Line #74 Main/ThirdPartyDealBreaker


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6	[[quoteright:350:[[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/calvin_not_eating_worms.png]]]]
7	[[caption-width-right:350:[[Webcomic/{{xkcd}} You will not be eating worms today.]]]]
8	->'''Rogun "the Butcher" Mattrik:''' You lost a blaster shipment of mine some time back, and I don't recall ever getting an apology. How 'bout it, Cap'n? You know how to say "I'm sorry"?\
9	'''Smuggler PC:''' I'm sorry. But Skavak was the man to blame for that, and he's dead.\
10	'''Rogun:''' Plenty of blame to go around. I'm generous that way. No one steals from me and lives, boy/girl.
11	-->-- ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic''
12
13	A Third-Party Deal Breaker is, as the name describes, a third party who interferes with a deal they weren't even a part of and ruins the whole thing.
14
15	The reasons for this vary: the deal may have included their unknowing involvement and they were upset they weren't consulted. They may have heard about the deal and butted in to get involved, only for their interference to kill the arrangement. Perhaps they're a busybody/jerkass who can't mind his own business. They may simply want to kill the deal for practical reasons. [[SpannerInTheWorks Or maybe they weren't even aware of the arrangement and intruded for unrelated reasons.]]
16
17	Ironically, when a Third-Party Deal Breaker kills the deal, the one who usually gets in trouble is [[MisplacedRetribution the party who didn't deliver because of the third party's interference]]. Such as the kidnapped victim not being freed after a failed RansomDrop.
18
19	Subtrope of SpannerInTheWorks and (usually) MisplacedRetribution. Can be a supertrope of BreachOfPromiseOfMarriage if a LoveTriangle or ParentalMarriageVeto is involved. See also NiceJobBreakingItHero if the third party's interference has disastrous effects, or NiceJobFixingItVillain if the interference backfires and helps solidify the deal. Compare ThreateningMediator, where violence between two parties is prevented by the threat of violence from a third party.
20
21	Not to be confused with ThirdPartyStopsAttack, but overlap is possible under the right conditions.
22
23	----
24	!!Examples:
25
26	[[foldercontrol]]
27
28	[[folder:Comic Books]]
29	* In the ''ComicBook/{{Beetlejuice}}'' comic book series, one installment sees Beetlejuice enter a DealWithTheDevil -- literally, as he agrees to a couple thousand years of personal servitude to "Lucky Lucifer" in order for Lydia's lottery ticket to be a winner. When Lydia finds out about the arrangement, she talks the Devil out of it.
30	* ''ComicBook/BlackCat2019'': [[spoiler:The Black Fox makes a deal with the [[GodOfTheDead Gilded Saint]] for himself and Black Cat to be made immortal in exchange for the Saint getting to own Manhattan. Black Cat undoes the deal by tricking the Saint into thinking the Fox has reneged on their bargain, freeing Manhattan and condemning the Fox to being trapped in the Gilded Saint's possession for eternity.]]
31	* Ambassador Myodo convinces ''ComicBook/{{Okko}}'' and his companions to [[spoiler:turn over the shapeshifting Masuku to her, intending to use him to replace the increasingly ineffectual Daimyo Oyatsu]]. In return she promises that he will be able to roam the Empire freely once again, implying she intended to make [[spoiler:the imposter Daimyo]] rescind the bounty on Okko's head. However, once [[spoiler:Masuku has replaced Oyatsu, he decides to keep the bounty in place, having his own reasons to hate Okko]].
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Fan Works]]
35	* ''Fanfic/TheMountainAndTheWolf'': Daenerys and Cersei are holding a final parley, although neither expects much of it. The Wolf starts yelling insults at Cersei from hiding, infuriating her to the point where she has hostages brought from the cells and executes them. The Wolf justifies his behavior by saying that the hostages were better off dead now than by starvation or Cersei using them as bargaining chips during the siege. In fact, his ''actual'' goal is to get Daenerys to attack the city rather than resolve the war through diplomacy, and when [[spoiler:the city opens its gates to her he has her hit with a spell to tip the scales on the side of violence]].
