History Main / BattleOfWits

* ''Literature/{{Worm''}}: Skitter is a fan of this. Often putting together [[IndyPloy spur-of-the-moment decision]] to outsmart and beat her opponents. While using creative uses of her power, (which is bug control) to fight dragon men, Psychotic cyborgs, and '''''KAIJU'''''

* {{''Literature/Worm''}}: Skitter is a fan of this. Often putting together [[IndyPloy spur-of-the-moment decision]] to outsmart and beat her opponents. While using creative uses of her power, (which is bug control) to fight dragon men, Psychotic cyborgs, and '''''KAIJU'''''

* ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'' is a series about Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty. They aren’t exactly kickboxing with each other on the regular. Pretty much the every case after Sherlock is introduced until ''The Final Problem'' is them testing their intelligence against one another.

LetsPlay/{{Dream}}: His Manhunt videos inevitably turn into this. Often turning into a Cat-and-Mouse game between the hunters and the speed runner (Dream) with gambits galore that could rival some of the best battle of wits.

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' usually has Strange arranging success in the most efficient manner possible. Of course, Strange being Strange, his very long view of events means that 'efficient' tomorrow can mean 'long, bloody, and drawn-out campaign' today. Nevertheless, he tends to use his brains to run rings around the entire cast, heroes and villains, over and over again - it gets to the point where everyone ''knows'' he's going to manipulate them, it's jsut a question of ''how''.

* ''Film/HuntingHumans'' is about a battle of wits between two CrazyPrepared, supposedly ingenious {{serial killer}}s, [[AwesomeMcCoolname Aric and Dark]]. The fact that this information comes from a ''Website/SomethingAwful'' [[http://www.somethingawful.com/d/movie-reviews/hunting-humans.php review]] might suggest something about how well it works.

* ''Manga/DeathNote'' had this as its entire focus. Well, that and Light [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope doing cartwheels off the slippery slope...]]
* ''Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren'' sets up a battle of wits between Rufus Shinra and Kadaj. Kadaj believes Rufus to have recovered the remains of Jenova and to be hiding them somewhere, whereas he claims them to have been lost. The two keep hanging out exchanging quips and platitudes in a way that definitely suggests there is supposed to be a battle of wits going on, but they don't actually ''do'' much beyond that. Meanwhile, Kadaj's gang's brilliant plan to find Jenova consists of running around causing random trouble like the superpowered juvenile delinquents they are. In the end, [[spoiler: Rufus reveals that he's been sitting with the remains of Jenova hidden on his wheelchair the whole time.]]
* Every war in ''{{Manga/Kingdom}}'' is equal parts the physical battle between the armies and the mental battle between the commanders.

* There are several cases of this in ''Manga/DragonBall'', especially when there is [[TournamentArc tournament]] because in that case, it's always about who can outsmart their opponent the quickest that usually is the winner.
* The premise of ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' is two teenagers trying to force each other into a LoveConfession, turning everything from getting movie tickets to drinking coffee into elaborate mind games. Many chapters quickly turn into a contest between Shirogane’s IndyPloy and Kaguya’s CrazyPrepared, though just as often the whole thing is derailed by [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Fujiwara]] wandering in and [[SpannerInTheWorks unwittingly ruining both of their plans]].
* ''LightNovel/UndefeatedBahamutChronicle'': Due to the sheer variety of Divine Drag-Rides and their Divine Raiments, different kinds of Baptism, and different Ragnarok abilities, victory tends to be achieved through creativity and analyzing the opponents' abilities rather than brute force.
* The earlier chapters of ''Manga/YuGiOh'' comprised of Yami Yugi outsmarting his [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat opponents at their own]] [[CheatersNeverProsper (usually rigged) games.]] Yami Yugi's game against an escaped convict even mirrors [[Film/ThePrincessBride The Man in Black's Battle of Wits]]

* In ''FanFic/TheVictorsProject'', a FanFic of ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', Cashmere challenges Beetee to a DrinkingGame called “I Know,” in which each person must take a drink of scotch if they rightly reveal a secret about the other. During the game it’s revealed that Beetee is [[{{Asexuality}} asexual]], [[spoiler: that Enobaria killed Gloss and Cashmere’s father, and that Cashmere knows about the plot to rescue Katniss and Peeta from the Third Quarter Quell arena]]. Beetee is greatly impressed by Cashmere’s HiddenDepths.

