Break Them by Talking (original) (raw)

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Shinji: How much did you actually tell my father, anyway?
Rei: Few details. Only that everything he had worked towards and everything he had put myself and his only son through had been for nothing, and that he would die alone and unmourned, rejected by the only person he had ever truly loved.

When one character gives a talk to another that does or is meant to somehow break down the recipient or gain a psychological advantage over them by claiming uncomfortable things that they cannot deny.

Also known as a Breaking Speech or Breaking Lecture.note Mainly so that there's a term that can handily replace "Hannibal Lecture" where editors have used that incorrectly; see below for the difference.

This is often achieved by a kind of "The Reason You Suck" Speech, telling the other character how pathetic they are or perhaps how guilty of something terrible, perhaps a "Not So Different" Remark from someone unpalatable, but there are other ways of breaking someone down by talking. You could for example instead deconstruct the world, other characters, or their relationship with the victim. The important part is that they can't deny your words, at least not in the heat of the moment, and you gain a psychological advantage over them. Uncomfortable truths (or at least half-truths) and logical arguments are effective for making claims hard to deny, but hitting emotional weak spots is also important and can work even if your statements are not truly reasonable.

Results, when successful, range from the mere chance of getting to smirk in a satisfied way for rattling someone in an otherwise superior position; through distracting or demoralizing an opponent to make them easier to beat; to bringing about Break the Cutie, Heroic BSoD, Villainous Breakdown or even Face–Heel Turn, More than Mind Control, or Driven to Suicide. The most extreme form would be Mind Rape by just talking, but be wary of automatically calling every instance of Breaking Them by Talking that.

Obviously, this is easier to pull off from a relative position of power, such as when you have just defeated someone, or when interrogating a prisoner, but it goes both ways. It's even more impressive when someone manages to turn the tables on someone who was in a superior position. When this is done by one being interrogated — and only then — it's the Hannibal Lecture. Naturally, in between these cases, there is the one where both parties start out on an equal footing.

Note that a lot of this hinges on the victim actually caring about what you have to say, or otherwise respecting you enough to take your opinion seriously. If the victim is Too Dumb to Fool, or simply doesn't care about your opinion, then all you're likely to get for your trouble is laughter or a blank stare.

Some good tropes to use in the Breaking Speech include Brutal Honesty, Cowardice Callout, "Not So Different" Remark, Tomato in the Mirror, and They Died Because of You — and most things under Personal Horror.

As stated above, there is frequent overlap with "The Reason You Suck" Speech, but the concepts are not the same. "The Reason You Suck" Speech is about what you say, this is about what you do by saying it. You can tell someone they suck without breaking them down or even intending to do so, particularly if you're just annoyed, and you can break someone down without telling them why they suck.

The distilled version of this is the Armor-Piercing Question. If the declarations used as a weapon come from simple clues, this is a form of Sherlock Scan. Some characters have the ability to do this as a superpower, which may be an example of Awesome by Analysis. Can be done as part of Evil Gloating. Shut Up, Hannibal! is a way of countering this trope. The opposite effect is done by a "No More Holding Back" Speech, when the hero tells about his own flaws and how they don't matter now. The reverse or "good counterpart" is the Kirk Summation or Talking the Monster to Death. Hannibal Lecture is a specific subtrope.

See also Break Them With Lies. For examples of literally breaking someone by talking, see Weapons-Grade Vocabulary or Super-Scream. Works using this trope may discuss The Power of Language.

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Music

Proto Man attempts this twice, unsuccessfully, in The Megas' History Repeating double album. It earns him a Shut Up, Hannibal! the first time, in "History Repeating, Part 2 (One More Time)", and Mega Man (probablynote the song can also be interpreted as being from Gamma's perspective) goes so far as to throw the same move back at him after the second attempt in "Make Your Choice".

