History Main / ILetYouWin

->''"There is a small Rahi called a Water Wraith. So small, so insignificant is it that larger fish do not even consider it a worthy meal. But every now and then, a bold water wraith will attack a fish much larger and more powerful than it. It is a one-sided battle, of course, that ends with the poor water wraith in the mouth of its foe. Of course, what the larger fish quickly discovers is that the outer shell of a water wraith is coated with deadly poison. The larger fish dies instantly and the water wraith escapes to feast for months on its very foolish and very dead opponent. Sometimes, my brothers, the best way, the only way, to win...is by losing."''

* Done without GameplayAndStorySegregation in the original ''VideoGame/{{Final Fantasy|I}}'', when [[spoiler:Garland lets himself be killed to become Chaos]], and is actually not that hard of a boss.

* ''VideoGame/MegaMan'':

* ''ComicBook/BatmanRebirth'': It's revealed that a simple headbutt really didn't bring down Bane. He feigned defeat so he could be in Arkham Asylum just as he planned.

* In ''VideoGame/GrowingUp'', you can do this to Alex and Charles in their respective routes, but they'll dislike you for downplaying your skills and not giving them enough competition. [[spoiler:The former will even ditch you and drop out of middle school if you deliberately lose to her too many times.]]

* In ''VideoGame/GrowingUp'', you can do this to Alex and Charles in their respective routes, but they'll dislike you for downplaying your skills and not giving them enough competition.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'': Some are more obvious about it than others; Vulcan Raven practically tells you that he let you win after you defeat him the first time. This group is incredibly devoted to this trope, as the majority of them ''die'' simply to convince you that you're not doing the dirty work for them. And was that Hind really necessary?
** Other games in the series use this trope almost as much. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' even applies this trope to the ''final boss'', kind of. [[spoiler:(The Boss WANTS you to win, but she wasn't going to LET you win.)]]
*** Used ''again'' in [=MGS4,=] when [[spoiler:Liquid at the end of the game fights Snake, it's pretty obvious that, having completed his agenda, he's just looking to go out with a bang. Which in this case means kicking Snake's ass a lot until Snake kills him.]]

* Near the beginning of the ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden X''-Box remake, you fight Ryu's uncle [[spoiler:and TheManBehindTheMan]] Murai to a standstill. He calls it training, but during the fight never hesitates to kill you if you let him. Justified somewhat earlier when Ryu is cutting his way through Murai's ninjas: Ryu's inner monologue points out that their training is lacking and they would never survive if they couldn't defeat him. Also, Murai's ninja clan and Ryu's ninja clan are enemies of a sort, and battles to the death are apparently common.

* In ''VideoGame/MegaManX5'', the first boss fight is against Sigma in the form of a large floating head. After the player defeats him, a virus breaks through Earth, which was what he wanted. Zero clearly states "he lost to us on purpose!"
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfEternia'', about halfway through the game, the temporary party member Ras reveals that he's the incredibly powerful knight you've been hearing about, and attacks you to prevent you from escaping to Celestia. After you beat him to a pulp and get to the next town, your party realizes that he couldn't have been fighting you for real - he kept pulling his punches and not taking advantage of openings, leading them to conclude that he let them win.
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', this takes place [[spoiler:the first time you fight Kratos]] -- provided that you ''do'' win, which for a first-time player isn't a given ([[TheBattleDidntCount the story goes the same way regardless]]). Lloyd is all too aware of this. Amusingly enough, he is far easier [[RecurringBoss the next times you fight him]] when he ''isn't'' holding back -- of course, you've gained quite a lot more power in the meantime.
** Inverted in ''Dawn of the New World'', where [[spoiler:In order to get the good ending, Emil has to let Lloyd and Marta win. Unfortunately, You're ''playing'' as Emil in that fight, so that means ''YOU'' have to throw the fight. Beating them gives you the Bad Ending]].

