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* ''Literature/DIFawley'': In ''The Whole Truth'', Marina Wheeler is revealed to [[spoiler:manipulate her ambiguously autistic son into claiming that he was sexually abused by his babysitters, her (male) PhD students, in order to force them into a sexual relationship with her.]]
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* ''Literature/DIFawley'': In ''The Whole Truth'', Marina Wheeler is revealed to [[spoiler:manipulate her ambiguously autistic son into claiming that he was sexually abused by his babysitters, her (male) PhD [=PhD=] students, in order to force them into a sexual relationship with her.]]
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* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe1'': Gru adopts three little girls as part of his plan to steal back a ShrinkRay from Vector, since the latter likes the cookies they sell. Initially, Gru planned to ditch the girls after his larger scheme was done, but they begin to grow on him over the cocurse of the film, and in the end he decides to keep them and becomes a loving parent to them (coinciding with him [[HeelFaceTurn giving up on villainy]]).
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* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe1'': Gru adopts three little girls as part of his plan to steal back a ShrinkRay from Vector, since the latter likes the cookies they sell. Initially, Gru planned to ditch the girls after his larger scheme was done, but they begin to grow on him over the cocurse course of the film, and in the end he decides to keep them and becomes a loving parent to them (coinciding with him [[HeelFaceTurn giving up on villainy]]).
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* ''Literature/WorldsOfPower'': The adaptation of ''VideoGame/NinjaGaidenNES'' involves Foster sending in both Ryu Hayabusa and Irene Lew to retrieve the Demon Statues for him. The former is explicitly 13 years old, and the latter is around the same age as him.
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See also TykeBomb, in which a child is raised from birth (or close to it) to serve a villain. Compare BakerStreetRegular and ChildSoldiers. Also compare TheFagin, a person who trains (usually orphaned) children to steal for them. See also TheBabyTrap. Particularly impactful if ChildrenAreInnocent.
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See also TykeBomb, in which a child is raised from birth (or close to it) to serve a villain. Compare BakerStreetRegular BakerStreetRegular, LittleMissConArtist and ChildSoldiers. Also compare TheFagin, a person who trains (usually orphaned) children to steal for them. See also TheBabyTrap. Particularly impactful if ChildrenAreInnocent.
ChildrenAreInnocent.
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%% Image and caption selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16821912580.54335800
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[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheRescuers https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/medusa_berating_penny.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"You get down there and find the big diamond or you will never see that teddy again!"]]
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%% Image and caption selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16821912580.54335800
%% Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread.
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[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheRescuers https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/medusa_berating_penny.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"You get down there and find the big diamond or you will never see that teddy again!"]]
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[[folder:Film -- Animated]]
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* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe1'': Gru adopts three little girls as part of a plan to steal back a ShrinkRay from Vector since Vector likes the cookies they sell. Gru plans to ditch the girls after the plan is done, but they begin to grow on him, and in the end makes a HeelFaceTurn and becomes a loving parent to them.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'': Madame Medusa kidnaps Penny so she can fetch her the Devil's Eye, a huge diamond inside an underground cave in the bayou since only a small child like Penny can enter the opening to the cave.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'': Madame Medusa kidnaps Penny so she can fetch her the Devil's Eye, a huge diamond inside an underground cave in the bayou since only a small child like Penny can enter the opening to the cave.
to:
* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe1'': Gru adopts three little girls as part of a his plan to steal back a ShrinkRay from Vector Vector, since Vector the latter likes the cookies they sell. Initially, Gru plans planned to ditch the girls after the plan is his larger scheme was done, but they begin to grow on him, him over the cocurse of the film, and in the end makes a HeelFaceTurn he decides to keep them and becomes a loving parent to them.
them (coinciding with him [[HeelFaceTurn giving up on villainy]]).
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'': Madame Medusa kidnaps Penny so she can fetch her the Devil's Eye, a huge diamond inside an underground cave in thebayou bayou, since only a small child like Penny can enter the opening to the cave.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'': Madame Medusa kidnaps Penny so she can fetch her the Devil's Eye, a huge diamond inside an underground cave in the
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[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
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* In ''WesternAnimation/RugratsInParis'', Coco [=LaBouche=] strives to be the new president of the Reptar Corporation when Mr. Yamaguchi announces his retirement and is looking for someone to be his successor. Wanting to make a good impression on him, she lies to him that she has a husband and a child. Angelica overhears and decides to help her marry Chas so she will give her whatever she wants. Coco hates children but pretends to care about Chas and Chuckie as part of her plan to get her promotion. However, on the day of the wedding, she is unable to keep up the act and has her assistant Jean-Claude take the babies away so they won't interfere. The babies manage to escape from Jean-Claude on the Robo Reptar and Angelica ends up exposing Coco's plan to Mr. Yamaguchi, who attends the wedding.
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* In ''WesternAnimation/RugratsInParis'', Coco [=LaBouche=] strives to be the new president of the Reptar Corporation when Mr. Yamaguchi announces his retirement and is looking for someone to be his successor. Wanting to make a good impression on him, she lies to him that she has is about to marry a husband and a child.single father. Angelica overhears and decides to help her marry Chas so she will give her whatever she wants. Coco hates children children, but pretends to care about Chas and Chuckie as part of her plan to get her promotion. However, on the day of the wedding, she is unable to keep up the act and has her assistant Jean-Claude take the babies away so they won't interfere. The babies interfere; she even betrays Angelica by having her detained along with the babies. Fortunately, the kids manage to escape from Jean-Claude on the Robo Reptar Reptar, and a remorseful Angelica ends up takes responsibility by exposing Coco's plan to Mr. Yamaguchi, who attends the wedding.furiously fires Coco for her actions.
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* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'': Gru adopts three little girls as part of a plan to steal back a ShrinkRay from Vector since Vector likes the cookies they sell. Gru plans to ditch the girls after the plan is done, but they begin to grow on him, and in the end makes a HeelFaceTurn and becomes a loving parent to them.
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* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'': ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe1'': Gru adopts three little girls as part of a plan to steal back a ShrinkRay from Vector since Vector likes the cookies they sell. Gru plans to ditch the girls after the plan is done, but they begin to grow on him, and in the end makes a HeelFaceTurn and becomes a loving parent to them.
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* ''Webcomic/TeamFortress2'': When Gray Mann fails to conquer Mann Co. by force with his army of robots, he decides to take over the company through its CEO Saxton Hale's declaration that any rival CEO can replace him if they defeat him in personal combat. Gray Mann makes his tiny daughter Olivia the CEO of Gray Gravel Co. and has her fight Saxton, who forfeits because he can't bring himself to beat up a child.
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* ''Webcomic/TeamFortress2'': When Gray Mann fails to conquer Mann Co. by force with his army of robots, he decides to take over the company through its CEO Saxton Hale's declaration that any rival CEO can replace him if they defeat him in personal combat. Gray Mann makes his tiny daughter Olivia the CEO of Gray Gravel Co. and has her fight Saxton, who forfeits because he can't bring himself to beat up a child.child (and there's no one else he can force to do so).
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* In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'', when trying to get the location of Ed Elric, he had a young newspaper seller eavesdrop Ed at the railway station, promising this seller he would get his little sister back.
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* In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'', ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'', when trying to get the location of Ed Elric, he had a young newspaper seller eavesdrop Ed at the railway station, promising this seller he would get his little sister back.
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** The entire premise of the series could be considered this, as the Capitol is placing children in a DeathGame to remind all of the Districts how powerless they are.
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** The entire premise of the series could be considered this, as the Capitol is placing children in a DeathGame DeadlyGame to remind all of the Districts how powerless they are.
