Reverse Mole: Difference between revisions
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To avoid becoming the [[Deus Ex Machina]]; there must be [[Foreshadowing]] and he may have had to [[If You're So Evil Eat This Kitten|do something horrible]] to get the villains' trust; good guy or not, he may never be able to go back.
Related tropes include [[Fake Defector]]
A subtrope is the [[Stealth Mentor]], who reveals that they have been opposing the hero all along as a way of forcing the hero to become stronger.
Compare [[Heel Face Turn]] and [[Mook Face Turn]]. If the villain ''forces'' the goodie to join him, it may be a [[Sadistic Choice]] or [[I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure]].
{{examples}}
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* As soon as [[Chris Claremont]] returned to the ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'', he revealed that Tessa (aka Sage) had been a Reverse Mole for the X-Men... for the first 20 years of her editorial history!
* In [[Marvel Comics]], The Shroud has been undercover as a supervillain since the '80s, even going so far as to form the Night Shift, a team of supervillains with no idea their boss is working to destroy the underworld from within.
* {{spoiler|Femme Appeal}} from the [[Boom Kids]] ''[[Darkwing Duck (comics)|Darkwing Duck]]'' comic.
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* Indy's partner Mac in ''[[Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull]]'' goes from [[Double Agent|The Mole to a Reverse Mole to]] {{spoiler|The Mole AGAIN}} over the course of the movie.
** Nope, he was always a mole, Indy just bought his spiel about working for the CIA.
{{quote|
''No, I just lied about being a double.'' }}
* More like a [[Bait And Switch Villain]], the director of intelligence in ''[[Starship Troopers]] 3 Marauder'' is initially seen by one of the protagonists (and the audience) as a traitor who's trying to assassinate the Sky Marshal, covering up the failed attempt and preventing his rescue, and seizing power. Well, she actually is doing all that...because the Sky Marshal has gone nutty (well, nuttier) and is going to sell humanity out to the enemy.
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* ''[[Harry Potter]]'': {{spoiler|when Voldemort made it clear that he would kill Lily Potter, Snape went to Dumbledore and became a Mole for the Order of the Phoenix in the Death Eaters. When he killed Dumbledore, while he made it so that it looked like he was doing it for Voldemort, in fact he was performing a [[Mercy Kill]] on Dumbledore's orders.}}
* Ulic Quel-droma started out this way in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Expanded Universe|EU]]. [[The Dark Side]] being the Dark Side, however, he can't keep up the charade.
* All loose ends are tied up at the end of [[James Thurber]]'s masterpiece of whimsy ''[[The 13 Clocks]]'' when {{spoiler|the [[Aristocrats Are Evil|Wicked Duke's]] spy Hark reveals himself to be a faithful servant of Good King Gwain of Yarrow, sent to watch over [[
* [[G. K. Chesterton]] subverts the hell out of this trope in ''[[The Man Who Was Thursday]]'': the protagonist himself [[The Infiltration|infiltrates the Central Council of Anarchists,]] then gradually discovers that {{spoiler|the other five members of the Central Council of Anarchists are undercover police agents who aren't aware of each other's existence; he learns this as he confronts one member after another. Eventually the six join forces against the President of the Council, only to learn that he ''is'' the policeman who sent them all to infiltrate the council in the first place. Not to mention [[God Was My Co-Pilot|God]]}}.
* Someone surprising does this to the Zhentarim in ''Crown of Fire'' (a ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' novel).
* {{spoiler|Sullivan, Jenner's henchman}} in ''[[The Secret of NIMH]]'' is probably only working for evil under threat of coercion, so it's not surprising that he pulls a [[Heel Face Turn]] at the last moment. Unfortunately, [[Redemption Equals Death]].
* That one guy in one of the ''New [[Tom Swift]]'' books (''Tom Swift and his Jetmarine'', I think)...I don't remember his name, though.
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== Live Action TV ==
* In the episode ''Into the Fire'', a
** Indeed, most Gou'ald System Lords have a few Reverse Moles in their fleet, either one of the Tok'ra or [[Mooks|Jaffa]] who believe the truth about their "gods"- namely, that they are, in fact, [[
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' has [[Mad Oracle|Dalek Caan]] in "Journey's End".
