Unwitting Pawn: Difference between revisions

* In ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' and ''[[The Children of Húrin|The Children of Hurin]]'', Hurin ends up as one after he is released by Morgoth. Driven mad by 28 years of [[Mind Rape]] he ends up unwittingly leading the enemy to the Hidden City of Gondolin, causes a civil war and the ultimate destruction of the last free tribe of Men, and sets events in motion that lead to the fall of the largest kingdom of Elves, all in an attempt to avenge his families deaths . He only stops when [[Our Angels Are Different|Melian]] ''tells'' him that he's not helping anyone, and effectively acting as a tool of Morgoth's malice. [[Driven to Suicide|Then he kills himself]].

* ''[[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.

* 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 [[Robert Westall]] short story in his anthology ''[[Break of Dark]]'', author Peter Wingfield plays into the hands of vengeful ghosts; giving them a conduit to the real world and the energy of his dislike for his old school-mate, Roger.

**** It was very compressed, but apart from the speed, isn't entirely unlikely. And it could be that her frantic worry about what he had said didn't help her side of things.

**** 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.

**** "[[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.}}

* 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.

* Serge of ''[[Chrono Cross]]'' ''defines'' this trope. The guy can't go to the bathroom without furthering someone or [[AI Is a Crapshoot|some]][[Eldritch Abomination|thing]]'s plans. The fact that [[Gambit Pileup|everyone's plans revolve around him trying to get out of someone else's gambit does not help]].

** 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|Schala]] from [[Eldritch Abomination|Lavos]]'s hold over her.}} [[Mind Screw|Confused yet?]]

** 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:

*** 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}}.)

* In ''[[Mitadake High]]'', you are either this or the Manipulative Bastard themselves

* In ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'', {{spoiler|Harry Whitehorse unwittingly falls into Alexei and Yeager's plot to cause tension in the guilds by helping cause the death of Belius, and by extension, his grandfather, the Don. Belius gets better, the Don does not.}}

** {{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 the Works|Price & Soap managed to kill him]], it's not stated if Shepherd's plan has already succeeded. Hints suggest that [[Downer Ending|it]] [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|did]].}}