History Main / UnwittingPawn

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', a businessman builds a casino... themed after ComicBook/TheJoker. Joker is understandably incensed, a breaks out of Arkham to punish this act of image-theft by blowing up the joint. As Batman discovers, the businessman had spent too much on his building, and gave it a Joker-theme so the Joker would do just that, and then cash in on the insurance. Joker gets more incensed when Batman reveals this to him.

* In ''Film/WhiteNoise'', once John begins experimenting with EVP (a way of listening to/seeing spirits in the beyond) on his own, he starts receiving messages from his late wife, believing them ways to save people. [[spoiler:They're really trick visions sent by three very, very malicious spirits so that they can follow him and break into the realm of the living through the door he's opened up. And Anna's constant insistence that he 'Go now!'? Those were visions of when he arrived at the final location the messages showed him, where she was trying to warn him to get away and save himself.]] "Exactly as planned" indeed.

* Poor Suzaku Kururugi from ''Anime/CodeGeass''. Being an emotional, impulsive, and naive mix of DeathSeeker and WideEyedIdealist in a series full of {{Chessmaster}}s and {{Manipulative Bastard}}s is ''definitely'' his perdition. On the other hand, his supernaturally effective combat abilities and tendency to run head first into dangerous situations without telling anybody means he's [[SpannerInTheWorks derailed almost as many schemes as he's aided.]]
** Same for the Order of the Black Knights, which was first manipulated by Lelouch before [[spoiler: becoming Schneizel's pawns]]. Lelouch actually ''is'' the hero who is trying to save the world. He has a lot of bad luck and some questionable methods, but the Black Knights generally benefited from his actions, manipulation aside. [[spoiler: Schneizel, not so much. He has decent luck, if not good, and his methods are not questionable -- they're definitely not good for the human race as a whole.]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/AceCombat'':
** In ''VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar'', [[spoiler:near the end of the war, warmongers in both Osea and Yuktobonia try to keep the war going, unaware that a group of Belkans called the Grey Men were playing them like fiddles in revenge for [[VideoGame/AceCombatZeroTheBelkanWar the fall of their homeland]]. [[SubvertedTrope They didn't care and worked well together instead, going against the Razgriz's peace coalition.]]]]
** Princess Rosa Cossette d'Elise in ''VideoGame/AceCombat7SkiesUnknown'', had been manipulated by a group of young Erusean officers called the Radicals into declaring war on Osea over the construction of [[SpaceElevator the Lighthouse]], under the belief that it represented encroaching Osean Imperialism on the continent of Usea. [[spoiler:In reality, the Radicals were looking to use their drone army that they developed using technology that they got from Belka in the hopes that they would be able to restore Erusea to its former glory. When Rosa finds out the truth, she defects to the Oseans to put a stop to their plans.]]
* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': [[DistressedDude Ryan]] went missing shortly after receiving an anonymous [[{{Panacea}} N540]] lead sent to him from [[BigBad C]], who planned to capture and use him to lure [[ActionGirl Ann]] into a trap to use a dimensional device in order to retrieve an ArtifactOfDoom.
* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' has ''many'' of these throughout the historical stories, but TheReveal at the end of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'' is that [[spoiler:the entire Assassin-Templar conflict throughout history was ''both'' sides being the Unwitting Pawns of Juno]], and the historical story of that game concludes with the reveal that [[spoiler:Connor had been Juno's Unwitting Pawn for over a decade]].
** WordOfGod on ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'' is that [[spoiler:Olivier Garneau alone]] "''does know who his bosses are''" -- namely, Abstergo Entertainment being a Templar front -- while "''most people at AE just work for Templars without even knowing it''."
** By the time of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRogue'', Mélanie Lemay has been made aware of the Templar order, as she gets inducted during the course of the game.
* The majority of the plot of ''VideoGame/AtelierIris3GrandPhantasm'' concerns three quirky teenagers trying to find [[MineralMacGuffin eight gemstones]] so they can open a book which will grant any wish, while helping the even-more-quirky townsfolk with their problems. What could go wrong? [[spoiler:How about nearly causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt because you were manipulated by an evil spirit from (almost) the very beginning into [[WastefulWishing wasting the only wish you get]]?]]
* In ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIIThroneOfBhaal'', [[spoiler:your whole party is this, killing off the other Bhaalspawn for Melissan's scheme to ascend to power]].
* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'', once Dr. Young creates the Titan formula, she discovers she was funded by the Joker, who proceeds to use that mutagen to create chaos. The ViralMarketing AlternateRealityGame also has a case when the player is contacted by The Riddler, who thanks you for compromising Arkham's entire security system, making the island takeover that much easier and effectively setting up the events of the game. NiceJobBreakingItHero.
* The premise of ''VideoGame/BattleGaregga'' revolves around the GadgeteerGenius Wayne brothers, who produce highly advanced military machines for the federal government in exchange for riches as part of the contract. When the government goes on a rampage of conquest, the brothers discover that the very machines they developed for the government are being used for such malicious acts, and set off in their secret SuperPrototype aircraft to destroy the machines they helped create.
* The player character in ''VideoGame/BioShock1''. However, this is justified, as the player character [[spoiler:is being mind-controlled by Atlas/Fontaine from the very beginning, so he had no control over his actions. At least, until Dr. Tennenbaum snaps him out of it]].
* ''Franchise/BlazBlue'':
** Tsubaki is used as a pawn by Hazama many, ''many'' times over. He has manipulated her into fighting her best friends Jin and Noel by inspiring feelings of jealousy and inadequacy, telling her that she was meant to be with Jin and Noel took her rightful place at his side. As a bonus, she's also [[spoiler:obstructing Takagamagara's surveillance]] by using the Izayoi, and she serves as a sort-of hostage to [[WorldsStrongestMan Hakumen]], who has feelings for Tsubaki [[spoiler:because he's Jin from another timeline and watched her die there]]. As for Tsubaki, she follows the NOL's ([[spoiler:and by extension the Imperator's, [[MindControl and by extension]] [[TheManBehindTheMan Hazama's]]]]) orders loyally. [[spoiler:This continues through to the end of ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueChronophantasma Chronophantasma]]'', when the mind control Hazama puts her through is broken and she [[HeelFaceTurn becomes one of the good guys]]]]. It's worth putting down that although Litchi is also working with Hazama, she is ''[[AvertedTrope not]]'' this trope. She's advancing his evil agenda knowingly, because [[IHaveYourWife he has Arakune]].
** In a supreme bit of irony, [[spoiler:Terumi and Relius]] were also the pawns of someone who they believed was ''their'' pawn: [[spoiler:Imperator Saya, who was the host of Izanami, the goddess of death. She ditches them [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness the moment they stop being useful]] and puts in motion her own plans to create a "world of death".]]
* In ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2'', [[spoiler:[[GeneralRipper General Shepherd]] is revealed to have set up a five-year gambit to pit the USA and Russia against each other, so that he may lead the USA to the status as permanent ultimate world power, and be known worldwide as a "hero" for it... and he doesn't give two shits over how many millions of innocents get in his way. The man made all of the US, UK, and Russia into his Unwitting Pawns, including the player characters, one of whom (Allen) ends up as the reason Russia declares war after Makarov pulls an UriahGambit on him, and another (Roach) whom Shepherd kills himself after sending him to retrieve the evidence that would have exposed him as the mastermind behind the plot. Even though [[SpannerInTheWorks Price and Soap managed to kill him]], it's not stated if Shepherd's plan has already succeeded. Hints suggest that [[ShootTheShaggyDog it did]].]] The third game subtly reveals that [[spoiler:[[{{Irony}} Shepherd was also this to Makarov]], who had been feeding false information to the former and had actually caused Shepherd's StartOfDarkness via the nuke detonation that he ordered. And, if what Makarov's actions in "Persona Non Grata" are taken into account, then he was planning to have General Shepherd killed anyway. Having Price and Soap do it was simply convenience.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'':
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia'' has Shanoa seeking out the three pieces of Dominus, a glyph that is to be used on a particular artifact that, according to Barlowe, will bring about the defeat of Dracula when destroyed. [[spoiler:Only after meeting certain conditions that allow you to bypass the bad ending do you learn that said object actually ''resurrects'' Dracula, as Barlowe demonstrates after Shanoa refuses and defeats him in a boss battle.]]
** Leon Belmont and [[spoiler: Sara Trantoul (and even [[TheDragon Walter Bernhard]])]] in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence''. Our man Drac practically lives (unlives?) off of Unwitting Pawns. Trevor, Simon and Richter Belmont have also been pawns in his [[spoiler: or Shaft's, in Richter's case]] plans for resurrection.
** Celia Fortner in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'' tried this on Soma, and depending on the ending, either succeeded or failed. [[spoiler:The former ends up with Soma killing her anyway.]]
