Divide and Conquer: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Why work when you can get someone else to do the work for you? A favored tactic of [[The Chessmaster]], both villain and [[Anti-Hero]], is to get [[Let's You and Him Fight|two of your enemies to fight each other]] instead of you. If one wins, he should be weakened enough from battle that you can knock him off before he recovers.

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* Naraku from ''[[Inuyasha]]'' tried several times to put Sango against the others by threatening the life ([[Undead|or some such]]) of her little brother. The first time he managed to make her steal Inuyasha's [[BFS|Tessaiga]], but she's gotten wiser since. He also uses various tricks to physically split up the team so he can take them out one by one.

* The strategy [[Code Geass|Schneizel]] uses twice on Lelouch: {{spoiler|first, to make him believe Suzaku betrayed him by having him arrested during the meeting, and the second time by getting the Black Knights to betray him}}.

* The description above says "contrast [[Enemy Mine]]", but in [[Soul Eater]], Medusa actually managed to [[Divide and Conquer]] by means of [[Enemy Mine]]. And although she didn't tell them, the people she was "helping" found it obvious that this is her plan.

* In [[Baka and Test]], Class F utilizes this against Class A during a summoner war. They use favors gained from defeating the other classes, or deception in the case of Class C, to have them wear down Class A before the fight. Class F nearly succeeds with it, until the school starts to break down, causing the Class F rep to be distracted momentarily.

 

 

** ''[[A Fistful of Dollars]]'' got the plot from Kurosawa's ''[[Yojimbo]]'' which in turn got it from a 1930 gangster film called ''Roadhouse Nights'' which was based on [[Dashiell Hammett]]'s novel ''Red Harvest''.

** The same plot was used in the western ''[[Django]]'' and ''[[Last Man Standing]]''.

* And in ''[[Lucky Number Slevin]]'', which is unfortunately a huge spoiler.

* Also, [[Dark Knight Trilogy|the Joker]]'s strategy: get Batman so riled up with the [[Black and Grey Morality]], fighting the police ''and'' trying to redeem Harvey Dent, he can barely take on the Joker.

 

** And they do follow up in the book as well, only instead of bribing an air force commander to attack a U.S. Ship, they pose as officers in the red army and trick a tank brigade in East Berlin into attacking an American base in West Berlin. They are also unwittingly helped by an American mole in the Politburo whose been feeding the U.S. false information in the hopes of destabilizing the current government in the USSR so he can grab power himself.

* Inverted in the Asimov's short story: ''In a Good Cause''. where the wars amongst humans actually made them stronger, which gives them the upper hand against the united aliens.

 

 

 

== Theatre ==

 

 

* ''[[Devil May Cry]] 3'': {{spoiler|Jester/Arkham}}.

* Any Pit player worth his weight in salt does this as well when deploying [[Limit Break|Palutena's Army]] in ''[[Super Smash Bros Brawl]]''. It's one of the few Final Smashes that allows the user to move and act freely with his own moveset during its execution. The reason it falls here is that the Centurions are dangerous in their own right, and the player has to choose to either focus on dodging them or dodging Pit, though a skilled player can do both for the most part.

* ''[[Ace Combat]] 5'' has this as the driving force behind its plot. 15 years before the game began, the country of Belka tried to take over the world and failed, eventually setting off 7 nuclear weapons ''on their own cities'' to stave off the approaching allied forces that included Osea and Yuktobania. In the present day, Yuktobania attacks Osea, and the two are plunged into a bitter war that drags on until nobody can remember why they're fighting. After the player's squadron is betrayed, the truth is revealed: {{spoiler|Belka, the country that was defeated 15 years earlier, was behind the whole thing. They started the war in hopes that it would eventually exhaust both of the other superpowers, and helped to escalate it at several key points. After rescuing the Osean president and Yuktobanian Prime Minister (and getting them to stage a peace rally in order to end the war), the Razgriz Squadron takes down the Belkans' last superweapon, ending the threat for good.}}

* An element of gameplay in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]''. Because of the different alignments enemies can have (Cocoon monsters, Pulse Machines, Pulse Monsters), occasionally the player will find two factions of monsters fighting each other. They can then fight the stronger enemy alongside the second enemy, then when the first enemy is defeated, the second enemy is weakened.

* In ''[[Silent Storm]]'', Thor's Hammer is trying exactly that with the Allies and the Axis. While they didn't start the war, they are taking advantage or it by supplying both sides with advanced weapons, while keeping the best goodies for themselves.

* In ''[[Haegemonia]]: Legions of Iron'', the Darzok use this method to break up their enemies. They convince a Kariak general to rebel against the Human-Kariak alliance, allowing them to build up their forces while the Kariak fight among each other.

* In [[The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim]], this is what the Thalmor's tactics are presumed to be {{spoiler|and confirmed when you find out that Ulfric Stormcloak is a Thalmor asset}}. In the Great War, the Thalmor, fought to a standstill by the Empire, made a peace treaty with terms that the provinces would never agree to (ceding half of Hammerfell and outlawing Talos worship). As of the time of Skyrim's story, Hammerfell has seceded from the Empire and Skyrim erupted into civil war, meaning that the Empire is now a much weaker target. Despite this, they don't want {{spoiler|Ulfric to actually win, but merely wish for the Civil War to weaken both the Empire and Skyrim.}}

* In [[Neverwinter Nights 2]], there is a section where a group of Fire Giants want to kill a nearby Dragon and the Dragon wants to kill the Fire Giants that have been harassing it. They both request your aid to deal with the other, and they both have something valuable that you may wish to take (for the Fire Giants, it's a quest item. For the Dragon, it's a massive pile of gold). No matter who you ally with, in the end you're given the option to betray both of them and let them duke it out with each other. Whichever side survives will be in a weakened state, thus allowing you to easily finish them off.

 

== Webcomics ==

 

 

== Web Original ==

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* Grodd did this with the [[Justice League]] in "Secret Society".

** Also in ''[[Justice League]]'', we are treated to a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] when {{spoiler|Batman takes out the Injustice League like this. ''While chained up in the basement''.}}

* Shego manages to pull this off in the ''[[Kim Possible]]'' [[Made for TV Movie]] "A Sitch In Time" by having Ron's mother get a job that requires their family to move.

* Done (as a reference to the Beatles, once again!) in an episode of ''[[Powerpuff Girls]]''.