History ChronicBackstabbingDisorder / Literature

** Slagar the Cruel elevates this to a business model: gather a crew of [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil slavers]], kidnap some innocents and sell them to the Kingdom of Malkariss, [[ManipulativeBastard manipulate the crew]] into killing each other so he doesn't have to share the fee, rinse and repeat.

* While ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' foxes have this as a species hat, Mokkan of the Marlfoxes is the most notable. How? Well, you could probably count the allies he DIDN'T betray, abandon or just mess up on one paw, up to and including his own family. Seriously, [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath pushing your sister into a lake full of]] [[ThreateningShark pike...]] Yeesh.

* In Creator/LarryNiven's ''Literature/KnownSpace'', Pak Protectors were in a perpetual state of war, because everyone was biologically hardwired to serve the short-term interest of its own clan. Even when clans tried to be allies, the protectors would instantly, involuntarily backstab each other as soon as an opening appeared. In ''Literature/TheRingworldEngineers'', a protector is friends with the main characters and needs them to save its whole world, but finds itself trying to kill them anyway because they are a threat to some of its own relatives.

* In Doc Smith's ''Literature/{{Lensman}}'' novels, the Boskonian culture, spread through two major galaxies, runs on this trope. Everyone moves up through assassination and/or betrayal of their superiors. And they get away with it, as long as they protect themselves from others assassinating/betraying them because that's how you ''legitimately'' advance in their culture. Kim Kinnison goes undercover and works his way up to supreme dictator of an important planet and all its dependencies by a series of betrayals and assassinations, and he's widely admired and respected for this.

** ''Literature/ACivilCampaign'': Byerly Vorrutyer, the man-about-town and general political stirrer. He has motives so indiscernible that it's very hard to tell exactly who he's actually betraying, and whether he's a double agent, triple agent... or what, really. [[spoiler:Actually working for the government (but, rather like Miles, extremely prone to exceeding his orders... and with a somewhat blasé attitude towards the safety of others). We ''think''. ]]

** In ''Literature/TheVorGame'' we meet a more pathological version in Commander Cavilo. Having already [[TheVamp vamped]] her way into command of a mercenary warfleet, she gets hired by a planet during a staredown with a rival, sells them out to the [[TheEmpire Cetagandan Empire]], then backstabs both the Cetagandans and her own fleet for a chance at seducing the Barrayaran Emperor Gregor (who had slipped out of TheChainsOfCommanding after a drunken, halfhearted suicide attempt) into making her his [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen consort]]. It is mentioned (though not by name) as being her downfall. If she had stuck with one plan, any plan, she could have probably pulled it off. But she's unwilling to follow through when she thinks something better comes along.
** Miles himself seems to suffer from a variant of this disorder (which is lampshaded in the series, especially ''Literature/TheVorGame'' and ''Literature/{{Memory}}''). Rather than intentionally betraying allies and neutrals, he makes commitments (implicit or explicit) which he later can't fulfill without breaking another one. (He doesn't ''want'' to betray people, and he generally manages to juggle responsibilities and deceive people until he finds a solution. However, his skill at avoiding having to follow through with the final outright backstab doesn't prevent the lead-up from being its own form of betrayal.) The pattern is most clearly (and avoidably) showcased in the first book featuring him, ''Literature/TheWarriorsApprentice''.

* Peter Hayes from ''Literature/Divergent'' consistently betrays his allies at least once per book, regardless of whether it benefits him or not. It's so pathologic that [[spoiler:by the third book he has a HeelRealization and elects to wipe his memories so he can stop betraying everyone.]]

** There was the historical example of Hugh the Hammer and Ulf the White, a pair of dragonseeds (Targaryen/Velaryon bastards) who were trained to ride dragons during the Dance of the Dragons. Initially siding with Rhaenyra Targaryen's blacks, they defected to Aegon II's greens during the First Battle of Tumbleton, which contributed to the blacks losing that battle. Then they felt slighted by Prince Daeron's ostensibly minor rewards for them, and decided that they wanted to become the ''King of the Seven Kingdoms''. Eventually, their attempted coup was heard by the greens, who decided to eliminate them both, but the distraction enabled the blacks to smash the greens during the Second Battle of Tumbleton. They have since been branded "The Two Betrayers", and their infamy was thoroughly unfortunate in hindsight since they exemplified the traditional Westerosi view of [[BastardBastard bastards being evil, scheming traitors]].

