- Reviews & Essays
- The 4 Types of Mind Control
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Click hereIn my opinion, there are four basic categories of Mind Control erotic stories. This assumes that we are discussing actual stories of course – as we all know, there are plenty of horribly written little screeds that barely bother to name the poor characters, let alone discuss anything beyond breast and cock size. If, however, the author is attempting to actually tell a story and present some details about personalities and interactions, there are four basic categories. I thought it might be useful to present my thoughts, both for readers and for authors.
I call the four categories Soft (or Consensual) Mind Control, Ethical Mind Control, Accidental Mind Control, and Monster Mind Control. I'll go over each of the four categories, describe my opinions of the weaknesses and strengths of the archetype, and give an example or two if possible. Before I do that though, I need to make a brief statement on the morality of Mind Control.
Mind Control, assuming it were actually possible, is on the level with murder and rape as one of the worst things that one human being can do to another. This should go without saying, but seeing as I'm writing a mildly successful story about Mind Control for a site devoted to sexual gratification, I figured I ought to make that explicitly clear. There's obviously something about the fantasy that satisfies a kink, and there's nothing wrong with fantasy, as long as you keep a clear line between fantasy and reality. If we look at the concept of Mind Control without the erotic fantasy, it's clearly the destruction and erasure of a human being, or at least a portion of them. It's a violation of their personhood on the deepest and most intimate level, and completely heinous. Which, of course, makes it a rather challenging topic for erotica, in that by definition, at least one person in the story is doing something unspeakably evil. All of the four categories are an attempt to deal with this basic issue in different ways.
The first category, Soft Mind Control, mostly takes the approach of only engaging in mutually agreed upon Mind Control. A lot of these stories rely on hypnosis instead of more fantastical methods. Typically, this is more about the subject having some level of sexual repression that they want the controller to help them shed. They have an 'inner self' that they can't or won't liberate on their own. As long as everything is consensual and informed, there's a strong case to be made that there isn't actually anything evil being done in this category. The stories tend to follow the BDSM credo of "safe, sane, and consensual", and be more about submission and acceptance than Mind Control. In fact, when I first thought up these categories, I only had three categories, because for me personally the Mind Control fetish is about much stronger and nonconsensual control. My personal preferences aside, this is a real category, and it dodges the question of evil by taking as much of the evil out of the situation as possible.
A good example of this category is The Addicted Natural by blacknight99. The protagonist does make a few nonconsensual changes, but they're pretty minor in the big scheme of things. The subjects basically all push him to hypnotize and control them, and he has to be dragged into it. He pretty clears does what they want in the end, despite his official title of Master. Another example I really like is Just Say No by DystopianArtificer, which lays out a rule in the story that no one can be hypnotized to do something they don't truly want to do.
Taking another step up the ladder, we have the often unsuccessful category of Ethical Mind Control. Here we have a protagonist who really and truly can control the minds of others, without any need for consent. The protagonist, however, has a conscience, and really and truly tries to not abuse their power. Of course, any use of this kind of power that doesn't fall into the soft/consensual category is abuse, so how is this actually a category on its own? The answer is that it's damn hard to pull off, and most attempts fail in my judgment.
There are a couple different ways I've seen this attempted, and I'm sure there are more out there that I haven't seen. One way is that the protagonist can use their power only against 'villains' of various sorts, reforming them by mental/magical force. If you support capital punishment, this may work for you, but since I'm against capital punishment, a punishment where you basically kill someone and then install a new personality in their body requires some very specific circumstances for it to work for me. A second attempt at the ethical approach is to have the protagonist accidentally use their power at first before they can control it, then realize what they've done and do their best to refrain in the future. Most takes on this that I've seen, the protagonist doesn't actually try very hard to fix their initial mistake. I'm sure you've read a few of these – Boy turns girl into devoted Slut accidentally, feels terrible, apologizes, Slut reassures him that she's happier than she's ever been and she loves him, they settle down happily together, yada yada. The problem with this trope is that it's the altered personality that's reassuring the controller, and that's not a very trustworthy perspective on the poor victim's actual wants and desires.
The list of examples of this category that don't work and leave me frustrated with their hypocrisy are too many to count, and it would be kind of rude to attack other authors, so I'll just include one of the rare examples of this that I think actually works: AngelWatch by Handsinthedark. It's more of a redemption story than an erotic fantasy, but it's a good story and I recommend it.
