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The Presents Were Never From Santa: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"Just because some court-appointed hillbilly president started taking orders from Jesus, or the Easter Bunny, or some other make-believe play-friend of his".'' |''Roxy'', explaining why the whole world is getting boiled alive, '''[[God Bless America]]'''}}
Bob thinks he has someone really special helping him. A guardian angel, a fairy godmother, the president of the United States, a wise alien, something like that. This fake or imaginary benefactor (Faux Empowering Entity) gives Bob (Faux Empowered Person) something that makes him feel special and chosen.
Consequentially, Bob may consider his own actions justified based on having the benefactor's blessing (or acting as per her advice or direct order). However, Bob is totally wrong. And the results are likely to be disastrous, as Bob builds his life on a lie and maybe drags others into the mess.
For this trope to be played straight, it has to be revealed (to the audience) that Bob's benefactor is not legitimate.
Compare ''and'' Contrast [[Windmill Political]]: While a [[Windmill]] is a threat that isn't really a threat, this trope features a kind of help that ultimately isn't helpful. See also [[Scam Religion]], for when Bob tries to get others to believe in his nonsense. The [[Magic Feather]] can be the token of Bob's specialness, a gift from his benefactor that symbolizes Bob's not so real powers. For the real thing, contrast [[Enigmatic Empowering Entity]] in general as well as specific characters such as [[Santa Claus]] or [[The Chooser of the One]].
{{examples}}
== Anime & Manga ==
* ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'': In one story Tamama pretends to be a god (angel in the Funimation English dub) after being caught by a boy practising soccer. While he did help the boy become more confident he gave some rather strange advice, especially in the manga and English dub, not to mention teaching the boy a soccer kick fueled by resentment.
* Kyoko of ''[[Skip Beat!]]!'' still believes she got her purple worry stone from a fairy prince named Corn, which is very important to her. The pretty blond boy in question was ten at the time, and she was six; he presumably thought it was harmless to play along with such a ridiculously cute little girl. {{spoiler|Now that Hizuri Kuon has grown up and [[Becoming the Mask|become]] Tsuruga Ren, the ethical issues involved in his convoluted lies have become really ridiculous.}} Incredibly, none of it has actually bitten yet.
** Kyoko, in a mini version of this, has become Ren's [[The Obi-Wan|gag Obi Wan]] in costume as a rooster named Bou. His relationship with the rooster has evolved oddly and with no apparent introspection on his part over the course of the series, although he seems to think it's a guy older than himself. Since his reaction when this comes out will be primarily embarrassment (and amazement at how oblivious she can be, given Bou's been giving him advice about seducing the teenage girl he loves without Kyoko ever suspecting it's her), it's much easier to look forward to than the collapse of Ren's web of lies. It should be ''hilarious''.
* When a cute little cabbit-like creature offers to make you a magical girl in exchange for fulfilling your fondest wish, [[Puella Magi Madoka Magica|don't trust him]].
* In the world of ''[[Slayers]]'', there are plenty of real, actual demons, many of whom are openly seeking humans with whom to make an infernal pact with. So it's kind of [[Zero Punctuation|impressive, in a retarded kind of way]], that the [[Goldfish Poop Gang]] [[Harmless Villain]] manages to be a fervent worshipper of a demon who apparently doesn't actually exist.
* {{spoiler|Gil Graham}} from ''[[
* Light Yagami of ''[[Death Note]]'' briefly wonders why ''he'' was given a book that could kill anybody. When Ryuk, the being who slipped him the Death Note, tells him that 'I did it because I was bored. There's nothing special about you', he decides fate gave him the Death Note. [[A God Am I|This tells you something about his motivation.]]
** Then again, Ryuk himself muses that he never expected what amounted to a prank to have such a massive impact on the world, and that it was a one in a million chance that the person who found the book had both a grandiose ambition for it and the intellect to achieve it. Even the [[Hero Antagonist]] says that a normal person would never have done with it what Light did, even if they still chose to kill with it (though, to his mind, that just means Light is crazy) and in the one-chapter sequel the owner of another Death Note ends up being just a pale imitation of Light. So, perhaps, Light is on to something....
