History Main / DidYouJustScamCthulhu

A scheme concocted by the resident [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] or [[ManipulativeBastard manipulative bastard]] ends up involving the manipulation of a supernatural entity. Such a plan may include the deity from the outset, or the deity may be integrated into the plan along the way.

* The title character in ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' manages to trick his newfound genie servant into freeing him from a sealed cavern without making a wish by prodding the genie's ego. Genie realizes too late he's been played, so he warns that Aladdin won't get any more "freebies". Later on, when Aladdin is drowning and couldn't reasonably wish for rescue, the genie just takes it for granted that he would wish for it and does so, still counting it as a wish (he takes Aladdin "nodding" as a yes, though this was just Aladdin's head was dropping from lack of oxygen). And at the end of the movie, [[spoiler:Aladdin tricks Jafar into turning himself into a genie, only to remind him that genies are bound to servitude in lamps. Not to mention he had the handicap of being unable to directly kill Aladdin or his allies when he escaped for revenge in the sequel, though he's not above plain torturing them or tricking others into doing the job for him.]]

** In [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-5935 SCP-5935]], "Blood and the Breaking of my Heart", if you can parse it out between all the prose, is about a member of the O5 Council that makes a deal with a [[EldritchAbomination Fae god of names]] to bring his son Jacob back to life. The god does so, partially, masquerading as Jacob and playing along with the O5, though planning to [[InMyOwnImage consume all names in existence]] once the masquerade is over. Once the O5 realizes what has happened, and comes to term with his son's death, he offers the god a new deal: He has constructed his dream city within his mind. If the god would come there and pretend to be Jacob for a bit longer, the O5 will willingly give up his name and not attempt to stop them. The god takes the deal, but realizes too late that [[spoiler:the Foundation has somehow placed a copy of [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-184 SCP-184]] within the O5's mind. 184 continuously expands any space it is placed in, which now includes the imaginary city. By the time the god realized the ploy, the city was already impossibly big, and it would take thousands of years for the god to escape it]]. The O5 is trapped as well, kept in a coma by the Foundation for safety, but he's trapped the god with him.

* ''Literature/AmericanGods'' has [[spoiler: [[AlwaysABiggerFish Cthulhu scamming other Cthulhus]] - all the gods are being manipulated by Mr. Wednesday (Odin) and Mr. World (Loki). They convinced the old and new gods respectively that [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly there wasn't enough belief to go around]] and that they should start a war with each other. Odin and Loki then arranged circumstances so they could draw power from the ensuing carnage by having Loki symbolically dedicate it to Odin beforehand, turning the bloodbath into a blood sacrifice.]]

** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1848 SCP-1848]] is a TricksterGod that used to torment the Foundation until 1994, when it was tricked into becoming one of its researchers. All records still claim it to be a dangerous shapeshifter still in containment, not because they fell for its prank, but because its actually doing a fantastic job as researcher.

* In the climax of ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'', [[spoiler:the good Doctor manages to beat [[EldritchAbomination Dormammu]] by entering his Dark Dimension with the Eye of Agamotto. The Dark Dimension lacks a normal progression of time, while the Eye has the Time Stone within it, allowing Strange to set up a GroundhogDayLoop. Dormammu can effortlessly kill Strange - [[TheManyDeathsOfYou and does so, repeatedly]] - but Strange keeps resetting the loop until Dormammu is ''begging'' him to make it stop, and agrees to retreat so Strange can let him successfully RageQuit. As the Sorcerer Supreme himself tells the Lord of the Dark Dimension: "I can lose. Again and again and again and again, forever. And that makes you my prisoner."]]

** In ''Literature/{{Changes}}'', Harry seizes on a sarcastic remark to save his life: [[spoiler: When he accidentally ends up in the home of the king of the wild hunt (who really, really wants to kill Harry), who sarcastically greets him, Harry instead interprets the greeting literally, invoking SacredHospitality to prevent anyone present from harming him. The King finds this hilarious.]]

