Unwitting Pawn: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"I was a fool. I had been deceived that I had been working for a greater good. I was in fact an unknowing tool of a greater evil."''|'''Shunjinko''''s biography, ''[[
Not only does an Unwitting Pawn fail to stop the bad guy, but he actually furthers the villain's plan in the process. This is the kind of person that the [[Magnificent Bastard]] and [[Batman Gambit]] depend on. The [[Manipulative Bastard]] will take great delight in using them and then [[Hannibal Lecture|deconstructing]] their [[Horrible Judge of Character|naivete]] and [[Did You Actually Believe?|blind faith]] as they [[Evil Gloating|gloat]]. Not surprisingly, they also have a tendency to [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|die ironically after inadvertently helping the villain]].
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These guys are not always being manipulated by the villain; [[Unwitting Instigator of Doom|sometimes they blunder their way into helping him of their own accord]]. Not that the villain's going to examine his gift horse for cavities...
The [[Wide
Sometimes the unwitting pawn is deserving of his fate. They may be a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]], Evil Buisnessman, or someone else who has achieved great success through questionable means. Sometimes, he owes his success to someone he screwed over. They will often fall victim to blackmail or the reminder of what could happen "if the truth should get out...". Sometimes, the pawn is allowed to remain a figurehead to keep up appearances while his strings are pulled behind the scenes. This often happens to [[Corrupt Politician|Corrupt Politicians]] as well who come to realize that they probably had a lot of help to realize their ambitions and get to the top.
Compare [[Out-Gambitted]], [[Unwitting Instigator of Doom]], [[My God, What Have I Done?]]. Contrast the [[Spanner in
Tend to be played by [[The Chessmaster]], logically enough.
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== [[Anime and Manga]] ==
* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (
** Hohenheim's backstory reveals that {{spoiler|the Emperor of Xerxes also fit this bill. Father lured him into creating a nation-wide transmutation circle, claiming it would grant the Emperor immortality. Instead, Father used it to give immortality to himself and Hohenheim, at the price of the entire nation}}.
*** {{spoiler|Well, [[From a Certain Point of View]], he ''did'' grant the Emperor [[Immortality]]. [[And I Must Scream|More or less]]...}}
** {{spoiler|The upper echelon of Central's military}} were suckered into following the same scheme with similar promises.
** In the [[Fullmetal Alchemist (
* Played with in ''[[Bleach]]'', where [[Magnificent Bastard]] {{spoiler|Aizen}} is unable to manipulate Ichigo directly, so it is revealed that instead he [[Gambit Roulette|manipulates]] almost EVERYONE ELSE in the story (including everyone Ichigo has fought, as well as Orihime) as [[Unwitting Pawn|Unwitting Pawns]] since before the story started so [[Pinball Protagonist|Ichigo]] will do what he wants. He was able to this because he knew about Ichigo since [[Tomato Surprise|BEFORE HE WAS BORN]]. The only proof of this is the words of the man who will brag about how uber and invincible he is even as manifestation of his fighting spirit is falling apart.
* ''[[Peach Girl]]'': Toji and most of the [[Spear Carrier|Spear Carriers]] in the first arc, and Gigoro in the second. Of special note is Gigoro's actions in "The Destruction of Pure Love"; he starts to realize that Sae's account of Momo isn't entirely accurate, so he tries to get Momo's side of the story... by ''chasing her through the warehouse district'', not saying anything less stalker-y than "I need to talk to you."
* Makoto Isshiki in ''[[
* Lavinia Reberth of ''[[Soukou no Strain]]'' is a [[Fan Girl]] of epic proportions, who'd do anything to get some of Sara's attention. Dress up as a [[Playboy Bunny]]? Failed. Ambush her in the shower? Got the wrong girl. Steal her most precious possession? Dropped it in a garbage dump, which ended up with Sara's [[Luke, I Am Your Father|true identity]] revealed to the whole crew, the Libertad kicked out of port before it could complete repairs, and one of their teammates dead. [[It's All My Fault|Oops.]]
* In the anime of ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'', nearly everything that the main characters do seem to play right into Aion's hands. {{spoiler|In the end, even though [[Downer Ending|almost all of the main cast die]], they only seem to stop him temporarily.}}
* Poor Suzaku Kururugi from ''[[Code Geass]]''. Being an emotional, impulsive, and naive mix of [[Death Seeker]] and [[Wide
** Same for the Order of the Black Knights, which was first manipulated by Lelouch before {{spoiler|becoming Schneizel's pawns}}. Lelouch actually ''is'' the hero who is trying to save the world. He has a lot of bad luck and some questionable methods, but the Black Knights generally benefited from his actions, manipulation aside. {{spoiler|Schneizel, not so much. He has decent luck, if not good, and his methods are not questionable - they're definitely not good for the human race as a whole.}}
* In ''[[
** Oh, she was definitely a [[Unwitting Pawn]] at least once. Light once suckered the entire rest of the cast except for L himself, who {{spoiler|managed to set up a [[Thanatos Gambit]] to counter his death, which he managed to anticipate before it happened. The anime makes it very clear in the end that L was the true winner after all.}}
** [[Double Subverted]] by Rem, who {{spoiler|kills L for Light in order to save Misa from being arrested}}. She figures out ''exactly'' what Light is trying to get her to do, how he's getting her to do it, and what will happen if she doesn't {{spoiler|(she dies)}}... And she does it anyway.
* In ''[[One Piece]]'', Whitebeard was a target for this. The World Government wanted to kill him and his whole crew with a barricade killzone trap and execute Ace, {{spoiler|the son of the Pirate King}} once they are stuck as a warning to all Pirates and cement their power. However, Whitebeard, {{spoiler|while he still dies, manages to re-ignite the Golden Age of Pirates, and most of his crew and allies survive. Also, technically Ace was saved, but still dies anyways.}} However, in the end, he, and technically the WG, is still fooled by the true mastermind and main cause of the war, {{spoiler|Blackbeard}}. His plan was that he knew Whitebeard would risk anything to save a single of his crew, and the WG would do anything to take him down. {{spoiler|While everyone is focusing on Marine HQ, Blackbeard slips into Impel Down, recruits the strongest prisoners of Level Six, which contains some of the worst criminals in the history of the world, sails back, kills Whitebeard, steals Whitebeard's destructive powers for his own means, and then makes a clean escape.}} Even worse, the WG's pride makes it that they will not acknowledge his success, and cover it up, meaning he can plan even more things unharrased.
