- Child of the Storm has a textbook example of this in Sinister's treatment of Maddie, whose free-will he systematically destroyed from infancy so that she can barely grasp the concept of making a choice for herself, outside of flexibility within mission parameters. And the only reason she can even barely grasp it at all is because Gambit has been carefully nurturing a sense of independence and free-will in her. He has psychic triggers and backdoors into her mind, but he almost never actually needs them: that's how strong his control is.
- Fate/Parallel Fantasia: False Lancer, False Assassin, and Sakura give in to False Avenger's corruption because they feel like their empty souls are filled by her.
- A Finely Honed Blade: The Queen Administrator works this way, with a combination of providing Taylor with information on the mental state of others, how to use that knowledge to encourage loyalty or another desired reaction, and subtly altering hormones and endorphins, and can even twist the conditioning of other Masters to Taylor's advantage. It's so subtle Taylor herself is unaware of it.
- Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail: UnChloe possesses the ability to compel her victims to speak, but it's implied that she can't force them to say things that they weren't already thinking. Sara, for instance, is made to brag about how she manipulated her classmates as their False Friend, revealing what she really thinks about her Unwitting Pawns. She uses the same trick on Goh during her final temptation of Parker, compelling him to rant aloud without realizing that he's got an unseen audience that's getting to hear him blaming Chloe for everything and plotting to out Ash.
- Intelligence Factor says that Obstagoon hate the world by their very nature, making them easy for Malamar to recruit without resorting to mind control.
- In The Lightning Strike, Madame Hydra's use of the Scepter amounts to this; Zola notes that those she brainwashes with it aren't turned into mindless drones, but into versions of themselves that are loyal to her.
- Percy Jackson: Spirits: Vaatu influences and manipulates other people by subtly inserting thoughts in their minds that reinforce negative beliefs they already hold or nudge them towards bad conclusions while letting them think that they're the only ones in their heads.
- Shinji And Warhammer 40 K: A non-evil example. The Eldar Farseer often talks to an unaware Asuka via telepathy to encourage her to get into Shinji's pants. Asuka's feelings and desires are real and the Farseer is not forcing Asuka to do anything she doesn't want to do, but Asuka has no idea where the thoughts in her head come from, and she gradually becomes more receptive to her suggestions.
- A Moth to a Flame: This is how Marcy is corrupted by Andrias and the Core, who play on her obsessive desires for a special life and to always have Anne and Sasha with her, using those feelings to manipulate her into being their willing ally in the conquest of Earth and beyond.
- Bring Me to Life: Spike rants about how Angelus was his Sensei for Scoundrels, and that Drusilla may have sired him, but Angel was the one who really made him a monster. Angel retorts that the demon within vampires only amplifies what's already there; he only opened the door and let the real Spike out of his cage.Spike: You taught me, you molded me, you made me what I am, O Great Savior. And then you cast me off like some bastard child that you refused to take responsibility for! Trying to wash your hands of me because you couldn't have me soiling that shiny suit of armor everyone thinks you wear. But you know the truth, and it eats at you like a cancer deep down in that precious soul of yours- Drusilla may have sired me, but you... you made me a monster.
Angel: I didn't make you into anything, Spike. The demon just amplifies what's already there; you and I know that, better than anyone. The rage, the anger, the violence... it was all there, just waiting to spring out like a jack-in-the-box. All I did as Angelus was give a little direction to a loose cannon, teach a few tricks to a mad dog. It wasn't even that hard. Admit it, Spike; you liked being the animal you'd become after Dru turned you. All I had to do was open up the door... and let the real you out.
- The Road to Shalka: In Children of the Sanctum, UNIT and the Doctor suspect lord Hazelbrook to do who-knows-what to his initiates, but all he really does is tell them the truth — the alien artifact in his basement may destroy humanity any moment now and he honestly needs help to contain it.
- Us and Them: Jenova aims to make Aeris suffer, and intends to use Sephiroth to do it. Seph cares too much about Aeris to harm her directly, but Jenova keeps pushing the feelings he has for her to the edge, at times outright stripping away his inhibitions which leads to him nearly raping Aeris before Vincent manages to subdue him.
- Forward: Inducers take emotions, impulses people already have and build on them. One that has a particular importance to the plot (Inducer One-One-Nine aka Katie outright says she can't make anyone do anything they don't have some ability or desire to, even if it's deep down inside. It just makes the Mind Rape Inducer One-One-Nine does even more horrifying.
- In Partially Kissed Hero, this appears to be the case for Hermione, who is (figuratively) charmed by Harry, who now has Voldemort's memories and power, and then convinced that Dumbledore is a Dark Lord and becomes completely devoted to Harry and Luna for the inevitable long, long, long streams of exposition that they tell her. It is absolutely the case for Susan and Hannah, who hardly go a chapter without being condescended to by the other three, and just agree to everything they hear when they do speak.
