History Main / ThePresentsWereNeverFromSanta

* Played for maximum tragedy & angst in the ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode [[spoiler:''Course Oblivion'']]. The crew put their trust in a shapeshifting alien who they believe to be the Star Fleet Captain Kathryn Janeway. This creature does believe itself to be Janeway, and it's trying to keep her crew safe and get them home, just like the real Janeway would. Too bad for the crew that she's not a real Star Fleet officer, and has a really flawed understanding of what is "safe" and what is "home".

** Considering the group committed the crime totally obliviously, and that the Paladins themselves had actively suppressed and hidden any information which might have let anyone outside their order even know it was a dangerous thing to do, the group probably would have been just fine with a real Angel (and it would have saved everyone some hassle/murder down the line when the fact the trial was rigged comes to light).

* In ''Literature/TheBible'', Satan arguably fills this role as he's tempting Jesus with empty/meaningless promises in the desert.

* In computer [=RPGs=] and [=MMORPGs=], badly written questgivers act as poorly disguised imposter Santas giving things out: Their excuses for giving magical items to the heroes are flimsy at best, and the items gets replaced soon enough anyway. When the character gets a medal or a title, it's almost always cheapened by the fact that every single character can be "the one and only" who did that particular feat of heroism.
** A noteworthy ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' example is the wise old ogre who crowns the character king or Queen of Ogri'La. Since the quest is a group quest and was quite popular back in its days, it rarely took long until a new batch of five new kings & queens was publicly announced by the same old ogre.
*** A daily quest at the Argent Tournament involves the player obtaining a sword from a mysterious maiden by either giving her some flowers, thawing the ice freezing her, or giving her a kiss to release her curse, depending on which one was up for the day. While she's at it, she tries to make you feel special by complaining about how many centuries she has been waiting for you or whatever. So far so good. However, it does seem less genuine when you have been waiting in line to save her and you heard her say the same thing to the three guys before you.
** Lampshaded in ''CityOfHeroes'', where all villain characters are apparently potential "Chosen Ones" in some kind of prophecy based around the main villain. And in a notable {{Deconstruction}}, the epic archetypes have an alternate introduction, where they ''hack into Arachnos's systems and mark themselves as one of the Chosen Ones''.
*** Or something else, as later on in the epic storyline you delete the last copies of the list to erase some of your tracks and see the re-divined list. Your name's on it.

Compare ''and'' Contrast WindmillPolitical: While a {{windmill}} is a threat that isn't really a threat, this trope features a kind of help that ultimately isn't helpful. See also ScamReligion, for when Bob tries to get others to believe in his nonsense. The MagicFeather can be the token of Bob's specialness, a gift from his benefactor that symbolizes Bob's not so real powers. For the real thing, contrast EnigmaticEmpoweringEntity in general as well as specific characters such as SantaClaus or TheChooserOfTheOne.

* In Angel, ''Spike'' is set up as a possible replacement for Angel. After all, the Shanshu Prophecy doesn't tell us ''which'' vampire-with-a-soul it's talking about. Angel got his soul as a curse, whereas Spike fought to get his back. He sets himself up as a small private investigator helping the hopeless on behalf of the Powers That Be, as represented by their psychic emissary, Doyle. Yes, this is exactly the first-season plot. Except that "Doyle" is really Lindsay, the evil Wolfram and Hart runaway, out to get revenge on Angel by undermining his faith in his own destiny and using his chief rival Spike as an unwitting errand-boy.

* In ''Literature/TheBible'', Satan arguably fills this role as he's tempting Jesus with empty/meaningless promises in the desert.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Some fraudulent online institutions fit this trope.
* People take this stance about others' religions, religion in general, or even rational belief. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment That is all.]]
* Similarly, everyone usually believes this about charismatic political leaders from opposing parties, who have a public image of benevolence.
* This also manifests in "alternative medicine" and any non-mainstream medical philosophy.
[[/folder]]

* When a cute little cabbit-like creature offers to make you a magical girl in exchange for fulfilling your fondest wish, [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica don't trust him]].

** The anti-vaccination movement believes this about vaccination policy.
** The mainstream believes this about homeopathy.

* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', Fortune's ability to deflect all sorts of attacks is this. She believes that she has been 'cursed' with luck, but it is in fact the result of electromagnetic fields generated by a device controlled by Ocelot.*

* Everyone believes this of everyone else's religion and their gods. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment That is all.]]

* In ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'', false gods and other devils often fill the [[FauxEmpoweringEntity FEE role]], offering people what the victims already have or what the devils can't provide. Especially God-as-worshipped-by-catholics-and-muslims gets portrayed this way a lot. However, humans are fully capable of being [[FauxEmpoweredPerson FEP]] without any help from demons. The page illustration is from a tract where a kid went JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope and becomes a serial killer from ''finding out Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny aren't real''.

* In ''Cinderella's Sister'', the "fairy godmother" is all about hurting young womens' self esteem so that they will desire more expensive clothes, cosmetic surgery etc. And she's not a real person either, merely an advertisement mascot.

* In ''Cinderella's Sister'', the "fairy godmother" is all about hurting young women's self esteem so that they will desire more expensive clothes, cosmetic surgery etc. And she's not a real person either, merely an advertisement mascot.

