Xanatos Gambit: Difference between revisions

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This trope is named after David Xanatos, one of the main antagonists in the series ''[[Gargoyles (Animation)|Gargoyles]]'', who was a master of the technique and used it consistently to serve his own ends.

If the character's plan is continually ''revised'' to bring about a winning solution [[Spanner in Thethe Works|no matter]] [[Didn't See That Coming|what happens]], he is playing [[Xanatos Speed Chess]]. When a plan is so ludicrously complicated that it relied more on luck than actual planning and foresight, it's a [[Gambit Roulette]]. If the plan relies on misdirection rather than [[Morton's Fork]], then it's a [[Kansas City Shuffle]]. If several people are trying to out-scheme the other in this way, you might be headed for a [[Gambit Pileup]].

Contrast with [[Indy Ploy]], a "plan" executed with no planning whatsoever, and [[Batman Gambit]], a plan which relies on people doing as predicted in given circumstances. The [[Magnificent Bastard]] is a villain type likely to use these, but a particularly skilled [[Chessmaster]], [[Manipulative Bastard]], or [[Guile Hero]] may also pull one off.

'''Remember: It's only a Xanatos Gambit if ''all'' the ''plausible'' outcomes benefit the mastermind in some way.''' At the very least, the planner has to benefit [[Heads I Win, Tails You Lose|regardless of whether the obvious plan succeeds or fails.]] This is not a shorthand for "any clever, complex, evil plan." You may want [[Evil Plan]] for that. Instances of this term that use "Xanatos Gambit" without the key quality of "all (or at least two) plausible outcomes always benefit the mastermind" are ''WRONG''. Please fix them wherever you see them at [[TVAll The Tropes]]. If you can't decide what kind of plan it is, use [[The Plan]] which is the supertrope for plans in general.

** People who are frustrated by the amount of advertising in society fight a losing battle. Ignore the ads? They'll play them louder and try another tactic to shove it in your face. Complain about the ads? Advertising tells its clients that people are complaining and there's [[No Such Thing Asas Bad Publicity]] so long as that product name is out there being talked about on the news. Even if the product fails, the advertising company has already long-since been paid.

* In ''[[Hunter X Hunter]]'' chapter 331, Pariston is revealed to not think of winning, though he does know how to win; neither is he thinking of losing. He's playing around with the election {{spoiler|because he saved 5000 hybrid ants to use as a power base. Each of the hybrid ants can use nen, the minimum requirement to be a Hunter. Come next Hunter Exam, those 5000 hybrids will become Hunters almost automatically. Once they become Hunters and are added to Pariston's group of Temp Hunters, he'll have majority support and an overpowered standing army. Since according to Article 8 of the Hunter Commandments the Hunter in charge has to have majority support, if Pariston loses this election he can just force the winner out of office and set up another election under more favorable circumstances.}}

* In ''[[Mazinger Z (Anime)|Mazinger Z]]'', [[Dragon Withwith an Agenda]] Archduke Gorgon agreed helping Dr. Hell to destroy Mazinger-Z with his visibly more powerful Mechanical Beasts. However his true intentions were watching Hell closely and {{spoiler|making both sides weakened each other battle after battle until one side won. Then, he would annihilate the weakened victor, and the Great General of Darkness -his real boss- would conquer the surface world without any real opposition.}} Consequently, he could not lose, not matter how the war between Dr. Hell and Kouji Kabuto ended. And, indeed, he was successful: {{spoiler|he betrayed Dr. Hell in the worst possible moment, leaving him to die or personally murdering him -depending on the version-. Straight after he sent several Mykene Warrior Monsters after Mazinger-Z, and they destroyed the [[Humongous Mecha]].}} In one single day and from one single stroke he had looked after all his enemies. However, his plan did not cause the expected outcome due to a [[Spanner in Thethe Works]]: Kenzo Kabuto and ''[[Great Mazinger (Anime)|Great Mazinger]]''.

* In ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'', the country of Taribia declares its withdrawal from The Union, prompting a military action from America, the community's most powerful member. Taribia intends for Celestial Being to intervene in the conflict against America (who they perceived to have a monopoly over The Union), but the organization instead moves against Taribia, who they designated as the instigators of the conflict. Taribia is forced to return to The Union for America to instruct its forces to aid Taribia in fighting off Celestial Being. However, Taribia's current government is now secured with America's support, and America coming to Taribia's aid quells the anti-American sentiment within the country.

* ''[[El Hazard|El-Hazard: The Magnificent World]]'' has one; Princess Fatora was kidnapped ''and then rescued'' just so that the heroes would use her to unseal the [[Forgotten Superweapon]]... the ''other'' [[Forgotten Superweapon]]. (The villains' backup plan was to simply use her to unseal it themselves.)

* Sensui from ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' had a [[Xanatos Gambit]] within a [[Batman Gambit]]. He knows the heroes are going to come storm his base to stop him, so he sends Amanuma to face them. Amanuma is an eleven-year-old kid whose special power is to [[I Know Mortal Kombat|bring video games to life]], and Sensui selects one that very clearly kills the antagonist if the heroes win, or the heroes if they give up. Amanuma's powers will make that ending a reality if that's how the game goes, so the heroes conclude that the intent was to stall them; they're stuck until they or Amanuma die. Kurama [[Shoot the Dog|shoots the dog]], but then Sensui reveals the ''other'' side of the plan: ''[[Immortal Immaturity|Koenma]]'' was really the only character who had the power to stop him all by himself, and Sensui needed to neutralize him. Since Koenma was the one who hired Sensui as Spirit Detective and sent him on the road to madness anyway, Sensui knows that Koenma feels [[The Atoner|extensively guilty]] about the whole affair, and, if the heroes killed Amanuma, he knew Koenma would drain his power to bring Amanuma back to life. Either way, the Makai Tunnel would open.

* ''[[Naruto]]'' of all people pulls off a [[Xanatos Gambit]] that results in God Realm Pain's death. When he misses with his special Rasengans, Pain drops his guard and Naruto reveals his Shadow Clone trump card, they take the hit from Pain's signature spammy attack on purpose, setting up the real attack.

* In ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'', Hiruma's trick plays are made of this trope, to the point where almost any failure OR success in a contributes in some way to setting up the next play, which might in turn be setting up yet another, etc. It gets to the point where even [[I Know You Know I Know|anticipating a trap within a trap still lands you in a third trap.]]

*** Negi acts as the [[Spanner in Thethe Works]] by just being ''[[Heroic Willpower|that goddamned awesome]]''.

* ''[[Gintama (Manga)|Gintama]]'', surprisingly enough (then again, maybe it's a parody as well?). The whole Character Popularity Arc? All planned by {{spoiler|Yamazaki who was not happy enough that he got 9th place. So he started a war to get all the characters to reduce each other's ranking. Seeing as he wasn't the only one unhappy with his ranking, they almost did it without his help. The outcome of said war would help him either way.}}

* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (Animeanime)|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'': Nanoha and Fate's final battle is one for the Time and Space Administration: Nanoha's victory or defeat is irrelevant. They would prefer she won (and thereby arrest Fate and recover the jewel seeds) but if she doesn't Chrono will step in and finish off the worn-out Fate. If nothing else the battle will allow them to track [[Big Bad|Precia's location.]]

** ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha AsA's]]'''s Gil Graham creates one of these when {{spoiler|He gives the [[MacGuffin]] to an orphan girl and pays for her to live on her own until the Book of Darkness activates, at which point either its guardians destroy it to save the girl, or his Bureau mages freeze it outside time...}} since, you know, just destroying it won't work.

* Phibrizzo in ''[[Slayers|Slayers NEXT]]'' has a NICE one, just because of how he uses it. {{spoiler|He wants to destroy the world by having Lina use the [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|Giga Slave]] and lose control over it. To make this happen, he sets her against Gaav. If she uses the Giga Slave and it destroys the world, great. If it doesn't, he'll provoke her himself. If she uses the Ragna Blade instead, Gaav will be weakened enough for Phibrizzo to take him out himself and ''then'' he can provoke Lina into using the Giga Slave. Being the [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Hellmaster]] he has power and influence enough to make sure she doesn't die until this happens. Lina has no choice but to play right into his hands.}} Unfortunately, Phibrizzo forgot one thing. Summoning someone more powerful than you is NOT a good idea.

* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Nini]]''

** The various gambits pulled off, along with other Xanatos index tropes (especially an [[I Know You Know I Know]] played for humour), in the various club activities. Mion and Shion's gambit in the zombie tag game is of special note, along with the combined [[Xanatos Gambit]] and [[I Know You Know I Know]] (with slight [[Xanatos Speed Chess|improv]]) that Rena and Satoko pull against each other in the water fight...

** In all the worlds similar to {{spoiler|Watanagashi-hen}} and {{spoiler|Meakashi-hen}}, {{spoiler|Miyo's}} gambit ''failed'' because {{spoiler|Shion}} killed the right person at the wrong time, without the one pulling the strings knowing until it was too late.

* ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro Ni (Visual Novel)|Umineko no Naku Koro Nini]]'', once you realise Beatrice is using a Xanatos gambit's to hide a {{spoiler|Xanato's Gambit}} and why, the meaning of the story changes dramatically. The reason that Beatrice choose Battler as her opponent is so that he {{spoiler|may remember who she was and what he did to her, if he does remember, she will forever exist in Battler's memories, if he does not, she will be certainly destroyed by him, granting her freedom in death. Both more desirable for her then being trapped in the purgatory of half-existence}}. Under that gambit is the one Beatrice makes by {{spoiler|betting her life against Battler's. No matter whether Battler removes her from existence, or she breaks Battler's mind, she will be with him for the rest of her existence, her greatest desire.}} Combine these gambits and you find why she tries so hard to keep Battler fighting against her for as long as possible.

* In the first season of ''[[Saiunkoku Monogatari|The Story of Saiunkoku]]'' {{spoiler|Sa Enjun}} enacts a plot to assassinate Emperor Shi Ryuuki and replace him with his long-lost brother Seien. The second season reveals this to have been a [[Xanatos Gambit]] - if it had succeeded, {{spoiler|Enjun}} would have been the power behind the throne and would have {{spoiler|finally surpassed [[Always Someone Better|Grand Master Shou]]}}, but the plot's failure provided the Emperor with a reason to investigate and rectify {{spoiler|the corruption of the Sa Clan}}, exactly as {{spoiler|Enjun}} had hoped.

