History Main / NiceJobGuidingUsHero

->'''Bernard:''' Why is [=[McLeach]=] letting [Cody] go?
->'''Jake:''' [[GenreSavvy This gotta be a trick.]]
-->'''-TheRescuersDownUnder'''

Suppose you want to find out where someone or something is located, and you know who has this information, but he or she (or it could be a group of people) is unwilling to share it. How do you get this information?

No, not [[TortureAlwaysWorks torture]]. Nor any mind-reading technology (or magic) either. You manipulate said person or people into going there, and then secretly track and/or follow them there.

Very much a SelfFulfillingProphecy if the character heads back to the base to deliver a warning that the base is about to be attacked. NiceJobBreakingItHero indeed.

Of course, [[NiceJobfixingItVillain the villains]] can just as easily fall prey to this trope, at least in works involving EvilVersusEvil and/or [[GuileHero good guys who are willing to decieve]]. (And especially if the BigBad hired a bunch of [[SurroundedByIdiots fools]] who will undoubtedly make it all too easy to follow them back to the [[SupervillainLair secret lair]].)

Can be part of a BatmanGambit or a XanatosGambit. See also MacGuffinDeliveryService and RevealingCoverup.

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!!Examples:

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* In ''ElHazardTheMagnificentWorld'', this is how Katsuhiko is able to find out the location of the sealed superweapon, which the Bugrom would not know about but the priestesses would.
* This is exactly how the Blue Guardians found the Resistance's hideout in ''RaveMaster.''

[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* An example from ''SinCity'': While Hartigan is in solitary, he keeps getting letters from Nancy, but she never reveals who she is. One day Hartigan gets a chopped off finger in the mail; thinking it's Nancy's, he agrees to be framed for Roark Jr's crimes just to be let out on parole. First thing he does is go to Nancy -- only to find out that Roark had been bluffing... and following him after he left prison.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

* The movie ''{{Commando}}'' has this as well, the only way they found Matrix was that the Colonel actually leads them to him because he thought they already knew where he was and he was going to protect him.
* In ''YouOnlyLiveTwice'', the villains give JamesBond the proof he needs that their secret base is nearby by attacking him.
** Likewise, had the mooks in ''DrNo'' not confirmed they were on Crab Key by firing at Bond from a search boat and later unleashing the "Dragon," they might have been able to go through with their plans.
* Parodied in ''DraculaDeadAndLovingIt''. The heroes have Reinfield released so that they may follow him to his masters lair. Fortunately he isn't smart enough to allow what little suspicions he has stop him from going to Dracula and naturally leads them straight to him.
-->'''Van Helsing''': Gentlemen, we are in luck.
-->'''Steward''': How so?
-->'''Van Helsing''': He's a ''nincompoop''.
* In ''RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves'' the bad guys specifically let old, blind servant Duncan escape so he can lead them back to good guy's encampment.
-->'''Will''' (''with more pity than malice'') Blind old fool led 'em straight to us.
* In ''StarWars'': ''ANewHope'', Grand Moff Tarkin's plan to find the Rebel base is to let the heroes escape the Death Star with token resistance, and then follow the homing beacon planted on their ship. It works perfectly. What happens afterwards, not so much.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* There's a variation in the Isaac Asimov short story ''Each an Explorer''. A pair of astronauts visit a series of planets. Each planet has a different alien species farming the same alien plant. All of the alien farmers show very little personality and the astronauts slowly realize that the plants are in charge, mind-controlling the aliens to cultivate them. Panicked, they return to earth, not realizing they are bearing spores from the mind-controlling plants.
* ''The Berlin Memorandum'' by AdamHall and its film adaptation, ''The Quiller Memorandum''. The neo-Nazis [[JustBetweenYouAndMe explain their master plan]] to {{Quiller}}, then release him in the hope that he'll rush back to his base to warn his superiors. When Quiller finds himself unable to break out of their surveillance, he sets off a bomb they left in his car, faking his death.
* In ''TheHobbit,'' Bilbo tricks Gollum into thinking that he's escaped the dark underground tunnels. Gollum goes to "chase" Bilbo, and Bilbo simply follows Gollum out of the caves.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* [[spoiler:Paul Ballard]] uses this trick in ''{{Dollhouse}}''. After he discovers that [[spoiler:Mellie]] is secretly a doll, he deliberately drives her away, then shadows her until she is picked up by her handler and brought back to the Dollhouse.