** In ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S22
* {{spoiler|Tony Almeida}} in the latest season of ''[[24]]''.
** {{spoiler|Until it was revealed that he really was bad all along, making him a heel face mole.}}
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* ''[[Flash Forward]]'' executes a perfect Reverse Mole when {{spoiler|Janis is first revealed to be a mole, then revealed to be working for the CIA. Technically, she is still a [[The Mole|Mole]] as she is supposed to be working for the FBI.}} This is also an example of [[Lampshade Hanging]], as the character's name recalls {{spoiler|the guardian Roman god with two faces, Janis (also known as Janus)}}.
* In ''[[V-2009]]'', Joshua and several other crew members on Anna's ship are members of [[La Résistance|The Fifth Column]].
** The First [[V (TV series)|V]] had a fair amount of [[La Résistance|The Fifth Column]] as well, some of them high-ranking. Seems a lot of the Visitors weren't very happy with their orders.
* Colby of [[Numb3rs]] was revealed to be a double agent for the Chinese in ''Janus List''. But then it turns out that he was really working for the FBI in the following episode.
* In the pilot episode of ''[[Nikita (TV series)|Nikita]]'', [[Naive Newcomer]] Alex is revealed to be a mole for the eponymous hero so that she can keep tabs on her old employers at Division.
* While not done in the direct sense, the same principle is used on [[Hustle]] frequently with a random character turning out to be part of the con.
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Warhammer
* The Green Lady in ''[[Exalted]]''.
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Brawl'', {{spoiler|King Dedede ended up saving the day when he puts badges on Ness and Luigi (who were turned into trophies earlier). They get revived by said badges when Tabuu trophyizes everyone else, and Dedede ended up getting revived as well. Dedede also ends up as a
* In ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Blazing Sword'', Leila is one. {{spoiler|Ephidel knows and has Jaffar kill her for it}}.
* {{spoiler|Lucy Stillman}} in ''
* {{spoiler|Ghaleon}} from ''[[Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete|Lunar: Eternal Blue]]'' really seems to enjoy egging on the heroes...but that's because he secretly thinks they're the only hope against his boss, the [[Big Bad]].
* In [[Wild
* Lapis Roman from ''[[Xenosaga]]'' appears to the player at first as a no-nonsense and brutally efficient Galaxy Federation officer who arrests all the playable characters. Later, during her "interrogation" of the prisoners, she reveals that she's working for the good guys, and helps them devise an escape plan and a way to clear their names.
* Done in ''[[Secret of the Stars]]'', where {{spoiler|it turns out that the Big Bad's ''Dragon'' has been working with the heroes all along to stop the Big Bad, and ''not'' so he can take over himself.}}
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** Also, in ''Metal Gear Solid 3'', {{spoiler|the Boss's defection turns out to have been a ruse intended to allow Ocelot the opportunity to steal the Philosophers' Legacy. Oh, and things such as stopping Volgin from using Shagohod}}.
* ''[[Half-Life]]'' - {{spoiler|Doctor Judith Mossman betrays Black Mesa East to the Combine. Turns out, she was working primarily for herself and begins to help the Resistance more.}}
* In ''[[Blue Dragon]]'', Nene reveals that {{spoiler|Zola}} was working for him all along...{{spoiler|until it turns out that she at some point made a heel-face turn and only pretended to be on his side so she could get close and kill him.}}
* {{spoiler|Cpt. Miller}} in ''[[Mirror's Edge]]'' seems to be in league with the Icarus conspiracy (or, at least, in their pocket) but actually has his own agenda and assists Faith in the final level.
* {{spoiler|Heartless}} in ''[[Mega Man Star Force|MegaMan Star Force 3]]''. {{spoiler|She was pretending to be King's right hand woman but was really a former colleague of Kelvin Stelar and was using Dealer's resources to try to contact him. "Heartless," unsurprisingly, is not even her real name.}}
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* In ''[[Final Fantasy Dissidia]]'', {{spoiler|Golbez}} turns out to be working for Cosmos, and serves as a [[Stealth Mentor]] to a few of the heroes. {{spoiler|Kuja}} was also one of these with a similar role in the prequel, but Kefka found out and loaded him up with malicious [[Fake Memories]] to get him to knock it off for the events of the original.