** In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow'', [[spoiler:Gabriel ''and'' Zobek]] are the Unwitting Pawns of [[spoiler:Satan in his bid to obtain the power of the Mask of Shadows to overthrow Heaven]].
* ''VideoGame/CelestialHearts'': Edgar Gravehart works with [[spoiler:Lilith in exchange for the latter reviving his wife, but Lilith never intended to uphold her end of the bargain at all. She just wanted to drain the energy of living beings, including her sister Helen]].
* Serge of ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' ''defines'' this trope. The guy can't go to the bathroom without furthering someone or [[AIIsACrapshoot some]][[EldritchAbomination thing's]] plans. The fact that [[GambitPileup everyone's plans revolve around him trying to get out of someone else's gambit does not help]]. Here's the short version: [[spoiler:First, Lynx manipulates him into coming to Fort Dragonia so he can steal Serge's body and release the lock on the computer system FATE (which Lynx is a WetwareBody for). The Dragon Gods and Harle get him to kill FATE to release the seal on their power, then merge into their original EldritchAbomination-ish form and start work on annihilating all human life. Except that ''all of this'' was planned by Balthasar, because only by awakening the Dragon Gods would it be possible to create the Chrono Cross, which is the only thing that can save [[VideoGame/ChronoTrigger Schala]] from [[EldritchAbomination Lavos's]] hold over her.]] [[MindScrew Confused yet?]]
* Practically ''everyone'' in the ''VideoGame/ChzoMythos'' is an Unwitting Pawn in some way. Practically a testament to how incredibly good Chzo is at this MagnificentBastard business.
%%* ''VideoGame/CliveBarkersUndying'': [[spoiler:Patrick Galloway.]]
* Alex of ''VideoGame/Code7'' ends up being one. [[spoiler: S.O.L.I. and Code 7 can't leave Schrödinger Station, so they corrupt his core program and make him create a fake anti-virus to successfully get to earth]]. Zoya of Episode 1 also believes to have been one.
* The Global Defense Initiative (okay, mostly Boyle) in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberiumWars'' walks ''right'' into Kane's GambitRoulette, and their only hint that they were even hit by it is when the ScaryDogmaticAliens arrive. The expansion pack then explains that Kane specifically planned for Boyle to be the only surviving GDI leader after the nuclear strike on the Philadelphia ''specifically'' because Boyle is easily predictable. If you play the Scrin campaign, even the ScaryDogmaticAliens are suckers in Kane's roulette.
* The trope comes up a few times during the course of the ''VideoGame/DarkParables'' games. In the third game, the villain turns out to be one for [[spoiler:Literature/SnowWhite's WickedStepmother's equally evil magic mirror]]. The detective is one in the fourth game; the BigBad needs an artifact from a shrine that she's not allowed to enter, so she simply waits until the detective goes in to collect it.
* ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'':
** The Player Character is this in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI''. No matter what you do, by beating the game you're just a pawn in an AncientConspiracy and ForeverWar regarding whether the Age of Fire should continue or end. Though at least the ending that ''isn't'' an AndIMustScream scenario gives you the chance to be something other than a mere pawn.
** In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'', the protagonist is the pawn of [[spoiler:Shanalotte. From the opening cutscene to the very end of the game, Shanalotte had been guiding/aiding/manipulating the Bearer of the Curse to free Drangleic from Nashandra and Link the Fire.]] She only begins to admit her role in everything near the end of the game.
* ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'':
** This trope is played painfully straight in ''VideoGame/Diablo1997'' when the player character gets [[GrandTheftMe possessed]] by Diablo. DownerEnding for sure.
** Even more so ''VideoGame/DiabloII'': [[spoiler:the entire game is the tale of how Marius gets manipulated by Baal into rescuing his soulstone from destruction at the hands of the player character, escaping the fate that his brothers suffered. Poor Marius dies in asylum cell as the horrible truth comes crashing down on him]].
** Diablo's unwitting pawns in ''VideoGame/DiabloIII''? [[spoiler:''Everyone''. Except Adria, who wasn't unwitting, and may not have actually been a pawn.]]
* Captain Gordon ('''Defender of Earth!'''), from ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'', thinks he is sent to defeat you in order to defend Earth, but soon discovers he's being played like a piano by his superiors and that his mission is merely a pretext for an invasion of the Netherworld. [[spoiler:Trumping that is General Carter, who himself was played like a fiddle by Archangel Vulcanus, who really wanted the Netherworld razed as part of his ploy to become a god. He (''along with everyone else in the plot'') was being used as a tool to fulfill [[{{Chessmaster}} Seraph Lamington]] and [[ObfuscatingStupidity King Krichevskoy's]] combined [[GambitIndex Gambit]], and had no idea how bad his own scheme fell into the puzzle until the curtain fell -- on him. HARD.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Do|nPachi}}DonPachi'' presents itself as your usual "human military vs. alien invasion" {{Vertical Scrolling|Shooter}} BulletHell shooter. That is, unless you unlock the 2nd loop and [[spoiler:your commander reveals that the "mechanized aliens" he had you think you were fighting were actually ''your own comrades'' that he tricked you into destroying, then declares his intent to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness kill you with his special forces]]]].
* ''Franchise/DragonAge'':
** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', the Dwarf Noble origin story has the player character's exile come about as a result of becoming an Unwitting Pawn in a particularly vicious piece of dwarven politics.
** The plot of act 3 of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' involves Hawke becoming an Unwitting Pawn of [[spoiler:Anders, a ''party member'']] in a scheme to [[spoiler:start a war between the Templars and Mages]]. The scheme ''works'' regardless of Hawke's actions afterwards. To be fair to Hawke, Knight-Commander Meredith, the leader of the Templars, gets suckered just as effectively. The ''only'' reason the plan works is because Meredith can be counted on to respond to ''any'' provocation by beating on the nearest mage she can find. [[spoiler:Her decision to [[WouldBeRudeToSayGenocide Annul the Gallows]] in response to Anders blowing up the Chantry is absolutely ''ridiculous'', since Anders wasn't ''from'' the Gallows in the first place. However, the fact that she could and did do it made mages everywhere realize that the Templars could not be appeased and they had no protection against some insane fanatic like Meredith deciding that they all needed to die for no reason whatsoever, causing mages everywhere to rise in open rebellion against the Templars, just like Anders always wanted.]]
* ''Franchise/DragonQuest'':
** In ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'', [[BigBad Psaro the Manslayer]] was being manipulated by Aamon all along: he pretended to be his loyal second-in-command while exploited Psaro's hatred towards humans and love towards Rose to turn him into a mindless killing-machine and then usurp his position as "Master of Monsters".
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'':
*** The Winter Queen feds Dwarf Dwight the lie that Queen Treacle kicked his grandfather out of Faerie Lea so he steals the flute of the Herald of Spring, which will impede the end of the winter season.
*** Queen Dowager was easily manipulated by the bad guys into throwing Coburg into turmoil by getting rid of her stepson Prince Harry and putting her reluctant son on the throne.
* Inuart in ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}''. He submits to the BigBad's [[MoreThanMindControl mind control]] to become TheDragon, attains the power to sweep Furiae off her feet and defeat Caim, so finally she ''has to love him'', right? Well, he forgot that the BigBad's plan was to kill her, and predictably realizes this too late to do anything.
** It gets worse in the lead-in to Ending Four, where, after the Gods die and he gets everything he wanted as a result... he decides, apropos of nothing, that it's up to Furiae and him to become the new gods and finish their plan to destroy and recreate the world. This entire route being something of a bizarre MindScrew...It's not clear whether [[spoiler:the giant flying man-eating babies are related to this, or just a consequence of the Gods being dead, although the game more implies the latter. Yes, really. Giant killer babies.]]
* In ''VideoGame/DungeonsAndDragonsChroniclesOfMystara - Daggerdale'' it's revealed at the very end that [[spoiler:your questgiver was TheStarscream to the BigBad Rezlus, and she had you kill Rezlus so she could take over the tower for herself.]]
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** In general, ''Elder Scrolls'' [[PlayerCharacter protagonists]] have this happen to them frequently. Thankfully, the only manipulators who [[AnyoneCanDie you can't get bloody revenge against]] in these games are the untouchable [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Princes]], and they at least compensate you for your work with [[LegendaryWeapon cool artifacts]].