36	[[/folder]]
37
38	[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
39	* ''Film/KaamelottPremierVolet'': Arthur and Venec are being taken across the Aquitanian border by the bounty hunter Alzagar to be delivered to Lancelot. As Alzagar is talking to the border guard, Arthur starts talking for the first time since he was caught (somewhere in North Africa), yelling that he was unlawfully abducted and that he's the property of master Damian the Sassanid, demanding to know since when slavery is authorized in Aquitania. Venec joins in, but the guard seems fine with letting them through... until Venec gets a bright idea.
40	-->'''Venec:''' ''(offscreen)'' THE DUCHESS OF AQUITANIA IS A WHORE!\
41	''(StunnedSilence)''\
42	'''Alzagar:''' When he says 'whore', it's in the good sense of the word.\
43	'''Border Guard:''' Book these dipshits. They'll explain themselves to the duke.
44	** This works perfectly, allowing Arthur to go free as the duke and he are friends.
45	* ''Film/ManOnFire'': The negotiations to get back Pita Ramos after she is kidnapped go to hell when a secret brotherhood of {{dirty cop}}s attack the RansomDrop to steal the money, killing a nephew of the leader of the kidnapping group. This leads to the kidnapping group [[spoiler:apparently]] killing Pita as payback, leading to John Creasy [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge murdering everybody who had anything to do with the whole mess in revenge]].
46	* ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming'': Adrian Toomes's construction company wins a contract with New York City to clean up alien debris left from [[Film/TheAvengers2012 the Chitauri invasion]], but then the Stark Industries-backed Department of Damage Control seizes the contract, leaving Toomes with the bills for the equipment he bought and employees he hired for the job but no revenue to pay them. This leads to Toomes becoming an ArmsDealer of stolen Chitauri weapons to keep his family and employees fed and housed.
47	* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Shortly before ''Film/ANewHope'', Han Solo ends up on Jabba the Hutt's bad side when he dumps a drug shipment to avoid getting caught with it by the Empire (depicted in the ''[[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Legends]]'' novel ''[[Literature/TheHanSoloTrilogy Rebel Dawn]]''). He spends quite some time ''trying'' to get the money together to pay Jabba back the value of the shipment plus interest, only for further entanglements with the Rebels and the Empire to keep interfering until Jabba finally loses all patience with him and uses [[HumanPopsicle a carbonite-frozen Solo]] as a decoration for his throne room.
48	[[/folder]]
49
50	[[folder:Literature]]
51	* ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfAminaAlSirafi'': [[spoiler:Amina [[EmpoweredBadassNormal gains the power]] to [[TouchTheIntangible perceive and physically handle]] magical pacts. She uses this to sever the bond between [[EvilSorcerer Falco]] and his minions, revoking the powers he granted them. One minion is ''horrified'' -- he'd traded his cousin's life for those powers.]]
52	* ''Literature/TheHanSoloTrilogy'': In ''Rebel Dawn'', Han is running a spice shipment for Jabba the Hutt when he spots an Imperial patrol ship. He dumps his cargo in space to avoid being caught with it when the Imps board, even making a note of the coordinates so he can come back later to get it, but when he returns, it's not there. This leads to Jabba demanding Han get him either the money or the spice, leading into ''Film/ANewHope''.
53	* ''Literature/TheSeventhTower'': As an [[MonsterLord old Lord]] of the SpiritWorld Aenir, the villain [[spoiler:Sharrakor]] can give some orders to Spiritshadow {{Familiar}}s that supersede their bond to their human. One is to force them back to Aenir, leaving the human [[ImHavingSoulPains incapacitated]] by the damaged bond.
54	* ''Literature/SpinningSilver'': The climax has a heroic version when Irina breaks the [[DemonicPossession demonic pact]] that keeps her husband TrappedInVillainy. His mother sold him into the pact, but Irina argues that a wife's claim to her husband supersedes a mother's claim to her son.
