Are there any tortures that would result in a change of person i.e. from cheerful to cold persona? My character undergone abuses and tortures since she was a child by her father in order to mold her into a heartless assassin.
That’s not how torture works.
Yes torture can change someone’s personality but this is not a processthat a torturer has any control over. It is highly individual, to the pointwhere it’s essentially random.
No one can use torture to force acontrolled change in another person.
This trope also has a lot of unfortunate implications regarding torturein real life.
For starters the idea thattorture can be used to change someone’s personality and ethics has been used tojustify torture in the real world. Because it’s so difficult to accessaccurate information about torture fictional uses of plots like this are wheremost people come into contact with this idea. It’s also why a lot of peoplethink it’s true. Because they see it repeated over and over again in fiction asif it’s fact.
Secondly these kinds of plots send torture survivors an absolutely awful message. They tell survivors thatthey’re going to be influenced by their torturer for the rest of their lives.They tell survivors that being tortured made them a ‘bad person’ and/or‘dangerous’.
They essentially tell survivorsthat being a victim has made them‘bad’.
That’s a horrible message to be sending a group of highly vulnerable,abused, mentally ill people. On top of causing survivors pain it prevents survivorsfrom seeking help and from being honest about what they survived. It teachessurvivors to expect rejection rather than care and understanding.
Thirdly these sorts of plots teach everyoneelse that torture survivors are potentially dangerous and violent. Thiseffects how we react to torturesurvivors. It forms the basis of political justifications which make it moredifficult for torture victims to reach safety and access medical treatment. Itjustifies isolating torture survivors and barring them from participation insociety.
Even putting all of that aside: torturingsomeone does not make them a good solider or fighter.
In fact it causes a host of long term health problems that would act tomake them worse at fighting thensomeone who had not been systematically abused.
What’s more important to your story, that the character is an effectiveassassin or that she was tortured? Because realistically you can not have both.
If it’s more important to you that she’s an effective and obedientkiller I can talk to you about the sorts of techniques groups use to encourageobedience. These don’t involve violence.In fact violence seems to undermine the process and make victims more likely torebel.
You would also need to make her older because children do not make good soldiers.
If it’s more important to you that she’s tortured then I think you needto scrap anything that shows her as an effective fighter or killer. Because allthat adds to your story is a really toxic message to both survivors of tortureand the rest of us; a message that supports torturers over torture victims.
It’s your story and I can’t tell you what the best solution is for you.But I also won’t help you write more convincing torture apologia.
Consider what’s best for your story and characters and perhaps take alook at other posts under #child soldiers. I’d also strongly advise you to readsurvivor’s accounts of torture. Something like A Darkling Plain (Monroe, Cambridge University Press) or The Question (H Alleg) will give you aclearer idea of how torture survivors respond to torture and the huge variation in their responses.
For now that’s the best I can do.
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