** Mehrunes Dagon, the Daedric Prince of [[DestroyerDeity Destruction]], is said to be one by Haskill, the chamberlain of [[MadGod Sheogorath]], in an [[https://www.imperial-library.info/node/2234 obscure text]]- which, in context, is Haskill answering why Mehrunes Dagon has so many Daedra of types that normally serve other Princes in his employ. Haskill describes Dagon as "the pawn of every Prince of true power, the dupe of every schemer in the Nineteen Voids." Essentially, his obsessive desire to destroy things means that when one of the PowersThatBe wants something destroyed for their own purposes, they can easily get Dagon to do it, which serves the double purpose of preserving their own assets and [[VillainWithGoodPublicity passing the blame]] to Dagon, who's already widely considered a GodOfEvil. Thus, he gets various Daedra from other Princes on loan whenever it suits them.
** In the series' backstory, Barenziah, while she was Queen of Morrowind, was one to "the Nightingale" (who was either ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsArena Arena]]'' BigBad [[EvilSorcerer Jagar Tharn]] or his agent, Drayven Indoril, sources are unclear). The Nightingale used her attraction to him in order to acquire the Staff of Chaos. She would, however, work to make things right, using Jagar Tharn's [[LoveMakesYouDumb attraction to her]] in order to get close enough to him to decipher his notes and send them as clues to the people working against him.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'':
*** [[PlayerCharacter The Nerevarine]] gets hit with this especially bad. In the main game's main quest, there is evidence that you are this to the Daedric Prince Azura. Depending on your interpretation of events, there is no true "[[TheChosenOne Chosen One]]", merely [[MultipleChoiceChosen people who could be]], and she has shoe-horned you into that role in order to cast down [[BigBad Dagoth Ur]] and the [[PhysicalGod Tribunal]]. This happens again in the ''Tribunal'' expansion, where one member of the [[BroughtDownToBadass depowered]] Tribunal, [[spoiler:Almalexia]], has gone insane from the loss of divine power and is trying to get you killed by giving you an [[TreacherousQuestGiver increasingly difficult series of quests]] which cross the MoralEventHorizon and just keep going. Whether your character is aware of this or not isn't elaborated upon, but you have been asked to go along with it by the [[MagnificentBastard King of Morrowind]] regardless. When the villain finally resorts to taking you out personally, [[spoiler:she goes into a long monologue about how [[AxeCrazy nutty she is]] and how [[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption stupid you are]]]].
*** In the backstory, St. Veloth was the legendary [[OurElvesAreDifferent Chimer]] mystic who led his people [[DefectorFromDecadence away from the decadence]] of the Summerset Isles to their new homeland in Morrowind after [[MissionFromGod receiving visions from the "Good" Daedra]] (Azura, Boethia, and Mephala). Given their other actions and [[ManipulativeBastard propensity toward manipulation]], it is very possible that they deceived Veloth into leading TheMigration of the Chimer for their benefit only.
** ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'': The Mythic Dawn are, for the most part, a collection of dissatisfied and disenfranchised citizens who've been led to believe that they can destroy a broken system so a better one can be created in its place and are promised paradise in return for their work. In actual fact, their leader Mankar Camoran is manipulating them to serve his own ends, [[spoiler: and the "Paradise" realm of Oblivion he created is a nice cushy palace for himself and a giant torture chamber for his followers. One of the Mythic Dawn members in Paradise even helps you out because he realized that he was tricked.]]
** ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'': In the ''Dragonborn'' DLC, the [[AntagonistTitle titular antagonist]], Miraak, turns out to have been one for [[spoiler:Hermaeus Mora, Daedric Prince of Knowledge and Secrets]]. Miraak is allowed to mess around in Solstheim with his plot to mind-control the natives into creating temples that will [[spoiler:allow him to escape Mora's realm of Apocrypha]] because said manipulator knew that 1) this would create a threat that the current Dragonborn (you) and the Skaal couldn't ignore, and 2) Miraak could not be defeated without his help. He gets away from the DLC with everything he wanted; [[spoiler: the secrets of the Skaal, a new champion (you) to replace his treacherous old one (Miraak), and revenge on the Skaal and Miraak for trying to cheat him]].
* ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'' has a more unique example than some: [[spoiler:the villain. Pious Augustus has been spending two millennia working to bring his [[EldritchAbomination Ancient]] into reality, which would tear humanity a new one if it arrived, and the protagonist of the game must put an end to the threat. However, there are three timelines of Pious doing this, each under a different Ancient, with him also taking steps to subdue a fourth Ancient, Mantorok. Unfortunately for Pious, this is just what Mantorok needs him to do, in order to enact his own plot to eliminate the other three Ancients entirely by merging the three timelines into one at the end.]]
* In ''VideoGame/FableII'', the protagonist spends his entire LIFE trying to stop the BigBad Lucien from rebuilding an ancient tower of magical doom. Once [[spoiler: Lucien is dead, Theresa, who guided him through this quest, reveals that she was just using Lucien to rebuild the spire and using you to defeat Lucien so she could claim the spire herself]].
* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' the reason that you're told to try and keep President Kimball and General Oliver alive if you're working for Mr. House or Yes Man is that after the NCR gets the boot from Vegas their citizens will be quick to blame them for waging a costly and unpopular war while still capable of being on decent enough relations with Vegas to do trade.
* The ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series. Multiple times.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'': First Cecil delivers a trapped ring to the village of Mist (which, is known as the "Bomb Ring" in some versions). Then later he's approached with a HostageForMacguffin deal, and he hands over the macguffin (assumed at the time to be the last one Golbez needed) before seeing the hostage. Then he and his group have the door to the second-to-last Underworld crystal opened because of some disturbance inside, and end up giving Golbez a way in. And ''then'', after failing to secure the (seven!) lost Crystals, they go and unseal the door to the last one, and trudge through the ScrappyLevel both ways to bring it outside, only for Golbez to re-control Kain and take it at the last second. And if you include the crystal that he retrieved for Baron in the backstory, that makes him directly responsible for Golbez getting fully ''half'' of the Crystals. Sometimes, you wonder why Cecil keeps doing things, considering that the situation gets worse every time he gets close to a macguffin.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'':
*** Bartz and his companions [[spoiler:head into the Great Forest of Moore, in order to stop [[BigBad Exdeath]] from taking what's sealed inside. Turns out ''he'' waited for them to get to that world's crystals... And destroy them. Wow.]]
*** Bartz and Krile go to seek Ghido for help after [[spoiler:Exdeath is defeated and the worlds fuse together]] and at that point, [[spoiler:an innocuous-looking splinter that Krile has]] enables Exdeath to return. Having overheard the conversation, [[spoiler:he sets out to take control of the Void]].
** Terra and her comrades fall for this ''hard'' when the Empire in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' insists that it wants to commence peace talks. Granted, a few party members are suspicious enough to prepare a backup plan, but Terra, Locke, and General Leo swallow the plot hook-line-and-sinker and deliver a whole bunch of Espers for Kefka to turn into Magicite. Worse, this enables him to enter the Esper World and raise the Floating Continent, where the Warring Triad are hidden away. It turns out that Emperor Gestahl was also a Unwitting Pawn: [[spoiler:Kefka uses him and the Empire to get to the Triad, and then uses their power to kill him and take all of it for himself.]]
** Cloud from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. One of the main points of his character is that [[WhiteHairBlackHeart Sephiroth]] can make Cloud do anything by manipulating him just the right way, and he makes sure Cloud knows it.
*** All of the Deepground members from ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus'' are this to Professor Hojo. After his death in the original game, he ends up digitalizing his mind into the worldwide network and later possesses Weiss, as well for his final, final experiment, the revival of Omega.
** Queen Brahne Raza Alexandros XVI from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' thought she was behind everything but it turns out she was just a pawn of Garland and Kuja as they manipulate her war and greed to fulfill their own objectives.
** Tidus and Yuna from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''. They get bounced like ping-pong balls back and forth between Yevon's plan to [[spoiler:continue the spiral of death and Auron's plan to destroy it and free Spira.]] ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'' seems to imply that Yuna, at least, ''never figured it out.''
** By the time ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' rolls around, the main group is being ''told'' that they're Unwitting Pawns.
*** And in [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2 the sequel]], it comes up again when [[spoiler:Noel kills Caius, destroying the heart of Etro, killing her with him]], ensuring his plan succeeds. The most infuriating part is that ''Noel and Serah already knew this'' but RememberedTooLate.
** [[spoiler:Almost ''everyone'']] ends up this way in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' after the dust has settled from the GambitPileup by the story's end. [[spoiler:Except Delita. And Ramza.]].
* Sigurd, the protagonist of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar''. He starts a border war to rescue a friend who was captured by a neighboring prince and ends up conquering that whole country. From then on, the corrupt nobles of his homeland, Grannvale, use him to conquer another neighboring country so that they can cement themselves as TheEmpire. As soon as Sigurd's conquered the last castle, Grannvale declares him and his family traitors and he's forced to flee, utterly disillusioned with his country and his own foolishness. [[spoiler:Even his efforts to clear his name serve someone else's agenda, as Lord Arvis places his political rivals in Sigurd's way and waits until the bodies are done falling--then he tricks Sigurd into laying down arms and murders him.]]