** The second season also includes a neatly-constructed [[Xanatos Gambit]] on Shuurei's part when she approaches the Merchant's Guild to negotiate for their help in dealing with an outbreak of disease in her province. The Guild is reluctant to have any part of it, and their representatives remain noncommittal until a message arrives from the Emperor commanding them to do the work ''for free'' if they have not already reached an agreement; Shuurei pleasantly suggests that she's willing to pretend they'd sorted things out by the time the message got there, if the Guild will give her some extra concessions in return for the favour. The possible results of Shuurei's plan thus break down to 1) she gets what she wants; 2) she gets what she wants plus a little extra; or 3) she ''still'' gets what she wants and the Guild doesn't even get paid for it.

* ''[[Astro Boy (Animeanime)|Astro Boy]]'': Creating Pluto was this for Tenma. Either Astro losses or evolves and becomes stronger. He's perfectly happy either way. {{spoiler|[[Take a Third Option|When Pluto instead]] has a [[Heel Face Turn]], Shadow reveals he has another robot in the wing, Archeron, who has no emotions.}}

** Skunk has one early on. He uses robots to hunt other robots and sell their parts on the black market. He hid his home base in a abandoned ice cream factory and here's where the gambit comes in. If no one finds him, he can continue unbothered but hopes Astro ''does'' find him because he has a trap set up.

* {{spoiler|Redda}} of ''[[Mon Colle Knights]]'' has a one. {{spoiler|he summons Dread Dragon, who traps the real Rockna within its neck, and Redda explains to Mondo that he can either destroy Dread Dragon and take Rockna with it, or get destroyed himself trying to save Rockna without harming the dragon. In the end, Gabriolis comes just in time to help and Rockna is saved anyway, and both heroes fuse with Gabriolis to destroy Dread Dragon. Nevertheless, either way, this still provides enough time of a distraction for Redda to get away and thus, Redda still succeeds in getting all of the Monster Items, which he plans to use to revive Oroboros and destroy everything himself}}.

== Board[[Comic GamesBooks]] ==

* A [[Retcon]] of two different [[Evil Plan|Evil Plans]]s of Thanos that were foiled by Kazar and Thor (respectively) established them as [[Xanatos Gambit|Xanatos Gambits]]. Thanos was in fact using the two situations to secretly study Kazar's [[Heroic Resolve]] and Mangog's power source of a countless souls, information he would later use to devise the most effective stratagem for his upcoming showdown with the death god known as The Walker.

* In one ''[[Justice League of America]]'' story, the Key traps the League in hallucinatory fake realities, with their inevitable escape being an important component of his plan.

== Fan Fiction[[Film]] ==

** Sidious's plan in ''[[The Phantom Menace]]'' is a [[Xanatos Gambit]] -- atGambit—at the start of the film he wants the Trade Federation to hold Queen Amidala prisoner; when she escapes, he sends his apprentice, Darth Maul, to prevent her from reaching Coruscant. But Amidala does reach Coruscant, and within a couple hours she's helped Sidious become Chancellor Palpatine.

* This is used to humorous effect in ''[[The Princess Bride (Filmfilm)|The Princess Bride]]'', where Westley and Vizzini play a game of wits: Vizzini has to guess which goblet Westley has poisoned and select one to drink, Westley being forced to drink from the other one. After Vizzini has ([[I Know You Know I Know|with much complicated exposition]]) made his choice and drunk, Westley reveals that both the goblets are poisoned and that he has a resistance to that particular poison. Notable in that this gambit's against a minor foe, and foreshadows that {{spoiler|the true enemy, for all his resources, is wholly Westley's inferior.}}

* ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Filmfilm)|The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'' movie consists of by-the-book [[Xanatos Gambit]] of the bunch being called together with the sole reason of acquiring their "components" for super soldiers and their employer was the [[Big Bad]] and the plan comes together the moment they save the day.

* In ''[[The Dark Knight Saga]]'', the Joker set up several situations where either outcome would please him. When he attacked Dent's motorcade, he won regardless - either he killed Dent or Batman, Batman killed him and broke his 'one rule', or the Joker was caught by police - in which case {{spoiler|he had a goon with a stomach full of dynamite, and two buildings full of timed explosives ready to go}}. Later, he made people choose between killing a man or restraining themselves, letting him blow up a hospital. Finally, he gave two ships' occupants the choice to choose which ship would blow up. He didn't care how they chose - either would have delighted him. He was furious when neither chose to attack the other, but he was ready for that as well and prepared to blow then up manually. And though his ferry plot failed the Xanatos test by virtue of getting some new scars, he still had one last gambit to play: {{spoiler|corrupting Harvey Dent... which ultimately was also thwarted too by Batman's [[Zero -Approval Gambit]].}}

* In the ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' movies, Jack Sparrow allowed himself to be shackled in the first movie so he could use them to take Elizabeth hostage, Either they let him escape or she becomes a distraction for his escape. Or taking one of the Aztec coins? Barbosa can no longer win because he himself cannot be killed, but once Will dispells the curse, he can finish Barbosa off with his pistol.

* The villains' plan in ''[[G.I. Joe: theThe Rise of Cobra]]''. First, Destro develops Nano-mite warheads for NATO, in order to secure their funding to build his criminal empire. He intends to use them in major population zones to scare the world into the arms of the "world's most powerful man". OK, that's a cute little [[Batman Gambit]] he has going. However the Nano-Mites themselves are the brainchild of The Doctor ([[Doctor Who (TV)|not that one]]), who himself is using Destro ([[Doctor Who (TV)|oh wait]], ''[[Hey, It's That Guy!|there]]'' [[Christopher Eccleston|he is]]) as a [[Unwitting Pawn]]. All The Doctor wants is to invent bizarre new methods to kill and torture ([[For Science!]]!) and needs the funding from the plan to succeed. When the heroes foil the plan and ruin his chances, he uses the chaos of the escape and Destro's sudden loss of his power base to usurp control and devote the groups actions to his scientific endeavors {{spoiler|while assuming the mantle of '''Commander'''}}.

* In 2009's ''[[Sherlock Holmes (Filmfilm)|Sherlock Holmes]]'' film, Lord Blackwood pulls a minor [[Xanatos Gambit]] in being caught by Holmes and executed by hanging so he could later demonstrate that the [[Powers That Be]] are behind him by "returning" from the grave. Holmes doesn't catch him, he's still free and powerful. Holmes does catch him, he can become even more powerful.

* In ''[[The Exorcist (Film)|The Exorcist]],'' the demon(s) possessing Regan are actually after the soul of Father Damien...either the little girl or the priest; either way they win. {{spoiler|Except that Damien sacrifices himself to outwit them in the end.}}

* Averted in favor of [[Indy Ploy|Indy Ploys]]s in ''[[OceansOcean's Eleven]]'', but played straight in ''[[Ocean's Twelve]]'': {{spoiler|They had already won. The heist was just window dressing.}}

* In ''[[Iron Man (Filmfilm)|Iron Man]] 2'', Ivan Vanko's attack on Tony Stark at the race track was deliberately chosen because either outcome would achieve his goals. If he won, he'd kill Tony and get his revenge. If he lost, he'd show the world that Tony's claims that the Arc Reactor tech was impossible to replicate would be shattered, which in turn would ruin Tony's position as the world's self-imposed protector. Vanko even yells "You lose!" to Tony as the police drag him away after he's been defeated.

* In the 1972 film ''[[Mary Queen of Scots]]'', Elizabeth remarks about Mary's choice of suitors and aptly describes this very trope.

{{quote| "If she chooses Dudley, then we are safe from foreign Catholic princes, though I admit it will be a hard price for me to pay. If she takes Darnley, we have given nothing and she has a weak, degenerate fool as her consort. Win or lose the wager, I cannot lose the game."}}

== [[Literature]] ==

* The overarching plot of the Bible (at least according to mainstream Christian interpretations). Adam sinned by deciding humans could decide for themselves what was good or evil, "tainting" all future humans (which, since he and Eve were the First, is ALL humanity) with sin and death, and Jesus gives himself to counter-act this, the life of a perfect man (Adam) for the life of a perfect man (Jesus). Afterwards, everything is basically a Xanatos Gambit by God against Satan. Satan and the wicked have dominion over the earth and can (have, and will) persecute God's true followers and will attempt to destroy them. This could go several ways. 1) If the "wicked" have good hearts, no matter what, they will be called and welcomed to God's followers. Satan loses, Jehovah wins. 2) The wicked try to ignore God's people and continue ruling themselves. They are unable to successfully rule themselves, as God had predicted, and they will be removed from power. Satan loses, Jehovah wins. 3) The wicked and hard-hearted attempt to destroy God's followers. Prophesies are fulfilled, Har-magedon begins, they are destroyed, the good-hearted are heralded into an eternity of happiness in a paradise earth, Satan and his demons are imprisoned and eventually destroyed, resolving the issue of sovereignty once and for all and ending in the destruction of all evil for all time. Does it even need to be said for this one?

** The above comes across in ''[[The Lion, the Witch Andand Thethe Wardrobe]]''.

* In [[Andre Norton]]'s ''Victory on Janus'', THAT WHICH ABIDES executes a [[Xanatos Gambit]] to weaken its age-old enemies, the Iftin, by deploying android duplicates of specific Iftin and human individuals in staged "attacks" outside human settlements. If a staged attack succeeds in persuading a human settlement to open its gates to let in a "human fugitive" pursued by "Iftin", the settlement can be wiped out, thus depriving the real Iftin of potential recruits and allies; if the tactic fails, the Iftin are made to look like monsters, and the humans are likely to wipe ''them'' out.

* In [[Douglas Adams]]' third ''[[The HitchhikersHitchhiker's Guide to Thethe Galaxy]]'' book, ''[[[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to Thethe Galaxy (Franchise)/Life, The Universe And Everything|Life The Universe And Everything]]'', {{spoiler|Hactar}} either counts on, or at least anticipates, the failure of his original plan to manipulate {{spoiler|the people of Krikkit into detonating the supernova bomb and destroying the universe}}. While describing [[My Brilliant Evil Plan]] to Trillian and Arthur, he completes a gradual {{spoiler|replacement of Arthur's belongings}} that's been happening throughout the book by {{spoiler|planting a second, disguised bomb on him}}, then manipulates the situation further so that, after they've destroyed him, the heroes proceed to [[Time Travel|go back in time]] several days, putting {{spoiler|Arthur in a position where he'll trigger the bomb by accident, not only destroying the universe but}} erasing their original victory. {{spoiler|Hactar even}} gloats for a split second when Trillian asks him how he feels about having failed {{spoiler|with Krikkit}} by whispering "''have'' I failed?", which goes unnoticed until later. The universe ends up being saved only by the craziest of blind luck: {{spoiler|Hactar hadn't foreseen Arthur learning how to fly, which turns out to be the one monkey wrench that breaks an otherwise unstoppable chain of events.}}

** And then ends up being [[Out -Gambitted]] by Gregor Vorbarra. The Emperor of Barrayar was well-taught in [[The Chessmaster|chess]].

