Nifft said:
But how do you talk someone into gluttony?
Gluttony isn't just food, it could also be drugs, and, most commonly, the 'demon rum!'
Still, a poorer person, or even one who grew up with limited resources, could easily become addicted to the sensation of a full belly, and a hoard of food socked away, in case of emergency, so that he never need fear being hungry again. Food shortages could also be engineered by the fiend, perhaps through contagion. Other people derive very real psychological 'comfort' from eating, using food and drink (particularly booze, again) to avoid thinking about the things about themselves that really do make them feel insecure or unhappy.
How do you tempt someone with suicide?
The higher you go, the further you have to fall. Convince someone that a certain quality they possess (or think they possess) is *the* defining characteristic that makes them as wonderful as they are. The killer in Se7en targets a vain model, cutting up her face and then offering her the choice to OD on sleeping pills or call 911 to be rescued. Since she's convinced that she's nothing more than a 'pretty face,' that she has nothing else to live for, she takes the pills. A nobleman who is convinced that his noble bloodline or family ranking is all that makes him the specialest dude in all of Specialdonia, is going to suffer a crushing depression when he is framed for some deed that causes his noble family to disown him (or 'evidence' surfaces that he is a bastard child, and not really of the royal blood). A merchant who is convinced that his wealth is what makes him better-er than everybody else is going to suffer despair when that wealth is stripped from him.
People gripped in romantic 'true love' are the easist to crush. The fiend just has to convince them that their one true love is cheating on them, and the heartbroken lover might do the rest, going so far as to attack and slay his 'treacherous' beloved, only to discover too late that she was meeting with her long-lost brother to arrange a wonderful gift for their wedding day! Oh, the angst! He had true love, and in a moment of doubt, he killed her! (Or, in Romeo & Juliet fashion, *thinks* that she's dead, and kills himself only to have her wander in and wonder what his mental trauma is...)
It's the standard 'Gypsy curse.' Build them up and up and up, and just when everything seems wonderful, and their lives truly blessed, tear it all away and make it look like the cursee's fault that he threw away this wonderful life in a moment of rage or ignorance or lust.
Other than flattery, what breeds pride?
Nothing breeds pride like success!
The knightly rivals of Sir Justin suffer humilating defeats when he's up to joust. Their horses panic at the wrong moment or their lances split upon his shield or their saddle-straps break. *Of course* they claim malfeasance, the courtier whispers, *of course* they attribute Sir Justins streak of unvarnished victory to mere chance. They simply can't admit that Sir Justin is their better, he suggests, and they dishonor themselves by refusing to show him the proper respect. Surely, with all of the hard work and training that Sir Justin has put in, it wouldn't be inappropriate for him to attend the ball with the maiden that Sir Drake's father is attempting to arrange a marriage with? If Sir Drake considers it a ghastly breach of protocol, perhaps he would be willing to back up his words on the dueling field? Fair Jessica can choose for herself whom she would rather dance with, don't you think? As for fair Jessica, it's completely unseemly for her to dress so wantonly and dance so closely, and then refuse her charms later in the evening, so perhaps steps will have to be taken to remind her of her place...
The other Wizards have always had advantages, coming from families that threw good gold after bad arranging schooling for their insipid second children. Now that your secret tutor has helped you to perform feats that should be beyond your training, and whispered secrets into your ear during exams before the high magi, they whisper behind your back. Oh, you hear them. Laughing and talking, and then your round the corner and they silence themselves, as if you could not tell they were speaking about you! You'll show them all, with the secrets that your tutor has assured you their feeble minds couldn't possibly master, and the rituals that their squeamish and soft sentiments would balk at performing, you'll outpace even that doddering headmaster, who has been holding you back and trying to advance his own rich apprentices over hard-working commonborn such as yourself!