* ''VideoGame/GodOfWar3'', reveals that throughout all three games, Kratos was an unwitting pawn of [[spoiler: Athena, who used his thirst for revenge to kill all of her threats to power, which are basically the other Gods, especially Ares and Zeus. She watches Kratos kill them all, so she can rule over the humans as the one true God and to take possession over Hope so that she will have complete control. Hope being in the image of a little girl, which reminds Kratos of his daughter helps him finally snap out of his RoaringRampageOfRevenge and realize what is happening in time to stop her.]]
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'':
** ''VideoGame/GoldenSun1'' and ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'' have Alex, who uses both parties as Unwitting Pawns. While they fight amongst each other about lighting the lighthouses Alex twiddles his thumbs for when they finally do and cause the Golden Sun to rise and shine down massive power down on Mt. Aleph, where he happens to be waiting.
** Only to discover that he ''himself'' was [[spoiler:the Wise One]]'s Unwitting Pawn in his plan: [[spoiler:he knew lighting the lighthouses would allow someone to gain enough power from the Golden Sun to conquer the world, so when all but one of the gems required to light the lighthouses was removed from their chamber, the Wise One transferred just enough of that power (which was originally split evenly between the gems) from the remaining gem to Isaac without telling him, meaning that if the lighthouses were all lit, anyone who wanted the Golden Sun's power would not get enough of it to conquer the world.]]
** And in ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'' it's shown that he one-upped The Wise One, and is doing the same thing again. He's so good at this that in his very first appearence, he even says to the characters they're pawns, and they can't do anything about it. By the end of the game, it's clear that he's been using almost everyone of importance throughout the whole plot. And the player still doesn't have the slightest idea what his long-term goals are, as he remains TheUnfought.
** Subverted in Agatio's intro scene in ''The Lost Age'', in which he flat-out tells Alex [[TakeThat to his face]] that he knows he's being used, and ''just doesn't care'' as long as his goals get accomplished, too. Agatio's otherwise one of the flattest major characters in a series known for flat characters.
* General Morgahn during much of ''VideoGame/GuildWars: Nightfall''. Once he learns the truth about Varesh, however, he helps defeat her and joins the player character's team as an NPC. The PC also spends a fair bit of time being this during various schemes in ''Guild Wars: Prophecies''.
* In the original ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'', after you defeat the sub-boss, Testament, he reveals that this was all part of his plan, since he can now use his blood to awaken Justice.
* Gordon Freeman and Adrian Shephard in ''VideoGame/HalfLife''. We don't [[KansasCityShuffle exactly know what the plan is]] but that G-Man keeps laughing at us.
* ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'':
** Jacket never learns who is really behind the phone-calls which are assigning him missions to murder members of the Russian Mafia en masse, nor does he know how his killing-sprees play a role in [[spoiler: 50 Blessings' plot to ignite a nuclear war between the USA and Russia]].
** Phone Hom (the telecommunications company which is seen in "Neighbors" and "Prank Call") also serves as one of these; [[spoiler:they are the ones who send out the recorded messages to the 50 Blessings hitmen. Apparently, their systems are bugged and they aren't even aware that it's happening]].
%% Needs Context * [[spoiler:''The protagonist'']] in ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire''. [[MagnificentBastard "Magnificent"]] indeed.
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' has it happen in essentially every game:
** In general, this is the way TheHeartless operate, acting as mooks for people with strong but wicked hearts and corroding their resistance to darkness by proximity, eventually allowing the Heartless to turn on their former masters and steal their powerful hearts to be turned into powerful Heartless.
** The first game has Riku, Maleficent, and the other Disney villains as the pawn of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, who plays a long con to get Riku to give in to the power of darkness enough to allow Ansem to steal his body while Maleficent gathers the seven pure hearts he needs to reach Kingdom Hearts.
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'' spends almost its entire plot on Sora playing into the hands of Organization XIII's plans to brainwash him into their servant by gradually modifying his memory.
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' has Sora duped by the Organization again, this time in that their plan relies on him killing as many Heartless as possible so that they can collect the hearts released and build a second Kingdom Hearts. This one means that he's been playing into their hands for all three of the prior games.
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' being a prequel where all three of the main characters are DoomedByCanon, it shouldn't be a surprise that they spend the entire game being thoroughly manipulated by Master Xehanort and Vanitas, Terra being the biggest sucker of them all. Whether Xehanort or Vanitas was the pawn of the other depends on which one you think was stronger at the end of their respective gambits.
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' reveals that every hero and every villain in all of the games before this was the pawn of Xehanort, with all of his previous failures having been part of one big GambitRoulette. This includes Xehanort being a pawn of ''himself'' courtesy of a StableTimeLoop that he used to set up the roulette.
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' reveals that all of the above was set up by [[spoiler:the Master of Masters and his apprentice Luxu, known today as Braig/Xigbar and the original wielder of Xehanort's Keyblade]], who together planted the idea in Xehanort's head of forging the χ-blade and walked him through every step of creating it. There's no indication that Xehanort ever knew the truth.
* [[spoiler:Kirby himself (and the other player characters, if you use them)]] in ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand''. [[spoiler:Once you beat the apparent final boss (though anyone familiar with the series would know otherwise as there's ''always'' a TrueFinalBoss), it turns out that it was actually a [[BigGood Big]] ''[[BigGood Good]]'' and that the person you've been helping all game is the BigBad...and manages to retain the usual surprise by giving you a boss stage even if you haven't reached TrueFinalBoss levels.]]
* ''VideoGame/LastScenario'', in its grand quest to [[PlayingWithATrope break]] RPG plots, couldn't possibly leave this one alone. However, unlike most of the tropes it targets, it's not {{subverted}} -- it's [[spoiler:exaggerated. Not only is Hilbert doing exactly what the Kingdom wants him to do for the first half of the game, he was set up as a hero ''purely'' for this purpose. The entire HeroicLineage spiel was [[UnreliableExpositor lies]], and in falling for it hook, line, and sinker, Hilbert was doing exactly what they wanted.]]
* Ironically subverted by Raziel from the ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' series. Throughout all three games, every character is constantly waving this in his face, telling him how he has no idea what his true purpose is, and that he's just been their "unwitting pawn" the whole time. In the end, their manipulations buy him time to figure out his actual destiny, which none of them had ever guessed, thus making all of the villains the suckers in their own GambitRoulette.
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime''. Throughout the first half of the game, Link ventures across Hyrule, gathering the three Spiritual Stones which will allow him access to the Master Sword and the Sacred Realm... only to allow Ganondorf to get in and grab the Triforce in the process!
** Link has a tendency to fall victim to this trope. In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', he accidentally lifts the seal that keeps Ganon's power sealed, in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwords'' he releases Vaati from his prison by pulling out the titular sword, and in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle of Ages]]'', he moves a sacred rock that is supposed to keep Veran from getting close to Nayru. Every time this trope happens, it's because Link is following the orders of MissionControl, who's supposed to be on your side but every damned time just ends up having you go help out the enemy. Although, to be fair for Link in ''The Wind Waker'', [[spoiler:Ganondorf pretty much had him trapped in a MortonsFork, anyway; while the Master Sword does act as the seal for the last of his dark power, it's also the only thing that could defeat him. [[XanatosGambit So, either Link doesn't take it, and Ganon's not gonna be beaten at all, or Link does take it, and Ganondorf gets his full power back while the Master Sword is powerless]].]]
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds'': [[spoiler:Link is this to Hilda. He goes about rescuing the Sages and eventually getting the Triforce of Courage under her direction supposedly just so he could defeat Yuga-Ganon and rescue Zelda. Turns out that Hilda actually wanted to take all three pieces of the Triforce in order to replace the Lorulean Triforce that was destroyed ages ago, and she had Yuga kidnap Zelda for the Triforce of Wisdom and revive and fuse with Ganon for the Triforce of Power. But after all this, it turns out Yuga was using Hilda as ''his'' pawn, planning to use the Hyrulian Triforce to [[InTheirOwnImage remake the world in his image]], Hyrule and Lorule be damned.]]
* In ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomInfinite'', [[spoiler:Thanos is played like a fiddle by Jedah and Mistress Death, using his love for Death in order to kickstart the merging of the Capcom and Marvel Universes by Ultron and Sigma. TheStinger reveals that [[TheDogBitesBack Thanos is not too happy with this level of betrayal]] and has obtained the Satsui no Hadou with the intention of ''killing Death'']].