Next we have the two categories I personally find the most honest and satisfying, starting with Accidental Mind Control. In this category, the protagonist isn't a mind controller, at least not at the beginning. Instead, by an accident of fate or luck, the protagonist stumbles across a subject who's already been worked over by a mind controller. The subject desperately needs a master to control them, and the protagonist is forced to fill that role in order to take care of them. You get all of the fun, kink-satisfying elements of control and helpless, needy, wanton sexuality, but a protagonist who isn't responsible for the victim's state. In fact, the protagonist often goes on to take down the evil mind controller and achieve a measure of revenge on behalf of the controlled subject, while still getting to keep the subject. It's the ultimate 'have your cake and eat it too' approach to Mind Control. A couple of great examples are The True Master by weerdo, and Jonathan Creed by Noble_Truth (Noble, if you're reading this – please, please write another chapter of The King's Creed). Oh, and My New Girlfriend by Svalbarding, that's a great one too.
Finally, there's Monster Mind Control. This category just says "fuck it, it's a dark fantasy, deal with it". The mind controller is an evil bastard/bitch and their subjects are tortured victims. Sometimes the protagonist is aware that they're a villain or at least a bit of a sociopath. Sometimes they just don't think very hard about what they're doing, but the author gives you enough perspective to see what's happening. In my opinion, most attempts at Ethical Mind Control would fall into this category once you stop and really think about what the characters are doing, but I reserve the actual category for works where the author clearly indicates that their controlling character is a monster.
Given my own writing, you can tell I like this category. Aside from me, one of my favorite examples of this genre is Control, Enkindle by nikyc. If you enjoy my Shadow Doctor story, I expect you'll love Control, Enkindle. Another really good story in this category is The Tolerant by Svalbarding. It's not on Literotica because it features some underage characters, but if google it I'm sure you can find it.
So, those are the four basic categories in my opinion. I guess my main hope in writing this is that authors out there who are attempting to write Ethical Mind Control stories would slow down, step back, and take a closer look at their characters. Then either make real changes to the story, or admit to yourself that the story has a darker edge than you thought and let the darkness come through in your writing – it'll make it stronger and more honest, though perhaps less popular.
If you'd like to propose examples of Ethical Mind Control stories that you think work in the comments or by email, I'd be happy to see if I can poke holes in them when I have time.
- COMMENTS
Anonymousalmost 3 years agoI disagree with the premise that mind control is erasing a person, while some stories do exactly that those are more the poorly written slap stick ones you decided not to even categorize. For mind control to be the equivalent of erasing a person you'd have to believe a personality is predetermined and completely static, this is simply false ppl change all the time and personalities, wants, and desires are fluid and heavily susceptible to outside influences. For better are for worse ppl are mind controlled all the time by their friends, peers, Jobs, countries, ect. All these things have some level of influence on who they are, what their desires and personality is. Obviously certain ppl like parents or spouses have much stronger and more and prolonged influence over someone else. If you know anyone who's been married you know 10 years later they're not the same, that doesn't mean they've been erased.
That brings us to mind control stories, I believe any story where someone is actively trying change another person's way of thinking, desires, or personality through whatever means is at heart a mind control story. Some are just more realistic than others such as a man making a concerted effort to influence, persuade, or manipulate their wife into being submissive, a hot wife, or otherwise changing her to their liking, ultimately this is MC. Same with stories like blackmailing someone to do things and eroding their values and Inhabitions until they start enjoying said things is also mind control. The more fantasticaly and magical stories you mentioned doesnt make it erasing someone it's simply a more unrealistic and expedited take on the natural process of changing someone, example you talked about guy makes girl his slut stories this is most cases can be done irl just takes a lot longer and much more effort. So no it's not erasing someone it's just an unrealistic and fictional take on the natural process of influencing and changing someone and or their way of thinking.
Anonymousover 4 years agoIf, in the case of accidental mind control, the lead puts right what he/she changed before learning to control the ability, then it would not be an altered personality who decides whether or not to submit once more to MC once freed. Perhaps he or she might decide to ask for it back if the controller isn’t a total douche and ensured pleasure throughout the story. Or, perhaps not. Depends on the controlled character. Point is, if the controlled character is put back the way he/she was before the accidental control, then he/she would be capable of deciding whether or not to go back to it. (I know, that would take a deep knowledge of the character to pull that off and many writers find that too taxing)
Personally, I think a character who decides to submit to the controller of his/her free will, sans any more MC, would be the icing on the cake. (If the MC experience allowed a character to recognize a strong submissive streak and choose to submit with no need for MC, so it’s always his/her CHOICE to submit in the future.)