* Several gambits are pulled off in the literature surrounding ''[[Warhammer 4000040,000]]''. In the ''[[Eisenhorn]]'' trilogy, the lead character is given a covert message from what appears to be one of his closest allies. He then goes off to meet said ally only to be confronted by a minor villainess who appears to have him utterly cornered by a group of well armed mooks. Eisenhorn then manages to get the information he required from the villainess, only to reveal that he knew it was a trap all along and is physically controlling a dead body remotely. He then wipes out the entire group in a massive psychic explosion. The villainess had lost the moment she stepped into that meeting, giving up the information just made the victory sweeter. By now, Eisenhorn has sauntered into the Magnificent Bastard Camp.

** A good-guy one goes off in [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[GauntsGaunt's Ghosts]]'' novel ''Sabbat Martyr''. Saint Sabbat reincarnates on the otherwise unremarkable planet Herodor. If Chaos forces are diverted to attack the planet and kill her, it takes pressure off the overstretched main forces of the Imperial Crusade. If they do not, the Imperials still get a large, possibly table-turning morale boost from her presence. Either way, the good guys benefit.

* Voldemort's plan in ''[[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Franchisenovel)/|Harry Potter and Thethe Half-Blood Prince|Harry Potter]]'': {{spoiler|If Malfoy succeeds in killing Dumbledore, then Dumbledore is dead. However, if he dies in the attempt, as Voldemort expected him to, then Lucius Malfoy is punished for his failure in the Department of Mysteries, Snape (or one of the other Death Eaters there to witness it) kills Dumbledore, and Dumbledore is dead anyway, meaning a massive blow to [[La Résistance]]. However, Voldemort didn't know that Dumbledore arranged his own death with Snape as part of a larger Gambit Roulette/Batman Gambit to kill Voldemort.}} Making it also a [[Thanatos Gambit]] {{spoiler|by Dumbledore}}.

* Lord Vetinari pulls one in the [[Discworld]] book ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Guards Guards|Guards! Guards!]]'', when being overthrown and imprisoned does not, as Sam Vimes begins to realise, prevent him from still being in control thanks to his well-laid plans.

{{quote| "He [Vimes] wondered what it was like in the Patrician's mind. All cold and shiny, he thought, all blued steel and icicles and little wheels clicking along like a huge clock. The kind of mind that would carefully consider its own downfall and turn it to advantage."}}

** Granny Weatherwax pulls one in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Wintersmith|Wintersmith]]'' when one of the old witches diedies and there's an opening for her old cottage. She backs the trainee witch Tiffany Aching, who is for all purposes her own student, for the cottage and ends up turning it into a choice between Tiffany or another trainee called Annagramma (who is a student of a rival witch with an alternate view on witchcraft). If Tiffany gets the position, she will do a good job and will showcase to all the witches how well Granny's methods work. If Annagramma gets the position she will fail and will make Tiffany help her, showing the other witches that Annagramma's methods don't work ''and'' how well Granny's methods work by helping her back on her feet.<br />Not just that; Tiffany sees through the first half of Granny's plan, to get Annagramma the cottage so that everybody can see her, and her mentor's, methods fail, and so Tiffany organizes a campaign to assist Annagramma, so that she at least doesn't fail. And then at the end Tiffany realizes the full plan; get Annagramma the cottage, because the responsibility will do her good, let the trainee witches assist Annagramma, because she could do with humility and sense, and then let it be known that Annagramma's teacher is no good, Granny's the best, and Annagramma's on her way to being a competent witch. The only one who suffers anything is Annagramma's mentor, everybody else gains. [[All According to Plan|Just as planned]].

** And then there's her gambit in the short story ''"The Sea and Little Fishes''". Granny keeps on winning the Witch Trial festival year after year because she's the best. The new head for the Trials' planning committee (who later becomes Annagramma's teacher) thinks this is unfair and asks Granny to step down and just help the festival without competing. Granny... Does exactly that. And is ''nice'' about it, which [[Paranoia Gambit|drives all the other witches insane thinking about what horrible vengeance she's planning]] [[Beware the Nice Ones|behind her Obfuscating Niceness]]. If the witches ''hadn't'' all gone paranoid about it it would have led to a fine Witch Trial, shown that Granny could be humble, and shown that the committee head was slightly petty. But, as everyone 'sees through it', it ends up ''completely'' wrecking everyone else's day, especially the committee head's, and underlining that Granny is able to out-fox the entire rest of the witching community (including GrannyNanny Ogg) without even trying.

* In ''[[Percy Jackson and& The Olympians (Literature)|Percy Jackson and Thethe Olympians]] Book 2: The Sea of Monsters'', Luke reveals near the end that he {{spoiler|planned to let the good guys have the golden fleece in the end, anyway.}} At the end of the book, {{spoiler|the tree is healed, the camp is saved, and Thalia lives again, giving Kronos a second chance to convert a child of Zeus, Hades, or Poseidon to his cause.}}

{{quote| '''Caesar:''' "Cross my heart and hope to die"}}

* The short story "The Lions in the Desert" by David Langford revolves around a gambit started by the long dead Jasper Trent who once caught a glimpse of a shapeshifter and wanted to expose their existence to the rest of the world. Jasper set up a foundation that would set elaborate traps disguised as mythical treasures. {{spoiler|The narrator/protagonist, who is indeed one of the shapeshifters,}} is about to escape from the trap using his powers to avoid being examined when he realizes that his escape would also expose the existence of his kind -- thekind—the traps are designed in such a way that ''only'' a shapeshifter like the one Jasper saw would be able to escape without leaving any trace of evidence. {{spoiler|He solves this problem by murdering his best friend and leaving his crushed body in the trap.}}

* In ''Beowulf's Children'' by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes, Aaron Tragon's theft of the transport ship ''Robo'' was a [[Xanatos Gambit]]. Aaron Tragon's primary goal is to force everyone to leave the island and colonize the mainland. If the theft was successful, good. If one of the adults died in the conflict, then it's hardball and Aaron gets a war -- alsowar—also good. If one of Aaron's friends is killed, then he gets sympathy from the other colonists and he has the leverage he needs to start colonizing the mainland -- ''very'' good. {{spoiler|The third outcome is what happens}}. Justin is horrified when he realizes this, because it meant Aaron actually took into account the possibility of a friend being killed and that he already planned how to take advantage of it. Even his "friends" are just pawns in Aaron's mind.

* In ''[[The Wise MansMan's Fear]]'', the Maer of Alveron pulls this on Kvothe by sending him on a journey to take out some bandits. Kvothe realises that if he suceeds, the Maer's lands are safe, but if Kvothe fails, he would need to return to the Maer in shame, weakening his position in the court and reducing the obligation that the Maer had on helping Kvothe. Either way, the Maer wins.

* [[Artemis Fowl (Literature)|Artemis Fowl]] in the first book. An instance where [[Xanatos Speed Chess]] leads to a [[Xanatos Gambit]]. After abducting Holly he noticies she has a tracker on her wrist so he does some quick soldering and gluing to place a small camera inside. If it works then great, but if it doesn't, its still off Holly and all he loses is 'an advantage he never expect to have in the first place'.

* [[Tortall Universe]] has a villain on villain one. {{spoiler|Emperor Orzone}} is cornered and injuried by [[The Heroine]] and Stormwings offer him one of their feathers which can change him into one of them and allow him to escape. If he accepts, [[Break the Haughty|that puts him under ''their jursidiction'' and reduces him to the kind of creature he kept in cages.]] If he refuses, then [[The Heroine]] has ''zombie dinosaurs'' waiting to finish him off.

* [[Philip K. Dick]]'s "The World Jones Made" has the dictator Jones ruling the world thanks to his ability to know the future (but only one year ahead). Nobody thinks he could be assassinated, since he would know in advance of your attempt - but the protagonist neverthelss suceeds. But when he comes home, there is a package with a recorded message from the dead Jones: "I won! Tommorow my space fleet will come back defeated in the Jihad I started against the Aliens. If I were alive I would be blamed and lynched. But since you assassinated me today, I will be a revered Martyr and YOU will be blamed!" (Jones' warning does give the protagonist time to flee Earth, so it was not just posthumous gloating - Jones was not a completely bad character, after all...)

* In ''Queste'', the fourth book of ''[[Septimus Heap (Literature)|Septimus Heap]]'', {{spoiler|Septimus is given the [[Artifact of Doom|Questing Stone]] via a [[Xanatos Gambit]]. No matter if he refuses and tries to flee or if he accepts, he's bound to get it}}.

* Not uncommon in ''[[Dune]]''. To take one example, in ''Dune Messiah'' the Tleilaxu create a ghola of Paul Atreides' deceased friend Duncan Idaho, named Hayt. A ghola is essentially a clone made from reanimated dead flesh, but lacking any memories of the original--somethingoriginal—something which prevents the Tleilaxu from using gholas to create functional immortality. As part of a plot with the Bene Gesserit and the Spacing Guild, Hayt is told to kill Paul. Either he will do it and fulfil the plot, or forcing him to go against the loyalties of his former life will cause a shock that will restore the former memories, solving the immortality problem for the Tleilaxu. {{spoiler|The second option is what occurs, allowing the ghola resurrection trick to be used constantly over the rest of the Dune series}}.

* [[Jeeves and Wooster (Literaturenovel)|Jeeves]] rarely organizes a [[Zany Scheme]] without taking measures to ensure that there's something in it for him, even if the scheme falls through.

* In [[Michael Flynn]]'s ''[[Spiral Arm (Literature)|In the Lion's Mouth]]'', a discussion about retrieving Donovan hits on if the agent doesn't bring him back, does bring him, or does not return herself -- eachherself—each one will solve a problem.

* Michael Scofield of ''[[Prison Break]]'' is amazingly good at these, though he keeps getting caught up in the [[Gambit Pileup|Gambit Pileups]]s of those around him. A major example is in ''Hell Or High Water'', when his plan succeeds in helping him escape Sona and ridding himself of Bagwell, Bellick, and Lechero. It doesn't work out completely, unfortunately.