* ''Film/TheMcKenzieBreak:'' The story centers on the Nazi prisoners each trying to stay one step ahead of O'Connor and Colonel Perry throughout the escape plot (smuggling coded messages, figuring out ways to get around the discovery of the tunnel etc.). They start to fail around the halfway point in the book, but do better in the movie.

* ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework'' shows a conflict between the brilliant HollywoodNerd Dennis and the enigmatic Dr. Mosely/[[spoiler:Zeta]].

[[folder: Theater]]
* In ''Theatre/DerRingDesNibelungen'''s third opera: ''Siegfried'', Wotan (initially disguised as a wanderer) challenges the dwarf Mime to a "Battle of Wits", with the wager being the loser's head, after the dwarf refuses to give him hospitality (all of this was actually a scheme from Wotan who needed to give Mime a piece of important information, the mere "Battle of Wits" was too with the purpose of Mime getting the information).
[[/folder]]

* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}''. InsufferableGenius? Franchise/SherlockHolmes. Obsession with complex crimes? Sherlock Holmes. Similarly intelligent [[TheRival rival]]/[[ArchEnemy arch-foe]]? [[spoiler: Jim]] [[ArcWelding Moriarty]]. Other people might be in danger, but the fight comes down to who can be cleverer. [[spoiler: Holmes wins by faking his death, having anticipated Moriarty's plan. However, the Season 3 CliffHanger implies that Moriarty may have had an ace up his sleeve after all]].

** Historically, this was [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating Brynden]] [[HateSink Rivers's]] whole shtick as [[HypercompetentSidekick Hand]] to two Targaryen kings. Every time the Blackfyres tried to start a rebellion, he undercut each and every attempt by using information, spies, underhanded tactics, rumours, propaganda, and chains of shady strategies and, quite frankly, terrorist actions they (and even his own allies) would never stoop to or expect -- including calculated assassinations of relatives at critical points. [[TheExtremistWasRight He got hated and exiled for these extreme actions, but]]... the cunning worked: the Blackfyres wound up epically losing every time they took to the field, becoming less and less of a threat as they steadily haemorrhaged claimants, support, gold, and other resources over years by refusing to give up. The acme of his efforts? The Second Rebellion failed even before leaving the starting gates -- the only major blood spilled was in a tourney... which they had organised, but which he subverted. And in the end, Bloodraven was the easily-loathed [[TheScapegoat Scapegoat]] the family needed to stabilise things after decades of horrible things. Probably by his own design: deliberately courting negative publicity so actively drew fire away from other movers who had been just as involved in the game.

* The premise of ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' is two teenagers trying to force each other into a LoveConfession, turning everything from getting movie tickets to drinking coffee into elaborate mind games. Many chapters quickly turn into a game of XanatosSpeedChess, though just as often the whole thing is derailed by [[Cloudcuckoolander Fujiwara]] wandering in and unwittingly ruining both of their plans.

* This is quite prevalent throughout ''Anime/CodeGeass'', particularly with large-scale army maneuvers and tactics involving battles with mechs. However, there are many other battles of wits which are irrelevant to mechs, such as [[spoiler: the battle between Lelouch his brother Schneizel during the finale]].

** Seeing as, in ''Manga/BattleTendency'', aforementioned GuileHero Joseph was often vastly overpowered by his opponents pretty much all of the fights were battles of wits. Victory would always come as a result of [[CrazyPrepared extremely careful planning]], [[IndyPloy clever tricks thought up on the spot]], and occasionally, just plain luck.

* Once every two ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' fights turn out this way.

* The premise of ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' is two teenagers trying to force each other into a LoveConfession. Most chapters quickly turn into a game of XanatosSpeedChess.

* [[ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse Mickey Mouse]] in comics is often protrayed as especially clever and capable of outwitting also-mentally-formidable opponents like the Phantom Blot, so there are several stories wehre this trope comes into play. There's a certain style of old (Italian?) comics that got quite ambitious and convoluted about pitting him against some EvilGenius criminal. It's also been used in the other direction: one story has him pretend to be a hunted criminal (in what is really a practice exercise for the police) and fooling both the police and the criminals.