* [[HistoricalDomainCharacter The eunuch Narses]] as depicted in the ''Literature/BelisariusSeries'' has a genuinely pathological form of this. For his first (and by no means last) betrayal he, Grand Chamberlain of the Roman Empire and the only high official the RulingCouple completely ''trusts'', commits to a conspiracy that would cost the life of the closest thing he will ever have to a daughter[[note]](to his credit, when the whole thing goes south he goes out of his way to save her before escaping)[[/note]] in the hopes of becoming TheManBehindTheMan for Justinian's replacement. He hates himself for it and is convinced he will be dead of old age (and damned to Hell) in a few years no matter what, but he just... can't... stop.
** At the end of the series, [[spoiler:he ends up betraying the BigBad. His master immediately sends him to China to take up new opportunities, coincidentally giving him an entirely new scope for his intriguing abilities. The other option, they both know, was just to kill him; ''he's that dangerous''.]]
* Uwe in ''Literature/TheBlackSwan'' toes the line between this and ManipulativeBastard. He allows Queen Clothilde to believe he is helping her set up her son for a tragic 'accident' which will let her keep the throne for life -- in reality he is setting her up for Baron von Rothbart to destroy her. Unfortunately for Uwe, the Baron [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves rewards him as a traitor deserves]].

* This isn't even a spoiler in ''Literature/TheClique'' series of YA novels, over the course of 13 (14 if you count the prequel) books the middle school girls, including [[NaiveNewcomer Claire]], backstab each other at least thrice. Prize goes to [[AlphaBitch Mas]][[BigBad sie]] and [[TheDragon Alicia]], who backstab each other so much it's not hard to lose count.

* Fernand Mondego of Dumas' ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'' achieves success through this. First, he participates in setting up Dantes so he can have Mercedes for himself. Then, during the Napoleonic Wars, he and his superior officer both desert Napoleon at the right moment, earning promotions from the new Royalist Regime afterward. Then, as a sort of mercenary in the Greek Wars of Independence, he is a well-paid commanding officer under Ali Pasha who he betrays to the Turks. Not only does he gain a fortune for this treason, but back in France everyone [[FakeUltimateHero thinks he's a war hero]] and he ends up a general.

* ''{{Literature/Flashman}}'' inevitably gets to see any conflict from both sides due to getting captured and/or turning his coat.
* According to [[AllThereInTheManual Pottermore]], the Ravenclaw house of ''Literature/HarryPotter'' has a problem with this at times. Though since the information came from the [[UnreliableNarrator Slytherin Prefect]], it must be taken with a grain of salt.
* ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'': Marisa Coulter. Spends an awful lot of time trying to capture her daughter, Lyra. Then it turns out that she was trying to protect her. Then she finds out about the prophecy. Then she starts trying to capture her again, with the help of some old guy. Then she poisons him and kidnaps Lyra to protect her from the Church, who want to kill her. Then Lyra escapes and Marisa goes over to Lord Asriel's side (the people who want to destroy the Church). Then she betrays him and defects back to the Church. Then she stops the Church from destroying Lyra and it turns out that her only intention was to stab them in the back. Then she helps kill the angel who has taken God's place, overthrowing the Authority in all worlds forever. Then she dies.
* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Dengel is known for switching sides when advantageous. In his own words, "Unlike my brethren, I know when to make deals.” [[spoiler:This is why the BigBad knew that his WeCanRuleTogether attempt would succeed in the climax.]]

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, the resident MagnificentBastard. He's actually pretty [[LovableTraitor jokingly upfront]] about being a chronic backstabber, but [[SarcasticConfession no one takes him seriously]] until a bit too late. He [[spoiler:allies himself with Eddard Stark, causing him to believe that he had the resources to move against the Lannisters. But then when it comes time to act, Baelish betrays Stark to the Lannisters. He then frames Tyrion Lannister for the murder of his nephew Joffrey, causing House Lannister to tear itself apart -- and making way for his new allies, the Tyrells, to take control of Westeros]]. With each successive betrayal, Baelish's own personal standing is increased, going from an unappreciated civil servant to the ruler of two of the Seven Kingdoms, [[spoiler: and with Stark's eldest daughter, Sansa, as his protegée]]. And then we learn that [[spoiler:the murder that made Stark want to get revenge on the Lannisters (Jon Arryn's) was committed by Baelish all along, having manipulated his wife Lysa into doing it]]. That said, [[spoiler:a lot of his betrayals have relied on being very lucky, his plans could easily have gone wrong, and when Ned first met Petyr his initial reaction was to not trust him, but his wife Catelyn didn't realize how corrupt and resentful her foster brother had become and told her husband he could be trusted]].