Pro Wrestling

Raven was well-known for delivering these to his opponents in order to demoralize them.
Shawn Michaels was a regular recipient of these speeches, particularly in the later parts of his career once he turned perma-face, but he usually interrupted them with Sweet Chin Music. Occasionally, after knocking his lecturer out cold, he'd deliver his own over their unconscious (or at least stunned) body. (If it's done to someone unconscious, it can't really qualify for the trope.) He was particularly fond of doing this to Chris Jericho.
- Back in his heel days, he used to hand them out himself like party favors. Even as a face, he'd break them out occasionally, and he's the one guy ever who could get away with throwing them at The Undertaker.
Triple H has also done this a fair few times in keeping with him being the "Cerebral Assassin." Just ask Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton.
Vin Gerard performed a number of these on Shane Storm — playing off Storm's betrayal of the technicos by selling out the counter to the Chikara Special (a Chikara Moral Event Horizon if there ever was one) and then twisting his world on its axis as Vin thanked him for it. Ended with Storm 'transforming' into the rudo STIGMA, dropping the color from his outfits, the bright mullet becoming a black mohawk and joining with Vin Gerard and Colin Delaney to become the UnStable.
- Then inverted when Vin tries the same thing on Jigsaw, who had removed his mask elsewhere and hadn't been seen in Chikara for a year. Vin said that he'd never seen the boys in the back as angry at anyone as they were at Jigsaw ("No matter what I did, I never had to buy a ticket!") and there was no way to get back on their good side — Jigsaw might as well join the UnStable. Jigsaw responded with superkicks.
Chris Jericho. Back in 2008 and early 2009 when everyone took his heel character completely seriously, Jericho would do this weekly. They rarely worked, but they were awesome.
CM Punk in his Straight Edge persona. He is so awesome that he can actually give these while he's in the middle of a match.
- Punk also delivered brilliant ones to John Cena and Vince McMahon after his infamous pipebomb. So much that Cena responded with a punch and Vince responded to his demands in vigor.

Radio

Brilliantly used in That Mitchell and Webb Sound, a radio programme. In multiple segments, Webb's character insults a woman's dress sense, weight or intelligence, eventually turning into a full-blown Breaking Speech. When the woman has been reduced to a wreck, Webb asks for a date, to cheer the woman up.

Tabletop Games

Chronicles of Darkness sourcebook Slasher (which deals with exactly what you think it does) has this as a talent of the Genius Undertaking and its natural progression, the Maniac. The Genius has the ability to instinctively profile anyone and learn what facts they'd hate to have revealed. The Maniac uses this knowledge to always have advantage over a certain target, and, with time, to convert the target to his point of view (a la Jigsaw).
Since Mythender runs on Rule of Cool and has very abstract fighting rules, it's perfectly possible to launch attacks that consist of berating and condemning an enemy and have them suffer injury because of it. In other words, you might actually talk the very gods to death.
On the (very) few occasions when the Dark Powers of Ravenloft have apparently communicated directly to anyone, it's been to do this to a potential darklord, delivered in familiar voices. Strahd heard the voices of Tatyana and Sergei taunting him, while Azalin heard the voices of his son and his mentor in wizardry.
Sith Lords in the Star Wars d20 game have a power that lets them do this more effectively.

Theatre

1776: Rutledge breaks them by singing. "Molasses to Rum" has him vividly act out the process of the slave trade from Boston to Africa to the Caribbean and plantations, highlighting both the horrors of it and the hypocrisy of the Northern states in decrying it when their own citizens profit considerably. When he leaves (with all the Southern states), the independence faction is devastated and have no choice but to accept the deletion of the anti-slavery clause despite Adams' prediction that it would come back to haunt them.
The Boys in the Band. Harold destroys Michael with a thorough undressing "The Reason You Suck" Speech at the end.
In Man of La Mancha the Knight of the Mirrors does this to Don Quixote, explaining to him in unpleasant terms how the world sees him and using a number of minions carrying full length mirrors to prove it. (It is worth noting that he does not do this in the book, which is why this entry appears in the theater section)
In J.B., Nickles/Satan's last attempt to corrupt Job is to paint the bit at the end — where J.B. gets all his fortunes back — as actually the cruelest torment of all; that God could ruin his life, and then just put it all back together again because the whole "Take away your fortunes, kill your children, and cover you in boils" thing was just a bit of a lark. When J.B. points out that his children are dead, Satan dismissively says, "You'll have better ones!", mocking the notion that everything could really be put right just like that.
The Mrs. Hawking play series: In part V: Mrs. Frost, what the titular character tries to do after she's captured Nathaniel. She has done enough research to probe all his fears and insecurities.