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[[folder:Anime And Manga]]
* ''Manga/BungoStrayDogs'': During the Cannabilism arc, the ADA tries to circumvent Fyodor's plot by tracking down the Ability user who infected Fukuzawa and Mori. Ranpo figures out the culprit is Pushkin, and Kunikida and Atsushi pursue him. However, Pushkin escapes down a tunnel and has his young siblings armed with weapons to defend him. The detectives are able to get through until Kunikida is faced with a little girl prepared to detonate several grenades attached to her. He tries talking her down, but the attempt fails and she blows up herself and the other children. It turns out the man wasn't Pushkin and it was all a ruse set up by Fyodor to break Kunikida's spirit.
* ''Manga/BungoStrayDogs'': During the Cannabilism arc, the ADA tries to circumvent Fyodor's plot by tracking down the Ability user who infected Fukuzawa and Mori. Ranpo figures out the culprit is Pushkin, and Kunikida and Atsushi pursue him. However, Pushkin escapes down a tunnel and has his young siblings armed with weapons to defend him. The detectives are able to get through until Kunikida is faced with a little girl prepared to detonate several grenades attached to her. He tries talking her down, but the attempt fails and she blows up herself and the other children. It turns out the man wasn't Pushkin and it was all a ruse set up by Fyodor to break Kunikida's spirit.
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[[folder:Anime And & Manga]]
* ''Manga/BungoStrayDogs'': During theCannabilism Cannibalism arc, the ADA tries to circumvent Fyodor's plot by tracking down the Ability user who infected Fukuzawa and Mori. Ranpo figures out the culprit is Pushkin, and Kunikida and Atsushi pursue him. However, Pushkin escapes down a tunnel and has his young siblings armed with weapons to defend him. The detectives are able to get through until Kunikida is faced with a little girl prepared to detonate several grenades attached to her. He tries talking her down, but the attempt fails and she blows up herself and the other children. It turns out the man wasn't Pushkin and it was all a ruse set up by Fyodor to break Kunikida's spirit.
* ''Manga/BungoStrayDogs'': During the
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[[folder:Film - Animated]]
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[[folder:Film - -- Animated]]
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[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]
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[[folder:Film - -- Live-Action]]
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** After Cersei Lannister has Ned Stark wrongfully arrested for treason, she manipulates his eleven-year-old daughter Sansa into writing a letter to the rest of their family denouncing her own father as a traitor and telling her older brother to swear fealty to Joffrey Baratheon.
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** After Cersei Lannister has Ned Stark wrongfully arrested for treason, she manipulates his eleven-year-old 11-year-old daughter Sansa into writing a letter to the rest of their family denouncing her own father as a traitor and telling her older brother to swear fealty to Joffrey Baratheon.
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** Arianne Martell intends to proclaim eight-year-old Myrcella Baratheon the rightful Queen of Westeros as pretext for staging a coup against her father, Doran Martell. She and her co-conspirators get caught and one of the conspirators attempts to kill Myrcella before fleeing. Arianne's genuine remorse over Myrcella's disfiguring injury establishes that while she's a schemer, [[WouldntHurtAChild there are lines she won't cross]].
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** Arianne Martell intends to proclaim eight-year-old 8-year-old Myrcella Baratheon the rightful Queen of Westeros as pretext for staging a coup against her father, Doran Martell. She and her co-conspirators get caught and one of the conspirators attempts to kill Myrcella before fleeing. Arianne's genuine remorse over Myrcella's disfiguring injury establishes that while she's a schemer, [[WouldntHurtAChild there are lines she won't cross]].
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** On the day of [[spoiler: Queen Cersei's trial]], a child lures [[spoiler:acolyte Lancel Lannister]] to a dark area underneath the Grand Sept of Baelor and stabs him in the back, leaving him paralyzed and helpless to watch as a candle burns down on a puddle of liquid next to barrels full of super-combustible wildfire, making them explode and blow away the sept and surrounding areas to kingdom come.
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** On the day of [[spoiler: Queen [[spoiler:Queen Cersei's trial]], a child lures [[spoiler:acolyte Lancel Lannister]] to a dark area underneath the Grand Sept of Baelor and stabs him in the back, leaving him paralyzed and helpless to watch as a candle burns down on a puddle of liquid next to barrels full of super-combustible wildfire, making them explode and blow away the sept and surrounding areas to kingdom come.
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** During the first season, Regina would take any steps necessary to convince Emma to leave Storybrooke, and that includes manipulating their son, ten-year-old Henry. For instance, in the second episode, Regina arranges for Henry to walk into the room just as Emma says she thinks his belief in magic is crazy, in order to drive a wedge between them. As time passes and Regina undergoes a HeelFaceTurn, she stops doing this.
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** During the first season, Regina would take any steps necessary to convince Emma to leave Storybrooke, and that includes manipulating their son, ten-year-old 10-year-old Henry. For instance, in the second episode, Regina arranges for Henry to walk into the room just as Emma says she thinks his belief in magic is crazy, in order to drive a wedge between them. As time passes and Regina undergoes a HeelFaceTurn, she stops doing this.
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* ''Webcomic/MeganKearneysBeautyAndTheBeast'': When Beast's mother was young, the king took her as his mistress, but he cast her away when she got pregnant. She is obsessed with raising their son to be the next in line for the throne, controlling every aspect of his life and going as far as [[spoiler: poisoning the queen to keep her from having children]]. [[ItsAllAboutMe All that to make the king recognize that she had once meant something for him.]]
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* ''Webcomic/MeganKearneysBeautyAndTheBeast'': When Beast's mother was young, the king took her as his mistress, but he cast her away when she got pregnant. She is obsessed with raising their son to be the next in line for the throne, controlling every aspect of his life and going as far as [[spoiler: poisoning [[spoiler:poisoning the queen to keep her from having children]]. [[ItsAllAboutMe All that to make the king recognize that she had once meant something for him.]]
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--> If I have children and subsequently grandchildren, I will keep my three-year-old granddaughter near me at all times. When the hero enters to kill me, I will ask him to first [[ProtectedByAChild explain to her why it is necessary to kill her beloved grandpa]]. When the hero launches into an explanation of morality way over her head, that will be her cue to pull the lever and send him into the pit of crocodiles. After all, small children like crocodiles almost as much as Evil Overlords and it's important to spend quality time with the grandkids.
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--> If I have children and subsequently grandchildren, I will keep my three-year-old 3-year-old granddaughter near me at all times. When the hero enters to kill me, I will ask him to first [[ProtectedByAChild explain to her why it is necessary to kill her beloved grandpa]]. When the hero launches into an explanation of morality way over her head, that will be her cue to pull the lever and send him into the pit of crocodiles. After all, small children like crocodiles almost as much as Evil Overlords and it's important to spend quality time with the grandkids.
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* The GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' kicks off when [[BigBad Bill Cipher]] preys on [[CheerfulChild Mabel's]] insecurity and fears about the future to trick her into breaking a time rift, which was serving as a RestrainingBolt preventing Bill from entering the real world and conquering it. Thankfully, [[spoiler: Grunkle Ford]] was CrazyPrepared and created a defense system that blocks Bill and his minions from extending their influence anywhere beyond Gravity Falls itself. Bill kidnaps [[spoiler: Ford]] and demands that they tell him how to disable the defense, but they won't budge...until Bill notices just how much they care about Dipper and Mabel, setting out to kidnap them and break [[spoiler: Ford's]] spirit.
