Unwitting Pawn: Difference between revisions

{{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, ''[[Mortal Kombat Deception (Video Game)|Mortal Kombat Deception]]''}}

 

 

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...

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.

 

 

Tend to be played by [[The Chessmaster]], logically enough.

* 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 As We Know It]].

* 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]].

* In ''[[Berserk]]'' Skull Knight attempts to kill [[Big Bad]] Griffith with a mystical attack. Next Volume Griffith uses the attack to unleash hell on earth.

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

** "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.

**** 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.}}

** 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)|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...

* Much like ''[[Twenty Four|24]]'', almost everyone in ''[[Heroes (TV)|Heroes]]'' has taken a turn as a [[Unwitting Pawn]].

* 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.

{{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.

* 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 The Works]]}}, one sacrificing himself to distract Vader as he's {{spoiler|about to kill his apprentice}} and the other rescuing him after his fall. The ending also implies that {{spoiler|Vader was also an [[Unwitting Pawn]] to Palpatine all along. He wanted to see if Starkiller had the potential to surpass Vader and become Palpatine's new apprentice.}}

* ''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.}}

* Sillice of ''[[Drow Tales]]'' when {{spoiler|Kalki tells her that the Nidraa'chal she's just fighting are just a diversion for the enemies that are currently most probably killing the Val'Sharess. Sillice then barges into the ravaged tower, confronts one of her sisters ([[Guilt By Association Gag|the only one NOT included in this plot]]) and then gets accused of having killed all the guards in an attempt to overthrow her mother, and has to run away to exile with their mortal enemies. No one suspects the ones that are truly pulling the strings: Snadhya'rune, Sarv'swati and Zala'ess, who get off scot free and take control of the clan while pretending their mother is still alive.}}

* Terezi of ''[[Homestuck (Webcomic)|Homestuck]]'' is usually [[Awesome By Analysis]], but she's recently fallen into this at the hands of {{spoiler|Gamzee, who she has no idea turned evil}}.

* 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.

 

* Napoleon III, who got played by every second-rate power in Europe, and some overseas. He certainly WAS one to Bismarck, but that was because [[Magnificent Bastard|Bismarck was Bismarck]] rather than because Napoleon III was gullible. Indeed, he actually came out on top of most of his battles (Mexico and the war of 1870 were the exception, not the rule), and most of the time he was being "played" by said second-rate powers, it was largely because he grasped more or less what they were doing and sympathized enough to go through with it anyway (Italy 1859 is the most obvious example, but the Belgian revolution and the Crimean War came in close seconds). If anything, he fell victim to trying to be someone he wasn't and had the misfortune to run up against the most ruthless and skilled ruler in Europe in charge of the largest and best military on the continent.

* Supposedly, the only relatively foolproof reason for letting yourself be recruited as a spy is to do it for the money. Any other motives (Freedom, Nationalism, the Workers' Revolution, whatever) expose you to being played as an unwitting double agent, mole, or agent provocateur by the people you oppose.

* ...''You''.

** [[Giggling Villain|Mwihiwhih]]....[[Evil Laughter|MWAHAHAHAHA!]]

[[Category:Betrayal Tropes]]

[[Category:Unwitting Pawn]]