History Main / UnwittingInstigatorofDoom

An Unwitting Instigator of Doom can be basically complicit with the villain, but in that case, they're generally seeing only a small portion of the picture. If they're being specifically manipulated but do not realize, they're an UnwittingPawn. Other times, they're simply blundering in like a [[SpannerInTheWorks wrench in some particularly highly valued machine]], so it can be caused by TheLoad or TheMillstone. They may also end up as the IdiotHoudini. In the worst cases, more in the know characters will [[WhatTheHellHero chew them out]] for bumbling in and screwing things up, trusting them little better than they would a traitor.

* ''WebVideo/PiratesSMP'': Bek taking [[TakenForGranite unnamed statue]] from his stone podium on Monkey Island as a CompanionCube on Day 67 leaves an open space with a petrification beam blank. Within the week, Sausage ends up [[spoiler:standing in the beam]] out of curiosity, causing [[spoiler:his left arm to be turned to stone as he stands there, and him to gain a favourable view of [[HearingVoices the Whispers he's been hearing]] as they saved his life from being fully TakenForGranite by sending him to the Shadow Realm; this gradually causes him to become BrainwashedAndCrazy on Day 125.]]

* ''WebVideo/PiratesSMP'': Bek taking [[TakenForGranite unnamed statue]] from his stone podium on Monkey Island as a CompanionCube on Day 67 leaves an open space with a petrification beam blank; within the week, Sausage ends up [[spoiler:standing in the beam]] out of curiosity, causing [[spoiler:his left arm to be turned to stone as he stands there, and him to gain a favourable view of [[HearingVoices the Whispers he's been hearing]] as they saved his life from being fully TakenForGranite by sending him to the Shadow Realm. This gradually ends up causing him to become BrainwashedAndCrazy.]]

* The ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'' has Quackity, who -- after being told they'd be the only party running -- decided to run against Wilbur and Tommy in the L'Manburg Presidential Election. This opened the gates for other people to form political parties to run against Wilbur and Tommy... including [[ArcVillain Jschlatt]], who wound up pooling his votes with Quackity's in order to win. Immediately after [[TyrantTakesTheHelm becoming President]], Schlatt declares himself Emperor, exiles Wilbur and Tommy, tears down major landmarks, and starts crushing any dissenting voices ''hard''.

* ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'': Hilariously subverted by De Guiche: he is a villain who unwittingly derails his own plans. In Act I Scene IV, he utters a simple DareToBeBadass to De Valvert, a small but crucial gesture that [[DisasterDominoes sets events in motion that result in]] the derailment of his own plan to [[ArrangedMarriage marry]] Roxane to [[TheBeard De Valvert]] so de Guiche could bully her to be his [[TheMistress mistress]].

* JustForFun/TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples: Romeo's servant Balthasar in ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', when he brings his message to Romeo telling him of Juliet's death. Sadly, the friar's letter telling him that the death was faked does not get through -- so there are ''two'' Swiss Messengers, the one who delivers the wrong news, and the one who doesn't realize how important the ''real'' news is, and fails to deliver it. Actually seems to have achieved some degree of PopCulturalOsmosis, which runs counter to the norm for an author so prone to CommonKnowledge.

* Mrs O'Leary’s cow, who kicked over a lantern which ignited straw in her stall which ignited the wall which led to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The reporter who first publicized this origin later admitted to making it up.

* Mrs O’Leary’s cow, who kicked over a lantern which ignited straw in her stall which ignited the wall which led to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The reporter who first publicized this origin later admitted to making it up.

* In {{Music/Alan Walker}}'s extended universe, it's revealed that 28300 financed her expeditions by collaborating with Red Nexus corporation. Doing so gave Red Nexus unlimited access to the Walkers ancient advanced technology, which they used to try to conquer the world.

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[[quoteright:350:[[WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blizto_stole_book.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Looks like gets [[{{Pun}} stoled]] his book.]]

* In ''Theatre/JasperInDeadland'', Virgil does a lot to impede Jasper from rescuing his friend Agnes. He's the first one to give Jasper a bottle of Lethe-brand water, which starts Jasper's memory loss and prevents him [[spoiler:from recognizing Agnes]] and he later gives Jasper a fake death-manifest from Mr Lethe, saying that Agnes had entered Elysium and was most likely unreachable. Despite this, there's nothing to imply that Virgil knows that the death-manifest was fake or that the Lethe-Water causes memory loss - from his perspective, he's just giving someone a water bottle and information on their friend's location. Virgil also seems genuinely happy when Jasper and Agnes get permission to leave Deadland.

* In Alan Walker's extended universe, it's revealed that 28300 financed her expeditions by collaborating with Red Nexus corporation. Doing so gave Red Nexus unlimited access to the Walkers ancient advanced technology, which they used to try to conquer the world.

[[folder:Light Novels]]
* According to ''LightNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavocIF'', Chihiro Fujisaki. [[spoiler:Using his skills as the [[TechnoWizard Ultimate Programmer]], he created the software for a new robot. That robot's name? ''Monokuma''. Yes, '''''[[HangingJudge Monokuma]]''''']].
* ''Literature/TsuyokuteNewSaga'': Mileina's father chose to protect some human refugees instead of assisting the dwarves in the original timeline, a decision that ultimately weakened the human forces.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'', [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1867 SCP-1867 ("A Gentleman")]] is Lord Blackwood, an adventurous seaslug who appears in many other works telling about his adventurous times. If the accounts are correct, Lord Blackwood may have just been the one that [[spoiler: inspired SCP-319's maker to try and travel to another universe, and gave him the means to attempt it]]. A short read of that particular file lets us know that attempt essentially ''doomed this universe''.

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[[quoteright:350:[[ComicStrip/TheFarSide https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_02.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Poor Roy just wanted to be nice.]]

* ''LightNovel/TsuyokuteNewSaga'': Mileina's father chose to protect some human refugees instead of assisting the dwarves in the original timeline, a decision that ultimately weakened the human forces.