History Main / UnwittingInstigatorofDoom

* Senator Stephen Douglas, the man responsible for the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Originally, his intentions had simply been to get a railroad to California built, which would start in Chicago, Illinois (his home state). To do this, he proposed splitting the remaining unorganized chunk of the Louisiana Territory into the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. Pro-slavery Southerners slipped in a part saying that the legality of slavery in each territory would be decided by the voters there. Nebraska banned slavery without much fuss, but pro-slavery advocates from Missouri flooded into Kansas to support slavery, [[TheAmericanCivilWar and the rest is history.]]

* Hitomi Shizuki of ''PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. There's this friend of hers, Sayaka, who likes Kyousuke, who lost the use of his arm in an accident. [[spoiler:Through a DealWithTheDevil, Sayaka becomes a MagicalGirl and heals Kyousuke's arm. Hitomi also loves Kyousuke and decides to confess to him, but not before offering Sayaka the first shot. Sayaka doesn't act on the offer, because she just found out that magical girls are {{lich}}es, so she sees herself as unworthy of Kyousuke's love. Her depression only worsens when she sees Hitomi confess to Kyousuke, and because of the nature of the aforementioned DealWithTheDevil she [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie becomes what she fights]]. A third party, Kyouko, self-destructs to MercyKill Sayaka. In short: Because of one confession, two girls died.]] Now, Hitomi did the best she could with what [[LockedOutOfTheLoop next to none information she had]] ''and'' that [[spoiler: other girls would've gone after Kyousuke ''behind Sayaka's back'' and without anything resembling respect for her feelings (while Hitomi aknowledged them)]], [[HateDumb yet the fans]] [[TheScrappy still hate her]]. At least she isn't an IdiotHoudini, according to her and Sayaka's teacher Kazuko: [[spoiler: After they found Sayaka's lifeless body, and after her funeral, Kazuko tells Madoka's mom Junko that Hitomi [[ItsAllMyFault feels responsible in some way]]. Cue the FridgeHorror when you realize that, due to both having been LockedOutOfTheLoop ''and'' the lack of info regarding her death in general, it's almost a sure thing that poor Hitomi believes ''[[SpurnedIntoSuicide she unknowingly drove Sayaka to suicide]]'']]).

* Sekai of ''SchoolDays'' seduces Makoto because of her own unrequited feelings for him, despite actually hooking him up with another girl, Kotonoha. This action itself is what leads to Makoto developing a sex addiction, cheating on Sekai with Otome, and then Otome with every other girl in his class, Kotonoha becoming a {{Yandere}}, and well [[DownerEnding the nice boat.]]

* [[spoiler: Satoshi Oginome]] from ''Anime/MawaruPenguindrum''. [[spoiler: Had his daughter Ringo not seen him with his new girlfriend and her daughter, she would've likely not sped up her "Porject M" to bring her family back together via the AttemptedRape of her crush, with all that happened later.]]

* [[spoiler: Michiru Saotome]] from ''GetterRobo Armaggedon''. [[spoiler: She's infected with TheVirus and chooses to commit suicide via [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled screwing up with a test flight]] before it takes over her and subjects her to a FateWorseThanDeath.]] There are even worse things about it, however: [[spoiler: her father, Dr. Saotome, mistakenly believed that the Getter pilots were to blame, leading to him falling into insanity and becoming a MadScientist... which is followed by his murder, Ryoma's imprisonment, Saotome being BackFromTheDead and completely AxCrazy, '''and''' the invasion. Needless to say, ItGotWorse. (Not to mention her sibling Genki is traumatised and becomes a CreepyChild).]]

* In season 2 of ''CodeGeass'', [[TheWhitePrince Schneizel]] makes a case to the Black Knights to surrender their leader Zero, who he reveals is Lelouch. While not without their doubts towards their leader based on some of his actions, they, at least counting the likes of Tamaki and Diethard, [[ProperlyParanoid remain wary and skeptical towards Schneizel]], [[ManipulativeBastard who is rightfully suspected to be just as easily tricking them]] [[QuoteMine with the evidence]] [[FalseReassurance and testimonies that he is presenting]]. Not more than a few moments later does Ohgi come along with his still secret love interest Villetta, a Britannian spy, with some additional cursory yet suspicious evidence the latter provided that leads everyone else amongst the Black Knights present into deciding [[KangarooCourt to turn on Lelouch without giving any chance of there being a case made in his favor]].