55	* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': A magical version of this causes a nasty surprise in ''Literature/RhythmOfWar''. The mad Herald Ishar's [[WrongContextMagic unchecked]] power over spiritual Connection is revealed to extend to the OathboundPower of a [[MagicKnight Knight Radiant]] and their [[OurSpiritsAreDifferent Spren]]. He very nearly [[spoiler:''steals'' Dalinar's bond to the Stormfather before he's interrupted.]]
56	* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': TheChosenOne Rand [[AchievementsInIgnorance somehow]] perceives the [[DealWithTheDevil pact]] joining Asmodean to [[TheAntiGod the Dark One]] and [[TouchTheIntangible severs it]]. Asmodean panics -- not only does it negate the Dark One's protection on him, he knows the Dark One will assume he [[FaustianRebellion turned traitor]] and react with extreme prejudice.
57	[[/folder]]
58
59	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
60	* ''Series/BabylonFive'': In the TV movie ''[[Film/BabylonFiveInTheBeginning In the Beginning]]'', Londo tells the story of the Earth-Minbari war. During negotiations, Londo had a Centari cruiser sent to bomb a meeting between Captain Sheridan and the Minbari Lennon, brokered by the Narn. Londo did this because he thought that the Narns were planning an arms deal. Instead Londo's actions prolonged the war because both the humans and Minbari blamed each other.
61	* ''Series/CatchTwentyTwo'': Yossarian manages to {{blackmail}} Colonel Cathcart into agreeing to let him rotate home to the States [[spoiler:in exchange for [[EveryManHasHisPrice keeping mum about Aarfy raping and murdering a woman in Rome]]]], only for General Scheisskopf to override Cathcart his first day on base in petty vengeance for Yo-Yo cuckolding him at the start of the series. (In the book he never found out about the affair.)
62	* ''Series/TheGoodWife'':
63	** "[[Recap/TheGoodWifeS2E20ForeignAffairs Foreign Affairs]]": During TheTeaser, Lockhart/Gardner has just nailed the defendant for breach of contract with their client, when suddenly a legal team for the Venezuelan government arrives to announce they have just nationalized the client's Venezuelan subsidiary and want to take the damages for themselves, tying the whole case in knots.
64	** After [[spoiler:Will Gardner]]'s funeral, Alicia and Diane go out for drinks, and randomly raise the prospect of a merger between their competing law firms. At the same time, they're representing opposing spouses in a divorce case and are on the verge of settling the issue amicably, when David Lee, having gotten wind of the proposed merger, intentionally drops antagonistic information into the divorce negotiations to scuttle ''both'' deals.
65	** Following the scandalous end of Alicia's run for State's Attorney, she goes back to Florrick, Agos, & Lockhart planning to cancel the retirement deal she had negotiated with them to exit the firm upon her election so she can continue working there. Diane's associate R.D. insists on forcing Alicia out, not wanting his political law work with the firm tainted by association with Alicia's scandal, and Diane and Cary bow to the pressure.
66	* {{Exploited\|Trope}} in an episode of ''Series/LawAndOrder''. Desperate to find a kidnapped girl whose kidnapper managed to be captured separately from her, Jack [=McCoy=] reluctantly makes a deal with the kidnapper to grant him immunity in exchange for the girl's location. Of course, since Jack was only an ADA at the time, he wasn't actually authorized to make that deal, and when DA Arthur Branch finds out - after the girl has been rescued - he intervenes and convinces the judge to throw the deal out and slam the kidnapper with the maximum sentence.
67	* A strange aversion happens in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine''. Quark is stricken with a terminal illness, and makes arrangements to sell off his remains according to Ferengi custom. Then he finds out that it was a misdiagnosis, and he's not going to die after all. But apparently Ferengi law doesn't let a little thing like ''not being dead'' nullify the deal, putting Quark in the [[SadisticChoice tough position]] of breaking a contract (one of the highest crimes possible, making him PersonaNonGrata among Ferengi) or [[HonorBeforeReason fulfilling it]].
68	[[/folder]]
69
70	[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
71	* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': In the [[https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1993/05/17 strips for the week of 17 May 1996]], Calvin's mom happens upon him about to eat worms in exchange for Susie's nickel. Calvin's mom drags him home, telling Susie that it's mean to take advantage of kids who lack sense. Calvin complains loudly... and then thanks her once they're away from Susie, since [[OutGambitted he was originally just trying to gross Susie out and got outsmarted]].
