Flaw Exploitation: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|''"Gentlemen," said Aramis, "the principal question is not to know which of our four lackeys is the most discreet, the most strong, the most clever, or the most brave; the principal thing is to know which loves money the best."''

 

Heroes have moral standards; villains exploit that. Villains have [[It's All About Me|no concept of loyalty]]; heroes abuse that. Sometimes, villains have [[Even Evil Has Standards|standards]]; both heroes and worse villains can use that. '''Flaw Exploitation''' is the action of either a Hero, [[Villain]], or even [[Innocent Bystander]] to take advantage of the inherent flaws (or to be more charitable, character) of their opponent in order to win.

*** Since some raving sociopaths actually ''think'' like that, this may not be a surprise. Plenty of historical rulers were the kind of [[Complete Monster]] that no sane person would willingly follow... and then railed against the treachery and disloyalty of their followers.

* Sauron in [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' is defeated because he was incapable of imagining that someone who could wield the One Ring wouldn't want to, and would instead send it away to be destroyed. Thanks to the palantir, Gandalf convinced him Aragorn had the Ring and was headed towards him to buy enough time for Frodo to destroy it.

* Kellhus in ''[[Second Apocalypse]]'' exploits the flaws of ''everyone'' around him. In most cases, this flaw is religion, but he also exploits love several times. [[Ubermensch|His morals aren't exactly in line with the rest of the world]].

* This is par for the course in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''. Littlefinger is especially good at Flaw Exploitation, playing on the weaknesses and foibles of pretty much everybody; Eddard Stark (honor), Lysa Arryn (obsessive love), Robert Baratheon (impatience with the mundane issues of running a kingdom), Joffrey Baratheon (wanton cruelty), Tywin Lannister (pride)... and so many, many more. In fact the only person who might be better is Tyrion, who did most of the above as well as handling his sister Cersei (hunger for power,) his brother Jaime (fear of being betrayed by his lover,) Varys the Spider (multiple, delicately-balanced loyalties,) the Dornish royal family (collective thirst for revenge,) Pycelle (greed,) and even Littlefinger himself (reliance on people underestimating him.)

 

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