* So many of them in ''Franchise/MassEffect''. Notably [[spoiler:Saren Arterius and Matriarch Benezia for the Reapers]]. [[spoiler:Commander Shepard is an interesting case, as they voluntarily ally themselves with the Illusive Man despite his questionable morals, but can also turn on him and screw over his plans in the Paragon ending of ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''.]] And in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', [[spoiler:as brilliant as he is, the Illusive Man is no match for the power of the Reapers and ends up being their pawn]].
* ''Franchise/MegaMan'':
** Copy-X, and, to a lesser extent, Zero and his LaResistance allies in ''VideoGame/MegaManZero3''. [[BigBad Dr. Weil]] played them all for fools, orchestrating the new conflict between Neo Aradia and the LaResistance, which was just after an unofficial truce made by Zero and the Guardians. Zero goes off to fight Copy-X to stop the conflict, and when the latter tries to go OneWingedAngel, a booby-trap which Weil installed earlier on Copy-X, was activated, killing him. With Copy-X gone, Dr. Weil, the one next in power, is now the new dictator of Neo Arcadia. It was [[LampshadeHanging pointed out]] by Zero himself:
--->''...It's all going according to his plans.''
** [[BigBad Serpent]] in ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' was manipulated by Prometheus and Pandora under secret orders from [[TheManBehindTheMan Master Albert]] while serving as his CoDragons, intending for him to dig up and awaken Model W while stating that it will eventually devour his soul just like the helpless people he fed to it for the awakening. [[DownplayedTrope However]], Serpent himself was seemingly aware of Albert's existence if nothing else, as he alludes to him in Aile's ending, though if he knew about said manipulations but disregarded them out of pride is up in the air.
** [[TheStarscream Prometheus and Pandora]] find themselves on the other end of this in ''VideoGame/MegaManZX Advent''. At first, they backstabbed [[BigBad Albert]] and then fight Grey/Ashe. After they fight and break off the fight deciding it's just pointless, suddenly their anguish, hatred, and despair are absorbed by [[ArtifactOfDoom Model Ws]] in the background and then they collapse. The real Albert then appears, stating that the body that everyone thought was "Albert" is actually a decoy, and that those negative emotions are necessary to revive and activate the Model Ws.
--->'''[[MagnificentBastard Albert]]:''' [[AllAccordingToPlan Just as I planned]]! Soon all of the Model Ws will begin to merge! I will become the ultimate Mega Man and the plan will be complete!
* ''VideoGame/{{Messiah}}'' has Bob guided by a [[TheVoice mysterious voice]] to kill the dictator that rules Earth with an iron fist. Turns out, the voice is [[spoiler:Satan, who was earlier captured by humans, and now with the dictator dead can take over the world.]]
* A staple of the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series:
** Solid Snake is manipulated throughout the entire series. The most affecting part of the ending of ''[=MGS4=]'' [[spoiler:might be Big Boss promising Snake that there is no one left to manipulate him anymore]].
** Arguably in the original ''VideoGame/MetalGear1'', as Big Boss intentionally selected Snake as the agent to send false information back to NATO (and, by proxy, the Patriots), not counting on Snake's hereditary ability to kick ass and take names. If ''Peace Walker'' is anything to go by (and possibly ''[=MGS4=]''), Big Boss's misinformation doesn't even come close to the fact that the Patriots essentially manipulated Snake into trying to destroy Metal Gear and take Big Boss down as an insurance policy in case they failed to either bring him back into the fold or ruin/kill Big Boss the first time by one of their agents firing a nuke at the East Coast.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'':
*** Liquid's plan hinges on Snake discovering the card keys (really, three keys in one). [[spoiler:To manipulate Snake into doing this, Liquid masqueraded as one of Snake's few friends (Snake's support staff apparently figured out the location of his radio calls, but not until the big reveal), locked Snake in a cell with a dead hostage whom a master of disguise had been pretending to be (Snake even recognized that the hostage should not have been as decayed as he was), and left the control room for the card keys virtually unguarded even when Liquid had earlier encountered Snake outside the room. Snake didn't realize he was being duped until after he activated Metal Gear.]] The sad thing is that, even if Liquid's plan didn't work or didn't even happen, Snake still would have been an unwitting pawn in either case. [[spoiler:According to Liquid and his Pentagon spy, the real reason why Snake was sent over to Shadow Moses was to infect most of the people on the island, both the terrorists and most of the people involved in the REX project, so the Pentagon, and presumably the Patriots, would have recovered REX and the Genome Soldiers from the island without any risk of damage, even making absolute certain that FOXDIE was injected into Snake.]]
*** Otacon designed Metal Gear REX under the assumption that it would be used as a mobile TMD to destroy incoming missiles -- he had no idea that his employers would arm it with nukes instead.
** The ending to ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' implies that Solid Snake and Otacon may have ended up being Unwitting Pawns of the Patriots all along.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' shows Naked Snake being used by the United States government into achieving their goal of gaining Russia's portion of the Philosophers' Legacy. ''Portable Ops'' has [[spoiler: Zero]] use Big Boss to defeat Gene and scare the Philosophers enough that Ocelot can gain control of their whereabouts and the American portion of the Philosophers' Legacy.
*** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPortableOps'' also implies that the main villain, Volgin, was himself an Unwitting Pawn to a deviously cunning strategist.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' retcons many of the events previously established in the franchise. It is explained that the events of the first two ''Metal Gear'' games involved [[spoiler:Big Boss trying to create a place where individual liberty is guaranteed for everyone, instead of being a soldiers' haven. The Patriots have Solid Snake tear down both Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land to destroy Big Boss' dream of freedom]]. The first two ''Metal Gear Solid'' games are changed to have Solid Snake again being used by the Patriots [[spoiler:and possibly Zero]] to defeat anyone who stood in their way. The Patriots by ''[=MGS4=]'' (set in 2014) are now an [[spoiler:AI system which was supposed to continue Zero's legacy by gaining control of all of mankind using the Sons of the Patriots (SOP) system. Snake is sent in to stop Revolver Ocelot from destroying the Patriots AI system]]. At the same time, Snake and his allies are used [[spoiler:by Liquid Ocelot in his goal in destroying the Patriots AI systems, Liquid Ocelot pretending to plan to hijack the System using the AI named 'GW' and Snake and company countering it by using a virus to destroy the it, not knowing the virus as written by Naomi would destroy the remaining Patriot AIs as well]]; even if he didn't know about it or plan for it to happen, it certainly fit his goals. ''Somewhat'' averted in that his own post-Patriot vision was averted by [[spoiler:Sunny Gurlukovich, who wrote the virus to destroy the Patriot AIs but preserve key parts of modern civilization, and then, Drebin implies that Ocelot's vision of a war-torn world would still be an inevitable likely outcome despite this, that or the UN becoming a neo-Patriots/Philosophers III group]].
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'', other than the brief revelation that Coldman was the deviously cunning strategist who Gene alluded to in ''Portable Ops'', it turns out that most of the game was manipulated by Paz Ortega Andrade, even the KGB agent Zadornov hiring Snake as a distraction to force Coldman to activate Peace Walker so that he could hijack it and frame America with an attack on Cuba, and she wasn't even the one who pulled all the strings: her employers, Cipher, had planned out the entire incident just to get Big Boss to rejoin the fold, and it is also heavily implied that they also ordered Paz to frame Big Boss and MSF with nuking the East Coast when Big Boss refused the offer. They also arranged for Kaz to briefly work with them, although it is also implied that they didn't tell him about the nuke plan.
%%* In ''VideoGame/MitadakeHigh'', you are either this or the Manipulative Bastard themselves.
* ''Franchise/MortalKombat'':
** Onaga's manipulation of Shujinko in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception'' is actually the namer of the game.
** ''He's'' got it bad? Poor Kitana has been a victim of this multiple times, throughout the whole franchise. The first time was by Shao Khan in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatII''. Then it was by Onaga in ''Deception'', and then by both Mileena and Jade in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatShaolinMonks''. Even in the non-cannon ''VideoGame/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse'', she was an Unwitting Pawn of both Dark Khan and Quan Chi.
** In fact, this has happened to a ''lot'' of characters in the franchise. It's hard to find one who ''hasn't'' been tricked, brainwashed, and/or magically enslaved by one or more of the main villains at least once.
* ''VideoGame/NotForBroadcast'' has this pop up with one of the game's major political factions: [[spoiler:Disrupt is secretly led by a group of corrupt oligarchs who are hoping to topple the Advance government and retake power in the country to set into motion plans of their own [[ADarkerShadeOfBlack that makes Advance's policies look moderate in comparison]]. As for Alan James, the conspiracy theory-turned-terrorist leader: they consider him a useful puppet to dance and sing to their tune, unbeknownst to Alan himself, and once the oligarchs take control again, they have no compunctions with [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness cutting Alan's strings]].]]