* Poor Shinji Ikari from ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''. From being manipulated and forced by [[Manipulative Bastard|Gendo Ikari]] against his will to being forced to bring about [[The End of the World
** Another interpretation is that everyone, their grandmother and their grandmother's yappy dog fall under this trope in that series. We have SEELE, a secret organization of [[Chessmaster|Chessmasters]] planning to {{spoiler|combine everyone's souls into one consciousness [[Utopia Justifies the Means|against their will to save humanity from extinction.]]}} Then we have Gendo Ikari, who is supposedly the [[Yes-Man]] of SEELE but is really [[Bastard Understudy|using them for his own goals.]] As the commander, everyone at NERV is his puppet and he arranged for his son to be molded into the personification of this trope years in advance. Even the angels themselves fall under this category. The whole series ended with a [[Gambit Pileup]] that ended with {{spoiler|Rei}} being the true mastermind and {{spoiler|Shinji becoming a god!}} At least [[Gainax Ending|I think it did.]] Another popular interpretation is that ''everyone'' is a [[Unwitting Pawn]] for {{spoiler|[[Alternate Character Interpretation|Yui]] [[Evil Matriarch|Ikari]].}}
* In ''[[Naruto]]'', it turns out Sasuke was the [[Unwitting Pawn]] of both [[Aloof Older Brother|Itachi]] and [[Big Bad|Madara]]. No wonder he developed [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]].
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* Treize Khushrenada is such a [[Magnificent Bastard]] he turns essentially the ENTIRE CAST of ''[[Gundam Wing]]'' into Unwitting Pawns.
* [[He's Dedicated to Roses|Hak-Yoon]] ends up being one to Mi-Mi, who manipulated him by pretending to like him, then had him and his gang rape her maid and film it in front of two of said maid's best friends, all because she was jealous that the maid had gotten the boy she was ''really'' in love with, and when said plan fell through, abandoned him to his fate and told him he was nothing more than a pawn for her revenge. [[The Dog Bites Back|He isn't too happy about this.]]
* Alice of [[Code Geass]] [[Nightmare of Nunnally]], desperate to save Nunnally, accepts help from Anya and proceeds to Kamine Island. {{spoiler|It turns out that Anya was possessed by Empress Marianne, who needed Nunnally to complete her and Charles' [[Assimilation Plot]]. Thankfully, Alice telling Nunnally that she values her as an individual [[Spanner in
* Poor [[Puella Magi Madoka Magica|Homura]], so you wanted to save your friend from certain death using your Faust powered wish? {{spoiler|Well you did technically save her by making it so as long she is not saved, the timeline repeat itself. Unfortunately, you also helped Kyuubey create what is the ultimate power source based on people suffering since Madoka is not only a juicy power source but since with every cycle Homura becomes more cynical, her suffering only gives even more power with each interval. And she can do nothing to get out of the loop.}}
* So many in ''[[Monster (
* Near the end of the first season of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'', Sho assumes that {{spoiler|everybody in Duel Academy were the pawns of Kagemaru, the season's [[Big Bad]].}}
* ''[[Gundam Seed]]'': Everyone--but especially [[General Ripper|Patrick Zala]] and [[Villain
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* In the ''[[Green Lantern]]'' story ''[[Sinestro Corps War]]'', the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps turn out to be these after Sinestro reveals that {{spoiler|he (Sinestro) won the war by making the Guardians override their own principles and disable the "no killing" function on the Lantern rings}}.
* The ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' comic writer love these. Usually one or more of the main characters, but often the villain.
* Recently in ''[[Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', [[Idol Singer|Mina Mongoose]] was this to [[Evil Sorcerer|Ixis Naugus]] -- he used her musical protests against [[Hero
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** Ultimately, {{spoiler|almost every major character in the series is revealed to be one to some extent, pawns for Dumbledore and Voldemort, both of whose decades long game of wits to destroy the other is revealed to be what the whole series revolves around. Even Harry himself is a piece in the game. Snape on the other hand is a willing pawn for Dumbledore}}.
* Everyone except Iago from ''[[Othello]]''.
* In Stephen Marley's book ''Spirit Mirror'', [[Chia Black Dragon]] tries very hard to dodge [[Magnificent Bastard|Nyak's]] [[Xanatos Gambit]] by [[Take a Third Option|taking a third option]]. {{spoiler|She fails, and ends up [[Sealed Evil in
* When Grand Admiral Thrawn from the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[Expanded Universe]] is involved, characters become suckers by being so afraid that they play right into his hands through their caution, the best example being that when they need a certain device from one of two locations, they leak info that they will go to one, therefore showing him they are actually going to the other.
* In the ''[[Wheel of Time]]'' series:
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* Although Ian Irvine has one in every single book, the conclusion to the ''Well of Echoes'' series deserves special mention for the sheer scale of it. The main character attempts to stop the [[Magnificent Bastard]] from using the most powerful magic in the world to take over said world by {{spoiler|destroying the power sources of all magic, thus preventing anybody from using it}}. Except it turns out that {{spoiler|the magic the [[Magnificent Bastard]] was using was the only one powered by something else}}, and what she had actually done was {{spoiler|destroyed any and every chance the heroes had of stopping him}}. Whoops.
* The ''[[Chronicles of Thomas Covenant]]'' by Stephen Donaldson. Lord Foul is a [[Chessmaster]] and [[Manipulative Bastard]] extraordinaire, and his plan to destroy the Land involves not just conquering everything, but continually engineering situations where the protagonists become [[Unwitting Pawn|Unwitting Pawns]]. Thomas Covenant is saddled with the role of [[Unwitting Pawn]] for the entire duration of the first and second trilogies, knowing that Lord Foul's plan hinges on the destructive and harmful actions he takes, but helpless to do otherwise because there are no good alternatives.
* Most of the Blood Angels in [[James Swallow]]'s [[Warhammer 40000]] novels ''[[Blood Angels
* In [[Tad Williams]]' ''[[Memory,
** Ironically enough, {{spoiler|Pryrates is an even bigger Sucker. The Storm King manipulated him with the promise that Pryrates would be the "first among men" when The Storm King returned. And he was the first...to die.}}
** The entire cast of protagonists are suckers, by the classic definition, as the most basic element of the Storm King's [[Xanatos Gambit]] is to trick them into {{spoiler|[[MacGuffin Delivery Service|bringing him the Three Swords]]}}. It works perfectly.
* [[Discworld|Vimes]]. Oh, dear, poor Vimes. ''[[Discworld
{{quote| You can't bribe Sam Vimes, but why bother when you can just pull the wool over his eyes?}}
* The [[Dale Brown]] book ''Act of War'' has many characters play into {{spoiler|National Security Adviser Robert Chamberlain's}} hands.
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* Kronos does this to ''everyone'' in [[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]. Furthermore, especially in the second book of the new series, [[The Heroes of Olympus]], many characters, among which the [[Big Bad]] herself, state that Percy will be Gaia's pawn, and that he'll bring about the destruction of the gods.
* King James in [[Harald]], who makes war on [[Posthumous Character|his father]]'s allies on the advice of his [[Evil Chancellor]], who is in the pay of the real [[Big Bad]].
* Ravenpaw in ''[[Warrior Cats]]''. His knowledge of [[Big Bad|Tigerclaw's]] murderous tendancies was known by Tigerclaw and he made it seem like Ravenpaw was [[The Mole]]. Then Ravenpaw faked his death to escape Tigeclaw, getting a major obstacle out of Tigerclaw's way. Luckily for Ravenpaw, his friend was a [[Spanner in
* In ''The Coffee Trader'' by David Liss, {{spoiler|Miguel Lienzo}} discovers he is the unwitting pawn of {{spoiler|Alonzo Alferonda}} rather than {{spoiler|Geertuid}} all along.