* In the UsefulNotes/{{Hindu|ism}} story of the lovers Savitri and Satyavan, Savitri tricks Yama, the lord of death, into reviving her dead husband. When she followed him to the end of the world to plead for Satyavan's soul, he was impressed by her bravery and agreed to grant her a wish for anything except Satyavan's life. She wished for seven children of her own, then pointed out that she couldn't logically have had children without her husband. She won.

* ''Literature/GrimmsFairyTales'': "The Peasant and the Devil", in which a peasant scams the devil out of his due repeatedly thanks to the peasant's knowledge of which crops to plant as to guarantee he always got the best part of the deal.

* ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'': In the second campaign the party encounter Isharnai, a hag who offers people deals for whatever they want in exchange for great misery and had turned Nott the Brave into a goblin. Jester convinces the hag to eat a cupcake sprinkled with a magical dust that leaves her vulnerable to a [[FakeMemories Modify Memory]] spell. Using the spell, Jester convinces Isharnai that they spent the afternoon talking amiably and that Isharnai ''voluntarily'' lifted the curse she placed on Nott because she found Jester so charming.

* In ''VideoGame/Stellaris'', form a covenant with The End of the Cycle is generally considered to be the only true instance of SchmuckBait in the game, as after the time limit for all the benefits it confers you is up, [[spoiler:it destroys your empire down to a single planet (and sometimes not even that) before using the life-force of your slain peoples to wage war on all living things, [[MeaningfulName so that it may end the cycle of life]]]]. This is one of the only times where you cannot [[LovecraftLite defeat or outmaneuver an]] EldritchAbomination in-game, and the game explicitly tells you this in regards to forming a Covenant with the end of the cycle: '''Do not do this.''' However, players who have the ''Nemesis'' DLC installed and have acquired enough Menace to become an Endgame Crisis usually end up taking the Cycle up on its offer. Why? [[spoiler:Because their end-game plan entails ''destroying the galaxy yourself''. '''''[[EvilerThanThou And then invading and conquering the Shroud]]''''']].

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', Harry seizes on a sarcastic remark to save his life: [[spoiler: When he accidentally ends up in the home of the king of the wild hunt (who really, really wants to kill Harry), who sarcastically greets him, Harry instead interprets the greeting literally, invoking SacredHospitality to prevent anyone present from harming him. The King finds this hilarious.]]
** In an earlier story, Harry uses a specific request to keep himself alive, so he has some experience with this. [[spoiler: He's confronted by the Elder Gruff, who has been tasked by the Summer Court with killing Harry before the sun rises, for a slight in an earlier book. Harry has been awarded a favor by the Summer Court, but is specifically told that he can't call it in to prevent this battle. He instead asks Elder Gruff for a fresh-baked Chicago donut. With sprinkles. And no magically appearing donuts! It has to be real, from a bakery. Elder Gruff notes that, because it's the middle of the night and they're nowhere near a Chicago bakery, that request will probably take some time. Harry says that's fine, there's no rush. Elder Gruff, his task to kill Harry now impossible, finds this hilarious and leaves. Later books note that the ''entire'' Summer Court was laughing for days about it.]]

* ''LightNovel/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign:

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy's'' entire premise began with this trope. Grim, aka The Grim Reaper, comes to collect the soul of Billy's hamster. Mandy challenges him to a game of limbo, Grim's favorite game, saying that if he wins, he can have the hamster's soul, and if he loses, he has to be their "best friend forever." Grim is insanely good at the game, since he's only bones and can bend basically down to the ground, but Mandy gets Billy's hamster to attack Grim, causing him to get distracted and unable to dodge the limbo pole when it falls on him; he insists that Mandy cheated, but she points out that no one ever really said that there was no cheating allowed, and so he, the lord of death, is now eternally bound to these two grade-schoolers.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy's'' entire premise began with this trope. Grim, aka The Grim Reaper, comes to collect the soul of Billy's hamster. Mandy challenges him to a game of limbo, Grim's favorite game, saying that if he wins, he can have the hamster's soul, and if he loses, he has to be their ''best friend forever.'' Grim is insanely good at the game, since he's only bones and can bend basically down to the ground, but Mandy gets Billy's hamster to attack Grim, causing him to get distracted and lose, and become their ''best friend forever.''

* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', this is the only way for a human to kill an otherwise-immortal {{Shinigami}}. Shinigami will die if they kill a human to prolong another human's life, since (as gods of death) they aren't meant to save lives. Light, world champion of the GambitRoulette, manages to manipulate [[spoiler:Rem, a Shinigami, into killing L and Watari in order to save Misa, and she dies cursing him as she crumbles to dust. MagnificentBastard, indeed - although Ryuk is not so easily manipulated.]]

** The [[TheFairFolk Dark Eldar]] special character Lady Malys does this in her backstory. The Cthulhu in question was an EldritchAbomination dwelling in the Webway, which she beat in a battle of wits, so it literally gifted her with its crystal heart, which she proceeded to replace her own heart with. It's also heavily implied to be the [[TheTrickster Trickster]] god the [[MonsterClown Harlequins]] worship. It's hinted, however, that she may not have won as much as she thought she did, as the [[LaughingMad creepy-insane laughter]] coming out of her quarters can attest to.

* In the ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' novels, Kyon forces [[spoiler:the near-godlike Data Overmind]] to back down by threatening to [[spoiler:provoke the [[AGodAmI even more godlike]] Haruhi into recreating the universe with him, to a place where the Overmind would not exist.]] Did You Just Blackmail Cthulhu?

[[quoteright:350:[[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/CreedvTzeentch.png]]]]

* ''Comicbook/{{Fables}}'':
** Jack Horner's signature ability. Although half of his schemes fails miserably, his successes outclass his failures. Jack once managed to trick a whole legion of {{Devil}}s (including Lucifer, Chernabog, and Old Nick) into making him nigh-immortal.
** Then there was the time where he defeated the Devil in poker, and the time he trapped the {{Grim Reaper}} in a {{Bag of Holding}}.
* ''Comicbook/FiftyTwo'': [[spoiler: Ralph Dibney uses his own death to trap Neron, DC's Devil stand-in, in stasis forever.]]
* Comicbook/{{Hawkeye}} manages to beat the Grandmaster, one of the Elders of the Universe, (who was at the time pitting the Avengers [or at least Comicbook/CaptainAmerica and Hawkeye, the only two still alive] in an endless series of games to the death) by convincing the Grandmaster to engage in a game of chance to make it more interesting. Hawkeye, of course, wins. He did, after all, cheat.

** When the First of the Fallen killed his fellow lords of Hell, this left John in a very tight position. He even contemplated just dying, since his girlfriend, Kit Ryan, left him. But John, being a MagnificentBastard, hadn’t given up yet and decided to use a GambitRoulette. The first came when he made a scheme to recruit the {{Archangel Gabriel}}. He did this by using a succubus to seduce Gabriel that led to his banishment from Heaven. The plan soon failed when the First got wind of the plan from one of John's friends, and killed Gabriel. With his first plan having failed, John made a second gambit by surrendering himself to the First. John entertained him with a series of his own ideas of the world that contradicted that of the Devil's. While chatting, John's succubus friend stabbed The First with the Twin Blade, a knife that can kill anyone--even the First--with one strike. The First died... [[TheEndOrIsIt or did he]]?

* In ''[[Comicbook/RedSonja Queen Sonja]]'' #20, EvilSorcerer Thulsa Doom tricks an Elder God into giving him enough of its power that he is able to kill it.
* Speaking of Thanos, he also at one point scammed [[TheDevil Mephisto]]. [[JackassGenie "You wanted a cosmic cube but didn't specify it had to be functioning..."]]

* Comicbook/{{Wolverine}}, of all people outdoes them both in a ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' issue, "Newer Fantastic Four". Thanos is in possession of the [[CosmicKeystone Infinity Gauntlet]], with Mephisto as his advisor, and Wolverine outwits them both by manipulating Thanos' love of [[TheGrimReaper Death]] against him.

* In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' fanfic ''FanFic/BuildYourWingsOnTheWayDown'' Edward exploits the fact that the Gate is bound to follow its own rules [[spoiler: when reversing Nina's chimera transmutation.]] So despite the Gate wanting to screw Ed over, [[spoiler: it has to give Ed the allotted energy when Ed trades Alexander for Nina.]]

