History BatmanGambit / Literature

*** The war itself lasts only three weeks, with Earth quickly capitulating in the face of [[CurbStompBattle overwhelming force]]. This story ends while the psychologists behind the Pacific Project believe that by having Earth sequestered from the Outer Worlds, it will drive Earthmen to seek revenge, improving their robot and physical sciences while accelerating the [[PlanetOfHats mutations causing planetary quirks]] amoung the ex-colony worlds. They expect the Outer Worlds will respond to the increase in diversity by [[SocietyMarchesOn becoming less racist]]. The next story in this setting is ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'', where [[spoiler:the psychologists turn out completely wrong. All fifty-one worlds have become more indolent in the centuries since and the Outer Worlds have [[PlanetOfHats developed planet-wide quirks]], but they've only become ''more'' xenophobic and isolationist]].

* In ''Literature/TheBlackCoats'': ''The Invisible Weapon'' it's explained that the "Pay The Law" stratagem depends on the assumption that one someone is being set up to be framed, in a seemingly hopeless situation, that they will flee thus only making them look even more guilty. It's had a 100% success rate so far.

* In ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'' [[MessianicArchetype Aslan]] pulls a Batman gambit on the White Witch when she wishes to execute Edmund for being a traitor (and to ensure he can't fulfill a prophecy against her) as the Deep Magic they both follow gives her that right. When Aslan convinces her [[CrystalDragonJesus to allow him to die in Edmund's stead]], it invokes [[ReadTheFinePrint a clause in the Deep Magic]] that the magic will shatter the table and death will be reversed if an innocent is sacrificed in a traitor's stead. If the Witch had stuck with her original plan to kill Edmund, the prophecy would have been delayed, and the status quo of her rule over Narnia would have been ensured for some time. But in her greed to kill her greatest adversary, she ended up killing no one, and her hold on Naria was broken.

** Interesting, for the most part of the series, most naval commanders -- not just limited to Honor herself -- subvert this trope by heavily lambasting anyone who ''relies'' on the enemy doing what you expect them to do. In fact, they even refer to the need to deceive your enemy into thinking you're doing something when you're doing something else entirely, and many battles ended with the destruction of the enemy fleet because they fell into traps laid by their opponents pretending to do something else.

** [[spoiler: And it is certainly a series of these gambits since we also get to see several of his gambits run out of control and almost destroy some innocents he wasn't aiming at and had to protect. Resulting in a near [[HeroicBSOD breakdown and loss of faith]] at the end of the book and realizing that he really isn't [[AGodAmI Providence]]. Fortunately, his loyal Greek Princess bails him out with a love admission.]]

*** The war itself lasts only three weeks, with Earth quickly capitulating in the face of [[CurbStompBattle overwhelming force]]. This story ends while the psychologists behind the Pacific Project believe that by having Earth sequestered from the Outer Worlds, it will drive Earthmen to seek revenge, improving their robot and physical sciences while accelerating the [[PlanetOfHats mutations causing planetary quirks]] amoung the ex-colony worlds. They expect the Outer Worlds will respond to the increase in diversity by [[ScocietyMarchesOn becoming less racist]]. The next story in this setting is ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'', where [[spoiler:the psychologists turn out completely wrong. All fifty-one worlds have become more indolent in the centuries since and the Outer Worlds have [[PlanetOfHats developed planet-wide quirks]], but they've only become ''more'' xenophobic and isolationist]].

** In ''Discworld/GuardsGuards'', [[spoiler:Vetinari specifically set up the deepest, darkest dungeon in his palace so that when he was inevitably thrown in there he'd be in perfect security. The locks are on the outside, but all the bars and bolts are on the ''inside''...]]

** In ''Discworld/MenAtArms'', Vetinari seemingly gives into the demands of the Assassins' and Fools' Guilds by forbidding Vimes from investigating the theft and the string of murders that followed, but he knows full well that doing so will only cause Vimes to redouble his efforts. [[spoiler:It briefly backfires on him when he tells Vimes to [[TurnInYourBadge turn in his badge]] -- in the middle of a conversation with someone else, he realizes he likely [[HeroicBSOD broke Vimes's spirit]] instead of galvanizing it, because Vimes didn't put his fist in the wall after leaving.]]
** Vimes, too, particularly in ''Discworld/NightWatch''. At one point he wonders whether Vetinari "felt this way ''all the time''".

** Lord Rust, in ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'', illustrates how spectacularly this can go wrong.
** On multiple occasions, Wolfgang's pack of werewolves in ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'' use this trope when they're hunting humans, anticipating their most likely escape route and then lurking in wait at the point where the quarry will believe they're safe and drop their guard.
** Death pulls this a few times with his granddaughter Susan. Usually because she can go places and do things that he cannot. See ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'' and ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'' for examples.
** Minor characters also invoke this trope, as when Glod Glodson from ''Discworld/SoulMusic'' needs to speak to the Librarian, and asks some student wizards where "the monkey" is. In hope of seeing Glod pounded into pulp, they lead him there directly, encouraging him to act like a monkey when they get there. Instead, Glod respectfully tells the Librarian that the ''students'' just [[BerserkButton called him a monkey]]. And muses to himself that they'd have told him to push off if he'd asked about an ape.