* {{spoiler|Spartacus Kilroy}} in the first ''[[Erec Rex]]'' book. He thinks he's just trying to {{spoiler|help the sick King Piter get better.}} He doesn't realize that {{spoiler|the coffee he's giving the king actually contains the poison keeping him ill.}}
* In ''[[
* ''[[In Death]]'': William from ''Rapture In Death'' doesn't even know that his wife, Reanna [[The Sociopath]], has manipulated him in more ways than one to help her commit murder.
* Under the advice of his dead wife's spirit and [[Big Good]] Kil'jaeden, the old orc shaman Ner'zhul in the ''[[
* In [[A Song of Ice and Fire]], EVERYONE is this to {{spoiler|Petyr Baelish. He hired an assassin to kill Brandon Stark, knowing that Catelyn would blame the Lannisters. By doing this, he provoked Catelyn into sending Ned to King's Landing where he was killed, which got the North to take arms against the king. This started an entire war for the Seven Kingdoms. That's just in the first book. And he's not even ''nearly'' done. }}
* In ''Fred, Alice and Aunty Lou'', a [[
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* ''[[Doctor Who]]'': Companions have unwittingly aided the villains before. In fact, the revived series sees the Doctor himself doing it. Examples of this include:
** "The Long Game", in which the Ninth Doctor leaves Satellite Five after defeating the [[Monster of the Week]], without bothering to help guide humanity back onto a "proper" path. By the time he returns 100 years later in "Bad Wolf", things have actually gotten worse, since he was playing into the hands {{spoiler|or, more accurately, plungers}} of [[The Man Behind the Man]].
** ''The Christmas Invasion'', in which the Tenth Doctor manages to cause the downfall of Harriet Jones by whispering "six little words" in her assistant's ear. It was stated during the Ninth Doctor's reign that she would be the "architect of Britain's Golden Age", but the power vacuum left in her wake seemingly allowed {{spoiler|The Master}} to gain power and eventually become Prime Minister. This indicates that the 10th Doctor ''did'' change history in ''The Christmas Invasion'', and worse, he changed a time line he had previously talked about in glowing colors. There was supposedly a deleted scene explaining the entire concept. [[Russell T. Davies]], the writer of the episodes and then-[[Show Runner]], mentioned this in his Doctor Who Magazine column as an idea he'd had, and that as far as he was concerned it was the case - '''but''' also said he had never scripted it, let alone shot it.
*** This was somewhat alluded to in ''The Sound of Drums'', where Vivien Rook tells Lucy Saxon that her husband first became "real" (and subsequently launched the Archangel network) around the time of Harriet Jones' fall. How much of it can be attributed to the actions of either {{spoiler|the Master}} or Tenth Doctor, however, is unknown. He does seem to blame himself for the Master's return by the End of Time, as when Wilfred Mott tries to console the Doctor by saying it wasn't his fault, he sadly replied, "Isn't it?"
**** This may just be part of his character; the Doctor boasts a lot, but isn't always as correct as he thinks he is.
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**** It should be noted that The Doctor, like all Time Lords, is telepathic, and while not as skilled at it as The Master has the potential for mind control and planting false memories and perceptions in people. I always thought it was implied that he did that to Jones' assistant.
** The Daleks are admittedly pretty good at [[Incredibly Lame Pun|suckering]] the Doctor. In "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S31 E03 Victory of the Daleks|Victory of the Daleks]]", the Daleks use the Doctor's hatred of the Daleks and love of Earth to not only create ''five'' retro-style Daleks (a net gain of two), but also {{spoiler|for once, survive the events of the episode}}.
*** In ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S31 E12 The Pandorica Opens|The Pandorica Opens]]", the Doctor goes to the Pandorica when it opens to see what's inside...{{spoiler|only to realise he's been suckered by every alien in existence and it is in fact him that's meant to go inside the Pandorica in order to stop the [[The End of the World
**** "[[Person of Mass Destruction|The most dangerous warrior in the world]]" indeed.
** In ''The Doctor's Wife'' it is revealed that the Doctor has been being manipulated for a very long time by {{spoiler|The TARDIS, who was waiting for a time lord crazy enough to try and steal her so she could see the universe. The Doctor protested that he chose her because someone had left the door unlocked. The TARDIS, briefly able to speak, replied that of course "someone" had.}}
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** And at the end of season two, it's revealed that {{spoiler|Boyd Langton}} is secretly the head of Rossum and has been manipulating ''everyone'' at the Dollhouse all along.
* ''[[Juken Sentai Gekiranger]]'': At the end of the series, [[Evil Overlord]] Rio goes down with a [[Heroic BSOD|Villainous BSOD]] when he finds out that {{spoiler|his entire life has been masterminded by [[Manipulative Bastard]] Long}}.
* Though she was fairly bad to begin with, Kai Winn in the final episode of ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' certainly seems to fulfill this role to Gul Dukat's [[Chessmaster]].
* A lot of Suckers have come and gone in ''[[Survivor]]'', but the biggest of them all would probably be Erik Reichenbach from Micronesia. In what many considered to be the dumbest move in the show's history, Erik gives away his Individual Immunity and is promptly voted off by the [[Femme Fatale|conniving female alliance]], after being conned in a transparent ploy for redemption.
** The recent season of ''[[Survivor]]'' was ''full'' of [[Unwitting Pawn|Unwitting Pawns]]. Most of Foa-Foa and practically ''every'' member of Galu ''except'' Brett and possibly Kelly and Monica fell into this trope. Knowing that Kelly was just brilliantly blindsided, Monica saw the writing on the wall and just decided to antagonize Russell in the end, and that Brett was ''fully aware'' that he couldn't have won because he lost the final immunity challenge. Is it any wonder Russell did so well, what with all the suckers who were practically lining up for the slaughter? ([[Genre Savvy]] players would have voted him out ''way'' sooner... or dragged his [[I'm Not Here to Make Friends|arrogant ass]] to the end and made him take all the nasty shots from the angry jury like Natalie did).
** Russell pulls this off ''again'' in ''Heroes vs. Villains,'' this time using [[Jerk Jock|Tyson]] to break up what should have been a foolproof plan to get either himself or Parvati out of the game by tricking him into switching his vote to Parvati, which broke up the even distribution of votes that Boston Rob's alliance would have used to get either Russell or Parvati out depending on who Russell used his Hidden Immunity Idol on. Instead, Russell uses it on Parvati, who now has four votes to Russell's two... and Tyson's three. That's right, [[What an Idiot!|Tyson not only screwed up Rob's plan but ended up getting ''himself'' voted out of the game.]] Ouch.
* Bradford in season 2 of ''[[The Apprentice (TV series)|The Apprentice]]'' did the same, waiving his exemption, and was immediately fired by Donald Trump, SOLELY because he was an idiot. This is a rare example of someone becoming the victim of their ''own'' [[Batman Gambit]]. Bradford wanted rid of the terribly ineffective team leader, Ivana, but knew that he wouldn't be brought back into the boardroom since he had immunity; therefore he surrendered it, so that she'd bring him back. Unfortunately, he didn't consider what the other possible outcome of that decision might be...