* Both the Judge and [[spoiler:''the player him/herself'']] in ''VideoGame/{{OFF}}'' get played by [[spoiler:the Batter]]. By the time they get to find out and correct their mistakes, it's far too late, as he already [[spoiler:plunged almost the entire world into white void]].
* Edge in ''VideoGame/PanzerDragoon Saga'' spends the whole game being used by the Seekers, the Empire, and by Craymen, since he's the only dragon rider aside from Azel atop Atolm Dragon.
* ''VideoGame/PeretEmHeruForThePrisoners'':
** Professor Tsuchida offers a group of Japanese tourists the opportunity of a lifetime when he invites them to aid in his excavation of some underground ruins. In reality, however, he only invited them along as extra bodies: the place is full of {{Death Trap}}s, and he sees all of the tourists as [[WeHaveReserves expendable]]. Even the [[WouldHurtAChild nine-year-old girl]].
** Come the climax, it's revealed that [[spoiler:the professor also saw his assistant Dr. Kuroe this way. The only reason he employed him in the first place was in hopes of taking revenge for his [[FailureToSaveMurder failure to save]] his daughter Shizumi one year prior]].
* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'':
** ''All'' of ''VideoGame/Persona2''[='s=] human antagonists are nothing more than pawns being manipulated by [[spoiler:Nyarlathotep]] in its CosmicChessGame against [[spoiler:Philemon]].
** The main characters in ''VideoGame/Persona3'' spend a good portion of the game fighting a series of [[MonsterOfTheWeek powerful bosses that appear once a month]] only to discover that [[spoiler:Ikutsuki]] tricked them into doing so [[spoiler:by doctoring video footage of Yukari's father]] so that he could [[spoiler:[[EldritchAbomination summon Nyx]]]]. [[spoiler:Ikutsuki's plan fails when he forgets about [[SpannerInTheWorks the dog]]. However, that mistake only serves to delay the inevitable, and the protagonist is ultimately forced to [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice himself/herself]] to prevent Nyx from bringing forth [[TheEndofTheWorldAsWeKnowIt The Fall]].]]
** ''VideoGame/Persona4'':
*** If the player doesn't choose to [[spoiler:immediately kill him (thus getting the Bad Ending)]], [[spoiler:Taro Namatame]] is revealed to be a TragicHero with genuinely good intentions misguided by [[spoiler:the true murderer, Tohru Adachi, who manipulated Namatame into throwing Adachi's intended victims into the TV World to try to save them from him, without telling him that throwing them into the TV World and leaving them at the mercy of the Shadows there was how Adachi killed people]]. When [[spoiler:Namatame]] learns from the Investigation Team the truth [[spoiler:about what happens to people thrown into the TV World]], he has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment. [[spoiler:But then it turns out there's an even BIGGER [[TheManBehindTheMan Man Behind The Man]] who's been manipulating Namatame, Adachi, and ''you'']].
*** The Investigation Team also end up pawns to [[spoiler:Adachi. In rescuing the people Namatame kidnapped and threw into the TV World, they reinforced Namatame's delusions that the TV World was a safe place, which led to him kidnapping more people. Of course, their actions are still for the better, since the people Namatame "rescued" would have died had they not done so.]]
** ''VideoGame/Persona5'':
*** [[spoiler:The main characters' rise to fame]] was orchestrated by TheConspiracy, so that [[spoiler:the good guys could eventually become TheScapegoat for all the crimes the villains committed using the [[MentalWorld Metaverse]]]].
*** [[spoiler:Goro Akechi]] ends up being this to [[spoiler:both the heroes ''and'' TheConspiracy]]: [[spoiler:The good guys ''know'' he's working for the Conspiracy right from the start, and play him like a fiddle]], while [[spoiler:the bad guys plan on killing him the moment he outlives his usefulness]].
*** [[spoiler:The heroes and TheConspiracy]] were both being manipulated by [[spoiler:Yaldabaoth, the God of Order, who was manipulating both sides to eliminate any "chaotic elements" inside the Metaverse that would stop him from removing TheEvilsOfFreeWill from the rest of humanity]].
* ''VideoGame/PillarsOfDust'':
** Carlton and Gregg [[spoiler:are tricked by Almera and Elmer to venture into the Outer Plane, giving Almorigga a chance to kill them and return to full power.]]
** The Cult of Naev [[spoiler:have no idea that their goddess is dead and that their high priestess is working for Almorigga.]]
* Vhailor in ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' by [[spoiler:the Practical Incarnation]]. And then, yourself fall for it, by [[spoiler:the aptly-named Trias the Betrayer]].
* N of ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite''. He was raised by [[BigBad Ghetsis]] to believe that [[HumansAreBastards all humans were bad]], sheltered all his life around abused Pokémon. He [[WellIntentionedExtremist genuinely had good intentions]] to free all Pokémon, but in the end of the game, we find out that he was just a pawn to advance Ghetsis's plan of [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist dominating Unova]]. [[HeroicBSOD Poor guy doesn't take it lightly.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'':
** [[PersonOfMassDestruction Alex Mercer]] spends most of the game unknowingly aiding the plans of people who want him dead. [[spoiler: First, he frees Elizabeth Greene, thinking she's just another victim. As it turns out, she's the HiveQueen behind the virus. Then he tries to help his ex-girlfriend, Karen Parker, by providing her with biological materials from the infected. As it turns out, [[ArmiesAreEvil Blackwatch]] has coerced her into working for them, and that genetic material Alex collected gets turned into a parasite which almost kills him. Then Blackwatch Captain Cross tricks him into going to a location where they hit him with both [[DeadlyGas Bloodtox]] and [[SuperSoldier D-Codes]]. Finally, the Supreme Hunter consumes Cross and uses that form to get Alex to kill off the Blackwatch leadership, and in an attempt to catch Alex off-guard so that the Hunter might eat him.]] Our SociopathicHero manages to overcome all this because he's a badass, but he does come across as a bit of a gullible idiot. Part of the reason is because the amnesiac Mercer, even though he's [[ImAHumanitarian eating people left and right]] in order to understand what the hell is going on, is often in the dark about what the hell is going on. As the game progresses, he ''knows'' he's probably being played, but due to a lack of options, he has to play along anyways if he's going to have a hope of accomplishing anything. He even says it outright to [[spoiler:Cross]].
--->'''Mercer:''' Why do I get the feeling I'm getting the short end of this deal?
** [[RogueProtagonist Mercer]] and [[spoiler:Koenig]] try to do this to James Heller in ''VideoGame/Prototype2'', [[SubvertedTrope but he cottons on pretty fast]].
* The hero from the ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory'' series has a terrible habit of playing right into the game's villain's hands, even though he manages to fix things in the end. In ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryII'', [[spoiler:he gets mind-controlled into releasing the evil djinn Iblis by the game's BigBad, then is almost trapped forever in Iblis' chamber]]. In ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIII'', [[spoiler:in an attempt to bring peace between two tribes, he brings their leaders together in front of a third-party king. Then one of the leaders becomes possessed and kills the other, and is promptly killed by another person in the room, almost guaranteeing the war he was trying to stop]]. In ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIV'', [[spoiler:he falls for a trick by the BigBad from the second game, back for revenge. As a result, he ends up having to go through the motions to release a monster on the world]]. However, [[spoiler:Elsa Von Spielburg]] is the Unwitting Pawn in ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryV''.
* ''VideoGame/RadiataStories''. [[IdiotHero Jack]] does [[WellIntentionedExtremist Lucian's]] job for him. All he has to do is provide the tools and the directions.
* ''VideoGame/RealityMinds'': Ridgefern brought back Kvena as a ghost in order to observe whether or not she would misuse the power of the essences like he expected of people.
* Excella Gionne from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' thought that she was seducing Wesker and will arise as the queen of the new world Wesker creates. Wesker saw her as nothing other than an amusing pawn to further his Ouroboros research and disposed of.
* Raguna is a massive one in the first ''VideoGame/RuneFactory'' game. Going by hours spent playing the game, you will spend over 99% of the game actually supplying the enemy with energy for their final plan. Going by plot events, it depends on how large a percentage you want to give to the final boss fight end ending cutscene, because up until then you're playing into the Sech's hand.
%%* Happens to the player in several ''VideoGame/{{Runescape}}'' quests.
* Valdo, the protagonist of the PC game ''VideoGame/SecretsOfDaVinciTheForbiddenManuscript'', falls squarely into this territory. He's on a mission at the behest of an unknown employer, unaware that doing what his boss wants will lead to either him either being killed or thrown in prison for treason (which would probably lead to his death anyway).
