Rash Equilibrium: Difference between revisions

~[[It's All About Me~]] characters will regard their own cheating as beneath mention, but rage about the treachery of the other character.

* In ''[[Pat Garrett Andand Billy Thethe Kid]]'', Billy and a deputized ex-crook get into a [[Ten Paces and Turn]] kind of duel. When they start taking steps, Billy immediately turns, draws his gun, and waits. When the deputy tries to turn and shoot a couple of steps before reaching ten, Billy's ready for him.

{{quote| "Then Maedhros ... persuaded his brothers to feign to treat with Morgoth, and to meet his emissaries at the place appointed; but the Noldor had as little thought of faith as had he. Wherefore each embassy came with greater force than was agreed; but Morgoth sent the more, and there were Balrogs."}}

* The novelization of the strategy game ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]: Mark of Chaos'' had this going on with its Chaos protagonist. It's made clear from the beginning that he and his superior loathe each other since the latter is a sorcerer and he is a Khornate Champion, meaning he abhors most magic. When they get to the resting place of the [[MacGuffin]], {{spoiler|the sorcerer decides he doesn't need his champion anymore and turns around to incinerate him, only to notice and narrowly evade the axe headed for his head. The following fight ends after the initially losing Champion receives a gift of his god making him near-immune against all magic.}}

* This happens in the [[Discworld]] novel ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Mort|Mort]]'' when [[The Grim Reaper|Death]] and Mort are getting a countdown to begin their fight. Both of them attack on two.

* In the ''[[Percy Jackson]]'' series Zeus, Poseidon and Hades - the Big Trio of gods exhibiting sibling rivalry of divine proportions - make an oath not to have any more children with mortal women, since said children become too powerful and could be used against each other. As even gods cannot be expected to keep it in their pants for too long, Zeus and Poseidon both break the oath and father children. (Hades had fathered children before they made the oath, and he hides them in a [[Place Beyond Time]] to protect them from the other two.) When the children or 'demigods' are found, it escalates the rivalry from divine proportions to... [[Buffy-Speak|something even more divine]].

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

** This is pretty much the exact premise of the [[wikipedia:Prisonerchr(27)Prisoner's dilemma|PrisonersPrisoner's Dilemma]]

* In season 3 of ''[[The Wire]]'', {{spoiler|Stringer Bell and Avon Barksdale, who've been partners since the beginning of the series,}} end up simultaneously betraying each other. {{spoiler|Stringer}} gives {{spoiler|Avon}} up to the police; {{spoiler|Avon}} arranges for {{spoiler|Stringer}} to be killed. Both continue to swear that they're brothers, reminisce, and embrace, even after their mutual betrayal.

* In the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' episode "The Wire", one of Garak's many conflicting stories about his past has him and his friend Elim trying to frame each other for the same crime. Since {{spoiler|Garak ''is'' Elim}}, [[Mind Screw|it's not entirely clear what this is actually supposed to mean]].

* In the ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]'' episode "Justice", Lister is being chased by a simulant, and they agree to meet face to face, without weapons; both violate the agreement. Lister's lead pipe isn't very impressive beside the simulant's [[BFG]]. Good thing for him that they're meeting in a "justice field", where any crime you try to commit is inflicted on you instead...

* This is standard procedure when two [[Heel|heelsheel]]s are going up against a face in a triple threat match, [[Enemy Mine|for obvious reasons]]. The heels always double-team the face at the start of the match... until one of them goes for a pinfall, the other pulls him off, they argue and then start fighting. When this happens, the face usually wins.

** One of the best examples is the [[WWEWorld Wrestling Entertainment|Triple Threat match]] between [[Edge]], [[Randy Orton]], and [[Shawn Michaels]] in 2007. Before the match Edge and Orton, who were heel tag team partners, pledged not to fight each other during the match, and actually avoided this for the first 3/4ths of the match. When they finally turned on each other, they both tried to calm the other down, turned away to lure the other into a false sense of security, [[Cross Counter|and started whaling away on each other]].

== [[TheaterTheatre]] ==

* In ''[[Measure for Measure (Theatre)|Measure for Measure]]'', Angelo tries to get Isabella to [[Scarpia Ultimatum|sleep with him in exchange for the life of her brother]]. She convinces his old fiancée to go instead under a [[Paper-Thin Disguise]]. He doesn't notice the difference, but orders the execution of her brother anyway.

* ''[[LovesLove's LaboursLabour's Lost]]'' carries this to the point of absurdity: the Prince of Navarre and his three attendants all swear an oath to stay away from women for three years, and all independently break it. The scene where this is discovered has three of them, in sequence, trying to guilt-trip those who've already had their oathbreaking revealed, only to be themselves exposed.

* ''[[Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic)|Schlock Mercenary]]'' has the mercenaries attempting to lure Breya's troops on board so they can capture her, while Breya attempts to get her troops onto Tagon's ship so they can take it over. [[Time for Plan B|Plan B]]... err [[Time for Plan B|C]] [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20040210.html ensues]. {{spoiler|Then Tagon's employer shows up. Backstabbings all around.}}

{{quote| '''Breya:''' We worked well together! We used to be friends! Is ''this'' how you repay that?<br />

* In the final few episodes of the first season of ''[[Transformers]]: [[Beast Wars (Animation)|Beast Wars]]'', Optimus and Megatron initiate a truce. Of course, neither side believes the other will keep their word, so while they both stick to the letter of the agreement ("no weapons") they unashamedly violate its spirit; treating us to several [[Slapstick]] fights and several humorous spying montages.

{{quote| '''Stewie''': You came unarmed?<br />

'''Bertram''': As we agreed.<br />

'''Stewie''': Admirable - but foolish! ''(pulls out a gun)''<br />