- “A Shard Made Whole
” features Ginny being partially influenced by the horcrux she was in contact with during her first year, this aspect of Voldemort leaving Ginny with some of his personality traits. This corrupted Ginny- who now calls herself ‘Ginerva’- begins subtly planting mental compulsions in Ron and Hermione in particular to drive them away from Harry so that she can have him to herself, as well as planting thoughts in the mind of Demelza Robbins to encourage the other girl's attraction to Harry and Ginerva to make Demelza more willing to become their "pet". While Ginerva is manipulating the others without their knowledge, it should be noted that she only exploits their existing insecurities or desires rather than creating anything new on her own.
- Horseshoes and Hand Grenades has Ophiuchus makes Gentaro second-guess his decision on dying for Ryusei's sake, stating that doing so made him fail his parents' promise of making lots of friends. Then, by showing a scene of the Kamen Rider Club disbanding and putting blame on one another for not saving him, breaks Gentaro down to the point that Ophiuchus brainwashes him to become his Serpent-bearer.
Logical Journey of the Zoombinis
- Saetwo's Story features a young Zoombini called Xekrai who is convinced to work against the other Zoombinis with the Fleens, due to some well chosen words by their leader, who is convinced that he is the strongest link. He manages to manipulate Xekrai by pointing out that his father benefited from similar actions. Xekrai eventually comes back to work with his group, and the leader realizes that he should have targeted Saetwo, who is the strongest motivator of her group, despite not being the smartest or kindest.
- Game Theory: This is how Precia is able to ensure Fate's loyalty. She acknowledges Fate as her daughter, but tells her up front that she is a clone of Alicia. She then lays her plans out, introduces Fate to the Alicia in stasis and then gives Fate a purpose: Help her mother bring her sister back to life. The author has stated Precia's behavior towards Fate is basically psychological brainwashing.
- Limitless Potential expands more on the story of the Mega Man X series including Sigma's eventual corruption. In the early chapters Sigma held some resentment for his human creators when they seemed to doubt his capacities, and had a strong drive to prove himself superior to X. After his battle with Zero, the Maverick Virus (which is shown to be explicitly sapient) starts to communicate with him and plays up on those feelings instead of infecting him directly, since their interests seem to align with each other. Sigma himself later applies it to some of his followers, such as exploiting Chill Penguin's complex about not getting respect from his comrades for his appearance.
- Witch Hunter's powers are implied to have some roots in this in BURN THE WITCH. She carries a scroll containing a full list of her target's crimes, reading off of it to incite listeners into an angry mob. Given the sheer amount, scope and range of the misdeeds Lila Rossi has committed, the chances are extremely high of there being something on there that strikes a chord — and real outrage makes it easier for the mob mentality to take root.
- Feralnette AU: Chloe describes Hawkmoth's power this way, stating that it feels great — an addictive power rush, coupled with how difficult he makes it to resist.Chloe: It's addictive. You feel superhuman, super-powered. Just keep a promise to a distant voice and he can keep you strong and powerful forever. You just want to stay feeling like that. Like you're on top of the world. Unstoppable. Godlike. And if you refuse, he fills your head with pressure and static until you feel like a balloon about to burst.
- There's More Magic Out There: In chapter 27, Alix thinks back of her first experience being akumatized in the midst of her second. Despite knowing then that she should have refused, Hawkmoth ws able to convince her that nothing else matters but her goals and the emotions behind them. When she became Timebreaker, all that mattered was the guilt of a broken family heirloom and the desperation to fix it. And when she is becoming Wicked Witch, all that matters is having the power to protect her Love Interest Chloe even if it meant burning down all of Paris in vengeance.
- Phoenix's Tear: Reignition: Muu may be The Corrupter, but is also skilled at manipulating monsters into joining him for the sake of gaining power, Revenge or other personal motives.
- Discussed in Eigengrau when Mocchi can't believe that Gray Wolf has fallen for his lies about Tiger. Hare notes that it might not necessarily matter how believable his claims are so long as Gray Wolf wants to believe — and the story he spun enables Gray Wolf to see himself as a victim, righteously raging against his Aloof Big Brother.
- Similarly, it's pointed out that Pixie and Big Blue were formerly enslaved by humans, and Muu offered them the ability to turn the tables, with their captors becoming their captives... along with anyone else they could get their hands on.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- Her Inner Demons: Human Twilight reveals that the bullying and abuse she received during the movie was turning her power hungry. Once she gained power after unleashing the magic, it was easy for her dark side to consume her and become Midnight Sparkle.