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* The GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' kicks off when [[BigBad Bill Cipher]] preys on [[CheerfulChild Mabel's]] insecurity and fears about the future to trick her into breaking a time rift, which was serving as a RestrainingBolt preventing Bill from entering the real world and conquering it. Thankfully, [[spoiler: Grunkle [[spoiler:Grunkle Ford]] was CrazyPrepared and created a defense system that blocks Bill and his minions from extending their influence anywhere beyond Gravity Falls itself. Bill kidnaps [[spoiler: Ford]] [[spoiler:Ford]] and demands that they tell him how to disable the defense, but they won't budge...until Bill notices just how much they care about Dipper and Mabel, setting out to kidnap them and break [[spoiler: Ford's]] [[spoiler:Ford's]] spirit.
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* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': When Adora and Catra were children, Shadow Weaver threatened to torture/kill the latter in order to make Adora do whatever she said. She also raised Adora to use her potential for magic as a tool to overthrow Hordak and [[spoiler: take the power of the Heart of Etheria]].
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* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': When Adora and Catra were children, Shadow Weaver threatened to torture/kill the latter in order to make Adora do whatever she said. She also raised Adora to use her potential for magic as a tool to overthrow Hordak and [[spoiler: take [[spoiler:take the power of the Heart of Etheria]].
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* The GrandFinale of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' kicks off when [[BigBad Bill Cipher]] preys on [[CheerfulChild Mabel's]] insecurity and fears about the future to trick her into breaking a time rift, which was serving as a RestrainingBolt preventing Bill from entering the real world and conquering it. Thankfully, [[spoiler: Grunkle Ford]] was CrazyPrepared and created a defense system that blocks Bill and his minions from extending their influence anywhere beyond Gravity Falls itself. Bill kidnaps [[spoiler: Ford]] and demands that they tell him how to disable the defense, but they won't budge...until Bill notices just how much they care about Dipper and Mabel, setting out to kidnap them and break [[spoiler: Ford's]] spirit.
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* A chilling example occurs in the ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'' episode "Legitimate Rape." A sports reporter is stalked by one of her cameramen, who eventually rapes her. When she finds out that she is pregnant from the rape, she debates getting an abortion, but ultimately decides against it. The trouble is that the rapist uses the entirely-incorrect argument that women can't be impregnated by rape as his defense. One member of the jury believes this InsaneTrollLogic, and the cameraman is only found guilty of stalking. The rapist then makes it clear that he is going to use "their" baby as an excuse to harass and forcibly spend time with the reporter for the next ''eighteen years''. In a DownerEnding, the devastated reporter is forced to flee the country with the baby, knowing that she'll never be able to escape the rapist if he can find her.
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* The first episode of ''Series/WhoWantsToBeASuperhero'' used this for a SecretTestOfCharacter. Stan Lee told the contestants that their challenge was to change into their superhero costume in public without being seen, then race to a purple archway. But just before the finish line, there was a little girl [[IWantMyMommy crying that she'd lost her mother]], and the ''actual'' test was to stop and help her. Only four of the ten heroes passed. [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in that the little girl was obviously an actress who was in on the game.
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* This is pretty much the modus operandi of Mr. Ledroptha Curtain of the ''Literature/TheMysteriousBenedictSociety''. He views children as nothing more than tools that he can use to broadcast the messages of his Whisperer, or serve as his Executives. Any children that try to act against him he claims to regard as [[PitifulWorms gnats who can't do anything real against him]] though secretly he's scared.
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** It's common practice for the winning side of a war or rebellion to take the children of the losers into their own homes, holding them as hostages against future bad behavior
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* In ''VideoGame/TheBlackHeart'', Final attempts to use his own son as a champion to wield the titular black heart and stop Janos for good. However, Animus defies him, not happy after spending his whole life suffering inside an iron maiden [[spoiler: and kills himself using the power of the heart to end his suffering]]
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* In ''VideoGame/TheBlackHeart'', Final attempts to use his own son as a champion to wield the titular black heart and stop Janos for good. However, Animus defies him, not happy after spending his whole life suffering inside an iron maiden [[spoiler: and kills himself using the power of the heart to end his suffering]]
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* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': [[spoiler:King Andrias tells [[UnwittingPawn Marcy]] that she and her friends can travel the multiverse forever with him if she gets him the box after charging it at all three temples, though his real plan is to use the box to conquer earth. In return, he [[TheReveal spills her secrets]] and stabs her in the back. He is later shown to have grown attached to her and [[HeelRealization regret his manipulation]]]].
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* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** Varys uses children to spy on others. He calls them "the little birds". When he leaves King's Landing, Qyburn takes over his network of child spies.
** On the day of [[spoiler: Queen Cersei's trial]], a child lures [[spoiler:acolyte Lancel Lannister]] to a dark area underneath the Grand Sept of Baelor and stabs him in the back, leaving him paralyzed and helpless to watch as a candle burns down on a puddle of liquid next to barrels full of super-combustible wildfire, making them explode and blow away the sept and surrounding areas to kingdom come.
** Varys uses children to spy on others. He calls them "the little birds". When he leaves King's Landing, Qyburn takes over his network of child spies.
** On the day of [[spoiler: Queen Cersei's trial]], a child lures [[spoiler:acolyte Lancel Lannister]] to a dark area underneath the Grand Sept of Baelor and stabs him in the back, leaving him paralyzed and helpless to watch as a candle burns down on a puddle of liquid next to barrels full of super-combustible wildfire, making them explode and blow away the sept and surrounding areas to kingdom come.
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* ''Manga/BungoStrayDogs'': During the Cannabilism arc, the ADA tries to circumvent Fyodor's plot by tracking down the Ability user who infected Fukuzawa and Mori. Ranpo figures out the culprit is Pushkin and Kunikida and Atsushi pursue him. However, Pushkin escapes down a tunnel and has his young siblings armed with weapons to defend him. The detectives are able to get through until Kunikida is faced with a little girl prepared to detonate several grenades attached to her. He tries talking her down, but the attempt fails and she blows up herself and the other children. It turns out the man wasn't Pushkin and it was all a ruse set up by Fyodor to break Kunikida's spirit.
to:
* ''Manga/BungoStrayDogs'': During the Cannabilism arc, the ADA tries to circumvent Fyodor's plot by tracking down the Ability user who infected Fukuzawa and Mori. Ranpo figures out the culprit is Pushkin Pushkin, and Kunikida and Atsushi pursue him. However, Pushkin escapes down a tunnel and has his young siblings armed with weapons to defend him. The detectives are able to get through until Kunikida is faced with a little girl prepared to detonate several grenades attached to her. He tries talking her down, but the attempt fails and she blows up herself and the other children. It turns out the man wasn't Pushkin and it was all a ruse set up by Fyodor to break Kunikida's spirit.
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* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'': Gru adopts three little girls as part of a plan to steal back a ShrinkRay from Vector, since Vector likes the cookies they sell. Gru plans to ditch the girls after the plan is done, but they begin to grow on him, and in the end makes a HeelFaceTurn and becomes a loving parent to them.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'': Madame Medusa kidnaps Penny so she can fetch her the Devil's Eye, a huge diamond inside an underground cave in the bayou, since only a small child like Penny can enter the opening to the cave.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RugratsInParis'', Coco [=LaBouche=] strives to be the new president of the Reptar Corporation when Mr. Yamaguchi announces his retirement and is looking for someone to be his successor. Wanting to make a good impression on him, she lies to him that she has a husband and a child. Angelica overhears and decides to help her marry Chas so she will give her whatever she wants. Coco hates children, but pretends to care about Chas and Chuckie as part of her plan to get her promotion. However, on the day of the wedding, she is unable to keep up the act and has her assistant Jean-Claude take the babies away so they won't interfere. The babies manage to escape from Jean-Claude on the Robo Reptar and Angelica ends up exposing Coco's plan to Mr. Yamaguchi, who attends the wedding.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'': Madame Medusa kidnaps Penny so she can fetch her the Devil's Eye, a huge diamond inside an underground cave in the bayou, since only a small child like Penny can enter the opening to the cave.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RugratsInParis'', Coco [=LaBouche=] strives to be the new president of the Reptar Corporation when Mr. Yamaguchi announces his retirement and is looking for someone to be his successor. Wanting to make a good impression on him, she lies to him that she has a husband and a child. Angelica overhears and decides to help her marry Chas so she will give her whatever she wants. Coco hates children, but pretends to care about Chas and Chuckie as part of her plan to get her promotion. However, on the day of the wedding, she is unable to keep up the act and has her assistant Jean-Claude take the babies away so they won't interfere. The babies manage to escape from Jean-Claude on the Robo Reptar and Angelica ends up exposing Coco's plan to Mr. Yamaguchi, who attends the wedding.
