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| - After capturing the hero, the villain will threaten him with Cold-Blooded Torture unless he reveals where he's hidden the MacGuffin, etc. Of course, being a good hero, he dares him to do his worst, not only can he take it, but will do so with a smile! The villain will then calmly rotate the chair they're strapped into and show them a friend or loved one in deep trouble instead. Oh Crap. The hero may find they Ain't Too Proud to Beg and might plead "Please, I Will Do Anything!." We might discover this dark scene in fragments as a Troubled Backstory Flashback. Examples of Forced to Watch include:
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| abstract
| - After capturing the hero, the villain will threaten him with Cold-Blooded Torture unless he reveals where he's hidden the MacGuffin, etc. Of course, being a good hero, he dares him to do his worst, not only can he take it, but will do so with a smile! The villain will then calmly rotate the chair they're strapped into and show them a friend or loved one in deep trouble instead. Oh Crap. This "deep trouble" can be just about anything. A camera feed showing a hit squad offing allies or friends one by one, the Love Interest in a slowly moving Death Trap or being outright tortured. If the villain has the means, they might force the hero into Watching Troy Burn or the Redshirt Army being massacred by the villain's Gas Mask Mooks. The possibilities are nauseatingly endless, but the one constant is that they are Forced To Watch, often with the offer that they can make it stop if they just give in. Sometimes the act isn't meant to make someone talk, but to Kick the Dog in a truly heinous way, Mind Raping them by taking whatever they love and destroying it before their very eyes. More cynically, this is a way for the writers to make sure that the heroes remain absolutely sympathetic--caving under torture would make them "weak," but caving to a loved one's torture makes them heroic. In family-friendly works it can be a way of softening a torture scene: rather than getting out the knives, simply threatening the hero's loved ones can carry story without rousing the censors. It can even be a moment of comedy if the subject of the threat is absurd or the punishment is ridiculous. In more adult works the hero's head may be strapped to prevent them from looking away. In more extreme works their eyes may be taped open, or their eyelids removed. An anesthetic or blow to the head may leave the hero too dazed to look away. Other times, like a car wreck, the hero just won't be able to look away. For bonus points, a hero trying to look away will have the villain grab them by the chin and force them to face forward while screaming that they look on. The hero may find they Ain't Too Proud to Beg and might plead "Please, I Will Do Anything!." We might discover this dark scene in fragments as a Troubled Backstory Flashback. Morally dubious heroes may also force a victim to watch. It can mark where the Well-Intentioned Extremist just crossed the Moral Event Horizon. The villain is Tempting Fate by attempting this form of torture with Determinators, Plucky Girls and Badass antiheroes, as the consequences will not be pretty if they do not succeed in breaking them. Especially if the hero manages to bust loose from their imprisonment -- in which case the villain is going to be facing torture and/or death soon enough. See also We Have Ways of Making You Talk. Examples of Forced to Watch include:
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