* [[ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicsUniverse Mickey Mouse]] in comics is often protrayed as especially clever and capable of outwitting also-mentally-formidable opponents like the Phantom Blot, so there are several stories wehre this trope comes into play. There's a certain style of old (Italian?) comics that got quite ambitious and convoluted about pitting him against some EvilGenius criminal. It's also been used in the other direction: one story has him pretend to be a hunted criminal (in what is really a practice exercise for the police) and fooling both the police and the criminals.

** Historically, this was [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating Brynden]] [[HateSink Rivers's]] whole shtick as [[HypercompetentSidekick Hand]] to two Targaryen kings. Every time the Blackfyres tried to start a rebellion, he undercut each and every attempt by using information, spies, underhanded tactics, rumours, propaganda, and chains of shady strategies and, quite frankly, terrorist actions they (and even his own allies) would never stoop to or expect -- including calculated assassinations of relatives at critical points. [[TheExtremistWasRight He got hated and exiled for these extreme actions, but]]... [[GradualGrinder the cunning worked]]: the Blackfyres wound up epically losing every time they took to the field, becoming less and less of a threat as they steadily haemorrhaged claimants, support, gold, and other resources over years by refusing to give up. The acme of his efforts? The Second Rebellion failed even before leaving the starting gates -- the only major blood spilled was in a tourney... which they had organised, but which he subverted. And in the end, Bloodraven was the easily-loathed [[TheScapegoat Scapegoat]] the family needed to stabilise things after decades of horrible things. Probably by his own design: deliberately courting negative publicity so actively drew fire away from other movers who had been just as involved in the game.

This is a staple tactic of TheChessmaster, the GuileHero and the ManipulativeBastard alike and one way for the InsufferableGenius to prove himself. The SuperTrope to ThePlan. Someone who loses the Battle Of Wits is OutGambitted. Winners are often {{Badass Pacifist}}s. If both combatants are [[SuperIntelligence particularly brilliant]], can easily descend/ascend into GambitRoulette or XanatosSpeedChess.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

[[folder:Card Games]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Subverted with the Trial of Head, Hand and Heart in ''ComicBook/ElfQuest''. Rayek's solution to the Trial of Head is clearly smarter than Cutter's, but Cutter wins by luck. Rayek justifiably complains, but Savah, who's officiating, lets it slide because she knows the upcoming Trial of Heart will be more decisive.

* ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'': John Constantine battles his foes by outwitting them rather than fighting them head on.

[[folder:Comic Strips]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]

* In ''FanFic/TheVictorsProject'', a FanFic of ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', Cashmere challenges Beetee to a DrinkingGame called “I Know,” in which each person must take a drink of scotch if they rightly reveal a secret about the other. During the game it’s revealed that Beetee is [[{{Asexuality}} asexual]], [[spoiler:that Enobaria killed Gloss and Cashmere’s father, and that Cashmere knows about the plot to rescue Katniss and Peeta from the Third Quarter Quell arena]]. Beetee is greatly impressed by Cashmere’s HiddenDepths.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''Film/HuntingHumans'' is about a battle of wits between two CrazyPrepared, supposedly ingenious {{serial killer}}s, [[AwesomeMcCoolname Aric and Dark]]. The fact that this information comes form a ''Website/SomethingAwful'' [[http://www.somethingawful.com/d/movie-reviews/hunting-humans.php review]] might suggest something about how well it works.
* In ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows'', the final confrontation between Holmes and Moriarty is [[spoiler:Holmes initiating his SherlockScan to win the battle in his mind before winning it in reality, but Moriarty suddenly undercuts Holmes' strategizing with his own, so it's both of them having a fight in their minds. They both come to the conclusion that Holmes can't win the fight because of his injury, so the actual fight never happens because Holmes decides to TakeAThirdOption and pull himself and Moriarty over the railings and off a cliff.]]