to:
* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'': Gru adopts three little girls as part of a plan to steal back a ShrinkRay from Vector, Vector since Vector likes the cookies they sell. Gru plans to ditch the girls after the plan is done, but they begin to grow on him, and in the end makes a HeelFaceTurn and becomes a loving parent to them.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'': Madame Medusa kidnaps Penny so she can fetch her the Devil's Eye, a huge diamond inside an underground cave in thebayou, bayou since only a small child like Penny can enter the opening to the cave.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RugratsInParis'', Coco [=LaBouche=] strives to be the new president of the Reptar Corporation when Mr. Yamaguchi announces his retirement and is looking for someone to be his successor. Wanting to make a good impression on him, she lies to him that she has a husband and a child. Angelica overhears and decides to help her marry Chas so she will give her whatever she wants. Coco hateschildren, children but pretends to care about Chas and Chuckie as part of her plan to get her promotion. However, on the day of the wedding, she is unable to keep up the act and has her assistant Jean-Claude take the babies away so they won't interfere. The babies manage to escape from Jean-Claude on the Robo Reptar and Angelica ends up exposing Coco's plan to Mr. Yamaguchi, who attends the wedding.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'': Madame Medusa kidnaps Penny so she can fetch her the Devil's Eye, a huge diamond inside an underground cave in the
* In ''WesternAnimation/RugratsInParis'', Coco [=LaBouche=] strives to be the new president of the Reptar Corporation when Mr. Yamaguchi announces his retirement and is looking for someone to be his successor. Wanting to make a good impression on him, she lies to him that she has a husband and a child. Angelica overhears and decides to help her marry Chas so she will give her whatever she wants. Coco hates
Changed line(s) 32 (click to see context) from:
[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
to:
[[folder:Film - Live Action]]Live-Action]]
Changed line(s) 35,36 (click to see context) from:
--> '''Banner:''' And your actress buddy, is she a spy too? Do they start that young?
--> '''Natasha:''' I did.
--> '''Natasha:''' I did.
to:
Changed line(s) 52 (click to see context) from:
* In the various versions of ''Literature/ThePledge'', the retired detective befriends/marries a single mother before he decides to use her daughter to lure in an elusive child murderer he never caught. The murderer is killed in a random car accident on the way to the girl, which means it was AllForNothing. The mother also finds out, and justifiably cuts all ties with the detective.
to:
* In the various versions of ''Literature/ThePledge'', the retired detective befriends/marries a single mother before he decides to use her daughter to lure in an elusive child murderer he never caught. The murderer is killed in a random car accident on the way to the girl, which means it was AllForNothing. The mother also finds out, out and justifiably cuts all ties with the detective.
Changed line(s) 66 (click to see context) from:
** During the first season, Regina would take any steps necessary to convince Emma to leave Storybrooke, and that includes manipulating their son, ten-year-old Henry. For instance, in the second episode Regina arranges for Henry to walk into the room just as Emma says she thinks his belief in magic is crazy, in order to drive a wedge between them. As time passes and Regina undergoes a HeelFaceTurn, she stops doing this.
to:
** During the first season, Regina would take any steps necessary to convince Emma to leave Storybrooke, and that includes manipulating their son, ten-year-old Henry. For instance, in the second episode episode, Regina arranges for Henry to walk into the room just as Emma says she thinks his belief in magic is crazy, in order to drive a wedge between them. As time passes and Regina undergoes a HeelFaceTurn, she stops doing this.
Changed line(s) 84,85 (click to see context) from:
* ''Webcomic/MeganKearneysBeautyAndTheBeast'': When Beast's mother was young, the king took her as his mistress, but he cast her away when she got pregnant. She obsessed into raising their son to be the next in line for the throne, controlling every aspect his life and going as far as [[spoiler: poisoning the queen to keep her from having children]]. [[ItsAllAboutMe All that to make the king recognize that she had once meant something for him.]]
* ''Webcomic/TeamFortress2'': When Gray Mann fails to conquer Mann Co. by force with his army of robots, he decides to take over the company through its CEO Saxton Hale?s declaration that any rival CEO can replace him if they defeat him in personal combat. Gray Mann makes his tiny daughter Olivia the CEO of Gray Gravel Co. and has her ?fight? Saxton, who forfeits because he can?t bring himself to beat up a child.
* ''Webcomic/TeamFortress2'': When Gray Mann fails to conquer Mann Co. by force with his army of robots, he decides to take over the company through its CEO Saxton Hale?s declaration that any rival CEO can replace him if they defeat him in personal combat. Gray Mann makes his tiny daughter Olivia the CEO of Gray Gravel Co. and has her ?fight? Saxton, who forfeits because he can?t bring himself to beat up a child.
to:
* ''Webcomic/MeganKearneysBeautyAndTheBeast'': When Beast's mother was young, the king took her as his mistress, but he cast her away when she got pregnant. She is obsessed into with raising their son to be the next in line for the throne, controlling every aspect of his life and going as far as [[spoiler: poisoning the queen to keep her from having children]]. [[ItsAllAboutMe All that to make the king recognize that she had once meant something for him.]]
* ''Webcomic/TeamFortress2'': When Gray Mann fails to conquer Mann Co. by force with his army of robots, he decides to take over the company through its CEO SaxtonHale?s Hale's declaration that any rival CEO can replace him if they defeat him in personal combat. Gray Mann makes his tiny daughter Olivia the CEO of Gray Gravel Co. and has her ?fight? fight Saxton, who forfeits because he can?t can't bring himself to beat up a child.
* ''Webcomic/TeamFortress2'': When Gray Mann fails to conquer Mann Co. by force with his army of robots, he decides to take over the company through its CEO Saxton
Changed line(s) 95 (click to see context) from:
** [[spoiler:In the past, while still using his real identity, Philip Wittebane, he met a time travelling Luz and tricked both her and Lilith into accompanying him on his trip into the Head to sacrifice to the Stonesleeper as a distraction in order to obtain the Collector's mirror. While no one ended up dying, still he got what wanted in the end.]]
to:
** [[spoiler:In the past, while still using his real identity, Philip Wittebane, he met a time travelling time-travelling Luz and tricked both her and Lilith into accompanying him on his trip into the Head to sacrifice to the Stonesleeper as a distraction in order to obtain the Collector's mirror. While no one ended up dying, still he got what wanted in the end.]]
Changed line(s) 100 (click to see context) from:
[[/folder]]
to:
----
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 98 (click to see context) from:
** PlayedWith. [[spoiler:The Collector is an incredibly old entity, but is physically and mentally a young child. Belos easily tricks them into helping him with his plans to annihilate the inhabitants of the Boiling Isles by promising to free them from their prison in exchange. Unfortunately for Belos, unlike the other children, after being freed The Collector has the power to fight back when he refuses to uphold his end and quickly makes him [[LudicrousGlibs pay for his lies]]]].
to:
** PlayedWith. [[spoiler:The Collector is an incredibly old entity, but is physically and mentally a young child. Belos easily tricks them into helping him with his plans to annihilate the inhabitants of the Boiling Isles by promising to free them from their prison in exchange. Unfortunately for Belos, unlike the other children, after being freed The Collector has the power to fight back when he refuses to uphold his end and quickly makes him [[LudicrousGlibs [[LudicrousGibs pay for his lies]]]].
