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[[File:Howlingman_4122.png|link=The Twilight Zone|right|[[Louis Cypher|Please, help me]]!]]
 
[[The Hero]] has come upon an [[Innocent Bystander]] trapped in a [[Tailor -Made Prison]] by a wicked monster. The prisoner may plead with the hero to be set free, telling him all about the horrors the tyrant has inflicted upon him, or the prisoner may just hang in sorrowful [[Unwilling Suspension]] in his terrible bonds. Once the hero sets the prisoner free, it quickly becomes apparent that he was tricked.
 
The False Innocence Trick (aka [[Fake Good in A Can]]) is when a villain or monster locked away for a good reason feigns innocence or being a good guy in order to fool the hero into letting him go. Typically the villain will prey on the hero's good will and strong moral fiber while doing this by making himself and his story as sympathetic as possible. He often is also counting on the fact that the hero [[Did Not Do the Research]] or has come from a time/place far enough away to not know who the prisoner really is.
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Contrast the more common [[Decoy Damsel]], and [[Disguised Hostage Gambit]] for when a villain makes a genuine prisoner look like a bad guy.
 
{{examples|Examples:}}
 
== Film ==
* ''[[Star Trek V the Final Frontier]]''. The ''Enterprise'' passes through the barrier around the heart of the galaxy and finds the legendary planet Sha Ka Ree, believed to be the home of God. The protagonists find God apparently imprisoned there, and he tries to trick them into helping him escape. Kirk figures out there's something funny going on and manages to get "God" to reveal his true natu're before he gets away.
{{quote| '''Kirk:''' [[Armor -Piercing Question|"What does God need with a starship?"]]}}
* In ''[[Phantasm Oblivion]]'', in a dream, the Tall Man is caught by a noose and he begs the protagonist, Michael to cut him down.
{{quote| '''The Tall Man:''' Cut me down!<br />
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== Webcomics ==
* In ''[[Girl Genius (Webcomic)|Girl Genius]]'', Agatha mentions this trope when she first encounters Othar Tryggvassen, '''[[Gentleman Adventurer]]!''' who asks her to free him. She believes he's doing this and does not free him; however, he [[Wrong Genre Savvy|actually believes]] he's the hero being held by the villain.
** Agatha does rescue him eventually, after learning some unflattering things about their mutual 'host'. He helps her escape at a later date in return. And then he tries killing her, so she throws him out of an airship. As it turns out, Othar is hardly a 'fake good'; [[Well -Intentioned Extremist|his definition of 'good' just differs slightly from hers]].
 
 
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