* In ''[[24
* Much like ''[[
* The ''entire cast'' of ''[[Angel]]'' in season four. {{spoiler|They spend a whole whack of time chasing down Jasmine, hoping to free the world from her version of lovey-dovey mind-control. At the end, their victory is entirely spoiled when evil law firm Wolfram and Hart contact them saying how happy they are that they've averted instant world peace.}} Nearly everything they had done in the past seasons had led to {{spoiler|Jasmine's}} rise to power to begin with. Ironically, in the next season, the entire Wolfram and Hart becomes a sucker when Angel fools its higher-ups into thinking he is corrupted. And for giving him the means to do it, as a reward.
* In ''[[Lexx]]'', captain Stanley Tweedle's backstory, in which he was supposed to deliver what amounted to blueprints for the emperor's superweapon to the rebel forces, and instead ended up providing the emperor with the codes to deactivate the rebel's planetary defenses.
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** He also kept juggling [[Idiot Ball|Idiot Balls]], [[Villain Ball|Villain Balls]] and [[Conflict Ball|Conflict Balls]] all throughout the series, while every single flashback has portrayed him as a gullible loser. It's a testament to Terry O'Quinn's acting that, in spite of that, he has consistently been one of the most interesting, popular and [[Badass Grandpa|badass]] characters of the show.
** For a devilish [[Manipulative Bastard]] and a supposedly wise ageless man, Ben and Richard too came across as total dupes; Locke, Ben and Richard, the [[Three Stooges]]?
* Both Sam and Dean Winchester on ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' have played right into the villains' hands, {{spoiler|making the [[The End of the World
* Nick Hanway in ''[[The Thick of It]]''. The spin doctor is convinced that the appointment of a new Prime Minister will also require a new chief spin doctor, but he ''seriously'' underestimates [[Magnificent Bastard|Malcolm Tucker]]...
* Any Given ''[[Star Trek]]'' crew will become this at one point or another
* In the 1998 ''[[Merlin (
* The "rich and powerful" marks Nate Ford mentions during the opening credits for ''[[Leverage]]'' are usually these. At some point along the way, their Mooks will often fall to this trope or Elliot, whichever one hits first.
* Averted in [[Kamen Rider OOO]], if it was played straight, Eiji would have just been used by Ankh as a means of farming Cell Medals. IF it was played straight that is... Instead, Ankh explains why he needs him, which [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain|was not a good move on his part]], as it leads to Eiji refusing to transform when Ankh needed him to in episode two, and in the next episode, the tables turn and Ankh is forced to do what Eiji says or else he will throw away his [[Transformation Trinket]].
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* Gordon Freeman and Adrian Shepherd in ''[[Half Life]]''. We don't [[Kansas City Shuffle|exactly know what the plan is]] but that G-Man keeps laughing at us.
* In the original ''[[Guilty Gear]]'', after you defeat the sub-boss, Testament, he reveals that this was all part of his plan, since he can now use his blood to awaken Justice.
* The player character in ''[[
* Serge of ''[[
** Here's the short version: {{spoiler|First, Lynx manipulates him into coming to Fort Dragonia so he can steal Serge's body and release the lock on the computer system FATE (which Lynx is a [[Wetware Body]] for). The Dragon Gods and Harle get him to kill FATE to release the seal on their power, then merge into their original [[Eldritch Abomination]]-ish form and start work on annihilating all human life. Except that ''all of this'' was planned by Balthasar, because only by awakening the Dragon Gods would it be possible to create the Chrono Cross, which is the only thing that can save [[Chrono Trigger
* Practically ''everyone'' in the [[Chzo Mythos]] is a [[Unwitting Pawn]] in some way. Practically a testament to how incredibly good Chzo is at this [[Magnificent Bastard]] business.
* There is sort of a subversion played on this in ''Spartan: Total Warrior'' The game, like the movie [[
* The Global Defense Initiative (okay, mostly Boyle) in ''[[Command and Conquer]] 3: Tiberium Wars'' walks ''right'' into Kane's [[Gambit Roulette]], and their only hint that they were even hit by it is when the [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]] arrive. The expansion pack then explains that Kane specifically planned for Boyle to be the only surviving GDI leader after the nuclear strike on the Philadelphia ''specifically'' because Boyle is easily predictable. If you play the Scrin campaign, even the [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]] are suckers in Kane's roulette.
* ''[[Diablo]]'': This trope is played painfully straight when the player character gets [[Grand Theft Me|possessed]] by Diablo. [[Downer Ending]] for sure.
** Even more so Diablo 2: {{spoiler|The entire game is the tale of how Marius gets manipulated by Bhaal into rescuing his soulstone from destruction at the hands of the player character, escaping the fate that his brothers suffered. Poor Marius dies in asylum cell as the horrible truth comes crashing down on him.}}
** [[
* Inuart in ''[[Drakengard]]''. He submits to the [[Big Bad]]'s [[More Than Mind Control|mind control]] to become [[The Dragon]], attains the power to sweep Furiae off her feet and defeat Caim, so finally she ''has to love him'', right? Well, he forgot that the [[Big Bad]]'s plan was to kill her, and predictably realizes this too late to do anything.
** It gets worse in the lead-in to Ending Four, where, after the Gods die and he gets everything he wanted as a result... he decides, apropos of nothing, that it's up to Furiae and him to become the new gods and finish their plan to destroy and recreate the world. This entire route being something of a bizarre [[Mind Screw]]...It's not clear whether {{spoiler|the giant flying man-eating babies are related to this, or just a consequence of the Gods being dead, although the game more implies the latter. Yes, really. Giant killer babies.}}
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** {{spoiler|Almost ''everyone''}} ends up this way in ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' after the dust has settled from the [[Gambit Pileup]] by the story's end. {{spoiler|Except Delita. And Ramza.}}.
** Doesn't Ramza {{spoiler|end up completing Delita's [[Batman Gambit]]?}}
*** Well, Ramza knew it but had no choice since the alternative would have been [[The End of the World
** [[Final Fantasy V|Bartz]] is this, aside from being an [[Idiot Hero]]. He and his companions {{spoiler|Head into the Great Forest of Moore, in order to stop [[Big Bad|Exdeath]] from taking what's sealed inside. Turns out ''he'' waited for them to get to that world's crystals... And destroy them. Wow.}}
*** Bartz and Krile go to seek Ghido for help after {{spoiler|Exdeath is defeated and the worlds fuse together}} and at that point, {{spoiler|an innocuous-looking splinter that Krile has}} enables Exdeath to return. Having overheard the converstion, {{spoiler|he sets out to take control of the Void}}.
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** Gloriously subverted in Agatio's intro scene in ''The Lost Age'', in which he flat-out tells Alex [[Take That|to his face]] that [[Genre Savvy|he knows he's being used]], and ''just doesn't care'' as long as his goals get accomplished, too. Definitely Agatio's personal [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], since he's otherwise one of the flattest major characters in a series known for [[Flat Character|FlatCharacters]].
* The ''[[Metal Gear]]'' series:
** ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater]]'' shows Naked Snake being used by the United States government into achieving their goal of gaining Russia's portion of the Philosopher's Legacy. ''Portable Ops'' has {{spoiler|Zero}} use Big Boss to defeat Gene and scare the Philosophers enough that Ocelot can gain control of their whereabouts and the American portion of the Philosophers' Legacy.