72	[[/folder]]
73
74	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
75	* ''TabletopGame/ArkhamHorror'' 3rd Edition: [[BadassPreacher Father Mateo]]'s unique ability "Signum Crucis" removes [[HealingHands Wounds]], [[RestorationOfSanity Horror]], or [[StatusEffects Conditions]] from investigators. [[DealWithTheDevil Dark Pacts]] are Conditions, so he can negate them entirely before the investigator has to suffer their cost.
76	* ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'':
77	** The Seal of Solomon, an artifact {{ring\|OfPower}} with power beyond mortal magic, empowers its wearer's touch to destroy any MagicallyBindingContract with an otherworldly entity. It sacrifices a permanent Willpower dot and doubtlessly incurs the entity's anger, but the steep cost could still be preferable to the loss of life, sanity, or soul that such a pact can incur.
78	** [[MagicAIsMagicA Fate magic]] can create, alter, or negate [[MagicallyBindingContract binding oaths]] without triggering the penalty for oathbreaking. In crossovers with ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'', this WrongContextMagic makes Changelings and Fae very nervous, as Pledges are the cornerstone of their society.
79	** The Prince in Tatters is an [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Abyssal spirit]] who can be [[DealWithTheDevil contracted]] for a unique service of WrongContextMagic: he can nullify a binding oath in such a way that it appears intact and unaltered to magical scrutiny.
80	* ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful'': A Princess with the Charm "Forced Vows Are No Vows" can renegotiate or negate a MagicallyBindingContract. The name suggests that it's used to free mortals from {{Leonine Contract}}s, but it's not limited to such cases.
81	* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'': The Sotoha Bloodline's Bushido-inspired code mandates MyMasterRightOrWrong with only two exceptions: a vassal who survives {{Seppuku}} is freed from their oath, and a vassal who commits ritual SuicideBySunlight to denounce their Lord frees ''all'' the Lord's vassals.
82	[[/folder]]
83
84	[[folder:Video Games]]
85	* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSin'': [[spoiler:Jahan]] made a [[DealWithTheDevil deal with a demon]] to live for 1000 years, then forfeit his life and soul. The player characters take the simple expedient of killing the demon when it tries to collect. As a bonus, the deal makes him TheAgeless, since the demon expected to kill him personally.
86	* Attempted in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' when [[PlayerCharacter the Dovahkiin]] convenes a peace talk between the Imperial Legion and the Stormcloak rebels (assuming they haven't resolved the Skyrim Civil War by that point in the main quest). The Thalmor, who [[DivideAndConquer want the war to continue in order to keep both sides as weak as possible]], send their ambassador Elenwen to gate-crash the talks and demand a seat at the negotiating table; if she's allowed to remain, she will spend most of the talks trying to antagonize the Stormcloak leader Ulfric in the hopes of collapsing the talks.
87	* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'': The arranged drug deal between the Forelli Crime Family and the Vance Crime Family in the prologue is botched when a group of assassins [[spoiler:later revealed to have been on Ricardo Diaz's payroll]] ambush the deal, kill Tommy Vercetti's two companions and Victor Vance, and take all the drugs to an unknown location. This DownerBeginning ultimately sets up the events of the rest of the game, where Tommy tries to locate and reclaim the stolen drugs and money for the increasingly agitated Sonny Forelli.
88	* ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'': In the Romulan mission "Turning Point", the Tal Shiar try to sabotage the international conference on political recognition for the nascent Romulan Republic. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain It completely backfires]]: they're caught red-handed by KDF Captain Ja'rod, and then Commander Temer dies [[JumpingOnAGrenade shielding Ambassador Woldan from a bomb]], proving once and for all that the Republic are worthy allies.