* Virtually every episode of ''[[Yes Minister]]'' and ''Yes, Prime Minister'' features at least one [[Xanatos Gambit]] conducted by Sir Humphrey and/or Hacker.

** Done on a series-long basis in ''[[Power Rangers Ninja Storm]]'' and ''[[Power Rangers RPM (TV)|Power Rangers RPM]]''. In the former, he sent a Monster Of The Week one at a time- knowing that the monsters would become [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can]], and that the can had a specific limit on how much it could hold before it broke and everything got out at once- and he intentionally kept sending monsters just long enough to reach that limit. In RPM, the weekly monsters were just a decoy to prevent the rangers from noticing him filling the city with cyborg [[Manchurian Agent|Manchurian Agents]]s. In both cases, if the monster succeeds, great, they win. If the monster failed, oh well, Plan B is now one step closer to fruition.

* In the ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]'' episode "Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang," Captain John Hart manages to use a [[Xanatos Gambit]] to get the Torchwood team to find several radiation cluster bombs that hid pieces of a hologram device that would tell him the location of an Arcadian Diamond, an incredibly rare jewel. But it turns out that his selfishness is his downfall, as he was the [[Unwitting Pawn]] of a gambit by the woman he thought had the diamond: {{spoiler|there was no Arcadian Diamond--just a bomb that the woman had created to latch onto her killer, who turned out to be Captain John, and attach itself to the person's DNA. But Captain John pulls one last trick: he handcuffs himself to Gwen and swallows the keys, forcing the Torchwood team to save him}}.

* Jessica Pearson pulls one in the third episode of ''[[Suits (TV)|Suits]]''.

{{quote| '''Harvey''': If I win, I look good. If Louis wins, he looks good. Either way, ''you'' look good.}}

* In ''[[Blake's Seven (TV)7|Blakes Seven]]'', [[Big Bad]] Servalan practically eats and drinks the gambit. In several episodes she tallies the score at the end: win or draw (she never loses). In episode Gold her opponent Avon suspects a trap and plays the game so that he can stay on top. Instead of {{spoiler|being killed by Servalan's troops}}, he manages to {{spoiler|take off with her money}}, only to find out that {{spoiler|a week earlier Servalan had gained control of the central bank that issued the bank notes he just got}}, rendering them useless.

{{quote| Valcheck: "This is a win-win for you, ain't it? He won't play, you beat the shit out of him because crime is up. Press loves it, and you score. Flipside is that if he caves, you get yourself a snitch in the Mayor's inner circle." }}

* Used in an episode of the 90's [[The Flash (TV 1990)||Flash series]]. {{spoiler|A crime boss ''appears'' to gather a team to steal a rare mask. The police place their forces around the mask only to find out his men were there to loot the city. Later it's discover to be a double fake as their only distractions so he ''really could'' steal the mask.}}

* Klaus manages to pull one off in Season 2 of the''[[The Vampire Diaries]]''. He first kidnaps Tyler and Caroline to use as part of the sacrifice, when Damon rescues them, he captures Jenna and turns her into a vampire along with Jules. He even had a backup witch if he first one was killed.

** In the next episode he pulls one again. Damon was bitten by Tyler while rescuing him. So he offers his blood which can cure a werewolf bite in exchange for Stefan's servitude. Either Damon dies or he gains an apprentice.

* And now [[Kane (Wrestlingwrestling)|Kane]] claims he's had a similar plan to surpass his (kayfabe) brother [[The Undertaker]] as "the Devil's favorite demon," with his plan having first been enacted ''thirteen years ago'' after his first loss to Taker.

* [[WCW]] tried to make [[Wrestler/Sting (wrestling)|Sting's]] [[Face Heel Turn]] into one of these with [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnHa4xw4ewc this video package.]

* Subverted in ''[[Nobilis (Tabletop Game)|Nobilis]]'', where the antagonist's response to every defeat in one of the game's short fiction pieces is to cackle and proclaim, "Exactly as I planned". The piece ends with the protagonist standing over his grave, saying "You never really got the hang of planning, did you?"

* Everything that has ever happened in the universe and beyond is the result of [[Warhammer 4000040,000|Tzeentch's]] plans. Including those plans of his that have been foiled. In fact, if you try to help him, he benefits, if you try to hinder him, he benefits, and if you do neither, he benefits.

*** Tzeentch is the gambit personified, since he would cease to exist if his gambits stopped. As long as one of his gambits exist, he has already succeeded.

* Someone writing for White Wolf must be a troper -- thetroper—the Seers of the Throne [[Sourcebook]] for ''[[Mage: The Awakening]]'' actually presents an antagonist with a listed ability of "[[Invoked Trope|Xanatos Gambit]]!"

* Setting up and spotting small-scale Xanatos Gambits up is a useful skill in [[Chess (Tabletop Game)|Chess]]. Many a novice, and more than a few experienced players, have gotten just ''a little too eager'' in [[Schmuck Bait|grabbing that one extra pawn]] or [[Unwitting Pawn|attacking the obvious weakness in the enemy's position]] and [[Oh Crap|realized only too late]] that it was [[All According to Plan]].

* [http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/7028072/ An utterly,] [http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/7161903/ utterly epic] [[Xanatos Gambit]] [http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/7196295/ against a] crazy [[Yaoi Fangirl]] which [http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/7324340/ derails the entire plotline of this campaign,] [http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/7922568/ performed by a suitably] Xanatosian [[Magnificent Bastard]] of a PC. Warning: LONG read. Also inspired an inverted viewpoint parody [http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/7328922/ here.]{{Dead link}}

* This can occur in the aforementioned game, ''[[Paranoia]]''. However, both [[Spanner in Thethe Works]] and [[Gambit Pileup]] can also occur, resulting in failed gambits all around.

== Toys[[Video Games]] ==

* In the fourth case of ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]'', Manfred von Karma pulls one of these off when he allows Phoenix to {{spoiler|get a Not Guilty verdict for his client in the trial at hand -- causing that client to confess to a different crime, allowing von Karma to prosecute him for a more personal reason.}}

** ''Another Days 2'' is very similar, but there's this one guy...Gary Stu....he is super cute, and listens to you, and helps clean up the broken buttons... {{spoiler|And has a FANTABULOUS''fantabulous'' boyfriend!!!}}

* In ''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358 Days Over /2 (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts 358 Days Over 2]]'', Organization XIII has two keyblade wielders in their ranks, Roxas and Xion. They need at least one to kill heartless, release hearts, and create Kingdom Hearts. As it turns out {{spoiler|Xion is a Replica made with some of Sora's memories. Because of her origins, either Xion will eventually absorb Roxas and his powers/memories, or the opposite will happen, whatever the two actually decide to do}}. Either outcome is favorable to the Organization, and they even have plans for the worst-case scenario, that being {{spoiler|whoever is left being returned to Sora}}, because if Sora wakes up, all they have to do is let him do what he ''always'' does, which is kill heartless and release hearts, and it will further their goals. Sora turning his keyblade on the Organization ''itself'', and ''winning'', probably wasn't something they planned for.

* {{spoiler|Master Xehanort}} from ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep]]'' pulls one off. In fact, much of the entire series could be seen as one massive Xanatos Gambit. {{spoiler|Master Xehanort attemps to summon Kingdom Hearts and have his assistant, Vanitas, forge the X-Blade with his other half Ventus. If the heroes of the game failed to stop him, Xehanort would have gained control of Kingdom Hearts, and remade the universe with its power. If he lost, as he did, he was completely prepared to steal Terra's body to gain a younger, stronger body than his old, crippled one. Although he didn't expect Terra's will to fight him once more, and Xehanort lost his memory, his plans still resulted in the situation above for his Nobody Xemnas in 358/2 Days, allowed his Heartless, Ansem, to profit from Maleficent's actions (which Master Xehanort originally implanted in her mind ten years previously) in the first game, and as of Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, allowing all the various versions of Xehanort to team up together to take on Sora and his friends in preparation for a final battle.}} In Birth By Sleep's secret movie, Blank Points, {{spoiler|Master Xehanort straight-out tells Terra that what happened was "one of many roads (he) could have taken", and that he had others planned out.}}

* There's one in ''[[Paper Mario: theThe Thousand Year Door (Video Game)|Paper Mario the Thousand -Year Door]]''. Knowing that Mario was heading for the last [[Plot Coupon|Crystal Star]], the game's [[Big Bad]], Grodus, puts it inside his main base. The gambit plays out one of two ways: if Mario were to successfully take the final Crystal Star, he would return back to Rogueport and open the {{spoiler|[[The Very Definitely Final Dungeon|Thousand-Year Door]].}} On the other hand, if he was beaten, the X-Nauts would take the 6 stars he already had, and open the door themselves. Either way, Grodus now has access to {{spoiler|[[Sealed Evil in Aa Can|the Shadow Queen]], whom he intends to use to [[Take Over the World]].}}

* In ''[[Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice]]'', {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Super Hero Aurum's]]}} gambit to {{spoiler|fight Mao at full power}} is one of these: He either obtains more power and rids the world of another 'monster', or obtains [[Death Seeker|a worthy honourable death]]. This gambit is foiled in one ending and backfires very badly in the Human World one.

* The ''[[Super Robot Wars|Divine Crusaders War]]'' qualifies, due to the simple fact that, no matter who wins, Earth will be protected. If the player fails to defeat the DC, it's implied that the DC will defend Earth when the ''real'' threat (it depends on the timeline) arrives. If the player beats the DC, it's leader will mention that the heroes are strong enough to take over the defense of Earth (whether the ''player'' is skilled enough is another matter entirely...).

* In ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines]]'', Prince LaCroix runs one of these. You play a fledgling vampire, who, [[But Thou Must!|for some reason]], is [[It's Up to You|the only agent LaCroix has available]] and gets sent into dangerous situation after dangerous situation. The kicker comes when {{spoiler|1=you realize LaCroix is ''[[Uriah Gambit|actively trying to kill you]]''. Your very existence flouts his own laws, but he can't kill you publicly without seriously pissing off a very large, powerful political sect of Vampires. So instead, he sends you on [[Suicide Mission|suicide missions]]. If you die, he wins, because the symbol of his weakness is gone. If you survive, he wins, by eliminating his enemies and advancing his own agenda.}}

* Caius of ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]-2'' only wanted to end the cycle of Yeul's premature, future gazing deaths. How does he do that? He {{spoiler|plans to destroy Cocoon, ending millions of lives. This would allow Etro's gate to open to let in the souls of the departed, but also let out the time-eating Chaos to devour Gran Pulse, turning it into the timeless Valhalla, where every Yeul can exist. If there's no future, there's nothing for Yeul to see that can kill her.}} Our heroes, Noel and Serah, ain't having dat, and set out to defeat Cauis. But not to worry, inside Cauis is {{spoiler|the heart of Etro. If it were to stop beating, Etro would die (duh), destroying the only thing holding the Chaos back.}} It was almost foiled when {{spoiler|Noel refused to kill him, but Cauis takes Noel's hand and stabs himself.}} And to top it all off, the secret ending reveals {{spoiler|that in a timeless world, Caius is still alive and well, able to see his plan come to fruition.}}

* Before the final mission of ''[[Ace Combat]] X: Skies of Deception]]'', [[Intrepid Reporter]] Albert Genette notes that Leasath commanding officer Diego Navarro was playing one of these: Although his primary goal of conquering Aurelia fails, he still succeeds in increasing arms exports for the military-industrial exports. You as Gryphus One prevent him from succeeding fully by busting up his Fenrir superfighters before he can profit from selling them off too.