Anonymousalmost 5 years agoI know what you mean about it being hard to write mind control stories that don't make the protagonist look like an evil person when you look past the sexual gratification fantasy. That's actually one of the reasons I am trying to do something to that effect with my own story on Chyoa. Long story short, the main character is a multibillionaire mind controllers from a minority group that are essentially the next step in human evolution but one day, he was warned that the zombie apocalypse will begin in a matter of months so he burned through his fortune to make a network of fully stocked, interconnected bunkers and started saving as many women from the zombie hordes as he could. His best hope was that in controlling them all, eventually one of his many children would be evolved enough to develop an ability that just may be able to end the zombie threat before it wipes out the rest of humanity.
So, yeah, he is certainly forcing them to be okay with his plan and to bear his children. On the other hand, they likely wouldn't have survived long without him granting them asylum and his by multiplying the evolutionary odds, his plan has a chance of success. And success on that front would save them from extinction, so that's good. I am curious though, what type of mind control story do you think this would be?
If you ever want to check it out, search for A Psychic in a Zombie Apocalypse in the Chyoa website. Thanks for the essay.
Baltimore_Rogersalmost 5 years agoI am the Baltimore Rogers who wrote _Discipline and Reward: a Love Story_, which you were discussing here about a year and a half ago. Sorry all, it's not posted on this site. I don't much like the way Literotica organizes (or really, fails to organize) multi-chapter stories. In any case, someone told me about this essay and the mention of my story in the comments, so I came over to check it out. I'm flattered that you (TehCorinthian) were reading it, and I hope you eventually finished it. And I'm flattered to be mentioned (by Anonymous) in the company of _Chances Are..._ and _Tristan's Tale_, both of which I think are far superior to my story.
As for your assertion that the narrator referred to himself as a "monster", sadly, that is not true. I searched both my original drafts and the version of the story currently on the EMCSA and found exactly 5 references to the word "monster". 3 were references to the BRM ("big rubber monster") that plays a minor role in the story. Another was a reference to monsters as a type of mythical creature ("fairies, sprites, demons, dryads, nymphs, monsters, and, yes, gods"). The last was descriptive of the Greek goddess Athena. You can do the same search as I did; search for the following in Google: "site:mcstories.com/DisciplineAndReward monster" (without the quotes)
Of course the narrator *does* quite often refer to himself as "evil", but usually in regards to his past actions. He also gives every evidence throughout the story that he is not proud of those past actions and that, second only to his need to survive, he is trying to become a better "person". Far more often he is described, both by himself and others, as (Ha!) "amoral". I wonder if that is where "Anonymous" got the idea for the title for his posting?
As for my "attempt to turn it into a love story", well, it was pretty much a love story from the outset, at least in the mind of its author, moi. As for "the love of a good woman", I hope I made it clear over the course of the story that Kynthia wasn't just a "good" woman, she was a flippin' *amazing* woman.
In any case, I think Anonomous's point, if I'm interpreting it correctly, is valid. Your "categories" are too restrictive and do not really account for, among other things, MCs that start out just trying to survive, like my narrator in D&R. MCs in many stories are no more "evil" than Anne Rice's reluctant vampire, Louis de Pointe du Lac.
Other minor points:
-- _Tristan's Tale_ is easy to categorize. It's a MC homage to Harry Potter. (I say this knowing full well that IncomingPornDuck is a far superior writer, "whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose")
-- I intrigued by your assertion that "there are a million possible routes he could have taken to fight the gods that aren't as evil as what he went with". I thought I did a pretty good job of boxing narrator-san into a corner. I'd love to discuss those "alternate routes" with you. If you don't want to have this discussion in public, both of the places where D&R is posted have ways for you to get in touch with me privately (as does Literotica, I suppose. I just don't come here very often).
-- Do you have any plans to finish _The Shadow Doctor_? It's a really good story, marred only by the fact that it has been hanging incomplete for well over a year (two years?) now.
Anonymousalmost 5 years agoI agree that heavily rewiring personality or outright replacing it is essentially a murder.
But any sane human being is in process of constant changing his/her personality anyway, mind control or not. Actually, NOT changing personality is more akin to death.
So, I thinkless invasive mind control still can be "ethical".
