonlight Greatsword]], and what remains of his sanity is suddenly restored, signified by his title changing from "Ludwig [[FallenHero the Accursed]]" to "Ludwig, [[KnightInShiningArmor The Holy Blade]]"]].
68	* In ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'', healing spells powered by Xel'lotath cause this, [[GameplayAndStorySegregation except when the plot requires otherwise.]]
69	* In ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', Caligula in Proper Human History was [[{{Lunacy}} driven mad by the affection of the Moon Goddess, Diana]], which is his Madness Enhancement as a Berserker. During the Olympus Lostbelt, [[spoiler:it's revealed that Lostbelt Artemis tried to use the same power to drive the Heroic Spirits summoned by the Counter Force insane... and picks Caligula as her first target because of his connection to Diana, Artemis's Roman counterpart. Her efforts causes a ReversePolarity effect that makes him level-headed and sane. He can still use his Noble Phantasm, which drives others insane (or in one case, counteract against madness spread by Lostbelt Aphrodite)]].
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72	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
73	* ''VisualNovel/NoCaseShouldRemainUnsolved'': [[spoiler:The entire game turns out to be Jeon Gyeong's attempt to help mentally ill Song Minyeong regain lucidity.]]
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76	[[folder:Web Comics]]
77	* ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids:'' After having spent two decades going insane from the guilt of his actions, when Palpatine learns that [[spoiler:the "Moon Ghost" is actually Anakin haunting him, he suddenly becomes far more lucid. However, he doesn't have long to enjoy this before Vader tosses him down a shaft.]]
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79	[[/folder]]
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81	[[folder:Web Videos]]
82	* ''Series/TheCryOfMann'':
83	** At the end of ''Mann'', Jack and Courtney have both undergone some serious SanitySlippage, with Jack becoming a buff orange monster and Courtney slipping into [[TheAlcoholic alcoholism]] and a desire to be beautiful. After almost turning [[spoiler:Jouglat's funeral]] into chaos and Jack only having a temporary MomentOfLucidity, the day is saved when [[spoiler:Tank Mann]] comes home and defeats the BigBad. Afterward, Jack and Courtney settle down and though they'll never be the same again, they return to acting normally.
84	** In the sequel ''The Call of Warr'', Gravesite and Prince are both slipping, with Gravesite becoming obsessed with scripting an action movie and Prince becoming more and more determined to kill not only Prisoner Sarah, but several other characters as well. At the end of the series, Gravesite is reminded of how important his leadership is and goes back to normal. In stopping Prince from [[spoiler:killing Mable and Ashes]], Prince ends up turning back to normal as well... [[spoiler:in time to fall on his own knife and die of an AgonizingStomachWound, with Gravesite there to [[ComfortingTheDead help him]]]].
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87	[[folder:Western Animation]]
88	* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': Downplayed with [[CrazyHomelessPeople "local kook" Old Man McGucket]], who starts recovering after [[spoiler: getting his memories back]] at the end of "Society of the Blind Eye", but still retains much of his eccentric [[SouthernFriedGenius hillbilly]] MadScientist behavior.
89	* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] with ''WesternAnimation/TheMask'' in the episode "Sister Mask". After Dr. Pretorius puts the Mask on, he becomes a GiantSpider and goes through SanitySlippage, then later gets HoistByHisOwnPetard and becomes a soccer ball due to being under the influence of the sister mask. He regains his sanity (although he's still a MadScientist) once the mask is off and Stanley Ipkiss starts chasing him (as The Mask). But because StatusQuoIsGod, every time he regains sanity, Dr. Pretorius goes back to being a MadScientist doing things ForTheEvulz.
90	* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': After getting [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe bisected]] at the end of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', Darth Maul has slowly devolved from the fearsome Sith warrior he once was, into a screaming shell of a man with only brief [[MomentOfLucidity Moments of Lucidity]]. Once his brother, Savage Opress, finds him, he takes him to [[LadyOfBlackMagic Mother Talzin]], who uses her magic to heal his mind, returning him to the cunning warrior he once was.
91	* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'': After being defeated by the Shredder, Splinter lost his mind and started acting like an actual rat. Shredder has Baxter Stockman try to invoke this trope (wanting him to be aware he will be killed) and April succeeds using her powers.
92	[[/folder]]

Context Main / RestorationOfSanity