==
* In ''[[Green Lantern]]'' the False Guardians who empowered G'nort and others to intentionally discredit the Green Lantern Corps fill this role.
** Arguably, "The Guardians of the Universe" have a hint of this as well, acting as an Empowering Entity to the Corps but with their qualifications sometimes called into question. Unlike most, it's not out of manipulation, misunderstanding, or madness, but arrogance; consider for a moment that they gave ''themselves'' their title. While they mean well, they generally refuse to show any hint of humility or [[The Spock|emotion]]. They also have a tendency to cover up things they feel [[Man Was Not Meant to Know]] (Parallax, the massacre of sector 666, Agent Orange, the Blackest Night prophecy, the White Entity), and those coverups have an equal tendency to come back and bite them in the rear.
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* In the ''Nighthawk'' mini-series in the [[Marvel Universe]], Nighthawk is in a coma and has a vision of an angel that facilitates his healing and bestows on him a "second sight", which enables him to see criminal acts before they are committed. In return, he must punish the would-be criminals. Once healed, Richmond becomes Nighthawk once again and fights crime until forced into a confrontation with [[Daredevil]], whom he kills. The "angel" then reveals itself to be the demon Mephisto, who transports Nighthawk and Daredevil's corpse to Hell, intending to claim Daredevil's soul.
* An issue of [[Madman (Comic Book)|Madman]] had a powerful being claim to be God and empower an IRA agent who sought redemption. This was all a ruse in order to create an avatar to kill the title character. Once the agent realized Madman was innocent and that he was trying to kill an innocent man {{spoiler|he [[Driven to Suicide|killed himself]]}}.
== Films -- Live Action ==
* Discussed in ''[[Monty Python and
* In ''[[A Beautiful Mind]]'', John Nash is getting increasingly erratic orders from the government agent who made him a [[Knight in Shining Armor]] against the evil communist conspiracy. {{spoiler|The questgiver is actually a delusion, caused by John's schizophrenia.}}
* In ''[[The Exorcism of Emily Rose]]'', an angel gives the titular character blessings and tactical updates in her war against the devil. While psychiatry (in the movie as well as in [[Real Life]]) is convinced that Emily was insane and that it was wrong of her priest to advise her to stop taking her medication, the movie makes it [[Ambiguous Situation|ambiguous]] whether the battle was all a matter of insanity (making the angel a [[Faux Empowering Entity]] who helped Emily destroy herself) or a real battle between spiritual forces (making the angel a [[Enigmatic Empowering Entity]] who helped Emily defeat the devil and [[Too Good for This Sinful Earth|move on to a better place]]).
** Even if she was insane, the movie indicates that maybe her faith was more important anyway. Emily herself was positioned to play this role for people looking for some confirmation of spirituality in the modern world; the movie suggests that if her faith had this positive effect on the world, maybe that was more important and the sacrifice she made would still mean something even she was actually crazy.
* In ''[[Kung Fu Hustle]]'', a street bum sells Sing an overpriced kung-fu manual in a flashback, which sees our protagonist down the road of misery and failure. The bum appears at the end of the film, after Sing has defeated the Axe Gang and the Beast, trying to sell an array of kung-fu manuals to another unsuspecting kid. {{spoiler|Possibly subverted since the manual did contain a legendary martial arts technique.}}
* In ''[[Fiddler
== Literature ==
* In ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'', the Wizard is ultimately proven to be a fraud, giving out [[Magic Feather
* In ''[[The Bible]]'', Satan arguably fills this role as he's tempting Jesus with empty/meaningless promises in the desert.
* Pip from ''[[Great Expectations]]'' believes his sudden endowment to be from Mrs. Havisham to groom him into a proper husband for her ward, Estella. He's quite shocked to find otherwise.