*** When you become captain of a ship, you take responsibility for her as well as anyone onboard. It's a long-time naval tradition, and it likely persisted in the SpaceNavy. What kind of a captain abandons a crewmember? Besides, Shepard probably thought Joker couldn't make it on his own due to his disability. And Joker's a friend.

* ''NeonGenesisEvangelion''. The pilots of Evangelion Transport Neopan 400, the American Weather Bureau and the technician at Airbase Ekta 64 are never named, are never spoken of again, but ALL are responsible for the entire [[KnightOfCerebus Bardiel Incident]] and CerebusSyndrome the show developed towards the later half. This might not seem obvious at first, so here's the chain of events: [[spoiler: Due to the unnamed characters, Bardiel corrupts Evangelion Unit 04 on its way over to Tokyo-3. This leads to Shinji having to maim and/or kill his best friend, resulting in his resignation from NERV. Because he resigned and Eva 00 was damaged in the battle, Asuka has to fight Zeruel alone ([[CurbStompBattle ending badly]], and resulting in her sync ratio collapsing). Shinji is also absorbed and Eva 01 awakens. This leads to Asuka getting [[MindRape mind-raped into a coma]], with Shinji unable to assist due to the freeze on the awakened unit. Due to above events, Rei is forced to go out alone against Armisael, resulting in her 'death' and being reset (sorta). This causes Shinji to go into mental freefall, only to be assisted by Kaworu. Whom he has to kill. Cue HeroicBSOD, as his new friend/prospect-GayOption is dead, his maybe-LoveInterest is in a coma and Rei is back to being an emotionless statue. All this leads to Asuka being forced to fight the EVA series without support, resulting in her CruelAndUnusualDeath. Shinji's [[DespairEventHorizon mind breaks at this]], and 3rd Impact is triggered.]] The result of not going around the suspicious-looking cloud: TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.

** [[spoiler: Considering we're talking about a god, it could [[XanatosRoulette have been just another part of the plan]], though.]]

*** However, there are actually plenty of others who all contributed indirectly to [[spoiler:Sirius' death]]: Dumbledore [[spoiler:for not being more forthcoming about why Harry had to take Occlumency lessons]], Snape [[spoiler:for refusing to teach Occlumency after Harry peeked into his worst memory]], Harry [[spoiler:for not being better at learning Occlumency]], even Sirius himself [[spoiler:for his contemptuous treatmenet of Kreacher.]] And bigger than any of these others would be Cornelius Fudge and Umbridge [[TyrantTakesTheHelm for why everything had to be so damn circumspect in the first place.]]

* SailorMoon apparently pulls a FaceHeelTurn toward the end of the first season, but as it turns out she only joined the Dark Kingdom as TheMole so she could rescue Tuxedo Mask from its clutches. [[VizziniGambit And then Kunzite had to blow her cover...]]

* ''FinalFantasyX'': So Yuna and her friends have uncovered the truth about [[spoiler:Maester Seymour]], and are getting ready to [[spoiler:send his ass to the Farplane]], when [[spoiler:Trommel]] intervenes and interrupts the ritual. ItGetsWorse when, [[spoiler:Trommel, after being confronted with Seymour's wrongdoing ''destroys the sphere of Seymour's father warning about his son's StartOfDarkness'', with the excuse that "the Guado deal with Guado affairs."]] Needless to say, with this action, [[spoiler:Yuna and company are forced into hostile terms with not just the Guado, but ''the entirety of Spira as well'', and the unsent Seymour goes on to attack the party several times, proving to be a deadly recurring villain. The decision does later cause trouble for the Guado when Seymour nearly wipes out the Ronso, leading to the near retaliatory genocide of the Gaudo in the sequel.]]