*** Portable Ops also implies that the main villain, Volgin, was himself an [[Unwitting Pawn]] to a deviously cunning strategist.
** ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots]]'' retcons many of the events previously established in the franchise. It is explained that the events of the first two ''[[Metal Gear]]'' games involved {{spoiler|Big Boss trying to create a place where individual liberty is guaranteed for everyone, instead of being a soldiers' haven. The Patriots have Solid Snake tear down both Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land to destroy Big Boss' dream of freedom}}. The first two ''Metal Gear Solid'' games are changed to have Solid Snake again being used by the Patriots {{spoiler|and possibly Zero}} to defeat anyone who stood in their way. The Patriots by MGS4 (set in 2014) are now an {{spoiler|AI system which was supposed to continue Zero's legacy by gaining control of all of mankind using the Sons of the Patriots (SOP) system. Snake is sent in to stop Revolver Ocelot from destroying the Patriots AI system}}. At the same time, Snake and his allies are used {{spoiler|by Liquid Ocelot in his goal in destroying the Patriots AI systems, Liquid Ocelot pretending to plan to hijack the System using the AI named 'GW' and Snake and company countering it by using a virus to destroy the it, not knowing the virus as written by Naomi would destroy the remaining Patriot [[A Is]] as well}}; even if he didn't know about it or plan for it to happen, it certainly fit his goals. ''Somewhat'' averted in that his own post-Patriot vision was averted by {{spoiler|Sunny Gurlukovich, who wrote the virus to destroy the Patriot [[A Is]] but preserve key parts of modern civilization, and then, Drebin implies that Ocelot's vision of a war-torn world would still be an inevitable likely outcome despite this, that or the UN becoming a neo-Patriots/Philosophers III group}}.)
** Solid Snake was manipulated throughout the entire series. The most affecting part of the MGS4 ending {{spoiler|might be Big Boss promising Snake that there is no one left to manipulate him anymore}}.
** In ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'', Liquid's plan hinged on Snake discovering the card keys (Really, 3 keys in one). {{spoiler|To manipulate Snake into doing this, Liquid masqueraded as one of Snake's few friends (Snake's support staff apparently figured out the location of his radio calls, but not until the big reveal), locked Snake in a cell with a dead hostage whom a master of disguise had been pretending to be (Snake even recognized that the hostage should not have been as decayed as he was), and left the control room for the card keys virtually unguarded even when Liquid had earlier encountered Snake outside the room. Snake didn't realize he was being duped until after he activated Metal Gear.}}
*** The sad thing is that, even if Liquid's plan didn't work or didn't even happen, Snake still would have been an unwitting pawn in either case: {{spoiler|According to Liquid and his Pentagon spy, the real reason why Snake was sent over to Shadow Moses was to infect most of the people on the island, both the terrorists and most of the people involved in the REX project, so the Pentagon, and presumably the Patriots, would have recovered REX and the Genome Soldiers from the island without any risk of damage, even making absolute certain that FOXDIE was injected into Snake.}}
** Arguably in the original ''Metal Gear'', where Big Boss intentionally selected Snake as the agent to send false information back to NATO (and by proxy, The Patriots), not counting on Snake's hereditary ability to kick ass and take names.
*** If Peace Walker is anything to go by (and possibly ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots]]''), Big Boss's misinformation doesn't even come close to the fact that the Patriots essentially manipulated Snake into trying to destroy Metal Gear and take Big Boss down as an insurance policy in case they failed to either bring him back into the fold or ruin/kill Big Boss the first time by one of their agents firing a nuke at the East Coast.
** Speaking of ''[[Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker]]'', other than the brief revelation that Coldman was the deviously cunning strategist that Gene alluded to in Portable Ops, it turns out that most of the game was manipulated by Paz Ortega Andrade, even the KGB agent Zadornov hiring Snake as a distraction to force Coldman to activate Peace Walker so he could hijack it and frame America with an attack on Cuba, and she wasn't even the one who pulled all the strings: Her employers, Cipher, had planned out the entire incident just to get Big Boss to rejoin the fold, and it is also heavily implied that they also ordered Paz to frame Big Boss and MSF with nuking the East Coast when Big Boss refused the offer. They also arranged for Kaz to briefly work with them, although it is also implied that they didn't tell him about the nuke plan.
** The ending to ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty]]'' implies that Solid Snake and Otacon may have ended up being [[Unwitting Pawns]] of the Patriots all along.
** [[Metal Gear Solid]]: the first game that comes to mind when you hear the words "unwitting pawn".
* The hero from the ''[[Quest for Glory]]'' series has a terrible habit of playing right into the game's villain's hands, even though he manages to fix things in the end. In ''Quest for Glory 2'', {{spoiler|he gets mind-controlled into releasing the evil djinn Iblis by the game's [[Big Bad]], then is almost trapped forever in Iblis' chamber}}. In ''Quest for Glory 3'', {{spoiler|in an attempt to bring peace between two tribes, he brings their leaders together in front of a third-party king. Then one of the leaders becomes possessed and kills the other, and is promptly killed by another person in the room, almost guaranteeing the war he was trying to stop}}. In ''Quest for Glory 4'', {{spoiler|he falls for a trick by the [[Big Bad]] from the second game, back for revenge. As a result, he ends up having to go through the motions to release a [[Cosmic Horror]] on the world}}. However, {{spoiler|Elsa Von Spielburg}} is the Unwitting Pawn in ''Quest for Glory 5''.
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* In ''[[System Shock]] 2'', this happens often enough through the game's plot that it's practically the player's full-time occupation. However, those who had played the first game, and knew who they were dealing with, walked into the Gambit with open arms.
* ''[[Vagrant Story]]'': In a very unusual example, Ashley Riot was a [[Unwitting Pawn]] for {{spoiler|an [[Anti-Villain]], who manipulated him into ''saving'' the world from the much more dangerous [[Knight Templar]] Guilderstern}}.