- In Inner Demons, this is how Queen!Twilight Sparkle recruits her lieutenants. While she can and does use a brainwashing spell for most of her minions, for her willing followers she plays The Corrupter, giving them exactly what they want in exchange for their loyalties. For Trixie, she gave her the position of being her student (which is all Trixie ever wanted), and for Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo she was able to make them see things her way by aging them to adulthood and giving them their Cutie Marks.
- Twilight Revised: This is done by Nightmare Moon to Twilight Sparkle, gaining her cooperation by rewriting her memories so that she thinks Nightmare Moon was her mentor and teacher. The control doesn't seem to be perfect, though, as the Hope Spot at the end of the chapter implies. The later chapters describe how also Nightmare figures the mind control to be imperfect because nothing can replace the feelings Twilight has towards Celestia. So she simply "turns" into Celestia, making the mind control flawless. As a matter of fact, it is implied that Twilight is genuinely obsessed with Celestia to begin with (in more than a platonic fashion at that), making the level of actual mind control involved ambiguous at least).
- Son of the Sannin uses a variation of this. Obito Uchiha used Kotoamatsukami on Danzo Shimura, as he needed someone in a high-ranking position he could use to undermine Konoha's efforts and also keep an eye on Orochimaru. But instead of outright brainwashing Danzo, all he did was plant an idea on him, namely to let Akatsuki capture all the Tailed Beasts so as to claim them for Konoha once they were gathered in a single place, and let his personal ambitions do the rest. Nevertheless, he still implanted a mental trigger to make Danzo fully obedient to him, once he had fulfilled his purpose.
- The Mountain and the Wolf: The Wolf is surprised his henchman thinks he mind-controlled Daenerys into torching King's Landing (mostly because as a Tzeentchian sorcerer was needed to cast the spell, he certainly doesn't want anyone with that kind of power near him). According to him, the spell just gave her a push in the right direction (the direction leading to a battle between her and Cersei's forces, since the city had surrendered and she was flying down to enter the city peacefully), since she was inclined to let the city surrender (due to the Wolf's interference, Missandei is missing instead of confirmed dead and her fleet took a lot less damage from the Iron Fleet, leading to a much more stable Daenerys).
- The Legend of Spyro: Zonoya's Revenge: This is ultimately what Malefor's control over Zonoya amounts to. Unlike Cynder, who was brainwashed, Zonoya was controlled psychologically by her feelings for him. This is what lead her to free Malefor from his prison, afterwards, he took full advantage of this and got her to have his child and make him Birdon king. His grip on her was so strong, his death reduced her to a sobbing, broken wreck. It was only after Malefor was dead and gone that Zonoya was willing to listen to Cynder and realize how evil Malefor really was, allowing her to perform a Heel–Face Turn.
- The Heart Trilogy: In Heart of Ashes, Sauron contacts Smaug and offers to help the dragon in taking back Kathryn and Erebor in exchange for swearing allegiance to the Dark Lord. Furious that Kathryn just left him for what he did to Freyja, Smaug accepts. Sauron's taint takes root in the scar Smaug received from Bard's black arrow, and Smaug attacks Vathvael to get Kathryn back. Though the taint makes him a bit more aggressive than usual, it doesn't succeed in directing Smaug to go on a full rampage because he desires Kathryn more than bloodshed. When he notices the One Ring on Bilbo Baggins, the taint tries to force him under its full control and he resists, allowing Gandalf to knock out Smaug and contain the worst of the corruption. However, Smaug remains in the danger of succumbing to Sauron's influence again if he's not mindful of his darker emotions.
- Luminosity: In Radiance, Chelsea is able to mess with people's relationships to others, including completely destroying them, but she can't create new relationships from nowhere. When Elspeth comes along and gets duly mindraped, she is able to help Chelsea by conversing with some of the Volturi's prisoners and creating the seed of a relationship, which Chelsea can then exploit.
- This is Mnemosyne's power in Atonement. She can make suggestions that her target believes to be their own thoughts. The target isn't forced to act on these thoughts, so her power won't work on something the subject is absolutely opposed to doing (i.e. she can't just tell a hero "You should go massacre random civilians now" and expect it to work), and is more effective if she gives a reason for the target to act ("You should betray your boss because he isn't giving you the respect you deserve" would work better than "You should betray your boss", for example). It is, however, quite good for espionage purposes ("I have every right to be here", "You know and trust me"), and it's amazing what dumb things people will do if they think it's their own idea.
- In Going Rogue, this is played straight with the pied piper convincing Wally everyone hates him not once, but twice, before attempting to break his mind.