* ''HarryPotter'': Narcissa Malfoy saw a lot of this between ''Order of the Phoenix'' and ''[[MamaBear Half-Blood Prince]]''. ''Nobody'' messes with EstrogenBrigadeBait, no matter how peripherally.
** Bertha Jorkins in Book 4. Doesn't appear 'on-screen', doesn't have any speaking roles, dies long before Book 4, but is absolutely crucial in giving TheBigBad the capacity to put together his plot - [[spoiler: she worked for the Ministry's Sports Department, so knew about the Triwizard Tournement. She then went on holiday to Albania, where Voldemort was lying low with Wormtail. She happened to bump into Wormtail and recognised him, and was subjected to lots of tortures and mindfuck to make her a source of information to Voldemort. It didn't help that she had coincidentally discovered Barty Crouch Jr.'s existence, either.]]

* In ''PhineasAndFerbTheMovieAcrossThe2ndDimension'', [[spoiler: Isabella kissed Phineas, but Carl fired an amnesia ray on them before Phineas could respond.]] Despite the fact that [[spoiler: they, and their friends, had volunteered to subject themselves to amnesia rather than lose Perry]], this resulted in quite a lot of people hating [[spoiler: Carl]].

An UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom, can be perfectly complicit in what goes on, but it's often the case that she's only seeing a small portion of the picture, or simply blundering in like a [[SpannerInTheWorks wrench in some particularly highly valued machine]]. Do not expect the levels of venom to differ between the scenarios. Will be seen as TheScrappy by some fans. If worse comes to worse, they may also end up as the IdiotHoudini. Expect no shortage of {{Fix Fic}}s or {{Revenge Fic}}s on account of this character. Often causes ATragedyOfImpulsiveness to occur.

* Naomi Misora from ''DeathNote''. fits this trope like a glove. If she hadn't insisted on speaking to a member of the task force, resulting in her leaving with Light and her subsequent death, she could have given L and the police vital information that would have led immediately to Light's capture, saving thousands of lives and, in particular, [[spoiler: preventing L's death]]. She was doing the right thing by wanting to speak only to the task force, she just got unlucky when she ran into Kira.

**** So, it's more like [[SwissMessenger Swiss]] [[DisasterDominoes Dominoes]]?

* In the former trope-naming incident, from the SherlockHolmes story ''The Final Problem'', a SwissMessenger in Moriarty's employ catches up to Holmes and Watson with a message saying that an Englishwoman at the hotel they're staying at is on the verge of death and wants to see an English doctor. Watson obediently returns to the hotel, unknowingly [[spoiler: leaving Holmes to face Moriarty alone at the edge of Reichenbach Falls, apparently leading to both of them falling to their death.]]

* In the former trope-naming incident, from the SherlockHolmes story ''The Final Problem'', a literal Swiss messenger, in Moriarty's employ, catches up to Holmes and Watson with a message saying that an Englishwoman at the hotel they're staying at is on the verge of death and wants to see an English doctor. Watson obediently returns to the hotel, unknowingly [[spoiler: leaving Holmes to face Moriarty alone at the edge of Reichenbach Falls, apparently leading to both of them falling to their death.]]

* In the trope-naming incident, from the SherlockHolmes story ''The Final Problem'', a literal Swiss messenger, in Moriarty's employ, catches up to Holmes and Watson with a message saying that an Englishwoman at the hotel they're staying at is on the verge of death and wants to see an English doctor. Watson obediently returns to the hotel, unknowingly [[spoiler: leaving Holmes to face Moriarty alone at the edge of Reichenbach Falls, apparently leading to both of them falling to their death.]]

* Naomi Misora rom DeathNote. fits this trope like a glove. If she hadn't insisted on speaking to a member of the task force, resulting in her leaving with Light and her subsequent death, she could have given L and the police vital information that would have led immediately to Light's capture, saving thousands of lives and, in particular, [[spoiler: preventing L's death]]. She was doing the right thing by wanting to speak only to the task force, she just got unlucky when she ran into Kira.

* In {{Bleach}}, Uryu's use of hollow bait to start a hollow hunting contest with Ichigo has the unintended side effect of also drawing the attention of the Soul Society, enabling them to track Rukia down.