* The ''entire campaign'' of ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000: VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' is [[EvilPlan one giant I Let You Win]] by [[spoiler:a Khornate Daemon looking to be released from its [[SealedEvilInACan can]].]]
** Almost: [[spoiler:it was entirely irrelevant to the Daemon who won, as either way there would lots of killing to power its release]]. After all, Khorne cares not from whom the blood flows, only that it does.
* ''VideoGame/ThunderForce V'' has you battling the Guardian, an AI infested with alien coding (from the ship of the previous game). Towards the end, however, it's revealed that [[spoiler: Guardian ''was helping the pilot all along.'']] Since it couldn't destroy itself, it deliberately paved a path for the pilot.
* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'' begins with a nice example of this in the Human Campaign with [[spoiler:The Lich King tricking Arthas into picking up a {{BFS}} and becoming his champion/bitch.]]
** The Lich King, now Arthas himself, continues to do this in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''. A good number of times players defeat his lieutenants and wipe out large numbers of his soldiers. In the final battle, Arthas reveals that it was all a plan to get them stronger, to let them become the champions of the world... [[spoiler:so that he could kill them all in one shot and raise them as undead. He would have succeeded, too, if the ghost of Arthas's father didn't revive everyone at the last moment.]]
* In ''VideoGame/MegaManZero4'', TheDragon Kraft is apparently going along with the BigBad's evil schemes because he's descended into a "survival is everything" paradigm and thinks it's the only way to protect his and his ex's skin. After the first battle against Kraft, Zero asks him what's holding him back. Later, Kraft pulls a (sorta) HeelFaceTurn into a KnightTemplar and threatens to KillSat an entire city of civilians to get at the BigBad, and you have to go stop him. This time, he believes in what he's fighting for, so naturally, he's harder.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Wild ARMs 4}}'', Gawn, [[BadassNormal the only Brionac villain without a special power]], stops fighting you after he runs out of bullets. He obviously let you win, because he could have just ''reloaded'', or better yet, used his ''bare hands'' since he can punch missiles with them. Since he shoots you before you can ever ''do anything'' offensive against him, this might seem like a HopelessBossFight, but surviving through it actually counts as a win for you.
* In ''VideoGame/EverQuestII'' the resident Lord of all Vampires, Mayong Mistmoore, reveals to players at the end of the major Rise of Kunark questline that he's the God of Blood, and he allowed the ancient and powerful sword [=SoulFire=] to be taken from him simply because he finished studying it. He then promptly begins studying another ancient artifact, a doomsday calendar called the 'Chelsith Stone'. (One must wonder about the impact of letting an ancient and powerful Vampire/God study equally ancient and powerful artifacts).
* In ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'', Kangaxx is a disembodied lich, whose body was torn apart, its bits hidden in tombs. If you reunite his body for him, he rewards you (or attempts to) with death. If he fails, he laughs madly, as he apparently needed to get his body back first, ''then'' have it destroyed, to be transformed into a demi-lich, which is much harder to kill and much more likely to ruin your day.

* Done without GameplayAndStorySegregation in the original ''VideoGame/{{Final Fantasy|I}}'', when [[spoiler:Garland lets himself be killed to become Chaos]], and is actually not that hard of a boss.
** And in XIII: [[PreAssKickingOneLiner Barthandelus]]!
** Likewise the [[BigBad Emperor]] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'': He sold his soul to the devil (or equivalent) to gain the power to summon TheLegionsOfHell to aid in [[TakeOverTheWorld Taking Over The World]]. It logically follows that at his death, he's gonna go to {{Hell}}, hence the protagonists are eager to help him get there. [[spoiler:They fight him, and they kill him, which is where this trope comes into play--you see, [[MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning his plan was to let them kill him]], so that when he did head down to Hell he could double-cross the devil, take over hell, and come back to the land of the living to finish taking it over.]] The [[VideogameRemake remakes]] / [[UpdatedRerelease updated rereleases]] only make him even more awesome.

* Used contstantly in many of the ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' games, partially because most denizens of Gensokyo view fighting as a game and mostly to justify defeating some of the most absurdly powerful beings imaginable (manipulation of fate, manipulation of boundaries, killing anyone with a thought, control of ''nuclear fusion'' etcetera). Explicitly stated in ''VideoGame/TouhouChireidenSubterraneanAnimism'', in which the stage 3 boss Yuugi says she was just playing around, her sake [[MemeticMutation NOT EVEN DROP!]]
* Surprisingly used after beating the Penultimateboss of ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}''.