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
Created from YKTTW
Added DiffLines:
There are many differences between children and adults. They have different life experiences, different mindsets, different body types, different perceptions from others, and different understandings of the world around them, just to name a few.
Those differences can be exploited by others, both good and bad, for various purposes.
There are a number of ways in which this trope can manifest, ranging from mundane and harmless to risky and dangerous. A character can arrange meetings between their own children and those of someone who is part of their objective, in order to create an avenue of access to their place, or babysitting kids in order to gain the trust of their parent or guardian. These methods can also be used as a means of defending oneself by having an enemy's children plead with their parent not to hurt their friend's parent or their favorite babysitter, or in order to divert the suspicions of people watching them. This is especially appropriate when an enemy exhibits VillainousParentalInstinct, as it means their child can be used against them.
Children can also be placed in hazardous situations as part of a plan. A character can bait a villain into going after a child to invoke KnightTemplarParent from a key individual, or they can use children as bait to lure the parents into a trap. There are times where exploiting WouldntHurtAChild involves using children as {{Human Shield}}s. Even AbusiveParents can raise kids for the sole purpose of using them in a long-term scheme of some sort. (Even if said scheme is using them as {{Trophy Child}}ren.)
Having characters make use of this trope can paint them in different ways depending on what their means and end goals are. Placing children in danger to further an agenda or gather information can be common among villains, as doing so paints them as characters who WouldHurtAChild, and it's rare for such characters to have any sympathy from audiences unless the characters actively try to minimize the risks and/or the children understand the risks and are willing to confront those risks. On the other hand, if the child's intended role doesn't go any further than enabling an adult character access to information or places that shouldn't endanger the child directly, it's easier for heroic characters to make use of this trope, especially if the goal is to rescue another child from some danger.
See also TykeBomb, in which a child is raised from birth (or close to it) to serve a villain. Compare BakerStreetRegular and ChildSoldiers. Also compare TheFagin, a person who trains (usually orphaned) children to steal for them. See also TheBabyTrap. Particularly impactful if ChildrenAreInnocent.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Anime And Manga]]
* ''Manga/BungoStrayDogs'': During the Cannabilism arc, the ADA tries to circumvent Fyodor's plot by tracking down the Ability user who infected Fukuzawa and Mori. Ranpo figures out the culprit is Pushkin and Kunikida and Atsushi pursue him. However, Pushkin escapes down a tunnel and has his young siblings armed with weapons to defend him. The detectives are able to get through until Kunikida is faced with a little girl prepared to detonate several grenades attached to her. He tries talking her down, but the attempt fails and she blows up herself and the other children. It turns out the man wasn't Pushkin and it was all a ruse set up by Fyodor to break Kunikida's spirit.
* In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'', when trying to get the location of Ed Elric, he had a young newspaper seller eavesdrop Ed at the railway station, promising this seller he would get his little sister back.
* In ''Manga/SpyXFamily'', [[TheHero Agent Twilight's]] mission 'Operation Strix' requires him to adopt [[CheerfulChild Anya]] in order to enroll her in Eden Academy. Definitely a sympathetic example, as Twilight quickly grows to care for Anya and goes out of his way to keep her safe and happy. That, and Anya is [[PsychicChild aware of everything]] and [[ItAmusedMe doesn't mind]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'': BigBad Lady Tremaine wants one of her daughters to marry the Prince so that she can gain more power and climb up the social ladder in one fell swoop. Downplayed, as both of them care more about getting her attention and mistreating their stepsister Cinderella.
* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'': Gru adopts three little girls as part of a plan to steal back a ShrinkRay from Vector, since Vector likes the cookies they sell. Gru plans to ditch the girls after the plan is done, but they begin to grow on him, and in the end makes a HeelFaceTurn and becomes a loving parent to them.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'': Madame Medusa kidnaps Penny so she can fetch her the Devil's Eye, a huge diamond inside an underground cave in the bayou, since only a small child like Penny can enter the opening to the cave.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RugratsInParis'', Coco [=LaBouche=] strives to be the new president of the Reptar Corporation when Mr. Yamaguchi announces his retirement and is looking for someone to be his successor. Wanting to make a good impression on him, she lies to him that she has a husband and a child. Angelica overhears and decides to help her marry Chas so she will give her whatever she wants. Coco hates children, but pretends to care about Chas and Chuckie as part of her plan to get her promotion. However, on the day of the wedding, she is unable to keep up the act and has her assistant Jean-Claude take the babies away so they won't interfere. The babies manage to escape from Jean-Claude on the Robo Reptar and Angelica ends up exposing Coco's plan to Mr. Yamaguchi, who attends the wedding.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
* ''Film/AmericanSniper'': While covering a patrol squad advancing along an Iraqi street, sniper Chris Kyle notices a woman and her child in a doorway, watching the American squad intently. The woman then issues the boy, about eight, a grenade to throw at the Americans. Despite personal misgivings, Kyle knows the rules of engagement: those wielding a firearm or ordnance are hostile combatants, and therefore a fair target. Kyle drops the boy before he can toss the grenade.
* ''Film/TheAvengers2012'': Downplayed. Black Widow pays a little girl to lure Bruce Banner to a remote area so that she could recruit him to trace the Tesseract for S.H.I.E.L.D. without worrying about him HulkingOut in the middle of a populous area. She ends up referencing her own background as a ChildSoldier, as part of the Black Widow program.
--> '''Banner:''' And your actress buddy, is she a spy too? Do they start that young?
--> '''Natasha:''' I did.
* ''Film/TheNightOfTheHunter'': Both in the book and the movie, Harry Powell tries to throw Pearl against her older brother John in order to convince her to tell him where Pearl and John's executed father had concealed the money he stole from a bank. Or to use her as pawn to make John speak, whatever came first. He also flirts with Ruby to make the naive teenage girl tell him if John and Pearl were adopted by Rachel Cooper.
* A heroic HumanShield version in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', where Indy finds himself surrounded by armed Arabs in a Cairo bar. Sallah saves him by sending a group of children into the bar who swarm around Indy and lead him out of the place with the baddies unable to interfere. Watch the scene [[https://youtu.be/1Hx05Ia_byQ?t=186 here]].
* ''Film/{{Stargate}}'': When Colonel O'Neill manages to seize a staff weapon and turn on Ra, he's [[WouldNotHurtAChild unable]] to take the shot, because Ra has [[HumanShield surrounded himself]] with children who worship him and would gladly die for him.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/DannyTheChampionOfTheWorld'', a woman named Mrs. Clipstone smuggles the knocked-out, stolen pheasants ready to be killed in a baby carriage under her baby son's mattress to avoid suspicion.
* ''Literature/DIFawley'': In ''The Whole Truth'', Marina Wheeler is revealed to [[spoiler:manipulate her ambiguously autistic son into claiming that he was sexually abused by his babysitters, her (male) PhD students, in order to force them into a sexual relationship with her.]]
* ''Literature/GoneGirl'': [[spoiler:The future that lies ahead for Nick and Amy's child. After being [[TheBabyTrap trapped by Amy's pregnancy]], Nick agrees to stay with her, but after she threatens to push their child into accusing him of abuse, he understands that they both have a lifetime ahead of using the child (and how it's raised) against each other.]]
* ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale'': Serena is in the habit of sporadically blackmailing Offred with access to her and Luke's young daughter, Hannah.