[[folder:Literature]]

* In ''Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt'' the ThievesGuild Artemis Entreri joined as a teenager had something called The Quarter Challenge. Four glasses of water on a table with a spinning top, one is poisoned, the challenger and the challenged each have a one in four chance of dying, supposedly. Entreri challenged his sadistic "mentor", lightly chipped the poisoned goblet so a small glint would be visible from his seat only, and stopped the table so the poison would be in front of his mentor, who had the foresight to take the antidote beforehand, but the antidote makes one very hungry so Entreri poisoned the cake he kept in his office, but he also had a ''Potion of Neutralize Poison'', but [[spoiler: the poison in the cake was actually crushed glass. Artemis Entreri achieved the rank of lieutenant for his multi-layered deviousness at the age of 14.]]

** Littlefinger isn't adverse to pitting his wits and words against all comers. [[spoiler: And, by "all comers" we actually mean "[[DivideAndConquer the entire continent]]". Westeros hasn't realised it yet, but he's pretty much hung the Seven Kingdoms out to dry with his conflict-driving schemes. He's not so much avoiding wars as making sure that ''other'' people fight costly wars that'll benefit ''him'' while he stands well clear of them, waiting to swoop down and pick off any spoils of his choosing.]]
** Lord Varys is a one-man, government-subverting machine. He schemes like others eat. Saying he battles with sharp wits, a flair for the dramatic and a silver tongue to do this is pretty redundant.
** Historically, this was [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating Brynden]] [[HateSink Rivers']] whole shtick as [[HypercompetentSidekick Hand]] to two Targaryen kings. Every time the Blackfyres tried to start rebellion, he undercut each and every attempt using information, spies, underhanded tactics, rumour, propaganda and chains of shady strategies and, quite frankly, terrorist actions they (and even his own allies) would never stoop to or expect -- including calculated assassinations of relatives at critical points. [[TheExtremistWasRight He got hated and exiled for these extreme actions, but]]... [[GradualGrinder the cunning worked]]: the Blackfyres wound up epically losing every time they took to the field, becoming less and less of a threat as they steadily haemorrhaged claimants, support, gold and other resources over years by refusing to give up. The acme of his efforts? The Second Rebellion failed even before leaving the starting gates -- the only major blood spilled was in a tourney... which they had organised, but which he subverted. And in the end, Bloodraven was the easily-loathed [[TheScapegoat Scapegoat]] the family needed to stabilise things after decades of horrible things. Probably by his own design: deliberately courting negative publicity so actively drew fire away from other movers who had been just as involved in the game.

* In ''Literature/TheMachineriesOfEmpire'', Cheris and Jedao manage to destroy the invariant ice shield by breaking the operator whose mind controlls it.

[[folder:Theater]]
* In ''Theatre/DerRingDesNibelungen'''s third opera: ''Siegfried'', Wotan (initially disguised as a wanderer) challenges the dwarf Mime to a "Battle of Wits", with the wager being the loser's head, after the dwarf refuses to give him hospitality (all of thing was actually a scheme from Wotan who needed to give Mime an important information, the mere "Battle of Wits" was too with the purpose of Mime getting the information).

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/BreakingBad'' became this in it’s fourth season were the main conflict was the big chess match between [[VillainProtagonist Walt]] and [[BigBad Gus]].
* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}''. InsufferableGenius? Franchise/SherlockHolmes. Obsession with complex crimes? Sherlock Holmes. Similarly intelligent [[TheRival rival]]/[[ArchEnemy arch-foe]]? [[spoiler:Jim]] [[ArcWelding Moriarty]]. Other people might be in danger, but the fight comes down to who can be cleverer. [[spoiler:Holmes wins by faking his death, having anticipated Moriarty's plan. However, the Season 3 CliffHanger implies that Moriarty may have had an ace up his sleeve after all]].

[[folder:Video Games]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]

* ''Manga/HunterXHunter'' heavily focuses on this, the characters always go to battle with detailed plans or have to come up with something on the spot. The plans and thoughts that characters have during battle are always carefully explained, and very often they have to deal with things not going the intended way.

** Seeing as, in ''Anime/BattleTendency'', aforementioned GuileHero Joseph was often vastly overpowered by his opponents pretty much all of the fights were battles of wits. Victory would always come as a result of [[CrazyPrepared extremely careful planning]], [[IndyPloy clever tricks thought up on the spot]], and occasionally, just plain luck.