* Mild example in the form of [[VideoGame/GuiltyGear Slayer]] in ''any'' battle. His story dialogue and battle animations suggest a strength far greater than most of the cast, and his defeat pose has him simply lying down with an "I'm tired of this" look as opposed to being knocked out like everyone else. Especially evident in stories where he fights [[AntiHero Sol Badguy]], arguably the strongest person in the GG universe next to Slayer.
** Speak of the devil. A lot of win quotes from other characters suggest that Sol is intentionally holding back on them ''tremendously''. His reasoning for doing so is unknown, but a likely guess is he'd really seriously hurt people if he went all-out, [[NobleDemon and he's just not like that]].
* In the above game's SpiritualSuccessor, ''VideoGame/{{Blazblue}}'', there's a notable encounter in [[IdiotHero Bang's]] story where he seems to defeat and apprehend [[NinetiesAntiHero Ragna the Bloodedge]], the most wanted criminal on the planet and a prime badass by any measure, but:
-->'''Bang''': "I've finally caught the notorious super-villain, Ragna- eh, skip the rest. The residents of Kagutsuchi can now sleep in peace! I am now one step closer to the reconstruction of Ikaruga! I feel like I could just fly to my dear Miss Litchi! I am... ze wind! A love storm! Passion with legs! To my beloved!" ''*runs off*
-->'''Ragna''': ''*gets up, unharmed*'' "... He's finally gone. Seriously, it's exhausting to deal with an idiot like that. Geez, it's never easy pretending to lose."

* At the end of chapter 6 in ''VideoGame/DuelSaviorDestiny'' you finally get the change to have a fight with Lily. After winning, she mutters about how she was ''intending'' to do this but in the end actually fought seriously.
* In ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'', [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Sanger]] declares that he lets [[VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia Yuri and Estelle]] win, otherwise he could have dealt a fatal blow against them. Considering you're using Yuri and Estelle at this point in a very short two-on-one duel, ''you'' would have to use an item just to survive against him and that Sanger's comments may be directed more to the player.
* ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'': This unintentionally happens after the first fight with Victoria and Victor. Right as they are about to finish the heroes off, [[spoiler: Victoria suffers a sudden and violent seizure]], forcing Victor to call the battle off.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel IV'', it was made clear that [[spoiler:Osborne has no problems letting Rean win. Considering all the things that Osborne can do throughout the series, let alone the Erebonia arc, the ''entire continent'' better be grateful that he wants to lose so that he can win against the GreaterScopeVillain of the Erebonia arc.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Indivisible}}'': Lord Ravannavar deliberately baits the heroes into unleashing their strongest attacks on him [[spoiler:while he is right next to the seal that keeps [[SealedEvilInACan Kala]] bound. Naturally, this means the seal is broken in the crossfire and Kala is released. Ravannavar dies in the resulting explosion, but he doesn't care since [[OmnicidalManiac his original plan would have ended in his death alongside everything else anyways]].]]

** Beerus almost does this to Goku in the Battle of Gods arc of Dragonball Super, using just enough power to make it a good fight against Goku's SSJG form, and even pretending to be scared at points. He eventually manages to win by a hair at the end, but it's soon revealed that he wasn't using anywhere close to his full power, to the point where only at the end of the series has Goku arguably surpassed him.

* In ''ComicBook/TheBraveAndTheBold'' story arc ''ComicBook/TheLordsOfLuck'', ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} lets SelfDemonstrating/{{Lobo}} win an arm wrestling match just so that the alien bar's patrons don't spread all across the galaxy that Lobo has been beaten by a girl.

* In ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen2015'', Exodus is beaten up by Magneto, but writer Cullen Bunn hinted [[http://www.cbr.com/exodus-x-plained-a-point-by-point-history-of-the-mutant-messiah/ in an interview]] that Exodus let him win that one.

* Evangeline was the first villain in ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima''. Nearly three hundred chapters later she's ''still'' the most powerful character to appear. The entire first fight she was just playing around. [[spoiler:At the end of the series she fights against Negi and Asuna together at their peak and is still winning.]]

* In [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/353860/cracks-along-the-prism Cracks Along The Prism]], Trixie finally lashes out at Sunset for months of bullying her. Per WordOfGod, however, Sunset let Trixie beat her up, [[TheAtoner feeling horrible for beating up and humiliating her in the past]], thinking that letting Trixie wail on her would make her feel better.

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry 3'' has the recurring boss and/or advisor, Jester, who claims he needs Dante alive but doesn't hold back. Given that Jester was only a boss in the "Special Edition", which was somewhat panned for its quality, it is difficult to say if this trope occurs intentionally or out of developer laziness. [[spoiler:He's actually Arkham.]]

* The ''entire campaign'' of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}: VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' is [[EvilPlan one giant I Let You Win]] by [[spoiler:a Khornate Daemon looking to be released from its [[SealedEvilInACan can]].]]

