History Main / ScrewTheRulesTheyreNotReal

Your enemy is likely to accuse you of "cheating," but why should you care? He's your ''enemy''. If you make a habit of it, you may [[InsultBackfire take it as a compliment]]. Beware, however, because [[ScrewTheRulesTheyBrokeThemFirst should you partake in this trope, your enemy may choose to stop following the rules themselves]]. If this happens, [[TheGlovesComeOff the results may not be pretty]].

* The rules of ''UsefulNotes/KravMaga'' are that there ''are no rules'' in a fight and has the key principal of "adopt what is useful, abandon what is not". It teaches practitioners to end the conflict as quickly, efficiently, and safely as possible and to hell with "honor" or "fair play", by teaching a [[CombatPragmatist no-rules dirty fighting technique]] that emphasizes quick simple strikes to vulnerable parts of the enemy like eyes, throat, groin, and joints.

* ''Literature/ReignOfTheSevenSpellblades'': Despite being an openly and proudly dangerous AcademyOfAdventure where it's expected that about twenty percent of matriculating students will not survive to graduate in seven years, Kimberly Magic Academy does have ''some'' school rules, but enforcement is haphazard and usually left up to the whims of upperclassmen (fortunately the current student council is of a mind to run a Campus Watch). Volume 2's TournamentArc makes particular note of the school rules on {{Wizard Duel}}s, which are a routine way to settle student disputes: on the school grounds proper, upperclassmen are supposed to referee all duels between underclassmen, and only upperclassmen are allowed to set their swords' dulling spells at half-strength, but protagonist Oliver Horn is challenged by Tullio Rossi in the labyrinth beneath the school, where there's nobody to enforce the rules, and Oliver is willing to go along.

* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'': [[NGOSuperpower Gjallarhorn]] harp on about order and tradition, but its members will readily ignore them at their own convenience. Both Iok and Rustal used banned weapons when they realize how effective they are, both framing their enemies for doing the same to justify it. When [=McGillis] [[spoiler:is able to pilot Bael]], the rules of Gjallarhorn very explicitly state [[spoiler:he is the unquestioned ruler]], yet the overwhelmingly majority dismiss him offhand.

* ''Literature/ReignOfTheSevenSpellblades'': Despite being an openly and proudly dangerous AcademyOfAdventure where it's expected that about twenty percent of matriculating students will not survive to graduate in seven years, Kimberly Magic Academy does have ''some'' school rules, but enforcement is haphazard and usually left up to the whims of upperclassmen (fortunately the current student council is of a mind to run a Campus Watch). Volume 2 makes particular note of the school rules on {{Wizard Duel}}s, which are a routine way to settle disputes: on the school grounds proper, only upperclassmen are allowed to set their swords' dulling spells at half-strength, but protagonist Oliver Horn is challenged by Tullio Rossi in the labyrinth beneath the school, where there's nobody to enforce the rule, and Oliver is willing to go along.

There are things you don't do, not because they're evil, nor because they wouldn't work, but just because you don't. Until this trope applies. Then you do them, and you win.

* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_dots_puzzle nine dots puzzle]] consists of nine dots in a square, the object being to draw straight lines between all nine without lifting the pen or exceeding four lines. Solving it requires one to [[ExactWords violate the unspoken assumption]] that one's pen must stay within the square, i.e. [[LiteralMetaphor literally "thinking outside the box"]].

* DungeonBypass and...

* ...InstantWinCondition ignore the rule that you should fight through the defences your enemy prepared for you. %%Do not put this on the same line as Dungeon Bypass, it de-lists it on the index.

* Spelled out explicitly in episode 3 of ''Anime/HellsParadise''. Yamada Sagiri rigidly expects the ten {{Boxed Crook}}s sent to the island to obediently follow the conditions of their release to earn a pardon from the Shogun, but her kinsman Kisho points out that they're ''criminals'' who were never exactly interested in following the rules to begin with. Conversely, the Shogun isn't likely to be too picky about ''how'' they acquire the Elixir of Life for him as long as they succeed, and they'll be decapitated if they come back empty-handed so they don't exactly have much incentive to adhere to any rules.

* ''Manga/{{Claymore}}'': Clare's backstory with Teresa revolves around the fact that in order for the Organization to maintain the public's shaky trust, Claymores are absolutely forbidden from killing humans for ''any'' reason. The punishment is execution, regardless of any extenuating circumstances like self-defense. A group of bandits relies on this rule to try to rape Teresa, and while she convinces them to leave, one of them comes back later to try again, and attacks Clare after she hits him with a stick. When Teresa tries to step in, he tries to invoke the rule again:
-->'''Bandit:''' What do you plan on doing with my sword, Claymore? You had better be careful, this is a deadly game you're playing. It wouldn't be wise to break your own rule. You'd be slaughtered for sure.
-->'''Teresa:''' Then allow me to enlighten you about the rules, you ''idiot!'' Whether I choose to follow a rule or break it is ''entirely up to me'', and no one else. I could kill you where you stand; then I'd gladly accept the consequences for my actions. ''Or you could vanish from my sight!''

