History Main / ApparentlyPowerlessPuppetMaster

* ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'': In season 3, Wilson Fisk manipulates the FBI into letting him out of prison and putting him under house arrest in a Manhattan hotel penthouse. Ray Nadeem, the agent who makes the deal with Fisk, is led to think Fisk is powerless since he's under round-the-clock surveillance and can't have outside contact with anyone other than his attorneys, and that he's just a cooperating prisoner giving up other criminals in exchange for Vanessa's freedom. In truth, Fisk is 100% in charge of everything, as he secretly owns the hotel, has in fact been manipulating Nadeem from behind bars for several years, [[spoiler:and the FBI agents guarding him have been blackmailed, bribed or coerced into serving as his enforcers to extort other crime lords into paying him protection money]].

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* Discussed in ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' fanfic ''Fanfic/SoldToTheHighestBidder'':
-->'''Gilbert the Unsinkable:''' Never underestimate the power of underestimation! If there's one thing I learnt on the streets, it's that [[BewareTheSillyOnes no-one ever suspects the simpleton]].\\
'''Captain Kirkland:''' Wish I'd figured that out before all this. [[{{Foreshadowing}} People quite like hanging a mastermind]].

* In his concert film ''Film/BillCosbyHimself'', this is how Creator/BillCosby describes fathers' use of ObfuscatingStupidity to make sure everything works out right in the end. All he wants is to sleep in, but his wife wants him to go down and cook breakfast for the kids. He instead gives in to their request for chocolate cake "[[InsaneTrollLogic since it has eggs, and wheat, and milk! That's nutrition]]!" Oh, and he needs a breakfasty drink, so they get grapefruit juice. They sit around the table eating chocolate cake and listening to music and having a ball, at which point his wife comes down and "has a conniption fit" that sounds more like DemonicPossession. After she bellows in rage demanding to know why they're eating chocolate cake, his children turn on him, saying he forced them to eat it. So his wife comes to the conclusion that he's utterly useless and can't be trusted with even the simplest task, makes a real breakfast herself, and sends him back to his room. "[[{{Unishment}} Which is where I wanted to be]] [[JustAsPlanned in the first place.]]" They are dumb, but they are not so dumb, indeed.

* Who's the most manipulative [[spoiler: human]] puppetmaster in the cut-throat world of British magicians' politics in ''Literature/TheBartimaeusTrilogy'': [[spoiler: Quentin Makepeace, the prime minister's favorite playwright.]] [[spoiler: He's primarily known for writing popular plays for the unsophisticated public and amusing the Prime Minister with his flamboyant, jolly ways. He also has a serious axe to grind against the British government and ultimately succeeds in kidnapping them all at the premiere of his last play about the Prime Minister's life.]]
** The [[spoiler: scholar Hopkins]] also deserves an honorary mention for manipulating the Resistance into robbing a dangerously well-guarded tomb and unknowingly stealing a powerful artifact for his patron in the process. In fact, he deserves bonus points [[spoiler: because he has the uncanny knack for being so blandly ordinary that, lacking any distinguishing characteristics, he is very hard to describe or even think about for long.]]
* [[spoiler:Governor Grice]] in the Literature/CiaphasCain novel ''For the Emperor''. Everyone thinks that he's merely a puppet being controlled by the Tau, or just plain incompetent, [[spoiler:but he's really a member of the Genestealer cult that thrives in Gravalax's underground, which is trying to play the Tau and the Imperium against each other to soften them up for the coming wave of Tyranid invasions]].
* The figure of Prentin, the mysterious ManBehindTheMan in ''The City of Silent Revolvers'' covers the identity of one of these, in what is probably the most unexpected cases of TheButlerDidIt.

* In ''Literature/GrandmasterOfDemonicCultivationMoDaoZuShi'', who was it that set up the necessary pieces for the protagonist's return, the solving of the mystery of the dismembered corpse, and the downfall of the murderer? None other than [[spoiler: Nie Huaisang, the murder victim's younger brother, who spent somewhere around a decade purposely building a reputation as a helpless moron to the point that he was commonly known by a moniker mocking the fact that he "answers one question with three I don't knows."]]

* In the ''[[Literature/TheMirrorOfHerDreams Mordant's Need]]'' novels by Stephen R. Donaldson, this is a trick used by [[spoiler:both King Joyse ''and'' Adept Havelock. In Joyse's case, he's spent years pretending to be completely senile to test his allies and lure all of his enemies out so they can be destroyed in a single decisive blow. In Havelock's case, while he really ''is'' insane due to a magical accident, he has a number of moments of greater lucidity during which he can make his own moves and support Joyse's plans. Both work together quite effectively, with almost no one catching on until it's too late.]]