* Fei Fong Wong of ''[[
* Virtually every single named character in the ''[[
* The majority of the plot of ''[[Atelier Iris 3]]'' concerns three quirky teenagers trying to find [[Mineral MacGuffin|eight gemstones]] so they can open a book which will grant any wish, while helping the even-more-quirky townsfolk with their problems. What could go wrong? {{spoiler|How about nearly causing [[The End of the World
* After slaughtering his own people and eventually letting one of his closest friends die, [[
* The main characters in ''[[Persona 3]]'' spend a good portion of the game fighting a series of [[Monster of the Week|powerful bosses that appear once a month]] only to discover that {{spoiler|Ikutsuki}} tricked them into doing so {{spoiler|by doctoring video footage of Yukari's father}} so that he could {{spoiler|[[Eldritch Abomination|summon Nyx]]}}. {{spoiler|His plan fails when he forgets about [[Spanner in
* ''[[Persona 4]]'': {{spoiler|If the player doesn't choose to immediately kill him (and get the Bad Ending), Taro Namatame is revealed to be a [[Tragic Hero]] with genuinely good intentions misguided by Adachi, the [[Man Behind the Man]]. Later on he has a [[My God, What Have I Done?]] moment upon learning that the TV World was not the shelter he thought it was. But then it turns out there's an even BIGGER [[Man Behind the Man]]...}}
* ''[[Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia]]'' has Shanoa seeking out the three pieces of Dominus, a glyph that is to be used on a particular artifact that, according to Barlowe, will bring about the defeat of Dracula when destroyed. {{spoiler|Only after meeting certain conditions that allow you to bypass the bad ending do you learn that said object actually ''resurrects'' Dracula, as Barlowe demonstrates after Shanoa refuses and defeats him in a boss battle.}}
** {{spoiler|That's not entirely accurate. The object in question is a vessel for Dracula's soul, sealed away long ago, and Dominus was actually made from Dracula's own power via research on the artifact by Barlowe. This partly subverts the trope in that Dominus is used not only to fulfill Dracula's resurrection (by Barlowe's hands), but also his slaying (by Shanoa's at endgame). In the end, Ecclesia did fulfill its purpose, but not in the way the player initially expects.}}
** Leon Belmont and {{spoiler|Sara Trantoul (and even [[The Dragon|Walter Bernhard]])}} in ''Lament of Innocence''. Our man Drac practically lives (unlives?) off of Unwitting Pawns. Trevor, Simon and Richter Belmont have also been pawns in his {{spoiler|or Shaft's, in Richter's case}} plans for resurrection.
** Celia Fortner in ''Dawn of Sorrow'' tried this on Soma, and depending on the ending, either succeeded or failed. {{spoiler|The former ends up with Soma killing her anyway.}}
** In ''Lords of Shadow'' {{spoiler|Gabriel ''and'' Zobek}} are the Unwitting Pawns of {{spoiler|Satan in his bid to obtain the power of the Mask of Shadows to overthrow Heaven.}}
* ''[[
** Makoto wound up being one of these for {{spoiler|Kitaniji}}, as the whole point of making the Red Skull Pins popular in the first week later comes back to haunt him in the last one when {{spoiler|almost all of the Shibuya UG, citizens and Reapers included, gets [[Brainwashed]] and homicidal toward Neku and Beat}}.
** The main characters themselves are pretty severe cases of this as well, especially Neku: {{spoiler|Every single thing they did turned out to serve the sole purpose of helping Joshua fulfill his goal of erasing Shibuya.}} Although {{spoiler|failing to defeat Kitaniji would result in Shibuya falling victim to an [[Assimilation Plot]].}} This is one case in which the pawns don't have any choice but to go along with the scheme.
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* Thrall and Sylvanas Windrunner from ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' are good examples. Thrall explicitly trusted Sylvanas, despite the fact that she was using the Horde for her own vengeance against the Lich King. In turn, she believed she had Varimathras firmly under her control, which is what he wanted her to think all along; the Nathrezim are a race of [[Magnificent Bastard|MagnificentBastards]].
** It's implied that Thrall only let the Forsaken into the Horde because they need a presence in the Eastern Kingdoms, and because the Earthen Ring suggested that they could potentially cure undeath. The Forsaken are considered allied to the Horde rather than true members.
** [[You Suck]] too. There are multiple quest chains where you're [[Stupidity Is the Only Option|suckered into doing a bad guy's bidding]]. Unfortunately for the bad guy, once they decide that you've outlived your usefulness, you [[Oh Crap|show up with friends]] and proceed to [[Spanner in
* Speaking of which, the ''[[
** The game implies that Thrall doesn't really trust the Forsaken, apparently he flat out needs them because otherwise the Alliance is too much more powerful. (Without the Forsaken and the Blood Elves, the Horde would be entirely on Kalimdor [and then Outland and more recently Northrend] which is also home to two of the Alliance races ''and'' a noticeable number of human outposts, including Jaina Proudmoore's city of Theramore Isle.) The other Horde leaders never even mention Varimathras when planning. It's very likely that nobody trusted him at all except [[What an Idiot!|Sylvanas]]. And Arthas was savvy enough to realize he was probably selling his soul and just didn't realize it was to his enemy. After all, it DID give him the power to almost destroy the Scourge. The Scarlets? Morons.
** Thrall is ''not'' fooled though by {{spoiler|Neeru Fireblade}}, who remains only at Thrall's pleasure because he doesn't have enough information to move against the Burning Blade cult, all the while convinced that ''he'' has ''Thrall' outwitted.
** Sintharia, Deathwing's only surviving consort, despises him and plots to make a new Twilight Dragonflight to take over Azeroth. It is implied that she's been manipulated by him all along, as in Cataclysm, he has reanimated her and uses her eggs to create Twilight Dragons to assist him in his plans.
* [[
** In ''[[Baldur's Gate
** [[Knights of the Old Republic]], anyone? {{spoiler|You're the ex-Sith Lord? Captured, [[Mind Rape|mind-wiped by the Jedi Council]], and with Bastila holding your leash}}. [[Jedi Truth]] on par with Obi-Wan and his "certain point of view."
*** Alhough not made by [[
** {{spoiler|''The protagonist''}} in ''[[Jade Empire]]''. [[Magnificent Bastard|"Magnificent"]] indeed.
** In ''[[Dragon Age]]'' ''Origins'', the Dwarf Noble origin story has the player character's exile come about as a result of becoming an [[Unwitting Pawn]] in a particularly vicious piece of dwarven politics.
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** [[Your Vampires Suck|Remillia Scarlet]] in the ''Silent Sinner in Blue'' manga.
* [[Sonic the Hedgehog|Knuckles the Echidna]], and to a much lesser extent, Shadow and Silver.
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]''. Throughout the first half of the game, Link ventures across Hyrule, gathering the three Spiritual Stones which will allow him access to the Master Sword and the Sacred Realm... only to allow Ganondorf to get in and grab the Triforce in the process!
** Link has a tendency to fall victim to this trope. In ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts (
** ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories]]'': {{spoiler|Everything he does until the 13th floor is part of the Organization's plan to wipe his memory. It would have worked, too, if not for, well...}}
** Also, {{spoiler|[[The Heartless]]}} took advantages of both {{spoiler|Maleficent and Organization XIII}} by playing on their darkest desires while pretending they were the [[Mook|mooks]]. {{spoiler|Maleficent}} never figured it out but {{spoiler|the Organization}} did, but kept playing the game for their own purposes.
** {{spoiler|Most of the cast}} of ''[[Birth By Sleep]]'' are thoroughly manipulated by {{spoiler|Master Xehanort, Terra being the biggest sucker of them all}}, but {{spoiler|Vanitas}} is at the top of BBS trickery list {{spoiler|for playing ''Xehanort the Xanatos King'' just as he was being beaten over the head with Terra's Keyblade...[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|By Terra's AnimatedArmor, no less]].}} And all of this trickery was simply for the {{spoiler|[[Narm Charm|X-Blade]] }}. And during the game Terra gets suckered by Maleficent, Jumba, Hades, and Captain Hook. [[Genre Blindness]] doesn't begin to describe it.