Visual Novels

Miu Iruma in Danganronpa S: Ultimate Summer Camp is on the receiving end of two, courtesy of "hard head" (Kiyotaka Ishimaru). For example, if she addresses him when saying that she would rather make an invention that brushes teeth while the user is asleep than think of ideas to unlock new potential for her talent, Taka will scold her to tears.
Miu: Fuckin' plebs think they can mock me? New potential my shapely genius girl ass! I'd rather develop an invention that brushes your teeth while you sleep! You got a problem, hard head!?
Taka: Hard head... A-Are you addressing me?
Miu: Who else do you think? I just know you're getting hard from head to toe with me standing here!
Taka: For the love of... I won't tolerate this! As a member of the morals committee, I have a bone to pick with you! Your behavior has gone too far!
Miu: Oh, I *bet* you have a bone to pick. You're just dying to spank this naughty ass, aren't you? Stop making things so hard! Your head's hard enough. Both of 'em. Fuckin' virgin.
Taka: Enough, I say! Besides, an invention to use while you're asleep? Your ideas are the epitome of lazy!
Miu: B-But that's my greatest invention to date...
Taka: And you tried to ignore the camp's assignment! Why would you waste such a valuable opportunity!?
Miu: Because nobody understands my talent...
Taka: All you do is rely on your talents. Don't you find that pathetic!? You should reflect on that!
Miu: *sob* Y-You don't have to shout...
Something like this is implied to have happened offscreen in Doki Doki Literature Club!, though the details are never explained. When Sayori's depression is reaching its climax, shortly before she's Driven to Suicide, and she talks about how it would be better if she just disappeared, she says "Monika was right. I should just..." but refuses to explain further. Additionally her last poem, which is practically a suicide note, contains the line "Get out of my head before I listen to everything she said to me."
- This is made even Harsher in Hindsight (even though it would certainly seem to be as bad as it can get already) in DDLC+ when a prequel side story, which has a lot of potential to be a Tear Jerker and Crowning Moment of Heartwarming by itself, shows that before Monika had her mind shattered, she was the first person Sayori trusted enough to open up about her depressive feelings.
In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Trials and Tribulations, Mia Fey delivers one of these to the possessing spirit of Dahlia Hawthorne, pointing out that every single Evil Plan she's made has resulted in failure and shame, including the one that she made from beyond the grave. The Fey/Wright clan has always been there to stop her and as a ghost she's doomed to eternal failure. This revelation horrifies her so much that it winds up exorcising Dahlia from Maya's body completely.

Web Original

The Auditor's favourite tactic in AJCO. She's only had the chance to use it on two people — A_J, repeatedly, and Egg — but she left both in tears. Until that point, A_J had never been seen weeping.
In the Camp Camp Season 1 finale, it seems as though David's overly happy-go-lucky spirit has finally been shattered, to Max's absolute delight. As he desperately tries to light a symbolic bonfire that's important to him in the middle of a thunderstorm, Max goes in to lay the final blow:
Max: Do you really think a big campfire and some outdated, honestly kind of racist tradition is going to make anyone care about anything? No one gives a shit, David. Nobody want to be here! It's like you live in this stupid make-believe world where "everything's great!" The universe doesn't work that way, idiot! Just look around! It's what I've been trying to show you since day one! Life sucks. And we live in a world of desensitized, apathetic assholes. Why don't you just get with the program and stop giving a shit...
- To which David immediate turns the tables on Max by answering:
Can You Spare a Quarter?: Graham drives a security guard who is after Jamie away by claiming that the boy is his son and by implying that he can get the security guard sacked. Jamie is impressed that a small man like Graham can scare away a large security guard without any violence or threat thereof.
Dream Machine: In episode 1.04, The Opposite of People, Josie gets Leah to finally work on her character with her by refusing to shut up and leave her alone.
This is how Elias Bouchard operates in The Magnus Archives. He peers into people's minds to find what would disturb and hurt them the most, then tortures them by speaking of it as cruelly as possible before directly planting feelings and images in their heads. His victims are often to the point of breaking before he ever plants anything in their mind.
In The Penguins of Madagascar: Operation N-W.O.R.D., Skipper points out to Donald Trump that his Evil Plan of taking over Barack Obama's body in order to gain N-Word Privileges means that he's technically inside of another man, which makes him gay. Donald Trump reacts by having a seemingly-fatal Villainous Breakdown.
In Saga of Soul, Downfall does it to Eriko. To put it mildly, it backfired.
In Sword Art Online Abridged, Rosalia does this to Kirito as a pre-battle tactic. Unfortunately for her, it backfires spectacularly; while it indeed gets to him, it changes him from Jerkass Deadpan Snarker to a Laughing Mad Psychopathic Manchild... and he's a long time player of the videogame they're trapped in, so he's waaaaaay past her level in terms of sheer stats. It ends quickly after that.
A hilarious example from Tumblr in the comments of a photo of someone drinking Diet Coke out of a bag:
In Worm, this is frequently aided by mental powers:
- Tattletale can do this due to her power. It doesn't matter who you are, if you can hear her, she will get to you. For this reason Armsmaster has some of his team wear earplugs when fighting her and she's frequently targeted first in fights.
- Jack Slash is a master at this, and it's his ability to get into people's heads and break them apart that is considered his most dangerous ability (his actual superpower, extending the cutting edge of blades, isn't much in comparison). It eventually turns out that his ability to break people IS actually a superpower, just an application of his power that's so subtle and non-obvious that nobody, not even he, is aware that it's a superpower.
- Contessa and Scion are even more capable at this. Contessa made Bonesaw perform a Heel–Face Turn with a short conversation.Scion made Eidolon depressed to the point where he let himself be killed with 4 words. In their case, it's not really any level of skill on their part: their power just told them exactly what they had to say to manipulate their targets.
In X-Ray & Vav, The Mad King uses this to rattle the bonds between our heroes. While it seems that Vav isn't too bothered by it, X-Ray is frightened, thinking that Vav is going to focus everything on his reporter Love Interest.
In Episode 81 of Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series, Dartz calls Yami out for his callous treatment of his friends. It works as Yami almost succumbs to the Seal of Orichalcos.
Dartz: Look at youwself! Look at everything you've dooone! You got a second chance at wahf! Oh! And how do you choose to spend it? Beating people in games y'already good at, and telling them how much they soock.
Yami: It's not my fault if they refuse to git gud.
Dartz: I know you're wight, but what is your fauwt is the way you take your fwends for gwanted or, oh, oh, do you even think of them as your fwewends?
Yami: Of course I—
Dartz: Oh, right, you can't even defend yoursewf! Not once have you taken the tahm to appweciate everything they've done for you, how patient dey' been. You're too busy calling Twistan stupaad, or Téa a slooot, or insulting the person whose body you now inhabit.
Yami: Yugi...
Dartz: Aww, that's the truth, though, Phawowoaoh. No Orichalcamalos magic, no bullshit powers. You're no hewo. You don't even deserve those fwends you surround yourself with. And you certainly don't deserve to keep wiving in Yugaay Muh-to's body. Just give it up. It's easier than fightin' the twuth.