* In ''ComicBook/ChickTracts'', false gods and other devils often fill the [[FauxEmpoweringEntity FEE role]], offering people what the victims already have or what the devils can't provide. Especially God-as-worshipped-by-catholics-and-muslims gets portrayed this way a lot. However, humans are fully capable of being [[FauxEmpoweredPerson FEP]] without any help from demons. The page illustration is from a tract where a kid [[JumpOffTheSlipperySlope jumps off the slippery slope]] and becomes a serial killer from ''finding out Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny aren't real''.

** Then again, Ryuk himself muses that he never expected what amounted to a prank to have such a massive impact on the world, and that it was a one in a million chance that the person who found the book had both a grandiose ambition for it and the intellect to achieve it. Even the HeroAntagonist says that a normal person would never have done with it what Light did, even if they still chose to kill with it (though, to his mind, that just means Light is crazy) and in the one-chapter sequel the owner of another Death Note ends up being just a pale imitation of Light. So, perhaps, Light is on to something....

* Discussed in ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'': The peasant Dennis didn't vote for King Arthur, so why should he accept King Arthur's rule? Because some strange woman lying in a pond distributed a sword? Or is it truly because Arthur will have him silenced if he don't pretend to go along with that logic? Come see the violence inherent in the system! ("Help, help, I'm being repressed!") (And yes, several sections of the trope description were lifted from this movie).

* In ''ABeautifulMind'', John Nash is getting increasingly erratic orders from the government agent who made him a KnightInShiningArmor against the evil communist conspiracy. [[spoiler: The questgiver is actually a delusion, caused by John's schizophrenia.]]

* In ''FiddlerOnTheRoof'', a prophetic dream makes Golde accept that her daughter will marry a poor tailor instead of a rich butcher. Good for the daughter, and also for the husband (who lied about the supernatural vision in order to dodge the wrath of his wife) - but clearly against Golde's true wishes.

* In computer [=RPGs=] and [=MMORPGs=], badly written questgivers act as [[StrangePondWoman Strange Pond Women]]: Their excuses for giving magical items to the heroes are flimsy at best, and the items gets replaced soon enough anyway. When the character gets a medal or a title, it's almost always cheapened by the fact that every single character can be "the one and only" who did that particular feat of heroism.

* Pip from ''GreatExpectations'' believes his sudden endowment to be from Mrs. Havisham to groom him into a proper husband for her ward, Estella. He's quite shocked to find otherwise.

* When a cute little cabbit-like creature offers to make you a magical girl in exchange for fulfilling your fondest wish, [[PuellaMagiMadokaMagica don't trust him]].
* In the world of ''{{Slayers}}'', there are plenty of real, actual demons, many of whom are openly seeking humans with whom to make an infernal pact with. So it's kind of [[ZeroPunctuation impressive, in a retarded kind of way]], that the GoldfishPoopGang HarmlessVillain manages to be a fervent worshipper of a demon who apparently doesn't actually exist.
* [[spoiler:Gil Graham]] from ''[[MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A]]'s'' has provided Hayate with a home and allowance, even paying for hospital funds. [[spoiler:Turns out that this is his gambit to make Hayate the master of the Book of Darkness, [[WellIntentionedExtremist allowing him to seal the Book of Darkness away.]]]]

* In the ''{{Halo}}'' games, the Covenant, who think they are doing the will of the Forerunners, are trying to activate the ringworlds because they believe that will elevate them to a new plane of existence just like their "gods" did. What they don't realize is that the Forerunners used the rings [[HeroicSacrifice to kill themselves instead and take]] [[EldritchAbomination the Flood]] with them.

** A noteworthy ''WorldOfWarcraft'' example is the wise old ogre who crowns the character king or Queen of Ogri'La. Since the quest is a group quest and was quite popular back in its days, it rarely took long until a new batch of five new kings & queens was publicly announced by the same old ogre.

* Lady Yunalesca in ''FinalFantasyX'' filled a role similar to this. For a thousand years she assisted summoners with the pen-ultimate step of their pilgrimage to obtain the Final Summon by [[spoiler: turning one of their guardians into it]]. Turns out, this is all a vicious, endless cycle of death destruction (and she knew it) and that her authority comes from her dad being the BigBad that controls and recreates the monstrous Sin these summoners sought to destroy once and for all. Fortunately, the heroes reject her offer to "help" them, destroy her to end the cycle of pointless sacrifice, and TakeAThirdOption instead.
* In the ''NeverwinterNights'' expansion ''Hordes of the Underdark,'' the player character can redeem [[TheAtoner Aribeth de Tylmarande]] and restore her paladin powers. In the final battle, [[BigBad Mephistopheles]] taunts her that her powers never came from her god Tyr - he gave them to her just so he could play with her and make her inevitable defeat that much more cruel. As a LawfulEvil devil with vast powers and sovereignty over the 8th circle of [[FireAndBrimstoneHell Baator]], we can be reasonably certain he's telling the truth. Which would make Mephistopheles HoistByHisOwnPetard.

* YouTube user [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyWUn_bj5rM Shockofgod]] likes to claim that this is indirectly the reason people become atheists: When they realized Santa isn't real, they decided that [[InsaneTrollLogic if Santa isn't real, neither is God.]] Actual atheists beg to differ.

[[Folder:Theatre]]
* In ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', the Phantom tutors Christine in singing while telling her he is the Angel of Music, sent by her deceased father. Even after she sees who he really is, it takes her a while to break free of his influence.