* In Creator/DerekRobinson's novels of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI air combat, the best and most powerful aces are those who have realised there are no rules ''whatsoever'' in air combat. Major Wooley, in ''Goshawk Squadron'', is aware his bunch of largely teenage pilots, recent graduates of British public shools, are full of romantic crap about "knights of the sky" and individual jousts bounded by rules of chivalry. Wooley knows better: he has survived nearly three years of the air war mainly be being the sort of bastard who has realised that most German pilots, too, have their heads stuffed full of nonsense about air fighting being governed by rules and gentlemen's agreements, and is effective because [[CombatPragmatist he fights to win]]. As he tries to get this through to his new pilots, he uses shock treatment.

* In ''Literature/SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish'', Arthur Dent describes an occasion when he ''thought'' he'd encountered someone who ignored the unwritten rule "You do not sit down opposite a stranger in a railway cafe and start helping yourself to their biscuits", and he realised there was absolutely nothing in his mental toolkit to deal with the situation because people just don't ''do'' that. It turned out [[spoiler: his biscuits were under his newspaper; the ones on the table ''were'' the other guy's.]] This is apparently based on something that actually happened to Creator/DouglasAdams.[[note]]apparently it also happened, to a given value of [[UsefulNotes/{{Plagiarism}} happened]], to Creator/JeffreyArcher, who also used it as the basis of a short story sometime after Douglas. Douglas Adams was generous about this and speculated if they'd independently met the same man at the same railway station. Then again, the repeated and sustained allegations that Creator/JeffreyArcher was not all that ''[[UsefulNotes/{{Plagiarism}} original ]]'' in his literary ideas suggest he too might have considered the accepted rules were not, for him, real.[[/note]]

** ''Film/{{Star Trek|2009}}'': Kirk reprograms it less plausibly and Academy Instructor Spock brings formal disciplinary action against him for cheating. Kirk counters that "the test itself is a cheat: it's designed to be unwinnable," essentially arguing that he was only responding in kind. Later, when Kirk meets old Spock:

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E23ATasteOfArmageddon A Taste of Armageddon]]", Jim Kirk and his crew discover that the Planet of the Week, Eminiar VII, is conducting a ForeverWar with a neighboring planet, Vendikar, entirely by computer simulation, with the "simulated" casualties ordered to report to the government's {{Disintegration Chamber}}s. They're horrified but aren't allowed to do anything about it under the PrimeDirective... until the computer erroneously marks the ''Enterprise'' as a valid target and designates the ship and its crew "destroyed". Kirk refuses to abide by the Eminian-Vendikari rules, and instead starts blowing up the disintegration booths and ultimately the computer. The Eminian head of state complains that with the computer gone, their underlying civilizations will be destroyed by war instead of merely people's lives. [[KirkSummation Kirk counters]] that the simulated war has taken all the [[WarIsHell horror]] out of the conflict, and with it any incentive to ''make peace'', and how about they try ''that'' instead.

** Ezio Auditore [[DiscussedTrope explains this in more detail]] to Sofia Sartor in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'':

-->'''Captain Edward Teague''': The Code is law.

** Played with in ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'', though, as there is a good reason why, while all pirate characters [[LoopholeAbuse bend the ever-living hell out of the Code to suit their needs]], they never actually violate the ExactWords, and that reason is [[TheDreaded Captain Edward Teague]], the Keeper of the Code. When one of the Indian pirates [[CerebusCallback says the Code is "more like guidelines" without knowing Teague was present]], [[AppealToForce Teague immediately shoots him dead]] and makes all of the other pirates in the room, the so-called "Pirate Lords" included, [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership immediately ditch that train of thought]].

* ''Manga/BootyRoyaleNeverGoDownWithoutAFight'': The qualifiers for C-bracket in the TournamentArc see Russian UsefulNotes/{{sambo}}ist Olga Zelenskaya face Filipino UsefulNotes/{{silat}} practitioner Michelle Batista. Batista breaks the tournament rules by striking at Zelenskaya's pubis and sticking her fingers up her nose, and gets away with it rules-wise because the referee misses it. However, she doesn't get away with it completely, because Zelenskaya gets her in a grapple and promptly breaks her arm, on the grounds that if she'd tried for a submission hold, Batista would probably have started trying to bite chunks out of her arm.