* In ''[[Nancy Drew|Danger By Design]]'', Nancy finds evidence that a Frenchwoman thought to have been a WWII collaborator was actually covertly working to preserve and conceal some of France's artistic treasures.
* Crimson Viper of ''[[Street Fighter IV]]'' appears to be one of S.I.N.'s [[Punch Clock Villain
** This is ''outright stated'' in her profile for ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]''.
* In [[
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* [[Bob and George]] [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/041027c here] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20180105051324/http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/041028c
* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'': Torg's purpose for joining the Minion Master in the first place, not to mention the various supervillain organizations he infiltrates.
** Possibly Dr Schlock's motive for taking over Heretti-Corp; in spite of [[Becoming the Mask]] he does keep the villainy minimized, and feels regret for the damage he's responsible for.
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== [[Web Original]] ==
* [[Whateley Universe]]: [[Big Bad|The Necromancer's]] Children of the Night had a
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|The New Batman Adventures]]'' episode "You Scratch My Back" has Nightwing acting as this to fool Catwoman into Batman's plot of bringing her and the villain of this episode in.
* ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' [[Playing with a Trope|played with this trope]] in the first season finale. [[Magnificent Bastard|Slade]] [[The Reveal|reveals]] his season-long [[Evil Plan]] to [[The Hero|Robin]]: Slade had {{spoiler|lured Robin away from the rest of the Titans, leaving them to deactivate his "Chronoton Detonator" which was actually a device that injected them with deadly nanites, allowing Slade to kill them with the push of a button}}. After this reveal, Slade {{spoiler|[[Face Heel Turn|made Robin his new apprentice]]}}, thus making Robin [[Playing with a Trope|somewhat]] of a [[Fake Defector]], albeit {{spoiler|with the [[Manipulative Bastard|villain]] commandeering the [[The Plan|operation]] specifically designed to make the unwilling defector comply and [[We Would Have Told You But|prevent him from informing his comrades]] because [[Sadistic Choice|then, they would most assuredly die]], thereby making the goodies, ''not the bad guys'', the ones to be deceived by the hero's false defection.}} Following the establishment of his apprenticeship under Slade via a little crime spree and [[Shoot Your Mate|a show-down with his ex-teammates]] Robin's friends fully believe that he has been lost to [[The Dark Side]], for good. This makes the discovery that Robin was really {{spoiler
* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', Lisa enters a singing contest hosted by Krusty, with Homer as her manager. After she fires Homer for being a [[Jerkass]], he begins managing her competitor... who then loses all his fans and popularity in the final. Homer shows himself to be a
* ''[[The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes|Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes]]'': {{spoiler|Black Widow}}.
* ''[[South Park]]''. In the episode ''It Hits The Fan'', the Knight of Standards and Practices are sent to prevent the word "shit" from being used over and over again, as doing so in en masse not only restarts the bubonic plague, it can eventually summon a demonic dragon. Around the same time, the kids and Chef realize that the excessive swearing was possibly connected to the bubonic plague, and they decide to warn everyone of the potential danger.
== Real Life ==
* Several of these examples popped up following ''[[World War II]]'', where many [[The Quisling|Quislings]] in countries occupied by Nazi Germany turned out to have been helping their countries' [[La Résistance]] all along.
** Or so they claim.
* More significantly, Abwehr, the chief intelligence agency of [[Nazi Germany]], was filled to the brim with [[Double Agent
** So was his follow-up. The Germans' overseas situation was not helped either by the fact that Abwehr's 'finishing school' tutor was in fact an [[MI 6]] plant, which meant that virtually every agent was rounded up on day 1, and most, due to their misgivings of NAZI ideology were [[Heel Face Turn|easily turned]].
* Really, any real life [[The Mole]] is someone's
* ATF agent Jay Dobyns is one of the more successful undercover cops in history, being the only one to have risen to full-patch member of the Arizona Hells Angels. Made doubly impressive because he was a extremely successful college football star ''in the same state.''
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