* ''VideoGame/{{Sanitarium}}'' has an interesting variation. There are two main antagonists, [[spoiler:the Morgan that exists within the protagonist's DreamLand, and the one who exists in real world]]); both want the protagonist's death. The "unwitting" part comes from the fact that the first antagonist believes himself to be the second, and doesn't realize that killing the protagonist will cause him to die too; while the second doesn't even know that the first exists or that he's helping him [[spoiler:by keeping the protagonist into a coma]].
* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'':
** Yuko Takao in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne''. In the middle of the [[BleakLevel bleak]] DeathWorld that the Conception has made of Tokyo (and which she is semi-directly responsible for), she's contacted by a goddess capable of giving her the power to undo said horrors, with only the small caveat of adding her into the ruling pantheon when it's done. [[spoiler:Said goddess isn't a goddess at all, and she never had the means to restore the world. The part about being in danger if she's not incorporated into the new reality is entirely correct, though.]]
** Zelenin from ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney''. ManipulativeBastard [[DragonWithAnAgenda Mastema]] and [[CouncilOfAngels The Three Wise Men]] play her like a fiddle all the game, playing on her insecurities and fears like a cheap kazoo, which she always blissfully ignores, until either their plans come to fruition or she's been reduced to holy dust.
** [[VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV The four Prentice Samurai]], and indeed, [[spoiler:''the entire Eastern Kingdom of Mikado'']] are used as puppets by [[spoiler:Gabby, who is the ArchangelGabriel in disguise]] to [[spoiler:kill Kagome Tower's guardians and spring the captive Archangels]].
** In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse'', [[spoiler:Lucifer (and, to a much lesser extent, Merkabah) is revealed to be one to YHVH, being used by YHVH as a scapegoat to prolong the people's suffering and maintain his power]]. Also, earlier, [[spoiler:every human is played like a fiddle by Shesha and Krishna after their supposed defeats in Ikebukuro and Tsukiji Konganji. Under the guise of Flynn, Shesha gets Nanashi to kill Merkabah and Lucifer so the Divine Powers can re-emerge at the last moment]].
* Harry spends most of ''VideoGame/SilentHill1'' being Dahlia's Sucker, but his unwavering love for his daughter is also what causes him to be the SpannerInTheWorks. Depending on which of the MultipleEndings you get, you can argue the same for the protagonists of the other games: passively taking directions from everyone [[VideoGame/SilentHill2 and their dog]] at every turn, but fully capable of [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu killing]] the local EldritchAbomination when push comes to shove.
* In ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'', The one to fall into this trope is [[spoiler:Sonic the Hedgehog himself. The mysterious voice that's guiding Sonic through the Starfall islands and instructing him to destroy the Titans is an EldritchAbomination known as the End which wants to free itself from its imprisonment so it can destroy Sonic's world. Making matters worse is that the seeming antagonist, Sage, ''knows what's going on,'' but withholds information from Sonic because she's an AI made by Eggman and thus automatically sees him as an enemy.]]
* Patroklos Alexander from ''VideoGame/SoulcaliburV'' is the son of legendary Holy Warrior Sophitia Alexandria and has pledged himself to hunting the 'malfested' who slew her and kidnapped his elder sister. [[spoiler: So he winds up killing the human enemies of Graf Dumas, an alias of what amounts to the grand-daddy of all malfested... the Azure Nightmare himself.]]
* There is sort of a subversion played on this in ''VideoGame/SpartanTotalWarrior''. The game, like the movie ''Film/ThreeHundred'' which it shares many similarities to, consists of ridiculously epic [[ConservationOfNinjutsu One Against Billions]] battles and sweeping, one-button-per-5-victims decapitations like a living lawnmower, all while listening to the god of war Ares's evil laughter and bloodlusty encouragement ("Hahaha, kill and kill again!"). It appears blatantly obvious to anyone familiar with button-mashing spells and swordplay epics that he will turn out to be some sort of enemy in the future, and that his plan all along was to get you to kill every Roman and his mother, but it turns out that it's only half true; [[spoiler:while Ares does indeed to turn out to be the BigBad, your genocide on the Romans was merely a distraction so that your homeland of Sparta could be destroyed while you were away. We are treated to multiple more tropes during Ares's HannibalLecture, such as the fact that he is your [[LukeIAmYourFather father]] and Tiberias was merely a [[TheManBehindTheMan puppet]]. You technically did fulfill his plans for mass murder, but it was of both your enemies AND your friends.]]
* ''VideoGame/SpyroYearOfTheDragon'': Bianca helps the Sorceress abduct the dragon eggs thinking they'll be raised in the Forgotten Worlds, which will stop all magic disappearing from her home - the Sorceress really plans to kill the dragons and take their wings for a spell.
* ''Franchise/StarCraft'':
** ''[[VideoGame/StarCraftI StarCraft: Brood War]]'' was already a pretty confusing GambitPileup to begin with. Every character who isn't directly opposed to [[spoiler:Kerrigan]] ends up being one of [[spoiler:her]] Unwitting Pawns as time goes on, with the exception of [[spoiler:Samir Duran, who uses her rise to power to speed up and hide his Protoss-Zerg Hybridization project]]. It can be said that the biggest pawn of all is Jim Raynor, who despite being one of the more heroic characters in the game, often ends up directly or indirectly helping villains, and in the grand scheme of things, is almost powerless.
** Jim Raynor's tendency to be one of these unfortunately carries on into ''VideoGame/StarCraftII''. To his credit, he spends the ''[[VideoGame/StarCraftIIWingsOfLiberty Wings of Liberty]]'' campaign openly bemoaning the fact that he's probably either being openly played with, or just being set up to be used later. He spends nearly as much time trying to figure out ''how'' as he does trying not to have a bunch of Zerg chew his face off.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
** In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', [[spoiler:you're the ex-Sith Lord, captured, [[MindRape mind-wiped by the Jedi Council]], and with Bastila holding your leash]]. MetaphoricallyTrue statement on par with Obi-Wan and his "certain point of view".
** The player character from ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' counts too. In this case, they more or less ''know'' Kreia's got them on a leash and is shamelessly running her own agenda, but a cross of [[{{Synchronization}} Force Bond]], [[EnemyMine Sith assassins]] (led by her former apprentices) on your tail, and ''no one'' giving you a clear answer as to why this is all going on means the Exile has little choice but to keep letting Kreia hold the leash. Kreia also uses the rest of the party, recruiting them through blackmail or MoreThanMindControl so they go along with the Exile... who is still on Kreia's leash. It's [[MagnificentBastard Kreia's game]], you're just holding the controls because she wants it that way.
** In ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed'', Starkiller/Galen Marek is shown to have been one when [[spoiler:Vader reveals that everything up to that point had been planned by himself and [[ManipulativeBastard Palpatine]] to have Starkiller assemble a proto-Rebellion. It didn't matter if his goal was to stay loyal to Vader and "distract" the Emperor, or if he thought he was fooling Vader and genuinely attempting to form a rebellion, his only purpose was to get them together in the same place at the same time.]] It only fails because [[spoiler: Juno and PROXY are jointly the SpannerInTheWorks]], one sacrificing himself to distract Vader as he's [[spoiler: about to kill his apprentice]] and the other rescuing him after his fall. The ending also implies that [[spoiler: Vader was also an Unwitting Pawn to Palpatine all along. He wanted to see if Starkiller had the potential to surpass Vader and become Palpatine's new apprentice]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Strife}}'', you get hit with this in the bad ending, [[spoiler:Blackbird, your VoiceWithAnInternetConnection, is revealed to be the Entity and has been using you to free her]].
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'', once Mario collects every Crystal Star except the one the X-Nauts found before the game started, Grodus, leader of the X-Nauts, creates a plan to give the Crystal Star he has to [[TheDragon Lord Crump]], who he has lost all trust in, so Mario can take it from him and open the Thousand-Year Door for Grodus while disposing of Crump. Unfortunately for Grodus, upon achieving his goal of reviving the Shadow Queen, it's revealed that Beldam, leader of the Shadow Sirens that were working for him, had lied to Grodus about the Queen becoming his servant so he would try and use her to TakeOverTheWorld, thus making the entire X-Naut organization a pawn to Beldam.
** In ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'', Dimentio spends much of the game manipulating Mario and co.
--->''"Even if the count dies, the Chaos Heart won't disappear if I continue to control it! But I needed the power of the Pure Hearts to beat him. I couldn't do that on my own. So I had you do all the sweaty labor for me. And you even used your Pure Hearts to defeat Count Bleck! If they make greeting cards to thank people for helping with evil plans, I owe you one."''
** Antasma from ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam''. Although he's billed as the main antagonist, he forms an [[BigBadDuumvirate alliance]] with [[Characters/SuperMarioBrosBowser Bowser]] that backfires horribly for him, since Bowser turns out to have been taking advantage of him and [[HijackedByGanon screws Antasma over in the end]].
