History UriahGambit / VideoGames

** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', one of the Mage's Guild leaders has you go pull a ring out of the bottom of a well. A ring that happens to weigh as much as a full suit of armor. One of your predecessors is floating around in said well when you dive in. [[spoiler: Guess which Mage's Guild leader turns out to be working with the {{Necromancer}}s?]]

* In the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' seriesL

!!As this is an DeathTrope, unmarked spoilers abound. Beware.

** ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker Peace Walker]]'' goes into backstory on the CIA's ''many'' Uriah gambits against Big Boss' predecessor, The Boss. From being sent to murder a prominent scientist (and actually an innocent man) to destroy her reputation (which technically worked, since the operation twisted her mentality), to being given an operation that was co-masterminded with the Soviets so she'd be doomed to fail and forced to kill her lover, to becoming the first woman in space in a deathtrap of a shuttle that was given ridiculous constraints when they could have ''won'' the space race otherwise. The events of Snake Eater are revealed to be the gambit that succeeded; they intentionally influenced an AxCrazy tinpot tyrant to use the nuclear weapon she gave them to convince them of her defection, so that she'd become a pariah who would commit suicide by Snake. All of this was because the Pentagon realized The Boss was building up an international network of power to build a peaceful new world order, and would have stopped the Cold War by purging the corruption from both sides; the CIA nearly destroyed the world just to kill The Boss and maintain their grip on the West.

--> ''"Ugh... I know for a fact the NOL's got outposts around here. Why not have a scout check it out? Meh... I should quit bitching. A job's a job. Can't help out the family just sitting on my tail."''
* Over the early part of the original ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianDawn Command & Conquer]]''[='s=] Brotherhood of Nod campaign, your MissionControl, Seth, becomes more and more jealous of your success. After a few missions of supplying blatantly incorrect intelligence, he unconvincingly congratulates you on your latest victory, then announces that he has a new, secret mission for you, [[TemptingFate one that not even]] ''[[DarkMessiah Kane]]'' is aware of:
-->'''Seth:''' You see, power shifts quickly in the Brotherhood. (A pistol heard getting loaded in the background, causing Seth to look around nervously.) Kane has been loath to attack America, but I think now is the time, and you are the one to do it. [[HopelessBossFight This is the Pentagon]]. [[BlatantLies A full-scale attack with your strongest forces should render the military control center]] [[KilledMidSentence ino]]—
-->''[[BoomHeadshot BLAM]]''
-->'''Kane:''' [[BondOneLiner Yes. Power shifts more quickly than some people think.]]

* In ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2'', this is combined with UnwittingPawn with fatal results for [[spoiler:PFC Allen. Shepherd sends him to infiltrate Makarov's inner circle counting on Makarov seeing through him and using him as a scapegoat to kickstart a war between America and Russia. It's even hinted later that Shepherd ensured Allen would be discovered by leaking his identity to Makarov.]]

* Operation Mi'ihen in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' turns out to be one of these. Yevon let the Al Bhed and Crusaders participate in a full-scale operation to try to take down Sin with Machina in spite of their rather oppressive ban on technology. To almost nobody's surprise, things go bell-ends up, and eventually Sin wipes out nearly all life on the beach with a single WaveMotionGun. The result of this? Many Al Bhed and less conservative Crusaders have died, Machina the Al Bhed could have used to overthrow Yevon has been destroyed, and the very public failure of the operation means that it's reconfirmed Yevonism and Summoner pilgrimages are the only way to destroy Sin. Auron, who knew ''exactly'' what the Maesters who allowed this operation to happen were thinking, is absolutely and thoroughly disgusted by the whole ordeal.
* Happens more than once in the ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' franchise, where several {{Bad Boss}}es send out their AntiVillain warriors into very dangerous missions to get them killed.