* A not-uncommon strategy in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' (I, Claudius being one of author GRRM's favorite books), in which most rank-and-file nobles are quick to discount any source of power other than military force:

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in regard to Corrado "Junior" Soprano in ''Series/TheSopranos''. After a brief power struggle in the first few episodes, his nephew Tony allows him to believe he's TheDon while Tony is the ''de facto boss''. However, Junior still tries his best to leverage his seniority and the loyalty of his underlings to run things behind Tony's back, undermining and even attempting to organize a hit on his nephew. Afterwards, he's arrested and put under house arrest to await trial (not for the hit; the authorities had been building a case against him for years and the timing is just coincidental). Junior agrees to continue playing the part to avoid retribution from Tony and continues to advise him throughout the series. To the feds, of course, he plays the part of a bemused senior who doesn't know anything, while simultaneously trying to act tough and in-control around Tony and the other gangsters; the truth is somewhere in the middle, and as he gets older he begins to show signs of genuine dementia.

* ''Franchise/AceAttorney''
** In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll'', [[spoiler:Matt Engarde looks like a ditz who can't hurt a fly. He is actually a competent manipulator who had fooled a supernatural lie detector and used even Phoenix to get away with his crimes. His only big mistake came from being paranoid, not naïve as his façade would show him as.]]
** In ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'', [[spoiler:''Phoenix himself'']] takes the reins of the overlaying story while Apollo works on his own cases. To wit, [[spoiler:a lowly piano player with no actual skill whatsoever who appears at first to be homeless and partially also relies on his adoptive daughter's income joyrides his own trial concerning a murder case. He arranges the true culprit as ''his defense attorney'' to lock him in court and indict him, and spent the last seven years gathering evidence and ''upheaving the entire legal system'' just to clear his name over a FrameUp with the usage of forged evidence despite the fact that he's shunned from the legal world for that. He seems to still have a lot of clout there.]]
** The BigBad of the second ''VisualNovel/{{Ace Attorney Investigations|MilesEdgeworth}}'' may as well be the poster child for this trope. Literally ''everything'' in the game turns out to be all part of their plan. Who do they introduce themselves as? [[spoiler: A perpetually nervous apprentice animal tamer and clown at the local circus. They did such a good job of ObfuscatingStupidity even ''Edgeworth'' was fooled!]]

* By all means, [[BigBad Dream]] from the ''WebVideo/DreamSMP'' falls into Type 2. In the strictest definition, the King is the ruler of the Greater Dream SMP faction and Dream isn't in a position of power, but in actuality, he's TheManBehindTheMan, being able to crown and dethrone the King at his will and being powerful enough to demand Tommy's Exile from L'Manburg, and then personally Exile Tommy from not just the Greater SMP, but ''literally everywhere other than Logstedshire''. It's also because of his lack of governmental title that causes [[BombThrowingAnarchists Techno]] to ''[[{{Hypocrite}} not]]'' regard him as "government" but rather as "just some guy".

* In ''Literature/GrandmasterOfDemonicCultivationMoDaoZuShi'', who was it that set up the necessary pieces for the protagonist's return, the solving of the mystery of the dismembered corpse, and the downfall of the murderer? None other than [[spoiler: Nie Huaisang, the murder victim's younger brother, who spent somewhere around a decade purposely building a reputation as a helpless moron to the point that he was commonly known by a moniker mocking the fact that he "answers one question with three I don't knows."]]

* In ''Literature/MoDaoZuShi'', who was it that set up the necessary pieces for the protagonist's return, the solving of the mystery of the dismembered corpse, and the downfall of the murderer? None other than [[spoiler: Nie Huaisang, the murder victim's younger brother, who spent somewhere around a decade purposely building a reputation as a helpless moron to the point that he was commonly known by a moniker mocking the fact that he "answers one question with three I don't knows."]]

