Running Both Sides: Difference between revisions

 

A subtrope of [[Playing Both Sides]]. May involve the [[Mole in Charge]]. Compare [[Xanatos Gambit]] if the one doing the running benefits regardless of who wins or if anyone wins at all.

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== Anime and Manga ==

* In ''[[Darker than Black]]'', nearly everyone works for [[The Syndicate]], although most of them don't know it. Part of the point of this is to trick Contractors into wiping themselves out, as most of them work for various intelligence agencies in (seeming) opposition.

* In ''[[Madlax]]'', Enfant had been supplying and coordinating both sides of the Gatz-Sonikan civil war.

 

== Comic Books ==

* In ''[[Nextwave]]'', the 'wavers discover that their anti-terrorist agency H.A.T.E. is actually owned and run by the Beyond© Corporation, the very terrorists they're supposed to be fighting.

* In [[Marvel Comics]], it turned out that HYDRA secretly owned S.H.I.E.L.D.

 

== Film ==

* In the ''[[Star Wars]]'' prequel trilogy, Senator Palpatine [[You Should Know This Already|ends up in charge of both]] the republic as Supreme Chancellor and its enemies as Darth Sidious. As chancellor, the conflict is useful to him politically, so he encourages it.

* In ''[[Wag the Dog]]'', political advisors attempt to create an "artificial war" — and trick the public into thinking it's the real thing.

* In ''[[Cars 2]]'', {{spoiler|Sir Miles Axelrod is hosting the World Grand Prix to promote his Allinol ''and'' is the shadowy leader of the Lemons.}} This is all part of a larger effort to discredit alternative fuels and encourage greater reliance on conventional petroleum sources.

* In the 1987 ''[[Dragnet]]'' movie, Reverend Whirley is {{spoiler|the head of P.A.G.A.N.}}.

 

== Literature ==

* ''Random Factor'' series: a giant space war has been going on for years. Then stuff starts going wrong, and the main character manages to gain access to the sentient AI running his side's war effort... but finds that actually, the two sides are orchestrating the war pretty precisely. Oh, and the people actually fighting and dying are half-size test-tube clones, on half-size space ships. Saves money, that way.

* It's done in ''[[American Gods]]''. While Mr. Wednesday rallies the Old Gods, {{spoiler|his partner Loki is leading the New Gods as Mr. World}}.

* In [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s ''Dragon Jouster'' series, it is discovered that both leaders of the warring nations (expys of Upper and Lower Ancient Egypt) are being manipulated by a corrupt Magician's Guild. The death-energies from the soldiers in battle are harnessed as sacrifices to fuel an immortality/youth spell.

* Tanya Huff's ''Valor'' series has this as a reveal in the last book: A heretofore unknown shapeshifting alien race started an intergalactic war just to study how the different species would behave, like mice in a labyrinth.

* Part of [[The Reveal]] in [[G. K. Chesterton]]'s novel {{spoiler|''[[The Man Who Was Thursday]]''}}, used for [[Mind Screw]] and [[Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory]] purposes.

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' [[Virgin New Adventures|New Adventures]] novel ''Toy Soldiers'', there's a war where it turns out that both sides are being run by the same supercomputer, which had set the whole thing up because it had heard somewhere that periods of conflict often produce flowerings of creativity.

* In the ''[[Fablehaven]]'' series, {{spoiler|it turns out that the Sphinx is both the captain of the Knights of Dawn, dedicated to keeping the demon prison sealed, and the mastermind behind The Society of The Evening Star, who are trying to gain control of the means to open the prison.}}

* ''[[Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World]]'' has two opposing factions, the Calcutecs that are paid to guard information, and the Semiotecs that steal and sell it. It's heavily implied that both organizations might be in cahoots, though, as with many things in the book, it's never revealed.

 

== Professional Wrestling ==

* In 1999, [[WWF]] featured a long and convoluted storyline about [[The Undertaker]] and his [[Power Stable|Ministry Of Darkness]] attempting to seize control of the WWF from [[Heel Face Turn|former bad guy]] [[Vince McMahon]] under the orders of a mysterious figure known only as "The Higher Power". This "Higher Power" turned out to be... [[Vince McMahon]]. The [[Ministry of Darkness]] then merged with [[The Corporation]] to become the Corporate Ministry, and about five months of storyline were [[Shaggy Dog Story|thrown out the window]].

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* Several ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' chaos gods are prone to this, especially Tzeentch (the god of magic, messing with fate and [[Gambit Roulette]]) and Zuvassin (a minor chaos god of spite and failure).

* ''[[Ace Combat|Ace Combat 5]]'': The Belkans are aggravating/running both sides of the war.

 

== Video Games ==

* The Announcer in ''[[Team Fortress 2]]''. To quote from her character entry: "[[In a World]] where a lot of guys dressed up in red fight a lot of guys dressed up in blue, it's telling that she dresses in purple."

* The recurring CEO/weapon merchant/villain in ''[[Rogue Galaxy]]'' attempts to do this with the two biggest nations around so that he can continue to profit.

* It's hard to tell how many sides there are in ''[[Xenosaga]]'' due to a [[Gambit Pileup]] of impressive complexity, but {{spoiler|Wilhelm}} is in charge of all but one of them - the party.

** Well, the party and Dmitri Yuriev. {{spoiler|Wilhelm}} has accounted for his actions and doesn't see him as a real threat, but Yuriev isn't actually under his control. Ormus/U-TIC, Vector, Hyams Heavy Industries, and large parts of the Federation, on the other hand...

* In ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'', both the Desians and the Church of Martel are run by {{spoiler|Mithos Yggdrasil and Cruxis, who want to keep the two worlds Sylvarant and Tethe'alla in a permanent struggle for mana in a misguided effort to prevent another of the [[Magitek]] wars that ended up killing Mithos' [[Dead Little Sister]], the Church's namesake.}}

* Admiral Tolwyn in ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]] IV'', indirectly. He claims to favor peace while the Black Lance forces under his command carry out a [[False-Flag Operation]] to incriminate the Border worlds.

 

== Web Original ==

* In ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'', both sides report to Vic at Red/Blue Command.

* The alternate reality from [[That Guy With The Glasses|You're A Rotten Dirty Bastard]] has [[Marvel]] and [[DC Comics]] owned by [[Atop the Fourth Wall|Linkara]], who wants a faithful adaptation of [[Iron Man]] vs. [[Batman]] III.

 

* In ''[[Drowtales]]'', it turns out that the mysterious Nidraa'chal leader is actually {{spoiler|Snadhya'rune Vel'Sharen, and two of her sisters were in on the plot as well in order to get rid of their mother.}}

* In ''[[Order of the Stick]]'', {{spoiler|Elan's father's adventuring party}} [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0758.html has arranged to rule the better part of a continent by doing this].

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]'': Boris Badenov did this in "Missouri Mish-Mash."

 

== Conspiracy Theories ==

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

* During the medieval, renaissance, and early-modern periods, Europe was basically run by a few closely interrelated families. The monarch of one warring nation could easily be prominent in the line of succession for the other's throne.

** More than one conflict was actually resolved by a "personal union," where the same person simply became the ruler of both states. Most famously in the English-speaking world, Queen Elizabeth I ended the off-and-on war between England and Scotland by giving the English throne to King James of Scotland.

 

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[[Category:The Plan]]