** Used in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Genealogy of the Holy War]]'' too, when King Chagall sends out his knight Eldigan against his childhood friend Sigurd. Only a very risky (and player optional) GoThroughMe from Eldigan's sister Lachesis stops them from fighting to death.
*** And in the Oosawa manga, Eldigan's wife [[DerailingLoveInterests is derailed]] into a ClingyJealousGirl who gives Lachesis permission to join Sigurd's crew ''in open hopes to get her killed in battle'' so she'll be forever away from the older brother she has BrotherSisterIncest vibes with. Lachesis immediately notices and is saddened, but she decides to keep fighting anyway.
---->'''Sigurd''': Telling your husband's little sister to go off to war... [[LampshadeHanging What is Mistress Iria thinking]]?!
** Never mind that the player [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential can do this to characters they don't like.]] Hell, in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar Genealogy of the Holy War]]'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', thanks to the RelationshipValues, it's a viable tactic to use this to [[MurderTheHypotenuse deal with unwanted pairings]], therefore applying ''literal'' DieForOurShip. And in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Shadow Dragon]]'', it's outright necessary to access the gaiden chapters.
** On the ''Conquest'' path of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' Garon sends the Avatar on a mission to wipe out the Ice Tribe to either get them killed or broken, since realizing that the Avatar now knows their true origins and that Garon had kidnapped them; this fails since Xander overhears him and sends out [[WhiteMage Elise]] and her retainers to help. He's often instigated and aided by Iago, who wants the Avatar dead just because he doesn't like them. [[spoiler: The Avatar also strongly suspects that Garon giving them Ganglari was also one of these, due to the sword exploding, which would have killed them had their birth mother Mikoto not [[TakingTheBullet taken the hit]] [[HeroicSacrifice and die as a result]]; if the player chooses the ''Birhtright'' path, they can have the Avatar [[ArmorPiercingQuestion ask Garon's eldest son Xander about it]] to remark how they don't want to return.]]

** In ''VideoGame/FalloutShelter'', Whenever you receive a rare dweller and yet you reached the 200 Dweller cap, up until the December patch, the only way to add them into the vault was to send unwanted dwellers to the wasteland and let them die. Now, you can just kick them out instead.

** The game centers around B Company, an army company seemingly created for this very purpose and to which the most troublesome members of the Army are sent in the hopes that they get killed in their assigned suicide missions. At the time the game is set, the company consists of TheEveryman PC, who took a helicopter for a joyride and crashed it on a general's limo; a cowardly nerd who infected a secure military network with a nasty computer virus after using it to look up porn; an explosion-obsessed redneck who blew up the largest ammo dump east of Paris; and the OnlySaneMan sergeant who volunteered for the position in the hopes that it will help him retire faster (service in B Company counts towards discharge faster, so even if they somehow survive their suicide missions the Army will be rid of them soon enough).

* Pontiff Sulyvahn of ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' created his Outrider Knights for the purpose of getting rid of people who are a threat to his political power and people he just doesn't like. He forcibly conscripts them into the Knights, gives them his Pontiff's Left Eye and Right Eye rings, and sends them off on missions in faraway lands. If they aren't killed during the mission, the rings are designed to slowly induce insanity in the wearer and cause their mind to devolve into that of a feral beast, so they won't be able to find their way back. And even if they manage to do ''that'', it seems that given enough time, the rings will cause the wearer to turn into a ''literal'' feral beast, since the player obtains the Right Eye not from any of the Outrider Knights encountered during the game, but from killing a large monstrous creature just outside of the city Sulyvahn rules over.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage'', Ivy realizes that her father, King Hyacinth of Elusia, is [[YouHaveFailedMe punishing her for her failed invasion of Brodia Castle]] by not providing her with a replacement Emblem Ring or any reinforcements, and is only using her to forestall the Brodian Army as he retreats to Elusia to attempt to revive the Fell Dragon Sombron. Alear also recognizes that Ivy was fighting at less than her full strength in their rematch, and their decision not to kill Ivy sows the seeds for her HeelFaceTurn a few chapters later.