* In {{Bakuman}}, one factor that contributed to Detective Trap losing popularity [[spoiler:and being canceled]] is two other similar manga- Phantom Thief Cheater and Detective Gosuke Akechi- both of which were submitted while Mashiro was in the hospital and on hiatus, and debuted after Mashiro's release.
* The pilots of [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Evangelion]] Transport Neopan 400, the American Weather Bureau and the technician at Airbase Ekta 64 are never named, are never spoken of again, but ALL are responsible for the entire [[KnightOfCerebus Bardiel Incident]] and CerebusSyndrome the show developed towards the later half. This might not seem obvious at first, so here's the chain of events: [[spoiler: Due to the unnamed characters, Bardiel corrupts Evangelion Unit 04 on its way over to Tokyo-3. This leads to Shinji having to maim and/or kill his best friend, resulting in his resignation from NERV. Because he resigned and Eva 00 was damaged in the battle, Asuka has to fight Zeruel alone ([[CurbStompBattle ending badly]], and resulting in her sync ratio collapsing). Shinji is also absorbed and Eva 01 awakens. This leads to Asuka getting [[MindRape mind-raped into a coma]], with Shinji unable to assist due to the freeze on the awakened unit. Due to above events, Rei is forced to go out alone against Armisael, resulting in her 'death' and being reset (sorta). This causes Shinji to go into mental freefall, only to be assisted by Kaworu. Whom he has to kill. Cue HeroicBSOD, as his new friend/prospect-GayOption is dead, his maybe-LoveInterest is in a coma and Rei is back to being an emotionless statue. All this leads to Asuka being forced to fight the EVA series without support, resulting in her CruelAndUnusualDeath. Shinji's [[DespairEventHorizon mind breaks at this]], and 3rd Impact is triggered.]] The result of not going around the suspicious-looking cloud: TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
* [[spoiler: Takehiko Henmi]] from OniisamaE. How so? [[spoiler: Six years before the story started, he visited his best friend Takeshi Ichinomiya's house and befriended his little sister Fukiko, who unbeknownst to Takehiko got a huge PrecociousCrush on him. During these days they spent lots of time together, and she made him promise that he'd attend her birthday party and hear her play the violin. However, RealLife interferred: Takehiko couldn't get to the Ichinomiya mansion in time and [[HeroicBSOD Fukiko was completely crushed]], since she had practised very hard and also did whatever she could to be the best for him. In any other series, Fukiko would've eventually gotten over it... but in this one, she became a {{Yandere}} over him, and that brought LOOOOTS of {{Wangst}} and drama for everyone else.]]

* In MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs, Suzuka serves as one. She, not knowing about the Wolkenritter’s true nature or activities despite having met them as well as Hayate, plans to pay Hayate a surprise visit along with Arisa, Nanoha and Fate on Christmas Eve in Hayate’s. Nanoha and Fate, seeing the Wolkenritter with Hayate, then realize that Hayate is the true master of the Book of Darkness that they are searching for, and are forced into a confrontation with the Wolkenritter, who wish to prevent Hayate from being exposed. Things quickly get worse from there.
* In MaiOtome Sifr, a cat wandering out on the hotel balcony leads to Sifr trying to retrieve it, and falling and having to be rescued by Lena, who berates her for going outside and risking being discovered. It's revealead that one of the poolgoers was an undercover Schwarz agent, and that night, a large Schwarz force attacks, succeeding in kidnapping Sifr with help from M9.
* [[spoiler: Michiru Saotome]] from GetterRobo Armaggedon. [[spoiler: She's infected with TheVirus and chooses to commit suicide via [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled screwing up with a test flight]] before it takes over her and subjects her to a FateWorseThanDeath.]] There are even worse things about it, however: [[spoiler: her father, Dr. Saotome, mistakenly believed that the Getter pilots were to blame, leading to him falling into insanity and becoming a MadScientist... which is followed by his murder, Ryoma's imprisonment, Saotome being BackFromTheDead and completely AxCrazy, '''and''' the invasion. Needless to say, ItGotWorse. (Not to mention her sibling Genki is traumatised and becomes a CreepyChild).]]

* In Volume 5 of ScottPilgrim, Stephen Stills tells Knives that before Scott broke up with her, he had already started dating Ramona. Knives then tells Ramona, leading her to [[spoiler:break up with Scott]].