Real Life

Nikita Khrushchev's "Secret Speech". At the time, the impact on the delegates was immediate. Soviet sources now say some were so convulsed as they listened that they suffered heart attacks; others committed suicide afterwards.
A series of independent experiments carried out by a sadistic Harvard psychology professor named Henry Murray in the 1960s could be counted as an extreme (and, as it turned out, extremely unfortunate) real-life example of Breaking Them by Talking. University students were instructed to write an essay summarizing their personal philosophy on life and underlying principles, then went into a room expecting to debate philosophy with a fellow student. They instead faced an interrogation by a far more experienced opponent, whose sole purpose was to attack and ridicule their beliefs at length. Since one of the main goals of the experiment was to induce stress and upset the subject as much as possible, it's not surprising that many students came out feeling traumatized. One of them, a student by the name of Ted Kaczynski, eventually went completely over the edge (for this reason or some other) and became the Unabomber.
- Murray had worked with the CIA in developing a test that tested pilots' wills, preventing them from possibly being brainwashed if captured. He decided to "fine tune" his technique using students as test subjects, but really, the guy was a sadist who got off on this sort of thing. WNYC's Radio Lab covered this story in one of their pieces titled "Oops".
A favorite technique of many Trolls is to hurt people in chatrooms and the like with offensive language.
In the documentary, I, Psychopath, diagnosed Narcissist Sam Vaknin subjects the filmmaker to these during most of the filming. The filmmaker almost has a nervous breakdown.
Many gay men, especially drag queens, have perfected the Xanatos Speed Chess variation of this called "the read", being able to assess someone quickly and jab them precisely.
- Margaret Cho describes the process on her album Assassin:
  (sassy voice) When you read somebody, what you are doing is you slowly chip away at their self esteem, but you do so in such a subtle manner they have no idea what is happening to them; they are simply overwhelmed by a sense of dread.
- Of course, anti-LGBT forces who are aware of this technique can resist it using anti-mind game techniques. They can even turn the tables by casting doubts on the compatibility between the causes of the homosexual and transgender movements as well as the future of both movements.
Sadly, some parents, teachers, and caregivers (i.e., at daycare centers, or even babysitters) have done this to their offspring/students/charges, unwittingly or not.
- Emotional and psychological abuse has this as a staple. The abuser will resort to things like insults, dares, and taunts that prey on the victim's fears, insecurities, etc. As one might expect, this can cause the victim to have difficulties (or a complete inability altogether) to form healthy relationships because of the trauma. They might even latch on tighter to the abuser, especially with abusers who play the "I'm a saint for putting up with you" card.
- A mild case of this can occur when knowing that you've disappointed someone by your actions makes you feel worse than any punishment could. It's unlikely to affect a sociopath, however.

Ahrimen's Whispers

Though Elika succeeded in resealing Ahrimen, it came at the cost of her own life. Unwilling to accept this, "the prince" begins to undo the seal, encouraged by Ahrimen, who speaks of the apparent injustice of his imprisonment and the futility of Elika's sacrifice. That with the last of Ormazd's followers gone it is only a matter of time before the spell wanes again.

Break Them by Talking (original) (raw)

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Ahrimen's Whispers

Alternative Title(s): Breaking Them By Talking, Breaking Speech, Break Him By Talking, Break Her By Talking, Breaking Lecture