* UsefulNotes/JosefStalin was originally thought by most everyone to be politically harmless in his early years in the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party. He started off as an organizer of random UsefulNotes/{{Georgia}}n backwaters and as an "expropriator" (what the Bolshevik [=RSDLPers=] called a bank robber[[note]]Yes, the Bolsheviks -- and the Mensheviks too, at least at first -- were involved heavily in bank robberies to fund their operations. They called these "expropriations" to emphasize they were taking from fat cats to benefit a just cause. Many "expropriators" really were common criminals in it to enrich themselves, but to Stalin's credit, he seems to have sent the whole haul from his heists to the Party, taking only his expenses off the top.[[/note]]) who was occasionally called upon to defend Bolshevism to the Russian Empire's minority nationalities (having enough of a grasp of the Marxist theory and a sharp enough pen to do so). He eventually got himself put in charge of the Party's newspaper and was given nearly unlimited control over the organizational side of the party. He used this influence to get himself promoted to General Secretary -- up to that point, seen as a largely clerical position (some party wags called him "Comrade Card-Index"). However, as General Secretary, he had authority over who qualified for the membership rolls, and he used this power to ensure that centrists and people he had influence over (generally because he had dirt on them) made it to the party congress (which technically had power over the standing committee and politburo). He was elected to the leadership by those centrists and with the general approval of his potential rivals, who thought that Stalin could be easily manipulated. They mistook his coarse, unrefined crudity and indifference to ideological principles or intellectual arguments for stupidity. More importantly, he didn't seem to have a 'real' power base like Mikhail Frunze's Red Army or 'Iron Felix' Dzherzhinsky's OGPU/NKGB. The joke ended around 1929 when, with Stalin no longer tolerating open dissent within the politburo and Frunze and Dzherzhinsky dead of natural causes, people realized that he had become a de facto dictator. From then onward anyone who looked like opposition, or looked like they were thinking about opposition, was killed or sent to break rocks in the Gulag. The rest is very bloody history.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Manga/SpyXFamily''. Anya is, to all appearances, a very young girl (six years old is probably overestimating it). However, she's psychic - and more importantly, nobody ''knows'' she's psychic. As such, she's able to pull strings with a remarkable degree of success. Where this becomes funny is that, again, she's six years old on the ''outside'', so such string-pulling is for things like [[TrademarkFavoriteFood peanuts]], the right to own a dog and, occasionally, preventing wars.

* ''Film/TheGreenHornet'': In the movie, anyone who hears Britt Reid speak for five minutes realizes he is a buffoonish ManChild. He is the heir to the Sentinel paper, but obviously Britt is an UpperClassTwit who cannot do anything for himself. Then you realize he doesn't need to do anything for himself: he continuously and successfully manipulates people much more intelligent than him ([[HypercompetentSidekick Kato]], [[TheStrategist Casey]] and [[DaEditor Mike Axford]]) into doing exactly what Britt wants them to do.

* ''Literature/TheInheritanceCycle'': Nasuada pretends to be naïve and easily manipulated in order to trick the Council of Elders into supporting her as her father's successor. Of course, it's a façade she drops as soon as she's officially chosen.

When the game of politics is played with [[DecadentCourt daggers and poison]] [[FateWorseThanDeath (and worse)]], sometimes the most advantageous place to be is off the board entirely. Playing the part of the [[ObfuscatingStupidity witless,]] [[ObfuscatingInsanity raving]] [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} lunatic]] is a useful (and life-extending) tactic when surrounded by murderous schemers: rather than waste their energies eliminating the idiot, they spend their time instead betraying and sabotaging their more obvious rivals, leaving the Apparently Powerless Puppetmaster free to turn the players into pieces in his own game. When he makes a move, everyone assumes it's one of the other players manipulating him. Once the deception is complete, he can act with impunity.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Manga/SpyXFamily''. Anya is, to all appearances, a very young girl (six years old is probably overestimating it). However, she's psychic - and more importantly, nobody ''knows'' she's psychic. As such, she's able to pull strings with a remarkable degree of success. Where this becomes funny is that, again, she's six years old on the ''outside'', so such string-pulling is for things like [[TrademarkFavoriteFood peanuts]] and the right to own a dog.

'''A Administrivia/{{No Recent Examples|please}} rule applies to RealLife examples of this trope'''. Examples shouldn't be added until '''20 years''' after the person leaves office (or 20 years after their death, if they died in office).

For Real Life examples, they have to be at least 20 years after leaving office (including dying while in office).

* Nineteen-year-old Emperor Shi Ryuuki in ''LightNovel/TheStoryOfSaiunkoku'' is initially called "stupid emperor" by members of his court disgusted by his complete lack of interest in ruling his empire, and his habit of spending his days hiding from court officials and spending his nights sleeping with other men. When properly motivated, however, Ryuuki reveals that he has a much defter hand for political intrigue than anyone suspected, and that there's a very good reason that he is the only one of six brothers to survive the imperial court long enough to take the throne; he cultivated the "stupid emperor" image as a survival mechanism, and refuses to rule in the hopes that his exiled older brother Prince Seien will return to take his place.