* In the ''Film/TheDevilsAdvocate'', Kevin Lomax ''succeeds'' in his suicide attempt, undoing TheDevil's entire scheme. [[spoiler: But The Devil is not so easily denied.]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':

* '' Franchise/TheElderScrolls''

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Ever17}}'', the whole point of [[spoiler: You'haru and Kaburaki's gambit is to trick a 4D being called Blick Winkel into believing that the events of 2017 and 2034 are one and the same. The clincher? [[StableTimeLoop It was Blick Winkel himself who set up the whole gambit to do that.]]]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** Whether he will ultimately succeed is open to interpretation, but it is later revealed to the audience that at a minimum he is missing some critical information, [[spoiler:chiefly that, as a relatively new diety, The Dark One lacks the necessary [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly reserves of energy]] to survive the transition between the destruction of the old world and the creation of the new one, which means he won't be around to have any say in how the gods make it after all.]]

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': This is Redcloak's ultimate goal, to harness the power of The Snarl and hold the world hostage so he can negotiate with the pantheon of gods to get a better deal for the race of Goblins in-universe, rather than just serving as sources of XP for adventurers. Also something of a XanatosGambit; if the plan fails and the universe is destroyed by The Snarl, then the gods will remake it - this time with the goblin deity The Dark One among their number, and he'll make sure the goblins don't get screwed again.
** Whether he will ultimately succeed is open to interpretation, but it is later revealed to the audience that at a minimum he is missing critical information.

* John Constantine, the ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'', is the TropeCodifier. In what may be Constantine's highest SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome, the First of the Fallen, aka {{Satan}}, tried to get Constantine's soul, so Constantine sold his soul to two of the most powerful demons in Hell at once, which would force them into a war with each other, leaving them no choice but to cure his terminal lung cancer and keep him alive. And then he [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu flipped them off]]--the logic being that if he died ''someone'' had to claim him, and since each one of the three Fallen had a claim to his soul, just giving it up to another would be a sign of weakness. And if they actually went to war with each other over it, Heaven would take advantage of the chaos and invade. Mind you, this whole thing backfired when the First of the Fallen decided to simply kill his fellow rulers and come after Constantine himself....

* [[ManipulativeBastard Vilgax]] did this to EldritchAbomination Diagon in the finale of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien''. Bonus points for Diagon being actually based on a Great Ancient One. Considering the BadassDecay he had been through in his previous appearance, this is generally considered by fans as the SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome that marks his CharacterRerailment.

** The page image comes from a [[http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Creed#The_Game fanfic]] in which FourStarBadass [[MaryTzu Ursarkar E. Creed]] outplays Tzeentch - Chaos God of Hope, who has also played GambitRoulette for his entire existence - at chess, in a deal that stops Tzeentch from ever interfering with humanity ever again. This stems from a plausibly exploitable rule in the 40K game where Creed can hide heavy equipment in ridiculously implausible locations due to his Tactical Genius, like building-sized [[TankGoodness Baneblade]] tanks [[BehindAStick behind a]] ''[[BehindAStick lamppost]]!'', [[MemeticMutation or an entire regiment of Kasrkin in the enemy general's bathroom]], or a [[HumongousMecha Titan]] in a spent firearm shell. '''''[[SkywardScream CREEEED!]]'''''

* Kitten plays with this trope in ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice''. Step 1) Challenge [[EldritchAbomination Tzeench]] (the guy on the right in the page image) to [[TabletopGame/YuGiOh a children's card game]] with [[spoiler: the soul of Magnus the Red]] as the stakes. Step 2) [[spoiler: Remove all of Tzeench's most pressing traps and defenses and attack head-on with some souped-up monsters, taking his lifepoints down to zero in just one turn.]] One could argue it's a perfect example, except Kitten had no plan going into the duel.

[-[[caption-width-right:360:[[TimeAbyss I have existed before the stars]], and I will exist long after they have died! No mere mortal could possibly--[[OhCrap what is that pawn doing there]]?]]-]