Anonymousover 5 years agoI completely agree with your concept of character death during certain mind control situation, but only in situations which the alteration is permanent, for example if a character is continually forced to do something completely out of character that they normally would have never done or would most likely choose to stop should they be given free will, for example female mind controlled character ignoring their sick parents, spouse or innocent children whom they originally loved and spent time with often, but now spends most of their time enjoying gang bangs not even bother to care about them anymore. Or a kind saintly person whom wouldn't hurt a fly suddenly mind manipulated into becoming a hired killer. My perspective would be that the character is a dramatically different person as the characteristics and mental persons which dedicates and influence their actions have been dramatic overhauled and they have been transformed into someone unrecognizable from any who may have originally known them including themselves. However I only would consider this character "death" if the change is irreversible or permanent, if the character can go back to the original "self" through any means whether it be a snap of the fingers, bump on the head ect, then I cannot consider this a character death since when one thinks of real life death we think of it as something permanent. Of course if we're talking about novel's and stories than there's a chance that even if the change is reversible we as the readers may never witness it or may never occur before the end of the novel\ story leaving us to wonder if the mind control was ever reversed or cancelled. I feel like this would be considered a partial character death since there is hope that the alteration may be reversed but there's also a high possibility that it may never occur similar to a coma patient, there's a chance they'll wake up but then again they may never wake up again...well that's what the epilogue and sequels are for.
GoesGruntover 5 years agoUtilitarian ethics is itself monstrous in this context. Right and wrong is not being measured by "happiness" or "pleasure" but freedom. We aren't ethically obligated to be happy. Being unhappy, sad, depressed etc. isn't a sin or a crime.
In this context we are ethically obligated to preserve personal freedom, be it our own or others.
While dealing with real world issues, the devil is in the details. Determining what is a right and what is a privilege is complex, to say the least. But freedom of thought, not action, is pretty fundamental.
Anonymousover 5 years agoFirst off, I didnt think to apply such an interesting application of ethics to mind control. Im glad you made me think about it.
For the ethical try, "Trucker's Curse," by North200. Although, I think it has an element of accidental in there.
Usually, when I read mind control I assume the recipient still has their original personality, but their body is hijacked and the refipient is an observer of their own actions, or the personality is given a different pleasure response. By that last part I am talking about the type of mind control where the controller makes the recipient enjoy something they would not have enjoyed before the mind control. I view this as similar to someone enjoying a new hobby. The recipients personality didnt change, their personality is simply reacting to an emotion it was given the same way that personality would react to it without control. So, unless the story has a controller who completely overhauls the recipients personality, I view mind control as more like kidnapping, or slipping someone some enjoyable drugs without their knowledge. I prefer the latter thought as I dont see it as particularly bad.
Also, in your ethical category, you mention that the person with the new personality claims to be happier than ever. You compare it to murdering someone and replacing them. I think this comparison is not quite accurate, because I would think that unless the controller removed their past memories, the recipient would have a continuum of consciousness from the past personality to the modefied personality. It would be more comparible to relate this case to an aging person. You probably had a different personality when you were a kid, compared to now, compared to you in old age. You remember being a kid. You inow what personality you had. If you are happier as an adult than as a kid, I would consider your opinion valid. I wouldnt compare your present personality to a dead and reborn personality since childhood. I would consider your views also valid if you had a personality, you had a crazy acid trip, the trip changed your personality, and you claimed to be happier after the trip. Many depressed people who went through medical studies have become happier after shrooms and acid, and I wouldnt ncall their trip a personality death. I could go on, but my point is the ability to compare two personalities in your mind gives the validity you need to determine which one is happier in the context of its time. Finally utilitarian ethics would argue that the most happiness for the most people is the most ethical situation, and personality death or not, having more dopamine and seratonine under the mind controlled state is more ethical than no mind control and less happy neurotransmitters.
Anonymousalmost 6 years agoReally like what you have to say on the subject. Love the "monster" stories myself, with a personal favorite over in the celebrities category, Mind Fucking Kelly Kelly. Wonder if you've checked that one out and where falls on your list of those types of stories.
TehCorinthianover 6 years agoAuthorHey Anon, thanks for the comments.
I haven't read Chances Are yet, but I have been keeping up with Discipline and Reward. I think D&R is definitely in my monster category; the protagonist refers to himself as a monster multiple times. And even if he's convinced he's doing what he needs to do to survive, it's pretty easy to take a step back and see that there are a million possible routes he could have taken to fight the gods that aren't as evil as what he went with. I'm also pretty skeptical of the author's attempt to turn it into a love story; the idea that someone who's been enslaving people for millenia would be redeemed by the love of a good woman just doesn't sit right with me.
Regarding Tristan's Tale, I think I've said above that I think it defies categorization. It's a fascinating story and I can't wait for the next update.
I do like the idea of a 'monster' style category where the mind controller isn't sentient - the virus or alien parasite idea. Still, since the virus isn't usually the one having sex with the mind controlled person, I think most of those stories would probably fall into my monster or accidental categories, based on how the person/people interacting with the victim react.