** "Literature/MotherEarth":
A team of Earth's psychologists design the Pacific Project, a course of diplomatic actions based on the psyche of the Outer Worlders. Each step of the plan brings the Outer Worlds closer to declaring war on Earth:

* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', Parahuman Response Team Director Piggot's plan for killing [[spoiler:Crawler]] is to simply tell him that they're about to try to kill him using [[spoiler:a bombing run in the middle of Brockton Bay]]. The plan works because [[spoiler:Crawler]] is a masochist whose power generally allows him to absorb damage, heal it, and adapt an immunity to it; he wants to get hurt, because it will make him stronger. He doesn't even try to leave the area. However, he ''doesn't'' know that they intend to use [[spoiler:physics-breaking bombs created by the insane bomb tinker Bakuda]] which effectively destroy his body faster than his HealingFactor can compensate.

* In the ''Literature/DiogenesClub'' story "Sorcerer, Conjurer, Wizard, Witch", Mycroft's plan to deal with the Great Enchanter Colonel Zenf is based on people doing certain things if they believe certain facts to be true. It proceeds pretty much exactly according to plan, despite the fact that when Zenf emerges, Mycroft's been dead for fifteen years, and his successors [[WeWouldHaveToldYouBut have no idea what the plan is]].

** [[spoiler: And it is certainly a series of these gambits since we also get to see several of his gambits run out of control and almost destroy some innocents he wasn't aiming at and had to protect. Resulting in a near [[HeroicBSOD breakdown and loss of faith]] at the end of the book and realizing that he really isn't [[AGodIAm Providence]]. Fortunately, his loyal Greek Princess bails him out with a love admission.]]

* In Creator/AlexandreDumas's ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'', Milady de Winter's ability to pull off Batman Gambits is what makes her formidable -- if she's unable to carry out an assassination she can just get someone else to do it for her. Cardinal Richelieu is the story's specialist.

* ''Literature/{{Edgedancer}}'' (a novella of ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''): Lift's plan hinges on this. Knowing that Nale's in town, she stages a very public event that's implausible enough to attract his attention, making sure to show off a tell-tale sign of Radianthood to one specific person. She then hides near her bait's house and wait for Nale to come and interrogate them; and just like that, she found him and can now follow him.

* ''Literature/TheMachineriesOfEmpire'': Shuos Jedao's master plan. He used his military genius to become a hero, then murdered everyone at Hellspin Fortress, knowing that he'll be executred for it, but also knowing that the Kel Command will not let his genius go to waste. This would mean that they'd put him in the black cradle, and that he'll be called out of it whenever a Hexarchate-threatening crisis arises. This in turn would allow him to wait for the perfect moment to ''overthrow'' the Hexarchate, which is his plan all along.
* ''LightNovel/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'': Kyousuke relies on these to foil the plans of [[spoiler:the White Queen]], the main antagonist of the series. Because [[spoiler:the Queen]] is hopelessly in love with him ([[{{Yandere}} albeit in an extremely twisted fashion]]), he is often able to predict her behavior and exploit it. A good example is the end of the first volume, where he deliberately [[spoiler:summons the Black Maw That Swallows All, an EldritchAbomination that normally kills its own summoner. The Queen fights the Black Maw to the death ([[ResurrectiveImmortality though it doesn't last]]) to protect him]].

* For Literature/ArseneLupin, the ''Hollow Needle'' mystery was pretty much all a Batman Gambit at the expense of the young amateur detective Isidore Beautrelet. Numerous others happen throughout Lupin's adventures but this is pretty much the biggest one.

* Basically everything Literature/{{Belisarius|Series}} does is either an IndyPloy or a brilliant Batman Gambit. One of his more notable? A half-year long military campaign [[spoiler: which he planned to ''lose'', so that the advancing enemy army would continue pursuing part of his army past where another part of his army was concealed, allowing them to slip away with a unit of [[HeelFaceTurn formed enemy troops]] the Malwa had assumed was annihilated the previous year, showing up in a completely different part of Persia disguised as ordinary prisoners of the "enemy unit", pull of a TrojanHorse attack that in one blow destroys logistical base of the Malwa in Persia while he sails off in a fleet of ships his wife had organized, resulting in the greatest military defeat in world history up to that point to a Malwa army 10 times the size of his... and ''not'' the one he was originally fighting. Because he wanted ''that'' Malwa army, its commander, and their "defeating" Belisarius" in battle to be considered the only good part of the whole situation by the Malwa]].