* ''[[Prototype (Videovideo Gamegame)|Prototype]]''. {{spoiler|Cross}} convinces Mercer to attack the Bloodtox blowers. This doesn't make much sense later on, because the Bloodtox blowers are stated as important, so {{spoiler|a Blackwatch agent asking you to attack them seems...odd}}. {{spoiler|Until Mercer is then tasked with escorting the Bloodtox injector into the heart of Manhattan, where the Blackwatch soldiers do an admirable job of ignoring Mercer's presence until after Greene is exposed}}. It isn't until this happens that the actual [[Xanatos Gambit]] [[Fridge Brilliance|becomes apparent]]: {{spoiler|If Mercer went after the blowers and was killed in the process, Blackwatch eliminates Mercer and maintains the Bloodtox airborne deployment, cleaning Manhattan's surface and leaving things clear for them to use the injector}}. On the other hand, if {{spoiler|Mercer destroys them, he trusts Cross enough to follow his suggestion to go protect the injector, ensuring that Blackwatch's nastiest enemy is on their side for when Greene appears}}. Either way, ''Blackwatch wins''.

* ''[[Warcraft III]]'' sees a nice couple of these from the original Lich King, {{spoiler|Ner'zhul}}. In the first - well, regardless of who takes Stratholme, he wins {{spoiler|since Arthas winning means his ideal knight's on the road to insane-o-ville and Mal'Ganis winning means the Scourge's army gets bigger and he can rez Aethas- the latter is less ideal but still workable}}. The second is the more eerie one, since, well, {{spoiler|it's Death Knight Arthas who tells Illidan where to get his power-up; Illidan then cheerfully turns his newfound power on the Lich King with intent to smite, weakening both LK and Arthas and ''setting up the situation that leads to Arthas becoming the new Lich King''.}} While he probably didn't intend to lose mojo at the rate that he did, in the end it all worked out to his benefit.

* Yuri from ''[[Red Alert]]|Red Alert II]]'' could be seen as this. If the Soviets win, he gets to command the world from behind the throne of the puppet Premier. And if the Allies prove victorious, then they have just taken the Soviet army out of the way, spreading their own forces quite thin in the process, allowing Yuri a good shot at taking charge directly.

** In the Allied ending, it works quite well, leading to the expansion. But subverted in the Soviet campaign. There he is [[Out -Gambitted]] by the [[Thanatos Gambit]] of his puppet Premier (he apparently is far better at mind ''control'' than at mind ''reading'') and ends up defeated and executed by the Soviets' most talented field commander when on the brink of victory. Not even a [[Xanatos Gambit]] is immune to a [[Spanner in Thethe Works]].

* A domination-mesmer in ''[[Guild Wars]]'' will often employ this. Casting a spell on the enemy that punish the target if he doesn't use a skill can be combined with spells that punish him if he does, or with a build filled with interruption spells. Mostly happens in [[Pv PPvP]] though, since in [[Player Versus Environment|PvE]] enemies [[Artificial Stupidity|will not respond]] to the punish-if-idle skill, although an AI update did prevent them from killing themselves under a punish-if-not-idle spell.

{{quote| {{spoiler|'''Hylden Lord:''' You pathetic creature - you haven't got a clue. The seduction of the Circle and possession of Mortanius; Ariel's murder; the corruption and collapse of the Pillars: all orchestrated as a prelude to this moment. We sought an incorruptible vessel, and you provided one. We required the blood of our ancient enemy, and you delivered Janos Audron - having first been lured to the Heart of Darkness. Best of all, you murdered the Scion of Balance to get it. We've already won.}}}}

* The [[Big Bad]] of ''[[BaldursBaldur's Gate]] II: Throne of Bhaal'' does this when {{spoiler|she plays the main character up against the Five. The main character loses, she's rid of one of the more powerful Bhaalspawn with a reputation for [[Cutting the Knot]] and the cold war between the Five will eventually lead to them wiping each other out anyway. The main character wins, the Five are dead much faster and the [[Big Bad]] now has enough Bhaal essence to ascend directly to Godhood without even having to antagonize the protagonist.}} Win-win... If not for the fact that the main character learns about this plan and becomes powerful enough to challenge the [[Big Bad]] directly as a result.

* [[The Chessmaster]] who pulls off a series of Xanatos gambits in ''[[Tsukihime]]'' is {{spoiler|Kohaku}}. First she encourages SHIKI to fight Makihisa-- ifMakihisa—if SHIKI wins, Makihisa is dead, Akiha will become the head of the Tohno family and Shiki will come back to the mansion; if he loses, SHIKI dies and will no longer {{spoiler|abuse her to use her synchronizer power}}. Then she begins to make Shiki think he's a killer through drugs. He will start walking the streets, and either kill SHIKI, or be killed by SHIKI, which will drive Akiha to murder SHIKI since then she will have more power because she doesn't have to keep him alive anymore. If neither of those happen, then there will likely be a showdown between Akiha and SHIKI. SHIKI will try to target Kohaku first to {{spoiler|stop her from synchronizing with Akiha}}, so either Akiha will sacrifice herself to save her, or SHIKI will kill her, {{spoiler|which will let her give Hisui's true persona back to her}}. If Akiha dies, Shiki will finish off SHIKI, and then her revenge will be complete. {{spoiler|And she can kill herself to let Shiki live with Hisui.}} The only problem is when someone else becomes a [[Spanner in Thethe Works]].

* ''[[Portal 2 (Video Game)|Portal 2]]'': {{spoiler|Wheatley}} goes out of his way to anticipate every possible point of failure during the [[Final Boss]] fight. Being an idiot, he [[Boss Arena Idiocy|misses some key elements]], but what elevates it to a Xanatos Gambit -- andGambit—and his crowning moment of being [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] -- is—is that he is just smart enough to anticipate the possibility that Chell could ''win''. The only things that stop him from being victorious are Chell's status as a [[Determinator]] and a [[Chekhov's Gun]] he could not possibly have known about.

{{quote| {{spoiler|'''Wheatley:'''}} Four-part plan is this. One, no portal surfaces. Two, start the neurotoxin immediately. Three, bomb-proof shields for me, leading directly into number four: bombs. For throwing at ''you''.<br />

{{spoiler|PART FIVE! [[Booby Trap|BOOBY TRAP]] THE STALEMATE BUTTON!}} }}

* [[Big Bad|Sigma's]] master plans in ''[[Mega Man X (Video Game)|Mega Man X]] 4'' and ''X5'' count as this. In the former, {{spoiler|he manipulates the Hunters and Repliforce into fighting each other in order to take control over Repliforce's [[Kill Sat]] and wipe out whoever won}}. In ''X5'', {{spoiler|his sabotage of Eurasia was a distraction for his true goal: spread the Sigma Virus until it evolved into the Zero Virus, then use it to "revert" Zero back into the weapon of destruction Dr Wily had intended him to be.}}

* At least two of Halbech's plans in ''[[Alpha Protocol]]'' are or end up as [[Xanatos Gambit|Xanatos Gambits]]: [[Morton's Fork|Either way you solve them, they still win]].

* This seems to be the whole purpose behind the events of [[Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Video Game)|Deus Ex Human Revolution]]. No matter what outcome Jensen chooses, it furthers the plans of the Illuminati at least slightly {{spoiler|and advances the agenda of Bob Page and Majestic 12 considerably.}}

* [[Super Smash Bros.]]. Brawl, anyone? The Subspace Emissary? The gambit is here enacted by none other than {{spoiler|King Dedede}}. Yes, they ''are'' being serious. As the game's website revealed that was in a cancelled scene, {{spoiler|Dedede}} uncovers the truth about {{spoiler|[[Big Bad]] Tabuu}}, who has taken command of a replicable army, the villains Bowser and Ganondorf, the gun-for-hire of Wario, and has even {{spoiler|successfully taken control of the local godlike entity, Master Hand}}. Oh, and he's got bombs that {{spoiler|drag chunks of ''reality'' into a separate dimension}} being produced by the ''dozens'' through {{spoiler|a race of robotic beings being held hostage}} through secondary villain Ganondorf. So, what does {{spoiler|Dedede}} do? He creates timed badges that, after {{spoiler|Tabuu uses his Off Waves to kill off all the other fighters}}, revive whoever they've been stuck to. If the others defeat this enemy, that's all fine and dandy. If they fail? Ol' {{spoiler|Dedede's}} hidden backup come out of nowhere to take down {{spoiler|Tabuu}} while he's essentially helpless, busy creating a new world in Subspace. But how is it that none of the villains notice what he's up to? Simple - {{spoiler|Dedede}} acts like he's claiming them as ''prizes''. This kind of greed is common place in {{spoiler|Dedede's}} usual acts of villainy. Not only is the man setting off a [[Xanatos Gambit]], but he's utilizing [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] in order to ensure his true intentions aren't suspected. Good lord, all of that from easily one of Nintendo's most infamous ''bumblers''.

** Part of his gambit ''failed'' when one of the badges was lost. True to form, ''Kirby'' {{spoiler|the hero who ''opposes'' him}} swallowed up the badge after a failed princess rescue, allowing {{spoiler|Dedede's}} plan to begin not just working from the outside of Subspace inwards, but also from the ''inside'' of Subspace ''outwards'' through Kirby! It's not even [[All According to Plan|Just As Planned]], and yet still goes off without a hitch.