* Misa of ''DeathNote'' is TheScrappy in general, but 95% of the time, when people say they "don't get her appeal", they're talking about this trope.
** Although she's more like an AmericansHateTingle case.
*** Naomi Misora fits this trope like a glove. If she hadn't insisted on speaking to a member of the task force, resulting in her leaving with Light and her subsequent death, she could have given L and the police vital information that would have led immediately to Light's capture, saving thousands of lives and, in particular, [[spoiler: preventing L's death]]. She was doing the right thing by wanting to speak only to the task force, she just got unlucky when she ran into Kira.

* Hitomi Shizuki of ''PuellaMagiMadokaMagica''. There's this friend of hers, Sayaka, who likes Kyousuke, who lost the use of his arm in an accident. [[spoiler:Through a DealWithTheDevil, Sayaka becomes a MagicalGirl and heals Kyousuke's arm. Hitomi also loves Kyousuke and decides to confess to him, but not before offering Sayaka the first shot. Sayaka doesn't act on the offer, because she just found out that magical girls are {{lich}}es, so she sees herself as unworthy of Kyousuke's love. Her depression only worsens when she sees Hitomi confess to Kyousuke, and because of the nature of the aforementioned DealWithTheDevil she [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie becomes what she fights]]. A third party, Kyouko, self-destructs to MercyKill Sayaka. In short: Because of one confession, two girls died.]] Now, Hitomi did the best she could with what [[LockedOutOfTheLoop next to none information she had]] ''and'' that [[spoiler: other girls would've gone after Kyousuke ''behind Sayaka's back'' and without anything resembling respect for her feelings (while Hitomi aknowledged them)]], [[HateDumb yet the fans]] [[TheScrappy still hate her]]. At least she isn't an IdiotHoudini, according to her and Sayaka's teacher Kazuko. ([[spoiler: They found Sayaka's lifeless body. After her funeral, Kazuko tells Madoka's mom Junko that Hitomi [[ItsAllMyFault feels responsible in some way]]. Cue the FridgeHorror when you realize that, due to both having been LockedOutOfTheLoop ''and'' the lack of info regarding her death in general, it's almost a sure thing that Hitomi believes ''[[SpurnedIntoSuicide she unknowingly drove Sayaka to suicide]]'']]).

A character plays a small and/or unlikely but crucial role in some horrible development. The audience, fully aware of the ForWantOfANail implications, will hate this character nearly as much as, if not even moreso than, the people who could more accurately be called ''responsible'' for whatever happened. This hatred can be understandable, in that the antagonist more directly responsible in the development is playing their role in the story, for the sake of RisingConflict. The character being put on task, meanwhile, only serves to bumble in and botch the hero's hopes of a surefire victory, and worse, quite possibly deprive the story of its HappyEnding, all the while often remaining oblivious to the overall implications of the situation and their role in it. Worse, their actions have no real necessity in elevating the drama, often taking it to BeyondTheImpossible levels, making them a walking DiabolusExMachina. A more temperate soul may simply wish that person were PutOnABus prior to the critical moment, assuming that this character [[HanlonsRazor may have acted out of idiocy rather than malice]], and that their presence and actions at that moment were their only errors.

UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom, can be perfectly complicit in what goes on, but it's often the case that she's only seeing a small portion of the picture, or simply blundering in like a [[SpannerInTheWorks wrench in some particularly highly valued machine]]. Do not expect the levels of venom to differ between the scenarios. Will be seen as TheScrappy by some fans. If worse comes to worse, they may also end up as the IdiotHoudini. Expect no shortage of {{Fix Fic}}s or {{Revenge Fic}}s on account of this character. Often causes ATragedyOfImpulsiveness to occur.

The TropeNamer is a character in ''SherlockHolmes'' who diverted Watson at a crucial juncture (and on whom Doyle harped rather extensively for the bitness of his part).

The Swiss Messenger, like the original, can be perfectly complicit in what goes on, but it's often the case that she's only seeing a small portion of the picture, or simply blundering in like a [[SpannerInTheWorks wrench in some particularly highly valued machine]]. Do not expect the levels of venom to differ between the scenarios. Will be seen as TheScrappy by some fans. If worse comes to worse, they may also end up as the IdiotHoudini. Expect no shortage of {{Fix Fic}}s or {{Revenge Fic}}s on account of this character. Often causes ATragedyOfImpulsiveness to occur.