* In ''VideoGame/SystemShock2'', this happens often enough through the game's plot that it's practically the player's full-time occupation. However, those who had played the first game, and knew who they were dealing with, walked into the Gambit with open arms.
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'', [[spoiler:Harry Whitehorse unwittingly falls into Alexei and Yeager's plot to cause tension in the guilds by helping cause the death of Belius, and by extension, his grandfather, the Don. Belius gets better, the Don does not.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheTiamatSacrament'':
** Gyle spends much of the game trying to force Xandra, the princess of Ildria, to surrender the throne to Ry'jin. [[spoiler:Ry'jin never considers Xandra's endorsement a high priority, and only led Gyle to believe this endorsement is necessary so that he'll antagonize the party, thus increasing their motivation to unseal the dragons.]]
** Az'uar and Xandra are told by Faen to gather the Great Seven Dragons' Soul Gems to obtain the power to defeat Ry'jin. [[spoiler:Faen actually is Ry'jin, who wants them to get the Soul Gems for his own use.]]
* [[spoiler:''[[RuleOfThree The protagonist]]'']] in almost every ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' installment. [[spoiler: Blatantly obvious in the later installments, where Reimu is used by Yukari to counter Kanako's influence.]]
** ''[[Manga/TouhouBougetsushou Silent Sinner in Blue]]'' manga: Remilia Scarlet realized she was a pawn of another character after a while, but decided to go along with it anyway. Partly to [[ItAmusedMe relieve some boredom]] and partly because, by then, she had actually started to care for the path she was being manipulated into following. [[spoiler: Even worse, the ostensible "winners", the Watatsuki sisters, are completely fooled by both Yukari and Eirin's plans, tricked out of a rare bottle of wine by the first and getting extorted out of considerable favors by the latter.]]
** And in ''VideoGame/TouhouKishinjouDoubleDealingCharacter'', Shinmyoumaru Sukuna exemplified the "unwitting" part of this trope when she became Seija Kijin's pawn. Seija is an amanojaku, a {{youkai}} species notorious for being [[ConsummateLiar pathological liars]] and {{Manipulative Bastard}}s, and Shinmyoumaru ''was aware of this fact'' when she bought into Seija's lies. "HorribleJudgeOfCharacter" doesn't even ''begin'' to describe it.
* Non-FF Squaresoft example: Surlent from ''VideoGame/TreasureOfTheRudra''. Being fooled by a thief is one thing, being fooled about ''once every thirty minutes'' by the very ''forces of Creation'' is another. Although it quickly becomes clear that Surlent helping the game's GambitPileup along (and [[spoiler: losing his body thrice in the process]]) is actually his destiny (by failing hard but consistently, he accidentally brings all of the {{MacGuffin}}s to the right people at the right time), it still occasionally starts looking like a case of JustEatGilligan.
* ''VideoGame/VagrantStory'': In a very unusual example, Ashley Riot was a Unwitting Pawn for [[spoiler:an AntiVillain, who manipulated him into ''saving'' the world from the much more dangerous KnightTemplar Guilderstern]].
* [[spoiler:''The protagonist'']] in ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines''. And with the GambitPileup that's going on, it's at time hard to tell exactly ''whose'' plan.
** Possibly also [[spoiler:anyone who tried to use the Ankharan Sarcophagus to gain power.]]
* The ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' franchise is full of these, really. [[HeWhoFightsMonsters Arthas]] thought he was fighting against the Scourge right up until they sucked out his soul and made him their champion. The entire [[KnightTemplar Scarlet Crusade]] seems not to realize it's ''actually run by demons'' (those Magnificent Nathrezim again.) And the quests player characters keep getting have led fans to lament "How many times do I have to help the Lich King before I learn better?"
** The game implies that Thrall doesn't really trust the Forsaken, apparently he flat out needs them because otherwise the Alliance is too much more powerful. (Without the Forsaken and the Blood Elves, the Horde would be entirely on Kalimdor [and then Outland and more recently Northrend] which is also home to two of the Alliance races ''and'' a noticeable number of human outposts, including Jaina Proudmoore's city of Theramore Isle.) The other Horde leaders never even mention Varimathras when planning. It's very likely that nobody trusted him at all except Sylvanas. And Arthas was savvy enough to realize he was probably selling his soul and just didn't realize it was to his enemy. After all, it DID give him the power to almost destroy the Scourge. The Scarlets? Morons.
** Thrall is ''not'' fooled though by [[spoiler:Neeru Fireblade]], who remains only at Thrall's pleasure because he doesn't have enough information to move against the Burning Blade cult, all the while convinced that ''he'' has ''Thrall' outwitted.
** Sintharia, Deathwing's only surviving consort, despises him and plots to make a new Twilight Dragonflight to take over Azeroth. It is implied that she's been manipulated by him all along, as in Cataclysm, he has reanimated her and uses her eggs to create Twilight Dragons to assist him in his plans.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000: VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' ends with Gabriel destroying [[DiabolusExMachina Maledictum]], [[spoiler:which turns out to be the prison of Daemon of Khorne.]] Forces of Chaos used unknowing Gabriel as an Unwitting Pawn in their scheme [[spoiler:to free the Daemon]].
* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou''
** Makoto wound up being one of these for [[spoiler:Kitaniji]], as the whole point of making the Red Skull Pins popular in the first week later comes back to haunt him in the last one when [[spoiler:almost all of the Shibuya UG, citizens and Reapers included, gets {{brainwashed}} and homicidal toward Neku and Beat]].
** The main characters themselves are pretty severe cases of this as well, especially Neku: [[spoiler: Every single thing they did turned out to serve the sole purpose of helping Joshua fulfill his goal of erasing Shibuya.]] Although [[spoiler:failing to defeat Kitaniji would result in Shibuya falling victim to an AssimilationPlot.]] This is one case in which the pawns don't have any choice but to go along with the scheme.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'':
** Horde-players visiting Dragonblight are offered a questline to help the Forsaken gather ingredients for a plague that will inevitably wipe out the scourge, [[spoiler: which Puttress later uses to kill, not only scourge-soldiers, but also the combined army of humans and orcs battling them]].
** Thrall and Sylvanas Windrunner are good examples. Thrall explicitly trusted Sylvanas, despite the fact that she was using the Horde for her own vengeance against the Lich King. In turn, she believed she had Varimathras firmly under her control, which is what he wanted her to think all along.
** It's implied that Thrall only let the Forsaken into the Horde because they need a presence in the Eastern Kingdoms, and because the Earthen Ring suggested that they could potentially cure undeath. The Forsaken are considered allied to the Horde rather than true members.
** There are multiple quest chains where you're [[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption suckered into doing a bad guy's bidding]]. Unfortunately for the bad guy, once they decide that you've outlived your usefulness, you show up with friends and proceed to [[SpannerInTheWorks beat the tar out of them and take their loot.]]
* Fei Fong Wong of ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}''. Not only was he a sucker for Solaris, the Wave Existence, his split personalities and his own prior incarnation, but even his close friend Citan manipulated him without reservations.
%% Needs Context * Virtually every single named character in the ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' trilogy is an Unwitting Pawn. This is not an exaggeration.
[[/folder]]

** ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' has [[spoiler:Pearl Fey]], who is manipulated into triggering the events of the final case by [[spoiler:her mother, Morgan Fey]]. While [[spoiler:Pearl]] thinks she's just following her mother's orders for Maya's sake, her actions are actually [[spoiler:the means to ''kill'' Maya]]. Luckily, the plan isn't fulfilled thanks to a third party who knew about it beforehand.
** In ''Trials and Tribulations''' flashback cases, [[spoiler:Dahlia Hawthorne]] uses several. 3-4's defendant was their fall guy in a fake kidnapping scheme (and later for the murder of their other accomplice), the victim of case 3-1 was someone they got close to because he was a chemistry student and could get them access to poison, and [[spoiler:Phoenix Wright]] himself was to unwittingly carry a decisive piece of evidence away from the courtroom, disguised as a present.

** Edgeworth himself gets a taste of this in ''VisualNovel/GyakutenKenji2'' when it turns out that the reason he's had to solve so many murders in such a short timeframe is because [[spoiler:Simon Keyes]] had goaded their personal enemies into committing murder, and then pointed Edgeworth in the right direction to [[FoundTheKillerLostTheMurderer catch the immediate culprits without realizing who was the ultimate instigator]].
** Sebastian Debeste in the same game gets a particularly painful version. He's a good kid, if a little dense and not quite up for his job, but he trusts [[spoiler:his father, Blaise Debeste]], and that person uses that trust to gain access to important evidence (which he then destroys) and to obfuscate investigations via Sebastian's incompetence. [[spoiler:Blaise]] even refers to him as a "pawn that isn't user-friendly" when trying to break him mentally just to get him to leave the room.