** Miles (the series' protagonist) himself seems to suffer from a variant of this disorder (which is lampshaded in the series, especially ''Literature/TheVorGame'' and ''Literature/{{Memory}}''). Rather than intentionally betraying allies and neutrals, he makes commitments (implicit or explicit) which he later can't fulfill without breaking another one. (He doesn't ''want'' to betray people, and he generally manages to juggle responsibilities and deceive people until he finds a solution. However, his skill at avoiding having to follow through with the final outright backstab doesn't prevent the lead-up from being its own form of betrayal.) The pattern is most clearly (and avoidably) showcased in the first book featuring him, ''Literature/TheWarriorsApprentice''.
* ''Literature/TheWarlordChronicles'', a highly realistic retelling of the Arthurian legend, features a couple of examples:
** First we have Gundleus from the first book. Already King of Siluria, Gundleus is set to marry Uther's daughter in the wake of Uther's death and be the regent for Uther's infant grandson, who will be the future High King. Instead, Gundleus gets greedy and decides to shoot at becoming High King himself, murdering his wife to be and attempting to kill the baby as well. After Arthur captures him alive and treats him well, Gundleus promptly sides against Arthur in the next round of warfare among the British kingdoms when it looks like Arthur is going to lose. Oh, and in addition to killing his wife and attempting infanticide, Gundleus also rapes another character and rips out her eye. Fun guy, and particularly notable because even without doing any backstabbing he would in a position to wield enormous power.
** Bishop Sansum is a {{Corrupt Church}}man who operates on a single rule when it comes to the endless wars and political squabbles between the British kingdoms: be on the winning side. As soon as one faction gets the upper hand, Sansum is sure to make himself just useful enough to them that he'll survive and prosper regardless of who actually wins.
** Also, in a very different take on the legend than usual, there's also [[spoiler:Lancelot]].
* Affects several people and organizations in ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', but none more so than [[TheChessmaster Coil]]. Over the course of the seria (plus flashbacks), he's manipulated just about every major faction and even ''individual characters'' before stabbing them in the back, whether they know it or not. After [[spoiler:the Undersiders and the Travelers take over Brockton Bay]] for him, he tries to kill [[spoiler:our lovely protagonist]] ''multiple times,'' and plays all the others like a fiddle until [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness they've outlived their usefulness.]] Hell, the man got his ''{{start|OfDarkness}}'' by killing [[spoiler:his commanding officer on the Nilbog mission,]] literally shooting him in the back for ''taking too long to climb a ladder.''

** ''Literature/ACivilCampaign'': Byerly Vorrutyer, the man-about-town and general political stirrer. He has motives so indiscernible that it's very hard to tell exactly who he's actually betraying, and whether he's a double agent, triple agent... or what, really. [[spoiler:Actually working for the government. We ''think''.]]

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, the resident MagnificentBastard. He's actually pretty [[LovableTraitor jokingly upfront]] about being a chronic backstabber, but [[SarcasticConfession no one takes him seriously]] until a bit too late. He [[spoiler:allies himself with Eddard Stark, causing him to believe that he had the resources to move against the Lannisters. But then when it comes time to act, Baelish betrays Stark to the Lannisters. He then frames Tyrion Lannister for the murder of his nephew Joffrey, causing House Lannister to tear itself apart -- and making way for his new allies, the Tyrells, to take control of Westeros]]. With each successive betrayal, Baelish's own personal standing is increased, going from an unappreciated civil servant to the ruler of two of the Seven Kingdoms, [[spoiler: and with Stark's eldest daughter, Sansa, as his protegé]]. And then we learn that [[spoiler:the murder that made Stark want to get revenge on the Lannisters (Jon Arryn's) was committed by Baelish all along, having manipulated his wife Lysa into doing it.]]. That said [[spoiler:a lot of his betrayals have relied on being very lucky, his plans could easily have gone wrong and when Ned first met Petyr his initial reaction was to not trust him, trusting him because his wife told her husband her foster-brother could be trusted]].

