This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
//It seems to me that this trope is even older than the 16th Century, perhaps by millenia.
These stories seem to me to have strong similarities to old Norse stories of mortals who tried to bargain with Odin or Loki and came to a bad end, because nothing so annoys the Gods as cheeky mortals.
In other Norse stories, even the other Gods must be wary of "deals" offered by Loki the Trickster, whose "gifts" may be exactly what he promised but never quite what they wanted or expected.
Darmok: Can someone explain to me why the Star Wars films (the first example on the list) count? Who is the metaphorical Faust/devil?
Lale: Whoever convinced Annakin to "join the Dark Side"? I've never seen that trilogy, so I don't know his name.
Darmok: The Emperor (Darth Sidious) in 'Revenge of the Sith''? Didn't he just lie to Anakin, and trick him into pledging allegiance to the Sith cause?
Lale: Devils love to use lies and trickery. Then there was the promise it would save his wife, right?
Paul A: This page seems to be gathering a lot of examples of literal deals with literal devils, regardless of whether they actually fit the trope.
Seth: How do any of them not fit the trope? ive done a read through and can't spot any that dont. The trope seems to cover A- Literal soul for gift deals with a devil, B-Crooked deals with any Mephistopheles like character with a common variation that said gift is usless or just not given. (But i would say the main body needs a little clarification)
Janitor: Pulled ....
- It's pretty much the second-worst thing you can possibly do because of Genre Blindness. (The first is to try and renege on your side of the deal afterwards just to be a jerk.)
Ununnilium: Would that one story where the guy cuts his vocal cords because of a bet he makes with a guy to stay silent, but the guy loses all his money in the interim, count?
Lale: Sounds more like You Can't Win.
Umptyscope: IIRC, it was an ep of The Twilight Zone and he had his tongue cut out.
BTW, I think it's interesting that this trope requires the existence of a Devil character, but the protag. has to get out of the jam himself. You never see any assist from God, angels, etc, but they must exist if the Devil exists, right?
Seven Seals: No, why? If it's literally the Devil from Christian lore, yes, but the identification isn't always explicit. Even if it definitely is the Devil and God and co. definitely do exist, there are good reasons for not having God solve everything by divine intervention. As a literal Deus ex Machina, it's bad storytelling, and there's no lesson to be learned along the lines of "we must overcome evil ourselves". To put it differently: the Devil's willing to get his hands dirty, while God prefers to stay on the sidelines and be quietly inspiring. In these stories there's often a Shout-Out to the big guy upstairs, to show that he was really caring all along, but no direct action.
Lale: God and Christ were very a much a part of the original Faust story. Modern examples are not so much about the mark being evil and selfish and in need of redemption like Faust, though, as being desperate and stupid and in need of a loophole. And the trade-in isn't always your soul anymore. Is it really God's responsibility to interfere in a bad business deal, like your voice for a human body? (Though, once again, Christianity and eternal salvation was a part of that original story...)
Citizen: That Fans example is a bit long, certainly too long to be all inside a spoiler block. The spoiler doesn't mean anything to me, and it's just a webcomic, but I'll go ahead and leave that very last bit spoilered, and someone else can deal with it as they wish. —- Steve MB: Split into categories. —- Filby: Regarding my "Young Goodman Brown" addition, which is contested: I was just parroting my English lit professor, but I realize how profs have a tendency to drag their "pet" interpretations into lectures, and this may have been no exception. So feel free to change the line as you see fit.
Medinoc: To L, about the Pokéthulhu adventure game: However, I pulled it, because it tends to prevent "Pokéthulhu" from appearing in searches.
rb: I deleted Bear-skin from Literature since it was in Fairy Tales, and moved Rumpelstiltskin from Literature to Fairy Tales.
The Other Steve: This was just a dream I had, but would it be alright if I put this example under "Other?" "This editor had a nightmare where a female devil was giving these out en masse. In a twist, while she always made sure the result was up to specifications, she'd consider it an agreement even if you were only tempted by the offer. Meaning you could say no, and she'd take your soul and give you what you wanted anyway "because you were thinking 'yes.'"
fleb: WTF to this one from the Anime/Manga section: Is it saying that Anno made a Deal with the Devil with his fanbase?
- Hideaki Anno is just plain crazy for doing this. Fans got shitty because they didn't get the Evangelion ending they wanted. Anno's response? End of Evangelion, where he follow the South Park movie's idea and gave the fans exactly what they fucking wanted, but made sure that he did everything to upset them as well.
BritBllt: Removing this bit of natter...
- Actually, that's wrong. The world is only in danger of being destroyed because of the actions of SEES, meaning the Main Character essentially traded his life for a chance to play the hero.
If something is wrong, it should be fixed, not commented on. But in this case, it isn't wrong: signing the contract has no connection with joining SEES.
Paradisca Corbasi: The Pirates Of The Caribbean entry doesn't take into account the faithless woman angle. Jones' deal would have been intact except when he came home after 10 years, Calypso was not waiting, so he abandoned his duty and thus cursed himself. Had she waited for him, he could've stepped off the ship with his crewmen still human As Will did in the post movie Easter Egg because Elizabeth was waiting for him.
