Playing With / To the Pain

Basic Trope: The torturer describes his tortures to the victim.

• Straight: During his imprisonment, The Damnable Robber Wesley is told in detail by his jailers of the tortures awaiting him unless he confesses the location of the kingdom's stolen funds: whipping, branding, waterboarding and being placed on a rack.
• Exaggerated: The explication of the torture lasts several hours thanks to the jailers' enthusiastic narrative choices.
• Downplayed: Wesley's torturers don't outright explain their plan to him, but they do give just enough details to help his mind fill in the gaps.
• Justified:
  • Prince Engelbert wants his rival Wesley to be filled with as much dread as possible during his imprisonment.
  • It's an attempt at forcing a confession early. If he breaks and confesses without being harmed, then that means the job is already done, and bloodshed is avoided. Engelbert would prefer not having to hurt captives if he can, but isn't above making them fear for their lives either.
• Inverted: Wesley's jailers tell him nothing of the tortures he is to endure. The fun is in finding out, after all.
• Subverted: Wesley's torture regimen is explain in detail, but his jailers employ totally different methods in an attempt to catch him off guard.
• Double Subverted: They do, however, give Wesley a complete explanation after a short demonstration of the different method (when he has been technically been worked over a little but there is still not significant damage done to him) so he hopefully will break ASAP.
• Parodied: Wesley is given a rather long booklet entitled So You're Being Tortured..., outlining the exact regimen he will undergo down to the duration, pain intensity and lasting physical effects of each act.
• Zig Zagged: Wesley is set to be tortured, but the sudden capture of Ignacio Morena and Fezzywig preempts their plans, giving Wesley a chance to plot an escape with his allies while the torturers regroup.
• Averted: Wesley isn't told of any tortures he will endure. For him, being trapped in the lowest dungeon of the castle with no company is torture enough.
• Enforced: The jailers of Castle Fauno enjoy their jobs, and make sure everyone knows it.
• Lampshaded: "So, I suppose it's down to waving the whips and irons about, eh?"
• Invoked: Wesley turns the tables on Engelbert after capturing him, inventing all manner of gruesome and fictitious tortures to threaten him with during his ransoming.
• Exploited: Engelbert knows Wesley is expecting the most grievous torture, which is why he elects to practice them on the Princess Snapdragon instead, something Wesley would never countenance.
• Defied: Wesley is never taken to the dungeon. Engelbert is so enraged at the loss of his gold he has Wesley executed without trial upon capture to hurt the morale of his surviving brigands.
  • Wesley is tortured, plain and simple. No speeches (pre-emptive or otherwise), no mind games, no interrogation (and if there is interrogation, it's after a very long session and will definitely sound like "tell us what we want and we'll skip to the Mercy Kill").
• Discussed: Englebert explains to his disapproving father that torture can work wonders, provided the proper motivations are identified.
• Conversed: Wesley and his comrades speculate on the exact nature of Engelbert's men's designs while imprisoned.
• Implied: The normally gregarious Wesley declines to speak about what his jailers had in store for him upon rescue.
• Deconstructed: Explaining the torture methods to Wesley only gives him the opportunity to prepare an escape plan utilizing the implements provided by his torturers.
• Reconstructed: Englebert anticipated this, secretly incorporating "phony escape" into his torture plans, a fact Wesley only finds out after he is recaptured and mocked by the prince.
• Played For Laughs: Englebert's idea of a "to the pain" speech needs a whole lot of work.
  Englebert: Tell us what we want to know, or we'll make you sit in... the comfy chair!
• Played For Drama: The standard use of this trope. When someone threatens someone else with torture or living enduring a Cruel Mercy, it's usually because they really want to hurt them, even if they are still barely holding back.
  • "The Comfy Chair" has buzz-saws on the armrests, leg rest, and back.
• Played For Horror: The harm that Englebert threatens to do to Wesley is absolutely not for audiences that are young or highly sensitive.