* ''[[Star Wars]]: [[The Force Unleashed]].'' is a rare case of a subversion. Its revealed that {{spoiler|the foundations of The Rebel Alliance}} were orchestrated by the person the group is dedicated to opposing. If creating this group failed, the planner benefits because they are weaker as individuals. If creating this group succeeded than the planner would know who all his remaining enemies are ''and'' be able to wipe them all out at once. Then it backfired because group's founder not only manages to save the rest via [[Heroic Sacrifice]] but becomes an inspiring martyr. The first movie demonstrates the plan still worked pretty well regardless.

* ''You'' can actually do this in [[Fallout: New Vegas]], at least in [[Multiple Endings|certain endings]]. {{spoiler|If you side with Mr. House (or just yourself), but also have a high enough reputation with the NCR, you can fight most of the Battle of Hoover Dam as though you were allied with them. If your NCR "allies" fail to break through to the Legate's camp, your Securitrons and other assorted allies will still finish off the Legion. If the NCR succeeds, the Securitrons will then be turned on the NCR.}}

* In backstory of ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]] backstory'', Ulfric Stormcloak pulls one of these on the then -current High King of Skyrim. He challenges him to a duel, using a rarely used nordic tradition. If declined, the High King would be shamed and would quickly lose power and influence, allowing Ulfric to step in. The High King accepted the duel. Ulfric then used his power to disarm people with his voice in order to ensure victory. Ulfric did not get the throne since many people viewed using the voice in a duel dishonorable, but he did gain a considerable following for his rebellion.

** The Skyrim civil war is also one for the Thalmor; the longer the war progresses, the weaker both sides become. A victory for the Stormcloak rebels results in the empire being further destabilized, and a victory for the legion leaves the Thalmor with pawns throughout Skyrim who can continue to advance their agenda. Of course, [[Spanner in Thethe Works|no one saw the Dragonborn coming]]....

* In ''Silent Sinner in Blue'', a canon ''[[Touhou]]'' sidestory, Yukari's Second Lunar War ends up being a Xanatos Gambit. If Reimu's party wins, or if she succeeds in infiltrating the Lunar Capital, then they win an obvious victory. However, the true gambit is that {{spoiler|even when both parties are foiled, Yukari has Yuyuko infiltrate the capital [[Kansas City Shuffle|while everyone thinks the danger is over]] and steal some things from the capital, allowing Yukari her own delicious revenge.}}

* In ''[[Kid Icarus: Uprising]]'' {{spoiler|Hades}} successfully pulls of a Xanatos Gambit in {{spoiler|Chapter 10: The Wish Seed. Firstly, he created a myth about an all powerful wish granting item under the protection of the phoenix atop a great volcano long ago. Then he sends the Underworld Army to attack the phoenix and 'retrieve' the wish seed, which prompt Palutena and Pit to counter them. By the time the heroes realize that the wish seed was a hoax, it is too late. If they leave the Underworld Army alone they will defeat the phoenix leading the humans to believe that the wish seed is now obtainable and triggering mass warfare to get it. If they defeat the Underworld Army but leave the Phoenix alone then it will go on a rampage because the Underworld Army provoked it and kill many innocent humans. If Pit defeats both the Underworld Army and the Phoenix then it will be the same as if he let the Underworld Army kill the Phoenix. No matter how it ends up thousands of people will die and that is more business for Hades.}}

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* In ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]'', this is mentioned, though not by name, during a lengthy discussion between Black Mage and Red Mage on who would win in a fight between Batman and Dr. Doom. After Black Mage points this out, Red Mage begrudgingly gives doom the point. Happens in issue [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2003/10/16/episode-342-hypothetically-speaking/ #342] and [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2003/10/18/episode-343-check-mate/ #343]

{{quote| '''The Sorrow:''' [http://gigaville.com/comic.php?id{{=}}255 And you are as wily as ever. You manipulated the situation so that no matter what happened, you got what you wanted].}}

* Employed by Nale in ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' when he lures the Order to Cliffport by kidnapping Roy's sister Julia, then has his new Linear Guild attack. The Guild eventually gets defeated, but while they were distracted, Nale swapped places with his good twin, Elan -- leadingElan—leading the Order to think they had won, when in fact the outcome was exactly what Nale had been seeking (his brother shipped off to jail and him safely undercover in the Order).

** Redcloak outlines a much higher stakes Xanatos Gambit in the prequel story ''[[Start of Darkness]]'': {{spoiler|he intends to capture one of the five Gates that holds back the world's [[Sealed Evil in Aa Can]] so his god, the Dark One, can use it to blackmail the other gods into giving the goblins equal standing among the player races (human, elf, dwarf, etc.). If he should accidentally unleash this [[Eldritch Abomination]] and unravel all of Creation in the process, the gods can then remake the world -- but this time around, the Dark One would have a say in how the goblins were treated.}}

*** {{spoiler|Except, as was recentlylater revealed in the comic proper that the Dark One has no intention of releasing the Snarl on the mortal world, but rather to release it onto the plane the gods exist on -- rather than threatening to unmake creation, the Dark One would threaten to ''kill the gods themselves''. Which, when you think about it, actually makes this a much more effective gambit.}}

** Xykon pulls one himself against Redcloak, that Redcloak has yet to recover from. {{spoiler|Xykon allows Redcloak's brother, Right Eye, to try to assassinate the lich during a climactic battle, knowing that Right Eye would ask Redcloak's help and that Redcloak would be forced to face the facts that, while Xykon was key to the above plan for the goblins, he was at least as great a threat to the goblin race as any enemy. Rather than admit that allying with Xykon was a mistake, Redcloak murders his brother... only to find out that Xykon knew everything, and was never in any danger. It was all a test to see how far Redcloak would go to keep Xykon alive.}} As the writer says, Xykon's not only evil, he's also a dick.

*** Elan's primary trait of being [[Genre Savvy]] is subverted in his father, who's [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] to the point that it horrifies Elan beyond words once he finally figures it all out.

{{quote| '''Tarquin:''' Their every move makes my victory more complete.}}

* In ''[[Goblin Hollow]]'', during the bank robbery arc (more or less starting [https://web.archive.org/web/20120608004717/http://www.rhjunior.com/GH/00166.html HERE,] Ben and Lily get entangled in a bank heist which is only part of the guest villain's double and possibly triple-fakeout plot which involves multiple simultaneous armed robberies, a mysterious pearl necklace, a jade box full of {{spoiler|Boggarts}} and an army of mooks in clown suits.....

* [[The Dragon|Wanda]] from ''[[Erfworld]]'' had been playing a [[Xanatos Gambit]] before the events of the main storyline took place, ever since she learned she was destined to {{spoiler|attune to an Arkentool}}. After {{spoiler|attuning to the Arkenpliers}}, she lays out to Parson the steps she took to make it all possible [https://web.archive.org/web/20130830173025/http://www.giantitp.com/comics/erf0160.html here]. However, Wanda actually downplays the cleverness of her gambit by claiming to only be an [[You Can't Fight Fate|instrument of Fate]].

** Charles, head of Charlescomm (one of the sides in Erfworld) is quite fond of the [[Xanatos Gambit]], as seen in [http://www.erfworld.com/book-1-archive/?px=%2F130.jpg this strip].

*** Too bad for him that Parson repeatedly demonstrates that [[Xanatos Speed Chess]] trumps [[Xanatos Gambit|Xanatos Gambits]].

* Weirdly enough, the titular amorph of ''[[Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic)|Schlock Mercenary]]'' pulls off a minor one of these while investigating a mysterious human-cannonball-related death at a circus in [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20090730.html this strip.] Jud Shafter is a minor character notable for being scared shitless by Schlock quite some time ago. Oh, and that's not casual profanity. That's precision.

* In ''[[Dead of Summer]]'', {{spoiler|[[The Protomen (Music)|Doug Fetterman]]}} has a pretty elaborate one of these. It involves {{spoiler|making an evil clone of Panther to replace the real one, getting rid of the real Panther, downloading crucial information from KILROY, reformatting KILROY, killing Dr. Light, getting the fake Panther to elect him leader of the Protomen, and destroying all who stand in his way.}} [[Crazy Prepared|And if that fails]], {{spoiler|[[Kill'Em All|blow them up]] using the reformatted KILROY as a [[Time Bomb]].}}

* Joel Calley from ''[[Concession]]'' has manipulated much of the overarching plot seemingly to destroy his older brother for taking their father's company and leaving {{spoiler|and killing his twin sister whose vengeful ghost is the reason Joel can't let it go}}. Some aspects of his plan have failed {{spoiler|Calley corp buying Trinity Medical, Artie dying}} but he has backup plans.

* In ''[[SSDD]]'' the [[AIA.I. Is a Crapshoot|Oracle]] does these out of ''boredom''. For [http://www.poisonedminds.com/d/20050325.html example]

* In the newest{{when}} chapter of ''[http://ilikefish.comicgenesis.com/ Pearl of Mer]'', one of the [[Big Bad]]'s lackeys shows he hates the group he is working with. He agrees to help the mermaid in getting her inside to take them down. But he also mentions if she does get caught, he ultimately did his job and brought them a mermaid.

** Supervillain Dr. Diabolik ''lives'' by the [[Xanatos Gambit]]. His standard plan is to use his 'mind web' to take over a mid-sized city. If the heroes fail to defeat him, he walks off with all the goods of the entire town. If the heroes break through the power of the mind web, he still gets everything his forces have stolen by then, plus he achieves his real goal: he 'awakens' thousands of ordinary people and makes them more 'aware'.

* Played with in ''[[The Defrosters]]''. In episode 9, Pixel Girl implies that she is working on a Xanatos Gambit to stop Pixel Boy from playing ''World of Warcraft''. She and James even mention TV Tropes.

* General Mistlethwakey from ''[[EHUD Prelude to Apocalypse|E.H.U.D.: Prelude to Apocalypse]]'' has his 'Plan', an elaborate gambit to... um... well, his goals haven't been made clear yet, but he did sic a pack of supersoldiers on the former president, and then spin the resulting public panic to get his underling made president... so there's something there.

* In ''[[Kickassia]]'', {{spoiler|Kevin Baugh uses [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] to convince the usurpers of his government to let him stay around. He then walks around spreading seeds of dissent throughout the government, and then smiles whenever a major event happens, since no matter what the end result of his actions are, he'll be facing a significantly weakened opponent.}}

* PZ Myers of ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120508014858/http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/06/the_final_tally_on_the_camp_qu.php#comments Pharyngula]'' was winning a charity fundraising race against a number of other blogs when his rivals tried to drum up support by agreeing to carry out a series of forfeits if they won. PZ's immediate response was to tell his readers to donate via the other blogs: if he won he would get the bragging rights of single-handedly beating a large team, if he lost we would get to watch the others carry out the penalties, and either way the last-minute game changer encouraged additional donations.