[[AC:Other]]
* ''Bionicle'': In the 2008 story, a BrainwashedAndCrazy Matoran is captured and "overhears" the Toa planning to attack the [[BigBad Makuta]]'s lair. He "escapes" and flies off to warn them. He is so focused on the praise he will get that he does not notice the Toa following him. When he tells one of them, the Makuta replied, "The Toa Nuva? You mean ''those'' Toa Nuva? The ones you lead here?"

[[AC:TabletopGames]]
* One of the favourite tactics of dark eldar in ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'' is to attack a patrol, leaving a single survivor, silently following him back to his base to launch an attack just as he thinks he is about to be saved and slaughtering the entire base. Since their scanners are superior to human onces, they could easily do without it. But being artists in causing pain, they do it all [[ForTheEvulz for the look on]] [[OhCrap the poor guy's face]].

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* In ''[[{{Fallout}} Fallout 3]]'' this happens to Herbert "Daring" Dashwood, leading the slavers to Rockopolis. Earlier in the series, this happens to Vault 13 if the Vault-dweller decides to buy water from merchants in the Hub: Their tracks lead the Super Mutant army to the Vault.
* Happens in ''SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'', when TheDitz isn't careful about who's following him [[spoiler:Except its actually part of a villan's XanatosGambit who was merely using ObfuscatingStupidity, eliminating your village, wiping out rival cultists, and drawing the village leader out of hiding all in one stroke.]]
* This is kinda what happens in the end of ''[[TheLongestJourney Dreamfall]]'': Kian is on the mission to find and assassinate April, so it's only natural that he'd look for the rebel camp she is staying in. However, it turns out that on the way, [[spoiler:he decided to join the rebels]], so when he finally finds April, [[spoiler:he is on her side]]. Unfortunately for them, Kian's superior suspected something like that and had Kian followed, so his troops ''also'' find the camp... It doesn't end well.
* The [[AllThereInTheManual backstory]] to the first ''{{Halo}}'' game, the Earth commanders specifically try to avert this so no alien ship can find Earth. For instance, a badly battered ship could not go to Earth for safe haven.
** The humans never do lead the Covenant to Earth. However, the Covenant stumble upon Earth while searching for something else. [[spoiler: Because the humans had been spending the last decade or two fortifying their homeworld, they caught the Covenant unprepared. However, once the Covenant realized what they had found, [[ItGotWorse it went badly for the humans.]]]]
* In ''[[MetalArms Metal Arms: Glitch In The System]]'' when [[spoiler: Glitch brings Dr. Exavolt to the safety of the rebel base he revels himself to be evil and signals the enemy forces to his location.]]
--> [[spoiler: '''Dr. Exavolt''']]: "Our plan has worked to utter perfection. Not only have i located the droid rebel command center, I am standing in the middle of it! ''You may initiate the invasion''."
--> '''Alloy''': "[[OhCrap Ahhh dammit]], we've been had!"
* After overcoming all the temples in ''[[OcarinaOfTime The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time]]'' it's revealed that Ganondorf allowed Link to move around freely so that [[spoiler: he would eventually discover Zelda's location. When the princess reveals herself to the hero, he swiftly captures her.]]
--> '''Ganondorf''': "[[spoiler:Princess Zelda]]...you foolish traitor! I commend you for avoiding my pursuit for seven long years. But you let your guard down...I knew you would appear if I let this kid wander around!"
** It's not the first time that Ganondorf did this either -- it's how he [[spoiler:was able to enter the Sacred Realm in the first place and bring about the CrapsackWorld of the second part of the game]].