* Onaga's manipulation of Shujinko in ''[[
* In ''[[Mitadake High]]'', you are either this or the Manipulative Bastard themselves
* In ''[[
* Captain Gordon ('''Defender of Earth!'''), from ''[[
** {{spoiler|Trumping that is General Carter, who himself was played like a fiddle by Archangel Vulcanus, who really wanted the Netherworld razed as part of his ploy to become a god. He (''along with everyone else in the plot'') was being used as a tool to fulfill [[Chessmaster|Seraph Lamington]] and [[Obfuscating Stupidity|King Krichevskoy]]'s combined [[Gambit Index|Gambit]], and had no idea how bad his own scheme fell into the puzzle until the curtain fell - on him. HARD.}}
* In ''[[Call of Duty]]: [[Modern Warfare]] 2'', {{spoiler|[[General Ripper|General Shepherd]] is revealed to have set up a five-year gambit to pit the USA and Russia against each other, so that he may lead the USA to the status as permanent ultimate world power, and be known worldwide as a "hero" for it. And he doesn't give two shits over how many millions of innocents get in his way. The man made all of the US, UK, & Russia into his Unwitting Pawns, including the player characters, one of whom (Roach) he kills after sending him to retrieve the evidence that would have exposed him as the mastermind behind the plot. Even though [[Spanner in
* Copy-X, and, to a lesser extent, Zero and his [[La Résistance]] allies in ''[[Mega Man Zero]] 3''. [[Big Bad|Dr. Weil]] played them all for fools, orchestrating the new conflict between Neo Aradia and the [[La Résistance]], which was just after an unofficial truce made by Zero and the Guardians. Zero goes off to fight Copy-X to stop the conflict, and when the latter tries to go [[One-Winged Angel]], a booby-trap which Weil installed earlier on Copy-X, was activated, killing him. With Copy-X gone, Dr. Weil, the one next in power, is now the new dictator of Neo Arcadia. It was [[Lampshade Hanging|pointed out]] by Zero himself:
{{quote| ''...It's all going according to his plans.''}}
* [[The Starscream|Prometheus and Pandora]] in ''[[Mega Man ZX]] Advent''. At first, they backstabbed [[Big Bad|Albert]] and then fights Grey/Ashe. After s/he defeats them, suddenly their anguish, hatred, and despair are absorbed by [[Artifact of Doom|Model Ws]] in the background and then they collapse. The real Albert then appears, stating that the body that everyone think by "Albert" is actually a decoy, and that those negative emotions are necessary to revive and activate the Model Ws.
{{quote| '''[[Magnificent Bastard|Albert]]''': [[Death Note
* In ''[[Star Wars]]: [[The Force Unleashed]]'', Starkiller/Galen Marek is shown to have been one when {{spoiler|Vader reveals that everything up to that point had been planned by himself and [[Manipulative Bastard|Palpatine]] to have Stakiller assemble a proto-Rebellion. It didn't matter if his goal was to stay loyal to Vader and "distract" the Emperor, or if he thought he was fooling Vader and genuinely attempting to form a rebellion, his only purpose was to get them together in the same place at the same time.}} It only fails because {{spoiler|Juno and PROXY are jointly the [[Spanner in
* ''Apollo Justice: [[Ace Attorney]]'''s {{spoiler|Klavier Gavin}} is the [[Unwitting Pawn]] for {{spoiler|his brother Kristoph}}'s [[Evil Plan]] to get Phoenix Wright {{spoiler|disbarred}}. See [[Disproportionate Retribution]]. The game before that had {{spoiler|Pearl Fey}}, who was manipulated into triggering the events of the final case by {{spoiler|her mother, Morgan Fey.}}
* General Morgahn during much of ''Guild Wars: Nightfall''. Once he learns the truth about Varesh, however, he helps defeat her and joins the player character's team as an NPC. The PC also spends a fair bit of time being this during various schemes in ''Guild Wars: Prophecies''.
* Harry spends most of ''[[Silent Hill 1]]'' being Dahlia's Sucker, but his unwavering love for his daughter is also what causes him to be the [[Spanner in
* ''[[Starcraft]] Brood War'' was already a pretty confusing [[Gambit Pileup]] to begin with, but as if that wasn't enough, {{spoiler|Kerrigan ends up convincing Aldaris that he's an [[Unwitting Pawn]] to the actual good guys. As a result he turns against them, actually becoming an [[Unwitting Pawn]] in the process.}} Every character who isn't directly opposed to {{spoiler|her}} ends up being one of {{spoiler|Kerrigan's}} [[Unwitting Pawn|UnwittingPawns]] as time goes on, with the exception of {{spoiler|Samir Duran}}. {{spoiler|He used her rise to power to speed up and hide his Protoss-Zerg Hybridization project}}. It can be said that the biggest [[Unwitting Pawn]] of all is Jim Raynor, who despite being one of the more heroic characters in the game, often ends up directly or indirectly helping villains, and in the grand scheme of things, is almost powerless. This tendency has unfortunately carried on into the next game. To his credit, he spends the Wings of Liberty campaign openly bemoaning the fact that he's probably either being openly played with, or just being set up to be used later. He spends nearly as much time trying to figure out ''how'' as he does trying not to have a bunch of Zerg chew his face off.
* Warhammer40000 : [[Dawn of War]] ends with Gabriel destroying [[Diabolus Ex Machina|Maledictum]], {{spoiler|which turns out to be prison of Daemon of Khorne.}} Forces of Chaos used unknowing Gabriel as an Unwitting Pawn in their scheme {{spoiler|to free the Daemon}}.
* In ''[[Prototype (
** Part of the reason is because the amnesiac Mercer, even though he's [[I'm a Humanitarian|eating people left and right]] in order to understand what the hell is going on, is often in the dark about what the hell is going on. As the game progresses he ''knows'' he's probably being played, but due to a lack of options he has to play along anyways if he's going to have a hope of accomplishing anything. He even says it outright to {{spoiler|Cross}}.
{{quote| '''Mercer''': Why do I get the feeling I'm getting the short end of this deal?}}
* {{spoiler|The new leader of Team Plasma, N,}} is shown to be this in [[Pokémon Black and White|Pokemon Black and White]] when {{spoiler|his father, Ghetsis, reveals that he was [[Complete Monster|using N to make pokemon illegal for everyone but himself]].}} What an asshole.
* The Tribunal expansion of Morrowind gives us the power-maddened (literally) {{spoiler|pseudo-god Almalexia. Centuries of wielding power that is unfit for mortals has left her more than a little crazy, and she has the protagonist carry out her increasingly insane orders (whether or not the character is aware that he's being manipulated is [[Heroic Mime|impossible to tell]]. Either way, it's a case of [[Plot Induced Stupidity]]). When she finally lays out her cards, she embarks on a long monologue about how nutty she is and how stupid you are, and there isn't even a [[Talk to
* Vhailor in ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' by {{spoiler|the Practical Incarntion}}. And then, yourself fall for it, by {{spoiler|the aptly-named Trias the Betrayer}}.