* Over the early part of the original ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianDawn Command & Conquer]]''[='s=] Brotherhood of Nod campaign, your MissionControl, Seth, becomes more and more jealous of your success. After a few missions of supplying blatantly incorrect intelligence, he unconvincingly congratulates you on your latest victory, then announces that he has a new, secret mission for you, one that not even [[DarkMessiah Kane]] is aware of:

* This is a frequently suggested solution for unwanted immigrants in ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress''. Put 'em in a combat unit, send them out to meet raiding parties or down into infested caverns.
** May be a rare sympathetic one, depending on how much an immigrant could possibly mess up the live or die situation. Or it might be [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential just another day in the life of a fortress]].

-->'''Seth:''' You see, power shifts quickly in the Brotherhood. Kane has been loath to attack America, but I think now is the time, and you are the one to do it. [[HopelessBossFight This is the Pentagon]]. [[BlatantLies A full-scale attack with your strongest forces should render the military control center]] [[KilledMidSentence ino]]—

* The position of [[VideoGame/Halo2 the Arbiter]] is used as such by the Prophets when a particular Elite gains too much prestige or political power, or alternatively commits a heinous offense while remaining too useful to simply execute. The position is itself a sort of WhiteElephant; the role of Arbiter is the right hand of the Covenant religion as a whole, wielding enormous power during times of great strife, and can restore the honor of an otherwise disgraced Elite -- but the events that they are called into service for are so great that they WILL inevitably kill the Arbiter in question. As the Prophet of Truth states, they are "created and consumed in times of extraordinary crisis".
** In a bit of a twist, the fact that the position of Arbiter is an Uriah Gambit isn't hidden from the one chosen during [[VideoGame/Halo2 Halo 2's]] events at all. It's bluntly stated to his face that he is expected to take the mantle and die as an alternative form of execution for his failure in letting Halo be destroyed. In a further twist, not only is he the only one to NOT die during his time as the Arbiter, but he in fact outlives the entire Covenant religion, [[NiceJobFixingItVillain as well as the Prophets]] [[HoistByHisOwnPetard who called for his execution in the first place.]]

* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', the Sith Inquisitor story starts with Harkun sending you on missions around Korriban, explicitly saying he expects you to fail. The third time around, you start to catch on.
-->''"Yes, I get it already. You send me into a tomb to do the impossible, hoping I die, and I come back and prove you wrong."''

* ''Franchise/MetalGear'':

** Big Boss, [[spoiler:or rather, Venom Snake from ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain The Phantom Pain]]'']], attempts to pull this stunt on Solid Snake during the events of the original ''VideoGame/MetalGear''. By sending Snake out into the front lines of Operation Intrude N313, which was deliberately designed to be impossible, it would buy Outer Heaven time to finish their construction of Metal Gears, and best case scenario, would get Snake killed to keep him from further interfering with their plans. However, this gets {{subverted|trope}} due to Snake [[SpringtimeForHitler successfully pulling the mission off]] in no time flat, so in a fit of rage, Big Boss confronts Snake in a mech suit and attempts to [[OffingTheOffspring kill him himself]].

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' goes into backstory on the CIA's ''many'' Uriah gambits against Big Boss' predecessor, The Boss. From being sent to murder a prominent scientist (and actually an innocent man) to destroy her reputation (which technically worked, since the operation twisted her mentality), to being given an operation that was co-masterminded with the Soviets so she'd be doomed to fail and forced to kill her lover, to becoming the first woman in space in a deathtrap of a shuttle that was given ridiculous constraints when they could have ''won'' the space race otherwise. The events of Snake Eater are revealed to be the gambit that succeeded; they intentionally influenced an AxCrazy tinpot tyrant to use the nuclear weapon she gave them to convince them of her defection, so that she'd become a pariah who would commit suicide by Snake. All of this was because the Pentagon realized The Boss was building up an international network of power to build a peaceful new world order, and would have stopped the Cold War by purging the corruption from both sides; the CIA nearly destroyed the world just to kill The Boss and maintain their grip on the West.