* The page image can be used to illustrate a common problem with this trope: how far must one stretch ''all'' outcomes for it to count as a [[Xanatos Gambit]]? Just as many of the other gambits on this page, it ''has'' a failure condition, but a low-probability one that only applies in certain outcomes: {{spoiler|in this case, the hero could manage to defeat the Xanatos, his dragon, and his army in succession, leaving the son without the means to take over the world}}.

* [[Glory Seeker|Narcissa Richmond]] manages to pull off one of these in ''[[Grandmaster of Theft]]''. {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Deus]] manipulates her to challenge the Grandmaster to steal Undine's Tear from her. Just in case his plan didn't work and she lost, she brought a replica. By having the real one on her, she then claims to have fought off the Grandmaster and get the exact same fame she wanted in first place through challenging.}}

** Also subverted in ''[[Gargoyles (Animation)|Gargoyles]]'' itself, with the episode "Eye of the Beholder". Xanatos' plan to save fox is made of interlinking gambits where the failure of one triggers the activation of the next. He goes down to plan C, which is trying to trick the heroes into doing his bidding. Unfortunately, they anticipated it and stuck around for the exposition. "I don't suppose you have a plan D?" (As it turns out, he does. He just asks nicely.)

*** And then the heroes pull one on him so hard it [[Zig -Zagging Trope|spins the whole show on its ear]]. At the end, Xanatos gets what he wants (as expected), but self-pityingly announces that the heroes have discovered his weakness; he {{spoiler|cares about Fox enough to submit to his enemies to save her. Goliath smugly notes that that just means he's not as evil as he thinks he is, meaning perhaps they don't have to be enemies at all.}}

{{quote| '''Goliath''': Only '''you''' would regard '''love''' as a weakness.}}

** One of most amazing parts of the real Xanatos's [[Xanatos Gambit|Xanatos Gambits]] is that the "Plan A"s, where the heroes are defeated, are generally never the actual preferred outcome (since that takes away a potential [[Unwitting Pawn]] for a later [[Xanatos Gambit]]). The "Plan B"s run completely independent of the big fight and often are resolved before the fight even happens. For example, in the episode ''Legion''. Xanatos wakens the cyber-Gargoyle Cold Stone and has the cyborg try to steal files off of an advanced computer system that uploads a virus into his cybernetic parts, then is confronted by a police experimental robot that tazes him. The Manhattan Clan confronts Cold Stone, there is a police chase to the Statue of Liberty, some virtual reality is involved; but none of this matter to the Xanatos Gambit since {{spoiler|Xanatos's plan was to use the experimental robot that, his company developed and he "generously" lent the police, to download the virus from Cold Stone's computer system. The rest of the episode may appear as though it was spoiling Xanatos's scheme, but in reality it was completely irrelevant to his actual goals.}} And that's how a him Gambit is properly played.

** Demona manages a minor one in "The Mirror"--while—while trying to steal the eponymous artifact from a museum, Goliath and Elisa find her and chase her outside of the building. Once all three are gone, some hired [[Mook|Mooks]]s of Demona's break in and steal the mirror for her.

* ''[[Tale Spin (Animation)|Tale Spin]]''. Shere Khan always finds victory, even in apparent defeat.

* In the season 4 finale of ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures (Animation)|Jackie Chan Adventures]]'', [[Big Bad|Tarakudo]] reveals that he's been running a gambit for the entire season. If his minions get ahold of the [[Plot Coupon|Oni masks]] and gain control of their respective Shadowkhan armies, that's great. If the heroes get them all instead, that's fine too, seeing as {{spoiler|having all nine masks in the same place causes them to shatter and release the demons inside anyway}}.

* ''[[WITCH (Animationanimation)|WITCH]]'' (a series whose second season was done by Greg Weisman, creator of ''[[Gargoyles (Animation)|Gargoyles]]'') also uses and abuses this trope to no end, as it seems the villain always has one of these up their sleeve. Prince Phobos pulled two (one in the first season and one in the second), while Nerissa... well, let's just say she's a master at it, shall we?

{{quote| "There is no {{spoiler|Trill}}. There never was."}}

* During an episode of ''[[The Avengers: United They Stand]]'' cartoon, newly introduced villains the Zodiac hijack a series of nuclear weapons satellites, which our heroes believe are being used to hold the world hostage and promptly destroy. Turns out, they ''wanted'' the satellites destroyed, as they were obstructing their view of a celestial convergence needed to turn their [[Artifact of Doom|giant astronomical key]] and bring them one step closer to universal domination.

* In the ''[[Superman: theThe Animated Series]]'' 2-part finale "Legacy", Darkseid finally makes good on promise to Superman that "if he won't be [his] knight, he will be [his] pawn", by having the Man of Steel kidnapped, brainwashed by Granny Goodness into believing he is Darkseid's son, and sent to lead a campaign on Earth. When Superman breaks out of the brainwashing, he is captured by the army, and he is facing execution for treason. He manages to escape and make his way to Apokolips, and personally challenge Darkseid, which he barely wins, and overthrows him. But the Lowlies try to help Darkseid, and nurse him to recovery. Ultimately, in the end, the damage was done: The trust of the people of Earth had been severely damaged, with the Man of Steel wondering if he can ever fully earn it back again. Whether he took over the Earth, or was executed, or personally defeated by Darkseid, or even defeats him and returns to Earth, either way, '''Darkseid wins!'''

* [[Lex Luthor]] also pulls one off in ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' when he hacks the Justice League's [[Kill Sat]]: Cadmus could be completely wiped out, removing a threat to himself. Heavy hitters in the Justice League could turn themselves in to the government, removing a threat to himself. Justice League and Cadmus could go into allout war, destroying one side, and removing a threat to himself. If all that is somehow avoided, he '''still''' buys time to complete his Amazo clone and become a god. [[Batman Gambit]] [[Spanner in Thethe Works|unfortunately ruins it.]]

* While its writing seemed to be aimed at preschoolers, ''Challenge of the [[Super FriendsSuperfriends]]'' attempted a few of these. In one episode, the Legion of Doom pretended to shrink the U.N. building down to briefcase size and hide it on an island surrounded by lava and guarded by a lava monster at the center of the Earth. This was only to trick the Superfriends into defeating the lava monster so that the Legion could abscond with the monolith that was ''really'' on the island.

** In ''The World's Greatest [[Super FriendsSuperfriends]]'', the trope is subverted when Mxyzptlk tries this scheme in a deliberate [[Whole-Plot Reference]] to ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Literature)|The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'' with [[Superman]], [[Aquaman (Comic Book)|Aquaman]], and [[Wonder Woman]]. The imp makes the big mistake of letting his victims get back together after their individual adventures, compare notes and realize their experiences were suspiciously similar. As a result, the heroes deduce the common element of the scheme, sabotage it, and then sucker Mxy with some [[Briar Patching]] into banishing himself.

* In the ''[[Code Monkeys]]'' episode "E.T.", Mr. Larrity buys the rights to make a game based off Steven Spielberg's movie ''[[ETE.T. the Extraterrestrial (Film)Extra-Terrestrial|ET the Extraterrestrial]]''. In an obvious nod to the [[The Problem Withwith Licensed Games|horrid real-life E.T. game for the Atari 2600]], Dave goes to a strip club instead of the movie, and just makes up stuff for the game, which ends up sucking. As it turns out, Mr. Larrity had pinned the making of the ''E.T.'' game on a rival company, Bellecovision, and had also been paid a substantial amount of money by George Lucas to discredit Spielberg by making a crappy licensed game based off his movie.

* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' {{spoiler|Hama}}, when teaching Katara to {{spoiler|bloodbend}}, made it so that Katara had to use {{spoiler|bloodbending}} to stop {{spoiler|Hama}} from impaling Aang on Sokka's sword. So, either {{spoiler|Hama}} won the battle, or Katara learned the forbidden art. With the latter outcome, the knowledge of {{spoiler|bloodbending}} was passed on, which is what {{spoiler|Hama}} wanted.

* In ''[[The Legend of Korra (Animation)|The Legend of Korra]]'', Amon goes over the radio and demands that Republic City's council shut down the pro-bending tournament and close the stadium. If they do it, he wins a symbolic victory, showing that he can intimidate them into doing what he wants. If they don't do it, {{spoiler|he gets to start exactly what he's wanted all along, a war between benders and non-benders.}}

* Megabyte from ''[[Re BootReBoot]]'' returned in real style and a few dangerous new upgrades. First he pretended to be a copy of Bob and that threw everyone off guard, especially Dot (who almost married him). But even when he was discovered, he then lured them to capture a copy of himself (an alias) which was simply a distraction as he got inside the Principle Office and took over within moments, infecting a half-dozen new soldiers and ending with a [[Psychotic Smirk]] [[Left Hanging|for the series.]]

* In the ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (TV series)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]'', Imperiex carries out a preempted strike against the Legion to pave the way for the bigger invasion to come. With his friends in the ropes, Brainiac 5 gives in to his [[Enemy Within]] and uses his hidden powers to single-handedly defeat Imperiex's forces, forcing them to retreat. However, Imperiex then informs his [[The Dragon|Dragon]] that this was the outcome that he preferred all along, as it further molded Brainiac 5 into being an ideal ally.

* In ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]'', H.I.V.E. offers Slade their three top-students, Gizmo, Mammoth, and Jinx, to eliminate the Teen Titans, but, as anyone could predict, they get beaten. At the end of the episode, Slade says that he knew this would end this way. He also predicted that one of them would say that they're working for Slade, which was his true purpose. From this moment he started his [[Mind Screw|Mind Screwing Games]] with Robin.

* Done a few times in ''[[Cyberchase (Animation)|Cyberchase]]'' by Hacker. One particularly weird example was the episode where Hacker was bidding on the [[Plot Coupon|Encryptor Chip]] at an auction, while the kids tried to raise enough money to outbid him. Hacker knew that [[Genre Savvy|the kids would beat him anyway]], so he just kept bidding to keep everyone else from getting it. Turns out {{spoiler|the Encryptor Chip would infect Mother Board instead of [[Backstory|curing her]] and replace her personality with a copy of the Hacker's.}}

* Vlad -- aVlad—a.k.a. Plasmius -- ofPlasmius—of ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' is satisfied even when Danny defeats him because a) he sees the boy as his apprentice, and b) it further proves how they're [[Not So Different]].