** [[OlympusMons Some of the Pokémon themselves]] can be caught simply because they allow you so. Especially [[spoiler: Reshiram or Zekrom]] in ''Videogame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', who [[spoiler:literally tell you]] to catch them.
* Used contstantly in many of the ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' games, partially because most denizens of Gensokyo view fighting as a game and mostly to justify defeating some of the most absurdly powerful beings imaginable (manipulation of fate, manipulation of boundaries, killing anyone with a thought, control of ''nuclear fusion'' etcetera). Explicitly stated in ''Subterranean Animism'', in which the stage 3 boss Yuugi says she was just playing around, her sake [[MemeticMutation NOT EVEN DROP!]]

* ''Series/{{Jessie}}'': In "All the Knight Moves", Zuri beats every opponent in a chess tournament to win a trip to Paris for Jessie; but in the end, she decides to let her French finalist win so he can go home and visit his family.
* ''Series/JustRollWithIt'': In the climax of "Family Squabbles", Owen and Blair decide to answer the last question incorrectly on purpose and let their opponents win because they felt bad for them when the kids announce their dad lost his job. Until it was revealed they tricked them and they're not very nice at all.

* ''Manga/KurokoNoBasuke'':

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories''; after the first fight with Larxene, she is seen in a later cutscene musing about how it was hard to hold back enough to throw the fight - but then Axel and Vexen both mock her for trying to justify getting her ass kicked, even though what she claimed was true as evidenced by her second fight with the key bearer. Axel's hypocrisy isn't lost in the gamer as he also let Sora win in his first match. Vexen just seems to despise Larx due to her association with "that dog Marluxia", so he probably didn't want to miss the chance of making fun of her.

* ''Series/JustRollWithIt'': In the climax of "Family Squabbles", Owen and Blair decide to answer the last question on purpose and let their opponents win because they felt bad for them when the kids announce their dad lost his job. Until it was revealed they tricked them and they're not very nice at all.

* In ''Series/PoweRangersBeastMorphers'' episode "Crunch Time", [[spoiler: the Rangers succeed in defeating and capturing [[BigBad Evox]] and throw him in a cell. However, it turns out that he intentionally allowed them to win so he could be taken into Grid Battleforce without suspicion and enact the final phase of his master plan]].

* ''Series/HyakujuuSentaiGaoranger'': Ura pulls one in the Rangers by letting them win against Orgs powered by the thousand-year evil spirit, then using its matured power to power himself up.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': Lilith is the [[{{BigBad}} Big Bad]] for Seasons 3 and 4. Sam eventually proves immune to her powers, and manages to kill her in the Season 4 finale. Notably, she doesn't fight back and is laughing as he does so. This is because she's a BarrierMaiden, and her death frees the Devil who will in turn trigger the apocalypse. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Oops]].

** Original: The Black Knight's warp powder malfunctioned, leaving Ike to fight his spirit, that was not only weaker then his true self, but returned to his body after defeat.

** In the same phase of the exam, Mest goes down easily against Gray and Loke, who then proceed to frighten Wendy away. Mest's reason for throwing the fight is [[spoiler:so he can investigate Sirius Island freely for he Council]].

* Zig-zagged in ''Manga/YuGiOhGX''. When Midori Hibiki goes up against Reggie Mackenzie, she has Reggie on the ropes, but hesitates to finish her off, since of Reggie loses the Shadow Game and falls unconscious, she won't be able to give Midori information on how to possibly wake her brother from his coma. However, when Judai comes by, Midori decides to give up on her brother in order to protect him from Reggie, but by this point, Reggie's able to turn the tide and win.

** Likewise the [[BigBad Emperor]] in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'': He sold his soul to the devil (or equivalent) to gain the power to summon TheLegionsOfHell to aid in [[TakeOverTheWorld Taking Over The World]]. It logically follows that at his death, he's gonna go to {{Hell}}, hence the protagonists are eager to help him get there. [[spoiler:They fight him, and they kill him, which is where this trope comes into play--you see, [[MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning his plan was to let them kill him]], so that when he did head down to Hell he could double-cross the devil, take over hell, and come back to the land of the living to finish taking it over.]] The [[VideogameRemake remakes]] / [[UpdatedRerelease updated rereleases]] only make him even more CrazyAwesome.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/{{Maskerade}}'', Granny Weatherwax plays a game of cards against Death for the life of a small child. If Granny wins, Death takes the soul of a cow instead. If Death wins, he gets the kid and Granny. Fortunately, this is the Discworld Death, who happens to be on the side of the living. Granny cheats and deals herself a better hand than Death, but he stops her, switches the cards... and then complains that he got "four ones" (read: four aces) resulting in a defeat. Rather an odd case of the trope since both characters were technically on the same side, but still. She then notices Death seems to be favoring his arm due to the cold and sets it back into place, and he asks what she would have done if he hadn't lost.