* ''Literature/TheHungerGames''
** The entire premise of the series could be considered this, as the Capitol is placing children in a DeathGame to remind all of the Districts how powerless they are.
** In ''Literature/{{Mockingjay}},'' [[spoiler:[[PresidentEvil President Snow]] places children in front of his office as a shield from the rebels trying to assassinate him.]]
* In ''Literature/LesMiserables'', Georges Pontmercy agreed to never see his son Marius again, in order to ensure he lives a good life, free of poverty.
* ''Literature/OliverTwist'': Fagin kidnaps orphaned kids and trains them to pickpocket for him, keeping any money they make for himself. The popularity of the novel actually caused such people to start getting called "fagins", replacing the former term "kidsman" in some circles.
* In the various versions of ''Literature/ThePledge'', the retired detective befriends/marries a single mother before he decides to use her daughter to lure in an elusive child murderer he never caught. The murderer is killed in a random car accident on the way to the girl, which means it was AllForNothing. The mother also finds out, and justifiably cuts all ties with the detective.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''
** After Cersei Lannister has Ned Stark wrongfully arrested for treason, she manipulates his eleven-year-old daughter Sansa into writing a letter to the rest of their family denouncing her own father as a traitor and telling her older brother to swear fealty to Joffrey Baratheon.
** Ramsay Snow burns down Winterfell and takes the two wards Big Walder and Little Walder Frey, both nine years old, back to the Dreadfort with him. He makes the boys write letters to their family claiming that Theon Greyjoy was the one who destroyed the castle to cover his tracks.
** Arianne Martell intends to proclaim eight-year-old Myrcella Baratheon the rightful Queen of Westeros as pretext for staging a coup against her father, Doran Martell. She and her co-conspirators get caught and one of the conspirators attempts to kill Myrcella before fleeing. Arianne's genuine remorse over Myrcella's disfiguring injury establishes that while she's a schemer, [[WouldntHurtAChild there are lines she won't cross]].
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': Ashfur used his apprentice, Birchpaw, to deliver the message about Firestar being in danger to Brambleclaw, as part of his and Hawkfrost's plan to goad him into killing Firestar. At the time of ''New Prophecy'', this was one of the only clues as to Ashfur being Hawkfrost's accomplice at all.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'':
** Serena is even more in the habit of blackmailing June with access to Hannah in the series than she is in the book, even going far enough to let her know where Hannah lives.
** Baby Nichole, [[spoiler:Nick and June's baby]], becomes a pawn between Serena and June during June's pregnancy and after she gives birth.
* In ''Series/Lucifer2016'', Michael [[spoiler:gives his infant nephew Charlie a common cold]], knowing that it will give Amenadiel, an angel that has lived for billions of years, fears about his son's mortality and the fact he will eventually outlive him.
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'':
** During the first season, Regina would take any steps necessary to convince Emma to leave Storybrooke, and that includes manipulating their son, ten-year-old Henry. For instance, in the second episode Regina arranges for Henry to walk into the room just as Emma says she thinks his belief in magic is crazy, in order to drive a wedge between them. As time passes and Regina undergoes a HeelFaceTurn, she stops doing this.
** Regina's mother [[AbusiveParents Cora]] used a young Snow White in order to marry off Regina to Snow's widowed father, King Leopold. First, she spooked Snow's horse when Regina was nearby so Regina would feel impelled to save her, leading King Leopold to give her the StandardHeroReward of a chance to marry him. When Regina resisted, Cora then played on Snow's grief over her mother's death to get Snow to tell Cora what Regina was hiding (pretending to do it out of loving concern). When Snow revealed Regina's plans to elope with a stable boy, Cora killed him so she would have no choice but to marry the king. Regina, so abused by her mother that she cannot blame her, turned all her rage on Snow, starting the [[StartOfDarkness years-long]] crusade for {{Revenge}} against Snow that lead to the Curse. Snow herself later brings up that she was just a child and had no idea what Cora would do with that information.
* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'': There are a few times when Rita or one of the other villains uses a child as a pawn.
** In ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', Rita uses a child to open a chest because the child is innocent enough to open it while Rita, an evil sorceress, cannot.
** ''Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue'' would repeat this and almost caused one of the main cast to quit over the storyline of that particular episode.
* ''Series/TedLasso'': Although Rebecca deeply wanted to be a mother, Rupert always claimed he didn't want children and so they didn't have any. Soon after their divorce, he gets his new girlfriend pregnant and gloats that he just didn't want to have children ''with her''. Later, he takes his baby daughter to Rebecca's father's funeral knowing it will upset her.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Theatre]]
* ''Theatre/{{Annie}}'': Rooster and Lily pose as Annie's parents so they can take Warbucks's reward for themselves, using Miss Hannigan's inside information.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', Daisy Fitzroy is shown using children as couriers.
-->''Dropped a couple grizzly traps 'round the lines up here. Idea was to...to bleed one of your couriers till he gave you up. 'Cept, of course, you're using kids now.''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/MeganKearneysBeautyAndTheBeast'': When Beast's mother was young, the king took her as his mistress, but he cast her away when she got pregnant. She obsessed into raising their son to be the next in line for the throne, controlling every aspect his life and going as far as [[spoiler: poisoning the queen to keep her from having children]]. [[ItsAllAboutMe All that to make the king recognize that she had once meant something for him.]]
* ''Webcomic/TeamFortress2'': When Gray Mann fails to conquer Mann Co. by force with his army of robots, he decides to take over the company through its CEO Saxton Hale?s declaration that any rival CEO can replace him if they defeat him in personal combat. Gray Mann makes his tiny daughter Olivia the CEO of Gray Gravel Co. and has her ?fight? Saxton, who forfeits because he can?t bring himself to beat up a child.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Original]]
* The EvilOverlordList [[EvilOverlordListCellblockA Cellblock A]] includes using young children to distract the hero(es).
--> If I have children and subsequently grandchildren, I will keep my three-year-old granddaughter near me at all times. When the hero enters to kill me, I will ask him to first [[ProtectedByAChild explain to her why it is necessary to kill her beloved grandpa]]. When the hero launches into an explanation of morality way over her head, that will be her cue to pull the lever and send him into the pit of crocodiles. After all, small children like crocodiles almost as much as Evil Overlords and it's important to spend quality time with the grandkids.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Belos is a ManipulativeBastard willing to use anyone and anything to get what he wants, children included.
** [[spoiler:In the past, while still using his real identity, Philip Wittebane, he met a time travelling Luz and tricked both her and Lilith into accompanying him on his trip into the Head to sacrifice to the Stonesleeper as a distraction in order to obtain the Collector's mirror. While no one ended up dying, still he got what wanted in the end.]]
** [[spoiler:When Luz and Hunter wind up in emperor's mind, the Inner Belos takes on the form of a small child to lead the kids around, pretending the amalgamation of Palismen souls within him is the real Inner Belos. This allows him to gather up materials for a trap and use Luz and Hunter as bait to catch and destroy the souls, much to their horror]].
** [[spoiler:Hunter is the latest [[ExpendableClone Grimwalker]] created by Belos and is only sixteen, but used as a ChildSoldier and was raised to follow all orders without question. Belos, pretending to be his uncle, thus has Hunter unwittingly aid him in his horrific plots, convincing the boy it's all for the greater good]].
** PlayedWith. [[spoiler:The Collector is an incredibly old entity, but is physically and mentally a young child. Belos easily tricks them into helping him with his plans to annihilate the inhabitants of the Boiling Isles by promising to free them from their prison in exchange. Unfortunately for Belos, unlike the other children, after being freed The Collector has the power to fight back when he refuses to uphold his end and quickly makes him [[LudicrousGlibs pay for his lies]]]].
* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': When Adora and Catra were children, Shadow Weaver threatened to torture/kill the latter in order to make Adora do whatever she said. She also raised Adora to use her potential for magic as a tool to overthrow Hordak and [[spoiler: take the power of the Heart of Etheria]].
[[/folder]]
Those differences can be exploited by others, both good and bad, for various purposes.
There are a number of ways in which this trope can manifest, ranging from mundane and harmless to risky and dangerous. A character can arrange meetings between their own children and those of someone who is part of their objective, in order to create an avenue of access to their place, or babysitting kids in order to gain the trust of their parent or guardian. These methods can also be used as a means of defending oneself by having an enemy's children plead with their parent not to hurt their friend's parent or their favorite babysitter, or in order to divert the suspicions of people watching them. This is especially appropriate when an enemy exhibits VillainousParentalInstinct, as it means their child can be used against them.
Children can also be placed in hazardous situations as part of a plan. A character can bait a villain into going after a child to invoke KnightTemplarParent from a key individual, or they can use children as bait to lure the parents into a trap. There are times where exploiting WouldntHurtAChild involves using children as {{Human Shield}}s. Even AbusiveParents can raise kids for the sole purpose of using them in a long-term scheme of some sort. (Even if said scheme is using them as {{Trophy Child}}ren.)
Having characters make use of this trope can paint them in different ways depending on what their means and end goals are. Placing children in danger to further an agenda or gather information can be common among villains, as doing so paints them as characters who WouldHurtAChild, and it's rare for such characters to have any sympathy from audiences unless the characters actively try to minimize the risks and/or the children understand the risks and are willing to confront those risks. On the other hand, if the child's intended role doesn't go any further than enabling an adult character access to information or places that shouldn't endanger the child directly, it's easier for heroic characters to make use of this trope, especially if the goal is to rescue another child from some danger.
See also TykeBomb, in which a child is raised from birth (or close to it) to serve a villain. Compare BakerStreetRegular and ChildSoldiers. Also compare TheFagin, a person who trains (usually orphaned) children to steal for them. See also TheBabyTrap. Particularly impactful if ChildrenAreInnocent.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Anime And Manga]]
* ''Manga/BungoStrayDogs'': During the Cannabilism arc, the ADA tries to circumvent Fyodor's plot by tracking down the Ability user who infected Fukuzawa and Mori. Ranpo figures out the culprit is Pushkin and Kunikida and Atsushi pursue him. However, Pushkin escapes down a tunnel and has his young siblings armed with weapons to defend him. The detectives are able to get through until Kunikida is faced with a little girl prepared to detonate several grenades attached to her. He tries talking her down, but the attempt fails and she blows up herself and the other children. It turns out the man wasn't Pushkin and it was all a ruse set up by Fyodor to break Kunikida's spirit.
* In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'', when trying to get the location of Ed Elric, he had a young newspaper seller eavesdrop Ed at the railway station, promising this seller he would get his little sister back.
* In ''Manga/SpyXFamily'', [[TheHero Agent Twilight's]] mission 'Operation Strix' requires him to adopt [[CheerfulChild Anya]] in order to enroll her in Eden Academy. Definitely a sympathetic example, as Twilight quickly grows to care for Anya and goes out of his way to keep her safe and happy. That, and Anya is [[PsychicChild aware of everything]] and [[ItAmusedMe doesn't mind]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'': BigBad Lady Tremaine wants one of her daughters to marry the Prince so that she can gain more power and climb up the social ladder in one fell swoop. Downplayed, as both of them care more about getting her attention and mistreating their stepsister Cinderella.
* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'': Gru adopts three little girls as part of a plan to steal back a ShrinkRay from Vector, since Vector likes the cookies they sell. Gru plans to ditch the girls after the plan is done, but they begin to grow on him, and in the end makes a HeelFaceTurn and becomes a loving parent to them.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'': Madame Medusa kidnaps Penny so she can fetch her the Devil's Eye, a huge diamond inside an underground cave in the bayou, since only a small child like Penny can enter the opening to the cave.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RugratsInParis'', Coco [=LaBouche=] strives to be the new president of the Reptar Corporation when Mr. Yamaguchi announces his retirement and is looking for someone to be his successor. Wanting to make a good impression on him, she lies to him that she has a husband and a child. Angelica overhears and decides to help her marry Chas so she will give her whatever she wants. Coco hates children, but pretends to care about Chas and Chuckie as part of her plan to get her promotion. However, on the day of the wedding, she is unable to keep up the act and has her assistant Jean-Claude take the babies away so they won't interfere. The babies manage to escape from Jean-Claude on the Robo Reptar and Angelica ends up exposing Coco's plan to Mr. Yamaguchi, who attends the wedding.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
* ''Film/AmericanSniper'': While covering a patrol squad advancing along an Iraqi street, sniper Chris Kyle notices a woman and her child in a doorway, watching the American squad intently. The woman then issues the boy, about eight, a grenade to throw at the Americans. Despite personal misgivings, Kyle knows the rules of engagement: those wielding a firearm or ordnance are hostile combatants, and therefore a fair target. Kyle drops the boy before he can toss the grenade.
* ''Film/TheAvengers2012'': Downplayed. Black Widow pays a little girl to lure Bruce Banner to a remote area so that she could recruit him to trace the Tesseract for S.H.I.E.L.D. without worrying about him HulkingOut in the middle of a populous area. She ends up referencing her own background as a ChildSoldier, as part of the Black Widow program.
--> '''Banner:''' And your actress buddy, is she a spy too? Do they start that young?
--> '''Natasha:''' I did.
* ''Film/TheNightOfTheHunter'': Both in the book and the movie, Harry Powell tries to throw Pearl against her older brother John in order to convince her to tell him where Pearl and John's executed father had concealed the money he stole from a bank. Or to use her as pawn to make John speak, whatever came first. He also flirts with Ruby to make the naive teenage girl tell him if John and Pearl were adopted by Rachel Cooper.
* A heroic HumanShield version in ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', where Indy finds himself surrounded by armed Arabs in a Cairo bar. Sallah saves him by sending a group of children into the bar who swarm around Indy and lead him out of the place with the baddies unable to interfere. Watch the scene [[https://youtu.be/1Hx05Ia_byQ?t=186 here]].
* ''Film/{{Stargate}}'': When Colonel O'Neill manages to seize a staff weapon and turn on Ra, he's [[WouldNotHurtAChild unable]] to take the shot, because Ra has [[HumanShield surrounded himself]] with children who worship him and would gladly die for him.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/DannyTheChampionOfTheWorld'', a woman named Mrs. Clipstone smuggles the knocked-out, stolen pheasants ready to be killed in a baby carriage under her baby son's mattress to avoid suspicion.
* ''Literature/DIFawley'': In ''The Whole Truth'', Marina Wheeler is revealed to [[spoiler:manipulate her ambiguously autistic son into claiming that he was sexually abused by his babysitters, her (male) PhD students, in order to force them into a sexual relationship with her.]]
* ''Literature/GoneGirl'': [[spoiler:The future that lies ahead for Nick and Amy's child. After being [[TheBabyTrap trapped by Amy's pregnancy]], Nick agrees to stay with her, but after she threatens to push their child into accusing him of abuse, he understands that they both have a lifetime ahead of using the child (and how it's raised) against each other.]]
* ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale'': Serena is in the habit of sporadically blackmailing Offred with access to her and Luke's young daughter, Hannah.
* ''Literature/TheHungerGames''
** The entire premise of the series could be considered this, as the Capitol is placing children in a DeathGame to remind all of the Districts how powerless they are.
** In ''Literature/{{Mockingjay}},'' [[spoiler:[[PresidentEvil President Snow]] places children in front of his office as a shield from the rebels trying to assassinate him.]]