** In ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney Ace Attorney Justice For All]]'', [[spoiler:Matt Engarde looks like a ditz who can't hurt a fly. He is actually a competent manipulator who had fooled a supernatural lie detector and used even Phoenix to get away with his crimes. His only big mistake came from being paranoid, not naïve as his façade would show him as.]]

* By all means, [[BigBad Dream]] from the ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'' falls into Type 2. In the strictest definition, the King is the ruler of the Greater Dream SMP faction and Dream isn't in a position of power, but in actuality, he's TheManBehindTheMan, being able to crown and dethrone the King at his will and being powerful enough to demand Tommy's Exile from L'Manburg, and then personally Exile Tommy from not just the Greater SMP, but ''literally everywhere other than Logstedshire''. It's also because of his lack of governmental title that causes [[BombThrowingAnarchists Techno]] to ''[[{{Hypocrite}} not]]'' regard him as "government" but rather as "just some guy".

* ''Film/TheGreenHornet'': In the movie, anyone who hears Britt Reid speak for five minutes realizes he is a buffoonish ManChild. He is the heir to the Sentinel paper, but obviously Britt is a RichIdiotWithNoDayJob who cannot do anything for himself. Then you realize he doesn't need to do anything for himself: he continuously and successfully manipulates people much more intelligent than him ([[HypercompetentSidekick Kato]], [[TheStrategist Casey]] and [[DaEditor Mike Axford]]) into doing exactly what Britt wants them to do.

[[folder: Jokes]]

* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': One of the advantages of the Halbrand persona for Sauron is that posing as a human gives him the opportunity of deceiving everyone around him and hanging out with Elves without raising suspicions about him until is too late for the fooled party.

* ''Manga/PrincessCandle'': [[spoiler:Crown Prince Ruhl'ks makes himself look like a naive PuppetKing easily manipulated by his mother the Queen. In truth, he knows full well that she sees him as a pawn and is using her for his own ends, and banished Princess Skw'ah to use her as bait for his rivals as part of a plan to destroy them.]]

* Who's the most manipulative [[spoiler: human]] puppetmaster in the cut-throat world of British magicians' politics in ''Literature/TheBartimaeusTrilogy'': [[spoiler: Quentin Makepeace, the prime minister's favorite playwright.]] [[spoiler: He's primarily known for writing popular plays for the unsophisticated public and amusing the Prime Minister with his flamboyant, jolly ways. He also has a serious axe to grind against the British government and ultimately succeeds in kidnapping them all at the premiere for his last play about the Prime Minister's life.]]

* ''Literature/TheInheritanceCycle'': Nasuada pretends to be naive and easily manipulated in order to trick the Council of Elders into supporting her as her father's successor. Of course, it's a facade she drops as soon as she's officially chosen.

** Lord Varys, the Master of Whisperers, is a lord only by courtesy (the title being applied to anyone who sits on the Small Council), not because he actually holds any lands or commands any men. As a commoner, a foreigner, and a eunuch, he's seldom viewed as a serious threat by the heads of the major Houses, and he has a way of [[VetinariJobSecurity making himself indispensible]] to whatever party is currently in power, while secretly playing them all for his own ends.

* In ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeResolute'', Cobra Commander admitted to his troops that he played this role in the '80s because he hoped it would motivate them "to think". When he realized that it wasn't motivating them to be cleverer henchmen, but instead motivated them to try to take over, he dropped the act and made it very clear to them and the world what a dangerous and competent commander he actually is.

* Claudius, Emperor of Rome, managed to stay alive through a series of purges and assassinations during the reigns of Tiberius and Caligula by seeming too dumb and useless to be a threat. When Caligula was finally assassinated, he became Emperor (by virtue of being the only man in the family still breathing) whereupon he turned out to be not so dumb after all, in fact he was more competent than Tiberius and Caligula. This was helped by the fact that he was sidelined by his entire family to the extent that he had more or less given up on running for public office on account of his limp.

* UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga acted like an irresponsible fool from the moment he inherited his father's domain until his closest adviser committed seppuku in protest. He earned the epithet "Fool of Owari", but he had to in order to survive having several dozen powerful warlords surrounding his tiny fiefdom. The rest of UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} fell for it -- those who knew were either on his side or dead -- until the Battle of Okehazama, albeit that may have happened because of one of those warlords falling for it.

* ''ComicBook/{{Touch}}'': Cooper seems like just the business manager of the heroes, but he controls everything, and has th power to take it all away from them with just a touch.