[Sorry, belated x-post from Livejournal...]

Some of my friends (is there an html tag for understatement?) are aware of my predilection for a particular kind of narrative element I like to think of as that "brainwashing thing." I mostly run into it on TV; over at TVTropes, it's subsumed under the entry they call the "I Know You're in there Somewhere" Fight--named after the times when other-guy tries to reason with brainwashed-guy, "I know you're in there somewhere!"

It's this: You have a pair of characters who are already shown as being devoted partners/good friends/etc. Then suddenly! One of them is kidnapped-and-brainwashed (or drugged, or possessed, or otherwise put in an altered state) to make him kill the other. Will he do it? Can he do it? What will the other partner do--can he stop him without killing him? OH NOES!

( Examples! )

Is there a point here? Um... boy do I love me some brainwashing-tropes? *hands*

I suspect there are subtexts to be teased out, e.g. about my adoration for how deep down the characters have worked their way into each others' souls, whether they meant to or not. Even in the ones where it seems Guy 1 can kill Guy 2 (only in those most extreme/altered circumstances, natch), his reaction to finding out he didn't is v. v. rewarding. (Of course, there are antithetical tropes that can also be wonderful, like He Loves Him So Much He Has To Hurt/Kill Him--no idea if TVTropes has this one, or what it's called-- but that's another story.)

I could swear I was just talking recently with friends about another example that popped up and surprised me by fitting right in, but it has escaped me. Further examples and hypotheses are welcome! (Or arguments against this awesome trope, but in that case I will assume you have been brainwashed/drugged/possessed, and we will go on to have an intense and meaningful scene.)