* In ''Literature/VillainsByNecessity'', by Eve Forward, the neutral druids ''had'' to betray whichever side was strongest and help the underdog because if the forces of light or the forces of darkness became completely dominant, the world would be subsumed into the raw metaphysical force of good or evil because of it (depending on which one they fell into). When they stopped helping the good guys because good was becoming too dominant, they faced the fact that evil wouldn't trust them and they'd just stuck the knife in the back of good, meaning the druids got wiped out between the two.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, the resident MagnificentBastard. He's actually pretty [[LovableTraitor jokingly upfront]] about being a chronic backstabber, but [[SarcasticConfession no one takes him seriously]] until a bit too late. He [[spoiler:allies himself with Eddard Stark, causing him to believe that he had the resources to move against the Lannisters. But then when it comes time to act, Baelish betrays Stark to the Lannisters. He then frames Tyrion Lannister for the murder of his nephew Joffrey, causing House Lannister to tear itself apart -- and making way for his new allies, the Tyrells, to take control of Westeros]]. With each successive betrayal, Baelish's own personal standing is increased, going from an unappreciated civil servant to the ruler of two of the Seven Kingdoms, [[spoiler: and with Stark's eldest daughter, Sansa, as his proteg&eacute]]. And then we learn that [[spoiler:the murder that made Stark want to get revenge on the Lannisters (Jon Arryn's) was committed by Baelish all along, having manipulated his wife Lysa into doing it.]]. That said [[spoiler:a lot of his betrayals have relied on being very lucky, his plans could easily have gone wrong and when Ned first met Petyr his initial reaction was to not trust him, trusting him because his wife told her husband her foster-brother could be trusted]].

** The way to get ahead at Unseen University is "by way of dead men's pointy shoes." In other words, kill the guy above you and steal his shoes and hat. Rinse, lather, repeat. Since the elevation of [[BoisterousBruiser Mustrum Ridcully]] as Archchancellor, this process has been halted, by virtue of him being virtually unkillable, resulting in a lot more permanency among the other senior wizards as well as backstabbing decreases.
** Played straight in ''Literature/TheLastHero'' with [[CardCarryingVillain Evil Harry Dread]], who has a(n im)moral obligation to betray {{the hero}}es. This is not only not frowned upon, but actually ''applauded'' by them.

* In the ''Literature/ChungKuo'' novels there are many betrayals - the upper levels of society run on Machiavellian scheming - but the supreme [[TheChessmaster Wei Chi Master]] Howard [=DeVore=] outdoes them all. At first his betrayals seem to follow the logic of power, and he gets away with them all - he's slippery - but in the end, he [[spoiler: betrays everyone, that is, ''the human race''.]]

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, the resident MagnificentBastard. He's actually pretty [[LovableTraitor jokingly upfront]] about being a chronic backstabber, but [[SarcasticConfession no one takes him seriously]] until a bit too late. He [[spoiler:allies himself with Eddard Stark, causing him to believe that he had the resources to move against the Lannisters. But then when it comes time to act, Baelish betrays Stark to the Lannisters. He then frames Tyrion Lannister for the murder of his nephew Joffrey, causing House Lannister to tear itself apart - and making way for his new allies, the Tyrells, to take control of Westeros]]. With each successive betrayal, Baelish's own personal standing is increased, going from an unappreciated civil servant to the ruler of two of the Seven Kingdoms, [[spoiler: and with Stark's eldest daughter, Sansa, as his proteg&eacute]]. And then we learn that [[spoiler:the murder that made Stark want to get revenge on the Lannisters (Jon Arryn's) was committed by Baelish all along, having manipulated his wife Lysa into doing it.]]. That said [[spoiler:a lot of his betrayals have relied on being very lucky, his plans could easily have gone wrong and when Ned first met Petyr his initial reaction was to not trust him, trusting him because his wife told her husband her foster-brother could be trusted]].

%%* Gwilanna from ''Literature/{{Dragons}}''.