{{quote| '''Plasmius:''' Using your opponent's weaknesses against him... I ''am'' teaching you something after all.<br />

{{quote| '''Danny (about to pass out)''': I - I don't… understand…<br />

*** The previous battle's outcome didn't matter to Vlad; the class is his use of the 'finish off the winner' trick.

* In an episode of ''[[SpongebobSpongeBob SquarePants]]'' Mr. Krabs manages to pull off an uncharacteristically complex [[Xanatos Gambit]] with Spongebob and Patrick. He tasks the two to prevent Plankton from stealing the [[MacGuffin|Krabby Patty Formula]] from its safe place in his vault in a [[James Bond]] [[Affectionate Parody]] type of clandestine operation. Ultimately, they fail and Plankton actually makes off with the formula, but it doesn't really matter - {{spoiler|the Plankton Spongebob and Patrick were trying to foil was, in fact, Mr. Krabs in disguise, and the entire thing was the result of a bet between the real Plankton and Krabs to see if Krabs could beat Plankton at his own game. If he succeeds, then he wins. If he fails, it still means the real Plankton can't get in either}}

* ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'':

** Just to make sure his plan would work, {{spoiler|Santa programs the device Doofenschmirtz used to ruin Christmas to self-destruct as soon as Phineas's group already saved the day, just in case they couldn't. Its an airtight plan when the same device that creates the problem automatically creates the back up solution}}

* On ''[[Xiaolin Showdown (Animation)|Xiaolin Showdown]]'' [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|Jack Spicer]] gets one in a [[Not-So-Harmless Villain]] moment: he creates the [[Shape Shifter|Chameleon Bot]], [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|a robot can change shape]] and uses it to replace Kimiko. At that point, every outcome helps him. If the monks don't realize the switch, it can sow division within the Good Guy's ranks and help him win showdowns by sabotaging them. If the monks ''do'' realize the switch, the bot can try killing them. If they realize the switch ''and'' defeat the bot jack can use the diversion to steal all their shen Gong Wu.

* ''[[South Park|Cartman]]'': Cartman pulls one off in the season 3 episode "The Red Badge of Gayness" (The one with "S'more-flavored Schnapps") - He makes a bet with the others that he can make it so the South won the [[American Civil War|civil war]], and the agreed stake in the bet is that the loser(s) must act as the winners' slaves. When he loses the bet, he (successfully) argues that he can't be a slave because the South losing the civil war resulted in the abolition of slavery.

* On ''[[Invader Zim]],'' [[Villain Protagonist|Zim]] actually manages to pull one of these off in the unfinished episode "Simon Sez Doom." He volunteers at an orphanage for some unknown reason, so [[Hero Antagonist|Dib]] volunteers too to find out why. Dib abandons his job (watching a volatile diaper-changing machine) to investigate Zim's plan, which turns out to be brainwashing all the kids to serve him through Simon Says. Dib manages to stop that, only to find out the ''real'' plan was to distract Dib so the machine would blow up. Dib manages to stop that, but {{spoiler|the machine has to be turned off, and Dib has to change the kids' diapers himself now}}. [[Evil Is Petty|And]] ''[[Evil Is Petty|that]]'' [[Evil Is Petty|was Zim's]] ''[[Evil Is Petty|real]]'' [[Evil Is Petty|plan all along]].

* In ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]],'' Jimmy, the effeminate kid in the cul-de-sac, successfully engineers one of these in the episode "If It Smells Like An Ed". He frames the Eds for ruining his Friendship Day celebrations, leaves false clues for them to follow, uses Rolf as his [[Unwitting Pawn]] and strikes a deal with the Kanker Sisters, climaxing with the Eds trapped in a shed left to choose their fate: getting beat up by the kids or raped by the Kankers? They get both. And why did this happen? [[Disproportionate Retribution|Because Eddy gave Jimmy a wedgie.]]

* Constantly seen in ''[[Young Justice (Animationanimation)|Young Justice]]''. Even after almost every defeat of their operatives, "The Light" manages some sort of victory and one step closer towards their endgame. This show is run by the man who created David Xanatos, after all.

*** What's impressive is that {{spoiler|this itself was part of another [[Xanatos Gambit]]. The team stops the supervillains from breaking out. However, this attempted escape causes Amanda Waller, the warden, to lose her job to Hugo Strange, who is an agent of The Light. Now they have control over what is practically an army of supervillains.}}

* ''[[Beast Machines (Animation)|Beast Machines]]'' inverts this trope near the finale, when the Maximals take over Megatron's base. The base's shield cuts Botanica off from the planet's organic core, causing her to wilt. If they drop the shield, Megatron's drones will overrun them. If they don't drop the shield, Botanica will die. Either way they lose.

* This is Dr. X's plan in episodes 25-26 of ''[[Action Man (Animation)|Action Man]]''. He kidnaps Alex's friends, and puts them in deadly situations that will force him to use his AMP factor. If Alex succeeds in rescuing them by using his AMP abilities, then X will gain enough insight into it that he can replicate it on himself and become superhuman, and further [[Evilutionary Biologist|his plans to create neo-humanity]]. If Alex fails in rescuing them, X will have killed Alex's friends.

* In one episode of the ''[[Spider-Man: 1994The TVAnimated seriesSeries]]'', Wilson Fisk states this trope is why he's the Kingpin.

* UnsurpsinglyUnsurprisingly [[Incredibly Lame Pun|considering his name]], XANA from ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' is often found of using such trick. As a matter of fact, to an extent, any of his attack involving major damages or witness can be seen as this: even if the Lyoko-Warriors stop the attack, they have to cancel its effect by using the Return to the past, a processus that make XANA stronger each time it's used. This result in a amazing inversion of [[Villain Decay]], as XANA ''takes advantage on his numerous defeats'' to become gradually stronger and more dangerous.

** He also pulls an impressive one in Season 3 episode ''Sabotage'', where he sabotatessabotages the Supercomputer, causing it to nearly destroy itself. When the Lyoko-Warriors finally find a way to reparerepair it, it turns out the only way to do so is to erase part of Lyoko, meaning XANA gets closer to destroy Lyoko as a whole.

*** Nowadays many would say the concept of judicial review is one of the bedrocks of an independent judiciary, which actually does more to prevent executive power grabs.

{{quote| If I win, then B must pay me for teaching him.<br />

{{quote| If I win, then I do not need to pay A, for I have won.<br />

** Even if B won the lawsuit, he would only win a ''case'' if he [[A Fool for Aa Client|represented himself]].

* The creators of ''[[Lonely Girl 15Lonelygirl15]]'' tried to pass it off as a real girl's videoblog; when they were caught, it was a firestorm of free publicity.

* Why baseball has an [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Infield_Fly_Rule:Infield Fly Rule|Infield fly rule]]. Before the rule, if the batter hit a fly ball into the infield with a force play at third [[Department of Redundancy Department|or home]], the runners had two choices. If they ran towards their next base, one of the fielders could just catch the ball and throw the ball to second base before the runner could tag up. If the runners stayed at their bases... [[Magnificent Bastard|The fielder would just let the ball hit the ground and then pulled off an easy double play.]]

* [[The Thirty -Six Stratagems]] is pretty much a list of Xanatos Gambits in the form of Chinese Proverbs.

** Speaking of [[Play StationPlayStation]], back when [[Sega]] was introducing their Sega CD to the US, [[Sony]] Imagesoft came out as a big supporter of it (Sega even helped produce some of their games). At the same time Sony was working with [[Nintendo]] to make their own CD based add-on for the [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|SNES]] called the "Play Station". Sony was developing games for the Sega CD to gain experience, before turning around and backing Nintendo. Unfortunately, Nintendo (which ''also'' had a deal with Phillips for the exact same thing) backed out of the deal, and Sony went ahead with the [[Play StationPlayStation]], dominating the market for the next decade. So, if Sega won they'd have a spot as one of their big developers, if Nintendo won, they'd be the creator of their own CD-based game system, and would have quite a profitable partnership, and if Nintendo turned their back on them, they'd use everything they learned from both Sega and Nintendo, and crush them both. Neither of them saw it coming.

** Possibly unintentional, but Microsoft's 360 being a jack-of-all/master-of-none means it still mildly succeeds in places the [[PSPlay Station 3]] falters, and if Sony does succeed they [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|just buy the devs away]] anyway. Sony typically compartmentalises so few if any of those making Vaios and the like worked with the [[PSPlay Station 3]].

** Or taking everything to the range and shooting it.

* In March,{{when}} Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper tried to get a budget passed: either he gets his budget passed, or an election gets called where he wins more seats. He won a majority this year.{{when}}

* The [[Western Terrorists|Norwegian terrorist]] [[Gunman Withwith Three Names|Anders Behring Breivik]] appears to have tried to pull off his own twisted version of this. Either he would be arrested by the police and use the ensuing trial and media storm to preach his beliefs, or he would be killed and become a martyr for the far-right, his message conveyed through his manifesto. As he lived, Norwegian police are now{{when}} working to prevent him from spreading his message through the media.<br /><br />"Unfotunately", he underestimated the damage reality TV and twitter did tooverestimated the public's mindset, eventaste for thoseidiotic thatracist swear off ittracts. MuchAs like awith congressionalother lawexamples, [[They Just Didn't Care|it's too long for anyone to consider sitting down to read.]] Also, there is quite a bit of disappointment it wasn't 777,777 words long when it was so close to being so. (Numerology is very big amongst either far-fringe movement.)

** [[Batman Gambit|Unless that spy was meant to be revealed in the first place]] as [[Kansas City Shuffle|as the setup for an even bigger plan]] [[Feed the Mole|based on the completely bogus information he's carrying to the enemy]]. This is one of many ways to utilize what [[Sun Tzu]] would have called a "doomed spy."

* In Real Life [[Stage Magician|Magic Tricks]], there is a technique called "[http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Equivocation_:Equivocation (magic)#Magician.27s_Choice27s Choice|Magician's Choice]]", which combines this with the [[Indy Ploy]]. The point is, as with most magic tricks, to make it [[Rule of Perception|appear like]] a [[Gambit Roulette]].

* In Baseballbaseball contracts, there is a stipulation called a player option. If the player thinks he is worth more than the option, he can decline it and get a better deal. If the option exceeds the player's value, he exercises and gets maximum profit. This is the main reason why the option is rarely given out.

** Of course, it is fairly easy for someone who [[Out -Gambitted|knows how it works]] to trick the psychic into something like channeling [[Pv PPvP Online(webcomic)|Obi-wan Kenobi]]

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[[Category:XanatosSpoilered GambitRotten]]

[[Category:TropeTropes of Legend]]