---> "Name ''any'' simple thing about his plan!"
---> "The simple thing at the heart of the general's plan, Valentinian, is the soul of Venandakatra. The entire plan revolves around that one thing. Which is, perhaps, the simplest thing in the world."
---> "He's got a point. A rather good one, actually. Irrefutable, in fact."
** The final novel shows a Batman Gambit's failure mode, although the bad guy waits far too long to realize it. [[spoiler: He has Link's army trapped in a completely helpless position, but instead of going in to defeat them, keeps them pinned in position with the hope they can survive so that Link is isolated from other Malwa forces while the critical battle is taking place somewhere else, Link being in that position because it assumed that Belisarius would be the one to be in command of the critical battle. Link finally twigs on to what is happening and has its current host body killed so it can occupy a new one back at the Malwa capital, which is precisely what Belisarius was trying to delay as long as possible.]]

* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' novel [[Recap/NewSeriesAdventuresEnginesofWar "Engines of War"]]:

** It's looked for a while like Harry's mother set one into motion before her death that would lead her [[spoiler: sons to find each other]], Harry to get useful information from her when it would most benefit him, and [[spoiler: the downfall of the vampire who killed her]]. It could also be said that Gentleman Johnny Marcone Batman Gambits off Harry's predictable hero tendencies.

* Creator/GKChesterton's Literature/FatherBrown story "The Sins of Prince Saradine": Saradine has two enemies. One is the son of a man he killed, who lacks legal proof and thus is hunting Saradine to kill him personally. The other is the Prince's twin brother, who has proof of the murder and is using it for blackmail. He then gives everything he has to the blackmailer, and informs the other of his location. The avenger kills the blackmailer and willingly accepts execution thinking he's revenged himself on Saradine.
* ''Literature/ForeverGate'':

* Creator/IsaacAsimov
** ''Literature/TheFoundationTrilogy'': Hari Seldon sets up [[LongGame centuries worth of plans]] in advance, [[PrescienceByAnalysis using statistics]]. The actions taken by his Foundation on Terminus are dictated by the starting conditions (conditions that he arranged). Every so often, a "Seldon Crisis" occurs, where there is only one possible action that the Foundation can take, because any other action would result in their destruction. Subverted when it turns out that [[spoiler:he actually left behind a secret Second Foundation to force Terminus back onto his predictions if they began to deviate]].
** ''Literature/DavidStarrSpaceRanger'': Hector Conway tricks David Starr into going to Mars by arranging for him to inspect the Martian food while it's on the Moon’s customs office. By admitting to David that he also has people inspecting the Martian foods at the Martian customs office, before being shipped to the Moon, he ensures that David tries to outthink him by going to Mars instead.
** ''Literature/LuckyStarrAndThePiratesOfTheAsteroids'': Lucky Starr repays his uncles for trying to trick him in the previous adventure by convincing them to build an autonomous mapping vessel and fixing it with a booby-trap for when the pirates take it to their base. But what he actually does is sneak aboard it and try to join the pirates himself, being fairly certain that the pirates would accept his word about not being aware of the trap. (He was mostly right [[spoiler:except the Boss [[YouRemindMeOfX recognized]] who he was]].)

* [[HighPriest High Priestess]] D'ol Falla does this in the ''Literature/{{Green Sky Trilogy}}''. Her whole plan to free the people of Erda, trapped underground for centuries, hinges on three young priests not letting the power and glory of their position keep them from feeling basic human decency.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/TheFoundationTrilogy'': Hari Seldon sets up [[LongGame centuries worth of plans]] in advance, [[PrescienceByAnalysis using statistics]]. The actions taken by his Foundation on Terminus are dictated by the starting conditions (conditions that he arranged). Every so often, a "Seldon Crisis" occurs, where there is only one possible action that the Foundation can take, because any other action would result in their destruction. Subverted when it turns out that [[spoiler:he actually left behind a secret Second Foundation to force Terminus back onto his predictions if they began to deviate]].

* The short story "The Man at the Table" by C. B. Gilford features an unusual example of this trope. Byron Duquay is sitting at a card table, preparing for guests, when an escaped killer, Rick Masden, enters his home. Duquay convinces Masden to sit at the opposite end of the table for a drink. Masden demands money and the keys to Duquay's car. Duquay says he will give Masden neither, and then proceeds to tell him that if Masden attempts to get up with his knife, Duquay will upend the table on him and grab his own, larger knife. Masden is clearly less muscular than Duquay, and at a disadvantage in a physical fight. Masden quickly realizes that Duquay was expecting company, and that Duquay is trying to delay him until help can arrive, which Duquay admits calmly. They reach an arrangement where Masden will leave his knife behind and leave empty-handed. It is just then that the other guests arrive, and Masden is apprehended. [[spoiler: In a CrowningMomentOfAwesome we learn that delaying Masden wasn't Duquay's real gambit. Bluffing him into thinking that he could and would fight Masden was. Duquay was paralyzed from the waist down, unable to stand. His wife had placed him in the chair earlier so he would feel like less of an invalid when playing cards with his friends.]]