[[AC:WebComics]]
* In ''OrderOfTheStick'', Xykon and Redcloak arrange for paladin Miko Miyazaki to escape from a brief captivity in order to act as their mole in Azure City via scrying. Using this trick, they are able to determine the precise location of the Gate they are trying to capture.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* The Disney version of ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' has Quasimodo and Phoebus leading Frollo's forces to the Court of Miracles via this method.
* One episode of ''JusticeLeague'' comes to mind, where Batman taunts Harley Quinn about how she's commanding the Royal Flush Gang in the field while Joker's just hanging out with Ace. Amusingly, right after clearing things up with Harley on how he really isn't cheating on her with Ace, he immediately blows up on her in anger for leading Batman straight to the hideout.
* In ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Batman sets up a {{Mook}} into thinking that he killed Batman through dumb luck. It turns out, by the end of the episode, that the whole thing was an BatmanGambit on Batman's part to find Rupert Thorne's current hideout. He figured, correctly, that "the crook who killed Batman" would eventually become infamous enough that Thorne would grant him an audience.
** [[spoiler: A good example of how to properly do a gambit, as Batman had to go through a LOT of effort to keep this mook alive!]]
* Subverted in an episode of ''SheRaPrincessOfPower'' where Hordak and She-Ra are literally trudging between realities, in that they are both lost as lost gets. Hordak snarks to that effect, saying it reminds him of his stint in the Horde Scouts--"We didn't know where we ''were'', where we were ''going'', of what we were supposed to ''do'' when we got there ''then'', either!"
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Of course, [[NiceJobfixingItVillain the villains]] can just as easily fall prey to this trope, at least in works involving EvilVersusEvil and/or [[AntiHero good guys who are willing to decieve]]. (And especially if the BigBad hired a bunch of [[SurroundedByIdiots fools]] who will undoubtedly make it all too easy to follow them back to the [[SupervillainLair secret lair]].)

* The Disney version of ''TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' has Quasimodo and Phoebus leading Frollo's forces to the Court of Miracles via this method.

** Halo actually has a pretty nicely done subverted aversion (if that makes sense). The humans never do lead the Covenant to Earth. However, the Covenant stumble upon Earth while searching for something else. [[spoiler: Because the humans had been spending the last decade or two fortifying their homeworld, they caught the Covenant unprepared. However, once the Covenant realized what they had found, [[ItGotWorse it went badly for the humans.]]]]

* ''StarWars [[ANewHope Episode IV: A New Hope]]'' has the Empire planning this with Princess Leia ''knowingly helping them''.
** Note that this isn't quite as stupid as it sounds - while the Empire learned where the Rebel base was, Leia also escaped the Death Star and brought with her the design schematics which were the Rebels' only hope of destroying it.
*** Many disagree, insisting, yes, it was as stupid as it sounds, since she could have at least ''tried'' to work out a way to getting the plans to the Rebel base without giving away the location. Especially since the attack would have totally failed with the main rebellion crushed except that they just happened to have a Jedi in training along and a smuggler who changed his mind at the last second to help.
**** Even if they had the entire Rebel Alliance Fleet and found a giant hole in the defenses, it would have been a make-or-break battle. Under that condition, luring your enemy to a position from which he can't retreat if you somehow gain the upper hand, when you have enough of a speed advantage to prepare for his arrival, and there's no innocent civilians in the line of fire should you fail, it doesn't come off to badly.

Very much a SelfFulfillingProphecy situation if the character heads back to the base to deliver a warning that the base is about to be attacked. NiceJobBreakingItHero indeed.

One of the easiest ways to find out the physical location of your dreaded arch-nemesis is to get someone to show you where to look. The problem is, the only people who know tend to be working with said arch-nemesis. So the solution to the quandary is to trick one such ally into heading back to the base to deliver some sort of communication, thereby exposing the location.