89	* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'': The Smuggler PC's prologue has them running a shipment of blasters for crime boss Rogun the Butcher. Their ship is stolen by StarterVillain Skavak on Ord Mantell before they can make the handoff; Skavak then fences the cargo to the [[ProxyWar Imperial-backed]] Mantellian rebels to make room for a ChekhovsArmory. This forces the Smuggler to spend the rest of the class story trying to get Rogun off their back (an {{homage}} to Han Solo's character arc in the original trilogy).
90	[[/folder]]
91
92	[[folder:Webcomics]]
93	* ''Webcomic/TalesOfTheQuestor'': The FaerieCourt grants Quentyn ThreeWishes from the Fae Prince [[spoiler:Dolan]] to reward Quentyn and punish the Prince. His [[https://www.rhjunior.com/tales-of-the-questor-0529/ first]] is to nullify all debts and favours owed the Prince, effectively stripping away almost all his assets in the Fae "economy".
94	[[/folder]]
95
96	[[folder:Web Original]]
97	* Parodied in the [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-myth-of-consensual-sex myth of "consensual" sex meme]], where both parties consent to sex, but forgot to ask UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} (or whoever the meme replaces him with) for permission.
98	[[/folder]]
99
100	[[folder:Western Animation]]
101	* In the ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' episode "[[Recap/BojackHorsemanS3E08OldAcquaintance Old Acquaintance]]", Bojack's plan to star in a small independent movie is sabotaged by his manager, Princess Caroyln, who wants to sign him to a big-budget film trilogy, and thus demands more money from the indie in order to scare them off. When he finds out about it, he's pissed and decides to fire her.
102	* In ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' segment "[[Recap/GarfieldAndFriendsS6E07 The Pie-Eyed Piper]]", based on ''Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin'', Garfield plays the titular piper and makes a deal with Jon, the kingdom's exterminator, to rid Hamelin of mice in exchange for Italian food. Jon thinks the deal is fair; however, after the piper gets rid of the mice, the cowardly king refuses to honor the deal, saying that doing so he would have to admit that he wasn't in command of the situation. The piper retaliates against the king by taking away all the Italian chefs in the kingdom.
103	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E5TreehouseOfHorrorIV Treehouse of Horror IV]]", Homer makes a DealWithTheDevil for [[SoldHisSoulForADonut a donut]]. Marge gets him out of it by successfully arguing that he'd already pledged his soul to her; the Devil curses him to have a donut for a head in retaliation.
104	[[/folder]]
105
106	[[folder:Real Life]]
107	* Examples in real-world law:
108	** In [[UsefulNotes/TheCommonLaw common law jurisdictions]], there is what is known as "tortious interference with a contract", which is defined as when a third party intentionally damages, sabotages, or interferes with the contractual or business relationship between two other parties. If the third party's intentional conduct caused economic harm to the contracting parties (such as a loss of business), then they may be liable to pay damages to either or both of the contracting parties. One of the earliest well-known lawsuits over such a claim was the case ''Tarleton v. [=McGawley=]'' from England in 1793, in which the owners of a trading ship sued a rival company claiming that the latter had interfered with their business by [[CorporateWarfare opening fire at their customers]] (with [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill a cannon]], no less) to scare them away.
109	** The legal concepts of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_God acts of God]] and ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_majeure force majeure]]'' deal with completely unforeseeable disasters that render contracts unfulfillable; generally, the parties to the contract are released from obligation.
110	** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alienation_of_affections Alienation of affections]] is a common law tort allowing a spouse to sue a third party alleged to having caused the collapse of his marriage.
111	** In criminal trials, plea bargains are negotiated between the prosecutors and the defense lawyers but they must be approved by the judge. Occasionally a judge will reject the plea bargain and the lawyers must either attempt to negotiate a new one or proceed with a trial.
112	* It's believed that one of the motivations for Hamas attacking Israel and starting a war in 2023 was to derail secret talks about normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Several other Arab states[[note]]Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan[[/note]] had already normalized relations with Israel, showing that the issue of Palestine is no longer significant enough to them to dominate foreign policy. If even Saudi Arabia opened relations, the remaining holdouts would likely follow. This would be disastrous for Hamas, and would render them largely irrelevant on the global stage.
113	[[/folder]]

Context Main / ThirdPartyDealBreaker