* Dear lord, Zelenin from [[Strange Journey]]. [[Manipulative Bastard]] [[Dragon
* In the old FPS/RPG ''[[Strife]]'' you get hit with this in the bad ending, {{spoiler|Blackbird, your [[Voice
* {{spoiler|Ace, or Gentarou Hongou}} from ''[[Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
* ''[[
* In ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' ''Daggerdale'' it's revealed at the very end that {{spoiler|your questgiver was [[The Starscream]] to the [[Big Bad]] Rezlus, and she had you kill Rezlus so she could take over the tower for herself.}}
* In Fable 2, the protagonist spends his entire LIFE trying to stop the [[Big Bad]] Lucien from rebuilding an ancient tower of magical doom. Once {{spoiler|Lucien is dead, Theresa, who guided him through this quest, reveals that she was just using Lucien to rebuild the spire and using you to defeat Lucien so she could claim the spire herself}}.
* Happens to the player characters in ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' games way too often. Then again, the only manipulators who you can't get bloody revenge against in these games are the untouchable Daedric Princes, and they at least compensate you for your work with cool artifacts.
* In ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' the reason that you're told to try and keep President Kimball and General Oliver alive if you're working for Mr. House or Yes Man is that after the NCR gets the boot from Vegas their citizens will be quick to blame them for waging a costly and unpopular war while still capable of being on decent enough relations with Vegas to do trade.
* Edge in ''[[Panzer Dragoon]] Saga'' spends the whole game being used by the Seekers, the Empire, and by Craymen, since he's the only dragon rider aside from Azel atop Atolm Dragon.
* Patroklos Alexander from ''[[Soul Calibur]] V'' is the son of legendary Holy Warrior Sophitia Alexandria and has pledged himself to hunting the 'malfested' who slew her and kidnapped his elder sister. {{spoiler|So he winds up killing the human enemies of Graf Dumas, an alias of what amounts to the grand-daddy of all malfested... the Azure Nightmare himself.}}
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{{quote| ''"Even if the count dies, the Chaos Heart won't disappear if I continue to control it! But I needed the power of the Pure Hearts to beat him. I couldn't do that on my own. So I had you do all the sweaty labor for me. And you even used your Pure Hearts to defeat Count Bleck! If they make greeting cards to thank people for helping with evil plans, I owe you one."''}}
** To make it worse, [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|this speeds up The Void]], to the point where it [[Endofthe World As We Know It|destroys the multiverse]]; it's hardly a spoiler to say that everything turns out all right in the end, though.
* The Player Character is this in ''[[
== [[Visual Novels]] ==
* Mary in ''[[
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== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[The Order of the Stick
** Miko Miyazaki {{spoiler|leads the villains to Azure City and allows them to discover the location of [[McGuffin|Soon's Gate]]. She kills Lord Shojo, leaving the city more vulnerable to attack. Then she ''destroys Soon's gate'' when the villains are on the verge of losing, giving them a chance to escape certain death}}. And all the while, she believes that she's following the will of the ([[Lawful Good]]) gods. Although she was only being manipulated into the first one of these, the least important error really. The other two she she accomplished on her own.
** Vaarsuvius has now turned into one, when {{spoiler|s/he attacked Xykon with his newfound power, knocking him [[Orcus
** As it turns out, {{spoiler|''Xykon himself'' is this to Redcloak, who's been playing humble servant all these years in order to get Xykon to aid in completing the Plan (which, it seems, doesn't aid Xykon's own goals ''at all''.}}
*** Subverted -- while {{spoiler|Xykon is unaware of the true nature of the ritual, he also doesn't trust Redcloak one bit. He had Tsukiko investigate it (if Redcloak hadn't killed her to silence her Xykon would have found out he was being played). Xykon also charmed the Monster in the Darkness to kill Redcloak if he ever tried to betray Xykon.}}
* Sillice of ''[[
* Terezi of ''[[
** Absolutely everyone to {{color|#2ED73A|D}}{{color|white|o}}{{color|#2ED73A|c Scratch}}. There's a ''reason'' he calls people who aren't [[The Omniscient|omniscient]] "suckers." Which is taken beyond the impossible in [[Wham! Episode|[S] Cascade]], where its revealed that he {{spoiler|manipulated the entire main cast into creating the Green Sun. Note that the main cast has been doing everything in their power to destroy the thing. Scratch's last word, said to Gamzee, is even "S u c k e r s", a succinct summary of just how much he played everyone.}}
* Nick in the "Surreptitious Machinations" arc of [[General Protection Fault]]. The entire plan hinges on him being isolated from his friends and building the "Project Velociraptor" to power Trudy's energy weapons, enabling her and C.R.U.D.E. to take over the world. He's also [[Horrible Judge of Character|one of the only ones who still trusts Trudy]], so the heroes have to try to convince him to see the truth.
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''Challenge Of the [[
* Xanatos used to make suckers out of the ''[[
* In ''[[Transformers Armada]]'', almost every major non-human character takes a turn being one of these, as would be expected when [[The Mole]] happens to be a [[Manipulative Bastard]].
* In season 4 of the 2003 ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003
* Danny from ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' becomes one of these almost every time he encounters Vlad Masters. Usually Vlad hints at what he's going to do right away, and Danny fails to understand and plays right into his hands anyway. Surprisingly, Valerie was an even ''bigger'' sucker than Danny--her entire ghost hunting 'career' was started by Vlad as part of a gambit and just became the gift that kept on giving for him and all his plans. She was NOT happy when she found out the truth.
* Timmy from ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]'' is this sometimes, most noticably in "[[Musical Episode|School's Out! The Musical]]", where he, along with Flappy Bob, are pawns in the pixie's [[Gambit Roulette]]. He also plays into [[Jackass Genie|Norm's]] hands in "Fairy Idol".
* In ''[[
* [[Kim Possible]] found herself in this position in ''So The Drama'', when it was revealed that [[Romantic False Lead|Erik]] was really [[The Mole|a "synthodrone"]] working for Drakken. As Ron observed, "Drakken didn't win, he played you." An even more direct case was in the episode "Hidden Talents", where Drakken created fake messages from [[Mission Control|Wade]] (as well as sending a virus to the real Wade) to get Kim to [[MacGuffin Delivery Service|bring him]] one of Dementor's inventions. He also attempted to do it a second time after he forgot to tell Kim to get the adaptor plug, but the second time didn't work as well due to Wade debugging his computer.
* Harold in ''[[Total Drama Action]]'', when choosing to listen to ''Courtney and Duncan'' of all people, in order to vote off {{spoiler|Leshawna, ''his love interest''}}.
* Where Sinedd from ''[[Galactik Football]]'' goes, intergalactic conspiracy is sure to follow.
* Scooby Doo in episode 16 of [[Scooby Doo Mystery Inc]]; Pericles used Scooby's need to save the town to further his own plan to find the Cursed Treasure of Crystal Cove.
* In one episode of [[Batman:
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* ...''You''.
** [[Giggling Villain|Mwihiwhih]]....[[Evil Laughter|MWAHAHAHAHA!]]
** Huh. I figured I was a [[Spanner in
* On the TV show [[Never Mind the Buzzcocks]], a guest uttered a stream of swear words, which were bleeped out. The guest then informed the production team that they had just broadcast the Morse Code for "fuck".
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