The Chessmaster: Difference between revisions

* Tao from the Wildstorm comics universe, especially as written by [[Alan Moore]] or Ed Brubaker.

* Alex Wilder of ''[[Runaways]]''. {{spoiler|It turns out that, not only did he learn the truth about his parents a full year before the other kids, but he set up virtually every single event in the first volume of the series.}}

* General Wade Eiling definitely fulfills this trope, given the way he manipulates [[Captain Atom]].

* [[Batman]] villain, The Riddler is an accomplished chessmaster, notably for smooth sway over the media, especially post-reformation (a quality of [[Villain with Good Publicity]]), and for his previous yet strategically subtle maneuverings of other well-known manipulators and dangerous personas.

* In the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' fanfic The Council Era, the advisor to the Krogan Overlord, Halak Marr, definitely qualifies as a Chessmaster. In order to bolster his army in preparation for the war with the Citadel, {{spoiler|Marr preserved specimens of the dezba (who would naturally have retained a major grudge against the Citadel over their people's genocide) and began a project to resurrect a dezban chieftain, a la Project Lazarus in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]''.}} As mentioned on the [[Unwitting Pawn]] page, he usurped his superior in order to enact his dreams of the krogan as a [[Master Race]]. He successfully forced Tyrin Lieph to allow his people to take a majority in the Citadel military and give the krogan a Council seat through an excellently-executed plan. He also antagonized the already fragile relationship between the manaba people and the Citadel by faking an attempt on his life by manaban extremists.

* {{spoiler|Jeft}} in ''[[With Strings Attached]]''. {{spoiler|He maneuvered three of the four into getting their major magic, set up the entire Vasyn quest, fooled the other Fans into thinking it was real by having an AI play the Dalns gods, and moved the Vasyn pieces into “entertaining” places for the four to struggle with. He was so overconfident that during the quest for the third piece, he openly forced the four to travel with his best character, the Hunter, which finally clued Varx and Shag into his duplicity.}}

* Calvin slowly develops into this over the course of ''[[Calvin and Hobbes: The Series|Calvin and Hobbes The Series]]''.

 

* Niccolo Machiavelli's book ''[[The Prince]]'' is another guide to this trope (or else a parody of such politicians). While Sun Tzu focused more on military strategy, Machiavelli focused more on political strategy and how to use them in order to gain power and how to keep it for a long time.

* The I Ching is a great book for Chessmasters.

** Although to be fair his kingdom was a bit stronger and more powerful than it had been under his predecessors (it was only his father who saw the English presence in France reduced to just Calais) and that Louis was helped to a large degree by Charles of Burgundy being his own worst enemy ("téméraire" means "reckless, rash" as well as "bold"). Also, the larger half of the duchy of Burgundy ended up in the possession of the another powerful neighbor, the Habsburgs.

* [[Otto Von Bismarck]], who orchestrated several ''wars'' among Europe to manipulate the populace and political power to unite the German states into the nation that exists today.