Very much a NiceJobBreakingItHero situation if the character heads back to the base to deliver a warning that the base is about to be attacked. SelfFulfillingProphecy indeed. Of course [[NiceJobfixingItVillain the villains]] can just as easily fall prey to this trope. Especially if the BigBad hired a bunch of [[SurroundedByIdiots fools]] who will undoubtedly make it all too easy to follow them back to the [[SupervillainLair secret lair]].

--> '''Ganondorf''': "[[spoiler: Princess Zelda]]...you foolish traitor! I commend you for avoiding my pursuit for seven long years. But you let your guard down...I knew you would appear if i let this kid wander around!"

* ''The Berlin Memorandum'' by AdamHall and its film adaptation, ''The Quiller Memorandum.'' The neo-Nazi's [[JustBetweenYouAndMe explain their master plan]] to Quiller, then release him in the hope that he'll rush back to his base to warn his superiors. When Quiller finds himself unable to break out of their surveillance, he sets off a bomb they left in his car, faking his death.

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<<|ActionAdventureTropes|>>

* Happens in ''SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'', when TheDitz isn't careful abut who's following him [[spoiler:Except its actually part of a villan's XanatosGambit who was merely using ObfuscatingStupidity ,eliminating both your village, rival cultists and drawing the village leader of hiding in one stroke]]

* In ''[[MetalArms Metal Arms: Glitch In The System]]'' when [[spoiler: Glitch brings Dr. Exavolt to the safety of the rebel base, Exavolt revels himself to be evil and signals the enemy forces to his location.]]
* In ''[[OcarinaOfTime The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time]]'' It's revealed that Ganondorf allowed Link to move around freely so that [[spoiler: he would eventually discover Zelda's location. When the princess reveals herself to the hero, he swiftly captures her.]]

* In ''[[OcarinaOfTime The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time]]'' It's revealed that Ganondorf allowed Link to move around freely so that [[spoiler: he would eventually reveal Zelda's location. When the princess reveals herself to the hero, he swiftly captures her.]]
--> '''Ganondorf''': "[[spoiler: Princess Zelda]]...you foolish traitor! I commend you for avoiding my pers

Very much a NiceJobBreakingItHero situation if the character heads back to the base to deliver a warning that the base is about to be attacked. SelfFulfillingProphecy indeed. Of course [[NiceJobfixingItVillain the villains]] can just as easily fall prey trope. Especially if the BigBad hired a bunch of [[SurroundedByIdiots fools]] who will undoubtedly make it all too easy to follow them back to the [[SupervillainLair secret lair]].

* The [[AllThereInTheManual backstory]] to the first {{Halo}} game, the Earth commanders specifically try to avert this so no alien ship can find Earth. For instance, a badly battered ship could not go to Earth for safe haven.

Very much a NiceJobBreakingItHero situation if the character heads back to the base to deliver a warning that the base is about to be attacked. SelfFulfillingProphecy indeed.

Note that, name notwithstanding, villains can fall victim to this as well. Can be part of a BatmanGambit or a XanatosGambit. See also MacGuffinDeliveryService and RevealingCoverup.

* Happens in ''SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'', when TheDitz isn't careful abut who's following him [[spoiler:Except its actually part of a villan's XantosGambit who was merely using ObfuscatingStupidity ,eliminating both your village, rival cultists and drawing the village leader of hiding in one stroke]]

* In ''BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Batman sets up a {{Mook}} into thinking that he killed Batman through dumb luck. It turns out, by the end of the episode, that the whole thing was an elaborate scheme on Batman's part to find Rupert Thorne's current hideout. He figured, correctly, that "the crook who killed Batman" would eventually become infamous enough that Thorne would grant him an audience.

* The Disney version of ''TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' has Quasimodo and Phoebus leading Frollo's forces to the Land of Miracles via this method.