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== Music ==
* In Clawfinger's song "God is dead," a unspecified audience is accused of killing each other on behalf of a deity they dreamed up in their own nightmares, the legitimacy of their holy wars against each other reduced to self-absorbed lunacy. Mistaking one's own fantasies for the voice of God might explain how some people who believe in the same God also believe that he want them to kill each other in his name.
* In [[Blutengel
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** Lampshaded in ''[[City of Heroes]]'', where all villain characters are apparently potential "Chosen Ones" in some kind of prophecy based around the main villain. And in a notable [[Deconstruction]], the epic archetypes have an alternate introduction, where they ''hack into Arachnos's systems and mark themselves as one of the Chosen Ones''.
*** Or something else, as later on in the epic storyline you delete the last copies of the list to erase some of your tracks and see the re-divined list. Your name's on it.
* Uncle Rupee in ''[[Freshly
* Lady Yunalesca in ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' filled a role similar to this. For a thousand years she assisted summoners with the pen-ultimate step of their pilgrimage to obtain the Final Summon by {{spoiler|turning one of their guardians into it}}. Turns out, this is all a vicious, endless cycle of death destruction (and she knew it) and that her authority comes from her dad being the [[Big Bad]] that controls and recreates the monstrous Sin these summoners sought to destroy once and for all. Fortunately, the heroes reject her offer to "help" them, destroy her to end the cycle of pointless sacrifice, and [[Take a Third Option]] instead.
* In the ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' expansion ''Hordes of the Underdark,'' the player character can redeem [[The Atoner|Aribeth de Tylmarande]] and restore her paladin powers. In the final battle, [[Big Bad|Mephistopheles]] taunts her that her powers never came from her god Tyr - he gave them to her just so he could play with her and make her inevitable defeat that much more cruel. As a [[Lawful Evil]] devil with vast powers and sovereignty over the 8th circle of [[Fire and Brimstone Hell|Baator]], we can be reasonably certain he's telling the truth. Which would make Mephistopheles [[Hoist by His Own Petard]].
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== Web Original ==
* The first episode of the web animation ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120501164419/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/doraleous-and-associates Doraleus And Associates]'' deals with a strange (emphasis on ''"[[Cloudcuckoolander|strange]]"'') pond lady (actually called "Lady of the Lake") who guarded the [[Infinity+1 Sword|Zephyr]] [[Sword of Plot Advancement|Blade]] in waiting for [[The Chosen One]] to wield. She handed out increasingly random things like a tiny dagger, a biscuit and a branch, and asked Doraleus to use <s>it</s> them to fight an incredibly deadly beast hidden in the darkness, until Doraleus got fed up and left. Later on, it [[Subverted Trope|turns out]] that while she's clearly insane, the {{spoiler|branch really was the Zephyr Blade}}!
* [[YouTube]] user [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyWUn_bj5rM Shockofgod] likes to claim that this is indirectly the reason people become atheists: When they realized Santa isn't real, they decided that [[Insane Troll Logic|if Santa isn't real, neither is God.]] Actual atheists beg to differ.
== Web Comics ==
* ''[[The
** Considering the group committed the crime totally obliviously, and that the Paladins themselves had actively suppressed and hidden any information which might have let anyone outside their order even know it was a dangerous thing to do, the group probably would have been just fine with a real Angel (and it would have saved everyone some hassle/murder down the line when the fact the trial was rigged comes to light).
* [http://xkcd.com/842/ This] ''[[
== Western Animation ==
* One episode of ''[[Daria]]'' has Quinn convinced that she has a guardian angel guiding every minor decision she makes, giving her a [[Crisis of Faith]] when she embarrasses herself at a party. Daria convinces her that at the very least, she shouldn't rely on her theoretical protector for everything, just important stuff.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Empower Ment]]▼
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Help Help This Index Is Being Repressed]]
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[[Category:Philosophy Tropes]]
[[Category:Infauxmation Desk]]
[[Category:
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