* In ''Literature/LesMiserables'', Georges Pontmercy agreed to never see his son Marius again, in order to ensure he lives a good life, free of poverty.
* ''Literature/OliverTwist'': Fagin kidnaps orphaned kids and trains them to pickpocket for him, keeping any money they make for himself. The popularity of the novel actually caused such people to start getting called "fagins", replacing the former term "kidsman" in some circles.
* In the various versions of ''Literature/ThePledge'', the retired detective befriends/marries a single mother before he decides to use her daughter to lure in an elusive child murderer he never caught. The murderer is killed in a random car accident on the way to the girl, which means it was AllForNothing. The mother also finds out, and justifiably cuts all ties with the detective.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''
** After Cersei Lannister has Ned Stark wrongfully arrested for treason, she manipulates his eleven-year-old daughter Sansa into writing a letter to the rest of their family denouncing her own father as a traitor and telling her older brother to swear fealty to Joffrey Baratheon.
** Ramsay Snow burns down Winterfell and takes the two wards Big Walder and Little Walder Frey, both nine years old, back to the Dreadfort with him. He makes the boys write letters to their family claiming that Theon Greyjoy was the one who destroyed the castle to cover his tracks.
** Arianne Martell intends to proclaim eight-year-old Myrcella Baratheon the rightful Queen of Westeros as pretext for staging a coup against her father, Doran Martell. She and her co-conspirators get caught and one of the conspirators attempts to kill Myrcella before fleeing. Arianne's genuine remorse over Myrcella's disfiguring injury establishes that while she's a schemer, [[WouldntHurtAChild there are lines she won't cross]].
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': Ashfur used his apprentice, Birchpaw, to deliver the message about Firestar being in danger to Brambleclaw, as part of his and Hawkfrost's plan to goad him into killing Firestar. At the time of ''New Prophecy'', this was one of the only clues as to Ashfur being Hawkfrost's accomplice at all.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'':
** Serena is even more in the habit of blackmailing June with access to Hannah in the series than she is in the book, even going far enough to let her know where Hannah lives.
** Baby Nichole, [[spoiler:Nick and June's baby]], becomes a pawn between Serena and June during June's pregnancy and after she gives birth.
* In ''Series/Lucifer2016'', Michael [[spoiler:gives his infant nephew Charlie a common cold]], knowing that it will give Amenadiel, an angel that has lived for billions of years, fears about his son's mortality and the fact he will eventually outlive him.
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'':
** During the first season, Regina would take any steps necessary to convince Emma to leave Storybrooke, and that includes manipulating their son, ten-year-old Henry. For instance, in the second episode Regina arranges for Henry to walk into the room just as Emma says she thinks his belief in magic is crazy, in order to drive a wedge between them. As time passes and Regina undergoes a HeelFaceTurn, she stops doing this.
** Regina's mother [[AbusiveParents Cora]] used a young Snow White in order to marry off Regina to Snow's widowed father, King Leopold. First, she spooked Snow's horse when Regina was nearby so Regina would feel impelled to save her, leading King Leopold to give her the StandardHeroReward of a chance to marry him. When Regina resisted, Cora then played on Snow's grief over her mother's death to get Snow to tell Cora what Regina was hiding (pretending to do it out of loving concern). When Snow revealed Regina's plans to elope with a stable boy, Cora killed him so she would have no choice but to marry the king. Regina, so abused by her mother that she cannot blame her, turned all her rage on Snow, starting the [[StartOfDarkness years-long]] crusade for {{Revenge}} against Snow that lead to the Curse. Snow herself later brings up that she was just a child and had no idea what Cora would do with that information.
* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'': There are a few times when Rita or one of the other villains uses a child as a pawn.
** In ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'', Rita uses a child to open a chest because the child is innocent enough to open it while Rita, an evil sorceress, cannot.
** ''Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue'' would repeat this and almost caused one of the main cast to quit over the storyline of that particular episode.
* ''Series/TedLasso'': Although Rebecca deeply wanted to be a mother, Rupert always claimed he didn't want children and so they didn't have any. Soon after their divorce, he gets his new girlfriend pregnant and gloats that he just didn't want to have children ''with her''. Later, he takes his baby daughter to Rebecca's father's funeral knowing it will upset her.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Theatre]]
* ''Theatre/{{Annie}}'': Rooster and Lily pose as Annie's parents so they can take Warbucks's reward for themselves, using Miss Hannigan's inside information.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', Daisy Fitzroy is shown using children as couriers.
-->''Dropped a couple grizzly traps 'round the lines up here. Idea was to...to bleed one of your couriers till he gave you up. 'Cept, of course, you're using kids now.''
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/MeganKearneysBeautyAndTheBeast'': When Beast's mother was young, the king took her as his mistress, but he cast her away when she got pregnant. She obsessed into raising their son to be the next in line for the throne, controlling every aspect his life and going as far as [[spoiler: poisoning the queen to keep her from having children]]. [[ItsAllAboutMe All that to make the king recognize that she had once meant something for him.]]
* ''Webcomic/TeamFortress2'': When Gray Mann fails to conquer Mann Co. by force with his army of robots, he decides to take over the company through its CEO Saxton Hale?s declaration that any rival CEO can replace him if they defeat him in personal combat. Gray Mann makes his tiny daughter Olivia the CEO of Gray Gravel Co. and has her ?fight? Saxton, who forfeits because he can?t bring himself to beat up a child.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Original]]
* The EvilOverlordList [[EvilOverlordListCellblockA Cellblock A]] includes using young children to distract the hero(es).
--> If I have children and subsequently grandchildren, I will keep my three-year-old granddaughter near me at all times. When the hero enters to kill me, I will ask him to first [[ProtectedByAChild explain to her why it is necessary to kill her beloved grandpa]]. When the hero launches into an explanation of morality way over her head, that will be her cue to pull the lever and send him into the pit of crocodiles. After all, small children like crocodiles almost as much as Evil Overlords and it's important to spend quality time with the grandkids.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': Belos is a ManipulativeBastard willing to use anyone and anything to get what he wants, children included.
** [[spoiler:In the past, while still using his real identity, Philip Wittebane, he met a time travelling Luz and tricked both her and Lilith into accompanying him on his trip into the Head to sacrifice to the Stonesleeper as a distraction in order to obtain the Collector's mirror. While no one ended up dying, still he got what wanted in the end.]]
** [[spoiler:When Luz and Hunter wind up in emperor's mind, the Inner Belos takes on the form of a small child to lead the kids around, pretending the amalgamation of Palismen souls within him is the real Inner Belos. This allows him to gather up materials for a trap and use Luz and Hunter as bait to catch and destroy the souls, much to their horror]].
** [[spoiler:Hunter is the latest [[ExpendableClone Grimwalker]] created by Belos and is only sixteen, but used as a ChildSoldier and was raised to follow all orders without question. Belos, pretending to be his uncle, thus has Hunter unwittingly aid him in his horrific plots, convincing the boy it's all for the greater good]].
** PlayedWith. [[spoiler:The Collector is an incredibly old entity, but is physically and mentally a young child. Belos easily tricks them into helping him with his plans to annihilate the inhabitants of the Boiling Isles by promising to free them from their prison in exchange. Unfortunately for Belos, unlike the other children, after being freed The Collector has the power to fight back when he refuses to uphold his end and quickly makes him [[LudicrousGlibs pay for his lies]]]].
* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'': When Adora and Catra were children, Shadow Weaver threatened to torture/kill the latter in order to make Adora do whatever she said. She also raised Adora to use her potential for magic as a tool to overthrow Hordak and [[spoiler: take the power of the Heart of Etheria]].
[[/folder]]
